The Martial Unity

Rui’s eyes widened as the blood-red suns within the depths of his shined with blinding brightness. He watched with a stunned expression as the alien virus sent ripples through the very fabric of the information dimension, changing his existence and that of the world around him for a brief moment.

RUMBLE!!!!!

The waves through the information dimension moved past him, past the mantle, and the crust as they washed over all of human civilization across the surface of Gaia, leaving an already nervous population even more freaked out.

“AHHH! WHAT IS HAPPENING?!”

“Mama, look, I became a little tall—Ah! I became shorter again!”

“Be careful, something extreme bizarre is happening!”

People across the Panama Continent and the true world grew shocked at the spontaneous changes in their existence that came and went in periodic reverberations. Not a single person could even bring themselves to believe the truly exotic phenomenon they were facing, unable to reconcile that the very fabric of reality itself was changing right before their very eyes. Only a handful of people were able to comprehend what was happening before them.

RUMBLE

“This…” Mother Maeria’s eyes widened with shock as she studied the changes through the very fabric of reality. “This is the power of the Transcendent Realm. Are we dealing with a foe that has reached that echelon of power?!”

She recognized this power, having briefly set a single toe within the power of the Transcendent Realm herself. This ability to intervene in the causality of reality, this was undoubtedly the same power that she herself was this close to reaching.

RUMBLE

The Divine Doctor’s knowing eyes sharpened as he watched the changes wash over him, permeating beyond him. “This does not bode well.”

He understood that this was not an attack on reality, nor a death throw of the virus. It was a broadcast.

A message.

There was only one reason that a virus would engage in such behavior. His expression grew a little grim with reckoning as he prayed he was wrong.

RUMBLE

“Mama, what is this?” Ria asked with a hint of angst in her tone. “Why is my hair randomly changing color like that? It’s not just my hair, either.”

Amare hugged her daughter tightly, pulling her close as she watched waves of spontaneous and momentary changes wash through the very fabric of reality itself. Having been exposed to Rui’s theory of the information dimension, she had a much better understanding of everything that was happening more than most people.

“Stay close, Ria.” Amare’s tone was protective, while her amber eyes were filled with a steely determination. She would not allow anything to happen to her daughter, no matter what.

RUMBLE!!!!!!

Far away, deep within the depths of the mantle, the Tide of Samsara washed over the entirety of the mantle and crust deep below the surface of the Panama Continent.

Even as it wiped out every last bacterium within the depths of the deep biosphere, the alien virus never stopped sending ripples through the very fabric of reality. It never once defended itself; it never once tried to attack him.

It simply continued to send waves through the very fabric of reality, through the very fabric of the universe, even as Rui exterminated the very foundation of its consciousness.

RUMBLE!!!!!!

Rui pushed himself to the very limits as he unleashed the Tide of Samsara through the Panama Continent. The Tide of Samsara had gone beyond the scaled boundaries of the Panama Continent, wiping out any and all deep biosphere bacteria that were infected with esoteric matter.

He wiped almost every single bacterium comprising the network of information that gave rise to the alien virus consciousness.

He erased the existence of the virus itself from the depths of Gaia. Soon enough, it was done.

RUMBLE…

The ripples through the very fabric of reality dissipated as their source was completely annihilated, allowing the information dimension to return to normal. It was over.

The shaking, the tremors, the seismic radiation, all of it stopped. A moment of calm hung in the air in the Panama Continent as the people realized everything had stopped.

“The shaking has stopped…” A father murmured cautiously as he held on to his child with a tight grip.

They came out of their homes, out of their buildings, walking onto the street as they found themselves facing a calm world.

A world that was different.

The air had changed.

The darkness of the night sky no longer seemed to come alive. It no longer seemed to come alive to consume them. The sense of peril in the background seemed to fade away as they felt a strange sense of relief unlike anything they had ever felt. As if they were constantly in danger their entire lives, and only now understood what it felt like to be free of it. The Martial Embodiment of Water continued washing over them protectively. It enveloped them reassuringly, as if telling them that everything would be just fine. “Look, mama! Everything is back to normal again!” Ria’s amber eyes lit up with an expression of amazement. “The water is still there! That means Papa won, right?”

Amare beamed at her child with pride. She had already gained an intuitive understanding of what Martial Embodiments were supposed to be and how they worked. She understood, despite having never seen it before, that the water that washed over them lovingly and warmly was the presence and the power of her father.

“Yes,” Amare smiled at the young girl, kissing her over the head. “Yes indeed, your father won.”

Cheers and celebrations emerged from the people of the Kandrian Empire, the Panama Continent, and even the true world experienced a rush of relief at the end of the crisis.

And yet, deep within the mantle beneath Panama, Rui’s eyes widened as the blood-red suns within them shone with blinding brightness.

He had exterminated the deep biosphere beneath the Panama Continent.

He had destroyed the foundation of the virus.

Thus, it begged the question.

A haunting question.

“Why do I still feel the Fear?”

The sheer horror within his voice was greater than it had ever been.