The Martial Unity

It took a while for Amare to stop shedding tears of joy and relief, causing even Ria to start instinctively crying as the family exchanged embrace a heartfelt hugs of intimacy. By the time mother and daughter calmed down, a full hour had passed.

Amare gathered herself as the three of them propped themselves at the extravagant table in the home. Ria sat on her mother’s lap, playing with her long brown hair, having had her fill of papa for a while. Amare, on the other hand, directed a deep gaze into his ethereal eyes.

“Explain.”

She didn’t even have to elaborate on what she was talking about. The moment she finally gathered her composure and had calmed down, she couldn’t help but stare at him with deep confusion and even a hint of skepticism. How could he possibly still be here?

She had confirmed it was him. She knew his body inside out, both literally and figuratively, and she would have noticed even the slightest of divergences. Even his body-consciousness was identical.

It was him.

And yet, it couldn’t be him; he would have undoubtedly disappeared, having used his Martialverse to sweep the entire solar system clean. And yet, he was here.

Rui smiled wryly at her confusion. “I̷̼͕̞̗̞̫͐̓̎͐̋̋̊̈͗̃͝ ̵̬͈̙̼̗͙̈́͑͒̀́ţ̵̤͙̼̲͙̳̩͒͗̽̾̓̓͆͑̚ͅr̸̡̤͙̬͉̟̞̣̞͕͓͕̺̐͂̄̒͆͘̕̕͝͠͝ͅḁ̴̤̘̥͔̅͘ņ̸̨̨̻̟̘̖̬̣̫̰̐̒̆̎̏͗̆̏s̶͔̄͒̎̀̐̍̈̋̎̈́̈́̆͘͘͘f̸͓͌̚ȩ̵͇͔͇̺̠̲͉̦̗̬͗̕͜͠ͅr̴̛̞̱̺̗͕͓̫͖͈̮̜͔̗̪̈́́͌̏̇͆̄̆̊̓̃͝r̶̖͉̗͇̳̈́̀̑̎͗͑͑̀͐ẽ̶̡̧̧͕̲̟͓̟͉̯̟͇̺̦̋̆͐̆̎́̈̍͊̕͜͝ḑ̴̛̜̳̗̩̟̥̙̪̽̇̔̈́̂̆͐̔̒̈́̒ ̷͚̟͋̈́͋̃͛̂̊̓̈́͘m̸̡̳͇̳̲̼͓̗̰̣͕͕̼͌̍͌͛̇́̆̚̚̚͝y̸̻̠͕̜̓̌̉͜͝ͅ ̸̡̝̼̙͎͍͖͒̀̇̌̄̀̃͛c̵̨̳̩̥̼̻͈͔̮̖̩͇̊ͅǫ̵̤̰̰̤͍͔̜͉̙͎̜̮̘̼̌́͌̎́͘n̵̛̺̙̪̫̳̣͕̜͈͍̂̃̒͋͒̇̈́͑̈̉̃̀͒̊͜ͅs̵̤̖̲̦̩̩͈̣̹͈͐̅̆̀͊̀̃͝ḉ̷̪̮̠̝͓̹̟̮͖͌̏̾͘͘i̷̳̱̣̯̳̺̩̮̼̐͆̀͂̓̂̚͝ǫ̴̙̖͓̣̠̟͕̼̻̐̾̓͒̒̅͂̕͜͠͝u̴͉̹͑̑̏s̵̢̯̮̮͓͙̣̱̹̣͕̉̅̈́̅̿͠͝n̴̢̘̗̭̠͕̘̂̈́͛̓̑̈̊͆̾̈́͒͋̚͘ė̸̢̮̿̾͆̋̓̒͝s̴̢͓͎͇̠͇̙̭̪̰̠̊̄̃̊͋̐́͑̈́̔̀͘̕̚s̸̨̢͓͉̼̥͎̣̟̻̪̳̙̲̈̽̒̋͛͊́̂̊́̉͑̊͘͝.̶̨͔̱͉͈̮̻͔̝̥̟̂̄̄͋̈́̉͆̄́̿͆̚”

His voice broke through the shackles of causality, permeating through the fourth dimension as they overlapped in the past, present, and future in a trans-temporal resonance.

Ria winced at those words, pressing her hands against her ears. “Papa, I told you to stop doing that!”

Rui’s expression grew complicated as he gazed at his hands. It was a side effect of becoming Transcendent, and not something that he could control, unfortunately. He was already limiting it to the best extent that he could; ordinarily, his voice was too much for normal people to bear.

He decided to ‘speak’ by using his cells to vibrate the air to create the sound of his voice without actually talking.

“Aaaaahhhh.” he opened his mouth, lip-syncing with the sound his body produced. “Testing. One. Two. Three. Testing. Check. Check.”

Amare frowned. “What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to get used to ‘speaking’ without violating the law of causality,” Rui muttered, as his lip-syncing grew more and more attuned. “There, that works.”

He turned back towards Amare. “I transferred my consciousness to answer your question. I transferred my consciousness from my original body to my clone.”

Her amber eyes widened. “You can do that?”

“Of course, at my current stage, I have a full grasp of everything of reincarnation. But this was more difficult; this was a complete consciousness transfer.”

“Does that really allow you to escape the price of the Transcendent Realm?” Amare murmured. “I feel like even if you transferred your consciousness, it would still take you with it, no?”

“Only if you directly transfer it,” Rui corrected. “I used destructive creation. Destroyed my consciousness after creating an absolutely identical copy of it in my clone, brain, and everything.”

Her eyes widened at those words, as she understood the sheer depth of extremeness of his solution. Anybody else would have concluded he had committed suicide. But she understood the true nature of identity, just like he did, having inherited identity through information, which was the essence of identity. His body had been turned identical to his original self, and his information was identical to it as well.

With information being the source and the core of all reality, he was existentially the being the universe knew to be Rui Quarrier. She could understand why he wouldn’t want to share this with anybody else, though, especially if they weren’t enlightened about the true nature of reality.

A deep sense of relief emerged in her heart as she smiled at him with true happiness. “Thank you.”

Her words were deep with gratitude.

“Thank you for being here.”

Rui smiled at her. “Of course, I would never leave you. We made that promise, didn’t we? That we would grow strong enough that nothing could ever separate us ever again. Not to mention…”

He directed a deep, loving gaze at Ria.

“I could never leave my precious baby behind, could I?”

Ria turned towards him with a hint of indignation in her eyes. “Ria is not a baby!”

“Hehehe… Ria will always be a baby to Papa.”

“Hmph, Ria doesn’t want to play with Papa anymore. Ria will only play with mama.”

Rui’s eyes widened with shock. “Wait wait wait, isn’t that too harsh! Papa loves Ria!”

“Ria doesn’t like Papa anymore.”

Rui felt his heart palpitate as he experienced cardiac arrest. He stretched his hand out to her only for her to flip her head away, hugging her mother, who smiled at Rui with a hint of triumph in her face.

“Papa is heartbroken.” He collapsed on the table before them in a dramatic manner.

Amare coaxed Ria to him with a sympathetic smile. “Papa is so sad, won’t you forgive him.”

Ria peered at him as her expression softened with a hint of guilt. No matter what she said, she loved her father more than anything in the world. “Ok, fine. Ria loves Papa again.”

Rui’s expression lit up as his body rose again. Amare handed her daughter to him as Ria snuggled in his large, protective arms, growing comfortable in them. Rui leaned down, kissing his daughter on her forehead, pecking her with kisses.

He had just fought an existential battle with the alien virus within Gaia, an advanced alien civilization, and an endless tide of nebulars invading their civilization. And the largest reason he had done that was to protect his precious daughter. She didn’t know what her parents had gone through for her survival, and that was exactly how it was supposed to be.

She deserved to be protected from the burdens of reality until she grew old enough and mature enough to bear them. And even then, Rui knew he couldn’t not bring himself to protect her.

Eventually, Ria grew tired and drowsy. Rui tucked her into bed as she fell asleep soundly, giving Rui and Amare some time for a more frank discussion