The Martial Unity

Time passed quickly as human civilization was drowned in work.

The Gaian Alliance soon began to grow more fleshed out as countless deliberation sessions with the constituents raged in large conferences with delegates from every polity and major organization in the world.

The Gaian Alliance was an alliance that sought to unify Gaia for all interstellar matters, making it much easier for them to pool their power together for more effective deterrence and negotiating power. However, what form that would take was something that needed to be ironed out clearly by all constituents. Countless debates over countless issues and countless committees that consulted with panels of experts helped the alliance very slowly take shape.

Everybody was aware that they would have to make painful compromises in this project. The biggest sacrifice being the sacrifice of independence for interstellar matters. They would have to accept a high authority. Any dreams that they might have had about independently expanding freely as they pleased were gone.

The pressure that the Emperor of Water and even the threat of alien invasions forced them to swallow bitter pills as the Gaian Alliance slowly began taking shape on paper, a grueling process led by none other than Minister Ru, who oversaw the entire process.

While the political establishment of Gaia grew busy with unification, the Martial World and the world of Paths also grew extremely busy.

The invasion of the Laminar Civilization and of the nebular incursion had proven to be a blessing for Pathwalkers around the world. After all, it increased their importance. They were the reason that the Gaian space force had not lost. Their capacity for being extremely powerful infantry was the reason that Gaia was intact. It gave them even more power and leverage and created an environment that valued their contributions to human civilization.

Investments into improving Pathwalker power doubled almost overnight as nations realized that they were the only thing that stood between them and destruction.

Especially in the Martial World, thanks to the fact that Rui had been the one to save the entire planet as a Martial Transcendent.

The need for more Martial Transcendents was recognized urgently as governments, institutions, and even financial markets poured money into any and all resources that could help Martial Sages break through to the Transcendent Realm.

Of course, most Martial Sages were much younger, more brittle, and untempered. They had a weaker foundation on average compared to the past. They were nowhere even remotely near the Transcendent Realm.

Thus, it was the peak Martial Sages of prior generations and, of course, the three Transcendent Candidates of Panamic Civilization that everyone pinned their hopes on. And indeed, so did Rui.

“Each of the three of you is close to the Transcendent Realm.”

His words were calm, but certain. His ethereal eyes swept the three figures before him with a knowing glint within them.

Amare, the love of his life and the mother of his daughter, wore a fierce expression on her face, devoid of the affection that she normally showed him. Her amber eyes blazed with determination as she stretched her arms, lightly hopping on her feet.

Beside her was her grandmother, who was never too far away from her. Some distance away from them was the Reverend of Reckoning, whose eyes were iron-strong.

Rui sensed greater Phenomenological Uniformity from him than even Amare or Bodhisattva Maitreyi, surprisingly enough. The Void Order Regime that had been enforced in the Panama Continent had proven to be much better for the Transcendent Candidate than the other two.

It was possible that the next Martial Transcendent would emerge from Sage Jinryong Namgung.

The air was silent save for the wind blowing past the trees of the Central Highlands of the Beast Domain, and the chirps of critters and birds. The morning sky illuminated the world around them brightly, making the atmosphere feel lighter. Rui had taken them far away from civilization for what they were about to do.

“However, the final step is more difficult than all the prior steps combined,” Rui remarked. “I only found Water in everything that flows from past to future, from life to death, and from creation to destruction on the verge of death, consumed with despair about the flow of causality and why things had ended up the way they were.”

His eyes sharpened. “You cannot reach Transcendence in an ordinary state of mind and under ordinary circumstances.”

This had been true for him; it had also been true for Damian, who was being consumed by destruction itself as the battle with the Eldritch Chimera had taken an extremely bad turn. “I have given you the conceptual framework for understanding what Transcendence actually is,” Rui continued with a serious tone. “But only you can take that final step. All I can do is…”

STEP

He took a light stance, propping his arms before him with balled fists. “…help you get there.”

His ethereal eyes sharpened.

“C̵̠͖̙̲̝̓͐̿͛̆̔̚̕͝͝ǫ̷̢̹͕̞̟̣͈̩̓̑̌͝m̸̧̧̩͎̫̱̥͚̪͈̍̅̓͆͗̂̚͜͝e̶̢̢̢̱̱͔̰̱̞̜̝̠͂͛̕͝ͅ ̷̧͈̦̘̯͕̬̗̦̖̠̄̑͒͠a̶̡̧̗̬͚̥͂͆̇̈́́̀͜͠͠͠t̸̟̤̙͓̣̠̳̱̠͈͊͒̆͐͐̈́̈́̉̋͆̔́̀̋ ̵͔̝͇͕̙̝͎̣͈̺̪̗̔̄́̓͒͛̊̎́͑̿͆̕̕͜͝ m̸̧͇̖̼̳̼̭͔̜̦̜̪̠̟͎̋͛e̷͕̗̝͇͉̠͉̋͑̆͂͆̄̓́̿̈͌̌͒.”

His voice broke through the very shackles of causality that bound all things in the universe, spreading through past, present, and future. The battle began.

RUMBLE!!!!!

All three Transcendent Candidates charged at him with grave power and speed, activating their Realms of power in the blink of an eye.

And yet, Rui didn’t.

In the face of the three most powerful Martial Artists after him going all out, he didn’t so much as even activate his Martial Heart.

He didn’t need to.

A single thought flashed through his mind as time itself slowed down to a crawl.

‘Even the feeblest of elders, even the frailest of babies may split heaven and earth asunder should their bodies, minds, and souls harmonize with the flow of the universe.’

WHOOSH

With just the slightest of motions, he managed to evade a palm blow from none other than Amare herself. His body-consciousness moved without thinking while his Transcendent gaze bore upon the future itself.

With the information dimension at his disposal, he came as close to truly beholding the future itself as was possible, giving him an absolutely unprecedented realm of foresight.

And yet, his opponents were not ordinary.

“Heavenly Step of Boundless Light.” Bodhisattva Maitreyi turned into a beam of light, charging towards Rui at the speed of light.

And yet, everything was Water.

Including light.

WHOOSH

With a gentle gesturing motion, Rui redirected the beam of light as if gently redirecting the direction of a stream of water as he pleased, thrusting the beam of light at his third opponent.

Sage Jinryong Namgung’s eyes widened as he found himself face to face with Bodhisattva Maitreyi’s light, unable to evade.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!