The Martial Unity

”I see…” His voice grew shaky. ”…Fine. Then, I’ll train in the manifold for as long as I need to before I’m as strong as you. And only then will I come out. And when that happens…”

He turned back to her. ”…You’ll accept me, won’t you?”

His words could be interpreted in two ways, the first meaning being the straightforward matter of whether he could come back on the team or not. The second implicit interpretation was that of his own emotions for her.

Whether she would accept him as a partner.

Though he had never told her, he knew that she knew.

”…I can’t promise that,” Ria squeezed out as her expression softened. ”I… I just don’t want to see you hurt or dead ever again, Runark. If something happened to you, I don’t know what I would do.”

Her emotions in that regard were real. Friend, brother, or more, she had grown up with Runark. He was the only friend from her childhood that had remained a friend as she got older. He was precious. Too precious for her to ever take the risk that they had taken.

”…Then, I’ll grow strong enough so that you never have to worry about me ever again.” He gritted his teeth, feeling a sob choking his throat. ”Never, ever again…!”

Ria smiled at him through her tears. ”You always were like that.”

Her smile grew bittersweet.

”I’ll be waiting, Runark. I’ll be waiting for you to reach me.”

Runark nodded with determination blazing in his teary eyes, turning towards his godfather. ”Uncle Rui… I know you’re a super busy man. But… I wanted to ask you for your help.”

His godfather smiled at him. ”And how may I help you, Runark?”

”I… I was hoping to get some guidance from you,” Runark spoke with a nervous tone, as if fearing refusal. ”I have heard that you are the best trainer in the world when you do it. I know it’s super selfish of me when the entire world needs every second of your time, but…”

He clenched his fists. ”I’ve already trained with the other strongest and wisest people in my life. I don’t know what else to do in order to break through the bottleneck.”

The Emperor stared at his godson, his expression remaining calm and composed as he considered the request. It was indeed true that he had better things to do in terms of the impact it would have. Countless better things.

Yet, Runark was his godson.

He was family.

”Fine,” Rui replied, much to the surprise of Misha and Ria. ”But I will be able to spend every little actual time with you. I can be there and help you grow much faster than you would otherwise, is that alright with you?”

”Yes!” Runark’s eyes lit up with ecstasy. ”That’s awesome, Uncle Rui! Thanks a lot!”

Rui smiled. ”Don’t mention it.”

He turned towards Ria with a gentle expression. ”Ria, I’m sorry to do this when you’re grieving. I wish I could spend more time with you but…”

His expression grew sadder. ”…I’m afraid duty calls. Humanity is already at war.”

Ria’s eyes widened at those words. ”…already?”

”Yes,” he spoke with a serious tone. ”The arakai have discovered our civilization. Not only have they discovered it, they have identified it as the culprit responsible for the death of not one, but three Divine Mothers.”

”Three? But I thought—”

”I just killed two more about a little under an hour ago,” he calmly remarked, stunning all three of them, before getting up, turning towards his daughter once more. ”We’ll speak again tonight. For now, spend some time with your friends. Go visit your aunts and uncles, your cousins. You’ll feel better.”

WHOOSH

He disappeared, teleporting away in the blink of an eye.

Ria felt uncomfortable with his absence. She had wanted to spend time with her father, spend time in his warm, powerful embrace. It was one of the things that made her feel comfortable and safe every single time.

But alas, her father had responsibilities beyond herself; she knew that. Not to mention, she would also feel rather less safe in his arms if she knew that he was slacking off in his duties to be with her. The part that frustrated her most about her father’s identity was also what she admired most about him.

The Enlightenment of Self had helped clarify a lot of the feelings that she had towards the Kandrian Empire, her father, her family.

She didn’t hate the Empire, or even her status a princess. What she hated was being powerless to them.

’As long as I grow strong enough, then I can finally breathe freely even while being a princess.’

The key was to become so powerful that her status as princess was less important than her status as a powerful Martial Artist. And in terms of strategic power, she was getting there. Her Martial power had increased tremendously, and her strategic leverage with infected worlds and esoteric matter was also quite immense. Even if she wasn’t a princess, she would have a tremendous amount of power.

That made her more at ease with everything she had a problem with in the latter half of her life.

She turned towards her friends, returning to reality. ”For now, let us get both of you into the best psychiatric evaluation facilities and doctors in the world. I’ll request the Psyker to look at the two of you personally.”

”I’m fine, like I said; I actually enjoyed the coma,” Misha replied calmly. ”I spent a lot of time thinking. I came up with a lot of ideas and thoughts that I would like to research.”

”I… I’m fine too,” Runark managed to squeeze out. ”I managed well enough.”

”You’re lying,” Ria flatly exposed him. ”I can sense the tremendous amount of anguish that you have suffered. Don’t try to be a tough guy around something this important. It could harm your mental well-being permanently if not properly addressed at this stage. Not to mention, it could harm your path to the Sage Realm and would delay your path to catching up to me. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

That made Runark straighten up. ”Alright fine, I’ll attend that. Sheesh, you’re like a mom, Ria.”