The Martial Unity

News of what was happening in Arima III didn’t just spread across the citizens within the frontier star system, but also to the rest of human civilization. Even though the bandwidth between star systems was not the highest, it was impossible to stop the news of a thousand-kilometer wormhole and an enormous alien invasion from spreading.

It immediately caused a spike in online activity. Footage and images spread across online forums and social media like a conflagration, spreading the panic across humanity.

[Oh f*ck, we’re so cooked!]

[RIP Humanity. 486,000 pre-EoE - 13 EoE.]

[The aliens have come! I knew this would happen someday as our civilization kept expanding.]

[Pah! Our Martial Artists will beat them black and blue and send them back!]

[You’re dreaming if you think Martial Artists alone can handle that, pal.]

[Look at how massive those ships are! How can we possibly handle their firepower?! I bet those supermassive heavy ordnance systems can annihilate entire planets!]

[Throw the Suneater at them. Then let’s see how long these aliens can act so arrogant.]

The impacts this news had on human civilization were instantly visible. Stock markets plummeted forty points in one day, leading to the single largest financial crash to have ever occurred in the Era of Expansion. But the devastation wasn’t merely limited to numbers and a graph; it physically impacted the flow of capital, resources, and people.

The risk premiums for superluminal insurance skyrocketed by nearly sixty percent just half an hour after human civilization learned of the arakai invasion. No insurance company was willing to insure interstellar travel when such a massive force threatened to wipe out humanity.

Supply chains crumbled instantly, and transit grew paralyzed on the side of the star system that had been invaded by the arakai. That wasn’t all, however. The impact it had on morale could almost be tasted with how palpable it was. While many people were confident in the power of human civilization, the deep uncertainty of war weighed down on them nonetheless.

It was hard to feel optimistic when one’s civilization was waging an existential war that they weren’t certain could be won. This translated into degenerating law and order across human civilization, albeit to a much lesser extent compared to the near-complete anarchy that had broken out across human civilization.

One notable shift was the spike of applications for travel to the Solar System. The birthplace of human civilization was by far the most secure, well-defended, and the safest place across the ten thousand stars that humanity had conquered.

The Solar System was protected by massive armadas, as well as the largest concentration of pathwalkers anywhere in the world, and particularly powerful pathwalkers too.

It was protected by the densest space infrastructure, with many system fortresses, holdouts, and astrobases as well as many superweapons that perilously hung in space, challenging anybody to defy them.

It also had the presence of Jomungandr, one of the most powerful beings of human civilization. And, of course, it was protected by the Emperor of Water. As well as a second Transcendent who primarily took residence in the Sirinwel Continent.

If there was one place where people would feel safe, it was at the core of humanity. Naturally, not all of human civilization could head back to the cradle of their civilization. Human population had skyrocketed in the past thirteen years with natural and artificial population programs. There were trillions and trillions of human beings living across more than ten thousand planets who had very little hope of being able to make it back home to Gaia Prime.

The price of a ticket to their homeworld was already very high, but it skyrocketed severalfold shortly after the new of the invasion spread across human civilization. The sheer demand for it vastly outstripped its supply. While human civilization had indeed constructed hundreds of thousands of spaceships, not even those vast numbers were enough to handle the entirety of the human population.

Also those with wealth, resources, and connections could possibly secure a guaranteed trip to Gaia Prime.

This helplessness only made morale worse.

”Goddammit! Bradt Transportation Services ran out of seats for a trip back to Gaia Prime! I live in a star system that is adjacent to Arima III, I need to get the hell out of here!”

”Forget it, you’re way too small to possibly make it out of here. A trip to Gaia Prime is now worth its weight in primordial seed.”

”Why isn’t the Gaian Alliance doing something?! Why isn’t the Emperor of Water teleporting to that army and destroying it with one punch?!”

The crumbling morale was infectious. It was difficult to be optimistic in a gloomy environment, especially when every news source, all online activity, and even the people around one were all negative. While it wouldn’t have immediate impacts, those who had partaken in war new the consequences of crumbling morale.

It was no less destructive than an all-out enemy siege, for it crumbled forces from within.

That was when the forces, or force rather, that be decided to act.

The Gaian Alliance streamed an official announcement.

An official announcement from the Emperor of Water himself.

Immediately, the stream dispersed across human civilization in real time. News channels paused their reporting with breaking news to stream the announcement, having received a free license from the Alliance. Online platforms actively disseminated it, pushing it to the top of recommended feeds. In the real world, public holographic streaming boards paused whatever was on and instead transmitted the Emperor’s announcement publicly to ensure that people would see the announcement whether they wanted to or not.

Even though the various governments hadn’t received notice of what the announcement comprised, they had enough acumen to understand what its timing said about its purpose. They gladly welcomed the instillation of any clarity and confidence from the most important leader of human civilization.

[Citizens of humanity, my fellow brothers and sisters. I am the Chancellor of Gaia and the Supreme Commander of the Central Human Command. I am Rui Quarrier Silas Kandria.]

He stood at a podium, gazing straight into the camera. The bright light of the morning Kandrian skies permeated through his translucent body, refracting internally, causing him to glisten a little at certain angles.