The Martial Unity

Chapter 3135: Changed Eyes

While the failure to prevent Anthea’s legacy from returning to the Moridia Continent darkened the mood, it didn’t take away from the jubilance and triumph in the air.

They had won.

They had chased the evolutionaries off the face of the continent and sent them running back to the Moridia Continent. The credit for this accomplishment was something that fairly fell on Rui, as everyone could acknowledge.

Even as the World Bridge opened to allow all of the other Martial Sages to hastily return, lest they be caught up with the consequences of the Martial Soul, Rui knelt at Anthea’s corpse with a deep gaze before extracting the Gu poison from within his body. Having killed yet another powerful lifeform, the poison had grown even stronger and greater in quantity, albeit at least a part of it was primordial seed.

He also needed to gather all the last bits of primordial seed. It was also worth it to retain all the invintium that Anthea has shed.

He found himself alone at the site of the battlefield.

Almost alone.

”Rui.”

Her voice was exactly as he remembered.

Beaming with vitality and warmth.

He could sense her affection for him.

He turned around, finding himself face to face with Amare.

Her brown hair swayed in a gentle, warm breeze as the gentle light of the evening Sun illuminated her amber eyes.

”Amare...” A faint whisper escaped him.

She surged towards him faster than he could even react, lunging for a deep hug, toppling him over.

Her extraordinarily intense grip was excruciating for his wounded body.

And yet, he found her warmth to be comforting.

He found her existence to be soothing.

”I’ve missed you.”

It was a paltry expression of the longing she harbored for him in all the years of darkness within her mind.

Words could not express how much she sought him.

And yet, they would have to do.

”I’ve missed you too.”

He found it in himself to move his paralyzed, ravaged arms to embrace her gently and softly, as they simply relished each other’s presence. It had been eleven years for Rui since he resurrected her, and eons for Amare within the depths of her mind.

Despite all the tribulations that they had undergone, they returned to each other’s warmth.

”Thank you.”

Amare’s voice was warm.

Grateful.

”Thank you for bringing me back.”

Rui’s darkened. ”...You suffered for it, and yet you’re grateful?”

”...Always.” Her voice was reduced to a whisper.

Her desire to express her gratitude was among the many things that had driven her to persevere despite the tribulations she experienced.

”Amare...” Rui gazed deeply into her eyes with the pitch-black darkness in his. ”You have changed.”

Her expression grew hurt at those words.

She tightened her grip, almost as if she refused to let go of him in fear of being abandoned.

”Your eyes have changed.”

He gazed deep into the depths of her rich, amber eyes.

They contained a hint of darkness within them.

One that he did not recognize.

”Who are you?”

The question scorched her soul with agony.

She breathed in shakily as she tried to maintain her composure.

”I am Amare, and also...” her tone contained a hint of certainty. ”...Esil.”

Rui’s expression darkened. ”Amare, you are not the Progenitor herself. You understand that your memories were implanted in you, yes? You did not actually experience all those things that Esil did.”

”You didn’t experience all the things that John Falken did, either,” she replied with a melancholic tone. ”But hasn’t his memories shaped your perception of self?”

Rui remained silent.

”I... don’t know how to explain it,” she spoke with a soft voice. ”I... lived her life.”

She gazed into Rui’s eyes.

”I lived her life over and over and over when I was trapped in the darkness.”

Rui’s eyes widened at those words. ”You...”

”And when I finally came out, I was...” her eyes grew teary. ”I was already her.”

The air darkened.

The atmosphere grew solemn.

Rui’s expression turned complicated.

On one hand, he felt sorrow and guilt.

He was responsible for this.

His attempt to desecrate the most sacred law of life and death had directly led to her being trapped within the depths of darkness in her mind. The direct consequence of all that power had led to eons of torture and suffering in the depths of the darkness of her mental prison.

Of course she had changed.

How could one possibly go through that and not change?

If experience one went through left a mark on the soul, then it was impossible for such horrors to not change who she was.

With a simple glance, he could tell how much she had changed.

He had long built a SOUL model and a physical model of her for the purposes of her resurrection, allowing him to measure exactly who different she was.

A part of her was that of a different person.

She contained the fierce determination and lust of power of Esil the Progenitor.

It wasn’t even that these changes were bad for her.

He had always felt that she was too easygoing and almost impossibly radiant in who she was.

And yet, those traits of her were why he fell in love with her.

She was special in a way that no one else was.

He didn’t need to say it out loud.

He didn’t even need to make eye contact with her.

In that moment, he already knew.

He could admire her changes, he could respect them, and even appreciate them.

But he could not love them.

He could not love the Progenitor.

He could not love Esil, a woman he absolutely had no affection for, only admiration and gratitude.

The affection in his eyes snuffed as his gaze darkened.

It was a subtle change.

A change he wished he could avoid.

A change Amare noticed.

”Rui...?” Her eyes widened with horror. ”Why are you looking at me like that?”

Her tone grew painful.

Frantic.

”Why are you looking at me with those eyes?”