The Martial Unity

"All in favor?" The Harbinger smiled frostily.

All hands rose up in the air.

Even if they had minor misgivings, there were few better alternative options in their perspective, if at all.

"Good." Her calm voice spread. "Then this council unanimously passes the drafted motion. It is decided that Master Rui Quarrier Silas Kandria shall be subject to a gauntlet of battles against three Masters from the three sections of the thirty grades of the Master Realm, such that more losses than victories will result in the Martial Union pursuing Master Herel's proposal, more wins than losses; Master Zentra's proposal, and a complete victory; Master Ceeran's proposal."

Her tone was finality.

The Martial Masters of the council fell into thought.

"Now then," Master Sera continued. "We will reconvene after issuing a summon to Master Rui and informing him of the Master Council's decision, should he refu—"

She froze.

She was the first to notice.

Something had changed.

It was abrupt.

The others sensed the change as well, stiffening.

The air stirred.

It boiled.

It boiled tumultuously as a tremendous aura of power crept across the entire council hall.

It pricked at their senses.

It tingled at their instincts.

It drew closer and closer.

And closer.

Until it had finally arrived.

CLACK

The massive gates behind the Harbinger opened.

He had arrived.

"Ah…" A single murmur escaped him. "…It's been long."

Their eyes widened as they beheld him standing at the entrance of the council hall.

In an instant, recognition, realization, and disbelief surged through the minds of the various Martial Masters in the council hall.

For a moment, none of them could move, frozen in shock.

It wasn't the fact that he was a Martial Master that shackled them in their own incredulity.

No.

It was his Martial Mind.

They had always wondered what it would be like.

How could they not?

They always knew that he was the equivalent of the Gatekeeper of the Mind.

They always knew that his Martial Path embodied one of the core universal principles at the heart of Martial Minds.

They always knew that it would be unlike anything they had ever seen.

They always knew it would redefine what was possible.

Yet, what they beheld before exceeded even their wildest imagination.

It was unfathomable.

Impenetrable.

An endless vortex of information.

A void

It flowed from one state to another.

It flowed from one person to another.

Like Water.

It subsumed reality.

When they bore witness to him.

It was as though heaven and earth warped under the weight of the mind, adaptively evolving the world to be antithetical to everyone and everything.

An apocalypse of unfathomable proportion.

It was the most powerful Martial Mind they had ever beheld in their lives.

The room darkened as a single realization dawned on them.

They could not sense the depths of his mind.

Not even in the slightest.

It was a humiliating revelation.

It meant only one thing.

His Martial Mind was astronomically superior to each and every single one of theirs.

Within the Master Realm, barring stealth and sensory techniques, the capacity to sense each other's emotions was an accurate representation of the power of their Martial Minds relative to each other.

Masters with lesser Martial Minds could sense less of the emotions of a Master with a greater Martial Mind.

Thus, Masters with weaker Martial Minds often had to bear the humiliation of having their emotions and mental dynamics be transparent to Martial Masters with stronger Martial Minds while being able to sense very little of the emotions and mental dynamics of their stronger peers.

Today, however, was the first time that any Martial Master was entirely unable to sense the emotions and mental dynamics of a fellow Master.

He was inscrutable

When they tried, they could see nothing.

An empty abyss.

A void.

It was humiliating, for all of them alike.

It meant that the Martial Mind of Master Rui Quarrier Silas Kandria exceeded theirs by an astronomical margin.

A Martial Artist at the age of thirty-five, a boy by their standards, vastly exceeded the crystallization of centuries' worth of effort that these vaunted Martial Masters had painstakingly exerted.

It was deeply unpleasant, yet undeniably real.

The revelation stunned them silently.

"Masters of the Martial Union."

His voice radiated power.

Pure, unadulterated power.

It demanded their attention.

His dark eyes swept through the many constituents of the Master Council.

"I have returned."

He regarded the silent council with regretful eyes.

"I am aware of the agenda behind this particular council meeting," he calmly informed them. "I am aware that I cannot escape the consequences of my decei—"

"—Your Highness."

The Harbinger's chilling voice cut through his words with even greater force.

"…Master Sera." His eyes narrowed as he directed his gaze at her.

"Your words are, frankly, meaningless," her tone was perilous. "Had you arrived a little sooner, they might not have been. But as things stand at this very moment, nothing you say will change what you must do."

Rui frowned at her. "…What have you done?"

An eerie smile emerged on her face.

Chilling darkness lingered in the depths of her eyes.

He could sense a single emotion within the depths of her mind.

An endless desire for carnage.

Chills crawled across his skin as a single realization dawned on him.

'She can easily kill me any time she wants.'

His expression grew guarded and wary as his nerves tingled under the weight of her attention.

"Master Rui Quarrier Silas Kandria."

Her tone was officious.

She addressed him as the speaker of the Master Council.

"You have defrauded the Martial Union of immense Martial and financial capital."

Her words reminded everybody of the agenda, breaking them out of their stupor and pulling them back to reality.

"You have caused our union to incur immense losses. Losses that far exceed the sum totality of your contributions for which you had been remunerated prior."

Her gaze sharpened.

"This council has unanimously passed a motion on what our settlement offer to you will be. Listen carefully, for it is your only chance to restore what has been broken."

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