The Martial Unity

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

Kane evaded a flurry of blows from Rui, circling around him before driving his blunt sparring daggers into Rui's neck.

THWACK!

Rui sharply deflected his knife jab at the wrist, swiftly turning as he unleashed a powerful, swift blow at Kane.

WHOOSH!

Kane swiftly evaded the blow with ease, yet his eyes met Rui's for a moment.

'Temporal Disharmony.'

Kane prepared himself for this technique, activating Fulminata Godspeed as a counter. This technique had a good synergy against Rui's hypnosis, largely negating its effects.

Yet, he was not prepared for what came next.

"Speed Void."

Kane's eyes widened as he felt his speed disappearing.

Heaven and earth themselves opposed his motion.

The very world rejected his Martial Art!

BOOM!

A powerful blow crashed into his solar plexus before he could evade it with his deeply hampered agility. The sheer power of the blow was completely converted into damaged, soaked by his body, so much so that his body didn't move an inch.

"Ack…!" Kane gasped, coughing as he fell to the ground, unable to so much as breathe, his diaphragm reeling from the impact. "…Ok, you win. Sheesh."

Rui smiled, offering a hand to him, pulling him up.

"What was that?!" Kane exclaimed, shocked. "I've never felt anything like that."

"It's the domain technique I was telling you about," Rui remarked. "The Speed Void technique of my new Yggdrasil System."

"That name makes sense, not gonna lie," Kane admitted. "I felt like my speed was disappearing. That's insane, man."

"Yeah, it's quite powerful," Rui smiled with a hint of smugness. "It's what I was working on for more than a year and a half after consuming the Roaring Dragon Blood Potion."

"Oof, I'm going to need me one of them potions if I want to keep up, because you're too damn strong!" Kane complained.

"How's progress been with those?"

"Not easy," Kane heaved a sigh. "I don't how you did it, but earning the right to consume those potions isn't just a matter of money."

"True," Rui nodded.

Those were potions reserved for the Martial Masters of the Martial Union to ensure that their Martial Bodies did not fall behind the times due to inferior Squire evolution breakthrough processes. This was connected to the martial Union's overall power thus these potions were considered strategic resources.

The Martial Union did not hand them out to Martial Seniors, barring truly special circumstances.

Rui was one of those truly special circumstances.

"…Especially since the recent revelations," Kane remarked, throwing a knowing look at Rui.

Kane was deeply shocked when he learned about Rui's princehood. He couldn't have imagined that Rui had a family that was even more lofty than his own!

Rui heaved a heavy sigh. "Yeah. I don't know if I'll be going down that route."

Though, he didn't even strictly need to become Emperor to gain more resources, even his status as a prince afforded him greater options and opportunities to get his hands on some powerful resources.

"As Emperor, of course, I would be able to gain far more resources than just a prince, but…"

He left the obvious unspoken.

"If you ask me, you should totally go for it," Kane remarked nonchalantly.

"You think?" Rui raised an eyebrow.

"Absolutely," Kane remarked. "Not gonna lie, I'm surprised you haven't leaped at the opportunity yet."

"Would you?"

"In a heartbeat, man," Kane laughed. "Think about it. You get to be the Emperor of Kandria!"

Rui stared at him, flummoxed, before breaking into a wry smile. "Right, why didn't I think about that? You're such an utterly brilliant genius, Kane. Truly unparalleled."

"What can I say? I'm just too good, you know?" Kane shrugged, ignoring Rui's sarcasm. "If I were you, I would become Emperor, appoint a dude to do all the actual work, and just live it up, man. I'm talking luxury living, a staff of maids and butlers tending to your every need, maybe even a harem. The Emperor gets concubines, right? You should get a bunch of babes from across the world and just bang bang!"

Rui furrowed his eyebrows as Kane crudely described the process of creating heirs for the future of the ruler of the nation.

That was also one part he was not entirely looking forward to.

Not the 'bang bang,' specifically; he certainly had no problems with that specific part whatsoever, but the prospects of fathering dozens or hundreds of children and essentially leaving their education to trained staff and their mothers was something that he did not look forward to if he did choose to become Emperor.

He also did not want to become the origin of the next generation of the Royal Family and watch them become power-hungry princes and princesses with a toxic and venomous hatred for each other who were each just waiting for him to die so that they could ascend the throne.

"That doesn't sound fun."

Kane turned towards him with a flummoxed look. "You must be gay."

Rui heaved a sigh. "I meant the fathering heirs part. I'm not ready for a single son or daughter, let alone more than a hundred."

Kane shrugged. "Hey, you can't have it all. I'd say it's a fair trade for being required to have a harem. The best part is that nobody's gonna judge you for fathering a lot of kids since you're the Emperor. If I wouldn't be judged by anybody I knew, I would apply for a harem today, not gonna lie."

Rui chuckled weakly, shaking his head. "Maybe you could start with Fae and Princess Rafia."

"She's your sister, man."

"You can kill her for all I care," Rui snorted. "I'd even help you bury the body."

"Dayum!" Kane laughed. "That's cold."

Rui smiled wryly as he bantered with his friend.

He appreciated what Kane was doing.

He understood that the insights he had to offer were, well, not very insightful. He also knew Rui well enough to know that his considerations on the matter were far deeper than his own could ever even come close to being.

What he could do, however, was lighten Rui's consideration of the matter by blurting out his instinctual considerations about it, regardless of whether they were the most sound or not.