The Martial Unity

2165  Mysterious Circumstances

However, now, he was confident he could deal with her in a one-on-one fight. He had achieved a truly remarkable degree of power within the Master Realm despite the fact that he had only spent four years or so in the Master Realm.

There weren't many Martial Artists in the Master Realm who were his equals. The only other strategic concerns he had were those of demonstrating all his trump cards before the war started.

After all, he hadn't forgotten that there were other concerns in the Panamic Martial Federation that he also had to deal with.

His father had warned him that the Panamic Martial Federation and the three Sage-level powerhouses in its midsts would use this opportunity to try and poke the secrets of the mass Apprentice breakthroughs out of him.

However, he had no intention of yielding any information. It also meant that he couldn't afford to focus on other things, such as Master Uma. His primary objective was returning from the Panamic Martial Federation with Sage Kole with him.

Secondarily, his mission was to withstand the pressure he would experience from the Panamic Martial Federation without divulging any confidential intelligence. These two were far too important for him to focus on anything else at the moment. It was rather unfortunate that she reappeared before him at this particular point in time, throwing him off his game.

For now, however, it was best that he ignored her and moved on with his mission if he could. However, one thing that he didn't appreciate was that not only did she reappear before him, but she also was his combat threat evaluator. In other words, he couldn't ignore her; he would need to face her in combat and watch her pass judgment on him.

Rui returned to his housing quarters, displeased. He didn't care to explore the rest of the headquarters upon realizing who it housed. The context of this visit had entirely changed in his eyes. He wasn't even sure what she was doing here as a combat threat evaluator in the Panamic Martial Federation. After all, this was reserved for those who were employed by the Panamic Martial Federation for that role, and they wouldn't employ someone who was a part of the Virodhabhasa Theocracy.

In other words, she was most likely no longer a bishop in the religious organization at this point in time.

He found that rather strange.

She had always been a devout follower of the religion, burying herself in theology and remaining disconnected from the rest of the world.

Why had she decided to leave the theocracy and join the Panamic Martial Federation? As a secular organization, there was no doubt that it would not appeal to her as an organization very much.

Yet, not only had she joined the Federation, she had also gone as far as to leave West Panama and join the eastern headquarters of the Federation. That was even more suspicious. All these facts triggered Rui's alarm bells as he began pondering the possibilities as to why she was here.

He didn't like the inferences and conclusions that could be plausibly drawn from this. It almost made him want to leave the Federation and contact the Beggar's Sect to gather more intelligence. He was certain that there was something or the other that she was up to that he probably wouldn't like.

It would be prudent to get on top of that situation and get a good understanding of the circumstances that he was in. It would have been what he would normally do, retreat to get more information so that he could analyze his situation and make more informed decisions.

Yet, irrational as it was, the thought of 'running away' from her made him abandon such a course of action immediately, regardless of the merit in its logic.

"Tsk, this is messing with my head too much. I need to calm down and focus on the objectives and the missions," he reminded himself. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

For now, everything was still on track.

He would complete the briefing and evaluation and then break the law, which would help him get in front of Sage Kole and compel her to join the Kandrian Empire. He had already modeled different directions the conversation could go and had prepared himself for all the broad scenarios that could unfold.

Everything was in place, and he just needed to not screw things up.

The day passed uneventfully as Rui immersed himself in thought. He grew wistful as he recollected how his desire for more power to protect himself from the likes of Chairman Deacon and Master Uma was responsible for helping him get to where he was. He used to be a lot more power-hungry than he was these days. Back then, he used to seek power itself, while these days, he essentially sought power to aid him in understanding who he was.

The latter was more pure, but the former was more visceral. The desperation for power that he had felt prior to his breakthrough into the Senior Realm against Ieyasu was a brief period of time where he had been most driven for power.

The more they thought about it, the more bloodlust of old emerged from deep within him. The fact that he had essentially blacked out a lot of old memories relating to her was an insult to his younger self.

He should have killed her the moment he broke through to the Master Realm. Yet, because the impact she had on him had waned in time and he was consumed by more important things like his identity crisis and the healing of his father, she essentially slipped into a pocket of unforgotten things.

No more.

"She should have never come before me ever again," Rui growled. Now, he wouldn't forget.

Now, he would one day find her and kill her, no matter what. He would make her pay for what she did to him, what she had forced him to go through.

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