The Martial Unity

"Hm, I'm hoping this works out," Rui murmured as he read through the reports provided by the Beggar's Sect. "I may have overstepped a bit too much."

He had been the one to kill Senior Bernete, he had purposely arranged the body in a manner that resembled what the Vale Syndicate was known for doing to its enemies when it wanted to send out a message.

This was to spark friction between the two groups.

The more friction he could spark, the greater the reluctance that Carnil Mafia would have to return to the Gereign Region after Rui destroyed their base. While the Carnil Mafia was certainly weak in no way, they had more important priorities.

The Kandrian Throne War was their absolute priority at the moment, it was far more important than exacerbating a small conflict with the Vale Syndicate. 

"However, I predict that that won't be the case," Rui murmured. 

"Why not?" Ferm, the executive of the Beggar's Sect assigned to Rui, asked.

"Because of this man," Rui pointed at the profile of Senior Zenshin. "Based on the character profile that your sect has provided me, he will be driven to exacerbate the conflict."

Rui had thought long and hard about how he could manipulate the Vale Syndicate to provoke hostilities with the Carnil Mafia so that he could increase the cost of the drug operations of the Carnil Mafia by forcing them to resist the pressure of the syndicate.

However, he soon came to realize that merely making them believe that the Carnil Mafia was responsible for sabotaging their operation was not enough.

He needed a much stronger provocation.

"Senior Zenshin is perfect for that role," Rui calmly analyzed. "He is hurt the most by my assassinations. He is surely looking for the culprit with everything he has. All I need to do is give him a viable culprit, and he will do the rest."

"Perhaps you're overestimating his proactiveness," Ferm suggested.

"Unless your information is inaccurate or incomplete, that is certainly not the case. His violent and aggressive temperament is perfect for this role. That is why I need to convince him that the syndicate is involved, he will divert his efforts in their direction."

"What if he is prudent enough to realize he's being manipulated?"

Rui smirked. "People will be more inclined to believe what they want to. Perhaps intelligent and objective leaders on either side would realize they're being played and avoid falling for it, but unfortunately, neither side is particularly intelligent and certainly not objective."

Rui glanced at a map laid out on a table before him. "Both sides would rather have a culprit in mind for their respective sabotages than not. Especially the Carnil Mafia side. Many of their Martial Seniors have fallen to an unknown assailant with incredible stealth. They would do anything to know the identity of the culprit. Once they do, they will be able to leverage their power to find and kill him far easier than they otherwise could."

Now, he just had to hope that this would devolve into a full-blown conflict.

"…But even if it doesn't, my plans will still be fine," Rui narrowed his eyes. "I will still kill the three remaining Martial Seniors in Gereign base of the mafia. And then I will destroy their precious base and foundation."

The Vale Syndicate was just icing on the cake. If hostilities broke out and the two sides started fighting, that would be good for Rui to curb the Carnil Mafia's ambitions in the Gereign Region. 

However, even if they didn't do anything, the passive pressure that they would put on the Carnil Mafia alone was enough.

What would one do if one had a neighbor who wanted to kill them? 

It was only reasonable to take precautions.

A tall fence, perhaps.

What if the neighbor was rich and powerful?

Perhaps one might be inclined to get a guard, a gun, and reinforce doors.

However, these measures cost money. Thus the mere presence of a hostile neighbor increased the cost of living safely. This was what Rui was banking on. He needed to not only pause their operations but completely halt it.

"Now for the hardest part," Rui narrowed his eyes. 

Yet he couldn't even hide his excitement. He needed to fight and kill three high-grade Martial Seniors. He had taken low-grade Martial Seniors multiple times in his endeavors thus far, he had even killed multiple mid-grade Martial Seniors.

But finally, it was time to fight high-grade Martial Seniors.

This was what Rui had been waiting for. It had been exceedingly taxing his patience to hold back from fighting them.

Planning, strategizing, thinking, he certainly was far from a stranger from all of this, but he had been itching to test his newfound power and his developed Martial Art against Martial Seniors who had been around for centuries.

Just the very concept of Martial Seniors who had trained for centuries gave him a deep impression of their power. 

For one, he knew he was leagues behind them in raw power. Ieyasu being six years older than Rui had a visibly stronger Martial Heart. How much stronger would a Martial Heart that had grown for centuries be?

Rui actually knew how strong.

His Martial Heart glowed, however, Senior Zenshin's Martial Heart seemed to shine. The sheer amount of power contained within his body was astronomical.

Furthermore, with centuries of dedication to his Martial Art, it had grown truly formidable in its ability to harness its raw power and make the most efficient and effective use of it. While Rui was leaps and bounds ahead of his peers when it came to the development of his Martial Art, Senior Zenshin had centuries on him.

He was at a disadvantage in every single conceivable way. In every parameter except for the quality of their Martial Art.

He had only met one person who had a Martial Art whose grade was in the same league of power, and while he was surprisingly close by, he was not a part of the Carnil Mafia.

It was time to test his limits once more.