The Martial Unity

"My sense of humor is as sophisticated as ever," Master Reina corrected him.

"…Sure thing," skepticism was palpably dripping off his voice.

"You don't seem very convinced."

"Your humor has the sophistication of that of a teenager who just learned about the bees and birds," Rui scoffed.

"Is that how you speak to a teacher you haven't seen in five years? I haven't forgotten that you didn't invite me to your assassination!"

"What assassination?" Rui innocently replied. "I haven't assassinated anybody in my life. No ma'am. Not one soul. This pupil of yours is a law-abiding citizen."

"Huhu…That was the right response," She nodded approvingly.

"This no assassination, is it?" Master Gurren asked, having returned to normal.

"Who knows?" She stared at Rui with an interested expression. "I haven't decided yet. Perhaps if this silly pupil of mine made up for not having visited his poor, lonely teacher for so many years and cheating on her with another teacher, I might consider letting him live."

An amused smile flashed on Rui's face. "So you came all the way from the Sirana Gulf to the Kandrian Empire for a comedy skit? And you call your humor sophisticated."

"I came for a comedy skit and…" Her expression grew a little serious. "…to inform you that someone contacted Area Crina with the intention of commissioning the Voidreaper to assassinate one Rui Quarrier. They correctly deduced that there is some correlation between the two. I was unable to track the origin of the message."

Rui's smile vanished as his eyes narrowed, growing immersed in thought. "Interesting."

"You seem to be taking it in stride," Master Reina smirked with a hint of excitement.

"The probability of some action being taken against me within two years of my return to the Kandrian Empire was at about sixty-eight percent," Rui remarked calmly. "Yet there is too much deterrence to attacking me. Thus, anybody who does endeavor to do so is either very stupid or very powerful. The stupid are not a threat, but the powerful know that they cannot blatantly attack me with Kandrian Martial Artists, lest they face the wrath of the Kandrian Martial Union."

He turned to meet Master Reina's gaze. "Thus, it can be inferred that they will employ the power of international and foreign forces to take me out."

Her eyes widened as she stared at Rui in disbelief. "Did you predict that someone would commission the Voidreaper to take you out?"

"Well, not the Voidreaper specifically," Rui smirked, amused. "But yes, I did anticipate something like this eventually happening."

"Did you make preparations to counter it?"

"Well, I grew stronger," Rui shrugged. "Much stronger. Also…"

Faint bloodlust radiated from him as a sharp smile appeared on his face. "I just learned a bunch of techniques. I was hoping that someone would fight to kill me so that I could test them out and refine them."

"Hah…" She palmed her face. "That sounds like you. What happened to them hiring the Voidreaper to kill you, anyway? Why not hire a Master like me?"

"That's a good question," Rui remarked as his analytical mind burst into action. "There are two possibilities. They are unable to commission a Master assassin. Or it is inconvenient to commission a Master."

Rui narrowed his eyes. "Thing is, no one who can't commission Masters should have the balls to antagonize me. Unless they're extremely irrational or extraordinarily stupid."

"Why not?" Master Reina tilted her head, curious.

"Because if they lack the capital to commission a Master, then they have no business trying to kill me," Rui replied calmly. "They're underqualified. Both to kill me and to deal with the consequences. The Martial Union adores me for the contributions I made to Martial Art, and their Martial Art as well as the promise for more contributions and the prestige of having the most prodigious Senior in history. A Senior-level force that is too financially weak to commission Masters should be too terrified to try and kill me."

"The only reason they would if, as I mentioned, they are too stupid to realize that they are too weak to kill me with the political protection I have or hate me with such intensity that they are willing to suffer the consequences of killing me; irrational," Rui made deduction after deduction.

If Chairman Deacon was alive, then Rui might suspect him as the prime candidate. This was a man who hated Rui enough and was determined and perseverant enough to kill Rui even if it brought him ruin.

But he was dead.

Also, he was extremely wealthy and powerful, he could definitely commission many Martial Masters if he wanted to.

All in all, the probability that they commissioned the Voidreaper because they were unable to commission a Master seemed extremely low. People with such limited resources would be exposed to the powerful investigations of the Martial Union and the Kandrian Empire, and they would immediately be exposed.

That is why people tussled with others of the same weight class. Earning the Martial Union's ire was no different from a death warrant.

"That is why I conclude that it is someone with the means and power with a somewhat plausible chance of killing me and getting away with it and avoiding or bearing the consequences. There's also the fact that you were unable to track the origin of the message. That suggests a high-level of competence." Rui replied. "This inference alone allows me to deduce much about it."

His eyes swam around as he immersed himself in thought, calculating the probabilities of the various possibilities.

"First," He began. "It's definitely not any of the other three powerhouses of East Panama. If they wanted me dead, they would never try and commission a Senior-level assassin from South Panama. Most likely, it's not any international force based on that and the prior deductions. In which case…"

His eyes narrowed. "Someone inside the Kandrian Empire wants me dead. That significantly narrows it down. My prestige with the Martial Union is so high that there are only a handful of possibilities."

He raised one finger. "The Kandrian government."

He raised another finger. "The Kandrian Underworld."

He raised another finger. "One of the princes. Definitely not Prince Raul or Raijun. Possibly all of them. I'll just put them in one category."

He raised a fourth finger. "A corporation entity amongst the top five in the Kandrian Empire."