The Martial Unity

Rui wanted to walk over immediately and smack some sense into the treacherous moron. But his rationality quashed that urge quickly.

They were in the middle of a battle. The most important matter was the successful completion of the assault on the expanded territory of the Kingdom of Nochus. Rui would be doing himself harm by being the one to escalate the matter in the middle of battle. He could not prove Ian had deliberately aimed at him, but Ian would be able to prove that Rui escalated the matter in the middle of combat.

He would be playing into his hands if he simply acted on his emotions, thankfully Rui was quite rational regarding the matter

But Rui realized he needed to be careful of Ian, the man's grudge was stronger than Rui had expected if he was willing to backstab a fellow Kandrian Martial Artist in a battle against other nations.

BAM BAM BAM!

Rui took down another Martial Apprentice as he glanced at the state of the base of the Kingdom of Nochus. The base had been evacuated, and the sheer environmental damage caused by many dozens of high-ranking Martial Apprentices was immense.

"Hm?" Rui's Seismic Mapping sensed the seismic radiation of motorized carriages heading towards them at incredibly high speeds.

"Reinforcements!" He shouted, announcing the Kandrian Martial Artists.

It seemed that the Kingdom of Nochus had gone as far as to forsake a part of the defense of the core territory to reinforce the Martial Apprentice assets that were still defending the expanded territories.

The motorized vehicles rushed towards the battlefield even as the Kandrian Martial Artists were whittling down the Martial Artists of the Kingdom of Nochus.

The carriages spread out as several uniformed soldiers leaped out of them. They were part of the military of the Kingdom of Nochus, distinct from the Martial Artists that Kandrian Martial Artists had been fighting up until then.

Rui frowned as he felt a strange sensation from all of them. They emitted a faint threat to the Martial Apprentices yet they didn't feel like Martial Apprentices. Rui noticed strange devices across their arms, recalling seeing something similar on many soldiers of the Kandrian Royal Family.

('Potions!') Rui's eyes widened.

The soldiers dashed at the Kandrian Martial Apprentices with fearsome speed and power.

"Retreat!" Rui bellowed as he maximized Primordial Instinct and the Mindmirror brain. Time slowed down from his perspective as he took in the whole situation. The Martial Artists had begun retreating at the sight of the motorized vehicles, thankfully. Rui launched several Tempestuous Ripples as he himself backed away from the battlefield, slowing down his pursuers.

Yet, he wasn't worried that they wouldn't let them retreat. As defensive reinforcements, they weren't meant to pursue. Furthermore, potions had time limits. They couldn't afford to engage in a lengthy, time-consuming chase.

The Martial Artists were hurt and damaged by the overwhelming offense from the Kandrian Martial Artists.

The operation was successful.

"Ian." Rui sternly addressed him. "Why did you attack me? Your action is a violation of the oaths you swore not only to become a Martial Apprentice but also the ones you undertook when accepting this mission."

Martial Artists were required to sign statements that they would be held to in order to obtain their Martial licenses. Among these statements was the pledge to good faith, to never act detrimentally to the Martial Union or a mission.

"It was a mistake." Ian coldly replied without even bothering to look at Rui. "I was locked in combat with a Martial Apprentice and he avoided an attack of mine, which then traveled on to find you in its path. I did not have any ill will against you."

He was lying. Rui could feel it with his Primordial Instinct.

"I see." Rui instead replied. "Take care to ensure that it never happens again. Surely you wouldn't want to hurt a fellow Martial Apprentice in a conflict against foreign nations."

"Surely I wouldn't." Ian echoed.

('This is going to be a pain in the ass to deal with.') Rui sighed inwardly.

He was sure this wasn't going to be the last attempt by the man to try and harm Rui. The circumstances were anything but convenient. He would need to find a proper way to deal with Ian or this would likely be a long-term problem.

He couldn't just attack him without proof. The ramifications of such actions would not be light. There was very little to no point in complaining to commissioner Feristen or HQ. Without concrete evidence, there wasn't anything that either would to him. Still, Rui could at least request to be not assigned to the same missions as Ian. That would solve most of the problems.

Rui shook his head as he put aside the matter. However, he decided he would keep Primordial Instinct active the entire time he was at the Serevian Dungeon. He couldn't trust Ian to not try something when they were at the base.

"Woah." His eyes widened as the Kandrian Empire's territory emerged in his field of vision.

What surprised him was that the territory had more than doubled in the time that he had been away.

('They weren't kidding when they said 'aggressive expansion'.') Rui mused.

In fact, the Kandrian Empire would simply have colonized a gigantic portion of the Serevian Dungeon, however, the underground cave network that created many security issues meant that they couldn't simply place gigantic barriers over a large territory. Any territory they seized had to be quickly secured before expansion could begin. It appeared that the security process had been fully completed and thus the Kandrian Empire had chosen to expand further outside the core territory.

('At this rate, the Kandrian Empire's expansion of territory will lead it to eventually have a direct border and territorial conflict with the other nations in no time at all.') Rui estimated.

These would be where the actual conflicts would take place, the inevitable conflicts. The assault mission he had undergone was merely a proactive measure that the Kandrian Empire had taken to suppress its direct competitors.