The Martial Unity

"We're not questioning your power, Your Highness," One of his advisors carefully remarked. "However, you are grade-thirteen Martial Senior, are you not? While your growth to the Senior Realm has been nothing short of the quickest and most prodigious, there are some powerful Martial Seniors who have spent centuries in the Senior Realm and are of a higher grade than you."

Rui smirked. "Your concerns are understandable, but leave the matter of the duel to me."

His advisors stared at him with fear and apprehension.

"Prepare the contract, contact Prince Raijun, and arrange a meeting with him," Rui replied, getting up. "Meeting concluded."

He left the office with his Martial Master bodyguards. "If you have something to say, say it," Rui chuckled. "Your stared are heavy."

"Sorry," Master Ceeran remarked. "I didn't mean to."

"We're just surprised that you're acting uncharacteristically impulsively," Master Zentra calmly remarked.

"…You're not wrong," Rui heaved a sigh. "I suppose I'm just happy that I found a Martial solution to this problem."

Rui closed his eyes. "I'm a Martial Artist, after all, not a politician. The greater the number of problems better solved with my Martial Art, the happier I am. It makes me feel more…fulfilled."

One of the frustrating things about the Kandrian Throne War was that it was too high and powerful for him to influence with his own Martial Art. While techniques like the Hungry Pain technique could impact the Empire as a whole, it was not as though his personal power as a high-grade Martial Senior could impact the Kandrian Throne War.

Thus, he was forced to resort to solving his problems through ingenious schemes and sharp politics, but he didn't find satisfaction in this manner of accomplishing things. The feeling of winning a fight to solve a problem with power obtained after years of hard work was a triumphant satisfaction that no amount of machination could fulfill. That was why he looked forward to the prospect of dueling his way to the throne.

It sounded much more fulfilling than anything else.

On top of that, he could take solace in the fact that there wasn't really any other viable solution to getting what he needed without compromise and as quickly as a Martial duel could get him what he sought.

"But can you win?"

A simple question from Master Ceeran returned his attention to the consequences of his loss.

"Don't worry," Rui closed his eyes. "I am the strongest when I have time to prepare."

The two Martial Masters were familiar enough with his Martial Art to understand what he meant by that.

"Besides, this new technique that I'm working on…it's not perfect, but it should still be useful in this context."

The Angel of Laplace was not yet perfected such that he could use it in combat viably. Although he had drastically reduced the operation time of the technique by reducing the target scope from everything to just his target and opponent, it was still just a bit too long to be used in combat without leaving him open with vulnerabilities.

However, if he could use it before the fight got off…

His probability of victory was significantly higher than before, and he would have eliminated his biggest weakness before the battle even began. If his target was someone that he could find easily, he could shadow them and build a predictive model if needed. At that point, Rui found it difficult to conceive his loss. He had always been able to output incredibly far beyond his conventional limits with substantial preparation.

"Well, it remains to be seen."

It wasn't long before the Rui Administration had finalized the details of the little Martial duel, and had managed to arrange a meeting with the allied princes.

"What's the matter?" Rui nonchalantly remarked as he stared at the projection.

It was a projection of Raijun and Rajak.

"Too scared to meet me face to face?" Rui smirked.

Prince Raijun glared at him with hostility while Rajak simply stared at him coldly.

"You know I'm surprised you two allied," Rui remarked, turning to Rajak. "He killed your family, bro."

Prince Rajak visibly strained to contain murderous bloodlust.

Not at Rui, but at Raijun.

"…And he helped with plotting my assassination to stop you from reaching the Squire Realm," Rui casually remarked, observing his reaction.

Prince Raijun didn't react to that.

It appeared that despite their many differences, they had managed to agree that Rui could not be allowed to ascend the throne.

"What do you want?" Prince Raijun glared at him. "Why did you request for a meeting."

Rui heaved a sigh, resigned to the fact that his low-effort attempts at causing them to break up had failed. "I need you to terminate your contract with Minister Kramen."

"Ha!" Prince Raijun snorted with disbelief. "And why in the world would I do that?"

"Because you might be able to get to forfeit my bid to the throne," Rui calmly replied..

Prince Raijun narrowed his eyes. "What?!"

"I propose a Martial duel," Rui replied. "If you win, I'll forfeit my bid to the throne. If I win, you terminate Minister Kramen's contract."

Both princes widened their eyes with shock!

"You…" Prince Rajak stared at him like he was mad. "Are you serious?"

"Dead serious," Rui replied with a steely voice. Prince Raijun stared at him in shock. "…You have it in writing?"

"Had my team whip up a neat little contract," Rui remarked.

"…Details?"

"Senior Realm," Rui replied. "I'll be my champion; any Martial Senior can serve as your champion. Other rules and details include no weapons aside from those relating to the Martial Path. Win by death, knockout, or submission. The battle can be any barren land spanning thirty kilometers in diameter that our administrations can collectively find and inspect. A panel of invigilators comprised of Martial Masters from both sides to monitor for foul play. Let's also allow for Martial Artist spectators from across Kandria to reduce the probability that anything wrong goes unnoticed, deal?"

Prince Raijun hesitated.

The offer was extremely attractive.

Rui smiled when he saw the greed in the man's eyes.

"…Deal. I'll send a man over to your headquarters for the contract. It better be exactly as you say, otherwise I will tear it to shreds. I'll need a month to vet it with my legal team before I sign it," Prince Raijun narrowed his eyes. "You're serious about this, right?"

Rui smirked.

"Like I said, dead serious."

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