The Martial Unity

The battle between Rui and King Albus was the most important battle of all, everything hinged on it. Although the Ferendul coup forces led by the former king of Ferendul had gained a small measure of Rui's capabilities and had been impressed, it was not strictly enough to say that Rui would definitively win against King Albus.

When Farun heard that Rui had openly challenged his son, he couldn't help but grow immensely upset. He had hoped that Rui would exploit the element of surprise to the absolute maximum, gaining an advantage early on in the battle. Ideally, he hoped that Rui would kill Albus before the latter could tap into the power of the Senior Realm, but he knew that Martial Seniors could not be killed in such a manner.

The worst outcome, however, was completely surrendering his element of surprise and evening out the battle. Now the battle truly could go either way, becoming a variable that Farun could no longer control or predict.

He had been receiving updates from a Martial Squire who observed the battle from quite a distance to make sure that he avoided the sheer destruction that the two Martial Seniors left behind. While the coup was shaping up to be successful on his part due to his careful planning, he only felt increasingly nervous as the Senior-level battle proceeded.

"...Eh?"

"What is it?" Farun urged the man. "Did something happen to John?"

"It's the sinner, sir. He..."

"Speak dammit!" Farun cursed.

"He's dead."

Farun's eyes widened. "What?!"

"I'm moving in closer to get a better look sir, but there's no doubt about it. King Albus is dead!"

Farun simply stood there dumbstruck. To think that the most difficult part of his ambitions to launch a coup was handled so quickly.

It had barely been ten minutes since the battle had begun.

Now all he had to was succeed on his part, and they would have won.

"Bring his head over here as quickly as possible!" Farun grinned excitedly.

Unlike him, Rui was not having a good day.

He had hoped for a riveting battle, one that would challenge him deeply and help him grow stronger. But he had been incredibly disappointed in how shockingly weak his opponent was.

It wasn't even funny, the man was a lot weaker than Ieyasu despite being in the Senior Realm for much longer and being much older in general.

Rui wasn't entirely sure if it was a matter of his opponent being too weak or him being too strong. Part of the reason he had fought this battle was to gain a good gauge as to where he was in the Senior Realm compared to people who broke through not too long ago.

Yet the result left him a bit too confused.

It was at times like these that he missed the Martial Union. They graded him quite accurately, such that he never felt confused about where he was in the Apprentice or Squire Realms

Now, however, it appeared that it would take a while before he learned how strong he was, he would probably need to fight a lot more battles before he could develop an inkling of his power level relative to his peers.

"Tsk, what a pain." Rui simply tutted before leaving the area, heading towards the Derimont Bazaar.

If fighting several Senior-level battles was what it took to gain a better understanding of his own power standing, then that was exactly what he would do. Thankfully, he had plenty of ways to fight Martial Seniors, and the Beggar's Sect had plenty of operations for him to fulfill.

He intended to complete as many as he could to not only get a good gauge of how strong he was but also bolster his experience when it came to fighting Martial Seniors.

He didn't bother corresponding with Farun anymore, the man had a coup to win, and with Rui's victory, it was as good as guaranteed as long as he wasn't incompetent.

His mind returned to the various missions and operations that the Beggar's Sect had offered to him to complete.

One of them in particular, drew his interest.

[Assassination mission: Xavier Minneson]

The Beggar's Sect had commissioned him for a hit on a Martial Senior who was apparently the head of the biggest human trafficking ring in the Saiful Region. Senior Minneson had used his personal Martial power to set up an organization that systematically captured and kidnapped people for them to be sold in the Derimont Bazaar.

It was said that at least half of the supply of humans in the various markets, whether it be slaves, sex slaves, organ donors, or child slaves were all from the Minneson trafficking ring.

"These missions are quite convenient," Rui murmured. "They're so easy to choose."

Unlike when he was in the Kandrian Empire and often had trouble choosing a mission, these two missions had both been no-brainers.

His eyes narrowed when he recalled what he had seen in the Derimont Bazaar. "I told you I'd make you pay."

Since Senior Minnson probably used his Martial power to hold his organization together, killing him would probably cause it to unravel on the spot, a highly desirable outcome as far as Rui was concerned.

"It's settled then, I'm going to do my good deed for the day."

Of course, he knew that his actions were not going to get rid of human trafficking in the Saiful region. He also knew that eventually another organization would probably pop up and pick up the slack that the Senior Minneson would leave behind if he died.

Such was human nature, if there was demand, then supply would always meet. Without fail. It was the strongest force, and it could not be stopped. Rui needed only to think back on the war on drugs, or the war on human trafficking back in his previous life to know that this was true.

The only way that he could do something about it was if he became strong enough to impact all of humanity. And as prodigious as Rui's growth rate was, it was most likely going to take a while to get to that power level.