The Martial Unity

2446  All Hell Broke Loose

Emperor Rael took the first step in crushing Prime Minister Edward's trump card by owning it and not backing down. He knew from the very get-go that it was almost impossible for anyone to believe him if he denied the accusations.

This tied back to the pieces of evidence of Rui's scheme and plan that were beginning to be unearthed and resurfacing. It made lots of people very suspicious of the Emperor of Harmony and any attempt to deny the claims would simply be met with more suspicion.

The only way to break past this swamp was to own the accusation and rob them of their strength. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

This was an extremely risky strategy, for obvious reasons.

For one, there was a lot of resentment tied to the outcome of the Kandrian Throne War. A single mistake would cause all that resentment to choke the Kandrian Empire and deprive it of all its political support.

That was why he started with Kandria's allies before anybody else.

They were the most likely to support the Kandrian Empire given the investment that they had already made, and thus would be most receptive to salvaging what was otherwise shaping to be a great alliance.

And it worked.

By the end of the Kandrian Summit, each of the Kandrian allies returned home with varying degrees of satisfaction. Not all of them were perfectly happy, but all of them had reaffirmed their commitment to the Kandrian Empire. Yet, while he had managed to fix the cracks in his existing allies, his job was much harder when it came to attracting new allies from the undecided powers. "Why trust a man who lied?" Prime Minister Edward smiled.

In a conference hall in the Britannian Empire were the entirety of the East Panamic Treaty Alliance as well as all the undecided powers of East Panama.

At the very head of the table sat Prime Minister Edward, President Raymond, and the leaders of the Sekigahara Confederate.

Immediately beside them were the various allies who were part of the East Panamic Treaty Alliance. These were vassal nations of the Britannian Empire, indebted nations to the Republic of Gorteau, or just war-stricken nations in the domain of influence of the Sekigahara Confederate. These were nations that had no choice but to join the East Panamic Treaty Alliance.

Perfunctory as their smiles were, none of them wanted to be where they were. They were simply too close to the three Sage-level powerhouses. Their lives would have become absolutely miserable if they had even thought of joining the Kandrian Empire.

On the other side of the table were the various undecided powers who had accepted the invitation to a joint summit with the Alliance in order to hear them out. "As I'm sure you've very recently learned, the Emperor of Harmony has already admitted to all the accusations of fraud that have been raised in the now famous investigative report." The Prime Minister smiled confidently. "One-point-seven trillion gold coins and he didn't even hesitate. What makes you think that you will be any different? He already defrauded all his supporters once because he was desperate. What makes you think he wouldn't do it again?"

A hint of tension lingered in the air as the Britannian Prime Minister hammered home the point.

His smile deepened as he cold-read the various delegates and leaders that he was hosting. He could tell that most of them had plenty of misgivings about the Kandrian Empire due to the fraud that had taken place during the Kandrian Throne War.

These nations had already hesitated to put so much trust in the Kandrian Empire's lofty future promises, but after this they were truly unwilling to take the risks of fighting three Sage-level powerhouses for a nation that they didn't entirely believe in.

These were nations whose leaders were highly cautious and conservative; they wouldn't take risks and were in favor of maintaining stability and predictable monotony rather than enduring some dangers and pains in order to pave the way for a better tomorrow.

"The guildmaster of the Shionel Confederation tried doing that…" Prime Minister Edward's smile grew sinister. "The Shionel Confederation suffered a lot and even lost a Martial Sage. Tell me…"

He leaned forward with steepled fingers. "Do you want to join their path?"

A hint of fear cracked through their poker faces.

His smile deepened.

And that was when he knew that he had succeeded.

All he needed to do was inspire enough fear in these cowards at the very thought of defying the East Panamic Treaty Alliance. He was grateful that most leaders and rulers were spineless wimps who were easy to manipulate using fear, which was his modus operandi. And it was the polar opposite of how Emperor Rael operated.

Perhaps that was why Prime Minister Edward was so fixated on him. The two of them were gifted with similar levels of competencies, yet shared polar opposite political philosophies and modus operandis.

Yet, this time, Prime Minister Edward was confident that he would win.

The power of fear trumped the power of friendship.

If he could get all these nations to join the East Panamic Treaty Alliance, then he would have obtained the power to destroy the Kandrian Empire without a pyrrhic victory.

He was so close.

He was so close to absolute victory.

And that was why nothing could be allowed to impede it.

"Now then." A hint of bloodlust appeared on his face as his powerful, piercing gaze swept across all of them. "You have one day to decide."

They stiffened in their seats.

The air tingled.

It tingled with peril.

"You have one day to decide or I'll ravage your nations with all of our Sages." His face distorted with malice. "We will set your nation ablaze and tear down everything you and your ancestors have ever built."

Chills crawled across their skin as they felt pure dread gripping at their hearts.

"It will be an apocalypse the likes of which you have never ever seen before."

Their expressions grew grave and severe.

They couldn't afford to deal with this. At that moment, they had already made their decisions.

Or so they thought.

"Do not make an enemy out of u—!"

SPLAT!!!

"AARARGHH!!!!"

Prime Minister Edward froze as his horrified gaze slowly shifted to the projection of one of his allies. Blood gushed out of the slit in the man's neck as the projection of his lifeless corpse fell on the table.

All hell broke loose as the entire conference grew aghast at what had just happened before them!

And yet, it was only the beginning.