Published at 25th of December 2025 8:46 am

Chapter 3704: A Net Negative

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Emperor Rael was deeply disturbed by NOVA’s unwillingness to negotiate a peace deal with major concessions. He had expected that giving her something like fifty percent of all negatron yields would placate her enough for the war to end. Then, once Rui came back, they would have enough Martial capital to assert dominance once more.

However, NOVA had made it clear that her goals went beyond merely considering negatron matter. Whatever drove, she was clearly aware of secrets of the Panama Continent that the Emperor of Harmony had tried his damndest to hide from the true world.

The existence of Martial Transcendents and fourteen of them that were due to return, for example. Or the Panama Manifold, or the Kandrian Manifold, or even the speculation that Rui had shared with him that the esoteric matter of the Panama Continent was the source of the expansion of the planet in ways that they didn’t understand.

He didn’t strongly believe in the spurious explanations that Rui had wound up, but if the true world learned of these secrets, then they would undoubtedly be more wary of the Panama Continent.

He quickly shifted gears as he called the medical division responsible for watching over Rui, demanding an update on his son.

"He still seems to be immersed in some sort of strange mental brain activity, Your Majesty," the head doctor informed him with a serious expression. "It seems as though he’s in some sort of... dream, though we can’t say for certain. We are also unsure of when he will exit this state. No physical stimulus has elicited a response; he’s completely cut off from the real world."

Emperor Rael’s expression grew grave.

Of all the times that Rui could have chosen to simply drown in a dream, this was perhaps the worst time of them all.

"Keep continuous tabs on him and alert me the moment there are any changes."

"Understood, Your Majesty."

For now, he needed to shift his mindset to more important matters. He quickly pulled up a map featuring all the positions and intelligence on the war they had. His eyes sharpened as he spotted the two arrows that slowly approached the Kandrian Empire in large fleets of warships.

One came from beyond North Acherialis, while the other emerged from the ocean between Kiriket and Acherialis.

They sailed south towards the Panama Continent.

It was only a matter of time before they would reach the Kandrian Empire. He quickly shifted to all the developments unfolding in the Kandrian Empire; he had been apprised of the decisions that his interim council had made in cooperation with the Panamic Alliance in his absence.

They declared a national emergency and began evacuating people from East Kandria to the west. This wasn’t easy, given how many people and how much land there were in the Kandrian Empire. However, they had made the same decision that Emperor Rael would have.

The people were the highest priority. Capital, infrastructure, buildings, and all manner of private and civil property could be rebuilt, but the people could not be.

The other decisions that had been made also sat right with him. The decision to bring beasts and monsters to the very coast of East Panama and summon off-shift Martial Artists to battle was also prudent. When one’s fate was at stake, there was no such thing as off-shift, as far as the Emperor of Harmony was concerned. Every Martial Artist who was available would fight.

The elves agreed to deploy all their power through negatron wormholes to slow down and stall the incoming vessels, but there was a limit to what they could do. The wormholes were not large enough to allow them to project all of their power to stop the war fleets from reaching the Kandrian Empire, especially when they were also working against the army of giants that attacked from East of Panama.

There were, of course, areas of concern.

"If she was able to control the beasts of the therianthropes, then it is possible that she could control our beasts and monsters." His golden eyes sharpened.

He didn’t know how NOVA got her hands on Authority of Alpha, but it had proven to be effective. Rui’s Authority, however, was extremely powerful, having copied the eldritch chimera and then having successfully assimilated the authority of the Dragon Emperor into it. The Emperor of Harmony could only pray that Rui’s authority would be able to resist NOVA’s attempt to overtake it.

Based on the emergency report that Lord Vakratunda had filed, she had made use of a biological weapon along with some other tangential coordination of Greater Tekvoria to achieve authority over the therianthrope beasts.

If that was the case, then there was a high chance that she wouldn’t be able to exert authority over the beasts and monsters of the Panama Continent.

"It might be prudent to create a path for them to fight against the incoming forces, but..." His expression grew grim. "That will lead to tremendous destruction on the eastern side of the Kandrian Empire. It will be catastrophic for the economy and for the people who would lose everything that they have ever built."

He did not wish for his people to have to go through such suffering, but... he saw no way to avoid it. With two new military attacks incoming upon the Kandrian Empire even as they spoke, there was no way to fight them off at sea and hold them off afar.

He could tell that Prime Minister Edward had thought of every single possible solution in his inquiry and had failed to find anything to stave off the incoming calamity.

The Emperor of Harmony was with him.

Everything that could be tried had been tried.

"We will just have to grit our teeth and bear the punishment."

Emperor Rael did think about what was to come as a punishment. Yet, it was a punishment for Rui’s selfishness. It was a punishment that they would have to face in his stead.

Emperor Rael’s expression grew grave. "Rui... you... You have truly doomed us. For the first time, you are a net negative to our nation and to human civilization."

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