The Martial Unity

The Emperor of Harmony stared at the two of them with a dismayed expression, his golden eyes honed in on Rui sharply. "Where have you been? Do you have any idea what your disappearance does for our strategic outlook? You are our top-ten powerhouse, and yet, you can be deeply unreliable when we need you the most."

Rui winced at those words with an apologetic expression. "My bad. I was dealing with an important personal quest of mine. I just finished it a while back."

The Emperor of Harmony stared at his son with a tired expression, heaving a sigh. "If you have things you need to attend to, then be clear about your intentions, don't say you will participate in a battle for half a day and then just completely disappear, forgetting about that commitment. And as for your personal matter…"

He turned to the Divine Doctor with a raised eyebrow. "You were looking for him?"

"Your Majesty." The Divine Doctor acknowledged Emperor Rael, who simply frowned at his behavior.

"Are you… really the Divine Doctor?" He knitted his eyebrows. "I don't recall you being so… normal."

Emperor Rael had known the man for a long time, ever since he had healed him from his disease. He had spent a long time in the Kandrian Empire, researching the manifold tree and its mechanics right down to its microbiology. He had grown familiar with the man's inhuman body language and lack of anything that could be called a soul.

And yet, the man standing before him, while calm and composed, contained a softness and warmth that he thought to be impossible for a monster like the Divine Doctor he knew.

"I have undergone some growth in this vessel," the Divine Doctor remarked, gazing at his hands. "A hundred and sixty-eight years have proven to be enough to heal what I originally lost in my first soul transference ritual, which was imperfect and led to me becoming a psychopath. It appeared that it was always something that required a lot of time to heal, but I was never able to get that time since it exceeded the lifespan of my vessels."

It was a problem that was fixed with some immortality. The impaired parts of his brain responsible for empathy and human connection had managed to begin to return to a normal state.

Of course, despite that, the Divine Doctor was still far from a normal person, unable to experience pain or fear, both of which were essential to the human experience, but at least he didn't come off as a monster wearing human skin as a disguise anymore.

"I see…" the Emperor of Harmony mused as he studied the man's spacesuit, before turning to study the outer space breathing apparatus that Rui still had on his body. "You two… were in space?"

"I had gone to outer space to behold Gaia as a whole with my own eyes to try and get a hint for my mission," the Divine doctor casually remarked.

"And I was trying to find him," Rui added. "I helped him with his mission, and he helped me with my objective. It was a win-win."

"When you say 'mission,'" the Emperor of Harmony stared at the Divine Doctor with a dubious expression. "You mean the one where you want to 'heal Gaia?'"

The skepticism was clearly audible.

"Correct," the Divine Doctor remarked with a serious tone. "We have something important to inform you of in that regard. That is why I took the liberty of joining your son in speaking to you."

Emperor Rael's eyebrow rose. "We are in the middle of a world war involving all superpowers and an increasing number of major and minor states and organizations. How I spend each passing moment will determine the future of our continent, and you want to talk to me about 'healing Gaia?'"

"It's important, Father." Rui's tone grew serious. "This might be even more significant than the world war."

The Emperor of Harmony could hardly bring himself to believe that. Yet, he knew that his son, for all his faults, did not mess around when it came to truly important matters.

He heaved a sigh. "I have a little over half an hour before the first meeting of the day. Be quick."

"With pleasure."

The two of them took their seats opposite the Emperor of Harmony as they explained all the insights that they had made.

How the already unlikely events of the Epoch of Evolution, the negatron core, and the manifold over the Panama Continent occurring simultaneously suggested a common cause. An alien common cause, based on the manifold tree being of alien origin.

They described their chain of logic, summarizing all the information they had of the events that followed, before zooming out to the big picture of what the foreign agent was and how it behaved.

Initially, Emperor Rael listened with merely faint interest. He couldn't imagine how anything they had to say could compare to the existential and acute threat of the world war.

But the more he listened, the more stunned he grew.

The sheer scope of their hypothesis was so great that it exceeded even the consequences of the world war. Even if the threat was not as acute as three superpowers trying to annihilate them, he couldn't help but be moved by the sheer weight of their insights.

"A virus of alien origin…?" he whispered with a stunned tone. "But… but how? Why? What is the purpose of this virus? Where did it come from?"

Rui shook his head. "We don't know. Most likely it is beyond anything that we can possibly fathom."

The Emperor of Harmony frowned. "If what you are saying is true… then it would mean that this entity almost certainly is not acting in our interests."

"That is almost certainly the case, yes." The Divine Doctor nodded.

"Where is this virus?" the Emperor of Harmony sharpened his golden eyes. "If you are unable to narrow it down beyond Gaia as a whole, then finding it is hopeless."