The Martial Unity

The Divine Doctor and Rui exchanged a knowing gaze. "What we are about to say is merely a hypothesis, but most likely… the virus, or at least the Source with which the virus makes the planet bigger, is within the Panama Continent."

Emperor Rael's eyes widened. "…What?"

"It makes sense when you consider everything that we know about esoteric substances, the timing of its arrival, the purpose of the manifold…" Rui continued to explain the line of logic that they had explored.

Emperor Rael grew more severe as Rui described the full extent of their hypothesis. "…So you think that esoteric substances were brought here by the virus to contribute in some unfathomable process of enlargening the planet through matter and negatron matter production?"

"…It's the most likely possibility," Rui confirmed. "The esoteric substances that we take for a boon may very well be the source of our demise."

The air tingled with a hint of tension as the Emperor of Harmony digested these shocking insights.

A faint hint of peril hung in the atmosphere.

The notion that esoteric matter was purposed for their destruction was chilling.

The idea that all this time they had regarded it as their greatest gift, it was actually an instrument of subverting this planet for unfathomable purposes, was truly horrifying.

It sent chills across Emperor Rael's skin even as the team of stylists worked on it. Rui had ensured that they couldn't hear what was being said, allowing them to simply focus on their work, blissfully ignorant of the tremendously important matters being discussed.

The mood in the royal office darkened despite the bright light of the morning sun beaming through the windows prominently.

"If what you are saying is true, then…" the Emperor of Harmony continued with a low tone. "Then this continent is the canvas of alien machinations. We are protecting a hostile alien entity trying to subvert our entire world for their own personal purposes."

"…That might very well be the case, yes." Rui nodded with a serious expression. "Esoteric matter is still not entirely understood despite all the research the Esoterist and his state have done. We don't understand how it interacts with our world. We haven't even measured to what depth it is present within our continent, just that it doesn't seem to stop, no matter how much we dig."

Emperor Rael's expression tightened. "If what you are saying is true, then… in order to truly be safe, we would need to extract and exorcise every single esoteric resource in our continent?"

"…Most likely," the Divine Doctor remarked. "If it is the source of Gaia's illness, then we cannot allow it to remain in our world any longer. This is a matter of the survival of all life and our world itself."

The Emperor of Harmony heaved a deep breath before shaking his head.

"This is just a hypothesis. You have no proof of anything. These are spurious inferences woven together to create a narrative."

Rui frowned at those words. It was not like his father to be this dogmatic about something that clearly had some merit to it. "You know that some of this is guaranteed to be true, especially the foundations of this logic. The manifold creation, the epoch of evolution, and the commencement of the enlargening process, these are each highly unlikely events individually; you think that they just magically happened simultaneously?"

That was the strongest part of their hypothesis, the sheer astronomically minute probability of these events occurring together by chance. It was truly unfathomable that this was pure chance, and Emperor Rael clearly knew that.

Yet, he refused to yield.

"If the consequences of this being true are that we need to uproot our entire continent of the priceless treasures that we have, then…" His golden eye sharpened. "You will need to do much, much better than 'this is unlikely to be chance.' The consequences of acting on this are so dire that I need absolute certainty with irrefutable proof of your hypothesis. Until then, this conspiracy of a 'virus' or 'Gaia being alive' is just nonsense that I cannot accept."

Rui simply stared at his father with a hint of disdain. "You're being too close-minded and you're setting your standards of proof too high. Proving it absolutely will be almost impossible, and you know it."

"Not any more impossible than removing all esoteric substances from our continent, my son." The Emperor of Harmony sharpened his gaze. "I cannot allow such a radical option to pass. We cannot simply exorcise our esoteric matter like it is the taint of a disease."

Rui's eyes grew serious as a hint of realization dawned on him. "…That's what this is about, isn't it?"

"I don't know what you mean." Emperor Rael replied coldly.

"You are unable to even entertain the idea that we might need to get rid of esoteric matter." Rui's keen observation pierced through. "You rejected that option dogmatically, not with any rational consideration. If I told you that something was a disease in our land that could lead to the destruction of the entire world as we know it, the rational response would be to seriously consider getting rid of it."

"Esoteric matter is a part of us." Emperor Rael shook his head. "It is a part of our continent, of our home. I cannot and will not tolerate any plan of even trying to get rid of it, not without the most absolute of imperatives.

"Esoteric matter is of alien origin, Father," Rui remarked. "Our ancestors lived without it, as proven by the Lost Cities, merely a thousand three hundred years ago. Look at the world beyond our continent, devoid of esoteric matter. That is how the world normally is. How it normally should be. How Gaia naturally is. If our hypothesis is true, then we are the equivalent of traitors who have grown addicted to the machinations of aliens who don't have our interests at heart."

For the first time in his life, the Emperor of Harmony found himself thrashing against logic with all his sensibilities. He had spent four centuries in a world of esoteric matter. He had spent four centuries in a home where esoteric matter was as essential to the world as soil beneath his feet or the air that they breathed.

He simply couldn't bring himself to accept that they were a foreign contaminant of alien machinations.

"Bring me absolute and irrefutable proof." Emperor Rael's golden eyes grew serious. "Until then, esoteric matter will remain in Panama as the boon that it is."