CHAPTER 2257: FINAL DUEL
While the Martial Artists of the Sekigahara Confederate were uncharacteristically in a state of depression, the civil leaders of the state were in a confidential dialogue with their
counterparts in the other powerhouses of East Panama.
They had come to a conclusion rather quickly after having taken full stock of the variety of disasters that had befallen the Sekigahara Confederate.
They needed to ally with the Republic of Gorteau and the Britannian Empire.
Painful as it was to admit, the human leaders of the Sekigahara Confederate had already accepted that they were no match for the Kandrian Empire. With twenty-three known Martial Sages and an estimated hundred-seventy Martial Masters, the Kandrian Empire had become the most powerful nation in the history of the Age of Martial Art.
An all-out war between it and the Sekigahara Confederate meant certain defeat and destruction for the latter.
They could not afford to fight the Kandrian Empire by themselves. Thus, the most obvious course of action, albeit unpleasant, was to ally with the Republic of Gorteau and, most importantly, the Britannian Empire.
The latter, functionally led by Prime Minister Edward, a man who had gained recognition and had been personally appointed by Transcendent Emperor Arthur, was someone they had come to acknowledge as necessary to overcome the Kandrian Empire and the Emperor of Harmony. "I must admit, this happened sooner than I foresaw." Prime Minister allowed himself a smug grin. "I had initially predicted that this would happen after a few months. However, it appears that Rael has prepared well this time, having driven you to desperation upon the first battle itself. How pitiful."
The clan leaders of the Sekigahara Confederate bristled at his words. "Do not insult us, Prime Minister."
Prime Minister Edward chuckled to himself, shaking his head lightly. "Well, let us establish a few rules for this alliance."
His eyes sharpened as his demeanor grew perilous. "The weight of our voices correlates with our military capital. This has always been true in any form of collaborative endeavor but has never mattered in the past, for the military capital of the four Sage-level powerhouses has always been equal for all practical purposes. Now, however..."
His tone grew heavy as his powerful gaze swept around the table, "that is no longer true, is it?"
The leaders and representatives of the two polities couldn't help but grow more grave as the meaning of his words most certainly didn't escape them. It wasn't even a secret at this point. "Now, however, you lot are weakened in your ability to contribute to the net Martial and military capital of the proposed combined warfront of our would-be alliance." Prime Minister ruthlessly exposed their weakness without mincing any words about the matter. "The Sekigahara Confederate cannot even sleep well at night in fear of the Esocline Federation that plagues your fears in its ability to demonstrate. I doubt you'd be willing to deploy more than fifty percent of your Martial Sages outside your territory."
The clan leaders of the Sekigahara Confederate gritted their teeth but did not refute the Prime Minister's words. Even the Martial Sages of Sekigahara agreed to this arrangement, and they transferred military command authority to clan leaders in an unprecedented move.
"And you..." Prime Minister's expression crumpled with bare contempt as he faced President Raymond, who flinched at the piercing gaze of the Prime Minister. "You are so incompetent that Rael probably goes to sleep thanking his stars for having the President of Gorteau be you. You cannot leverage more than half of the Republic of Gorteau's net military power dispersed across your outsized private sector. In other words, neither party has anywhere near as much of a voice in this would-be alliance as I do. Is that understood?"
The hardened expressions of the leaders and representatives of the two polities reluctantly acquiesced to the Prime Minister's clear-cut highlighting of the differences between them.
"I will lead this alliance to victory as the interim head." Prime Minister asserted with an unyielding tone. "If you seek to attain victory against the Kandrian Empire in this war. Then, it can only be me."
They disliked his attitude, but their silence indicated that they did not disagree with his statements.
"...I don't see the point of even having the role of an interim leader of our proposed allied warfront," President Raymond remarked with a light huff. "Yes, the Kandrian Empire has an additional seven Martial Sages, but even considering that, we should be at a numerical advantage even considering that and our...predicament. I cannot imagine that we cannot muster more than twenty-three Sages."
Prime Minister Edward scoffed with disdain. Militarily illiterate leaders like President Raymond were the reason he hated democracies.
"Battles are not symmetric counting games where the one with the most numbers is automatically the winner. Yes, we can muster up more Sages than they have. However, unless we fight with a two-to-one numeric advantage, we will suffer heavy losses. Do you think it is possible to kill all the Martial Sages of the Kandrian Empire without suffering devastating, even greater losses that will take another five hundred years to heal? The death of each Martial Sage represents the loss of centuries of cultivation of power. I do not know about the two of you, but I do not wish to go with a pyrrhic victory that will leave the Britannian Empire so weakened that it falls from being a Sage-level powerhouse to being just an ordinary Sage- level nation."
His words were true.
The reason that they were waging war against the Kandrian Empire was to protect their dominance and influence from the future of the Kandrian Empire, which would undoubtedly dominate them all after it overcame the Great Limit.
"There's no point in waging a war to protect our dominance if that same war destroys our dominance by heavily weakening us." Prime Minister Edward snorted. "That is what Emperor Rael is counting on. He does not need to engage in active deterrence; he has cleverly ensured that Kandria has accrued just enough power to make fighting it more detrimental than not fighting it."Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.
Prime Minister Edward cracked a smile at the edge of his mouth with grudging respect.
He was glad that his rival had clearly brought out his top game.
He looked forward to what would be shaping up to be their final and greatest duel.