The Martial Unity

From just a single piece of information and nothing else, Rui had stacked deduction upon deduction, inference upon inference, and probability upon probability, narrowing his suspect list to four broad culprits.

"I would include the Royal Emperor as well, but…" Rui shook his head. "He could just employ the Royal Corps. He is the only one who possesses the power to face the Martial Union head-on without any reason to fear. Also, he has no reason or motive. Not to mention, he's in no state and has infinitely more things to worry about."

That was why Rui deemed the probability of the Emperor being the culprit.

"Not to mention, if he wanted me dead…I'd be dead," Rui chuckled.

Not even the Martial Union could stop or deter him—not unless they assigned him a Martial Sage as a bodyguard around the clock.

"Those are the extent of simple initial thoughts," Rui summed up his extensive and elaborate chain of logical deduction, inference, and induction. "I'll form more detailed correlative models on my death-wishers as time passes and form more rigorous evaluations of probability by correlating them with the modus operandi of the three prime suspects.

Master Reina and Gurren stared at him, dumbfounded and amazed.

"That's…incredible," Master Gurren admitted.

"So, what now?" Master Reina asked, curious about where this was going to go.

"Well, I'll have to wait and see," Rui smirked. "Inform them that the Voidreaper has accepted their commission."

Master Reina smirked, amused. "I knew it was the right choice to come to the Kandrian Empire. I've been so goddamn bored in the Shadow Isles ever since you exterminated the assassination industry."

"You didn't consider visiting Master Zeamer?" Rui smirked.

"Hah," She snorted contemptuously. "The only reason I would go visit him is if I decided I wanted to assassinate him. This time, I would succeed."

"I dunno about that, Master Reina," Rui chuckled. "I had the privilege of seeing him in action. He is absurdly powerful."

"Hmph," She snorted. "Did he tell you about how he almost died at my hands last time?"

"He did," Rui admitted, chuckling. "Still, I appreciate you taking the effort to come to Kandria and warning me about this. I'm surprised they let you in, honestly."

"Who do you think I am? I infiltrated it covertly. However, the Kandrian Border Patrol Force is definitely better than I remembered. I almost got caught by Her Excellency Sage Farana when infiltrating the nation," She remarked.

"I'm surprised you managed to get away with that," Rui threw a troubled look at her.

"This is a good lesson for a youngling like you. As long as you stay far enough away from the monsters, you'll be fine," She smirked. "Many a year has passed since this old poor teacher of yours has gotten excited with something as exciting as the Kandrian Throne War. Perhaps I should come out of retirement."

"Nonono," Rui quickly gestured. "Stay retired. For the sake of the world."

"Boo."

Rui heaved a sigh at the strange antics of his eccentric assassin Master. He had gotten used to them in the more than two years that he had spent training under her. He was lying if he said he didn't enjoy reuniting with her after all this time.

Her lessons had aided with the assassination of Chairman Deacon.

"Thank you for everything, Master Reina," Rui smiled warmly.

She put aside her jestful nature for a moment, pulling him in for a wordless soft hug before turning to the awkwardly silent Master Gurren. "Whatcha lookin' at? Do you want a hug, too? You're not my type. Sorry."

"Hmph, how arrogant," Master Gurren snorted. "So you are the reason my pupil is an arrogant brat."

Rui heaved a sigh as the two of them started bickering with each other like children.

He considered what to do. He had already inferred as much as he could from the information that Master Reina supplied him. The question was, what was the best course of action to take?

'I don't want to die, that's for sure,' he snorted, glancing at the two Martial Masters bickering. "If I were attacked by Martial Masters, would you protect me?"

"Of course," Master Gurren snorted. "Who do you think I am?"

"It would be fun to kill a Martial Master after so long," Master Reina remarked.

"Ok, if I was ambushed by a Martial Senior, then what?" Rui raised an eyebrow.

"You're on your own," Master Gurren said, shaking his head. "Martial Artists are not supposed to coddle those of lower Realms."

"I will wish you the best and hope for an entertaining show," Master Reina flicked him a thumbs up.

"Hah," Rui snorted, amused. "Appreciate the warm support."

He shook his head with resignation. Master Zeamer had said something similar to the two of them back soon after his fight with Senior Zenshin. It appeared that this wasn't just their personal opinions but also a norm or trend among those of the Master Realm.

Yet he wasn't disappointed.

In actuality, he had hoped for this.

He had been looking for serious and lethal combat opportunities.

What better way to be thrust into serious and lethal combat circumstances than to be targeted by powerful assassins?

"Surely you don't intend to accept the commission?" Master Reina gazed at him with interest.

"I'm not going to assassinate myself, no," Rui replied. "But…I do want to speak to the people commissioning me to kill me. It will be a good opportunity to gain the identity of the culprit. Still…"

His eyes narrowed. "I have some interesting ideas to learn the identity of those who commissioned assassins to kill me; it all depends on how everything turns out and what their intentions are when it comes to going about my assassination."

"Prudent approach," Master Reina nodded. "I'll convey your acceptance of the commission."

"Tell them that I need to know the identity of the commissioner before I accept the assassination," Rui smiled, interested. "I'm curious to see how they go about this."