He glanced at Master Deivon with a careful expression. The man had been remarkably upfront about the circumstances that Rui was in. He didn't need to do that, really.
It was an act of good faith.
He was trying to signal to Rui that he was still on his side without being too direct to scare Rui away.
He appreciated that. He would have actually panicked a bit more if Master Deivon had aggressively insisted that he was there to help Rui.
Instead, he chose honesty and let Rui make his own evaluation.
"What is your opinion on the matter of what happened in my two matches?" Rui asked with a careful tone. "Since you are an atheist, you must have a more sober view of what happened, correct?"
For the first time, Rui detected true uncertainty from the Martial Master. The fact that the Master did not respond immediately was telling in and of itself.
"I... don't know what to believe." He admitted with remarkable honesty. "I used to think that the Divine Prophecy was a bunch of gish-gallop that a powerful Martial Transcendent had fabricated to create a powerful religion that he could cease control of, but... I have increasingly come to believe that this may not be the case."
Rui's eyes widened.
He almost felt honoured in a twisted way.
'You're getting full of yourself, Rui.' He immediately disapproved of himself. That was not the right reaction to have in this moment.
"Surely you don't believe I'm a deity from another world with the power of Creation and Destruction of Martial Art in two hands?" Rui jested, hoping to get the Martial Master to come to his senses.
Yet he remained silent.
Rui raised an eyebrow, realizing the man was serious.
"I don't know where you came from," The elder Martial Artist replied. "Regardless of whether you are a deity in making or not. I believe that you are destined for greatness. I believe that you are important to the future of Martial Art, perhaps the future of the world. I believe that... you are not someone who can or should be contained by a mere religion that is a lot more rotten than it looks."
Rui remained silent as he carefully studied the man with all his senses.
"I hope to have made a positive impact on your Martial Path and your journey to the pinnacle. As for the Divine Mission... I have chosen to reject that calling. It is one that is incentivized by purely selfish incentives within the Faith. I have made my own choice. Once you finish the Martial Contest, I will obscure your departure to the best of my ability. Leave, and obtain the power that you are surely destined to have. Once you become a Martial Master, the ability of the forces of this world to infringe on you is far more limited." The Master spoke with an increasingly determined voice.
It was as though uttering his conviction was the final step in committing himself to it.
The magnitude of this was not something Rui had missed. He was missing out on a lot if he chose to indulge in less extreme solutions.
Rui was actually prepared to inform him that the Kandrian Martial Union had a vested interest in him had Master Deivon decided to take a more unsavoury approach.
Then it would become a question of whether it was worth making an enemy out of many Martial Sages and Martial Masters, all for Rui.
Thankfully, he didn't need to go this route.
"I appreciate your graciousness. Thank you for not infringing on me with the justification of religious providence," Rui bowed to him slightly.
The man shook his head. "It isn't that great a deed. Now go, the reconstruction will be done soon."
Rui smiled, nodding, before departing.
He had a lot to think about, but for now, he wanted to focus on the reason that he was even remaining in this tournament.
An opportunity to break through to the Senior Realm. Three years had passed since he departed from the Shionel Confederation, and he was getting increasingly impatient and unsatisfied.
His psychology had started shifting too. He didn't even feel like a Martial Squire anymore. He truly felt he was ready to break through to a higher Realm of power. There was one person who perhaps possessed the ability to push him to break through.
If that didn't happen, he would leave the Virodha Theocracy and the Faith and head to the remaining person who could push him through.
What he was truly worried about was if he didn't break through even there. He would have to spend a lot of time searching for someone or something that could force him to break through. In fact, it would even be the case that he would have to stop actively developing his Martial Art, lest he became too powerful for any Martial Squire to even challenge.
That was a horrible scenario.
It was why he was determined to break through against Meera.
When he arrived at the colosseum, it had already been restored and an absurdly huge crowd was waiting outside the structure.
They even noticed Rui sky-walking to the structure with conspicuous Squire-level guards meant to assure his safety while he was a contestant.
"It's HIM!"
"I'm your biggest fan!"
"Are you a Martial Senior in secret?!"
It was only then that Rui realized that he was inadvertently a celebrity within the Virodha Theocracy.
'I suppose it can't be helped.' Rui sighed in resignation. Given what he had accomplished, he wasn't surprised.
His story had spread like wildfire across the entire nation and beyond. He had been too preoccupied to care before. But now that he had seen his fame manifest in such an overt manner, he found it to be overwhelming.
Still, it was probably a good thing. The more famous he was, the harder it was to act openly against someone that had earned the admiration of so many. The public's approval was an important stakeholder interest that every power block needed to be careful around.
