The Martial Unity

When Rui arrived, the Masters of the Martial Union would not have thought he was about to fight life-changing duels if they didn’t know better. While most other Martial Artists in his position would be deeply stressed about winning the duel for not wanting to suffer a horrible fate, he arrived at Daracol with an enthusiastic smile on his face.

The number of Martial Masters that had chosen to bear witness to his duels was not low.

While not every Martial Master could make it, he had undoubtedly broken a sort of record for the sheer number of Martial Masters that had made the time to be able to witness the power of the most extraordinary Martial Artist that they had ever seen. STEP

When he arrived at the designated battlefield in Daracol, the many gathered Martial Masters were already waiting outside the enormous battlefield that stretched hundreds of kilometers in diameter.

Such a distance was nothing for their powerful senses.

Yet, Rui did not direct his attention to the many friends he had among them.

No.

Within the battlefield, he found himself staring at a single person.

A single being.

“Sage Lemolen,” Rui bowed his head in respect to the powerful Martial Sage that stood before him. Clad in dark, black attire and a hood over his head, the man stuck out like a sore thumb. Rui had never seen a Martial Sage control their aura as well as Sage Lemolen did. It was as though the man was not even a Martial Artist at all.

He couldn’t detect the heavy aura that was characteristic of Martial Sages. He couldn’t detect their usual influence on the environment.

“Master Rui…” A raspy whisper escaped him as his eyes narrowed. “Are you prepared?”

The Martial Sage pinned Rui with a powerful gaze and visible displeasure in his eyes.

“Of course, Your Sagehood.”

“I will be the arbiter of your duel. I shall ensure the battle is carried out in accordance with the rules of the battle while also ensuring that it is shielded from unauthorized surveillance. We cannot have the strategic intelligence of our Martial Masters leaked to the outside world.”

His declaration was not light.

“I’m honored, Your Sagehood.”

“Are you?” He glared at Rui. “If you truly were honored, you would not have deceived us, all of us, the way you did. The first thing I wanted to do after learning of your deceit was kill the Silent Shadow and hunt you down in the Beast Domain.”

“…” Rui simply stared at the man with a composed demeanor.

“Yet, I’m afraid this farce of a penalty will have to suffice.” He snorted. “I hope justice prevails. Now that you are here, I see no reason to delay the commencement of the first battle.”

He waved his hand and a Martial Master immediately emerged from the base, entering the battlefield.

His upper body was bear while his lower body was garbed in Martial attire. He featured a well-honed Martial Body with highly developed muscles and immense power.

“Master Gerlin Hanti of the Earth Sect, grade nine, will be your first opponent.” Sage Lemolen solemnly declared

The man regarded Rui with a glowering expression. “Master Rui.”

“…It’s been a while, Master Gerlin,” Rui calmly addressed him.

This was a man who had joined Rui’s faction four years ago with tentative enthusiasm and had completely turned against him after learning about his deception.

Rui could directly sense the anger festering within his mind,

“You have taken the many things you’ve been blessed with for granted,” he accused. “I’m here to teach you that deceit comes at a cost. Your Martial Mind may be more powerful than mine, but my Body and Heart are far more powerful than yours!”

He took a stance, tucking his fist at his side while his arm was brought before him, spreading his legs and distributing his weight.

“…” Rui simply stared at him for a moment before taking his classic neutral stance.

The two Martial Masters faced each other, prepared for combat.

Rui remained unmoved while Master Gerlin grew increasingly furious at Rui’s nonchalance.

“Begin.”

Sage Lemolen’s raspy commenced the duel.

BADUMP!

Their Martial Hearts and Martial Minds blazed into power.

Instantly, his opponent’s Martial Embodiment bloomed.

A spiked armor. One that could not be attacked without hurting one’s self.

One moment, it stood tall and proud.

The very next…

“…!” Master Gerlin froze as Rui’s Martial Embodiment erupted in all its ephemeral glory.

It erupted in a horrifying tsunami, washing over his opponent.

It spread far beyond, encompassing the entire battlefield.

The many Martial Masters spectating shuddered as an avalanche of endless darkness subsumed them.

An endless void.

It was nothing, yet everything.

“What is this…?” Master Vericita whispered with fear in her eyes as she beheld a Martial Embodiment more powerful than anything she had ever felt in her entire life. The sheer flood of information was so high that each Martial Master needed to activate their own Martial Minds just to withstand all of it!

“Rgh…” Master Ceeran gritted his teeth. “So powerful!”

“Truly…” Master Zentra remarked. “…Truly unfathomable.”

“Kekeke…!” Master Reina cackled. “As expected of my pupil!”

Most of them were shocked speechless even as their Martial Minds fought back against the titanic flood of information that coursed from his Martial Embodiment.

Sage Lemolen narrowed his eyes gravely as he bore witness to the unimaginable power of Rui’s Martial Embodiment.

It had exceeded even his expectations by a large margin.

Master Gerlin was frozen, unmoving.

No.

He was unable to move.

His affinity as a Martial Artist had always been that of Body. He had barely managed to break through to the Master Realm with a pitifully weak Martial Mind.

Enough to fight Martial Masters but…

“Ngggrh!” He gritted his teeth as his eyes grew bloodshot. He struggled.

To think.

To decide.

To move.

Martial Embodiments forcefully injected information into the subconscious mind through their interpretation of nonverbal communication after misdirecting, which could not be regulated by the misdirected conscious mind.

Normally, the information it conveyed was far too weak to impede any Martial Mind.

Yet, what if the disparity between two Martial Minds was so great that the information conveyed by the Martial Embodiment of one was greater than what the other could process?

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