The Martial Unity

The first phase of the battle was over.

The Sekigaharans no longer grinned maniacally, reveling in their numeric advantage as they did at the start of the battle.

They no longer focused on having the ideal victory of heading to the Kandrian Empire after killing the Masters of the Kandrian Empire. It had been a foolhardy objective to attempt in the first place, but at least there was some rationale with it when it came to numerical superiority.

Now, however, due to some of their incorrect predictions of Rui’s combat level, they had underestimated his current power level and had gravely suffered deep losses.

Their original plan was duly updated.

“We head straight towards the Kandrian Empire, no matter what.” The swordswoman sheathed her katana as her gaze remained fixed on Rui. “The Kandrian Empire will fall today.”

“Not gonna happen.” Rui’s eyes narrowed as his steely gaze met her cold eyes.

“You are not strong enough to stop us.” Her stoic voice reached him. “He’s not alone.” Master Zentra’s calm voice reached her. “Your operation is already a failure. Pursuing it any further will only lead to more bloodshed on both sides. If you leave now, we won’t pursue you.”

She closed her eyes. “You seem to be under the misunderstanding that we Sekigaharans think like you spineless harmony-lovers.”

The Masters of the Kandrian Empire glared at her upon those words.

A pure and unadulterated bloodlust boiled in her eyes as her gaze fixed on Rui.

“Today, you and your Empire will die.”

Rui simply stared at her wordlessly.

It was clear that they had not yet been deterred from continuing the operation that they had set out to complete.

“There’s nothing more to be said.” He took his classic stance facing her.

“I agree,” she concurred with a composed tone. “Kill them if they get in our way to the Kandrian Empire.”

The Martial Masters of the Sekigahara Confederate surged forward as the second round of the Master-level battle commenced.

BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM!!

The Masters of the Kandrian Empire gritted their teeth as they re-engaged with their rivals. This time, they not only needed to fight to protect themselves, but they also couldn’t let their guards down to ensure that they didn’t fall for the juke-and-run tactic that the Sekigaharan Martial Masters were looking to pull while fighting.

While the Masters spread across the entire battlefield, Rui found himself staring at the swordswoman in a silent face-off.

She was strong.

Not only was she strong, but she also possessed perfect control over it, able to ensure that none of her power slipped out.

That put him on guard instantly.

On top of that, he could sense that her mind was impressively calm. As though she had rid herself of all superfluous thoughts and emotions, focusing solely on her opponent.

His nerves tingled as her grip on her katana tightened.

Thankfully, he had built a predictive model on her and was rapidly building a SOUL model on her as well.

Suddenly, his eyes widened as he abruptly leaped into the air.

BOOOM!!

The very land beneath his feet erupted as an entire region’s worth of land was uprooted by her sword swing.

STEP

Rui landed as he witnessed the sheer amount of destruction that she had unleashed with an unfathomable, invisible sword swing.

“You managed to dodge that.” She stirred at the fact that he was still alive. “I’m impressed. An overwhelming majority of Masters can’t even perceive my sword draws.”

Rui’s eyes grew grave.

In truth, he hadn’t been able to perceive her sword draw either.

He wasn’t able to see it.

But, thanks to his predictive model, he had been able to see it coming.

Barely.

She didn’t have many passive patterns, just a handful.

A very minute shift in center gravity preceding the attack.

Slight increase in the tension of her muscles just a beat before the attack.

A mild amount of pupil dilation gave her impending attack away.

His expression grew severe. ‘If not for those very minute passive patterns and tells, I would be dead right now.’

The sheer amount of power contained in the pressure wave that it unleashed upon the world was so great that Rui knew that she would cleanly slice him in half.

“I suppose I can’t afford to hold back.” He exhaled heavily as he activated Neo Godspeed.Time slowed down in his eyes.

“That would be prudent.” Her grip over her sword tightened.

Rui adopted a light, bouncing stance with a loose body and centered legs. A stance that favored mobility.

He knew that he couldn’t afford to tank her ridiculous lethality.

Thus, his only other option was to rely on speed. WHOOSH!

In the blink of an eye, he arrived before her as a Yin-Yang Spear shot toward her.

He knew that she wasn’t a defense-oriented Martial Artist and couldn’t afford to tank even a single one of the devastating grade-ten attacks.

Yet, she didn’t need to.

“Silent Sword Style: Twelve-Sword Hurricane.”

BOOOM!!!

Rui leaped back as an enormous tornado of sound and wind erupted outwards from her, threatening to shred him to pieces.

“Tsk,” Rui tutted. “Heavenly Convergence.”

In an instant, the domain designed to curb power emerged as he redirected the vectors of force across the atmosphere to converge upon her.

BOOM!!

The domain snuffed her tornado, threatening to crush her. As a swordsman who defended using her blade, he wanted to see how she would defend against an omnidirectional attack.

Yet, the sight of all of heaven converging upon her body didn’t so much as perturb her.

“Silent Sword Style: Blade of the Abyss.”

WHOOSH!!

A single swing across three hundred and sixty degrees created a counter-pressure wave that clashed with his Heavenly Convergence Domain.

BOOOM!!

The two pressure waves canceled each other out, only for Rui to arrive before her at an incredibly high speed, using the blasts of air and dust as a momentary distraction to try and squeeze in a Yin-Yang Spear attack.

Yet, she had anticipated that.

WHOOSH!

Her sword swung right at his neck, cleaving it apart.

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