The Martial Unity

The tsunami flooded the entire world with a violent torrent, eroding any and everything that it touched. It changed form in accordance to what impeded it. Ieyasu found that the information flux grew increasingly difficult to resist as the Martial Embodiment subconsciously adaptively evolved to his resistance.

He narrowed his eyes as he experienced a greater mental pressure threatening to cripple his mind more than anything he had ever experienced before. The evolution in his Martial Embodiment came with an even greater flux of information that weighed down on one’s consciousness, threatening to crush it.

“I see…” A single whisper escaped Rui. “I see now…”

A deep sense of understanding and comprehension radiated from him.

An extraordinary depth of power radiated from within him. “It’s almost as if…” he whispered. “…I knew nothing about adaptive evolution up until now.”

An unfathomable statement.

One that not even Ieyasu was able to parse.

And yet, there was no doubt about it. RUMBLE!

Rui had become stronger than he had ever been in his entire life.

Ieyasu could feel extraordinary peril from him.

The sheer power that Rui radiated had risen to an extraordinary degree, far exceeding the limits of the Master Realm. It was so intense that one could very well mistake him for a Sage in his current state. “All these years…” he murmured. “What was I doing all these years?”

A hint of regret could be detected in his voice even as he shook his head and heaved a sigh. “No matter. I have arrived now. For now…”

His gaze shifted to Ieyasu. “We’ll need to move on to the testing phase.”

The man narrowed his eyes.

The testing phase.

This was an important part in the development of all techniques. One needed to verify whether or not the technique functioned as intended in the field by subjecting it to intense testing to ensure that there were no defects or bugs. Rui had no intention of skipping out on it for this particular system of techniques either. And who better to test Project Forge than Ieyasu himself?

“Ah, I almost forgot,” Rui muttered. “I need to give this technique system a proper name.”

Project Forge was complete, after all.

“Hm…” He fell into thought.

His first instinct was to call it Forge, as that was the name that he had grown to associate with it in the past seven years.

His second thought was to call it the CREATION System, but he quickly dismissed that.

“Project Forge is more than just the CREATION System. The foundational mastery is the second half of Project Forge.” He shook his head. “Then…”

The name came to him almost instinctively.

“Forge of Creation.”

It had a nice ring to it. “Alright, let’s get to it.” Rui turned towards Ieyasu.

His clear eyes met Ieyasu’s stoic gaze.

“If you want me to help you test your new power…” he remarked calmly. “Then so be it.”

Eventually, the two found themselves in a Master-level combat arena within the manifold.

Before they even realized it, the spectator stands had been filled with Masters who eagerly waited for the treat that was about to ensue. The previous battle between the two had led to one of the single greatest battles that they had ever had the honor of witnessing.

And now, they could very well experience a battle that was similarly extraordinary.

Unfortunately for all of them, this was not a battle.

At least, not a proper one.

Rui had already resolved to restrict all his other systems of thought except for the Forge of Creation. In order to understand how strong it was, he needed to fight with it in isolation.

The two Martial Masters took their stances as the atmosphere boiled with anticipation.

“Begin!” the arbiter commenced the battle.

Instantly, their Realms of power blazed into life as their Martial Embodiments bloomed upon the world.

“This…!”

“What is this?!”

“It’s… It’s water!”

The spectating stands broke out into havoc as the unbearable burden of Rui’s evolved Martial Embodiment threatened to erode their very minds away. His extraordinary Martial Embodiment crushed down on their consciousnesses with greater force than it ever had in the past.

They learned it the hard way.

The power of Water was endless.

And yet, there was one Martial Master who was powerful enough to overcome it. The world shook as a kaleidoscopic fractal mirror consumed its surroundings. It consumed the very fabric of heaven and earth, integrating it into its dizzying patterns.

It threatened to consume the very fabric of the world.

It threatened to consume Water.

WHOOSH

Ieyasu arrived before Rui with a devastating blow that surged towards him with immense power.

And yet, the one to land it was Rui.

BOOM!

Ieyasu narrowed his eyes as he felt a thundering impact blast into his hasty guard, sending him flying backward. What had happened had happened so fast that he had almost missed it.

An attack whose form just so happened to be perfect for Rui to evade Ieyasu’s blow while using it.

A simultaneous offense and defense.

It was not a coincidence.

THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM!!!

Ieyasu unleashed an onslaught of sound attacks, resulting in a flood of deadly sound that threatened to crush him where he stood.

And yet, they might as well have not existed.

WHOOSH

Rui walked past them like they didn’t even exist.

Phantom Sound Walk was a technique that altered the resonance frequency and acoustic conductance of the body such that he could allow sound to pass through him as though it didn’t even exist. The way this technique functioned was by utilizing the principles of the Gay Lussac’s law to convert pressure into temperature to generate heat that altered the way the substances of his body interacted with sound.

It was a technique that he created on the spot using the Forge of Creation.

It was the technique that was most antithetical to sound-based offensives, allowing him to negate the entirety of the field.