The Martial Unity

Over the next day, Rui dedicated himself to meditating in isolation for the rest of the day to hone his mind to the very limit. In silence, he gathered his mind.

In solitude, he honed his focus.

He rid himself of superfluous thoughts and focused solely on the upcoming battle.

His opponents were comprised of three peak Masters.

This was not something he wanted to take lightly, no matter how much leeway he might have had. With peak Masters, all it would take was a single mistake for him to yield a victory to them. “I can’t use Gigabrain, that’s for sure. Falling unconscious for more than a month in this nation is too unsafe, not to mention it harms my goals.”

After his defeat of the three Masters, he needed to quickly secure the loyalty of the severed Sages and make them accept his ‘divinity’ after he won the battle. It needed to happen shortly before the battle ended when they were still in flux over their disillusionment over their former chosen seed.

He needed to be awake when that happened.

“Since I have decided not to gain foreknowledge on them ahead of time because… that would be boring, I should adaptively evolve to maximize defense at the very beginning.”

Rui grew astronomically more powerful against a specific opponent that he was fighting for the first time across the entire battle. That meant that he was at his weakest when the battle first began.

Of course, he had created the Angel of Laplace to partially ameliorate this very problem, ensuring that it was no longer a glaring weakness but merely a shortcoming. Regardless, with the SOUL System requiring time and the Forge of Creation requiring a lot of information, which required time, he was not at his strongest from the very inception of a battle.

“But once I adaptively evolve, there should no longer be any contest.”

No matter how humble he attempted to be, the fact of the matter was that his power had grown astronomically since the Great East Panamic War. He had touched the threshold of peak Master even back then, and since then, he had created the Forge of Creation, acquired the Blood of Solaris, and most recently, the Scriptures of Terra.

He had reached his own rank that exceeded the known limits of the Master Realm.

As long as he ensured that he wasn’t taken out by fluke during the inception of the battle, he did not foresee any possibility of a defeat. He only worried that this attitude might cause him to lower his guard, giving them that opportunity.

That was why he honed his mind, focus, and concentration. He would prepare for them as though he was preparing for an opponent stronger than himself. “Besides, I need to be careful. Although it’s very unlikely, if I run into a freakishly powerful Martial Artist like Amare, then I will be deeply sorry that I didn’t take this with the seriousness it deserves.”

And thus, for the next twenty-four hours, he did nothing but focus on himself, outside of essentials.

And eventually, it was time. STEP

He emerged from within his training room, breathing deeply.

His presence had grown sharper.

Like it could cut.

“…We are pleased to see that your preparations have been fruitful.” Some of his Sages offered.

Amare simply nodded at his condition with a satisfied expression. “Good, you’re at your peak!”

Rui nodded.

“Let’s go.”

They departed when it was time, heading over to the designated battle arena chosen for the battle. Rui had entrusted the logistics to his newfound followers, who took care of booking the event and getting everything in place.

He just showed up to win the battle.

By the time they reached, the audience had already arrived.

Every Sage and Master who wasn’t on the front lines of the Beast Incursion had already arrived.

Not a single one of them was willing to miss this battle.

They postponed and canceled all engagements that clashed with the battle. In the first place, ever since the Beast Incursion had begun, they didn’t have much going for them as the international Martial market had ground to a halt, and the domestic market had collapsed with the massive recessions and depressions in the economy.

Money itself stopped mattering with each passing day. The lives of Masters and Sages revolved around the Beast Incursion, one way or another.

In comparison, this battle would determine the future of the Virodhabhasa Faith in many ways. Whoever ended up emerging victorious would most likely have tremendous sway over the Virodhabhasa Faith as the ultimate Virodhabhasa Seed.

Although this battle in and of itself would not make any of them guaranteed to be the Antithesis, it would make them the most likely candidates.

All the Masters and Sages were believers to some extent, some extraordinarily fervorous in their beliefs while others were more mild. They all beheld the arriving figure of the Dawnbringer, this time fully prepared for battle as opposed to a welcoming event.

And yet, not everybody was beholding this sight for the first time. “…He’s grown so much stronger since then, and yet, he’s still the same in many ways.”

“Indeed. It’s hard to fathom that the Martial Squire that we tested back then has grown into the monster that we see today.”

Two Martial Masters sat beside each other in the spectator stands, observing with a profoundly deep expression.

Master Carian and Master Greminga had personally tested Rui in the first and second rounds of the Virodhabhasa Contest around two decades ago in the real world. They found it difficult to fathom that little Squire, impressive as he was, had gone on to become the most powerful Master in the world and one of the two pillars of hope and salvation of human civilization in the Era of Darkness.

They heaved a sigh as they thought about their failure to stop Master Uma that fateful day decades ago, as requested by Master Deivon.

Who knew how different the world would be if that hadn’t happened?

Regardless, they put aside their speculative musing and nostalgic flashbacks.

Now was not the time to focus on what could have been or what had been.

Now was the time to focus on what was.

They directed their attention to the arriving Dawnbringer, who took his place in the battle arena.

–