The Martial Unity

His whisper was soft.

And yet, nobody failed to hear it. It stung the two peak Masters, especially when uttered after the humiliation that they had just suffered.

The air boiled with tension as the two peak Masters glared at him with murderous wrath.

“You bastard…” the Worldfolder growled.

“Talk is cheap,” the Mindbreaker spat. “I don’t want to hear trash-talk from a useless fellow who hasn’t done jack shit!”

The atmosphere chilled with peril.

Their nerves tingled electrically as they felt a foreboding sense…

A foreboding sense of death.

“You’re right.”

The Anti-Life’s tone was ever so light.

“Then allow me to change that.”

The Martial Masters stiffened as they felt even greater peril from the man who stood before them. “Allow me to…” he whispered, “…to get rid of the unworthy.”

His tone grew more perilous.

“Allow me to eliminate the disgraceful.”

His tone grew dark.

“Allow me to erase your lives.”

They leaped away from him with grave severity.

And yet, what followed shook those who beheld it. In the blink of an eye, his Martial Heart and Martial Mind bloomed with life.

And the very next moment, he surged towards them in a blinding flash.

And then, they died.

They simply died.

Their eyes lost their life. Their bodies grew limp.

Their hearts ceased beating.

Their minds darkened forever.

STEP

He landed past their falling corpses in a graceful step.

THUD

The two cadavers hit the ground lifelessly.

One moment, they were alive and well, planning out how they were going to deal with the monster that was the Dawnbringer.

The very next moment, they were to be spoken of in the past tense.

Rui narrowed his eyes as the chilling, deathly gaze of the Anti-Life shifted towards him. A single whisper escaped him. “You’re next.”

His Martial Embodiment bloomed in all its ephemeral horror.

Everybody merely saw death.

Their death.

Some died of lethal wounds.

Others were torn apart by the monsters and beasts of the Beast Incursion.

Very few died of natural causes.

It was a chilling sight.

One that threatened to induce trauma.

The Martial Masters who had come looking not only to witness one of the most important battles of their religion but also to watch the clash of titans within the Master Realm found themselves cursed.

Rui’s Embodiment paralyzed many of them. While the Anti-Life’s Embodiment tormented them. They were unable to get up and leave, forced to suffer until the battle ended.

Until one of the two remaining monsters vanquished the other.

“Do not even think of surrendering.”

The Anti-Life’s tone was chilling.

“I will kill you before you open your mouth.”

WHOOSH!

In the blink of an eye, he arrived before Rui, his hand surging towards Rui.

WHOOSH!

His eyes widened as he simply missed.

Rui hadn’t so much as moved, even as his gaze remained fixed on his opponent, who glanced at the shifting earth beneath his feet with a knowing expression.

The Scriptures of Terra had allowed Rui to sabotage a Martial Sage from reaching him. Doing the same with a Martial Master was astronomically easier, even if he wasn’t using Gigabrain.

And yet, it wasn’t enough.

“Your mastery of earth is transcendent, but…” he whispered, “…it won’t protect you from your death.”

The Anti-Life walked across heaven itself, avoiding earth entirely while his hands surged towards Rui with an astronomical velocity.

WHOOSH!

His eyes sharpened as he found himself reaching into an empty image.

A feint.

He braced himself from an incoming attack from his blind spots, ready to inflict death upon Rui the moment he caught

And then, he was alone on the battlefield.

The Anti-Life narrowed his eyes as he spread his senses far and wide into heaven and earth. And yet, he couldn’t find Rui whatsoever.

“Afraid of death?” his voice was contemptuous. “I don’t blame you for hiding. Everybody tries to hide from death, hoping they can evade it. But unfortunately…”

His murderous eyes shifted downwards.

“…No one can hide from death.”

His hands balled into fists as they flew downwards, striking the land beneath his feet.

“Found you.”

BOOOOOOM!!!!!

A mountain range worth of land erupted from the sheer impact of the peak Master as he unleashed a barrage of blows, digging his way to his opponent. His eyes lit up as he encountered powerful resistance from earth-bending that protected his user from its grasp.

At the same time, earth was manipulated in a way that impeded his senses profoundly, refusing to let him clearly sense his opponent.

“You must have acquired this mastery of earth in the Nest of Terra.”

His remark was casual, as though he was just chatting with Rui in a park as opposed to actively digging to hunt him alive.

BOOOOOOOM BOOOOOOOM BOOOOOOOM!!!!!

With each moment that passed, he dug deeper and deeper, slowly overcoming Rui’s powerful earth-bending. Rui fought back like a demon, unleashing earthquakes, land eruptions, and even lava against his opponent.

And yet, it wasn’t enough.

The Anti-Life dug deeper and deeper with each passing minute, overcoming all the resistance that Rui offered.

Even though raw power wasn’t his forte, he was still a tremendously powerful Martial Master, able to overcome all the trials and tribulations that Rui’s earth-bending posed to him. The expressions of the Masters on the Rui faction grew grave while those of the Anti-Life faction grew increasingly delighted.

The closer he got to Rui, the more his victory was all but determined.

The Anti-Life’s Martial Path was Death Infliction.

He was not a master of fighting.

Nor a master of combat.

He was a master of death.

His ability to inflict death upon others was a talent the likes of which none of them had ever seen before. He bypassed defense, resistance, durability, and healing factors and imparted what was almost the very concept of death through means that beggared the mind and exceeded their understanding.

Perhaps his only flaw was that he needed to touch his opponents to kill them. In that regard, the audience could appreciate Rui’s intellect in detecting this shortcoming and trying to hide himself in the depths of the land beneath them.

But it became evidently clear that the Anti-Life was simply too strong.

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!

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