The Martial Unity

“That’s a remarkable greatsword you have there,” Rui told him truthfully, “For it to withstand the force of a Martial Sage, it must be made of a Transcendent-grade material, hm?”

“I’m not going to tell you that,” the man glared at Rui. “Ah, my bad, you must be so fearful and afraid of me that you are too unwilling to give me any information,” Rui shrugged. “If you weren’t afraid, you would share that information. So I suppose that I must conclude that you are afr—”

“I’m not afraid! It’s made up of a quasi-Transcendent material!”

“I see I see~” Rui nodded thoughtfully. “You must be strong to swing that thing around.”

“Of course I am, I’m going to crush you with this in a few days when all the preparations are complete, so you will get to experience just how arrogant you were in challenging me,” the man scoffed. “I won’t kill you, but I will make you wish for death.”

“Scary indeed,” Rui remarked with a wry smile. “Can you show me what the blade looks like? Ah, you don’t have to if you’re too afraid of me.”

“I’m not afraid of you, you little shit!” He snarled even as he pulled out the blade, pointing it towards Rui with an angry expression. “This blade will crush you in our battle tomorrow.”

Rui spent some time with him, forming a passive predictive model on him that allowed Rui to sniff out all his tells in his movements. He was so fiercely arrogant and proud that all Rui had to was attack it for him to go above and beyond to prove that he was not afraid of Rui. Rui was glad he had a fragile pride and ego that could be easily bruised.

He also gained precious insights into his fighting style that helped him get a better understanding of what kind of Martial Artist he was dealing with. “Power is truth. When our duel is scheduled, I will crush you with all the power in the world!”

“Scary indeed,” Rui murmured as he fell into thought.

He also intended to get as much intel as he could from his sources, but it was clear that striking power was one of the biggest focuses of his opponents. This gave Rui more confidence that he would be able to deal with his opponent.

Simpler Martial Art were generally easier to adaptively evolve to. This gave him more confidence that he would be able to hold his own against his opponent and even seek victory, even though a draw was the ideal outcome for the Solution of Harmony.

“Tsk, trying to squeeze information out of me like a little rat.”

Sage Sekiei’s tone was contemptuous and disgusted. “You are pathetic.”

Rui turned towards him with a raised eyebrow. “…What was that?”

“You think I don’t know what you’re trying to do?” The man snorted. “I am a Martial Sage, lad. I’ve lived three centuries. Rats like you who scurry around sniffing for information disgust me. Your Martial Path, Adaptive Evolution, was it?”

The man sneered contemptuously.

“A weakling’s Martial Path.”

“…Is that so?” Rui’s smile grew chilling. “It would be rather embarrassing if this ‘weakling’s Martial Path’ defeated you, would it? Especially when you’re a whole Realm above me.”

“It won’t happen,” the Martial Sage coldly replied. “No matter what you do, your defeat is guaranteed. I will beat the arrogance out of you with the flat side of my blade until you are inches away from death.”

“You will beat the arrogance out of me, you say?” Rui raised an eyebrow. “I’d love to throw that line right back at you, but I’m afraid that your arrogance is so astronomically enormous that it is beyond my ability to beat out of you.”

“Hah! So you admit I am superior!” the Martial Sage grinned.

Rui heaved a sigh, shaking his head. “I also can’t beat the stupidity out of you either.”

He got up, leaving the place without another word.

He had gotten everything he had come for, after all. “What’s the matter? Too scared to remain in my presence?” Sage Sekiei tried throwing Rui’s own tricks at him.

Rui simply laughed mirthfully before departing.

He didn’t have the colossally gigantic ego needed to fall for such childish provocations.

“Still…”

He wasn’t devoid of pride either.

It had been a very long time since someone had insulted his Martial Path, mostly because he had proven his power time and time again. His Martial Path had become one of the most desired Martial Paths in the entire world, along with that of the Silas Clan. The Water Sect broke records for its rate of dissemination across the world as nations around the world had already implemented Water Sect branches in their nations.

No one had insulted his choice to pursue Adaptive Evolution in decades, not since he was an Apprentice in the Martial Academy.

His eyes sharpened with silent determination.

He would not lose, no matter what.

He would rather die than lose.

“I will need to be in my peak mind state for this battle,” Rui realized. “Although Gigabrain does focus my attention concentration inherently, I will be able to perform even better if I’m already hyper-focused from the very get-go.

Gigabrain put him in a trance, something that should have synergistic effect if he arrived with a focused mind rather than a scattered mind.

“Speaking of which, I haven’t yet tested what Gigabrain will be like now that I have gained evolved blood.”

He had already speculated that the boost would especially improve Gigabrain to an immense degree, but to what degree was unknown. All he knew was that it would give him greater power while also increasing his energy consumption.

“Fortunately, I have the Blood of Solaris as well, giving me massive energy reserves.”

It would allow him to last longer. In his first battle, he ultimately lost because he ran out of juice to keep the hungry technique alive.

“This time… I’m unconstrained in ways that I never have been up until now.”

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