The Martial Unity

SSSSS…

A metallic of hum echoed throughout the entirety of the valley as Sage Sekiei drew his hefty greatsword from its scabbard.

“Behold my Selmanthon…” he declared, gripping the large greatsword with both hands as he adopted a simply yet unyieldingly powerful stance, “forged from the fangs of an elder dragon.”

His presence grew sharp as his bloodlust converged on Rui.

Rui, on the other hand, adopted his classic neutral position. With legs partially divided, bearing his weight equally while one hand positioned itself before him defensively while the other hand coiled back like a viper, all but ready to lash out.

The air was electric.

A tingling tension hung in the atmosphere.

One that weighed down on everybody who watched from afar.

The inception of battle came suddenly.

“Begin!” Elder Diana declared.

BADUMP!!!

Sage Sekiei didn’t waste even the slightest moment with his attack as his Martial Heart and Mind roared with power. He pushed his Body to the absolute limit as he unleashed a lateral, horizontal swing of astronomical power.

A blow that would have cleaved the Dawnbringer in half.

But only if it hit.

WHOOSH

His eyes widened with shock as Rui evaded a Sage-level attack within an inch of the attack as the land beneath his feat seemed to crumble, aiding his evasive maneuver.

And yet, the sheer destructive power of the attack was not sated.

RUMBLE!!!!!

The world shook.

The world shook as the unleashed power of a Martial Sage surged through heaven and earth. A thundering two-dimensional shockwave surged with immense destructive power as it ravaged the Valley of Gods before splitting mountains in half.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!

The mountains bordering the Valley of Gods were cleanly cut in half as the concussive force of the sharp wave of heaven launched the upper halves of the mountain in the air.

RUMBLE!!!

Such was the destructive power of a Martial Sage.

And yet, the fact of the matter was that it hadn’t so much as put a scratch on the Dawnbringer.

This truth struck Sage Sekiei the hardest. “You…”

Rui opened his eyes as he rose back up from his evasive crouch. Two red Suns shined in his eyes with blinding brightness, illuminating the entire world with his extraordinary power. From the very core of his being incepted an endless ocean of Water, consuming all of heaven and earth in its extraordinary might.

RUMBLE!!!!!

The tsunami of Water surged forth at extraordinary speeds, threatening to crush the minds of all lesser beings unworthy of its ephemeral might.

Sage Damian, Bodhisattva Maitreyi, Sage Shinken, Sage Himari, Sage Kyria, the Terrampager, Blood Lord Vrukshus, Sage Nathen, Sage Sariawar, and others who had come to witness this historic duel sealed his extraordinary apocalyptic Martial Embodiment within the Valley of Gods.

“You…” Sage Sekiei’s rage knew no bounds.

For the first time in his life, he had failed to defeat a Martial Master with a single attack. His second attack emerged suddenly.

A tremendously powerful vertical slice meant to cleave right through his opponent.

And yet—

WHOOSH It never struck.

By the time it reached him, he was already out of the way of the attack.

His physical movements were slow.

They were in slow motion in the eyes of a Martial Sage.

And yet, he managed to move out of the way in time.

Sage Sekiei’s eyes flared with determination as he unleashed even greater power and speed.

“Blade of Heaven: Heavenly Bladestorm.”

What followed was a maelstrom of attacks that lived up to the name of the attack.

An extraordinary storm blade attack, all converging on Rui. Each swing of his blade unleashed a tremendously sharp and focused shockwave that carried the momentum of his blade with unerring accuracy and efficiency.

One by one, a hurricane of devastatingly powerful slicing shockwaves emerged from his blade, threatening to slice Rui into blood mist with their extraordinary finesse. The Blade of Heaven Martial Art developed by Sage Sekiei was a Martial Art that eliminated the range limitations of a blade and allowed him to cleanly transmit the slicing sharpness of his swing to anybody anywhere.

And yet, not even that could reach Rui.

WHOOSH

Rui evaded the blades and their heavenly discharges with a buttery smoothness. His movements were still those of a Martial Master, an entire Realm below the ferociously swift movements of Sage Sekiei.

And yet—

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!!!

Not a single person watching the battle could maintain their composure as Rui smoothly evaded each and every blade of wind and metal within the maelstrom of Sage Sekiei’s Bladestorm.

They were Martial Sages.

Their comprehension of Martial Art had reached an entirely different dimension unto itself. And yet…

“What is this…?” Sage Nathen’s eyes widened with shock. “What is happening?”

“Ah…” Sage Sariawar’s expression bloomed with reverent devotion as she beheld the godly might of the Dawnbringer. “We aren’t worthy of this extraordinary display of your Divinity, Lord Virodhabhasa.”

They watched how, despite his slow bodily movements, he was still somehow able to evade the maelstrom of the Bladestorm. It was almost as if the very world, as heaven and earth itself, as if Gaia herself, moved her blessed child out of harm’s way.

It was unfathomable.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!!!

He didn’t just evade.

No.

STEP

STEP

STEP

He drew closer and closer to Sage Sekiei.

The blood-red suns shining with blinding brightness conveyed a single desire.

His desire to win.

Sage Sekiei’s eyes widened with shock as the sheer absurdity of this situation struck him all at once.

His opponent was just a Martial Master.

An extremely young one.

And yet, not only did he survive the Heavenly Bladestorm that Sage Sekiei had honed for nearly two hundred years, but he even waded through it. A storm that was supposed to be impenetrable was now being infiltrated by a Martial Master. One who drew closer and closer to his opponent with an extraordinarily intense desire to win.

“Fine…” Sage Sekiei gritted his teeth with murderous rage. “I’ll take you on with everything I have.”

RUMBLE!!!!!