The Martial Unity

It was cooperation through time.

His past self helped his present self dodge, while his present self helped his future self dodge. By pooling through combined evasive across the fourth dimension of time, they could bridge the gap between Realms with evasive speed.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!!!

A single whisper escaped Rui as he evaded the maelstrom of blade attacks.

“Temporal Marionetterra.”

This was the technique that he had created with the Forge of Creation and Gigabrain combined. It was so mentally burdensome that not even Rui could use it without Gigabrain. It wasn’t easy to coordinate with his past and future self. He had also activated a Reverse Temporal Disharmony astronomically enhanced with Gigabrain, slowing down his perception of time to the point where he could perceive the Martial Sage’s movements clearly.

Simultaneously, he was abusing the Scriptures of Terra and the VOID algorithm just to stay alive. And that wasn’t the only system of thought that he was abusing.

WHOOSH

He evaded a horizontal slice of heaven with a sharp dive as his past self’s earth-bending accelerated the motion as a faint whisper escaped him.

“I can see your SOUL.”

Sage Sekiei’s eyes widened as the blindingly bright blood-red suns in his eyes seemed to pierce right through his very existence.

He felt transparent.

Naked.

He felt invisible under the sheer weight of Rui’s gaze that pierced past him and everything beyond.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!!!

Blade after blade.

Shockwave after shockwave.

Not a single attack struck Rui as the blood-red suns in his eyes peered into the depths of his opponent’s SOUL. This was the first time that his mind sense was functional against a Martial Sage. Before, not even with Gigabrain could he sense his opponent’s SOUL, causing him to assume it was impossible.

Yet, this time, he could see it as clearly as day, allowing him to use the SOUL System against a Martial Sage. The blood evolution treatment was especially synergetic with Gigabrain, far more so than he had expected, allowing him to bear witness to the SOUL of even Sages.

In that moment, Rui understood.

He understood.

“I’m stronger now than I have ever been in my entire life.”

A zenith of power, unlike anything he had beheld in his entire life.

“Rargh!!!” Sage Sekiei snarled as he unleashed a maelstrom of nation-splitting attacks that would have reduced Rui to a bloody mist had it actually struck him. And yet—

WHOOSH

A single motion was all it took.

Sage Sekiei’s eyes widened with shock as Rui cleanly identified the most optimal path forward through the storm.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!!!

His trajectory was smooth and clean as he planted the seeds for it ahead of time with vast insights into the VOID algorithm. WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!!!

His past self flung him out of the way of incoming attacks with tremendous force by virtue of the Scriptures of Terra, while his present self did just that for his future self. It consumed a tremendous amount of power each second that would have drained him in minutes if not for the Blood of Solaris.

His Body turned into a pitch-black void as he furiously absorbed an extraordinary amount of the Sun’s power across a vast area. It darkened days from around the world, fueling his extraordinary energy expenditures continuously.

And thus, he surged forth.

STEP

STEP

STEP

Sage Sekiei’s eyes widened as Rui drew closer and closer towards him with each passing moment. Despite the hellish rampage of his Heavenly Bladestorm, Rui surged forth with unerring accuracy.

It may have seemed foolish to try and fight a swordsman in close quarters, but the truth was that Sage Sekiei was stronger at long-range battles than short-range. Heaven had become the medium through which he sought to eliminate the range weakness of blades.

His mastery of transmitting the force and pressure of his sword attacks through heaven far exceeded Rui’s long-range potential, even with the Forge of Creation. And the most optimal way of negating his heaven-bending was to fight at close range. With that, there were many decades and even centuries of training and mastery in the heavenly transmission of power.

He would be a much weaker Sage if he fought with nothing other than his greatsword.

That was what Rui was aiming for.

Out of all the possible strategies he could have gone for, he foresaw that the counter-intuitive strategy of getting as close as possible to his opponent was the best way to get to victory.

And yet, it was easier said than done.

“Rargh!” Sage Sekiei snarled with effort as he went all-out with his attack power and speed, unleashing every ounce of power he had.

The density of attacks increased.

Additionally, the closer he got, the more dense they would be, as they grew less dense the further away they went from their inception due to the increasing gap between each wave of heaven.

His progress stalled with each step he took as he found it increasingly difficult to wade through the Martial Sage’s attacks. Sage Sekiei summoned as much materia prima as he could from the very root of not just his own body but also that of all of heaven.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!! BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

His attacks ravaged the world as the heavenly shockwaves he unleashed were not only sharp but also grew destructive in their expansion.

SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT…!

Sage Sekiei’s mouth curled into a vicious grin as his destructive shockwaves drew blood with a myriad of cuts across Rui’s entire body. “Scurrying like a little rat will not allow you to evade the destructive power of a Martial Sage!”

He burned through all the power he was to muster as his attacks grew increasingly destructive to the point where it was physically impossible to evade the aftereffects of the crackling materia prima.

SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT…!

Cut after cut.

Burn after burn.

Bruise after bruise.

Wounds emerged across Rui’s entire body as the world around him became hostile to life itself. “Now then,” Sage Sekiei roared as he swung his most powerful attack at Rui. “Die!”

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!

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