The Martial Unity

Rui’s face crumpled with a hint of grave reckoning as the Demon of Asmodeous raised his hand.

The air tingled.

The atmosphere grew electric with tension.

The hung about the darkness, weighing down upon the entire world.

“With your death…” a chilling whisper escaped him. “The Kandrian Empire is sure to attack.”

His hand sharpened into a jab. “A war unlike anything that the world has ever seen.”

His fingers darkened.

“It will become the foundation of the Gu’s consumption of the world.”

Rui struggled with a dark expression as he felt his consciousness fading.

His complexion darkened even further.

He would soon melt into the darkness of the Gu.

“Now then…” the Demon of Asmodeous spoke with a menacing undertone of bloodlust. “Join the death of the Gu, O Dawnbringer.”

His poison jab surged towards Rui’s heart.

It was the end.

It should have been the end.

And yet, it wasn’t.

In that moment, a third presence emerged on the battlefield.

BOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!!

The earth shook as it converged upon the Demon of Asmodeous with ferocious power.

An attack empowered with a spark of materia prima.

Alas, it was all for naught.

The faintest of whispers escaped the Demon.

“How paltry.”

One moment, an extraordinary amount of power converged upon him, threatening to crush him then and there. The very next moment, the attack simply died.

The momentum disappeared in a way that seemed to defy causality.

The energy of the attack faded away.

Into thin air.

The mighty swathes of earth that lashed out at the Demon with a ferocious power…

They shivered, collapsing.

Almost as if they were alive to begin with.

Almost as if the attack itself had simply ‘died.’

The same as a human would.

And yet, the Demon of Asmodeous froze where he stood.

His dark severity cracked.

It cracked with a surprise.

It cracked with surprise as he gazed at the person who stood before him and Rui.

Her brown hair swayed in the dancing winds that emanated from her tremendous attack.

Her amber eyes shined as bright as ever.

A beacon in the eternal darkness of the Gu.

Her Martial Heart blazed across her Body like boiling lava, erupting with an enormous flood of power.

And yet, what shook the Demon of Asmodeous where he stood was her Martial Embodiment.

A microcosm of memories.

A universe that expanded, swallowing up the entire world as it painted all of heaven and earth in its ephemeral glory, woven from two lives.

A warm and bright life in the Gen Temple, surrounded by people she loved.

The other was a life of travel, a journey across humanity in an era that preceded the Age of Martial Art. A journey where she spread the extraordinary power she had tapped into. A journey where she spread the power of Martial Art to all corners of the continent.

A vast, vast array of countless memories.

Of countless people.

Among them was a boy.

He had black hair and black eyes.

She found him in the abyss.

An abyss of death that far preceded the Gu.

She imparted the power of Martial Art to him, giving him the power to survive, teaching him how to use not just the potential of his body, but also the potential of the rot of death around him.

The Demon of Asmodeous shook.

He shook.

The unshakable darkness in his eyes shook as he beheld the woman who stood between him and Rui.

The faintest of whispers escaped him.

“…Eril?”

Amare gazed at him with profound eyes.

An uncharacteristically tranquil air of wisdom surrounded her.

Her eyes were as bright as ever.

Brimming with light.

Brimming with unfathomable power.

The Progenitor had awakened.

She gazed at the Demon with unfathomable eyes.

“I did not ever imagine that we would meet here in these circumstances.” Her voice was ephemeral in its luster. “You have grown far more than I would have ever imagined.”

The unyielding intensity in his eyes cracked as the Demon of Asmodeous gazed at her with dark eyes.

Within them were embers.

Embers of emotions he once had.

Many centuries ago.

The faintest of whispers escaped him. “You were… alive?” The deathly intensity in his eyes sent chills down Rui’s skin.

She simply shook his head. “I am not her.”

She continued gazing upon him with a heavy expression. “I am not the woman who taught you how to use poison. But…”

Amare’s tone grew more gentle. “…I remember the affection she had for you. She helped you with everything she had. She imparted to you everything you would need to survive that hellhole. To escape that hellhole. And yet…”

Amare’s unfathomable gaze bore deep into the pitch-black eyes of the Demon before her.

“You went on to create an even bigger abyss than the one you were born in.”

Amare closed her eyes.

“I’m disappointed.”

Her tone was cutting.

The air grew electric.

The atmosphere tingled with peril.

The faintest of whispers escaped the Demon of Asmodeous.

“…Disappointed?”

His whisper was laced with menacing bloodlust.

His stoic abyss in the depths of his eyes flared with an endless avalanche of murderous wrath.

“You…?” his whisper was as faint as ever.

And yet, it sent chills down Rui’s spine even as he drew closer and closer to death.

“You… disappointed in me?” his whisper quaked.

It quaked with a flood rage and hatred unlike anything Rui had ever felt in his entire life.

“You dare…?”

The icy expression of the Demon crumpled with dark malice.

“You dare to utter those words after you abandoned me?”

RUMBLE

The world shook under the weight of his emotions.

All of heaven and earth mourned under the weight of the darkness and death he carried within him. “YOU DARE?”

RUMBLE!!!

Raw horror filled Rui’s eyes as the Demon of Asmodeous crumbled into an entity of endless wrath and hatred.

And yet, the Progenitor gazed at him head-on.

Not even the slightest hint of fear could be seen in the depth of her eyes.

“I had a mission.”

Her tone was calm and composed.

A beacon of order amid the maelstrom of power and death erupting from the Demon of Asmodeous.

“But if you must…” her tone was calm. “Then kill me. But spare him. In return, I will tell you everything she wanted to tell you. Everything she would have told you, but was unable to.”

She could not defeat him.

She could not fight him. She could not even protect the man she loved.

Words were the only source of salvation she had.

She could sense the embers of an ancient love and affection for her within him.

Love for the woman who gave him power as a child.

His only source of light in an abyss.

And yet, in the final hour, she had failed.

“I refuse.”

The chilling tone of the Demon of Asmodeous reverberated through heaven and earth.

SPLAT

With a smooth motion, his hand buried itself through her body.

Through her heart.

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