The Martial Unity

Rui indulged himself with family, speaking to many that he had grown up with and many young men and women who had once been among the toddlers he knew when he was just a Squire. And yet, while he didn’t dislike speaking with them, the distance between them was too great, leaving conversations to be strained and formal.

The same could not be said for Mana and Max.

BADUMP BADUMP!

In a distant barren patch of land in the Kandrian Empire, Max and Mana activated their Martial Hearts and Minds with full power.

Rui’s eyes lit up as their Martial Embodiments consumed the entire world.

Max turned into a fiery meteorite, threatening to crush everybody under the weight of his fiery momentum.

Mana became the gust of chaotic dancing winds.

Their Martial Embodiments were remarkably heavy, indicative of a powerful Martial Mind with dense thought. Something that they had undoubtedly gained as a result of his influence on them over the years.

“Impressive.” He smiled. “You have worked hard to reach this altar of power. Now then…”

BADUMP!

His Martial Heart erupted with an extraordinary shine, lighting up the entirety of the world around them with bright red light. In the past five years, his Martial Body had grown tremendously stronger.

With special boosts such as the Blood of Solaris and the blood evolution treatment, his Martial Body had risen far, far beyond an overwhelming majority of Martial Bodies in the world. On top of that, the deathly tint that lustered his skin at certain angles gave his Martial Body a very perilous edge to it.

And yet, what shocked them was not his Martial Body.

What shocked them was his Martial Mind.

RUMBLE!!!

The world shook as an endless gush of Water emerged from within the depths of his mind, consuming the entire battlefield in a Martial Embodiment that was absolutely lethal to anybody not in the Upper Realms. He had thoroughly verified that there was nobody within the area of effect of his Martial Embodiment, flaring it without any compunctions.

“Nng…!” Mana winced under the weight of the information flux that threatened to crush her mind.

“Rrghh…!” Max gritted his teeth as his face strained with effort.

The two of them struggled to take their stances, as though their movements were being shackled by a physical force.

“I’m impressed that you can move at all,” his tone was earnest. “A large portion of Martial Masters would be completely paralyzed.”

WHOOSH

Suddenly, the Water disappeared.

The Martial Embodiment disappeared in its entirety.

The two Martial Masters gasped for air as they gazed at Rui with a surprised expression.

“I have disabled my Martial Embodiment to make this interesting,” his hand gestured at them to come at him. “Let’s see just how strong the two of you have become.”

The two of them narrowed their eyes as they leaped at him with an intense ferocity, unleashing a barrage of attacks from him. WHOOSH

Rui calmly evaded an attack from Mana, who launched a flying knee kick at him while Max surged from behind with a charged drive, threatening to crush Rui with his momentum.

THUD

Max’s eyes widened as the world turned a hundred and eighty degrees, and he ended up face down in the dirt. It was only after Rui effortlessly manipulated his flow of power and flipped him upside down that he noticed Rui having grabbed him. Rui smiled at him. “I fought a Martial Sage with a Martial Path similar to yours. Make sure you don’t follow in his path.”

WHOOSH

He evaded a clean kick to the head, leaping away as Mana aggressively pursued him with a flurry of blows.

POW POW POW!

“I don’t need to waste energy dodging your blows if they’re this weak,” he remarked. “It takes me only a little bit of effort to negate all your power with well-time guards. I don’t even need to use Flux Earther. Not to mention…”

CRACK!

Mana winced as she felt her knuckle cleanly fracture against his elbow.

“If your body is too weak, your own power can and will be used against you,” Rui remarked with an instructive tone.

VMMM…!

Rui glanced in the direction of Max, taking a sprinter’s stance as a domain of electromagnetic fields acted on him, accelerating him like a rail-gun projectile.

WHOOSH

He surged towards Rui with a blinding speed and great momentum.

And yet—

“You need to have better control over your power.”

CLASP

He intercepted Max as he reached him, curling his trajectory with centrifugal force in a smooth maneuver, redirecting him towards Mana.

BOOOM!

He crashed into Mana as the two of them were hurled a great distance away.

And yet, they were only getting started.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

Rui summersaulted with grace as he smoothly evaded the flurry of attacks converging on him. His gaze shifted as he spotted Mana arriving behind him with a speedy charge, throwing a speed kick at him. Simultaneously, Max pressured him from another direction, forcing him to use greater speed to evade both of them. WHOOSH

And yet, even as he pirouetted away, his eyes widened as the two of them arrived at his position having anticipated his evasion.

They were in perfect harmony, unleashing a barrage of attacks that covered the gaps between each other’s attacks, creating an almost singular concussive force of offense against Rui.

BOOOM!

Rui threw together a guard as their attacks launched him away. His smile grew more pleased as he nodded with approval.

“Your coordination has grown. That’s good. Use that more often. You have on hope of beating me without it.”

Of course, they had no hope of beating him even with it, but he didn’t feel the need to point that out.

“You haven’t seen anything, big brother!”

“We’ll show you, big bro!”

Rui smirked. “You know, technically, I’m no longer the big brother anymore. So perhaps you should indeed show me, my big sister and big brother.”

Max and Mana stiffened.

“Don’t call us that!”

–