The Martial Unity

While human civilization chose to face and overcome its own problems with its own power, the Martial Sages of the Beast Domain had chosen to do the same. They had endeavored to overcome the ultimate hurdle with their own power.

RUMBLE…

The air tingled with tension.

The atmosphere brewed with intensity.

In a large open field of dark mud and sand surrounded by exotic forests, hundreds of Martial Sages were gathered. Their body language was sharp and alert, while their expressions were stiff. They gathered with their peers and respective groups while their gazes converged on one and only one particular group in the distance.

The Martial Sages of the Hive.

The fifteen of them stood at a distance, inspecting the hundreds of gathered Martial Sages with a sharp gaze.

The bright heat of the noon Sun was unpleasantly intense.

And yet, not a single one of them so much as moved.

Even as they sweated, exhausted, and their breathing was laborious and strained, their attentions remained fixed on the Martial Sages of the Hive.

And then it came.

“BATTLE FORMATION SIX!” A powerful roar emerged from the Martial Sages of the Hive.

RUMBLE!!!

Hundreds of Martial Sages spread across the massive training field immediately surged at blinding speeds with measured and methodical movements as they coordinated with each other. In the blink of an eye, all the long-range offensive specialists found themselves aligned in the very back with each other. The golden-skinned Martial Sages of the Solaris Kingdom stood at the back, with perfectly measured distance from each other, as were several Martial Sages of a variety of nations. They formed a singe-file layer that extended an entire kilometer despite their scant numbers. At their very front was none other than Bodhisattva Maitreyi.

The second file of Martial Sages that neatly formed within moments were comprised of mid-range actors. Sage Zeamer, Sage Shinken, and many other Martial Sages led by Reverend of Reckoning who propped himself up front and center, were present in this particular rank.

The third file of Martial Sages were comprised of close-quarters experts like kane, Sage Zentra, and Sage Kole, led by none other than Devil himself.

Together, the three files were designed to collectively engage with any one target with at three different ranges. This particularly battle formation was designed specifically for an opponent that could engage at all three ranges equally well. It became important to leverage the strengths of the various Martial Sages of human civilization in the most optimal and collectivist manner, pooling their various power together.

“Good…” the Martial Sages of the Hive nodded with a hint of satisfaction. “No lag. No mistakes. The opponent we are facing will not forgive any mistakes. This is the level of perfection that we will need.”

Of course, in front of the Hive, this level of coordination felt rather paltry.

They spoke in unison.

They even breathed in unison.

Every movement they made seemed coordinated.

“Dismissed.” They announced in one voice.

The Martial Sages broke formation, and many collapsed to the ground with a tired expression.

They gasped for air, their bodies drenched in sweat.

Despite their great stamina, not even the Martial Sages could handle the sheer exhaustion that came with an entire day of training in battle formations. Something that should have been simple in principle had proven to require an entire year of gruelling training. They had learned how to move together.

How to move, fight, and attack without getting in each other’s way. They had learned different formations for different kinds of opponents and different approaches. They had learned how to coordinate with each other in a manner that would allow them to attend to each other.

It was harder than they had ever imagined.

They now understood why the Dawnbringer had insisted on taking a year to hammer coordination with each other.

If it wasn’t for that, they would have been jumbled up in a mess against the Beast That Roared, getting in each other’s way and engaging in massive amounts of friendly fire. They would have even led to more damage from their own allies than from their ultimate enemy!

Martial Artists were individualistic and only grew more individualistic the more they traversed their Martial Paths. The only exception to this rule was the Hive and its strange philosophies on a mutual shared path that flowed through all of them. Normal Martial Sages were so individualistic that even basic coordination was an absolute mess to achieve. Simply not tripping over each other, not ramming into each other, and not engaging in friendly fire had taken six months of training.

This was especially hard for the Devil, who had lost his temper so many times in the past year that it took one of the other three candidates for Transcendence to pacify his rage.

“Tsk,” Damian snorted even as blood veins popped out on his forehead. “I should just kill all of you and then kill that beast myself. Problem solved.”

The Martial Sages in the vicinity stiffened before scurrying away as fast as possible, lest they be around when the Devil lost his temper, leaving only the Martial Artists of the Kandrian Empire, other peak Sages, and a handful of others.

“You wouldn’t kill me, would you?” Kane asked with a bemused smirk.

“Hah!” Damian grumbled. “Don’t test me, lad.”

“Embrace the order of coordination,” the Reverend of Reckoning remarked with an arrogant sneer. “I suppose that is too much to ask for a chaotic wild beast like yourself.”

“We will need to pool our powers if we are to defeat the Beast That Roared,” Bodhisattva Maitreyi remarked with a calm and composed tone. “You cannot defeat the beast by yourself. You must control and save your urge for destruction until the time is right. Every Martial Sage is required to participate in this training.”

“Well…” Kane remarked with a pointed tone, before his gaze shifted in a particular direction. “Not every…”

He gazed at a lone, distant jet.

One that cradled a single individual.

A single being who had buried himself in its depths for the past year.

RUMBLE…

The air tingled with anticipation.

With power.

With more power than any of them had ever felt in their entire lives.

An excited grin emerged on the Devil’s face as his eyes sparkled with a ferocious battle lust.

“I can’t wait.”

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