The Martial Unity

Rui smiled with anticipation as he watched Arastia grow stunned at all the blood that floated around her with astonishment in her little blood-red eyes. Max and Mana stood frozen as they watched her blood adhere to her will, revolving around her in a strange manner.

“What…” Arastia’s tone was frightened. “What is this?”

Rui approached her with a soft expression, kneeling before her as he gently patted her head with warm reassurance.

“I’m sorry for the pain I caused you, but you wouldn’t have been able to draw out your true power without it.”

Arastia’s eyes sparkled with a hint of excitement. “True power?”

“Big bro, just what is this power?” Max frowned as he took a closer look at Arastia’s floating blood.

Mana’s expression grew illuminated with dawning realization. “This must be an ability of the Blood Goddess.”

Rui nodded calmly as he studied the floating blood. “You guys haven’t seen her fight, so it makes sense you didn’t know about the traits of her Martial Body. This is the power of the Blood Goddess’s Martial Body. The power of hemokinesis is yours, dear Arastia.”

Her expression grew amazed. “Hemokinesis…?”

“The ability to control your blood,” Rui explained patiently. “Not just to control it, but also generate more of it.”

“…I’ve had this power all along?” Arastia’s tone was stunned.

“Yes.” Rui nodded. “I’m sure you must have felt the feeling of blood rushing across your body in times of great emotion. As though your blood is trying to break out of your body.”

“I have…!” Arastia gasped with recognition. “So this was what it was all this time!”

Rui nodded. “I needed to trigger your hemokinesis and show you what you are capable of, so I need to create wounds for blood to escape, unfortunately. Sorry about that, but experiencing it one time, even if painful, is for the better.”

“Wow!” Arastia twirled and spun about as her blood followed. “It feels like another muscle to control!”

“I’m sure it does,” Rui remarked. “You will grow much, much more powerful once you master this power.”

He was sure one of the reasons that they didn’t just have the Blood Goddess train the young blood children on their ability was because the risk of solidarity emerging between the blood children as a separate and different race of people from human beings was simply too high.

He was sure that his father had weighed the pros and cons of having the Blood Goddess herself explain to these children about what they were and what their abilities were. If this knowledge were introduced too soon, then it would cause the children to think of themselves as ’different’ and human beings who didn’t have these abilities as ’other.’

The moment they started perceiving human beings as other and different, the dangers of racial distinction and all the nightmares that would follow from that grew increasingly likely.

Thus, even if it led to suboptimal growth, the Emperor of Harmony had chosen to leave the blood children to their own devices when it came to exploring their own abilities and differences from human civilization.

By the time they came to discover it one way or another, they will have likely adjusted to human civilization and have been given a strong bond with a human community. It was why Rui didn’t feel any harm in teaching Arastia about this power she had because he knew that she had undoubtedly developed a strong bond with the Quarrier Orphanage and the small town.

“Why don’t you spend some time by yourself exploring what you can do?” Rui asked with a light tone. “It will be good for you to get a feel for hemokinesis and understand how it works.”

“Ok!” Arastia’s innocence, delight, and curiosity caused her to immediately get to work as she immersed herself in her newfound power.

Meanwhile, Rui, Max, and Mana watched her from a distance as they had a private discussion about the matter among themselves.

“…Hemokinesis,” Max murmured. “Truly incredible.”

“I can’t help but wonder…” Mana added with an uncertain tone. “Doesn’t that mean she will have a Martial Path related to blood?”

Rui directed a knowing gaze at her.

It was hard to imagine that her path wouldn’t have something to do with blood.

After all, the Martial Path itself was affected by the sum totality of all the affinities that one had, and in Arastia’s case, blood was her strongest affinity.

“There is an even more important question that needs to be asked even before that,” Rui remarked with a serious tone. “That question being whether she even has a Martial Path and whether she can even become a Martial Artist.”

Max and Mana widened their eyes in shock. “What do you mean…? There’s a chance she doesn’t have a Martial Path and can’t become a Martial Artist?”

“Correct,” Rui replied with a knowing tone. “There is a real chance that she and all the other blood children will awaken a different kind of Path entirely. A Blood Path.”

“…Impossible!” Max exclaimed with a hushed tone.

“There is no such thing as a Blood Path.” Mana gazed at him with a stunned expression.

“Not yet, no,” Rui replied as he watched Arastia play with her blood. “But the possibility is very real. The fact of the matter is that blood humans are as different from human civilization as the six evolved human species of the true world. And thus it stands to follow…”

He gazed at Max and Mana.

“…that their Paths will be as categorically different from ours as the six paths of power of the true world.”

Their eyes widened as they understood the reasoning behind this possibility.

“The six pureblood species of the true world are evolved human beings,” Rui continued. “And the same is true for all Martial Artists. Our Martial Bodies are simply evolved human bodies. The same is true for the Blood Goddess. Her offspring essentially have the same evolutionary relationship to us as the six species of the true world. Thus, I predict that the blood children will follow a different Path of power from our Martial Path.”