The Martial Unity

The crowd sensed the impending peril, quickly evacuating from the place as Rui simply stared at the dragon man and his bonded dragon. The dragon man and his kin glared at Rui with bloodlust as a fearsome expression emerged on his face.

The bright light of the morning Sun illuminated the rapidly emptying market as the noise of an anxious crowd running away from an impending battle between two pathwalkers hung in the air.

Every civilian knew to run away when pathwalkers lost their cool and threatened to get into a fight, especially when particularly volatile groups were involved, such as the therianthropes of the Ryu Clan.

“Say that again…” The dragon man slowly stepped forth as his dragon drew closer to him protectively. “Tell me that you think I’m weak.”

“I don’t ’think’ you’re weak, you are weak,” Rui calmly informed him. “Though, compared to the average pathwalker, you’re definitely much stronger. Nothing to be ashamed of, really. I remember when I was as weak as you many decades ago. Nothing like being weak, hm? Sometimes I actually miss being so weak since you had more competition and pressure. Ah… to be weak…”

Each time Rui said ’weak,’ the dragon man’s anger continued rising. If not the fact that his black scales didn’t have blood running through them, one would have been able to see them turn red with anger.

“I’M NOT WEAK!” The dragon man roared as he leaped, jumping atop his dragon as he assumed control of the giant beast through their bond. “Die!”

One moment, he was all but ready to destroy Rui where he stood.

And yet, the very next moment, Rui appeared before him in the blink of an eye with his Realms of power bursting to life.

“I’m afraid I’m not quite ready to die just yet.”

Rui’s hand sharpened into a swift jab that struck the man’s neck hard.

BANG!

The sheer force of the blow cracked the dragon man’s scales, as the blunt force trauma exceeded a critical threshold. The dragon man’s eyes rolled backward as he collapsed unconscious, much to the unfettered rage of his bonded dragon. The other kin of the Ryu Clan grew shocked at the shocking display of power that Rui effortlessly outputted, rushing to their own dragons with a vengeful bloodlust.

They never made it.

POW POW POW POW POW!

With a smooth motion, Rui swiftly knocked each and every single one of them out before they could even reach their beasts.

THUD

They all collapsed simultaneously, unconscious.

All that was left were the enraged dragons, all but about to lose control of their own anger and wrath.

“This is the fundamental weakness of the Beast Path.”

No Path was beyond flaw.

Elves were weak outside of an environment infested with biotechnological flora.

Martial Artists were entirely vulnerable when suffering from the consequences of their Realms of power.

And therianthropes were weak without their beasts.

Ordinarily, one would be careful not to pick fights that they weren’t prepared for, but it appeared that the personality and temperament of the Ryu Clan was incompatible with thoughtful preparation and caution.

“ROOOAAARRR!!!” The black dragon of the unconscious dragon man unleashed a fearsome screech of rage, all but ready to incinerate Rui alive of its own will. Its long body unfurled as it displayed the majesty of its serpentine dragonian body, rising to the air despite the absence of wings.

Its body quivered with power as it activated the biotechnological plasma systems integrated into its body and genotype while its cells generated tremendous power using cold nuclear fusion, allowing to convert matter into energy in real time.

RUMBLE!!!

“ROOOAAARRR!!!”

“RAAAWWWRRR!!!”

“KRRRIIIEEEKKK!!!”

The other dragons rose as they mobilized their power as well, surrounding Rui in a swift motion while their bodies charged with tremendous power on the very verge of being unleashed.

And yet, they never stood a chance.

“T̶h̵a̴t̴’̸s̶ ̷e̴n̸o̸u̴g̸h̵.̴ ̴.”

The dragons froze, on the very verge of annihilating him.

And yet, Rui’s voice completely paralyzed them.

No, not his voice, but the presence behind his voice.

One moment, they were feral monsters of destruction and wrath.

The very next moment, they were rendered into servile reptiles.

“Is this all dragons are capable of?”

Rui’s tone was one of mockery.

It inspired rage within the dragons, even if his authority was unquestionable. The rightful source is novęlfire.net

His pitch-black eyes swept over all of them.

“Is this all you amount to?”

He conveyed the meaning of his words with Fauna Flow, allowing them to understand their meaning.

“Are you not more?” he asked with eyes that lit up with a provocative glint. “More than merely servile lizards?”

His question roused the indignant pride of the dragons as a smile emerged on Rui’s face.

“Go…” he coaxed them. “Show the world what you are capable of. Show the world your power. Show the world that they should fear and respect you for the ultimate lifeforms that you are! Oh, and take your bonded therianthropes with you.”

His pitch-black eyes sharpened.

“I̴ ̸c̴o̷m̶m̵a̶n̵d̵ ̷i̶t̵.”

That was enough.

“ROOOAAARRR!!!”

“RAAAWWWRRR!!!”

“KRRRIIIEEEKKK!!!”

The dragons roared with great fury and bloodlust as they unleashed an extraordinarily destructive blast of fire around the area, melting the now-evacuated market in one fell swoop.

BOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

Rui shielded himself from the flames before reaching an aghast Amare and activating Worm Step.

WHOOSH

In the blink of an eye, they teleported away as the dragons continued to go berserk, unleashing an onslaught of destruction across the world around them.

BOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

The flames they unleashed were laden with extraordinarily intense plasma, threatening to spread an unfathomable amount of destruction across the entire port city.

The dragons may not have been as powerful as Martial Sages, but they were still the equivalent of quasi-Sage-level beasts who could easily melt an entire city away into molten rock.

If not for those who stood in their way.

CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK!!!

Trees emerged from the ground as nature itself rose to the defense of the elves who wielded them. The elves native to the Hlakaschken Trade Empire and the dark elves of West Genora, who traded in the trade empire, manipulated nature to absorb the energy that the dragons unleashed, protecting the trade city.

And yet, the dragons were only just getting started.

“ROOOAAARRR!!!”

RUMBLE!!!