The Martial Unity

Time slowed down in Rui’s eyes as the Martial Sages charged towards him with a murderous bloodlust and equally intense fear. He could sense their aversion.

Their uncertainty.

Their desperate conviction.

He could sense that they were prepared to die if it meant killing him.

The softest of smiles emerged on his face.

“We appreciate your willingness to partake in measuring our power.”

Sage Marhan’s fist charged towards Rui with a blinding speed and tremendous momentum. “DIE! DAWNBRINGER!”

WHOOSH

His eyes widened as the attack smoothly passed through Rui’s immaterial body as if it didn’t even exist. He might have even believed that it didn’t exist, if not for the sheer force with which Rui’s fist struck Sage Marhan’s diaphragm almost simultaneously.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The destructive blow permeated the impact deep across Sage Marhan’s body, causing his internal organs to rupture on the spot, as if shredded by an invisible force that ignored his hardened and conditioned exterior. Sage Marhan coughed blood, falling to his knees as his expression crumbled with shock.

One blow.

One moment.

That was all it took for Rui to bring the man to his knees.

If not for the myriad of destructive attacks coming at Rui, he would have undoubtedly perished then and there. Rui shifted his gaze to the hundreds of Martial Sages and their powerful attacks converging on him.

It was a threat that demanded his attention.

And yet, it couldn’t so much as touch Rui. WHOOSH

One Martial Sage’s palm thrust right through Rui’s body as if it didn’t even exist in the material world. Rui’s attacks seemed to skip through time itself, finding them on his opponent’s face before they even realized.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!

A quick combo to the face broke his nose. The man registered the pain only after the attacks landed, as if he was frozen in time until then. Rui’s ethereal eyes flashed about as several more attacks converged on him.

And yet, not a single one of them struck him. WHOOSH

He seemed to ascend from material reality as they passed through his incorporeal body, allowing him to smoothly evade each and every single attack.

His ensuing retaliation seemed to skip through the flow of time itself.

It struck them before they realized.

If not for the pain that alerted them to broken bones and ruptured internal organs, they would have never even realized they had been struck. WHOOSH

He walked right into a punch as it completely passed through him like a ghost.

BANG!!!

His opponent’s throat collapsed before she even realized it, causing the Martial Sage to crumble with a choking sound. Five more blows converged on him from around him.

Not a single one could touch the fabric of his being, even as they passed through him.

“I can’t touch him!”

“The attacks just pass through!”

“What the fuck are you?!” One Martial Sage screamed with desperation.

The only answer he got in return was pain.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG

Blows that transcended their awareness struck them before they could even fathom it. Rui’s motions remained graceful and elegant, yet he became an angel and demon surrounded by Sages who threw a tsunami of destruction at him. And yet, nothing seemed to happen.

He was an ethereal ghost.

One forever beyond their reach.

His movements seemed to hypnotize them, as if lulling them into a death spiral from which they couldn’t recover. As if he were a psychological black hole that swallowed them up, leaving them no opportunity to escape.

There was no hope.

There was only inevitability.

Like clockwork, every blow they threw smoothly passed through his incorporeal body, only for an attack that transcended their awareness to fell them where they stood.

One by one, he broke them inside out, leaving them coughing in blood as he ruptured their internal organs with impacts that seemed to bypass the very fabric of space and time.

He was a conductor of music, directing orchestras and choirs to play the grand melody of his victory against a whopping three hundred Martial Sages who were the musicians, weaving together the tapestry of the most transcendent show of dominance they had ever experienced.

He was unstoppable.

His victory was all but assured.

“STOP USING FORESIGHT OR PREDICTIONS!”

The thundering roar from the recovering Sage Marhan broke the hypnotic lull that seemed to have taken over the battle, even as he coughed blood. It served as a slap in the face to the Martial Sages, who became alert once more.

“He’s using it against you!” Sage Marhan barked with gritted teeth colored with his blood, never once taking his eyes off Rui. “I don’t know how he’s doing it, but he’s able to move in a manner that defies causality! Focus on the present, not the future!”

Sage Marhan’s words beggared disbelief.

Movements that defied causality? That sounded like Transcendence. How could a Martial Sage possibly defy causality?

They didn’t know.

They couldn’t even begin to fathom it.

But the man was five hundred years old and one of the strongest peak Sages in Panama. The sheer breadth and depth of Martial experience must have allowed him to gain some insight into the sorcery that was Rui’s movements.

They immediately adhered to his instructions, growing more alert as they tried to shed their subconscious instinct to predict and extrapolate. At the Sage Realm, this level of insight was simply bread and butter, born from a cognition boost with their Realms of power, combined with centuries of experience.

It wasn’t easy to consciously set it apart, but once they did it, it changed everything. Numerous attacks converged on Rui, threatening to destroy everything.

WHOOSH

Rui evaded a blow with just the slightest of movements that seemed to emerge from nowhere as his body surged forward with a blinding jab.

BANG!

The blow had a devastating impact on their body, but at the very least, the victim was aware of the strike beforehand. Several more attacks, close-range and long-range, emerged from the many Martial Sages around him.

WHOOSH

His evasion was as smooth as butter and as soft as the clouds. It was profoundly subtle.

So much so that even Martial Sages could miss it if they didn’t pay attention, creating the illusion that their attacks had passed through their body.