The Martial Unity

The heavy blow ravaged the gut of the Martial Sage, breaking several ribcages in the blink of an eye. The sheer force that -o—o-o exerted exceeded the Martial Sage’s defenses by a significant degree, causing the Martial Sage to cough blood.

“How…?” The Martial Sage vomited blood as his gut remained fractured. “How… are you this strong?”

The other arachnoids they had faced weren’t anywhere nearly as strong as the specimen. With a single blow, -o—o-o had crushed the internal organs of the Martial Sage, bringing him to his knees. CLICK CLICK CLICK

“You. Outsiders. Are. No. Match. For. Us. Ascendant.”

The power of ascendant homoarachnoids was derived from a powerful percentage of esoteric matter in their body. Every homoarachnoid was born with a certain innate tolerance for esoteric matter that was decided at birth. Some homoarachnoids couldn’t survive even a single ounce of it, while others could replace much of their bodies with it.

Their bodies didn’t contain fascial connective tissue like much of the mammals of the Gaian Tree of Life did. Instead, they replaced fascial connective tissue with their webbing, which was much quicker and more responsive than the tissue and could actually supply force on top of their muscles. A level of force that was so great that not even Martial Sages could easily handle them.

BOOOOOOOOM!!!

The Martial Sage widened his eyes as he felt a tremendous force blast into his body as the homoarachnoid’s fist buried deeper and deeper into the man’s gut, ravaging his insides. Even though he used a passive defensive technique armed with the power of materia prima, the sheer force with which the ascendant homoarachnoid overwhelmed his defenses was straightforward. “Cough…!” he vomited blood, barely being able to stand up on his feet before another devastating blow flung him away.

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The web that bound his body, however, pulled him with an equal amount of force, causing him to fly back to -o—o-o’s fist, only to be walloped with an even greater amount of force a third time.

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The webbing within the ascendant homoarachnoid’s body contracted with a single signal through the creature’s nervous system. The fascia-webbing, made up of abaryonic fibrin, could generate an astronomical amount of force exceeding even the materia prima of Martial Sages.

The webbing within the ascendant homoarachnoid’s body contracted with a single signal through the creature’s nervous system. The fascia-webbing, made up of abaryonic fibrin, could generate an astronomical amount of force exceeding even the materia prima of Martial Sages.

-o—o-o simply intended to play ping pong with its opponent, blasting him back and forth as the webbing kept him pulling him in and out. Nothing should have been able to cut the webbing very easily under ordinary circumstances, since it was made up of highly exotic gluonic adhesive condensate. The same adhesive that held the nucleus of the atom together.

Even as he began blasting the Martial Sage blow after blow, -o—o-o made sure to follow the progress of the battle around them.

RUMBLE!!!

The world around them shook aggressively as the war between the homoarachnoids and the pathwalkers began to intensify. The sheer force of the ensuing impacts caused gray dust to lift up from the soil of the planet, completely obstructing conventional vision. However, the eyes of the ascendant homoarachnoid were special, able to see extremely well.

And he saw well that the outsiders resisted their invasion. The outsiders had strange ways of fighting that were different from how Homoarachnoids fought. They also wielded extraordinary power despite not necessarily integrating infected matter into their bodies, the way that homoarachnoids sought to do. Somehow, they were strong without the miracles of infected matter.

-o—o-o’s eyes lit up. ‘They. Able. To. Produce. Powerhouses. Without. Infected. Matter.’

It was a shocking revelation.

One that he didn’t think was possible.

How could ordinary matter produce miraculous power? After all, the homoarachnoids without any infected matter in their body were weak. They were not strong. They were limited by the quality and quantity of matter in their body. Blessed warriors and ascendant homoarachnoids, on the other hand, were able to generate extraordinary amounts of power if they were somehow able to survive the infection process.

It was what allowed their civilization to exist.

Yet, -o—o-o had now found himself in the company of organisms that somehow possessed an astronomical power with regular matter. ‘Should. Take. Home. Specimen.’ He turned towards the Martial Sage. He had been toying with pulling him back with his web that had turned into a leash.

WHOOSH

“Rgh!” The Martial Sage was pulled back towards the homoarachnoid, unable to stop himself from reaching the creature, given how large the gulf in power was. It should have been the end.

And yet, it wasn’t.

SPLAT!

With a blinding blur, a hazy blue figure slashed at the webbing binding the Martial Sage, chopping it in one smooth motion before saving the Martial Sage from an attack that would have undoubtedly knocked the daylights out of him.

“Cough…” The Martial Sage spat blood as he hazily turned towards the figure that had just freed him from the alien’s bind. “Thanks—”

His eyes widened as he actually focused on who he was looking at. He recognized the girl before him. She had been one of those who had gotten into a little spat in the lounge aboard the Blood Arc with a Martial Sage to defend her evosapien friend.

Her amber eyes sparkled with determination as well as concern for the Martial Sage on the ground beside her, while her golden hair swayed in the winds generated by the battle.

“You… You’re that girl,” he muttered as his tone grew more alarmed. “Wait. What are you doing here?! You’re just a Martial Master. Go back!”

Martial Masters and Martial Sages were distinctly separated on the battlefield, with Martial Sages serving as a filter perimeter, allowing weaker foes to pass through while focusing on the foes that only they could take down. Yet, this young Martial Master had chosen to intervene in a battle where even a Martial Sage like him struggled.

Ria simply turned towards -o—o-o with a determined expression. “We’ll be fine, mister. I’ll hold him while you consume a healing potion. Then we can take him on together.”

He simply stared at the young girl in disbelief. “What are you—”

WHOOSH

She turned into a blinding blur, shooting towards -o—o-o in the blink of an eye, launching a devastatingly powerful double-fist attack towards the ascendant homoarachnoid.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!