The Martial Unity

The spatter of blood rushed from the faceless human’s severed arm. It leaped away, gripping the severed end of its arm, trying to stop the bleeding. It seemed to have abandoned its duties to protect the manifold tree.

Yet, Ria didn’t give it the chance to escape.

Her amber eyes flared with smoldering rage.

”You killed my friends.”

Her voice was icy cold with a chilly wrath.

”You will pay the price for that.”

A surge of materia prima rushed through her body as she pushed forward, launching herself at the faceless human with violent momentum.

So much so that she wasn’t able to perfectly control it.

She wasn’t able to stop in time.

BAM!!!

SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT

She blasted right through the faceless human entirely, completely destroying its entire body, splattering its remains across the ground around her. Its red blood covered her damaged exo-Martial suit, dripping down bit by bit.

The soil around her was caked with ravaged flesh of the faceless human.

Just like that, she destroyed the object of her hatred and anger.

There was no satisfaction, even as she stared at the gore that her attack had splattered around her. She didn’t feel vindicated. She didn’t even feel satisfied.

The victory she had been so desperate for just minutes prior came to her so easily that it didn’t even register.

The victory she had been so desperate for just minutes prior came to her so easily that it didn’t even register.

The silence hung in the air, save for the sound of dripping blood.

There was simply nothing left.

It made her feel empty.

She clenched her fists, quivering with effort.

The hatred and anger she had for the faceless human now had but one target.

Herself.

’This… this is all my fault.’

She knew that, of course. The faceless human was a convenient replacement, a red herring. A red herring to fool herself more than anybody else. But alas, she was a Martial Sage and had obtained Enlightenment of Self.

She couldn’t fool even herself.

She was forced into a painful confrontation with herself. She was forced to reckon with the fact that her decisions, over a period of time, had led to this moment. If not for the fact that she had been cocky, if not for the fact that she had underestimated the danger associated with the infected worlds.

If not for the fact that she hadn’t considered whether or not her team could handle danger the way she did. If not for a million things she had done, they would still be alive. That was a reality that she simply had to face.

Of course, she wasn’t unaware of the fact that, for every decision she made that led to this moment, they too made the same decision. They had taken the risks with her every step of the way not as an unwilling participant, but rather as fully willing partners. Her eyes stung as she felt tears well up. She felt her throat choking painfully. Her expression crumpled with grief as she sniffed and struggled to hold her grief back.

She turned back towards the part of the battlefield where her friends lay, walking towards them with a dark expression, her eyes filled with self-loathing and grief.

The bodies of Siliscia and Sternon were already cold, for they had been the first to die, and had died the quickest after the strike had struck. Siliscia’s body was scattered into pieces, her blood spewed over some distance, her flesh entangled with the flora that she manipulated.

Sternon’s body became more opaque after his death, his body unceremoniously lying on the flat ground around them, also cold.

STEP

She arrived at Misha and Runark, who lay next to each other.

Their hearts were silent.

She could sense even the slightest bit of activity in their brains.

Their eyes were lifeless.

With a single look at them, Ria could deduce the flow of causality that had led them to this point. She could tell that Runark had managed to extract Misha from an attack that she could survive, running towards the manifold tree.

’He’s kind, after all.’

Yet, he hadn’t been anywhere near fast enough to get her to safety.

Or himself, for that matter.

The faceless human had cut them both down, making their wounds half as severe as the wounds that had instantly killed Siliscia and Sternon. She could make out that Misha had tried her best to stop her bleeding and Runark’s. It was amply evident that she had prioritized Runark’s recovery over her own.

’Misha… you cared more than you ever let on.’

She had always been the most reserved and least zealous among them when it came to their shared business. She didn’t feel as strongly about the team as the rest of them did, certainly not as much as Ria did.

Yet, even on the verge of death, she had sought to protect her teammate and preserve his life even at the cost of her own.

And yet, they were all dead nonetheless. Standing around their dead bodies made Ria feel horrible, like she had murdered them herself. Like she had used them as a meat shield to protect herself from the risks of the operation. Like she was the one who should have been dead instead of them.

Yet what pierced her heart the most was the causality of the death that she could feel in her bones.

She could feel how absolute it was.

How unyielding it.

The causality of death was among the most absolute causalities in the world. The most irreversible of events. The inferno of chaos. The most absolute law of life.

The inevitability of it all surrounded her.

It taunted her.

’Death is absolute.’

As if reminding her.

Reminding her that she would never see them again. That she would never see Runark, Misha, Sternon, or Siliscia ever again. She would never get to go with them on another adventure ever again. She would never be able to share another day with them ever again.

A single guttural, yet faint whisper escaped her.

”No.”

It was a rejection.

A rejection of the absolution of death.

RUMBLE!!!

Her amber eyes flared with power and determination through the tears that streaked down her face as the world around her shook violently.

It shook as she unleashed the full might of the Realms of power within her. Her heart, mind, and soul bloomed in all of their extraordinary might. The canvas of heaven and earth was painted with a blooming image of the cosmos as her Martial Embodiment painted over the world around her.

Her blazing eyes remained fixed on her friends as she rejected death itself.