The Martial Unity

Chapter 3709: Vengeful Matriarch

While Argenton fought his revenge match with the Lightfeeder, Transential found herself confronted with three peak Sages.

BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM!!!

She defended an attack from Sage Sayfeel with a sharp expression as her cybernetic crystalline eyes shifted to the distant Flickering Elder, who, with her sheer speed, managed to evade each and every single quantum chisel that Transentia flung her way.

”HAH!” Sage Kole Kellin charged forth with her quantum gluon plasma-laden fists, burning through the quantum chisels of Transentia.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

None of the three peak Sages could fight Transentia alone, but together, they were able to exert just enough pressure to keep the ascendant tekvore on her feet, giving her a run for her money.

Had Matriarch Nephi chosen to join them, then they could undoubtedly have brought her down, but the Matriarch directed her power towards a much more important enemy.

”TOKUGAWA!!!” the old woman roared as she found herself confronting the Abyssal Mirror. The pitch-black MECHA with highly reflective panels that allowed his enemies to take a good look at themselves before he crushed them.

”YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES AGAINST THE SILAS CLAN!” Matriarch Nephi roared with a vengeful bloodlust.

Within the depths of the MECHA, Ieyasu simply sharpened his cybernetic eyes.

”You have nothing left to offer me. Get out of my way.”

His voice was cold.

Matriarch Nephi’s eyes flared with a chilling malevolence as she charged towards the MECHA, unleashing a powerful attack against the machine.

Then, she saw the future.

WHOOSH!

She barely managed to evade a blindingly swift mechanical arm swinging at her.

Except even her opponent, much to her chagrin, could see the future.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

A tremendous follow-up struck straight and true, flinging her away. Matriarch Nephi grimaced as the sheer force of the impact cracked several bones across her entire body.

CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK!!!

She skidded across the surface of the dark ocean as her arms were rendered mangled. She gritted her teeth as the MECHA slowly flew forward in an unfazed and uncaring manner.

He was stronger than she could have ever imagined.

The traitor had broken through just two years ago, and his power within the Sage Realm was already beyond peak Sage-level.

She wasn’t sure if even a Transcendent Candidate could defeat him!

It was truly an astonishing amount of power and the only example of a Martial Sage piloting a MECHA. None of the existing Martial Sages had been able or willing to master MECHAs. Most of them were far, far too old to adopt such an absurdly different means of combat centuries into their life.

The same was true even for Martial Masters, and even for a Senior to an extent. The only people who were young and flexible enough to take to MECHAs more willingly were Apprentices and Squires, particularly the younger generations who had grown up seeing MECHAs grow more prominent, making it more normal in their eyes.

”So this is what a Martial Sage can accomplish in a MECHA...” Matriarch Nephi growled as she got up, trying to stall as she healed her broken bones with her limited healing factor. ”You are a coward for hiding behind that machine. A true Martial Artist would be able to win without such technological dependence.”

”I know what you are trying to do.” Tokugawa’s cold voice was projected from the MECHA as it drew closer. ”You hope to heal your body and get another chance to attack me. Even if I allowed you to attempt that, you would straightforwardly fail. And yet, I have no reason to allow you. As I mentioned, you have nothing left to offer me. So...”

VMMM!

The machine charged towards her with a blinding speed, unleashing a tremendously powerful strike at her.

And yet, it never landed.

WHOOSH!

His eyes widened as his attack missed.

It crashed into an illusion.

One that he was intimately familiar with.

”Come now, Tokugawa. I don’t think I ever taught you to be a traitor.”

The relaxed drawl of Sage Zeamer caused the MECHA to pause as he directed a look behind him.

The man had somehow managed to evacuate Matriarch Nephi just in time by stalling Ieyasu with a powerful hypnosis despite a layer of metal between them. An air of power surrounded the Martial Sage as he put the Matriarch down, unfazed by the immense energy radiating from the MECHA.

”...Master.” Tokugawa’s stoic voice hardened.

Sage Zeamer grinned at the MECHA with a curious expression. ”Assimilative Evolution indeed. To think that applies even in a whole new way of fighting. I would be proud if not for the things you have done since then. Women don’t like traitors, you know? You should do better.”

”I did what I had to do to achieve my ambition,” Tokugawa’s icy voice cut against the ear. ”Had the Silas Clan been willing to trade their prophecy technique for any number of equally valuable techniques, then I would have preferred to go that way, but they were not. They left me no choice but to do what I did. It does not bring me joy to have to abandon my home continent and be on the run. But if that is the price of power, then so be it.”

”YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TAKE OUR TECHNIQUE FROM US!” Matriarch Nephi roared as she completed her healing. ”YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!”

She charged towards Tokugawa Ieyasu as her eyes remained focused on the MECHA, which swung with a truly astronomical amount of power to crush her where she stood.

BOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

Tokugawa’s eyes widened as his attack crushed into yet another illusion.

BANG!!!

Matriarch Nephi struck the unyieldingly powerful armor of the MECHA, barely leaving even a scratch on it.

”Impossible!” She blurted. ”How can ordinary metal be this tough?!”

Before she could even react, a blindingly fast attack threatened to crush her a second time.

WHOOSH

Ieyasu grew irritated as the attack crashed into an illusion once more, turning towards his former teacher with a glare in his cybernetic eyes. ”You are not as weak as you were before.”

Sage Zeamer smiled with a hint of amusement. ”What can I say? My drive for women is as strong as ever, isn’t that right? Dear Nephi?”

”Shut up and help me kill him!” Matriarch Nephi growled.

Sage Zeamer grinned as he turned towards his former student. ”Very well. You’ll have to forgive me, dear boy. But the missus demands your death.”

The man had managed to seduce the old lady, eventually marrying into the Silas Clan and gaining the Eye of Prophecy. When he combined the technique with his mastery of hypnosis, he pioneered a whole new field of techniques in the form of pre-emptive misdirection, an almost unstoppable form of hypnosis.

It allowed him to become a peak Sage alongside the Matriarch.

RUMBLE!!!

The two peak Sages charged together against the Abyssal Mirror, eager to fell the MECHA Martial Artist within.