The Martial Unity

Chapter 3733: Quenching Thirst

NOVA had used Suneater as an excellent buffer and speed bump to slow down the battle into an annoying, lengthy marathon where stamina would reign supreme. She merrily pulled Rui into a merry-go-round around the astronomical giant, using his attacks to kill any momentum and progress that Rui had made.

Rui had no interest in turning this into a stamina battle.

’I need to get rid of this big oaf, one way or another.’

Unfortunately, even with his recent upgrade, he didn’t see how he could kill the giant quickly. Even with the Poison of Yin and Yang, it would probably take days before the giant succumbed, especially when giants were highly immune to poison, able to consume esoterics like they were nothing.

’I’ll need to adaptively evolve to this challenge in a different manner.’

In the middle of the battle, he halted his chase, turning towards the celestial giant with a glare.

”Hey, you there. Just what the hell do you want from me? Why are you chasing after me, roaring ’water water’ over and over? Are you stupid? The water is not real! It’s an illusion!”

He was about to mention that the water would become real once he became a Transcendent, but he didn’t want to give NOVA any clues to the Transcendent Realm.

”Hahaha!” Sentinel Prime burst out laughing on the other side of the Suneater. ”Fool, are you trying to reason with a giant? Don’t bother, they are not rational creatures.”

Yet, Rui could hear the faintest hint of nervousness.

She would much prefer if Rui continued giving chase in a long, drawn-out battle, burning away his stamina. If he managed to remove himself from the Suneater from the battle, then Sentinel Prime did not stand a chance.

He was confident he could win that way too, but...

”Your water...” Suneater turned towards him with thirst in his eyes. ”...is the only real water.”

It was remarkable how he uttered the exact opposite of the actual truth. Those were words that anybody would have laughed off as giant stupidity.

But not Rui.

His eyes sharpened at those words.

A hint of realization dawned on him.

’Could it be...?’ His ethereal eyes lit up. ”...And you’re certain my water can quench your thirst?”

”Yes.” The voice of the celestial giant boomed across the battlefield. ”Your water is what I need.

”
RUMBLE!!!!!

His hand reached for Rui.

”Give me your water.”

A smirk emerged on Rui’s ethereal face.

”Very well. You can have all the water you want.”

He activated a technique he hadn’t used in a long, long time.

”Void of Water.”

RUMBLE!!!!!!

Sentinel Prime’s eyes widened as Rui’s Martial Embodiment shifted. Instead of flowing everywhere, the water emerging from Rui’s existence converged upon one and only one target.

The Suneater.

RUMBLE!!!!!!

It was a technique that he had created when fighting Sage Himari of the Sekigahara Confederate when he was a Martial Master, meant to incapacitate his opponents with a flood of information. Not even he could have ever imagined he would one day use it to quench thirst.

An ocean of water converged upon the Suneater as the celestial giant’s eyes widened. ”All this water...”

His booming voice grew jubilant.

”This...! This is everything I sought!”

Rui even got rid of his invisibility momentarily, restoring the consciousness-erasing intensity of his Martial Embodiment.

RUMBLE!!!!!!

The world shook as the Embodiment grew more and more intense and information-dense. Any ordinary soul that beheld would be rendered brain-dead in less than a second.

And yet, the Suneater was the first thing away from an ordinary soul, with a brain large enough to be considered its own celestial object.

To him, the water was not a force of destruction.

No, it was a source of salvation.

One that quenched his thirst.

He gulped the Martial Embodiment down as if chugging a large mug of water down as Rui’s concentrated Martial Embodiment began to sate him. The light of thirst in his eyes began fading as Rui detected a profound sense of satisfaction radiating from his mind with his mind sense.

”It’s... It’s working,” Rui realized. ”I knew it. He must have reached a critical threshold where he no longer felt hungry, leaving him with only thirst. His thirst... it must be a purely psychological phenomenon that giants must need to overcome in order to be free from their baser urges.”

Rui could feel the desperation of thirst disappearing as a profound sense of calm, peace, and harmony took its place.

He began to understand the Path of Giants more.

They had unfathomable potential, but the same thing that gave them their potential also made them extremely irrational.

However, most likely every giant had their own critical mass beyond which their hunger disappeared, leaving it with the same desperation of thirst that the Suneater had been experiencing.

”A psychological thirst... one that can only be quenched by information.”

The recent realizations he had made regarding the significance of information made him wonder exactly what awaited the giants once they had quenched this psychological thirst of theirs.

He already had a strong suspicion he knew what was about to happen.

”You...!” Sentinel Prime gritted his teeth. ”You goddamn monster. I will kill you!”

NOVA did not know what was happening, but she knew that she couldn’t allow Rui to keep doing what he was doing. If he somehow managed to remove the Suneater as a variable in battle, then...

’Then this war is lost.’

RUMBLE!!!!!

Sentinel Prime mobilized all of his power as NOVA returned to offense, pouring everything into unleashing the most destructive onslaught that NOVA could muster.

And yet—

”You already know that none of that works on me anymore.”

Rui’s ethereal voice rang of truth even as a flood of destruction washed over him.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

...

Attack after attack, Sentinel Prime unleashed an astronomically destructive onslaught.

And yet, not a single scratch emerged on Rui.

Sentinel Prime’s expression grew grave.

NOVA already knew it was of no use.

If it had been of any use, she would have been able to save Tokugawa Ieyasu.

She could only watch helplessly as Rui worked his magic on the celestial giant.

RUMBLE!!!!!

Suneater’s expression continued changing as he consumed more and more water.

Until all the desperation and thirst in his eyes were completely gone.

His expression was one of great satisfaction and harmony.

He turned towards Rui with an expression of deep gratitude.

The winds calmed as the light of dawn crept across the horizon, dispelling the darkness of night.

”Thank you, Sovereign of Water. For as long as I live, I am indebted to you.”

Rui halted the Void of Water as he studied the giant with great interest and amazement. His mind sense and SOUL System had already sensed the profound change that had unfolded in the depths of the giant’s mind.

”Finally...” the giant closed his eyes. ”Finally, I can think.”

What followed was an explosion.

Not in the material realm.

But in the dimension of information.

RUMBLE!!!!!

A wave of information emerged from the celestial giant.

”What...” Sentinel Prime’s cybernetic eyes widened with shock. ”What is this?! What have you done?!”

”This...” Rui’s eyes widened. ”This is the power of his mind... it must be what comes after the Giant Heart... This is the Giant Mind!”

RUMBLE!!!!!

The world shook as the Suneater ascended to a higher Realm of power.