The Martial Unity

She rolled with the impact, letting it launch her away in the hopes of gaining a momentary reprieve from her formidable opponent.

Unfortunately for her, he refused to give her even a second to breathe.

“You say I’m afraid, yet you’re the one running away.”

WHOOSH

In a moment, he arrived before her in a flash.

Master Sera’s expression grew grave as the two blasted forth an onslaught of powerful and swift blows.

BAM BAM BAM!!!

Blows clashed as the two Martial Artists engaged in a furious brawl in abandon. Their attacks surged forth, creating a vortex of clashes and impacts that not even each of them could follow.

Yet, one side was gaining the edge over the other.

SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT!

Master Sera’s expression only grew increasingly grave and more severe as she suffered wound after wound.

The gap between them only grew wider and wider.

She was extremely strong in close-quarters combat, yet she had run into an opponent who outclassed her in this regard. Normally, she would have relied on her psychological sabotage and trauma induction to not only close the gap but overcome it.

Unfortunately for her, she was perhaps outmatched even in this regard for the first time.

“Imagine having Martial Art that becomes obsolete in the Sage Realm,” Ieyasu’s calm voice reached her. “I would kill myself.”

Her expression crumpled with murderous bloodlust as she gritted her teeth.

It was bad enough that he copied her Martial Art.

But what infuriated her was the fact that he had the gall to copy her words as well.

The emotional turmoil that she experienced came not just from the shock of having her

martial art copied but also evolved right before her very eyes, as well as the truth in his words.

The ugly truth that he aired before the entire world.

She got a taste of her own medicine for the very first time in her life.

Try as she might, she couldn’t retort with wit and humor.

Not only was he able to seemingly read her like a book, but the fact of the matter was that she couldn’t deny the truth.

She was indeed afraid.

She was terrified of the possibility that her Martial Art was obsolete in the Sage Realm.

It was a horrifying fear that kept her up at night.

A terror that confronted her in nightmares.

Martial Sages possessed absolute self-understanding.

That was what the Enlightenment of Self was.

How was she supposed to psychologically sabotage a being whose mind and soul were in harmony?

How was she supposed to traumatize a being who had overcome the barriers between their inner and outer self to become a whole being, gaining access to the full power that the Martial being had to offer?

She wasn’t absolutely certain, but she had extremely strong suspicions that it was impossible.

She had consulted many Martial Sages before, but they had also universally told her that the only way to know the truth was to find out herself.

She would need to become a Martial Sage in order to discover the truth.

“But you’re too afraid.”

Ieyasu’s voice made her freeze.

That was a mistake.

BAM!!!

A thundering blow cracked her ribs where she stood.

Yet, her expression only grew more fierce.

She abandoned all defense, focusing all of her power on offense.

“Too afraid to take the next step.” A faint whisper escaped him even as he intensified his assault on her. “Too afraid to go from being the strongest Master to a useless Sage.”

She gritted her teeth as her eyes grew bloodshot.

She pushed herself to the very limit.

Her muscles burned with effort.

Her joints creaked with strain.

Her flesh tore upon contact with the evolved copies of her attacks.

With each passing second, new wounds opened up on her body.

Blood leaked out of them at alarming rates.

A single truth became evident to her with each passing moment.

‘I’m going to die today.’

Her eyes flared with murderous bloodlust. “But you’re coming with me.”

As though her wounds didn’t exist, she pushed forward with maddening bloodlust, determined to kill him at all costs.

POW POW POW!!

Their blows flashed back and forth with blinding speed as their eyes sharpened.

“I don’t want to hear about fear from a pathetic coward too afraid to grow up.”

The darkness in his eyes stirred at her words.

“I may be afraid of the Sage Realm, but you’re afraid of everything.”

She could feel his body stiffening for a moment.

“Most of all,” Her voice grew immersed with malevolence. “You’re afraid of death.”

A malevolent grin of blood and madness emerged on her face.

“So much fear that you’re probably impotent because your balls haven’t dropped.”

He froze almost instinctively as her pheromones and passive hypnosis amplified the rage that

boiled in his mind.

It left her the briefest of moments worth of an opening.

One that she didn’t intend to let go.

SPLAT!!!

His pupils dilated as her arm impaled his gut.

A demonic smile appeared on her face as her murderous eyes bore itself into him. “No better way to piss a male off than by emasculating his manhood. Works every single time.”

SPLAT!

Blood poured out of his wound as she pulled her arm out of his wound with a violent twist.

DRIP DRIP DRIP…!

Blood poured out of his wound at alarming rates.

He didn’t even bother covering the wound.

Almost as if he had accepted his death.

She wasn’t surprised.

She had more wounds than she could count, more broken bones than she could count, and

certainly more bruises than she could count.

But none of them were life-threatening.

A big gaping hole in the abdomen, on the other hand, was extremely life-threatening.

His complexion worsened by the second.

His vision grew blurry.

His body grew weak.

One after another, his Realms of power shut down.

“At least now, you can rest in peace.” Her words were uncharacteristically soft. “You no

longer have to live with fear and the greed it gave birth to.”

Tokugawa Ieyasu gazed at her silently for a moment.

“I… may have lived with fear, but it drove me forward,” his black eyes saw right through her.

“Your fear is holding you back.”

Her expression fell at his words.

“You will obtain unfathomable power should you ever… unshackle… yourself…”

His eyes lost their light as his body collapsed.

THUD

A pool of blood formed around his body as she clearly sensed the final wisps of life leaving his

body.