The Martial Unity

RUMBLE!

The world shook as his Tree of Life Martial Embodiment reinforced the power of Niflheim, turning it from a simple Master-level technique to a Sage-level technique in the minds of these beasts and monsters.

“HAHAHA!” Sage Damian cackled. “WHATEVER YOU DID IS WORKING! THESE MAGGOTS HAVE BECOME DOCILE AND CRIPPLED. DESTROY THEM ALL!”

The Martial Sages directed a glance of admiration and respect towards Rui before following suit.

What followed was more of a one-sided domination than before as the beasts and monsters were crippled both physiologically and psychologically. This caused their output to fall significantly, increasing the already wide gap between them and the Martial Artists.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

Rui, on the other hand, focused on maintaining the powerful hypnosis, information overload, and the domain for as long as possible. His expression strained with effort as he deployed the techniques for as long as he could.

He knew that the Tree of Life was extremely effective on beasts and monsters from previous experiences. He had done something similar in the Garden of Salvation by accident when he had projected a hypnosis based on the Tree of Life upon each and every creature, causing them to suffer from an environment that was antithetical to them in their minds. This time, he was doing it with his Martial Mind, making it astronomically stronger than before.

He was also doing it with the Megamind, further increasing the potency of the hypnosis. The net cognitive power of Sage-level beasts did not increase astronomically compared to their Master-level lessers. This made them open to information overloads from Rui despite being astronomically superior to him in raw energy. All of it reinforced the domain that was already negatively acting on them. Of course, not all of them. There were creatures that thrived in the cold.

“KRRIIIEEKKKK!!!” The Frost Fox sprayed a blizzard unlike anything the world had ever seen from within its ice body, further empowering Rui’s Niflheim to extraordinary standards.

“Rgghh!” Rui gritted as the cold began affecting him. If not for the fact that beasts and monsters sucked at controlling their power and focusing it, he would have frozen to death then and there.

The Frost Fox grew increasingly more active and powerful as it returned to its element. As a creature that was made up of ice, the cold was necessary for it to live up to its full power. The creature lived in the north of the Beast Domain, in a vast mountain range that covered the entirety of the border of the Beast Domain known as Tekhan’s Wall.

The blizzards that blew over in Tekhan’s Wall were where creatures like this were most able to thrive.

And yet, not even that was enough to allow it to match the rampaging Devil.

“HYRARGHHH!” He snarled furiously as he unleashed a nuclear explosion unlike anything the world had ever seen before.

BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!

In an instant, the Frost Fox evaporated into a bloody steam that dissipated across thousands of kilometers.

In combination with the cold of the Niflheim, it condensed into a blood storm that rumbled in the heavens above as the eight Sages continued culling the endless hordes of rampaging beasts.

And yet, even as they culled the beasts and monsters that were weakened and incapacitated by Rui, there was no end.

Monster after monster.

Beast after beast.

They just kept coming and coming and coming.

Even if the Human Domain was far bigger, the Beast Domain was far, far denser. The populations actually went in favor of the Beast Domain.

On top of that, almost each and every creature of the Beast Domain was in a frenzy and a threat while only zero-point-one percent of human civilization was Martial Artists.

This meant that even if each of the eight Martial Sages could vanquish beasts at a rapid pace, it barely made a dent.

Even if Rui could sabotage and incapacitate them, he couldn’t do it forever.

Meanwhile it certainly seemed like the beasts and monsters could keep coming forever. Even as the Martial Sages fought them and vanquished them at rapid rates, they expanded their senses as far as they could to get a stock of what was to come.

They were unable to detect an end to the sheer number of beasts and monsters that rolled out one after another. This was the true horror of the Beast Incursion.

Even though it had done a lot of damage in the short-term, the true devastation of the Beast Domain was that there were more than ten thousand beasts for every Martial Artist in the Human Domain. They would just keep coming and coming one after another.

Surviving the Beast Incursion was a marathon, rather than a sprint.

It was slow.

Grueling.

It would chip away at stamina.

It would chip away at energy reserves.

On a civilization level, it would chip away at reserves.

It would inflict countless liabilities and detriments until it slowly eroded away human resistance.

The only hope was that the Beast Incursion would run out of population due to massive death tolls and mortality rates. Without this particular variable that served as a way to conclude the conflict, humanity was doomed.

And yet, what was more fragile? Human civilization or the endlessly frenzied animals that fought without self-preservation?

The answer was obvious.

In that moment, a profound realization struck Rui.

“Human civilization will need change if we are to overcome this without a pyrrhic victory.”

In reality, pyrrhic victories were already the best they could do given how many people had  already died thus far.

However, in order to salvage human civilization as much as possible, they needed more Martial Artists. More Martial Artists needed to break through to higher Realms in order to bolster their numbers and ensure that they didn’t succumb to devastating numbers. Martial Artists had limits, and it was best not to test them, lest countless people die due to an overestimation of humanity’s defensive power.

A cold, chilling realization swept over the entire battlefield when they realized that there was no glory in this battle.

This battle was just one of countless more to come.

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