The Martial Unity

While the Sages and Rui fought the Sage-level and stronger quasi-Sage-level beasts at the very forefront of the beast tide, the other Martial Artists of the Kandrian Empire fought off the rest of the beast tide that diverged away from the Sages and headed down further north and south of the Kandrian border. The most important group to target were the quasi-Sage-level beasts and monsters. The most powerful Martial Masters had their eyes exclusively focused on them. They knew  that they needed to focus and take down the worst of the creatures while letting the other Masters deal with the weaker beasts and monsters.

Having been informed of the absence of Rui, they knew that their job was much harder. They needed to divide Masters in a way to ensure that all three rotating shifts of Masters would have enough powerful Masters in each shift.

One shift was comprised solely of Tokugawa Ieyasu when it came to powerful Masters. After his performance against Rui, not a single person had any doubts about his ability to cope with the incoming forces. He alone would be more than enough to take down the quasi-Sage-level beasts and monsters across the Kandrian Empire.

The remaining two groups were comprised of powerful high-grade Masters who were just grades away from becoming peak Masters. Their goal was simple. They needed to hunt down the quasi-Sage-level beasts.

“KRRRIIIEEEKKK!!!”

BOOOOOM BOOOOOM BOOOOOM!!!

Master Zentra’s eyes narrowed with ferocity as he heightened his bone density to land the most impactful blows he was able to on the outer shell of a manticore. Each blow landed with a tremendous impact, cracking the outer shell of the beast bit by bit.

SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT!

“RRROOOAAARRR!!!”

Master Reina smirked mischievously as she danced in and around a kirin, inflicting countless cuts on the creatures as she melted into the shadows, refusing to allow the beast the satisfaction of fighting back. While she was an assassin, she was still extremely capable in close quarters combat.

She could easily harass quasi-Sage-level beasts and eventually inflict death by a thousand  cuts. Masters who weren’t grade twenty-eight, twenty-nine, or thirty focused on dealing with the countless Master-level beasts one after another. Each Master was beset with many Master-level beasts, forcing them to push themselves to take down as many beasts as they could as fast as possible lest they be swarmed by more beasts and monsters that managed to survive the barrage of siege attacks from the siege weapons of the Kandrian Empire.

BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM!!!

Sir Armstrong unleashed a devastating barrage of attacks on the countless beasts and monsters that surged towards him. His Martial Heart shined like a supernova of raw power and energy. It contained more energy than all other Martial Hearts on the battlefield combined.

His Martial Mind, however, was entirely dormant.

It had done its job.

Several years had passed in the manifold as the Gatekeeper radically improved and evolved his Martial Body.

He had evolved into a higher species on the Tree of Life, one that was astronomically higher than baseline human beings compared to any other. His Martial Body had inherently grown to be as strong as a Martial Senior.

As for his Martial Heart, it had elevated his combat power to the Master Realm by itself.

So what if he didn’t have a Martial Mind that was useful in combat?

His Martial Heart was orders of magnitude stronger than any other in existence.

It gave him the power to compete with Martial Masters.

BOOOOOOMMM!!! BOOOOOOMMM!!! BOOOOOOMMM!!! His debut as a proper Martial Master inspired awe and admiration from all the Masters who had the honor of witnessing it. Each blow he inflicted upon the countless animals and creatures that swept in with the beast tide was devastatingly powerful.

It validated his entire Martial Path. He has defied the conventional path to power, charting his own path to power and it was paying off now that he had bridged the gap between Realms with his Martial Heart and Body alone. Of course, having very recently reached Master-level combat power, he was still in the lowest echelons of the Master Realm, but it certainly wasn’t his limit. He regretted that he hadn’t made it in time for the war, but he didn’t mind having to settle with the endless beast tide; it would serve as a wheatstone to help him grow stronger and help him measure how strong he was now. The Martial Masters fought furiously and carefully. They didn’t let a single beast pass them; they had already learned of what happened in the Britannian Empire when their Masters had let the quasi-Sage-level and Master-level beasts slip past.

None of them wanted that to happen to the Kandrian Empire.

And certainly, none of them wanted to be responsible for letting that happen to the Kandrian Empire under their watch.

RUMBLE!!!

The sheer devastation that unfolded from their output sent chills and shivers through much of the incoming beast tide which was actually composed of beasts and monsters of the Lower Realms. They steered away from the Sages and Masters and headed down further south and north of the Kandrian Empire’s western border.

Whether it was fear or a conscious decision was something that remained unclear. Thus far, their movements matched the predictions of the Kandrian Empire.

And thus, they ran into Seniors who were waiting for them.

Nearly a thousand Martial Seniors roared with defiance as they battled each and every one of the hundreds of thousands of smaller and less powerful monsters and beasts that had steered further to the side away from the Sages and the Masters.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!

Thousands of Martial Hearts bloomed into power as Martial Seniors battered the incoming tide of Senior-level beasts and quasi-Master-level beasts.

The strongest of Seniors took on the latter.

The beasts faced one of their own fighting back against them.

“HAHAHAHA!!!” Nel laughed with maniacal exhilaration as he blasted the quasi-Master-level beasts and monsters with a barrage of attacks one after another, indulging his inner beast with a powerful rampage.

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