The Martial Unity

Rui was deeply stunned at the idea that a Martial Apprentice could fight a Martial Squire head-on. And yet, the fact that the Esoterist had even suggested meant that it was, at the very least, going to be competitive.

No one had ever aggressively bridged the gap between Realms before this. Not even Rui himself had ever fully bridged the gap between Realms. Although he shortened the gap between Realms with each Realm that he climbed, he had never fully bridged the gap.

The gap between a Martial Apprentice and a Squire was significant. The former was still ultimately human, while the latter was very much superhuman in their physiology. And yet, the power of a MECHA, if the Esoterist had truly managed to exploit its technological potential to the maximum, could not be so easily dismissed. It could potentially neutralize the superhuman strength that Martial Squires had.

Soon enough, the two combatants brought their fists to their palms in a Martial gesture before taking their stances. The Martial Squire took a well-balanced stance, while the Apprentice MECHA took an aggressive offensive stance.

“And now, let us commence the battle!” the Esoterist declared.

Immediately, the MECHA surged toward the Martial Squire with remarkable speed despite its large size.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

The Martial Squire somersaulted into the air as he accelerated downward with sky-walking, throwing a powerful downward axe kick onto the MECHA.

BOOM!

The audience watched with engrossed interest as the MECHA withstood the power of a Martial Squire, even if it did sustain a dented armor plate. And yet, it was unperturbed, resuming its aggressive offensive on the Martial Squire.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

The Martial Squire sharpened his gaze as he narrowly evaded the incoming barreling attacks one after another. Even though his movements were quicker,, he needed to be careful with how he dealt with each of the MACHA’s attacks because they covered such a wide area due to its speed.

And he wasn’t.

BOOM!

The Martial Squire’s expression grew grim as he threw together a hasty guard at a powerful incoming blow that crashed into him with remarkable momentum, flinging him away.

He smoothly landed on his feet, immediately taking his stance.

But no one missed the wounds and bruises.

Apprentice MECHAs possessed the power to hurt Squires.

This alone meant that MECHAs were able to bridge a solid portion of the gap between the Apprentice Realm and the Squire Realm. Even more so when one considered that it could withstand attacks from Squires.

Unfortunately, it became entirely clear that there were shortcomings that it was unable to bridge.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

The Martial Squire smoothly weaved through a barrage of attacks from the Apprentice MECHA before reaching its torso.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!

A thundering barrage of blows blasted the MECHA’s torso, causing the armor plate to crumple under the sheer pressure that the Squire was able to dish out. The hydraulic impact dispersion system spreads the impact as far as possible to dilute the damage. Just the fact that a MECHA made up of Apprentice-level substances could withstand a Squire’s onslaught was a miracle in and of itself that would not have been possible if not for this ingenious technological system.

Unfortunately, the Apprentice-level materials simply could not withstand a sustained onslaught from the Martial Squire. The MECHA tried blasting the Squire with heavy blows, but the latter was too fast at the rate at which he inflicted damage.

The battle ended soon enough.

CRACK CRACK CRACK!

VMMMmmm…

The distinct vibrating sound of the MECHA lowered until it halted entirely.

The Squire promptly stopped, having won the battle.

Yet, he didn’t look pleased at all.

If anything, he looked displeased, especially with the bruises and wounds on his body.

The Human Summit had gone silent.

Not a single person scoffed at the Apprentice MECHA for losing. Not a single person could bring themselves to.

The Esoterist’s smiling visage returned to all of them despite the defeat of his greatest invention. Despite his defeat, his eyes radiated pride.

And yet, nobody found it strange.

That’s because all of them understood that despite the defeat, the fact that an Apprentice had gone toe-to-toe with a Martial Squire was in and of itself miraculous. The fact that an Apprentice had managed to hurt a Squire and withstand their attacks was even more shocking.

“Simply astonishing…” Rui issued his judgment. “I don’t think any Apprentice has ever pushed a Squire that far.”

Barring, of course, that time when he killed a new Squire as an Apprentice.

Still, the fact that a MECHA could bridge the gap between Realms to this extent was truly stunning. It showed that the claims of MECHAs being qualitatively superior due to harnessing human potential and technological potential were most certainly true.

Everyone also came to understand why the Esoterist had the MECHA fight a Martial Artist of a higher Realm.

There would simply be no way to demonstrate its limits if it fought against ordinary Apprentices. It would be an ungodly stampede watching dozens of Martial Apprentices get wiped out one after another.

“Unless this was an outlier, MECHA Martial Paths will most likely be astronomically superior to other Martial Paths,” Rui realized. Rui knew something about having a Martial Path that was exponentially superior to other Martial Paths. His Martial Path was in a realm of its own with one and only one equal.

Perhaps now that was about to change.

Perhaps in the Era of Darkness, he would no longer be the only Martial Artist who was leagues beyond the average Martial Artist. Perhaps a new breed of Martial Artists that donned MECHAs would join him in that realm, being the only Martial Artists capable of rivaling him and Ieyasu by virtue of fighting not just with human potential but also technological power.

A smile cracked at the edge of his mouth. “That would be nice.”

The loneliness that came with being among the very strongest of a Realm was something that Rui had experienced many times, but it grew worse with each Realm. “The stronger my rivals, the greater my growth.”

That was the reason that he was perhaps the one and only spectating Martial Artist who regarded MECHAs fondly.

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