The Martial Unity

Of the Kandrian Martial Sages that held off the Terran Martial Sages, the ones that had the most difficulty were most certainly Sage Sera and Sage Zentra.

The former is because of her greatest flaw.

And the latter because he had just broken through to the Sage Realm half a year prior, having only gained several years of mastery and training before being deployed on his first Sage-level mission by the Martial Union.

The Terrampager gritted his teeth as he adopted a crouching position at Sage Sera, launching himself with a tremendously devastating velocity.

BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!

“Wooohooo!” she cheered as she weaved about his charge, evading him entirely. “Imagine losing to a Martial Master as a Martial Sage! Hahaha!”

The Terrampager felt an ungodly amount of anger erupted from within him. A single roar escaped him.

“I DID NOT LOSE!!!!!”

Words could not even begin to describe how much his blood boiled at this taunt.

When he woke up, he was finally released by the Notera Faction after Consul Sergenilius brokered a deal with her.

He had become the target of disdain and mockery.

Not just by his peers.

But also the Martial Masters of the Nest of Terra.

While they didn’t dare mock him outright, he could see the respect leaving their eyes every time they gazed in his direction.

His peers, on the other hand, had begun treating him like a worthless piece of garbage for failing to apprehend a fifty-two-year-old Master.

They mocked him for being a ‘quasi-Sage!

It was nothing short of a derogatory slur.

One that grated against his greatest misgivings as a Martial Sage: the fact that he was the weakest Martial Sage of the Nest of Terra.

This came from his own allies in the non-Martial Faction.

His enemies were even worse.

“Thank you for being weak.”

It was perhaps the most humiliating moment of his life.

The worst part was that it was all based on a lie.

“I. DID. NOT. LOSE,” he spat each word as they sizzled off of his tongue with venomous intensity. “I DID NOT LOSE! I DID NOT LOSE!!!”

He clearly remembered what had happened.

Even though his body has been mangled after having been caught off guard by the Dawnbringer’s Sage-level attack, he has still managed to extricate himself from being under the weight of the Nest of Terra and track the Dawnbringer with his senses.

When he found his enemy, the man had lost three limbs.

He was in good condition to fight, and while the Terrampager himself was in bad condition, he was still a Martial Sage who would have effortlessly erased him there. “BUT SOMEBODY INTERVENED!!!” he snarled with frustration. “YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!!!!! ARRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHH!!!!!”

A light of madness emerged in his emblazoned eyes as he tore his hair out with frustration and anger.

And consequently, lost sight of Sage Sera.

BOOOM!!!

Her eyes lit up with delight as she blasted his head with a tremendous Sage-level attack.

At long last, she had found a way.

At long last, she had finally found a way to apply her Martial Path in the Sage Realm.

It hadn’t been an easy thirty years.

“How do you live with yourself?”

Her tone was warm and sympathetic.

Her voice was sweet.

Addictive.

Enticing.

She truly wanted to help him.

She truly was his friend.

She truly cared for him.

And that was why her words hurt.

Her kind smile crumbled with malice and malevolence.

“If I were you, I would have killed myself”

“Shut up, you witch!” the Terrampager’s eyes flared with power.

“As a Martial Sage, you surely understand how pathetic and worthless you are.” BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

“Normally, Enlightenment of Self is the greatest moment of any Sage’s life, but for you…” Sage Sera evaded another attack while a wide, gruesome grin emerged on her face. “It must have been the worst moment of your life.”

Her tone was overflowing with contempt and derision.

“After all, you were forced to confront just how much of a pathetic excuse of a Sage you are.”

“One more word…” A quivering whisper escaped him. “One more word, and I will kill you.”

Yet, his words only evoked a smile of pure evil on her face.

She experienced an almost orgasmic pleasure, emotionally abusing her target.

“You know…” A soft whisper escaped her. “I used to be the same. I used to be weak in

the Sage Realm, too, so I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Both her hands flew to her chest in a soft gesture.

“Thank you for being even more pathetic than me.”

Veins popped up on his forehead as his blood pressure skyrocketed to an astronomical

level. “You bitch…”

And yet, she wasn’t done.

“I want to take back my words from before.”

She closed her eyes with a comfortable smile.

“Please don’t kill yourself. I will be sad you die. After all…”

Her evil smile widened.

“… Your pathetic existence makes me feel better about myself.”

RUMBLE!!!

The world shook under the sheer weight of maddened wrath.

He had been told to kill himself out of shame.

He had never been told not to kill himself because his shame made others feel better.

It was a far more evil curse than simple hostility.

He snapped.

“I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU IF IT’S THE LAST THING I DO YOU FUCKING BITCH!!!!!”

“Hahaha!”

She danced about the battlefield, indulging and relishing in her first victim in decades, having broken through to the Sage Realm. Spreading such emotional suffering for the first time in so long brought her pleasure, unlike anything she had ever experienced.

She had overcome her greatest hurdle in the Sage Realm because of one and only one individual in the entire world.

Only one extraordinary being possessed an extraordinary depth of knowledge and skill of mind to give her what she needed to find the key.

She had sought him shortly after the Dawnbringer had left the Kandrian Empire.

And it was in the grace of his endless mastery of mind that she had found the key to

truly becoming the Harbinger once more.

As she experienced the true satisfaction of breaking her victims, a single whisper of

gratitude escaped her.

“You have my gratitude, Psycher.”

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

The battle continued as she relished in her first victim’s suffering, savoring every

moment of it.