The Martial Unity

It wasn’t too long before the other three arrived as well.

The Mindbreaker was accompanied by a Sage who followed her a few steps behind with a respectful gait. The peak Martial Master donned a rather frugal Martial attire that underplayed her prestige. Her presence had grown more perilous and eerie than normal as her sharpened gaze remained fixed on Rui.

The Worldforger merely donned a lower garment, leaving his upper body bare. His aura had grown heavier while his aggression seemed to be less inhibited than when he had attended Rui’s welcoming ceremony.

The only one who hadn’t changed in the slightest was the Anti-Life.

His presence was as chillingly deathly as always.

Like he wasn’t of the living.

Like he was a moving corpse.

His dark eyes and their evergreen bloodlust hadn’t changed a shade.

He wanted to kill them then.

And he wanted to kill now.

Nothing had changed.

He would live his Martial Path and inflict death.

As much as he could.

Their gaze converged upon Rui, who simply stood with his eyes closed, unwilling to let his state of absolute concentration dissipate.

With the arrival of the four contestants, the battle was all but ready to commence.

“I shall reign over this battle as the invigilator.”

A heavy presence arrived directly above the enormously wide battlefield.

One that demanded the attention of each and every person there.

The Martial Pontifex himself.

The strongest Martial Sage of the Virodhabhasa Theocracy.

“I have never supported any of the Virodhabhasa seeds here or elsewhere and have always remained away from the mission to find the Antithesis in this manner.” His tone was solemn, addressing not just the four contestants but also the audience. “I alone am entirely unbiased in this battle and its outcome.”

No one contested his suitability as the judge. All other Sages had some personal stake in the battle, having sided with some seeds or rejected other seeds.

“Then, let us not delay this historic battle any longer,” he continued. “Contestants, take your stances and your positions around the battlefield.”

Rui opened his steely eyes.

He didn’t so much as move.

He had placed himself at the center of the battlefield when he arrived, but he didn’t feel the need to move from his place.

Especially when the other three surrounded him from all directions.

He found himself staring face to face with the Anti-Life himself.

The other two were diagonally behind him on either side, adopting stances against him. Rui, on the other hand, didn’t shift even in the slightest.

Neither did the Anti-Life.

“Begin.”

BADUMP!

The moment the word escaped the mouth of the Martial Pontifex, two Martial Hearts and Martial Minds blazed to life.

The Mindbreaker’s and the Worldfolder’s.

The Anti-Life didn’t even bother activating his Realms of power.

He simply gazed at Rui.

His deathly eyes never once left him.

The Martial Embodiments of the Worldfolder and the Mindbreaker consumed the world around them with ferocious intensity.

The Worldfolder’s Embodiment redefined heaven and earth.

The fragile equilibrium between the two halves of Gaia was dismantled, and the incoming catastrophic apocalypse it brought about converged unto his body, allowing him to harness the destruction of the world to his power.

Her Embodiment was much more straightforward.

It was endless suffering.

It dug into the mind of all those who beheld it, drawing out what made them suffer the most and then amplifying it exponentially, inflicting tremendous despair. In some ways, it resembled the Tree of Life, except it aimed only to prolong suffering, while the Tree of Life was dedicated to finding the quickest path to victory.

One moment, the two Embodiments dominated the world, unrivaled.

The very next moment, however, they ceased to be.

They were eroded.

They were eroded by an endless ocean of Water.

One that subsumed the entire world.

BADUMP!!!

The world shook as Rui’s tremendous Martial Embodiment consumed the entire world, exerting an astronomical amount of pressure on all Martial Masters.

Some were entirely paralyzed, rendered frozen.

Many were partially paralyzed by the sheer weight of his Martial Mind.

Name those who were powerful enough to move were shaken by the sheer weight of his Embodiment.

At that moment, he made an unforgettable impression on all of them, and it will last forever.

The Worldfolder and the Mindbreaker gritted their teeth with grave severity.

They understood the sheer caliber of the opponent they were dealing with.

Only one man remained unmoved by the display of power.

The Anti-Life simply gazed at Rui with a deathly gaze.

He didn’t so much as shift.

And yet, the battle had begun whether he chose to participate in it or not.

RUMBLE!!!

The world shook as the worldfolder bent heaven and earth to his will.

Yet, he didn’t use them to attack Rui with a domain.

No.

Instead, it attacked himself.

It exerted a tremendous force on his body, guiding his fists to Rui.

The power of natural calamities flowed through him. He was merely a channel.

BOOOM!!!

Rui’s eyes lit up with a hint of surprise as he guarded against the man’s tremendous power. Each blow he blasted Rui with was driven by an abnormal amount of power for someone of his size and caliber, allowing him to unleash an onslaught of blows well beyond what one would expect of his weight class.

And yet—

BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM!!!

Rui weathered them well.

From the very moment the battle had begun, he had activated Nemean Blossom, Weaving Blood, and Neo Godspeed to one-third of their full capacity. It was a combination meant to minimize the probability of a successful offensive assault from his opponent while paying importance to his own offense this early in the game.

The Metabody System was the one system that didn’t require any time to be fully performative. On top of that, stamina was no longer an issue ever since he consumed the Blood of Solaris.

The Worldfolder surged forth, following him around with an inhumanly smooth acceleration and astonishing fluidity.

He moved like inertia was not a thing.

BOOOOOM BOOOOOM BOOOOOM!!!

Three devastatingly tremendous attacks blasted Rui, unleashing tremendous shockwaves that rocked the world.

And yet, Rui gracefully landed away with a soft step.

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