The Martial Unity

Rui’s eyes grew intrigued by the story that Anthea had narrated to him.

If what he was saying was true, then it was likely that the ancestors of the six races had undergone unique evolutionary pressures on the six continents that caused them to develop in six different ways.

“Over time, Anthea continued. “Our ability to enhance DNA continued to grow stronger and stronger as we began to thrive on the Moridia continent, our bodies changed in color as our cells transformed fundamentally, turning us into translucent beings as a biological trait. A trait that intensifies when we actively cultivate adaptive evolution.”

His arms spread, drawing attention to his nigh-invisible form, detectable only because of the silhouette outlining his existence.

“I don’t ever repeat myself.”

Anthea’s tone was intense.

“Yet, I am impressed by the power of your adaptive evolution,” Anthea continued with a calm, graceful tone. “The fact that you have managed to reach this altar of power despite the fact that you possess the lesser body of an inferior species is proof that you are truly an evolutionary who walks the Path of Adaptive Evolution. That is why you will never be able to achieve the kind of adaptive evolution that I, that we, have. It is why you were covered in burns, and my body is unharmed still.”

He gazed deep into the pitch-black darkness in Rui’s eyes.

“This is the truth, and you know it.”

Rui remained silent.

It was unpleasant, but it was also impossible to deny reality staring him in the face. The fact of the matter was that when it came to adaptive evolution, his human body was vastly inferior to those of the evolutionaries.

Based on what Anthea told him, even newborn evolutionaries could achieve a level of innate genetic adaptive evolution that was superior to his own. Although he could alter his DNA, he couldn’t do so in the middle of battle in a combat-effective manner.

And compared to the evolutionaries, his Metabody System was pathetic.

Just what would he have been able to achieve if he were an evolutionary?

He would be lying if he said the thought didn’t appeal to him.

Anthea could sense that.

He raised his hand towards Rui.

“I will offer you one last time.”

His ephemeral gaze remained fixed on Rui.

“Join us and take your rightful place in the Evolutionary Army or…” his ethereal voice grew perilous. “…die.”

The air tingled with a hint of tension.

The atmosphere grew perilous.

And yet, Rui shook his head.

“I am not an evolutionary. I am a Martial Artist.”

His conviction was unyielding.

It was indeed true that he wanted to achieve the highest echelons of everything that adaptive evolution had to offer, but that didn’t mean that he wanted to abandon his identity as a Martial Artist.

“I follow the Martial Path of Adaptive Evolution, not the genetic Path of Adaptive Evolution.”

There was a world of difference that came with the difference of one word.

STEP

Rui took his classical neutral stance.

His legs were half separated for a balance between defense, offense, and maneuverability, while one arm positioned itself before him defensively, while the other fist itself at his ribs like a coiled viper, waiting to strike.

The pitch-black darkness in his eyes brimmed with boundless power as he glared deep into Anthea’s ethereal eyes.

“We are not the same. In fact…”

His tone grew intense.

“We couldn’t be further apart.”

Anthea gazed at him with disappointment in his eyes, before heaving a soft sigh.

“Perhaps you truly are not an evolutionary,” his tone grew dark. “No evolutionary would do something this suicidal. We do not court death actively as you do, for it would be an insult to our ancestors who changed their very genome to survive and give birth to our glorious civilization, and yet you…”

His eyes sharpened.

“You have betrayed the very ethos of adaptive evolution.”

A small smile emerged on Rui’s face.

“Only if I lose.”

Anthea’s ethereal eyes flared with bloodlust.

“You will.”

WHOOSH

In the blink of an eye, he surged forth with blinding speed.

RUMBLE!!!

So much so that the very fabric of space and time warped under the tremendous velocities that the supreme commander had reached, reaching the very brink of the cosmic barrier of the speed of light.

And yet, it was within Rui’s prediction.

It was within his prophecy.

WHOOSH!

Anthea’s eyes widened as his astronomically destructive palm jab crashed into an empty image.

A feint.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!!

A titanic blow armed with Flowing Canon, Outer Convergence, Yin-Yang Spear, and a flood of materia prima, ravaging his back. The sheer intensity of the blow ravaged the evolutionary’s body, inflicting a great bruise on the evolutionary which naturally disappeared as fast as it came.

Anthea’s expression flickered with anger as he spun, unleashing an extraordinarily intense spinning arm swing armed with a sharp edge, threatening to behead Rui in a nanosecond.

And yet—

WHOOSH

His eyes widened as he stuck an empty image once more.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!!

Rui grinned wildly as a tremendously powerful axe kick crashed on the top of his head with great power, with perfect timing and placement. The sheer impact rocked Anthea’s head back and forth violently.

And yet, a blow that would have knocked out any other Martial Sage was rendered ineffective as the bruise disappeared, and Anthea’s fierce, ephemeral eyes remained fixed on Rui.

The two of them threw tremendously powerful fists at each other, and yet only one struck.

WHOOSH

Rui’s head managed to smoothly slip out of the way of his opponent even as his own fist struck Anthea’s abdomen.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!!

Anthea’s body shook upon impact even as his eyes sharpened with a hint of frustration. His fist surged forth, warping the very fabric of space and time with its velocities, and yet, despite that, he couldn’t so much as lay a finger on Rui.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!!!

Heaven and earth shook with destructive shockwaves as Rui smoothly evaded a variety of tremendous blows of astronomical magnitude, before launching his own attacks.

BOOOOOM BOOOOOM BOOOOOM!!!!!

Each blow bruised Anthea’s body with an ugly mark, even if it swiftly healed in the blink of an eye, Anthea’s eyes flared with a menacing intensity as he struggled to lay a single finger on Rui despite being vastly faster in raw speed.