The Martial Unity

They couldn’t stop him from doing anything.

Many tried leaping around and moving randomly, but such paltry measures could never hope to impede Prophecy of the Void, the SOUL System, and Autocorpus.

He opened portals at precisely the right moment and at the right place, killing them on the spot using poison. Poison was convenient because it didn’t leave mass collateral damage the way an attack would, although he probably could use normal attacks and still be fine. Poison was much cleaner and more elegant.

It left their fates sealed.

With no avenue of resistance.

They became lambs waiting for slaughter.

And they didn’t have to wait very long.

The Gallant Fist’s arms fell weakly as he simply gazed around with a horrified expression at the portals that opened up, instantly snuffing the life of a Martial Sage in the blink of an eye.

“How…” A weak whisper escaped Sage Marhan. “How did this happen…? We took the entire city hostage with three hundred Martial Sages. There was no way we could have lost in these circumstances.”

And yet, reality begged to differ as the Martial Sages he had recruited over the past eight months fell like flies. Rui ruthlessly and brutally snuffed the life out of them one by one.

“Demon…” Sage Marhan muttered with desolate eyes and an expression of dread. “You are a demon.”

He had always counted on the possibility that they would lose despite all these measures, but even he couldn’t fathom that three hundred Martial Sages would lose in such a miserable and horrifying manner. Martial Sages were supposed to be apex predators in the absence of Transcendents. And yet, they had been reduced to hapless prey in the face of the power of the Dawnbringer.

THUD

Every last Martial Sage had been killed, save for the Gallant Fist.

“Ahhh…” Rui stretched his body a little as his ethereal eyes shifted to the sole surviving Sage. “That was a good warm-up.”

Pure despair emerged on the face of Sage Marhan at those words.

Three hundred Martial Sages taking an entire city hostage…

All the preparations they had made over the past eight months to resist the Dawnbringer when he inevitably came to penalize them for defying his regime.

All of it was merely a warm-up to the Emperor.

THUD

Sage Marhan fell to his knees as he lost all his strength, his expression still ashen with horror. Rui simply gazed at the man with an unmoved expression of disinterest before dispelling the Domain of Containment. The bright light of the overhead Sun returned to the battlefield, illuminating the gruesome massacre of Martial Sages scattered across the ravaged ground. Yet it could not dispel the faint darkness that hung in the atmosphere.

The smell of blood and poison hung in the air as the dust from the battle settled, swept away by cool winds.

STEP

STEP

STEP

STEP…

Rui arrived before the Martial Sage with a ruthless expression. “Do you know why we came here?”

“…”

Rui huffed, shaking his head. “The reason we came here is that you guys planned to target Amare and our unborn child. We sensed that with prophecy.”

Sage Marhan’s eyes widened with shock.

He recalled that just before Rui teleported to them, they had made plans about how they could harm or kidnap Amare while she was in an incapacitated state and how his child would forever be a weakness they could target.

“That is the reason we came here. How else do you think we managed to pinpoint your exact location at that moment?”

Rui’s ethereal eyes grew dangerous. “It’s because you bastards dared to target our family.”

RUMBLE

The world shook as Rui’s murderous bloodlust converged upon the Sage Marhan. The Gallant Fist broke into a cold sweat as his breathing halted, paralyzed by the ferocious bloodlust that he felt from Rui.

“If you had just limited yourself to simply excluding your city from our regime, then we would have let you all go. That provision existed for people who didn’t agree with our regime and did not want to partake in it,” Rui growled. “But not only did you try to plot our downfall, but you also tried targeting our family.”

His eyes sharpened. “That is the reason that all of you are dead.” Chills crawled across Sage Marhan’s body as he felt Rui’s hand resting on his lowered head. CLASP

Rui squeezed his head in a painful vice, pushing it up to face Rui’s eyes head-on.

“You are the ringleader. You will not enjoy a quiet death like the rest of them. No…”

His tone of voice grew chilling.

“You will experience a fate much worse than death.”

In that moment, Sage Marhan felt more fear than he had in his entire life.

“No…” A shaky of voice filled with terror emerged from him. “NO…! Mercy! Show us merc—ARGHHHHRGHHHH!!!”

CRACK CRACK CRACK!!!

His Martial Path shattered in the blink of an eye as he gazed into Rui’s murderous ethereal eyes.

It was gone.

He was no longer a Martial Artist.

“Ahh.. Arhh…” He began deliriously mumbling sounds as his body grew limp.

THUD

Rui dropped him, allowing him to fall flat on the ground as he directed a sweeping gaze across Longmin City.

“They actually tried to keep the people of the city from escaping as hostages…” Rui muttered. “Tsk. How annoying.”

WHOOSH

He teleported to one of the transit gates as the Martial Masters immediately leaped at the citizens, taking them hostage. “Emperor Rui, if you take one more step then—ARRGGGHHHH!!!”

CRACK CRACK CRACK!!!

Rui didn’t even bother talking to them, causing all of their paths to shatter as he left them in a fate worse than death. They crumbled from the air, no longer able to skywalk anymore, as they hit the ground, holding their heads and screaming in pain.

Rui swept up all the remaining Martial Artists of the lower Realm who were part of the city administration until all of their paths were broken.

The entire debacle ended.