The Martial Unity

The two clones stood face to face in the forest at the outskirts of the Beast Domain. The ethereal eyes of the original bore deep into the pitch-black eyes of the clone. The chirps of birds and the squeaks of critters hung in the air, along with the rings of cicadas. The smell of vegetation strongly hung in the air, while the bright light of the afternoon sky hung overhead.

Rui remained calm and excited while the clone remained intense, his eyes filled with reckoning. “I’m going to knock you out,” Rui told his clone with a composed tone of voice. “Then I’m going to keep you in stasis forever, or until I die, whichever comes first. But you already know this, since you inherited my memories. The question is…”

His eyes bore deep into the clone’s. “…what are you going to do about it?”

His tone grew more serious. “I know what I would.”

The clone’s pitch-black eyes sharpened as a single remark escaped him.

“I will kill you and become the one and only Rui Quarrier.”

Rui grinned with excitement as his ethereal eyes flared with a ferocious battle lust.

“Oh yeah? I’d like to see you try.”

He spread his arms. “I’m stronger than you in every conceivable way. You have no path to victory.”

Clone Rui’s eyes burned with fierce determination.

“I will win despite that.”

RUMBLE!!!

The world shook violently as clone Rui activated his Realms of power in the blink of an eye. His body shone brightly as bright red streaks ran across his entire body through his circulatory system.

From the depths of his mind erupted an astronomically intense ocean of water.

RUMBLE!!!!!

The world shook as his Martial Embodiment erupted forth with a lethal intensity. Since the clone Rui had yet to integrate Anthean physiology into his body, his Martial Embodiment was still instantaneously lethal.

It would erase the minds of anybody it touched, causing them to become brain-dead.

“Garden of Salvation.”

Rui converted his exotic pluripotent matter into tachyon condensate, using the esoteric matter to weave a four-dimensional spatial geodesic. The world around them warped as reality was woven in on itself in an isolated space pocket with connected ends.

No matter what direction they went, they would return to the same spot. He did it not only to keep clone Rui’s Martial Embodiment from wiping out countless people who weren’t too far away from the location they were at.

But he also did it to keep their battle self-contained, allowing them to fight without having to worry about casualties, even though it was a draining technique.

‘And that is one of my few advantages,’ clone Rui’s pitch-black eyes lit up with determination.

He knew that he couldn’t defeat Rui in a normal, symmetric battle. Rui was the original and possessed not just Anthan physiology but also Autocorpus, as well as a whole onslaught of esoteric substances that he had mastered in the past five years since Ria’s birth.

All three of those were powers that the clone Rui did not have. That was why he had chosen to commence the battle right then and there in a region close to human civilization, forcing the original to weave the Garden of Salvation to keep their battle contained within the pocket dimension.

It was a handicap that increased the probability that the clone would win.

Clone Rui surged forth, his body flushed with materia prima. The original Rui had infinite stamina and no limitations to the amount of time his Realms of power could be active, which meant that a prolonged battle was not to the clone’s advantage.

‘I need to end this battle quickly.’

WHOOSH

He teleported before Rui, unleashing an onslaught of thunderingly powerful Yin-Yang Spears at the original. Rui gazed at his incoming attacks with an unimpressed expression, activating his Realms of Power.

But only his Martial Heart and Martial Mind.

He chose not to activate his Martial Soul.

He didn’t need it.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!!!

He managed to evade the onslaught of incoming attacks effortlessly, as if gracefully sauntering through a garden of flowers at twilight. His body was relaxed, while his muscles were loose; his movements flowed like the water he aspired to be.

Even though his Martial Soul was inactive, he could still easily evade the clone’s assault of bloodlust.

Clone Rui’s expression crumpled with a hint of frustration at the sheer depth of the power gap between them. “Show off.”

His pitch-black sharpened as he activated Neo Godspeed, achieving a massive boost in speed, allowing his fists to accelerate forth to much greater velocities.

It allowed his attacks to connect.

BANG!!!

Rui blocked the ferociously intense attack with crossed arms despite his inactive Martial Soul. Clone Rui’s pitch-black eyes sharpened as he continuously pressed forth, unleashing a tremendous barrage of attacks that were flooded with materia prima.

BANG!!!

A fierce right hook to the jaw was smoothly parried with a revolving arm guard, only for clone Rui to throw a blindingly fast blow to the chin.

WHOOSH

The slightest of shifts was all it took for him to move out of the way, only for clone Rui to have already unleashed an onslaught of attacks at the original, hoping to knock him out by exploiting the brief opening the evasion had created.

And yet, it was in vain.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!

Despite the ferocious power in each attack of clone Rui, amplified with tremendous materia prima, Rui effortlessly intercepted each attack with just the gentlest touch of his palm.

It completely negated the power, absorbing it with Anti-Spiral and Body of Water. However, these techniques alone wouldn’t have allowed Rui to survive cloning Rui’s materia prima without the Sage Realm.

He had amplified the techniques with the Gene Realm.

The Realm of power that came with his Anthean half. He had used it to edit his DNA to transform his evosapien half into a hyper-elastic gel that could make him a living ball of gel and rubber.

On top of that, he could further minimize damage with Autocorpus, which allowed him to react instantly and grasp at the most optimal timing that was otherwise beyond him because of his neurological delays.

It created a new ultimate defensive technique.

“Aqua Existentia.”