The Martial Unity

Each and every single attack clone Rui flung at Rui was intercepted with a gentle touch of his palm, before being completely absorbed and negated. The impacts were so smoothly erased by Aqua Existentia that they didn’t even produce a sound.

…!! …!! …!! …!! …!!

Tremendous blows with unfathomable materia prima were simply erased. Clone Rui’s pitch-black eyes widened as he beheld an extraordinary realm of antitheticality that was beyond him. He gritted his teeth, balling his hand into a fist as he unleashed an astronomically intense blow at Rui’s face.

WHOOSH!

The attack crashed into an empty image.

A feint.

“I can see your SOUL.” The whisper of the original came from behind the clone, sending chills across his skin. He leaped away with blurringly high agility.

But it was too late.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

“Rgh…!” Clone Rui gritted his teeth as a tremendous blow ravaged his entire body.

CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK!!!

Rui’s fist crumpled clone Rui’s body, causing bones to crack and break apart as his skin and flesh tore, while his muscles ruptured. Clone Rui coughed blood at the sheer power of the attack as it launched him flying.

Of course, because they were contained inside the pocket dimension of the Garden of Salvation domain, clone Rui merely returned from the other side, landing on the ground with a devastating impact, forming a tremendous crater.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

RUMBLE!!!

Rui simply watched with a calm expression as the silhouette of clone Rui Quarrier rose up despite his wounds. His broken body was weaving itself together rapidly.

Within seconds, he emerged from the crater fully healed.

RUMBLE…

The remnant seismic energy radiated through the Garden of Salvation domain, circling through it because of the looped space-time. The ground constantly vibrated in an unnatural manner.

The dust slowly settled as the original and clone exchanged pointed glances with each other, as the battle paused for several moments. Clone Rui’s expression hardened as he clenched his fists at the sheer power gap between them. What was frustrating was the fact that he was in a weaker body than what his mind was used to. He had inherited all of Rui’s memories, including his memories with Anthean physiology, the Gene Realm, and the Autocorpus technique.

He also had memories of the esoteric matter that Rui had mastered in the past five years. Now, he had regressed to a much older and weaker body with much more limited capacities.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from myself,” Rui remarked with a thoughtful expression. “With the current power you have, you are even stronger than I was after I defeated the Dragon Emperor.”

“I have more experience and all of the enlightenment that you made since then, so it is not unexpected,” Clone Rui coldly retorted. “If I had that body of yours, we would be equally strong.”

“That’s one of the reasons, albeit a lesser one, that I didn’t give it to you,” Rui smiled at his clone. “It’s not easy for you to get too angry at me, is it? Considering I gave you my mind and memories. You know exactly why I did it.”

Clone Rui’s expression grew conflicted. He knew the original had a point. Clone Rui had made those exact same considerations and decisions; from his perspective, it was just tragic that he woke up the clone instead of the original.

“You know what I want.” Rui’s tone grew eager. His ethereal eyes shone with eager impatience.

“I do, but I have no incentive to give it to you,” Clone Rui replied with a knowing tone. “After all, giving you what you want would make you stronger. If you become stronger, then the probability of your death is lower. If the probability of your death is lower, then the probability of me replacing you is also lower. That is contrary to my goals and interests, so I’m not particularly eager to give you what you want. Also…”

A smug smile cracked at the edge of clone Rui’s mouth. “Not giving you what you want is an act of defiance.”

He flipped Rui the bird. “Petty,” Rui muttered.

“You’re petty.”

“No you.”

“No.”

The two of them stared at each other with dumb expressions after that silly exchange. Rui simply heaved a deep breath, shaking his head.

His expression grew more serious.

“If you’re not willing to give it to me, then…” His tone grew dangerous. “…then I will put you to sleep. You will go into stasis forever, because I have no intention of dying.”

His ethereal eyes sharpened, bearing deep into the ocean of darkness within the pitch-black eyes of his clone.

“Are you willing to never wake up again?”

His tone grew eyes.

“Are you willing to never actually fulfill Project Water?”

Clone Rui’s expression crumpled with murderous bloodlust. “You asshole…”

His hands balled into fists. “I will kill you.”

His tone grew fierce.

“I will kill you no matter what.”

Rui grinned. He brought up Project Water as a taunt. He knew for an absolute fact that his clone would not be able to tolerate that taunt. It was a ruthless, brutal tactic to enrage his clone, but it was one that Rui was more than willing to engage in, borrowing from the Sera school of provocations. Using Ria would have been even more brutal, but he refused to weaponize his daughter to inflict pain on his clone.

“You want it so badly?” Clone Rui’s voice flared with fury. “Fine. I’ll give it to you.”

He closed his eyes.

RUMBLE

The world shook.

It shook with fear.

With terror.

With awe.

It shook with anticipation at what was about to come. The tension in the air began escalating as the atmosphere grew electric with peril. Rui grinned with excitement as his ethereal eyes bore deep at clone Rui, watching the transformation from an outsider’s perspective for the very first time in his life.

RUMBLE!!!

Boundless power emerged from clone Rui as the bright red streaks of his Martial Heart coursing across his body shifted. The light began traveling upwards to his head.

To his brain.

Clone Rui opened his eyes slowly.

Within their depths were blood-red Sun shining within blinding brightness.

RUMBLE!!!!!