The Martial Unity

It was not as easy as he made it out to be, of course. In order to alter her perceptionHe needed to alter the perception of reality of trillions of people.

All people to have ever existed in Gaia in the past.

It would require a Martial Embodiment that was more powerful than anything he had ever generated in his life, but now that he had found the trick to surviving her perception-reality hack, he began pouring every ounce of his energy into it.

The one and only solution he possessed.

The one and only chance of salvation.

RUMBLE!!!!!

The world shook as he mobilized the Forge of Creation, enhancing the Void of Water technique with his entire existence.

The technique was actually quite primitive by his current standards. He had created the technique when he was a Martial Master against Sage Himari in the Sekigahara Confederate.

He could elevate to even greater heights.

RUMBLE!!!!!!!!!

The world shook as he altered the Gene Realm to maximize on misdirection and nonverbal communication, for this was at the very heart of BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

It should have been the end.

Rui, on the verge of death, should not have been able to withstand another attack from the embodiment of the Noosphere. He should not have been able to withstand another attack from the archetype of Martial Art.

And yet, he did.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Her fist slammed into his bloody, battered body, threatening to utterly demolish him.

And yet, it didn’t.

His torn flesh screamed with pain upon the impact.

His cracked bones experienced excruciating strain.

His muscles burned with agony.

And yet, he withstood the blow with both arms propped in front of him like a shield.

For the first time since the battle began, he managed to defend a single attack.

The boundless eyes of the embodiment of the Noosphere widened ever so slightly.

The embodiment experienced just the slightest hint of collective surprise.

Collective surprise at the fact that Rui had managed to defend.

Yet, that was surely his limit, his body being on the verge of death as it had been. She balled her palm into a fist, this time thrusting straight at his heart, aiming to crush it once more for good.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The sheer force of the impact was so extraordinary that it deformed Rui’s entire body, causing his body to fold as the impact launched him away. The embodiment followed through, launching an onslaught of attacks to his vitals, aiming to finish him once and for all.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Each attack was overwhelmingly powerful, threatening to annihilate his entire body.

Each attack should have been the end on its own.

And yet—

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

He survived.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

He withstood.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

He endured.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

With each passing blow, his defense of her attacks seemed to mysteriously grow stronger and stronger. His capacity to cope with her attacks grew more and more pointed.

It grew and grew.

It kept growing.

His stance kept changing, increasingly growing adaptively evolved to the attacks of his opponent as the blood-red suns in his eyes continued growing brighter and brighter.

His defense continued growing smoother and smoother.

His body began to flow.

Like it was water.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

RUMBLE!!!!!

Her fist slammed into his solar plexus.

A blow that should have ripped a hole in him.

And yet, instead of exploding, his body seemed to… splash.

The recoil spread across his body as it would have across the surface of a lake, smoothly distributing itself across the entirety of his body. The movements of his limbs seemed to shift, changing from a solid structure pivoting about joints pulled and pushed by connected muscles, it began to grow more… fluidic.

Like water flowing through a river.

His body, already translucent, seemed to become truly transparent, like the freshwater streams in evergreen forests that were almost invisible to the eye because of how pure they were.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

RUMBLE!!!!!

She struck over and over.

Her palms exerted heavy, directioned impacts that threatened to penetrate. Her fists inflicted intense collisions that could have shattered any defense or substance in the world.

And yet—

SPLASH!

It was as if she were striking an ocean of water.

And indeed she was.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

RUMBLE!!!!!

Her eyes stirred as her fist passed through his body like she had attempted to punch through a waterfall. Her foot blurred through reality itself, blasting him in the head.

SPLASH!

She launched an onslaught of attacks, each aimed at snuffing his life.

SPLASH

SPLASH

SPLASH

SPLASH

SPLASH

And yet, not a single one of them could end his life.

He seemed to have become water at the very root of his existence.

Not through loosening of his tissue.

Not through clever microbiology.

Not through vibrations.

But truly water.

Or at least, that was what he made her perceive.

“True Water.”

It was the name of the technique that he had created with Gigabrain, allowing him to convince her that he was literally Water itself. Her perception became reality, and thus, he became water.

For just the briefest of moments at a time, he truly became water.

He experienced the power of bending reality.

He experienced the power of the Noosphere.

It was unlike anything he had ever felt in his entire life. It was intoxicating and addicting. The sensation flowed through his body as he experienced the pure bliss of being able to make reality bend to his Martial Embodiment, even if it was borrowed—no, stolen—power.

In that moment, he felt like a God.

He felt omnipotent.

Like he could do anything.

RUMBLE!!!!!

His very existence seemed to ripple back and forth between solid and Water. Each time she perceived him, her own perception was swept up by his Martial Embodiment.

It was swept up by the limitless Water within his existence. In that moment, a single realization dawned on both gods.

This was a battle between the minds of every human to have ever existed in the past and his Martial Embodiment.

Only one would emerge victorious.

They charged at each other with limitless power as the battle escalated to a whole other realm.

It had entered the realm of gods.