The Martial Unity

The world shook as the balance of the battle shifted in favor of Rui; his fists surged forth with a blinding speed and heavy momentum, peppering the embodiment of the Noosphere, whose offensive had completely collapsed.

She desperately tried defending herself with the archetypal defense of a Martial Artist. The double-armed defensive guard meant to intercept his attacks.

It had different names in different Martial Art regimes. It was called Sanchin in Sekigahara. Others called the arm shield. Some called it the double-gated fortress. It manifested across human civilization.

A fundamental pattern.

And yet, it was not enough to overcome Rui’s offense. He bypassed her defense, aiming for the holes that it could not cover all at once, using his prediction to completely drown in her in an onslaught of attacks.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!!!

With each passing blow, her body began growing more and more bruised.

More and more wounded.

It was a good sign.

It meant that even she could be defeated through conventional damage mechanics. ‘I just need to keep pressing. I can’t let up.’

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!!!

Each blow ravaged her vitals.

They ravaged her body.

Scratches turned to bruises.

Bruises turned to wounds.

Wounds grew more and more intense.

DRIP DRIP DRIP…

It was comforting to know that the embodiment of the Noosphere bled red blood, but he needed more. Her dark eyes shifted, as if realizing the futility of her current course of action.

She adopted a new strategy.

Psychological disruption.

Her appearance changed.

It became that of a man.

He wore royal attire, wearing the crown of the Kandrian Empire on his head, a crown that Rui had grown all too familiar with. His hair was as radiant and golden as his eyes were, projecting both power and harmony. His expression was one of indomitable conviction and principle, while his royal and powerful bearing hadn’t changed since Rui remembered him. It was none other than the Emperor of Harmony.

Rui’s shining eyes widened as he found himself face-to-face with his father. A surge of memories washed over him. The many memories he had had with his father. The many talks they had each time they met, and the time that they had spent together. They were memories from what felt like a different era altogether. And indeed they were, the death of his father had served as the catalyst for many things, including a radically shifting status quo and the state of his life itself.

A surge of powerful emotions washed over him, staying his fist for just the briefest of moments.

Emperor Rael’s eyes narrowed. “That was a mistake, my son.”

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Before Rui could even react, his father’s fist buried into his gut, exerting a force that Rui knew his father was incapable of. The man had no physical prowess beyond that of an ordinary person.

“Wake up,” his father urged him. “I am not alive. I am dead. Do not allow a ghost of the past to deter you from the path of victory.”

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Rui’s head rocked upon an impact to the side of the head, leaving him dazed as his father charged forth with a hint of frustration on his face. From Rael’s perspective, he had just woken up after being killed by NOVA in a meeting with Edward during the war.

He had found himself within an embodiment of the Noosphere, being used to fight against his own son. It was a deeply unpleasant feeling, but even more unpleasant that the virus was using his son’s emotions against him in this manner.

Rael knew that he couldn’t allow his son’s emotions to impede him anymore, not when the fate of the world, the fate of his granddaughter, was at stake. What he was especially terrified of was the possibility that his son could delay ending the fight in order to spend more time with ghosts of the past.

He needed to resolve the roots of any lingering emotions Rui harbored regarding what had happened to him.

“You are a good son.”

Rui’s eyes stirred at those words. Rael smiled at him. “And an even better Emperor and father than I was. What you have done with the Kandrian Empire and the Panama Continent has exceeded my wildest imagination, and the love and affection that you have raised Ria with is greater than what I was capable of.”

The blood-red suns shining with blinding brightness in his eyes watered ever so slightly as the words from the existential information of his father moved him to his very core.

Not a day went by that Rui didn’t think of his father at least once. He wondered what his father would think of the Kandrian Empire and the Panama Continent. He mourned that the man didn’t have the opportunity to meet Ria. And of course, he held himself responsible for his father’s death. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!!!

Rael peppered his son with an onslaught of attacks as the embodiment of the Noosphere exploited the disruption to seize initiative.

“I do not blame you for my death,” Rael spoke to him with a softer tone. “Everybody’s time comes, and I lived a long, long life for four hundred years. Death was relief and liberation.”

Those words were a balm to the soul, bringing about a relief that soothed Rui.

“So shed your regrets of the past and focus on the future.”

Emperor Rael’s words reignited the drive for victory within him.

CLASP

He caught the embodiment’s fist. “Thank you…” The faintest of whispers escaped Rui. “Father. And…”

His eyes blazed with a ferocious willpower and determination.

“And goodbye.”

The faintest of smiles emerged on Rael’s face as his expression softened.

“Goodbye, my son.”

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Rui blasted the embodiment with so much force that its appearance shifted once more, returning to her original female form. Rui’s expression grew fiercely intense. “You made it personal.”

His tone grew murderously furious.

“You will pay for what you have done.”

He charged forth towards the embodiment of the Noosphere, unleashing a vicious flood of attacks that ravaged the embodiment.

RUMBLE!!!!!

He had no intention of letting himself slip like that ever again.