The Martial Unity

Once the introductions were done and the party had been formed, they simply registered before departing from the conference room. “We should train together.”

Ria’s suggestion was prudent. They had just met, and they knew almost nothing about each other. Even if protocol standardization made it possible for strangers to work together, it was still better if they developed some understanding with each other. “Runark and I are very familiar with each other, but the rest of us are not familiar with each other,” Ria told them. “We should get the basics out of the way, at least.”

“The Blood Humanist Society has some training chambers that we can rent,” Misha offered. “This is going to be fun.” Sternon looked remarkably enthusiastic for a simple round of training. This was despite the young man undoubtedly having been in many a training regimen such as this as a deserter of the Evolutionary Army.

Siliscia looked nervous. Like she was being put to the test and very much dreaded the consequences of failure. Her elven ears flicked up and down, as if trying to flap against the air.

In contrast, Misha brought with her the composure and nonchalance, carrying herself loosely, as if unbothered by the entire world. Ria found them to be an interesting group of people to team up with. They were also much less likely to figure out her identity, of course. STEP

They arrived within a large combat chamber, similar to the one where they had trained with Arastia. Ria stretched lightly, hopping softly as she loosened her body while the others got prepared. “How do we do this?” Runark turned towards the four of them, loosening his joints and his wrists. “It’s going to be hard to create teams. Maybe we can just—”

“Last person standing wins.”

Misha’s voice contained a hint of dangerous mirth.

Chills crawled across their skin as the blood covering Misha’s body shifted, flowing her hands to form a construct in the blink of an eye. A mini-cannon formed, connected to her arm. From it emerged a tremendous blast of plasma, threatening to swallow them whole.

BOOOOOOM!!!

From the very get-go, she went all out, unleashing one of her strongest attacks at her teammates while they were off guard. The powerful cannon at her hand was a product of hemokinetic technology. Technological products composed of blood.

Blood was a very powerful substance. It was, in some ways, a form of distribution technology created by nature itself. Scientifically, when it came to the energy efficiency of the distributive capacity of the circulatory system and blood, no other system could rival blood. Its capacity to transmit chemicals and chemical potential energy across the body was extraordinary, and when scaled-up, it allowed for the smooth redistribution of energy generated by her body and even the blood itself to be smoothly transmitted how and wherever she wanted.

It allowed her to achieve efficiency similar to that of a Martial Artist while still maintaining the power similar to that of a tekvore.

RUMBLE

The entire combat facility shook as the energy dampeners and isolators worked hard to ensure that not even a speck of energy left the chamber. The plasma beam died down as Misha slowed down her attack, curious to see what was left of her to-be teammates. She didn’t feel bad about catching them off-guard, of course. The reality was that conflict had a tendency to catch everybody off-guard. Anybody who couldn’t handle it was simply not worth being in a team with.

“You really shouldn’t do things like that to your teammates, you know?”

Misha’s cybernetic eyes widened as Ria’s voice emerged from behind her. It sent chills down her back as she leaped away, stunned to find Ria standing behind her, unfazed and unharmed. Ria’s amber eyes revealed a firm confidence. She had never been hit with the attack.

A smile of interest emerged on Misha’s face at just how Ria had managed to do that. Her attention shifted towards the silhouettes of the other three. “Let’s see how the others did.”

“Arghhhh!” Runark’s voice emerged from the smoke as he leaped away, grimacing in immense pain. His EvoArmor suit had been burned by the attack, and since their nervous systems were connected, he felt like he himself had been burned. “Rrrggghhhh!”

He groaned in pain, writhing on the floor. He was not accustomed to such kinds of pain. In fact, it exceeded more than anything he had ever experienced in the past.

Martial Artists of the Era of Expansion didn’t have to go through the barbaric Body Evolution process of the past. Modern technology had figured out how to create much superior outcomes without needing to cause such pain. The Body Evolution was done in highly accurate simulations to obtain the evolved DNA of the Martial Squire, and the DNA of the Martial Apprentice was manipulated to evolve into the higher state of the Martial Squire.

This produced for a much, much greater proportion and absolute boost to power without any of the suffering of the body, especially since genetic design had become an extremely deep and well-established field of engineering. Martial Bodies were less forged out of tribulations and more so simply technological products born out of design, machine learning, simulation, and artificial intelligence. The downside was that their pain tolerance had completely plummeted. “Rgh…!” Runark gritted his teeth even as his EvoArmor healed, reducing the pain.

“Tsk tsk,” Misha tutted with a hint of disapproval, before shifting to the others.

The others fared much better than him.

“That’s dangerous, Miss Misha.” The calm voice of Sternon hung in the air. His body had changed; his epithelial layers had shifted to become a plasmic absorber, absorbing the electromagnetic charge of plasma harmlessly, entirely unbothered by the attack.

Misha whistled appreciatively, turning towards the final figure.

She found herself staring at a dome woven from branches, stems, and leaves that were singed and burned, but still somehow intact. “Wow.” Misha’s white cybernetic eyes lit up. “Not bad. Not bad at all. You guys are worth being in a team with.”