The Martial Unity

Arastia had known that there was more to Planet Amadeus III than met the eye, but she hadn’t expected just how much more. The emergence of homoarachnoids that were more sophisticated, powerful, and dangerous than those that they had gathered intelligence on was one of the reasons that she had chosen to personally intervene.

The blood of a Blood Sage was extraordinarily powerful and potent and could reproduce with nearly any set of elements and compounds as long as it had enough of a carbon presence. A single drop of blood became a puddle, a pond, a lake, and then an ocean. “Blood Tsunami.”

RUMBLE!!!!!

The world shook violently as a titanic tsunami of blood washed over the entire battlefield, swallowing both friend and foe alike with an extraordinary supply of power. She could convert matter into energy within her externally generated blood, a legacy of her Martial heritage, allowing her to bypass the mass-energy limit that ordinary Martial Artists had, even if she wasn’t as efficient as pure Martial Artists were.

“Watch out!”

“Ahhh!”

CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK!

The tsunami alarmed both pathwalkers and homoarachnoids alike, but the blood was selective with its targets, ignoring targets with human cells. Instead, focus on targets with alien biology.

The result was overwhelming.

CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK!

Most homoarachnoids were utterly annihilated by her power. The blood eroded the web with overwhelming dominance. Even though the latter was composed of esoteric matter, it simply wasn’t strong enough. The vastly superior biotechnology comprising the physiology of a Martial Sage and her mastery of hemokinesis made her simply much superior in output.

RUMBLE!!!!!

The pathwalkers, drowned in her blood, quickly realized that the blood didn’t mean harm to them; instead watched their homoarachnoid opponents slowly erode at the cellular level.

Their bodies contorted with pain as her blood eroded away at their very existence, overwhelming all of them.

Except for those strong enough to survive.

Her eyes shifted down towards Ria, distinctly sensing her across the dense gray-scale world of Planet Amadeus III. With a single flap of her blood wings, she closed the distance between herself and arrived right next to her niece.

WHOOSH

“Auntie!” Ria’s amber eyes lit up before realizing that she wasn’t supposed to reveal the fact that she was her niece. “Er, I mean, Madam President.”

Arastia’s shining blood-red eyes sharpened as she studied a distinct indentation on the ground where the homoarachnoid her niece had fought had been standing.

The creature had disappeared.

Then again, most of the other homoarachnoids had also been utterly disintegrated by her Blood Tsunami; maybe she had just annihilated this one before she realized it?

STEP

STEP

STEP

She walked over to it, kneeling on the spot as she keenly analyzed the environment, before digging up the gray soil with her own blood.

Her expression grew more severe as she spotted blue gore.

Flesh that had been ripped and partially disintegrated, buried underneath. As she sent her blood further and further down, it only confirmed what she feared. A trail of blood that led underground beyond pursuit.

“It managed to escape.”

Her verdict wasn’t pleasant, but it was one that was incontrovertible with the information that she had. The creature had managed to survive her Blood Tsunami for just long enough to barely get away alive.

But he managed to survive, nonetheless. Arastia’s blood red eyes flared with anger. Anger at the fact that something had managed to threaten her niece and make it out alive. The creature was clearly powerful. More powerful than a Martial Sage, allowing it to survive her attack when she wasn’t focused on that particular creature specifically. She heaved a soft breath, shaking her head lightly. What had happened had happened. She was better off focusing on the immediate predicament she had found herself in as the leader of the Blood Humanist Society.

“Madam President…” Misha’s voice was one of amazement, drawing both her and Ria’s attention. “It’s… It’s an honor to receive your intervention.”

The other members of Ria’s party, save for Runark, were also amazed at being able to meet the hemosapien that had earned the epithet of Blood Empress personally. She was one of the most powerful pathwalkers in human civilization, after all. As the strongest member of a genetically superior race.

“Your Excellency…” The voice of the Martial Sage drew her attention. The man appeared to be exhausted, having barely kept his life against a creature that was much, much stronger than him. “Thank you for saving our lives. We definitely would have died without you.”

“Good job keeping yourself and the others alive,” Arastia replied with a composed tone of voice that hid her true gratitude for the man. “You’ll be rewarded for your valor.”

A bittersweet, self-deprecating smile emerged on his face as he simply shook his head. “I’m afraid not. The reality is that that young lady saved my life.”

He gestured to Ria as Arastia turned towards her niece with a raised eyebrow and an expression of skepticism. “Are you telling me that this… Martial Master saved the life of a Martial Sage against a creature that was even stronger than you?”

She turned back towards him with a dubious expression. “You do not need to denigrate yourself to such an extent, Sage Varis.”

Sage Varis’s eyes sharpened. “Your Excellency, I’m being absolutely truthful and sincere. I didn’t stand a chance against the homoarachnoid. But this one…”

He turned towards her. “She managed to push him back, for a while. I don’t understand how she did it. I don’t understand how a Martial Master can possibly be that powerful. But she’s extraordinary. And she’s the reason that I’m alive. So please give her the reward.”

The others in Ria’s team came to her defense as well. “I saw it too,” Sternon swore. “She’s unbelievable!”

“I have a recording of the battle that I can transmit to you,” Misha’s cybernetic eyes glinted. “They are speaking the truth.”

“Ria is definitely super strong.” Runark nodded along.

“Is that so…?” Arastia turned towards Ria with an impassive expression. “If that’s the case, I would like to speak with you privately, young lady.”

Ria nodded. “I would love that, Your Excellency.