The Martial Unity

When Ria saw the spew of webs splatter upon Sage Sayfeel, her heart sank. Despite his almost shadow-like existence, he wasn’t able to evade the powerful spew of web. Despite the high principles of quantum mechanics and space-time mechanics, he wasn’t able to prevent it from catching him. The domain that the female homaoarachnoid had constructed closed upon him in a manner that prevented escape, while blasting him with an attack that he simply had no space to evade.

SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT!

”Sayfeel!” Ria screamed in horror as she watched the webbing completely envelop the Transcendent Candidate in a cocoon that he seemed unable to escape from.

THUD

The cocoon fell to the ground. Ria’s severe eyes shifted from the cocoon to the homoarachnoid. -oo—oo shifted her gaze from the bound Sage towards Ria, with five of her eyes still intact.

CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK

”It. Is. Over. Your. Time. Is. Up.”

The chilling clicks of the homoarachnoid sent shivers across Ria’s skin as she gritted her teeth, taking a stance. Her expression was grim. For she knew that she couldn’t defeat the homoarachnoid.

Even with the wounds that her aunt had inflicted upon her.

Even with the wounds that Sage Sayfeel had inflicted upon her.

If anything, those wounds made the creature look even more menacing. The black fur was intertwined with the white web and blue stains. While the creature’s blue blood spewed from the eye that Sage Sayfeel’s dagger had pierced. Her expression was ferocious, and the remaining intact eyes that the creature had were filled with vicious bloodlust.

This creature was in a class of her own.

No matter how much she was wounded, a mere Martial Master like Ria could never be able to take her down. Even if it was a Martial Master like Ria who could massively punch above her weight class.

STEP

Ria subconsciously stepped back with fear in her eyes.

She wasn’t a battle-hardened warrior. She lacked the fortitude and the spirit of a Martial Artist who had gone through many, many battles with her life on the line against severe forces. She lacked the experience in such situations to compose herself and draw on her composure.

Especially when she faced an inevitable outcome.

And yet, even before the homoararchnoid took a single step forward, she suddenly froze.

Her five intact eyes suddenly widened as streaks of purple emerged from the wound created by the still-pierced eye, spreading across her body at an astonishing rate.

Ria’s eyes widened with recognition.

”Poison.”

Poison that Sayfeel had laced his blade with. And not just any poison. The kind of poison that transcended species. It was the poison of a Transcendent Candidate. A poison concocted by the Death Sect of the Panama Continent, a poison that matched the intensity of the Gu poison originally created by none other than the spiritual founder of the Death Sect.

The Demon of Asmodeous.

CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK!

-oo—oo immediately broke into an agonious spur of pained clicks as her body shuddered with pain while her limbs spasmed uncontrollably. Ria watched with a horrified expression as the poison coursed the veins of the homoarachnoid, seemingly consuming her body quicker and quicker.

The scent of the poison wafted in the air along with the odor of the webbings that the creatured used. It was chillingly sweet and alluring despite its propensity to bring death to anything it touched.

And yet, as much as -oo—oo spasmed, she never fell

Not once did one of her six insectile legs fall.

Instead, her movements gradually calmed down as her breathing stabilized, despite remaining ragged.

Chills crawled across Ria’s skin as the creature directed a maddened look at her, her eyes blazing with intense, almost maniacal determination.

CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK!

”Nothing. Will. Stop. Me. From. Delivering. You. Unto. The. Divine. Mother!”

She charged towards Ria as fast as she could.

It should have been over then and there.

Nothing was left to stand in her way.

Nothing was left to protect Ria.

And yet—

WHOOSH

Ria barely evaded the charge at the very final moment, surprising herself as much as she surprised the homoarachnoid. -oo—oo turned towards her, her five alien eyes widening with shock.

Then, she gritted her fangs, pointing her stinger towards Ria.

The same stinger and web that trapped Sage Sayfeel.

The same attack that trapped him.

The outcome should have been inevitable.

SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT!

And yet, Ria evaded them once more, leaping about aggressively as an onslaught of webs threatened to catch her at any moment. -oo—oo gritted her teeth, exerting herself to the limit as she pushed her stinger to output web as fast and as much as it could.

And yet, even though she survived the Gu poison, her body had been gravely damaged. The web shooting organs in her tail simply couldn’t muster even a portion of their ordinary power, launching attacks that, despite being faster than a lightning bolt, were simply insufficient to reach Ria before she could react.

WHOOSH

Ria barely managed to evade a web shot to her head with a reflexive head-tilt, her expression still stunned with what was happening. Her amber eyes peered into the future, into the stream of causality that was to come, barely spotting an incoming attack a microsecond before it ensued.

And that was all she needed.

WHOOSH

She summersaulted into the air smoothly, evading several more attacks, as -oo—oo blasted a net of web from her stinger, hoping to catch Ria midair in the web.

It was within Ria’s predictions of the future. Having observed the battle between Sage Sayfeel and the homoararchnoid, she had managed to discern much of the causality of the creature’s webbing attacks, allowing her to notice the inception of the sequence of causality that led to each attack.

She foresaw them before they came.

Her eyes threaded the one course of action where she could evade what was otherwise an omnidirectional attack.

SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT

Even as the webbing net shot forward towards Ria from all directions, she dove forward, shooting forth like a bullet, and contorting her body in a highly specific manner.

All to fit her body in through a hole in the net.

She emerged from the net, shooting towards the stunned, poisoned creature before it could react.

It was her only chance.

And she nailed it.

SPLAT!!!