The Martial Unity

SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT!

The sheer force with which the creature moved the arm buried into Siliscia’s body was immense. It instantly ripped her body to shreds in a vicious, gut-wrenching manner. One moment, she was intact, alive, struggling to extricate herself from her opponent’s attack, and the very next moment, she was torn apart.

SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT!

Her guts and internal organs immediately spilled out as her cleaved body, while blood gushed, spattered across the entire battlefield with the swift swinging motion of the faceless human.

Her face slackened as the light left her eyes almost immediately, the remains of her body simply falling to the ground lifelessly.

Her death was quick.

Unceremonious.

As if it meant nothing.

The other three were paralyzed with shock, utterly frozen where they stood as if they struggled to even comprehend what they had just witnessed.

”Siliscia…” A quivering whisper escaped the otherwise calm-headed Misha.

”You…” Sternon gritted his teeth. ”You bastard! I’ll kill you!”

He charged towards the faceless human in the blink of an eye, adaptively evolving his body to maximize his physical abilities for as long as was possible, adopting a genetic version of the Metabody System. His fists surged forth with great power, power that he hoped would be enough to take on the faceless human.

The tiniest part of him hoped that Siliscia could still be saved if they fed her all of their healing potions, but they could not do so as long as they dealt with this faceless monster of a human.

He wasn’t alone; Misha broke out of her reverie, dashing to the side to blast the faceless human with as much plasma as she could possibly muster. She activated her gaseous blood technique, trying to burn the creature’s body from the inside out.

BOOOOOM!!!

The two of them tried their best to keep the faceless human in check, if nothing else. Just maybe, if they could stalemate it, Runark could save Siliscia. Just maybe, if they could keep it in check, they would have the opportunity to all leave the manifold together and alive.

And yet, that possibility was cruelly denied to them.

In the most direct and overwhelming manner possible.

The creature’s hand blurred into a blindingly fast attack.

One that Sternon couldn’t even perceive, let alone evade.

It decapitated him in the blink of an eye.

SPLAT

The arm of the creature was, of course, blunt and dull, yet it cut through Sternon’s neck like it was a sharp knife. As if his neck was made up of jello. As if his exosuit was made up of paper.

”Huh…?” The faintest murmur of shock escaped Sternon as the world began to spin above his field of vision.

THUD

He felt a dull impact striking his head as it rolled away and, more shocking than anything else, he saw his own headless body standing before the creature and its outstretched arm.

It was the last thing he saw. The life in him slipped away as he died a swift death. His dreams and ambitions for a life outside the Evolutionary Army also died with him. As did his bond with his friends.

It was over.

”Sternon!” Misha screamed with guttural horror as she witnessed two of her friends die right before her, still pouring everything she had into her plasma cannons. The faceless creatures simply turned towards her, entirely unbothered by her plasma.

The plasma struck its body before being cleaved into two and splitting into two separate streams.

She realized that she couldn’t do anything to the creature.

Not even close.

The creature moved towards her, and she simply closed her cybernetic eyes, unwilling to witness her own death up close.

She could feel the creature’s powerful movements surging towards her, threatening to kill her on the spot.

And yet, she didn’t die.

WHOOSH

Before the attack could meet her, Runark surged in from the side, grabbing her at the last moment and rushing away with her, a tight expression. He had realized, sooner than any of them, that they simply didn’t stand a chance against the faceless human. He had used another move that his father had taught him in order to save Misha before she could die.

The original Godspeed technique that compressed an immense amount of speed and power into a single step. He used it to save Misha just moments before she was cut in half by the faceless human, rushing towards the Manifold Tree.

And yet, he merely prolonged the inevitable.

WHOOSH

The creature almost teleported before them, much to their horror as it swung at both of them.

SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT!!!

The attack cut right through both of them, causing their blood to spatter out like a gushing river.

THUD

Their bodies collapsed at the feet of the faceless human. It raised its hand once more, seeking to finish the job, before swinging it down with great force.

Yet, the attack never reached.

For the first time in the battle, it struck meaningful resistance.

It faced Ria for a second time.

BANG!!!

Her arms shot forward as she barely managed to arrive in time, intercepting the attack with a powerful guard. Her expression was a violent cocktail of anger and grief that mixed together in a profound darkness. It stained her otherwise clear amber eyes with darkness.

A visceral bloodlust emerged in their depths, so much so that it was almost palpable.

”You…” Her voice boiled with rage and hatred. ”You fucking bastard.”

Her hand balled into a fist that shot forth at blinding speeds.

”I will kill you.”

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!

If the faceless human did have a face, it would have had an expression of surprise. Surprise at the sheer amount of power that Ria was able to strike him with.

This time, it was the faceless human that was launched away. Its body flew away for dozens of meters in the distance before its feet finally touched the ground, allowing it to skid to a stop.

Ria gritted her teeth with a grave severity and a visceral desperation. Every instinct in her body wanted to get her to tend to Runark and Misha, who were still alive. She didn’t know whether it was the creature holding back or whether it was because there were two of them, but the injury that the faceless human had inflicted on them was not nearly as lethal as what it had done to Siliscia and Sternon.