The Martial Unity

BOOOOOM BOOOOOM BOOOOOM BOOOOOM BOOOOOM BOOOOOM!!!

A thin fleet of dwarven ships was ravaged by an onslaught of explosive prothanite shells, each powerful enough to gouge moons. The dwarven ships, blessed by the mechanical structural harmony of dwarven craftsmanship as well as an additional layer of invintium alloy plating, managed to hold on even in the face of the horrifying destructive power of arakai heavy ordnance systems.

Their own weapon systems were virtually useless against the prothanite hulls and other defense systems of the arakai; it served as a degree of friction that slowed down the arakai just a little.

”Increase the energy shields by five percent! Boost the primary propulsion drives to the maximum! Get closer!” Grand Admiral Ferdinant of the Seventeenth Armada bellowed to his crew.

RUMBLE

The ship he led shook as another heavy artillery shell ravaged its starboard side. The grand admiral’s expression grew more severe as several automated emergency reports were transmitted to his neural inlay, featuring a damage report to the hull.

He realized that they might not make it alive.

If that was the case, they needed to defeat the battle fleets that they were fighting who intended to steal human stars.

The battle itself was being conducted merely half a light minute away from the red dwarf stars of Arima III. They quarreled for control over the Dyson swarms that the Jakarthar Federation had erected.

”Our weapons systems are completely ineffective against the enemy defense systems, sir!”

Grand Admiral Ferdinant shook his head. ”These are not our true weapons. Our true weapons are pathwalkers. Deploy them the moment we cross the hundred-kilometer mark!”

The human fleet rammed forth even in the face of the destructive onslaught, moving as fast as they could. The arakai fleet, however, seemed to be running away from the humans. The First Battle of Arima III had shown them that allowing pathwalkers to invade the fleet formations was a recipe for disaster.

The solution was to prevent this from happening in the first place. And the means to achieve that was to simply run away from the human fleets even as they bombarded them from a distance.

This prevented the humans from getting too close while their defenses were continuously weathered down.

It was a winning solution to the problem of pathwalkers.

”Damn them!” Grand Admiral Ferdinant gritted his teeth when he suddenly received a call from one of the pathwalkers in his armada.

Ordinarily, he would humor any of them. He was the leader of the armada; he would call them if he needed them, and he wouldn’t even do it directly.

But the caller this time was one of the few exceptions.

[Kane Dullahan]

The trump card of the Seventeenth Armada himself was calling. The admiral accepted the call. ”Your Corporeality, what can I do for you?”

”We’re not getting any closer at this rate; we will lose a lot of ships and a lot of lives for nothing to show. I’m proposing that you deploy me towards the arakai fleet right away.”

His voice sounded serious, while his suggestion caused the admiral’s eyes to widen. ”Impossible! We’re still five hundred kilometers away from the arakai fleet! You will directly be targeted by their explosive prothanite shells!”

”I know.” Kane’s voice appeared to be unfazed. ”I can handle it. I can evade all of them. Trust in my power.”

Had any other pathwalker stated those words, the admiral would have simply scoffed it off as pathwalker arrogance and delusion. The explosive prothanite shells were moving at relativistic speeds, and they carried with them an extremely powerful electromagnetic field that was so intense it would fry the technological components of the exo-Martial suits Martial Artists wore if they got anywhere near.

It was no different from sentencing Martial Artists to death by thrusting them in the face of these weapon systems.

But Kane was different.

He was the fastest Martial Artist alive.

And he was the greatest evasive expert in all of human civilization.

If anybody could do it, it was Kane Dullahan.

”…Very well, Your Corporeality.”

He turned to his crew, nodding with a severe expression. ”Deploy Corporeal Kane immediately.”

Far away, in a launch station, Kane took his position. His green eyes blazed with an unusual amount of determination. Not a hint of his carefree side could be seen. He took his position, hands on the hilts of his daggers as he waited.

He knew the war would be tough, but he had hoped that his power would have allowed him to breeze through it.

Alas, the gap in technology and military capital meant that Corporeals like him were the trump cards who were thrust with the duty and responsibility of winning the war. It was a truly tremendous amount of pressure.

He waited for what felt like a lifetime.

Then, the gates to the launch station opened, and the floor beneath him unleashed a powerful surge of anti-gravity, launching him at truly extraordinary speeds.

He zipped through outer space at the soundlessly at speeds in the same order of magnitude as that of light, finding himself facing an incredibly distant set of dots.

With his eyes, however, he could see each of the distant war fleets with great detail.

Including the shifting of heavy artillery gun barrels.

They pointed at him.

BOOOOOM BOOOOOM BOOOOOM BOOOOOM BOOOOOM BOOOOOM!!!

A destructive onslaught of blasts boomed from their barrels as bright prothanite shells shot towards him at extraordinary speeds. His eyes flashed as he activated the spatial friction generator boots that he was wearing, allowing him to ’step’ on space like he was on land.

WHOOSH

He summersaulted through space, evading an attack that would have undoubtedly vaporized him to the point where even atoms would have broken down into their fundamental constituents.

He continued running through space, activating his Corporeal Realm.

”Superluminal Body of Speed,” he whispered soundlessly.

WHOOSH

He shot through space as the very fabric of space and time began to warp, pushing him to extraordinary speeds.

It allowed him to move faster than light itself.