The Martial Unity

Chapter 2783: Underestimating

Amare simply stared at him while he contemplated the events that had just happened.

And the events that would happen.

She heaved a soft sigh. ”The Sages you have fought until now were bottom of the barrel. Is that the case with Sage Sekiei?”

Rui shrugged. ”Probably. The citadel is the most secure place in the Heaven Sect. The fact that he was placed over there for protection instead of the border, which is in greatest danger, is a good sign that he is among the weakest. Also…”

Rui shrugged. ”I know what an opponent entirely outside my capabilities feels like, and he simply isnʼt that guy.”

Of course, he knew better than to trust his instincts blindly. After all, if Masters were too multi-dimensional for instincts to reliably quantify, then that was surely even more true for Sages. And yet, everything about the Martial Sage screamed at Rui that he was not someone Rui could not handle.

”I suppose weʼll find out, wonʼt we?” Rui smiled with anticipation. The Blood Goddess shook her head with exasperation while Amare heaved a soft sigh. ”Well, you have gotten much stronger.”

”That, I have,” Rui replied. ”In particular, the Blood of Solaris, the Scriptures of Terra, and the now the blood evolution that I have undergone have qualitatively increased my strength to an even higher level than I had expected I would achieve amid this journey.”

He had come a long way since his first Sage battle, so much so that the current him would be able to demolish his old self.

”Even when it comes to battles with Martial Sages, Iʼm no longer hanging out on nearly as much of a precarious edge,” Rui remarked. ”I have options at my disposal, and I wonʼt have to constantly be inches away from death. On top of that, I wonʼt be caught off-guard this time. This time, I will make use of my greatest weapon.”

Amareʼs eyes lit up. ”You mean…”

Rui put a finger to his lips, gesturing for her silence with a knowing smile. ”In the past three years, I have avoided using it because it makes things boring. It makes things too easy, and I lose what little stimulation I could get from a battle due to how powerful this weapon is, but this time…”

His grin deepened. ”I think I will truly make use of every weapon at my disposal.”

The Blood Goddess frowned as she failed to understand what he was talking about.

”Well, for now, I will just rest,” he heaved a sigh, rolling around in his comfy cloud bed.

With the Blood of Solaris, he wasnʼt tired at all, but it was true that he was far from his peak condition. It would be the height of arrogance that exceeded even that of the Heaven Sect to try and fight a Martial Sage outside of his peak condition.

”I canʼt wait.”

He didnʼt even care about the Solution of Harmony any more. He just wanted to push his Adaptive Evolution to the very limit. The thrill that came from fighting with everything he had and still being uncertain of victory was something that nothing could ever replace.

His initial goal had been to aim for a draw.

But the more excited he got, the more he didnʼt give a damn about what his plan was. He just wanted to fight. And win.

He tried to calm his racing heart, and closing his eyes in an attempt to catch some sleep. Meanwhile, Amare and the Blood Goddess had moved to their quarters to give him space to rest without disturbance.

”This… this is crazy!” the Blood Goddess exclaimed to Amare. ”Are you really going to let him do something this crazy?”

”He has done crazier,” her smile was endearing and exasperated. ”Besides, itʼs his choice. Only he can decide what he wants to and what he is going to do.”

”But still, shouldnʼt we get him to reconsider? Maybe choose a better path?”

Amare giggled at her new friendʼs panic. ”If there were better paths, he would have been the first to find them. Though, in this case, I suspect his desire to have a good all-out fight in so long is affecting his judgment.”

”In that case…”

”Thereʼs nothing to be done,” Amare smiled knowingly. ”Heʼs a big boy and his own person, he doesnʼt need anybody to try and chaperone him. Nothing you do or say will change that. So you might as well just accept it and cheer him on.”

The Blood Goddess looked stressed, understandably so.

Rui was her protection from the Blood Cult. If something happened to him, there was a good chance that Blood Lord Vrukshus would decide to call off the deal and drag her back to the Blood Cult.

That was nothing short of a nightmare for her. She would rather die than return to the life she had lived for most of her life. Thus, when Rui did extremely risky things like provoking the Heaven Sect and picking a fight with a Martial Sage, she couldnʼt help but be extremely worried for him and for herself.

She heaved a shaky sigh.

Amare smiled gently before gently consoling her. ”Donʼt worry about him. He will not be defeated.”

The Blood Goddess frowned. ”…How do you know?”

”…Experience and observation, I suppose,” Amare replied which a musing tone. ”He is… strong. Overwhelmingly so. To the point that itʼs hard to imagine that a person, a Martial Master, can be allowed by the universe to possess such power.”

The Blood Goddess raised an eyebrow. ”Thatʼs a strange way of framing it.”

Amare closed her eyes with a knowing smile. ”You will understand when you see him fight. You will understand what it means to have power that transcends limits. You will understand that he has reason to be confident.”

To this day, the Blood Goddess found it difficult to digest that. Even when she thought back to the tales of Rui fighting Sages, she merely assumed that he had gotten lucky or had some massive situational advantage or his opponents were simply holding back.

She had yet to realize how wrong she was and how much she had underestimated the being known as the Dawnbringer.

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