The Martial Unity

Master Uma glanced at Rui once more time with a deep stare before disappearing from his very senses.

('Oh man…') Rui sighed. ('I just hope that she isn't going to make trouble for me.')

Regardless, now was not the time for him to think about such matters.

Each of the contestants was supplied with rejuvenation and healing potions. Rui's body slurped them up doing its best to restore itself to its peak. He was grateful that it was able to fix the burdens on the body caused by Void Forestep. Thankfully, rejuvenation potions were extremely dense and heavy in their nutritional content.

While the others would not need to eat for a while, Rui only returned to his previous state, the potion made up for a shortcoming, but it did not increase his reserves due to that.

Regardless, he got away with almost entirely with hiding his power. The same could not be said for everybody else. The forty that passed most certainly exposed their power to each other. Rui was the least known out of them all.

The only thing that they knew about was his super speed, however, that was such incomplete information that it would actually work in his favor. There was a high chance that many of them assumed that he was a maneuvering or speed-oriented Martial Artist.

That was something that could be used against them potentially.

Suddenly, another Martial Master appeared before all of them.

Unlike Master Uma, this one looked remarkably young.

"Contestants, I am bishop Greminga," He smiled warmly. "The forty of you have come far. You have overcome obstacles that hundreds of thousands of your peers have failed to overcome. It is not an exaggeration to say that those of you who are still standing here will go on to be among the Martial Art leaders of tomorrow."

It appeared that this Martial Master was a lot more receptive to the importance of the Martial Contest compared to Master Uma, who uttered the bare minimum of words.

"The challenge you shall face this time is not light," The man explained. "Only eight of you will pass this round and go on to enter the final tournament that will be held tomorrow. It is my duty to ensure that those eight of you truly are the most fit, and the most powerful out of all of you."

He smiled, before waving his hand.

Forty strange boxes appeared in a circle around him.

"Within these containment units lies your challenge. Within them lies what many consider to be the bane of Martial Art, or at least, an element of it."

That evoked a reaction from the contestants. It was a strange thing for someone like him to say.

The bane of Martial Art?

That was an extraordinary claim to make when so many diverse and powerful Martial Artists existed. An extraordinary claim that would be laughed at if not for an extremely esteemed Martial Master making the claim.

It was especially odd coming from a bishop of the Virodhabhasa Faith. The bane of Martial Art?

('That sounds an awful lot like what the Virodhabhasa, the Antithesis, is supposed to be.') Rui narrowed his eyes as he studied the boxes.

Unlike the others, he could actually peer into their depths. He carefully studied their contents.

('Is that a… seed?') Rui frowned.

The man waved his hand, and the containment units opened, dropping their contents to the ground.

They were indeed what looked like seeds.

Suddenly, they moved.

A dense pitch-black web emerged from the seed, spreading out into the air and into the Earth. It was such an eerie and alien sight that the Martial Squires could not help but put some distance between them.

"How disgusting," Squire Meera murmured.

"This is Relenia Varasa," The man explained to the confused contestants. "Also known as Abyssfeeder. It is a species that is found in particularly volatile and chaotic environments and ecosystems within the Beast Domain, areas that are entirely uninhabitable to species below a certain level of power."

They all stared at him, waiting for him to continue.

"It is one of the few monster species that can survive in danger zones that are a Realm entirely above it," The Martial Master generously explained. "Generally, danger zones are graded by the bare minimum power level a creature needs to be to survive for extensive periods of time as opposed to dying quickly. A Senior-level danger zone is a danger zone where only Senior-level creatures and above are able to sustain their lives. Anything less is simply prey, fodder, and sustenance for the entire ecosystem to consume and predate. This species, however, is one of the few species in existence that can defy that. It can exist in danger zones graded an entire Realm of power above it."

They narrowed their eyes at that statement. If that was the case, then there was no doubt that the species was capable of a lot. Such a species would be extremely dangerous to find oneself aligned against.

"It does this by rapid physiological evolution that we don't fully understand yet," The man explained. "In extremely hot environments, it rapidly evolved with highly efficient heat absorption and resistance systems as well as incredible cooling systems. In extremely cold environments, they develop remarkably effective heat generation systems. They have been shown to adapt to all kinds of temperatures, atmospheres, extreme geologies, and extreme ecosystems of all kinds. Including…"

He paused for a moment. "…Martial Artists. They are omnivorous and are fully capable of treating even Martial Artists as prey to consume. They change the foundation of their bodies to adapt to Martial Artists and their Martial Paths, evolving their biologies to them, and consuming them. They are considered a highly dangerous species, with a danger potential evaluated at S-Class by the Monster Evaluation Department of the Security Council of the Transpanamic Consortium."

That spread a wave of shock among all those who heard it. Not many understood the full implications of what the man just uttered, but it was clear that this lifeform was not to be underestimated.