The Martial Unity

RUMBLE

Rui's eyes widened as the world shook.

The air grew tumultuous, boiling, as it was wrung by the power that Matriarch Nephi manifested.

She conjured a barrier between herself and Rui to protect him and shield her visage from him, yet he could feel his grandmother's powerful Martial Heart blooming into power, followed by her Martial Mind.

Yet, that wasn't all. A third Realm of power far greater than the previous bloomed alongside them, elevating herself to a much greater degree of power.

Rui gritted his teeth as he struggled to withstand the pressure that she was emanating.

"Behold."

Her voice graced him.

"The future."

His eyes widened as she dispelled the barrier, and her Martial Embodiment bloomed in his mind at full power.

Suddenly, the entire world around him changed.

He found himself standing on a path.

A path that he had trodden his entire life.

No.

A path he had walked even before his life.

The world around him was completely different. One moment, he was in the shed of his grandmother in the Ilvilia Forest; the very next moment, the world around him shifted, becoming something else entirely.

It had become a world of tribulations.

Rui's expression grew horrified as he bore witness to an endless sea of calamities as far as the eye could see.

Earthquakes, volcanoes, tornados, hurricanes, blizzard storms ravaged the world around him. All manners of monsters and beasts unleashed an onslaught unto the lands around them.

His path wound through them.

It was a perilous path.

No sane man would walk down this path.

Yet, nonetheless, he chose to.

It called out to him.

It lulled him, drawing him in.

He would walk the path no matter what.

"Your mind hijacked my prophecy with its own," she frowned. "I did not know it was possible for an awakened bodyforger to resist and override my Martial Embodiment to such an extent."

Rui broke out of his reverie in a startle. "Uh, sorry."

However, her words caught his attention.

This was not the first time he saw this vision.

He had seen it many times in the past.

He didn't know why, but it was almost like a visual representation of his Martial Path. He had seen it in visions, in dreams, and now, in a Martial Embodiment.

Yet, she called it a prophecy.

His eyes returned to the visions that his mind conjured up in her Martial Embodiment. "This…is a prophecy?"

Her eyes bore deep into her grandson's. "Your prophecy. The visual representation of the Martial Embodiment is a product of the Martial Artist whose embodiment it is and the mind of the beholder of the Martial Embodiment."

Rui knew that.

Master Ceeran had told him something similar himself. It was the reason that he saw Master Ceeran's Martial Embodiment as a missile launcher of homing missiles from Earth while everyone else saw siege weapons of Gaia.

It appeared that in the case of Matriarch Nephi, it allowed the beholder to create their own prophecies!

His eyes widened in shock as the implications of this shook him!

"Do you now understand why people seek my prophecy?" She calmly asked with pride in her voice. "I can bestow a fraction of my power to others. At least, as long as they're not lesser beings. Non-Martial Artists cannot bear to know the future."

"…Incredible," Rui whispered.

"Regardless, that is not what I wanted to show you; I just didn't expect your mind to be this powerful. You will redefine what is possible when you break through to the Master Realm. Regardless, for now…" She narrowed her eyes, exerting a fraction of her full power.

Suddenly, Rui felt himself losing control of the visions as she directed him to see what she wanted to show him.

RUMBLE!

The world shook as a myriad of visions flashed through Rui's mind.

The Beast Domain.

The prophecy evoked the information that Rui associated with it all in a messy flash: the depiction of it on maps and the information he learned about it during his crash course on it, as well as the real visuals of it from Matriarch Nephi's memories.

It was a black box.

Not even the senses of powerful Martial Artists could peer into its depths.

Miracles and wonders were hidden within its depths. Supernatural fantasies and reality-defying tribulations were hidden away within its depths.

As well as a certain man.

Rui's eyes widened as distorted and flashing visions of a man.

The vision was blurred. He wore a worn-out medical coat with an array of medical tools adorned across multiple belts and straps across his entire body. A variety of instruments and artifacts made him look like the fusion between a doctor and an adventurer.

He couldn't see the man's eyes.

He could see his smile.

A normal, pleasant smile.

Yet, it couldn't hide his inhuman glee.

This man was a monster.

He opened his mouth.

A single question escaped him.

"Who are you?"

An ordinary question. One that one might hear without so much as batting an eye. Yet, for some reason, when Rui heard that question, he felt only one thing.

Despair.

"Huff…" He breathed heavily. "Huff…"

His grin widened as he cackled with glee and amusement. A deep malevolence echoed in the depths of his laughter. Rui couldn't see his eyes, yet he could feel his attention peering into Rui's eyes.

He was laughing at Rui.

In that moment, Rui felt but one thing.

Fear.

Raw terror overcame Rui.

Horror, unlike anything he had ever felt.

He felt more fear towards the man before him than he had ever felt in his entire life. The fear he had felt from Chairman Deacon. The fear he felt from Master Uma, the fear he felt from Martial Sages, the fear of death…

None of them could compare.

None of them could compare to the soul-rending primordial Fear that the man evoked within the depths of his soul.

He cackled at Rui's fear with endless amusement.