The Martial Unity

The question was whether they would make it in time.

"Argh!" Senior Xanarn collapsed, drenched in blood.

Her balance was unstable, she seemed to be struggling to breathe.

Her bronze skin has taken on a sickly skin tone.

And yet… She did not give up.

She struggled back onto her feet, quivering as she took her stance.

Yet the battle was all but over.

She knew it.

Her four enemies knew it.

Rui and Kane knew it.

And yet…

The moment came sooner than Rui expected.

It happened abruptly.

The skin of the four Martial Seniors returned to normal.

They were all extremely tired and strained, fighting Senior Xanarn on Ajanta Island was truly a herculean task.

Their Martial Hearts had already run out of juice, but that was fine, they no longer needed it against Senior Xanarn in her current condition. Even a Martial Squire could probably kill her in her current condition.

That was why they were relieved.

Overjoyed.

The Floating Sect's defensive prospects were operating on razor-thin margins. The collapse of a single Martial Senior was the end. They were already at the final line.

Senior Xanarn activated another sound-based technique, but it was merely the final resistance of a dying prey, they ignored the fluctuations of her sound-based technique as they prepared to kill her.

It was over.

They were certain.

And it was because they were certain that they were surprised when the poison-oriented Martial Senior's eye exploded.

SPLAT

"…Eh?"

The three of them grew alarmed at the sudden wound.

Even Senior Xanarn opened her eyes in shock at the sudden occurrence.

DRIP DRIP DRIP

Blood began pouring out of her eye like a river.

Pure unadulterated horror sprung onto their faces as they noticed it wasn't just blood.

Cerebral fluid could clearly be seen mixed into it.

A brain injury.

For half a moment, they were frozen.

Not even the vaunted reflexes of the Senior Realm availed them as their brains struggled to process the spontaneous events that seemed to defy causality.

"HEALING POTION!" General Derftar screamed as his senses immediately swept through the area.

That was when he saw them.

Right before him with a heavily hidden presence.

BOOM!!!

Rui launched the heaviest blow he had ever thrown in his entire life!

General Dereftar gritted his teeth as did his very best to block the attack, the sheer momentum of the attack was such that he was blown away by it.

He glanced back up with a shocked expression, looking at his attacker. A young man with silver hair and eyes, with a bruised and wounded body seemingly.

His bewilderment was palpable.

What just happened?

Just moments ago, they were about to kill a Senior guardian of the Floating Sect.

Just moments ago, they were about to win the war against the Floating Sect.

And now, he could hear that the heartbeat of his comrade had stopped due to an inexplicable attack that blasted her through the eye and into her brain.

What happened?

Was it the two Martial Squires that he saw at the moment? But how did they do that? What was happening?

Yet, his mind switched gears in less than a millisecond.

He was a warrior. A Martial Artist. It was not easy for anybody to shake the mentality of one like himself.

The three of them eyed Rui and Kane with daggers.

A maelstrom of bloodlust boiled the very air about them as their minds sharpened.

Any other Martial Squires would have frozen in terror.

"Hmph." Rui snorted, his expression crumpled with rage as he unleashed profoundly deep bloodlust.

Deeper than ever.

It washed over them.

Their hair stood on end as chills crawled up their skin.

Their jaws dropped as they came to a shocking conclusion.

"You…" The man stammered. "Martial Senior…!"

The Senior-level aura could not be mistaken!

Rui had pushed himself to the absolute limit, having constructed the most powerful Mind Mask that he ever had in his entire life.

"You're damn right I am." He exhaled deeply, feeling his body lighten astronomically as he felt a surge of temporary energy.

WHOOSH!

Rui moved so fast that he almost blurred in the eyes of his opponents!

Yet, he wasn't fighting incompetent fools. General Dereftar's eyes narrowed as his expression grew graver.

POW!

He blocked Rui's attack.

Yet Rui simply grinned.

SPLAT!

The man felt a stab in his back out of nowhere!

Kane drove his knife as deep as he could.

"Dereftar!" One of his comrades shouted as he launched a powerful attack that moved so far that Rui wasn't able to avoid it!

BAM!

The attack was so powerful that it blasted a hole across Rui!

For a moment, Rui had forgotten that he was dealing with Martial Seniors.

Yes, their Martial Hearts were gone.

Yes, they were extraordinarily exhausted and stressed and far away from their peak performance, enough for Rui and Kane to cope the way they did against Senior Xanarn.

But they were Martial Seniors nonetheless.

They could blast past his defenses like he was made up of paper.

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!!!

Rui ran away as he struggled to avoid them despite Void Step!

Both their sheer speed and power were truly astonishing. Rui could feel that his body offered as much resistance to his attacks as cardboard did to bullets!

Yet, it didn't matter.

FWOOOP!

The wounds healed instantaneously.

The three Martial Seniors froze on the spot in shock!

"What…" Senior Xanarn murmured in shock.

Was he immortal?!

They grew more grave as they launched more attacks at him, pushing their already exhausted bodies to the absolute limit.

And yet, he simply ran forward, evading half, while the other half peppered holes across his body, and yet…

They disappeared.

"RARGH!" Rui yelled as he launched a supremely powerful tier-five Transverse Resonance attack while following it up with an immensely powerful Flowing Canon!

BOOM!!!

He pushed them back, overcoming all their defenses and pushing them back with his two most powerful attacks!

At that moment, they had a flatteringly terrifying impression of him.

An abysmally swift, powerful, seemingly immortal monster!