The Martial Unity

"Shame." Rui shook his head. "But at the end of the day, it is what it is."

Nel met up with them once he got off the ring, grinning ecstatically. He was immediately bombarded with biddings of congratulations.

"Great fight." Rui told him.

"It was awesome." He grinned. "Wish we could fight more, but this thing ends today right?"

"Yeah." Rui said. "One way or another. But you can fight us even in the future."

"Hehe... I sure will." He said as he each of them. "All of you."

Soon, Fae joined them, after being healed up, with a dismayed expression.

"Why the long face?" Kane asked teasingly.

"Shut up." She glared at him.

"You came pretty close." Rui consoled her.

"Indeed." Hever agreed. "Just the slightest difference and the match could very well have gone down a different path."

"Yes, but it didn't go down that way." She sighed. "The fact that it went the way it did was mainly my fault. I still have many shortcomings to fill up before I can be satisfied with myself."

"Heh." Nel smirked. "We can fight again when you're satisfied. No, there is no need to wait that long, we can fight today again!"

Everyone ignored the battle maniac.

"On the bright side, dissatisfaction pushes you to grow stronger." Rui smiled. "You're probably more motivated than you would be if you'd won. It's the same with me too."

They all bantered for quite some time, shifting from place to place every time one of them had a match.

Rui's fight with Kane had been rescheduled to be the last match of the day due to 'logistical issues'. An excuse that Rui found to be total nonsense, of course. The Academy was overflowing with logistical support, the idea they would be unable to hold the Rui's match with Kane was just silly.

Headmaster Aronian was unilaterally the cause for this. Rui could almost picture the old man stroking his beard with a mischievous grin as he rescheduled their match to be the last for the sake of suspense, tension and entertainment.

Rui shook his head with resigned amusement. It wasn't particularly a big deal, so it didn't really matter when the match happened today as long as it did happen today.

And soon, it came.

"Apprentices Rui Quarrier and Kane Arrancar. Your final match is soon to commence, please be at the assigned ring." A staff member told them.

They nodded solemnly.

both of

to a good fight." Hever calmly told

"Fight hard." Nel instructed.

after accepting the well-wishes

didn't even need to look

Everybody was there.

Everybody.

every single Martial Apprentice, even the

of them would represent all of them in one of the most prestigious Martial contests

could they

not want to be

trickled into the air, saturating the

Excitement. Uncertainty. Anticipation.

Even breathing it became harder, as everyone held their breaths as the two Martial

say a

didn't exchange well-wishes, or

stared at

Kane's expression was neutral, Rui could see a meaningful

that only

that only he was supposed to

And understand, he did.

A silent pressure built-up.

of emotion. The lack of aggression.

not ease the

No.

They hardened it.

else. Even the Martial Squires weren't drawing attentions to themselves, they too had gathered to bear witness to

stances." The supervisor instructed. His voice cutting

began lightly hopping between his feet. A dynamic stance that allowed him to shift to max speed in any given direction as quickly as possible. His hands were loosely brought in front of him

felt when one looked at his eyes. Some

the past month, out of all the Martial Apprentices that had partaken in the preliminary contest, none

of them had

against his perverse formidability. All of them distinctly remembered the experience of being relentlessly harassed and bullied by an invisible shadow, putting up futile and meaningless

could anyone

And yet.

closed his

Black.

There was darkness.

There was a void.