The Martial Unity

Rui opened his eyes slowly. An clear sky entered his field of vision.

He frowned.

Where was he?

He got up to his feet as he gazed forward, squinting as his eyes adjusted. A beautiful landscape extended as far as the eye could see as he gazed down at the breathtaking sight, appreciating its beauty.

But he was still confused.

He turned around, glancing at what was behind him, yet what he saw shook him to his very core.

He saw a path.

A path with profound depth.

A path he was on.

Yet what shook him wasn't the path itself.

No.

What truly shook him was treacherous calamities the path winded through.

Monsters.

Earthquakes.

Meteorites.

Land-breaks.

A torrent of devastating catastrophes littered his path.

It was a horrifying sight that inspired primal terror.

And yet, it inspired awe.

Through his terror, he could see profound boundless beauty in that path.

him, mesmerizing him,

he wanted to walk

his first step, the world shattered into

up a shock, jerking

glanced around spotting his squire

completely confused. It took him a few moments to remember

same dream again...') He

His

were both silent for a

straightforwardly told him impassively. "You managed to get her with the Stinger, inflicting a critical wound. But the damage you took from her last

see." Rui sighed,

had given that fight his everything, but

took a deep breath as he exhaled deeply,

performance surpassed my every expectation. You're not even a two-year-old Martial Apprentice and you went against a monstrous prodigy that has been cultivating techniques for six years. The odds were stacked against you in every way, in every possible parameter, yet you managed to

told you before the preliminary contest. Your Martial Path extends far beyond the Martial Contest, this is merely a checkpoint in your life. Do

with certainty. Yet, she wasn't lying. The fact that Rui was already half-way to being a Squire Candidate at the age of fourteen was truly astonishing. Furthermore, he had fulfilled the harder and more important condition

era, yet even she couldn't begin to

She

to let this failure hold me back." he said solemnly. "Instead, this failure will

stared at his hands, as a

had shattered and reforged his world view of what was possible and what wasn't. It

of all the various techniques he would master in his

eyes had already left the past,

* * * *

she gazed outside the window of her room, as

cup sat atop a

supposed to be an honour and a matter of

pensive mood, unsure of

what she felt. She wasn't sure about

was declared the Martial Champion and given that cup as the crowd went berserk

KNOCK KNOCK

in~" She

"Miss." Her butler bowed.

"What is it?"

summoned you." He

nodded, having

walked towards the center of

study of Sage Damian Roschem