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

path he wanted to

his first step,

shock, jerking upright as he gasped for

around spotting his

dazed, completely confused. It took him

again...') He thought to

to my match?" His eyes widened as he glanced at

both silent for a

lost." Squire Kyrie straightforwardly told him impassively. "You managed to get her with the Stinger, inflicting a critical wound. But the damage you took from her last strike had crossed the threshold, you

Rui sighed, closing his

disappointment and frustration. He had given that fight his everything,

as he exhaled deeply,

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 not only push her going all-out but inflicted a critical wound that

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

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

a genius back in her era, yet even she couldn't begin to

She mused.

you. However, I do not intend to let this failure hold me back." he said solemnly. "Instead, this failure will make me stronger,

at his hands, as a slight smile cracked

what was possible and what wasn't. It expanded his view of

he thought of all the various techniques he would master in his next

already left the past, greedily eying

* *

as she gazed outside the window of her room,

atop a table some

be an honour and a matter of boundless prestige,

in a pensive mood, unsure of what she

felt. She wasn't sure about how she felt

she was declared the Martial Champion and given that cup

KNOCK KNOCK

She absentmindedly

"Miss." Her butler bowed.

"What is it?"

has summoned you."

nodded,

she walked towards the

the center, where the study of Sage Damian Roschem