The Martial Unity

He stared at Rui with fearful eyes. Rui calmly returned his stare with an icy one of his own.

"ACK!" He choked as Rui grabbed him by the neck.

"I know it was no more than an assignment for you." Rui strengthened his grip. "I know it wasn't personal for you."

He brought the man's face closer.

"But honestly?" Rui asked. "I don't give a damn."

"...!" The Martial Apprentice's face grew red. He felt as though his head was going to burst. He struggled desperately, trying to pry Rui's hands off his neck while kicking Rui with all the Apprentice-level technique he could.

In vain, of course.

His measly attacks couldn't even budge Rui even when he wasn't using any Squire-level defensive techniques.

The Martial Apprentice's eyelids fluctuated as his vision blurred.

The brain tended to automatically shut down when blood flow to it was shut down for more than seven seconds.

Rui clenched his grip, squeezing down hard.

SNAP

A Martial Apprentice's body was fundamentally human, barring the brain. Rui didn't even need to use Outer Convergence to snap his neck with ease, killing him on the spot.

THUD

He dropped his body to the ground, sighing.

('Not the most rational decision.') He had enough self-awareness to realize that wasn't the best decision he could have made. Maybe the Martial Apprentice had mastered some mental technique that allowed him to fool Rui's Primordial Instinct. Maybe the location that he had given Rui was wrong and fake, and he successfully fooled Rui using that technique.

the location was wrong so that he could

it wasn't likely, but Rui was

however, he had

quickly scoured the man's body, finding some cash and a communication device, both of which he took. There was nothing else of value

foot up in

THUD!!

In an instant, he had created a crater several meters deep, tossing the corpse in it. Within five minutes, he had buried the

He clapped his hands, dusting them off. "Time

the communication device. It was necessary to keep them in the loop as soon as he got access to new intel, a policy that ensured that Martial Artists did

where the location of

RUMBLE!

ground shook as he dashed away at incredible speeds. The air recoiled as a

to reach the

was a good sign. Rui could sense a large number of people within the warehouse, huddled together. It was a cramped location. Seismic Mapping detected an underground layout as well, whose only

was no

the odd stares that the people inside gave him. He was clearly not one of them. There appeared to be helpers who aided the needy, they too threw confused looks at him. Rui simply ignored all of them as he headed toward the entrance to

A man stopped him. "Who are you and

bunch of armed guards

kill Faraday

emerged on their faces.

THWACK

across the two

the commotion attracted the

Mind Mask and watched them all freeze in fear, studying their reactions. He was trying to gauge how confident they were in their

curtains. Deeper inside the facility was what appeared to be a locked section. Rui could sense

BAM!

shocking the many

was a large opening into the ground that inclined downwards. There were storage vehicles that entered and exited the tunnel.

guards immediately raised their muskets and other projectile weapons, yet they never had a chance to fire

disappeared from their