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 extract

likely, but Rui was normally quite careful

time, however, he

and a communication device, both of which he took. There was nothing else of value

one foot up in

THUD!!

created a crater several meters deep, tossing the corpse in it. Within

his hands, dusting them off.

as soon as he got access to new intel, a

turned, facing south. That was where the location of the homeless shelter

RUMBLE!

as he dashed away at incredible speeds. The air recoiled

him to reach

homeless shelter part appeared to be accurate, this was a good sign. Rui could sense a large number of people within the warehouse, huddled together. It was a cramped location.

no reason

of them. There appeared to be helpers who aided the needy, they too threw confused

man stopped him. "Who are you and where the fuck do you

bunch of armed guards

Faraday Lowminer." Rui

their faces. Their reactions supported the claim that

THWACK

across the two guards, killing

loose as the commotion attracted the attention

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

they were light curtains. Deeper inside the facility was what appeared to be a

BAM!

shocking the many people

large opening into the ground that inclined downwards. There were storage vehicles that entered and exited the tunnel. There were many men loading and unloading

other projectile weapons, yet they never had a chance to fire

disappeared from