The Martial Unity

Even as the young Martial Apprentice brazenly blabbed on, Rui's mind had tuned out. In his perception, the Martial Apprentices were talking in slow motion. He pondered how he ought to go about this.

('Should I just flex again?') Rui wondered. He very well could drop the mind mask and unleash the bloodlust of a Martial Squire.

('No.') He decided against it. ('These aren't the same circumstances as last time.')

He wasn't isolated like he was with the two Martial Apprentices and the finance minister two missions ago. He was in a densely populated area with a small army that was on edge because of an upcoming battle. Unleashing the bloodlust of a Martial Squire at this point in time would have negative consequences that he would rather avoid taking the responsibility for.

At the bare minimum, he would be hurting morale and terrifying the already anxious and nervous soldiers of the rebel group. The bloodlust of a Martial Squire would spread far and wide, unlike that of a Martial Squire, and would impact the entire army. It might even delay the operation as the old man would likely decide that the army was in an insufficient state for the war. That was something Rui definitely wanted to avoid.

He pondered even as the young man threw taunts at him in extremely slow motion.

('Should I just ignore him?') Rui wondered. He could just walk around and avoid the man, that option was always there.

('No...') He quickly glanced at the Martial Apprentices in the vicinity, the look in their eyes indicated this most likely wasn't something spontaneous. Knowing how cocky Martial Apprentices could get, it probably wouldn't work. Besides, running away from them also would be bad for morale, since he was someone that they had paid an enormous sum of money to hire for one specific purpose, that too. In the

this head-on?') He wondered before his eyes narrowed. ('Did the old man

his observations of the camp across the day, the camp was exceedingly well-run, like an oiled machine. There was a lot of order and discipline in the way

Apprentices were seemingly running around free didn't exactly sit right with him in that case. He glanced at some of the Martial Apprentices and their clothes, noting that several of them

wondered, he couldn't be sure. This could be some sort of test on

him with what

the Martial Apprentices or killing them obviously. But it also meant that there could be no collateral damage whatsoever, he

the Martial Apprentices out. He could take off his mind mask slowly amidst combat while avoiding an extreme emotion that would make his

finally turned his attention back to the Martial Apprentice in

Martial Art uniform even yours?" He snorted, putting his

THUD

a resounding impact, having hit the ground

lightly, glaring

talk too much," Rui murmured softly, yet everyone heard him clearly as the weight of

you say?" Another joined in, as they walked in closer. "He was just talking to you. No reason to flip

snorted, ignoring his words.