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

ought to handle this head-on?') He wondered before his eyes narrowed.

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 things worked around here,

in that case. He glanced at some of the Martial Apprentices and their clothes, noting

be here?') He wondered, he couldn't be sure. This could be some sort of test on his

with what

also meant that there could be no collateral damage whatsoever, he could

constructive manner, maybe he could help the Martial Apprentices out. He could take off his mind mask slowly amidst combat while avoiding an extreme emotion that

his attention back to the Martial Apprentice

a normal person. Is that Martial Art uniform even yours?" He snorted, putting his hand

THUD

having hit the ground before he realized what had even

grimaced lightly,

softly, yet everyone heard him clearly as the weight

in, as they walked in closer. "He was just talking to you.

ignoring