The Martial Unity

The contestants were given some time to recenter themselves after the banquet. Most of them ate lightly if not nothing. It did not make sense to eat a hearty meal before a contest. They spent the time after the contest focusing on themselves. The banquet certainly was important to most of them, but it was over and it didn't make sense to linger on it before the contest was to begin.

There was another banquet after the contest that would segregate them into different levels of losers, and a single winner.

The final eight who qualified to be in the tournament that was to be held tomorrow were going to earn the most amount of solicitation and scouting from the various third parties involved with the Martial Contest in some fashion or the other. The top forty were also hot commodities and targets. While the remaining round-two and round-three winners would receive the least amount of solicitation.

While the pre-contest banquet was a lot more equal for each Martial Squire, the post-contest banquet was going to be a lot more unequal.

The champion may very well get more attention than all the other Martial Squires combined.

That was why the pre-contest banquet was a lot more light. The various third parties were waiting for the Martial Contest to end before making any commitments because they wanted to get a good understanding of the caliber of the Martial Squires involved. That was the reason that they could not afford to conclude any agreements with any of the warriors outside of the bare minimum given that there was a minimum guarantee of strength from each of the contestants.

Rui spent his time meditating. He grew immersed in his breathing entering a state of deep concentration.

Unlike the preliminary contest, there was a lot that could go wrong this time. He could not afford to grow complacent. A lot could go wrong if he ever ended up in a similar situation to the final clash of the preliminary round where a bunch of grade-ten Martial Squires ganged up on him.

He managed to beat three, but if five, seven, nine, or eleven jumped on him together then there was a good chance that even he would fall eventually, if only because his Metabody System had time limits.

"Fuuu…" He exhaled deeply.

honed, sharpening into

radiating. He

the servants to wait

to injure

and they knocked on his door when his

time," The man

heartland of the Theocracy remarkably swiftly, Rui didn't even notice by the time they arrived. A swarm of contestants had already gathered and

Anticipation tingled the air.

be helped, they weren't even risking their lives all that much, but they felt more pressured than any life-risking mission that

comparable severity. Rui was one of the few contestants that was truly comfortable

noise they caused spilled over

a powerful figure

A powerful Martial Master.

from the sky, landing on a podium in the center of the colosseum. One could feel the depth of his age just by looking at him.

aged voice escaped his mouth. "Welcome to the first round of the Martial Contest. Each of you has overcome much to reach this point, and each of you must overcome the challenge that I have prepared for

He narrowed his eyes.

scale has but one purpose…" A grave tone accompanied his voice. "To root out the incompetent. To root out the unfit. To root out the

paused for a moment, letting those words sink into

own strengths and capabilities. They will most certainly be put to the test in this contest, but…"

Squires raised