The Martial Unity

Rui was almost confused. The initial wave bounced back from him like a beach ball against a steel wall.

It couldn't be helped, he was twenty-four now, and his brain had almost finished the entirety of the growth to adulthood. The fortitude of his mind truly spiked past ordinary limits, every parameter of his mind was far beyond what someone his age could have possibly been capable of.

In fact, when he looked around, he had noticed that there were only grade-ten Martial Squires left, that too the older and more experienced ones.

He was by far the youngest one there, the youngest after him seemed to be a woman in her late twenties or early thirties.

Soon enough, the initial wave eliminated the weakest of Martial Squires. It became clear to them and everybody else that they were not of the same caliber of Martial Squires as those standing, and were promptly removed from the battle arena.

"So many simply from the initial wave, how disappointing," The man snorted contemptuously. "Is that all the Martial Squires of this generation have? Hm?"

He directed the question towards those remaining. "It may very well be the case that we may have to skip a round or there won't even be eight Martial Squires left by the time the third round ends."

('He's trying to get onto everybody's nerves…?') Rui wondered with an amused expression.

Regardless of what he said, it was clear that such a degree of pressure was not enough to take them down.

"All of you seem confident about overcoming the initial wave…" The man remarked with an amused expression. "Let us see if you can maintain that attitude."

Many stumbled as the pressure began escalating even more. The sheer amount of mental force that he was exerting had far exceeded that of baseline Senior-level pressure. Not even the Kaddar Martial Squires had exerted such pressure on Rui even at their peak.

Many of them began sweating profusely.

They gritted their teeth.

They clenched their fists.

They pushed against the land beneath them as they felt chains emerging from the ground, wrapping around them, threatening to drag them to the depths of the underworld.

The clouds darkened growing thick and dense as they descended from the skies, overlapping the very world, threatening to consume those that resisted!

Of course, this did not happen, at least, not in the real world.

That didn't mean their perception was as unperturbed as material reality was.

"...Urgh!"

"…Dammit!"

THUD!

the ground

They resisted.

They fought back.

to the ground with expressions of

not a pleasant

of what ought to have been a profound tribulation, there were some

stood there,

he should at least pretend to be pressured, if not for no other reason than not to offend the Martial Master. It wouldn't make do for him to make a powerful enemy who thought he was insulting him

glanced around, trying to get a gauge of what the average

a few of

was strong back then but he now realized that she was even more formidable than he gave her credit

were a few others that were fine even after the extensive boost in

as he saw that even the added pressure stopped knocking down

silently endured the pressure, yet the same could not be

Martial Squires. It appeared that they had been fed potions that gave them enough of the fortitude needed to endure the pressure without mentally collapsing, allowing them to feel the nervous tension and the sheer thrill of the perilous fear that the

"WOOOOOO!"

"This shit is lit!!!"

best

their disrespect to a vaunted figure of

incredibly

underestimated all of you…" The

His tone was severe.

His eyes narrowed.

sadistic smile spread on his

Something was off.

could all

under the impression that the challenge had actually begun?" The man asked with

Their eyes widened.

chill crawled up all

man's arms and hands

simple movement, smooth and