The Martial Unity

Eighteen months breezed by as Rui secluded himself in training. This was not outside of Rui's expectations when he had first set up the three projects that he was going to work on while under the Silent Shadow's guidance.

The largest consumer of his time was, of course, the Phantomind Project. There wasn't the slightest shred of doubt in his mind that this project was going to become one of his most powerful techniques to date.

It didn't take a genius to figure that out. Not only was it attuned to Rui's strengths. not only was it an entirely unique concept attuned to the knowledge of his past life, but it was a highly individualized technique that only he could use.

To say that he expected much from the technique was an understatement. The ordinary version of the technique that he had set out to create alone took nine months, while the beefed-up version took an additional nine months.

Countless hours of imagination and self-programming and even a certain amount of self-programming went into forging the technique in his mind. His Mind Palace had needed to be extended a bit, so he relied on absorbing the Shadow Isles into his mind as a part of the Mind Palace to accommodate the massive amounts of data that needed to be stored for the technique. The volume of the data exceeded even the VOID algorithm.

It took what felt like forever to create the technique, meditating for countless hours as his mind furiously chugged away.

After a long year and a half, he had finally arrived.

With three new techniques at hand.

Lycanthropic Mask, the disguise technique that he had mastered.

Sympathetic Death Lance, the close-range version of Death's Sympathy.

And the Phantomind Void technique.

"Fuuu..." Rui exhaled deeply as he stared at a fortress in the distance.

wounds. Wounds from conflicts of the past. Yet it stood large and tall, ominously

of the most powerful warlords of the Derschek Regions, was said to be the most impregnable stronghold anywhere in the entirety of

be one of the few locations that not even the assassins that once scourged the Shadow Isles could penetrate. Now

his cleansing of the Shadow Isles and another half year of training in darker arts had had an impact on the

a cold-blooded assassin, yet he seemed to have grown sharper. A darker glint accompanied the

he

next, he had disappeared, rushing

cleared out to deny a foe any chance of approaching the fortress

didn't

heading straight towards

the extensive Martial Artists on guard and patrol didn't seem to care

that wasn't

see him in the first place. Not only did they not see him, they didn't

wasn't the extent of

Lower Realms seemed to not notice him despite him rushing

to even grasp his

seemed to avert their gaze from

as if they saw something else that drew

what they

the one showing

his eyes, the silent

he was approaching it from. A giant blade of wind loomed over the fortress threatening to wipe out not just the fortress,

power of