The Martial Unity

The lava ecosystem was an incredibly interesting experience, Rui would have even taken the time to study the biology of harnessing lava in other circumstances. The issue was that the lava ecosystem could not feed him. It was unfortunate, but he could neither eat rock nor lava. His digestion system was far stronger than that of a human in every parameter, but not to the degree that he could digest inorganic materials and substances without care.

He also wanted to avoid using his Martial Heart any longer than he needed to, thus he had been carefully avoiding any and all lava golems in the area through Seismic Mapping, traveling across the area at a rapid pace.

One thing that Rui needed to be careful about was the fact that there were little to no ways in which he could possibly handle any more power than he already had.

RUMBLE

Rui froze suddenly. Loud warning alarms rang in his head as his Martial Heart activated before he could even react out of subconscious reflex.

BOOM!!

An enormous tsunami of white-hot lava erupted before Rui's eyes.

It dwarfed a mountain, so much so that Rui couldn't even see the sky. Yet it was incredibly swift, so much so that had he been a Martial Squire, he would have died. Yet thanks to his subconscious Senior-level reflex, he managed to activate his Martial Heart in time as his mind kicked into gear.

Rather than undoing his progress by going as far as to run out of the enormous range of the lava attack, he instead leaped towards it, preparing a Mighty Roar Flash Blast.

THWOOM!

The attack surged forward swiftly, blasting an enormous hole in the lava tsunami. Rui swiftly jumped through it, securing an easier escape route from the attack. He would rather have avoided taking that attack, given how absurdly hot it was.

In fact...

'This isn't just lava.' Rui's eyes widened as he turned his attention from it to the source of the attack.

Only to grow more surprised.

In the distance, there were enormous boulders laden with lava.

none of them were

broken dead golem corpses was a single small figure. A single humanoid figure made up of rocks and lava stood atop all of them. Yet what truly surprised Rui was

It was not large.

a human-sized

that the others were

Rui grew immensely curious.

tilting its head in interest to the creature that survived its attack with its strange rock eyes. Rui didn't even bother turning his Martial Heart off, the

eyes as gauged the creature's interest in him. He was able to sense thought behind its

shifted, creaking as lava boiled and bubbled within its core. Rui's

'Strong.'

expression grew grave as he understood what the creature

'Power.'

'Energy.'

'Hungry.'

'...Eat.'

predatory bloodlust sparked within the depth of its fiery eyes. Rui had mastered Fauna Flow many years ago on a

grew taut even

hot that the air crackled and sparked. The lava on its body glowed

lava.' Rui took his neutral

attained when gases reached a temperature so hot that the very atoms began shredding and tearing apart into a cloud of hyper-energetic

Rui could even take a proper look at the

RUMBLE

as the creature's body began

cursed as he lashed out, leaping at the golem with such furious velocity that the very air around him ignited into an inferno. The ground broke underneath

forward as he initiated a

And yet...

BOOM!!