The Martial Unity

A profound tsunami of power erupted from deep within Rui's mind. It spread far and wide, washing over the entirety of the Valley of Prisms. In just a moment, he had grown almost unrecognizable. An incomprehensible sense of peril radiated from him.

It was different from the palpable power that the Gatekeeper exuded. While the Gatekeeper had reached unprecedented levels of power within the Senior Realm in the pursuit of physicality, Rui was different.

He had attained unprecedented power within the Senior Realm in pursuit of the power of thought alone.

Armed with the SOUL System at hand, Rui's capacity to adaptively evolve to his opponents had risen tremendously, and he had constructed a nascent Martial Mind, the likes of which might never have been constructed in the Senior Realm in history.

The VOID algorithm, the Angel of Laplace, and the SOUL System were three mighty cornerstones of his nascent Martial Mind, each dwarfing the Martial Minds of his peers and contemporaries.

Then, there were minor systems of thought that partially revolved around them, such as the ODA System of the Pathfinder technique. It made his aim extraordinarily good with pure deductive thought alone.

In addition, there were smaller mini-systems of thought, such as the Hypnomatrix system of thought, which was essentially a simple one-step framework of evaluation on which and how much of each hypnotic technique he ought to use.

Together, they came together to form his nascent Martial Mind.

Waiting to be awakened.

Rui opened his eyes.

An endless darkness stirred within the depths of his pitch-black eyes.

An endless void.

He glanced at his hands.

"Hmmm…" His eyes sharpened.

He knew he had gotten stronger.

There was just one issue.

"How much stronger…?" He murmured.

He didn't know.

He was unable to intuit his current level of combat power. He could make very educated guesses on how powerful the SOUL System was in its output, but it became even harder to estimate how much stronger it made him and what caliber of opponents he could defeat.

STEP

glancing at Rui with a knowing look. A wide smile emerged on his face as he recognized the sight

grinned. "You did it

had experienced this sensation twice in

Rui became

became the

again made a truth quite evident to him.

new power against

Kane's. His long hair fell over as he tilted his head,

stronger too…" he

his head. "I know you far too well. Even if I try not to, I cannot help but subconsciously use the adaptive evolution that I have gained from knowing you for all my time as a Martial

his familiarity with Kane had reached a stage higher than that of anybody else. Even if he wanted to, he could not treat Kane

evaluation of the SOUL

this? We fight,

was an

Squires with a single attack. The idea that a

Rui didn't immediately dismiss

ditch the knives,"

Void Step technique," Rui

"Fair."

Fulminata

"Alright."

you'll have to

Kane grinned. "What are you

Rui stared

shrugged. "Alright, no techniques and no weapons. That definitely makes me much weaker than a grade-one Martial Senior. If

Rui remarked, getting up. "The gap between Realms cannot be

them stood opposite each

you handle the raw power of the Martial Heart alone

a neutral stance.

speed-related stance. "It's going to be

His eyes narrowed.

maelstrom of peril

"Here we go."