The Martial Unity

Chapter 3286: Disappearing Act

Her expression grew gloomy.

“It’s alright,” Rui gently pulled her closer. “You don’t have to come along with me. If you want to remain here for a little while longer and do what you need to do to gain more power, then you should. I’ll head out sooner and head to our other destinations.”

“…I really don’t want to be separated from you ever again.”

Her tone was one of anguish.

She had yearned for him for thousands of years within her mind as she retreated into her soul and lived and relived the memories of Esil. On top of that, she had suffered greatly when Rui rejected her for her differences.

She had developed a bit of separation anxiety with Rui.

Of course, she was aware of that as a Martial Sage, but it didn’t make it any easier for her to deal with it.

Rui’s eyes softened with affection and love.

“Then… I can stay here for a little while longer.” He smiled at her. “I have some unfinished business anyway.”

Her face lit up at his words.

“Thank you.”

Her mood had instantly shifted as her amber eyes grew delightful.

“What unfinished business do you have?” she raised an eyebrow.

“Hehehe…” Rui grinned with excitement. “You’ll see. It should happen any day now. I don’t know what is taking those bastards so long.”

“Huh?” she gazed at him with confusion in her eyes.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine,” he remarked. “It’s something that pertains to me and a certain group of people.”

He was getting rather impatient regarding the impending attack.

Since he first detected it, he had had the Eye of Prophecy active every night before resting so that he could keep track of when it was coming.

The impending sense of danger only grew stronger with each passing day.

It was getting closer and closer.

That made him more and more excited and motivated to get stronger.

Of course, there was a limit to the amount of power that he could get in the span of a few months. He didn’t think that the power he gained in the past few months would prove to be the decisive factor. He hadn’t even fully mastered it into his Martial Art, although he was getting the hang of it, day by day.

He also had no idea how the hell they were going to attack him.

They were half a continent away, and he was at the very epicenter of the dark elven territory. There was no way that the dark elves would simply sit back and watch as the light elves invaded their territory.

On top of that, the only combatants that could even pose any kind of threat whatsoever to Rui were the Mothers of Nature. They were the only ones with the needed power that could hurt him.

Although the dark elves had fewer Mothers of Nature, Rui sensed that each Mother of Nature was stronger than the average Martial Sage, compensating for the gap in numbers.

On top of that, a large proportion of the modern set of Martial Sages were rather young and inexperienced.

Many Martial Sages had been killed in the Siege of Sages in the Central Highlands.

An assault that had lasted ten years.

The Martial Sages that broke through from the Martial Masters were much weaker than those who had died and would need time to reach the same stage of power.

Regardless, even if Mothers of Nature were much stronger on average, they were strategically less relevant due to one fatal flaw that came with their tree forms.

They were fixed in one spot.

Entirely stationary.

Of course, the nature of their power meant that they could project their power very far, as far as the Greater Genoran Flora Network could stretch, but Rui highly doubted that they could attack from the other side of the Genora Continent.

For one, the Mothers of Nature of the dark elves would never permit such an attack through their side of the flora network.

So how were the Mothers of Nature supposed to possibly hurt him?

He didn’t know.

“I hope they didn’t fuck this up,” Rui snorted. “If they send some weak assault force, then I will personally invade them and show them what an assault looks like.”

“Huh?” Amare looked up at him with a confused expression. “What was that?”

“Nothing, you’ll see eventually,” he replied. “Alright, time to get up. We have to eventually muster the courage to look Mother Alicia in the eyes once more, knowing that she saw what she saw.”

Amare blushed. “…Fine.”

They separated, putting on their clothes as Rui donned his Martial attire messily.

Strangely, he felt full of strength and vitality despite having a… busy night.

Or day, rather.

It was the sheer euphoria and pleasure that came with it that rejuvenated him. That and the fact that he had long, deep sleep, recuperating from his prior exhaustion.

His mind felt clear, as if a fog had cleared the path.

He could think with absolute clarity.

And that made him stronger than normal, for thought was one of his greatest sources of power.

“And done,” he tightened his belt, dusting his clothes before a bright smile emerged on his face. “Time to face the world.”

What followed next happened faster than either of them could react.

Martial Artists possessed an emergency activation of Realms that came with pure reflex and instinct, fueled by the Realms of power. Meaning that it was almost impossible to catch them off guard, even when they were in the normal state.

The emergency activation took the smallest of timeframes.

No more than nanoseconds.

And yet, that was enough.

That was enough for the wormhole that spontaneously formed around Rui, sucking him up in the blink of an eye.

WHOOSH

One moment, he was right there, ready to face the world.

The very next moment, he was gone.

Amare turned around, her hands covering her half-dressed body as her eyes widened with shock at his sudden disappearance.

“…Rui?”