The Martial Unity

If he said that he wasn't unnerved by the prospect of meeting her, he would be lying because his heart was pounding with energy. He knew he needed to exercise self-control to ensure that he didn't just lash out at her and kill her where she stood.

The rational part of his mind urged him not to react and simply to pretend that he had no idea who the hell she was.

His mind considered the prospect that there was a different Martial Master who went by the name of Uma.

Of course, this was highly implausible.

There were only so many Martial Masters; there was an extremely low probability that there were two Martial Masters out there with an unusual name like Uma.

No, there was no doubt that this was her.

The evaluation was prepared shortly after the briefing without too much of a waste of time, no more than an hour. However, it felt like forever to Rui.

Each minute, each second stretched out to what felt like an eternity.

It was an agonizing wait.

STEP

He arrived before the door.

His designated venue for the evaluation to occur.

He heaved a deep breath, pushing the door open.

CLACK

The doors swung open, revealing a seated panel of Martial Masters that awaited.

And her.

She sat at the edge of the table, simply gazing at him with a powerful gaze. Garbed in the ethnic Martial attire of the Virodhabhasa Theocracy, she gave off a deep sense of piety unlike anybody else that Rui had ever come across.

A soft smile emerged on her face upon his arrival.

Yet, Rui didn't acknowledge her existence directly.

"Greeting Masters." Rui brought his fist and palm together in a Martial greeting. "I am Rui Quarrier Silas Kandria of the Kandrian Empire. I look forward to the evaluation of the Panamic Martial Federation."

"Welcome, Master Rui." The Master at the center nodded as he stood up, exchanging Rui's gesture. "I am Master Jenile of the Panamic Martial Federation, tasked with the duty of evaluating your Martial profile. Let me begin by saying that you do not have to disclose the entirety of your Martial Arts; nowhere will we pressure you to do so. In fact, according to the Panamic Martial Federation, most Martial Artists do not disclose their full power to us…" As he continued droning on about the evaluation, Rui couldn't help but direct his senses to Master Uma, who sat a short distance from him.

Her gaze bore into his body.

It was a gaze of evaluation.

In their last encounter, he had been merely a Martial Squire. He had grown astronomically stronger since then, having eventually reached the Master Realm.

She couldn't help but furiously pore over every detail about him that she could, scouring every inch of his body, trying to understand his current state of being.

She wasn't the only one.

'She's grown stronger since then.' He needed to exert herculean self-control on his body language.

However, he was certain of his evaluation.

She had indeed grown stronger.

It wasn't as though he had gotten a great understanding of how strong she had been from the previous encounter. However, he knew that she was much stronger, instinctively.

Displeasure flashed in his eyes.

"…Master Rui?" Master Jenile asked, tilting his head in confusion. "Is anything the issue?"

Rui broke out of his internal maelstrom of issues. "Ah, I'm sorry. It's nothing at all."

He was extremely relieved that none of them could sense his internal turmoil with their mind sense.

They would be able to sense his bloodlust, after all.

However, in turn, he could sense their minds due to his vastly superior mind sense.

This worked to his advantage as he could sense her emotions if he wanted.

However, in the depths of her mind, he could sense a single thing.

Reverence.

Devoted, pious reverence.

Reverence directed towards him.

She knew that he could sense the depths of her mind, but that only intensified the emotion that she experienced in the depths of her heart.

Yet, it only evoked disgust within him.

He wanted to tear her apart then and there.

Yet, he reined in the deep bloodlust he felt towards her.

He couldn't afford to kill her here.

His rational mind knew that.

Yet, it was hard to ignore the urge and the itch.

His hatred towards her was deeply entrenched due to what she had done to him and how she had made him feel. "…With all that said, shall we begin?" Master Jenile's voice broke him out of his mental turmoil, drawing his attention to the present. The location they were in was large enough to accommodate a battle between Martial Masters fully.

Rui nodded his head slowly. "I'm ready."

He actually had completely zoned out of everything the man had said, but oh well, surely the rules couldn't be complicated.

All he needed to do was spar with the religious fanatic, and then he would be evaluated.

"Then, without any further ado, let us begin." Master Jenile turned toward Master Uma. "Master Uma, if you will." "…" Master Uma got up slowly, gazing at Rui like with eyes of devotion. A single remark escaped her.

"It would be my sacred duty."

Rui's disgust only grew while the other Masters of the evaluation panel frowned in confusion at her strange word choice.

The air grew heavy.

It grew frosty as the two Masters traveled to the center of the Master-level battlefield.

STEP

A perilous edge overtook the atmosphere as the Martial Masters faced each other.

Time slowed down as Rui's eyes met her pious gaze upon him.

A flood of memories and emotions of old overcame him as he gazed at her.

Hatred. Fear. Frustration.

She had been responsible for all of it.

His expression steeled with bloodlust as he gritted his teeth, clenching his fist.

In the depths of his pitch-black eyes stirred a deep darkness.

A void.

Yet, a single question lingered in the depths of the eyes of the older woman.

'Do you hate me, O Lord Virodhabhasa?' It was a question that only evoked greater hatred from within him.

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