The Martial Unity

Chapter 2394: Icebreaker

The realization put her on edge.

Time slowed down in her eyes as she studied him and his eerie Martial Embodiment.

A Martial Embodiment that consumed other Martial Embodiments and then assimilated them symmetrically, causing it to resemble a disturbing kaleidoscope. Considering that none of these Martial Embodiments actually manifested into reality and were simply the manifestations of one's subjective interpretation of the passive hypnosis caused by the utilization of one's Martial Mind, what did that say about his Martial Mind?

The implications were chilling.

She had never seen something this bizarre before.

Just what kind of Martial Artist did it take for their individuality to give birth to this abomination of a Martial Mind?

The terrifying of what it all meant gave chills to all Martial Artists.

Not Master Sera.

"I'll have you crying tears blacker than your eyes when I'm done with you."

Her tone was one of malice

WHOOSH!

In the blink of an eye, she appeared before him.

A blinding fast palm jab surged towards his throat, threatening to kill him then and there. CLASP!

Her palm stopped inches away from his throat.

It was made to stop.

His powerful hand coiled around her wrist, refusing to let it budge an inch.

WHOOSH!

He ducked sharply, evading a powerful, blindingly fast kick that threatened to break his jaw. Yet, the very next moment, a powerful barrage of short and swift blows flashed toward him in a fraction of a millisecond.

BAM BAM BAM!!!

He blocked all of them without so much as budging where he stood.

Yet, even he needed to exert himself to block the spinning roundhouse kick that furiously struck him with a heavy blow.

BOOOM!!

The thundering impact blasted his body where he stood.

A blow that, by all rights, should have launched off his feet.

Instead, a powerful force emerged deep from within his body as Yin and Yang converged into a single force.

A singular shield.

BOOOM!!

The impact blew her away, only for her to elegantly somersault away, landing on her two feet with the grace of a ballerina. The technique's sheer defensive power would have discouraged any ordinary Master from pursuing offense.

Unfortunately for her opponent, she was anything but ordinary.

WHOOSH!

In the blink of an eye, she had returned before him as her thin, dainty hands sharpened, converging into a single point.

The sum totality of her power focused through a singular point as her jab blasted into his guard.

BOOOOOM!!

His dark eyes stirred with a hint of surprise as her attack shattered the shield.

It shattered more than just the technique.

CRACK

He skidded away as his black eyes shifted to his broken ulna bone.

"You don't have the leeway to look away," her whisper tickled his ear behind him.

WHOOSH!

He leaped away in time, evading an extraordinarily swift and powerful elbow that sought to decapitate him where he stood. Yet, she relentlessly chased after her opponent, throwing lethally devastating attacks, each capable of killing even sturdy defensive Masters with a single blow.

Each Martial Body had a unique critical threshold of speed and power where even blunt surfaces and curves on their bodies were effectively no different from razor-sharp knives. Master Sera was one of the few people who was permanently above that threshold.

Most Masters feared her for her nasty Martial Path.

It was the most notorious thing that she was feared and hated for.

However, because of how widely her Path was feared and hated, Masters made the mistake of thinking that it was the only aspect of her as her Martial Artist that to be feared.

What nobody realized was that her most notorious Martial Mind was just half of why she was one of the most lethal Martial Artists in the Master Realm.

Even without it, she was easily the strongest grade-twenty-nine Master around.

BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM!!

Tremendous blows blasted against her opponent's guard. Her offensive formidability beggared the mind when one considered how incongruent her Body configuration was with the kind of lethality that she seemed to be capable of. Any ordinary high-grade Master would have long succumbed to the devastation she unleashed.

Unfortunately for her, her opponent was the furthest thing away from ordinary.

CLASP

Her eyes widened as he caught her strike inches away from his face.

A specialized defensive finger lock.

Simultaneously, his Martial Embodiment shifted from a kaleidoscopic fractal mirror into something else.

A swamp.

Master Sera's eyes narrowed.

She knew of only one other Martial Artist who was so dynamically powerful that even his Martial Embodiment changed and altered across the battle.

Yet, his Martial Embodiment wasn't the only thing that changed. His stance and aura shifted into that of a counter-offensive Master as his finger lock tightened with an iron grip that only

drew in closer.

Just as she had hoped.

"Got you." A bloodlust-laden smile emerged on her face.

It was too late by the time he realized the blunder he had made.

WHOOSH

His black eyes widened as the world disappeared.

It had disappeared entirely.

One moment, he was staring the Harbinger in the eyes point blank, standing on the

battlefield, surrounded by heaven and earth.

The very moment, it was all gone.

He was surrounded by darkness.

He could feel, smell, touch, and taste nothing.

Even his powerful Martial senses were of no avail.Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.

The only thing he could see was a broken mirror before him.

In it, he saw a young boy with black hair and black eyes.

A single emotion lingered in the depths of his eyes.

Fear.

Raw, primal fear.

An undying fear.

As the tender boy in the mirror reflection gradually grew older with the passing of time,

another emotion emerged in his eyes, burying his fear deep, deep under it.

Greed.

An intense greed for all the power in the world.

Any power that could be used against him had to become his.

Any force in the world that could turn against him must become his.

He wanted all of it.

He needed all of it.

One day, he would obtain all of it.

Perhaps then, the fear buried deep in his heart would finally disappear.

"If you're so afraid of everything, then why don't you just kill yourself?"

Her tone was as warm and affectionate as her words were evil, bringing him back to reality

only to see pure innocence in her eyes.

A horrifying contrast.

His heart shook as his pupils dilated.

For the first time in his life, the ice that covered Tokugawa Ieyasu's face cracked.