Chapter 2218: Kill Him!
BOOOOOOM!!!
The sheer amount of power that the Martial Masters collectively outputted was so great that one would have thought that two Martial Sages were going all out if one didn't know better.
The battle had begun.
Countless Martial Embodiments bloomed across the entire battle. Each of them was unique in their own way.
Each of them reflected the Martial Mind of their respective Master.
Together, their collective might overwrote the entire world. It formed a beautiful cascade of Embodiments that painted heaven and earth with their ephemeral beauty in a tapestry that stretched as far as the eye could see.
It was horrifying, yet even more beautiful.
Yet, one Martial Embodiment stood out among them.
One Embodiment was not like others.
One Embodiment was stronger than all of them.
From within the depths of his mind, an infinite void expanded, consuming everything and everybody as a euphoric smile spread on his face.
For a moment, every single Martial Master froze as the void of information spread across the entire battle.
For a moment, they were all solely aware of a single Martial Artist.
"KILL THE DAWNBRINGER!" The leader of the Masters of the Sekigahara Confederate bellowed at the Masters of the Sekigahara Confederate. "KILL HIM BEFORE HE GAINS THE POWER TO KILL US ALL!"
"Eh...?" Rui froze. "Wait. Let's talk abou—"
"KILL HIM!" A wave of Martial Masters leaped towards it, oozing a wave of bloodlust.
They had but one target.
The most prodigious genius the Age of Martial Art had ever beheld.
"Oh, come on!" Rui gritted his teeth as he leaped away, activating Nemean Blossom as an unavoidable tsunami of attacks flooded his direction. He swiftly activated the Angel of Laplace, seeing their past and the path they took to get here. He used the data to compute a preliminary predictive model with the pattern recognition system of the VOID algorithm.
Ever since he broke through to the Master Realm, this process had begun happening almost instantaneously, so much so that it might as well have never happened. Yet, in just the blink of an eye, he could see their future.
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!
He bobbed and weaved around the incoming flow of attacks with astonishing precision and accuracy, deactivating Nemean Blossom.
Ever since he consumed the Sandflower Nectar Potion, he could use the Metabody for more than half an hour continuously at full power.
However, wars and battles continued for far longer than just a fraction of an hour.
They could go on for many hours, perhaps even a day.
He could not afford to burn through all that stamina so quickly.
With the preliminary predictive models in place, he gained a modicum of respite as he was able to avoid the flood of attacks that converged on him.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!
Rui gritted his teeth as he narrowly avoided a barrage of sharp wind currents and sonic projectiles.
"I'm not even the strongest here!" He complained, grimacing as he activated Phantom Step, confounding them with a series of well-timed feints.
Yes, he wanted experience.
No, he did not want to die.
Unbeknownst to him, however, the power of the Sun technique that Rui had used in the Panamic Martial Federation had left a deep impression on the enemies of the Kandrian Empire.
Even if it was a forbidden technique, to think that a mere Master could touch upon a Realm of power belonging to those who achieved enlightenment of self was beyond their fathoming.
He was a threat in every Master-level battle.
What if he used that technique in this battle?
What if he gets pushed far enough to decide that he will take them all with him?
If they won the battle like they intended to, it would undoubtedly mean that the Dawnbringer was bound to die.
If he could sense he was going to die anyway, then there was no demerit in using the suicidal forbidden technique.
That is why the Masters of the Sekigahara Confederate had come to a single conclusion.
The Dawnbringer needed to die early in the battle, preferably at the very beginning of the battle.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!
Rui gritted his teeth as he evaded another flood of attacks, barely keeping track of where all his aspiring killers were. He failed.
WHOOSH
His eyes widened as a sword swung at his neck faster than he could react.
"Die."
It surged to his throat in the briefest of moments.
It certainly would have killed him if not for the timely intervention.
THWOOSH!!
A powerful blast of wind crashed into the sword arm of the Sekigaharan swordsmen, delaying the swing enough.
WHOOSH!
Rui leaped away as the blade cleaved through the heavens with its ferocious power. He glanced in the direction that the blast of wind emerged.
Master Ceeran threw him a quick nod as he resumed his battle with his adversary. There was no time to exchange pleasantries in battle.
"Damn..." Rui caught his breath as his hand instinctively went to his neck, almost as if to verify that it was still there. "Tsk, I wouldn't have missed that in any ordinary circumstances, but..."
This was war.
There were Masters fighting all around the entire battlefield, compressed within a small battleground as the Sekigaharan Masters didn't move too far away from each other to ensure that their numerical advantage would shine the most.
It also meant that it was impossible to keep track of everything happening in the war.
He could be taken out with even a bit of carelessness.
WHOOSH!
A Martial Master appeared before him, swinging down hard, threatening to knock Rui out then and there.
Unfortunately, Rui had no intention of being caught off-guard a second time.
WHOOSH
He swerved, avoiding the blow as he thrust his most powerful attack.
BOOOM!!
The Yin-Yang Spear struck true, permeating its immense power deep into the vitals of its target.
"Rgh...!" The Sekigaharan Martial Master grimaced. "Damn yo—!"
"Phantom Pain." "AAAARRRRGHHH!!!" He bellowed as the pain magnified tenfold..
BAM!
A swift blow to the chin knocked him out then and there.