The Martial Unity

Rui wasn't sure what to make of his circumstances. He hadn't expected his first meeting with the Silent Shadow to go this way.

He expected a dark hooded figure with a brooding air about her and a severe tone. After all, all the intelligence from the Beggar's Sect indicated that she had been a madwoman who was hellbent on solving all her problems by killing.

Yet she seemed remarkably... not insane.

"I have to say, I appreciate the effort." She smirked. "Thanks to you I've had the most interesting three months. You've brightened my days, I thought I would die of boredom in those stuffy boardroom meetings about the fake progress on finding the Silent Shadow that I would cook up to appease those idiots."

"You're welcome, I guess," Rui replied cautiously. 

Being in the presence of a Martial Master put much more pressure on him than when he was a Martial Squire, ironically enough. This was because he instinctively understood a greater portion of their true power.

One who had reached the clouds understood the depths of the sky better than one who had never gotten off the ground. Despite having broken into the Senior Realm and even started off much stronger than most of his peers, he understood how vastly she dwarfed him.

"What's the matter? Scared of a retired old grandmother?" She remarked sarcastically. "Young men these days aren't much, it seems.

Rui simply stared at her.

"It's a shame you're not as immature as others your age." She remarked. "Then again..."

Her eyes turned towards him with a glint of interest. "There are no Martial Seniors your age."

Rui narrowed his eyes.

Had she figured out his identity?

"Martial Masters can learn much about a person with a single glance. More than you would think." She remarked. "It would behoove you to keep that in mind."

He knew. He had learned that lesson the hard way.

"Now then, enough chitchat." She leaned forward, planting her elbows on the table. "You wish to learn from me, yes?"

Rui nodded. "That is why I came here. I wish to become more capable in the art of killing."

She stared at him for a moment.

Rui found himself lost in the unfathomable depths that seemed to lay within her eyes. 

"There are two kinds of people who come to me." She remarked. "Assassins...and people who seek to kill."

She stared at Rui. "You are no assassin. Though you have done a better job at faking being a true assassin than actual assassins actually are. However, you are not an assassin."

Rui didn't disagree.

He was a warrior. Pursuing his Martial Path, pursuing Project Water, the ambition of being able to adapt to everything. Assassinations were, at most, a constituent if he was being generous.

"Which means you wish to kill." She continued. "Tell me. Who do you wish to kill? And more importantly...why?"

Rui narrowed his eyes as she broached a sensitive topic. "I wish to kill he who threatens to end my family."

"I'm glad you decided not to lie." She replied. "However, in pursuit of me, you have already sharpened your ability to kill."

Rui knew that that was true. He had become a much more capable killer on his own without requiring aid from anybody else. 

However, there were limits to that. He had managed to make the most out of existing techniques, by fusing different principles and trying to target low-hanging fruits.

However, it would still help if he gained a powerful foundation from someone like the Silent Shadow. 

"I have powerful enemies," Rui replied. "I can use some help."

"Hm," She considered his words. "Alright, I accept you as a pupil."

Just like that, he had accomplished what he came for. After six months of training, and another three months of rapid back-to-back assassinations, he had finally reached his goal.

And it happened just like that.

It happened so quickly, that he almost couldn't process it.

"Well..." Rui murmured. "Thanks."

"I have some rules." She replied. "No telling the Beggar's Sect that I am the Silent Shadow. You won't believe the absurd lengths I had to go through to evade being discovered by the Beggar's Sect. Honestly, those ruffians are far too annoying!"

She grumbled even as she casually revealed that she knew he had been in collaboration with them. 

"I can't have you ruining years of building up this alias and disguise." She sighed. 

"I accept that condition," Rui replied. 

"You also cannot reveal that you were accepted as my pupil." She said. "If people find out, then everybody will try to pull the same stunt. It will be annoying to distinguish genuine assassins from people who are trying to copy you."

"Understood, I'll keep that in mind as well." Rui nodded. "Anything else?"

"No, you can do whatever you want as long as you keep these two things in mind. Of course, I will also help ensure that you do, it will directly hurt me if you don't, after all. Hmmm... I don't think I'm forgetting anything else, am I?"

Master Reina narrowed her eyes as she grew absorbed in thought.

'She seems like a bit of an airhead.' Rui mused. 

It was not what he expected or imagined from the legendary Silent Shadow. 

"Hm, that's about it. I think." She murmured. "I hope. Anyways, let's get started."

"With the training?" Rui raised an eyebrow.

"No. With the sex." She sarcastically replied, furrowing her eyebrows. "Of course, it's the training. I have a new pupil and I need to whip you into shape so that you're worthy of being my pupil!"

"...Right. But where are we going to train?"

"Right here, of course." She replied as she stood up. "Why do you think I took over multiple districts and made it mine and mine alone? So that I would have a giant place all for myself. Follow me."

She walked briskly as Rui followed her with a skeptical expression. He could destroy the entirety of Area Crina with a single attack, he didn't see how he could train in here.