The Martial Unity

Senior Gemu did not enjoy the current mission entrusted to him by the Carnil Mafia

He was not a hunter. He was a bodyguard, so why the hell should he waste time hunting for the Ecstasy Plum Fruit in the Great Forest of Hynonarak?

It was a waste of his Iron Flesh Style. He had submerged himself seven days and nights at the bottom of the molten iron river as a Martial Senior, imbuing his flesh with Celestial Iron, giving him extraordinary passive defensive prowess. 

He ought to be protecting, either someone else or himself.

That's why he was grateful.

Grateful to his assailant for attacking him.

The attack came out of nowhere.

One moment he was treading across the forest, depressed.

And the very next?

BOOM!!

An extraordinarily heavy attack crashed into his gut out of nowhere. It was heavy. It had been charged with momentum and had completely caught him off-guard. Furthermore, it had come so swiftly that he had been unable to react to it. 

In fact, he only sensed it after the impact reverberated across his body.

Yet, he was unmoved. The attack had not shifted him even a millimeter. It hadn't even shifted his center of gravity.

It was no different from a child striking a statue.

He was unmoved.

At least, he was physically unmoved. 

Yet, the same could not be said about his emotional state.

"Hahaha!" He guffawed. "You have come! Mysterious assailant who seeks to oppose the Carnil Mafia!"

"I had a feeling this would happen," Rui sighed as he glanced at his knuckle even as Greater Phantomind Void was active.

They were bruised. Even the grade-eight Adamant Reforging was no different from paper before the Celestial Iron conditioning that he had undergone in his body.

"Come! Mysterious Assailant who seeks to oppose the Carnil Mafia!" He spat a mouthful as he took a sumo stance. "Show me your power and dispel the curtain of invisibility that obscures your presence!"

…

"Such measures may have worked against Nereau, but you cannot overcome me with stealth!" He proudly declared as he grinned widely.

Rui heaved a sigh. He was right. Stealth was useful for ambushes to exploit weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

But his opponent was a Martial Artist who didn't have such weaknesses. Thus stealth was merely a waste of energy.

Rui deactivated Phantomind Void, appearing before him. 

"Ooohhh!" The man smiled, delighted. "Now that you have graciously revealed yourself. I challenge you! Overcome my defenses!"

THUD!

His leg struck the ground as he adopted a Sumo stance. His Martial Heart had already activated, generating seismic activity.

RUMBLE!

"I wager that your strikes cannot make me feel even the slightest pinch of pain!"

A sadistic smile appeared on Rui's face beneath his mask.

He surged forward with powerful momentum as his fist flew forward. 

The second Flowing Canon had been launched. 

"Hahaha!" The man laughed as the attack came. "Such measly power canno-AARRGRHRHRGSGHH!"

For the first time in five decades, Senior Gemu felt excruciating pain beyond anything he had ever felt. The sheer power of the strike was so high that he felt as though it ignited his entire body on fire.

He felt as though his flesh was being crushed.

He felt his bones cracking under the sheer power of the strike.

"Buueeergh." He puked from the sheer pain of the strike. "I-I see. Perhaps you're a capable one after all."

BOOOM!

"AAAAAAAARGH!" The heavy man cried as a powerful blow crashed into his head, almost making him faint from pain.

BAM BAM BAM!

Rui began bullying the man as he blasted his head with blow after blow. Although it certainly was fun to see the arrogant defensive Martial Artist suffer excruciating pain from the Phantom Pain hypnosis technique, it wasn't doing anything.

The Phantom Pain technique was the best sabotage to active defenses, but it was limited in its use against purely passive defenses like those of his opponent.

He could not take him down by knocking him out in this fashion. If he tried, he would only break his fist before made any progress at all.

His offense was helpless before someone who wasn't even a high-grade Martial Senior.

'Tsk, I need to strengthen my foundations.' Rui tutted, narrowing his eyes. 

While he certainly had the Metabody System, they existed to adapt to his opponent, not to empower his foundation. He needed to fundamentally strengthen his core, he had been to focused on expanding his versatility.

Instead, he had a different goal entirely.

His foundation was definitely excellent for a Martial Senior as young as him, but it was not enough if he wanted to contend with other Martial Seniors.

The only issue was that it clashed with wanting to prioritize the development of the Martial Mind.

'They can coexist.' Rui blasted his defensive opponent even as he thought about his shortcomings.

The only reason he could afford to be so careless was because his opponent was an idiot. According to the Beggar's Sect, he hadn't mastered even a single offensive technique. Meaning he could only rely on raw power if he wanted to hurt Rui. 

It was no different from the difference between a Martial Apprentice and a human. Techniques were engines that made efficient and effective use of power and potential.

"Hahaha!" Senior Gemu guffawed even as his eyes watered with tears due to the pain. "You can hurt me, but you cannot kill me."

TAP!

Rui knocked on the man's skull with his knuckle.

It was softer than any of his previous strikes. 

Yet the man's eyes rolled backward lifelessly as his body collapsed forward.

"Death sends its Sympathy," Rui snorted as he reached down to the corpse, stripping it of its clothes. "I'm going to take your attire as compensation for my bloodied knuckles."

All the banging and striking at the man's head had not been in vain. Rui had purposely been targeting his head with various different attacks on purpose.

It was all so that he could find the right resonant frequencies through repeated trial and error.

Once he did, it was simply a matter of crushing his brain with Sympathetic Death Lance.