The Martial Unity

"It is time for the second round to commence," The new Master announced once everybody had been rejuvenated. "I am Bishop Uma, and I am the organizer of the second round."

She snapped her fingers and a ring table appeared around her on the podium. 

Rui noticed a bunch of paper slips on the table that she was the center of when he studied it.

"As you can see, there are about forty passes on this table," She explained mundanely. "Each pass guarantees a contestant a spot in the third round. The forty of you who manage to get your hands on a pass, one way or another, will pass through to the next round, the rest will all be eliminated."

The Martial Squires frowned when they heard such a strange contest, the passes were right there in front of them, were they not?

Didn't that mean the fastest of them would get the passes first? Was she trying to filter away the slowest Martial Squires out of the competition? 

Many of the heavier power or defense-oriented Martial Squires looked upset at this possibility, the contest was supposed to judge who was the strongest, not who was the fastest.

The part about the objective of getting a pass or item to select the winner was not unheard of. It was not an uncommon way to have a more open-ended competition where contestants had much greater freedom and choice on how they wanted to complete the objective of the contest.

"I haven't finished," She sternly remarked. "I have no interest in wasting time overlooking this round, thus I have decided to resume my training even while the round is underway. The contest will begin once I have begun my training technique. Note that there is no strict need for there to be forty winners."

This was another thing that stumped them. Were the rounds supposed to filter away only eighty percent of the contestants?

"I have already corresponded with the organizer of the next round and have obtained an agreement for reducing the number of victors to any degree if need be," She informed them with a stern expression. "If none of you pass through, then that's that. The Martial Contest will end right here."

That evoked considerable surprise from the various contestants.

('I underestimated how much power these bishop Masters have,') Rui narrowed his eyes. ('It seems they have absolute authority to organize the rounds however they wish to please with no checks or balances. That makes sense, I guess, considering they are below only the Cardinal Sages and the Transcendent Prophet.')

"If you can survive and overcome the tribulations to obtain the passes, you will pass through, if not, you won't. Regardless, I shall engage in my training no matter what the outcome.')

That was even more of a strange thing to say. Why was she the organizer if she did not even intend to oversee the second round?

She did not feel the need to explain any further.

Instead, she simply took her feet off the ground, sitting midair as her cane settled on her lap.

('Is she really going to train in the middle of a contest round after organizing such a silly contest?') Rui frowned as he crouched, taking a sprinting position.

He almost activated Godspeed, which would guarantee that he would reach the table before anybody else.

But he abstained after thinking about it for a moment.

He did not want to make a choice that was difficult to undo. Something was off, and he did intend to at least gain a greater understanding before making any choice in regards to how he ought to go about overcoming this rather simplistic challenge. 

It turns out, that was a good choice.

"Fuuu…" She activated a breathing technique.

Immediately, everybody rushed in.

Only a handful of people stepped away.

Rui was among them, as was Squire Meera, and the grandma Squire and a few others.

('They've noticed as well…') Rui mused as he fixed his eyes on the Martial Master. ('…of the storm that is about to come.')

WHOOOOOOOSH!!!

Suddenly a gigantic tornado was born around the table the moment she began her mysterious meditation training with her breathing technique. The sheer intensity of the tornado blew away all of the Martial Squires who were caught off-guard by it, not having had their defenses propped up in time.

"Waaah!"

"What the hell is this?!"

"Rgh!"

Only the ones that had stepped away at the start were unscathed.

The training technique she was engaging in was so powerful, that its aftereffects generated an abysmally powerful storm. 

('This is merely the side-effect.') Rui could not help but sigh in amazement.

It was no different from the tiny gust of wind that a punch generated. Except in this case, the training was so powerful that even that tiny after-effect had been magnified to an absurdly intense tornado.

Many were still in shock, but Rui had long realized the truth.

('This is the challenge,') He narrowed his eyes as he guarded against the winds. ('It's not a coincidence that the tornado formed just outside of the table. It's clear that if we want a pass, we're going to have to wade through what is effectively a Senior-level technique.')

The power that he felt from the tornado that was generated from the remnants of her training technique was clearly in the Senior Realm, he had experienced that power many times by now to be able to identify it instantly.

It appeared that all of the contestants had come to terms with reality and had begun focusing on how to get their hands on a pass, and how to ensure they don't lose the pass after they get it, either to the storm, or to their fellow contestants who had no qualms with killing and prying the pass from their cold dead hands.

The contestants rushed forward, using different means to try and overcome the tornado. The longer they waited, the lower the chance they had. Just standing in the tornado took a lot of energy!