The Martial Unity

Rui couldn't help but be surprised while the others were alarmed.

He did not know that there were creatures out there that embodied his Martial Path as a genetic trait. That sounded incredibly difficult to achieve. Evolution worked by the principle of survival of the fittest. The fittest survived, and the fittest reproduced. It naturally meant that any species that evolved maintained a coherent and constant physiology as a result. He didn't understand how a creature that evolved to evolve could possibly exist.

Then again, he knew that his framework of evolution was based on Earth, which was a much more grounded and less fantastical planet. The presence of esoteric substances complicated any and everything. Every ounce of scientific theory was no longer applicable one-to-one to the world of Gaia due to its presence. The more Rui learned about what could be done with esoteric substances, the truer this simple fact became.

If it was possible for life to evolve to evolve, then it was only possible because of the supernatural capabilities of esoteric substances. Only they could explain why such an insane thing could come to be.

As excited and amazed as Rui was about the existence of such a species, and the relevance of their existence to him and his Martial Path, now was not the time to lose himself in a reverie in this line of thought.

He quickly pulled himself together as he returned his focus back to the contest at hand. He most certainly needed to overcome this challenge if he wanted his goals for coming to be achieved.

All of the Martial Squires were fully on guard as they realized that the third challenge revolved around this extremely dangerous creature. They needed some time to process how they were going to handle such an aberrant threat.

It appeared that Master Greminga was more than willing to give them that time as he disclosed more information about the threat that they were going to face. 

"The Abyssfeeder is almost entirely comprised of an extremely precious and rare esoteric substance known as primordial seed. An extraordinary esoteric substance that can become anything when subjected to the right stimuli. It is an exceedingly difficult esoteric substance to manage and engineer and is a popular area of research and development. That is believed to be what allows the Abyssfeeder species to evolve so well."

Rui's eyes widened as he instantly developed an extreme curiosity about the substance in question. It sounded like primordial seed was an extraordinarily high-grade esoteric that was extremely valuable. It also fell in line with his prior expectations of an esoteric substance being responsible for the remarkable capabilities of the Abyssfeeder species.

He even felt the vague itch to get his hands on some.

"Now then, I have given you the context behind the challenge, as well as some time to consider it," The man generously explained. "It is time to actually talk about the objective, rules, and conditions for victory. As I'm sure you've realized, you will all be facing a specimen each.  Each of them has been largely starved in the past few days when they were accustomed to consuming sustenance regularly in a Lost City danger zone where they were found. Thus they will seek out sustenance to consume, one way or another. Their raw physiological prowess is well within the Squire Realm, however, as I said, their ability to overcome hurdles and tribulations far exceeds their conventional limits. Your objective is to defeat them. The first eight to win will move on to the final tournament."

The containment units fully released the growing Abyssfeeders, before disappearing. Immediately, their webs began spreading even more into the ground and the air.

The man smiled when he saw all of them stiffen. "Good luck."

He, too, quickly disappeared, leaving but a small gust of wind behind.

The contest had already begun.

The forty Abyssfeeders continued to grow larger and larger, growing in a sickly and alien manner.

For a moment, none of the contestants knew what to do. Instinctually, none of them wanted to get close to the strange lifeforms. Given what they knew about it, it seemed rather unwise to barge in head-on.

Rui, however, begged to differ. He had a little more insight into the shortcomings of adaptive evolution. 

It was the strongest after it evolved, but not before.

If there was any time that one ought to focus on when aiming to take them out, it was before they evolved.

He quickly activated Hypertrophic Surge, growing in size and density, uncaring for the eyes he drew. Defeating an abyssfeeder early was easily worth the price of exposing another ability of his.

He activated Transverse Resonance tier five, launching his most powerful attack.

Nearly every Martial Squire widened their eyes in shock as the ground shook in response to the technique. He launched five incredibly potent attacks, each faster than the previous one. By the time the first one crossed half way through, it had already overlapped with its four faster successors, engaging in constructive superposition, merging into one singular titanically potent projectile that warped light itself.

BOOM!!!

The colosseum rumbled, reeling in shock.

The contestants gritted their teeth as they turned towards Rui with a wary expression. His performance was so abrupt, and so abruptly shocking, that they regarded him as a greater threat than any of the Abyssfeeders!

They were not strictly wrong.

Yet Rui's attention was fixed on the Abyssfeeder that he had struck.

In fact, the same could be said for the other specimens that all froze in their spots, almost as if wondering if their brother was still alive.

RUMBLE

The ground suddenly shook as the dust cleared. 

Rui narrowed his eyes. 

He didn't even need to see it to know that he had failed.

He watched as a flat thin sheet of blackness emerged from the ground, slithering through the rubble. 

It was unharmed.

Rui focused all of his senses on it as he realized what had happened. 

A grin broke out on his face. "It would be a joke if that was enough…"

Both of them lashed forward at the same time. The Abyssfeeder faced off against the Voider.