The Martial Unity

For the first time in many years, there were no Martial Seniors on the Shadow Isles. They had all been assassinated one after the other, while the rest had chosen to leave the Shadow Isles forever.

Rui heaved a sigh as he glanced around them. The sheer damage that they had spread throughout the battle had been immense, it would take the Shadow Isles a long time to recover from this if it ever did.

Now that he had finally accomplished his goal, he only felt relief.

'Well, I still have some stuff to do.' Rui mused as he activated his Mind Mask. He created the most powerful mask he could, exuding an abysmal amount of power within the Senior Realm as he radiated as much bloodlust as he could.

"AAAAAH!"

"Monster! It's a monster!"

Hoards of people immediately began leaving the island one after the other. Martial Apprentices dove into the ocean, Martial Squires sky-walked away as they mass-abandoned the Shadow Isles. None of them wanted to stick around a place that was so chaotic and dangerous.

It wasn't too long before the Shadow Isles were devoid of Martial Artists entirely.

Rui stood in place, glancing around. 'Now what?'

He wasn't sure what to do now that he had fulfilled his goals to try and pass the Silent Shadow's implicit test. 

Perhaps he should just wait around to see if she stops by.

"Meh. I don't have time to waste." Rui shook his head as rose to the sky, reactivating his Martial Heart. A Senior-level aura spread across the island as the glowing redlines streaked across his body from his heart. A surge of power empowered every cell in his body. 

"If she isn't here, then I don't want to waste my time." Rui mused. "I'll just confirm it and then leave."

He inhaled strongly, causing a brief vacuum of air that deprived the Shadow Isles momentarily, before using his most powerful long-range attack; Transverse Resonance. 

This time, he even went as far as to try to reach the sixth tier, which meant releasing an attack that was six times as powerful as his normal Sonic Bullets. It was particularly difficult and even time-consuming, not something that he could use in the middle of combat.

His mind not only had to calculate the trajectory to the island with the pathfinder technique but also accurately stack six sound pulses on top of one another in perfect harmony to achieve constructive superposition and resonance.

'If you're not here, then don't mind if I sink this entire island,' Rui murmured as he gazed down at the central island of the Shadow Isles.

THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM!

Six powerful Senior-level attacks flashed downward, quickly overlapping into the most powerful attack that Rui had ever conjured up, heading straight toward the center of the island. 

As long as he did enough damage to the core of the island, he was sure to destroy it as a result. Truly eliminating everything that stood in the way of not being accepted as a disciple. Worthy of an assassin. 

WHOOSH!

Rui's eyes widened as his attack suddenly disappeared before it hit the island, not leaving so much as a scratch on its target.

"Alright, you've made your point. Sheesh." The voice of an elderly woman from behind him remarked. 

Chills went up his spine as his senses intensified and scanned his surroundings.

He was shocked by what he sensed.

No, he was shocked by what he couldn't sense.

He couldn't sense anything. He turned his head slowly, glancing behind him. 

"They say you should never meet your idols." Skia Crina remarked. "Perhaps you should have adhered to that wisdom."

He stared at her. 

He could see her, yet none of his senses could pick up on her. Not even Reimannian Echo could detect her existence, yet he was still somehow able to see her.

It was as though she didn't exist.

And yet, she clearly did, he could clearly see that.

'No...She's allowing me to see that.' Rui narrowed his eyes.

"Then again..." She murmured as she sized Rui up. "I'm no idol of yours. For you are no assassin."

"I knew it," Rui murmured. "Area Crina... Reina Cara."

"I enjoy teasing people, you see." She smirked mischievously. "It's not even that hard to figure out. And yet... not once has a single person confronted me despite many having noticed. They all allowed themselves to get lost in everything Area Crina offered them, never once realizing that they would never reach me that way."

"You're revealing yourself to everybody if you're going to dispel a Senior-level attack and then sky-walk out of nowhere, you know?" Rui muttered, not knowing how to respond.

It felt surreal.

"Ah, don't worry about that." She glanced down. "I knocked everybody in the Shadow Isles unconscious before your attack reached the island."

Rui's eyes widened with shock as he glanced down at the Shadow Isles, expanding his senses across the island. Every single remaining person was conscious. These were non-Martial Artists who hadn't managed to get off the island as easily as the Martial Artists did.

They had all been knocked unconscious without exception.

'She knocked all of them out before my attack landed before dispelling my attack?' 

That was absurd. Rui stared at her in disbelief. 

"Besides... that's just a precaution, only you can see me ." She remarked. "Only you are allowed to."

Rui simply stared at her.

She not only did not possess any aura, she didn't even possess any material presence. She may as well have been a ghost. A ghost that only he could see. She could kill him any time and he would never see it coming.

It was a terror that was different from what he experienced with Master Uma.

"Let's change places shall we?" She patted Rui's arm.

Suddenly, they had returned back to the land, inside a building. He wasn't even surprised, even Master Deivon did such things, it appeared that Martial Masters was a different breed entirely.

She sat down at a table baring her alias, before gesturing at a seat on the other side. "Have a seat."