The Martial Unity

Rui waited in position, standing some distance away from the path. Flashes of carriage traveling at truly remarkable speeds went in either direction on the road. The sun mercilessly baked anything unfortunate enough to be within its direct exposure.

Of course, Rui was unbothered by this. Not only was he a Martial Senior, but he had also prepared himself physically and mentally for this for quite some time. Physically, he had ensured that he had gotten plenty of sleep before he undertook this mission. He didn't want to perform sub-optimally since his combat and assassination prowess greatly depended on his mind.

He had been meticulous with his nutrition, making sure he was fed and just lightly full enough where he wouldn't feel uncomfortable with great physical exertion. He had also mentally prepared himself for this day for quite some time, subjecting himself to a lot of meditation and mental conditioning.

Today, he was different from other days.

He seemed to ooze peril, much unlike his normal day-to-day impression. His eyes were sharp, devoid of the warmth that they normally possessed.

His senses were active, directed towards the carriages that arrived from the direction of the Shionel Confederation.

His eyes widened as they pricked, detecting the approach of the travel convoy from Deacon Industries. He quickly used Riemannian Echo to pierce through the anti-sensory measures of the central convoy.

His expression crumpled with cold fury. 'He's here.'

Rui had no interest in attacking his convoy if the man himself wasn't here. It would be a disaster if he attacked the convoy to kill Deacon only to find the man's butler or subordinate.

But he was here. He had aged a lot in the past seven years, but Rui couldn't possibly fail to recognize him.

The time had come. Although the carriage moved at extremely high speeds from the perspective of normal humans to Rui, it may as well have been nigh-stationary, especially when he activated his Martial Heart.

'First step; cripple the carriage,' Rui fired off a Squire-level Mighty Roar Flash Blast, having activated the Pathfinder technique, that was just weak enough such that it would pass below the senses of the Martial Seniors within the carriage. This ability was the reason he had been able to assassinate the Martial Seniors of the Shadow Isles. BAM!

CRACK!

One of the wheels of the carriage broke off after the attack hit a crucial component of the axel. In the past three months, he had studied the model of the carriage that Chairman Deacon traveled by, thoroughly familiarizing himself with its engineering, so that he could identify the cleanest way to cripple the carriage as quick as possible.

'Next step; draw out the Martial Seniors,' Rui inhaled deeply as he activated Hypertrophic Surge.

THWOOM!!

A powerful tier-five Transverse Resonance attack surged as five attacks merged into one, flying straight towards the carriage.

Yet, it never reached.

Four figures flashed out as the doors burst open violently, before swiftly shutting.

BOOM!!!

They combined their power as they ensured that not only had the attack been defended, but its power had been dispelled. The one advantage that they had in addition to their numbers was their teamwork. Each team of bodyguards was highly trained in their coordination when it came to attacks that came out of nowhere, allowing them to smoothly dispel the threat.

They were prepared for precisely such circumstances.

What they weren't prepared for, however, was one of the four of them collapsing on the spot, dying then and there. It was as though someone had cut off the strings of a puppet, causing her to collapse lifelessly.

THUD

Their eyes widened with shock.

They couldn't even sense the enemy, had one of their Martial Seniors spontaneously experienced a lethal heart attack?!

They weren't prepared for this. That was why it happened again.

TAP!

Rui knocked on the skull of the closest Martial Seniors, causing his eyes to roll back as he too collapsed lifelessly. He surged forward at blinding speeds, hoping to get another if he could, but alas…

It was not to be.

BAM!

A wide-area shockwave flung him away, dispelling Greater Phantomind Void as two more Martial Seniors appeared from within the carriage with severe expressions. Many an assassination had been attempted, yet this was the first time that two of the Senior-level bodyguards had collapsed so quickly.

The two Martial Seniors in secretary disguise had decided that it was not prudent to allow only two Martial Senior bodyguards to fight such a fiendish assassin. They hoped that the sight of two more Martial Seniors who weren't supposed to be there would cause the assassin to withdraw from the assassination attempt.

Unfortunately, it was not to be.

Not only did he not withdraw, he looked as though he had been waiting for them.

The two long-range wide-scale defensive Martial Artists immediately prepared their wide-scale techniques with grim and severe expressions. If their opponent possessed such lethal stealth that he could kill two of their comrades right beside them without them even sensing it, then he could not be allowed to approach.

Each of them knew with grave certainty that such an absurd level of stealth was extremely scary to deal with. They could die at any moment, and they would never know. It had already happened twice.

Yet, the assassin never employed his stealth a second time.

In fact, not only did he not employ his stealth, he charged straightforwardly at them!

All four Martial Senior bodyguards widened their eyes with shock as they realized that the assassin was meant to fight them head-on. 'Four-on-one in an assassination attempt? Is he insane?'

"Focus!!" The captain of the team bellowed. "We don't know what he has up his sleeve!"

Yet Rui simply surged forward at a blinding speed that surpassed even their alerted senses.

WHOOSH!

TAP!

In less than the blink of an eye, he had already arrived, and in the next blink, his knuckles had already surged forward, striking the temple of one of the bodyguards.

THUD!

Not even a minute had passed, yet three Martial Seniors had already died.