By the time the next day arrived, the Floating Sect's alarms had already begun ringing across the entirety of the sect as the news of yet another assault from the Kaddar Treaty Organization was discovered.
Many people realized that this was not viable in the long run. They could not afford to keep evacuating the civilians day in and day out. It was too disruptive to the regular functioning of the Floating Sect.
Something needed to change, otherwise the sect was doomed in the long run.
Thankfully, this time the evacuation measures were executed smoother than last time, and the Floating Sect members were tucked safe and sound by the time the Martial Seniors of the Kaddar nation were deployed.
The civilians were far more calm and collected than they could have been. However, the fact that the Floating Sect had been in a state of war for nearly a year meant that they had gotten used to the sense of war that had overtaken the sect.
They did not know the sheer impact that the battle would have at the moment
Those in the know of the dire circumstances of the Floating Sect were tense.
The Martial Seniors of the Kaddar Region were coming, they were soon going to find out how right or wrong they were.
Rui and Kane were already in hiding, close enough for Rui to observe everything and move in when he felt it was appropriate.
Of course, that wouldn't be any time soon.
Suddenly, he felt profoundly deep pressure.
"They're coming," He narrowed his eyes, as his body tensed.
Suddenly, many figures rose into his sensory field.
Specifically, eleven of them.
('Shit,') Rui cursed. ('This is going to be rough.')
Rui had predicted that the Kaddar Region could potentially have two more Martial Seniors that they could squeeze out and deploy, and unfortunately, it seemed that his estimation was on point.
It meant that two of the three Senior guardians of the Floating Sect were going to have to face a whopping four Martial Seniors at once.
He had also predicted which ones would. The addition of an extra Martial Senior would be most effective against the weakest two Martial Seniors of the sect.
"Damn…" Rui murmured.
None were more pressured than the three themselves as they stood before the three guardians of the Floating Sect.
"I told you, didn't I?" Duchess Lioma said as she glared daggers at Senior Sarak. "That your head would be mine."
Senior Sarak did not even bother quipping back. Their circumstances were too dire.
He could only hope that they would survive the Martial Heart phase of the battle, and he could only hope that Ieyasu and Rui could make enough of an impact to salvage their situation.
For some odd reason, Rui's bold declaration of ending the war popped up into his mind.
The atmosphere fluctuated. As if the mere presence of so many Martial Artists at the peak of the lower Realms could affect the world around them.
It could.
If one listened closely, one could almost hear tremors across the island.
As if it was shivering.
Shivering in fear of the carnage that was about to ensue.
BADUMP
Fourteen Martial Hearts blazed into power as glowing lines ebbed across their bodies.
BOOM
Instantly, they split into three groups as the three Senior guardians immediately leaped back and away, guiding the chasing Kaddar Martial Artists.
Splitting up was not only a desire of the Kaddar Martial Artists so they didn't interfere with each other's exploitation of the atmosphere, but it was also in the interests of the Kaddar Martial Seniors to split up. All for the simple fact that there were eleven of them versus three, it was far likelier that the Kaddar Martial Seniors would suffer friendly fire as opposed to their opponents.
As both sides readily and willingly split into three groups, Rui's attention immediately turned towards Senior Xanarn as he had planned to do so from the very get-go. The first thing he needed to do was assess the new variable that had been introduced to the equation of the fight.
Rui studied the new Martial Senior.
Her body was wrapped up in a lot of individual fabrics of cloth, and only her face and hands were visible.
This already gave Rui a bad feeling.
('Neutral Martial Body, yet low physical parameters compared to her peers,') Rui grew more tense. ('Don't tell me…')
FSSSS! Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g
She exhaled a green gas at Senior Xanarn!
('Damn!') Rui cursed. ('A poison-oriented Martial Artist!')
Rui couldn't help but feel deep dread crawling into him.
Poison Martial Artists broke a lot of paradigms that normal and more orthodox Martial Art did not. Conventional active and passive durability were usually useless against the offense of these Martial Artists.
It meant that Senior Xanarn couldn't pull off the passive defense leading to a stalemate that she did last time.
Yet even as Rui was tense, he could not help but feel curious as well.
How did the Martial Heart benefit poison Martial Art?
After all, poison Martial Artists were not centered around speed, power, or durability. They relied on the toxicity of the substances that they introduced into their bodies to inflict damage on the bodies of others.
Yet a Martial Heart could not empower poison because the poison was not organic tissue that was part of the body. It was non-living substances that did not have blood passing through them, obviously.
So how did the Martial Heart empower their Martial Art?
('The very nature of a poison-oriented Martial Body is very different from ordinary Martial Bodies.')
Rui was certain that poison-oriented Martial Bodies dedicated their evolution not to speed, power, or durability.
No.
They dedicated the evolutionary resources to the ability to produce, sustain, and inflict poison. That was what their Martial Bodies focused on, in the same way that a speedster's Martial Body was focused on speed.
It also meant that the latent untapped potential hiding within their Martial Body was also centered not around power, speed, or durability.
It was centered around poison.
"Argh!" Senior Xanarn coughed blood as she began bleeding from her eyes inexplicably.