The Martial Unity

Rui exited the lecture hall as the staff member waiting outside immediately guided him back to the professor's office. He was deep in thought. He found it a shame that people who had the power to kill Chairman Deacon and even made the offer to take him out only were willing to do so at the price of Rui's servitude.

It was just too much. 

Besides, he would rather kill Chairman Deacon himself. It was something he needed to do himself. 

He immediately returned to the professor's office, closing the door behind him. 

"Shame to know you won't be joining us." The man remarked. "We could do a lot with someone like you amongst our ranks."

Rui shrugged. "You'll have to make do without me. besides, I'm sure there are other brilliant Martial Seniors out there. High-grade and peak Martial Seniors. Surely they can replicate what I did through their own innate capabilities."

"Do you have any idea how few Martial Seniors there are that managed to reach the highest echelons of the Senior Realm?" The professor snorted. "Besides, being the youngest Martial Senior in existence and already being this potent and effective means that you will be a monster when you have time to mature and grow. Are you sure you don't want to join our sect? You'd get quite the privileged position within our ranks you know."

Rui shook his head. "It was not even a remote possibility."

"Shame." The man remarked. 

"Let's get back to the matter at hand," Rui said. "I may not be joining the sect, but I will help you clean up the Derschek Region."

Rui went over the list of Martial Senior targets one by one before making his next choice.

"Her." Rui pointed to his choice.

[Sele Friun]

Another person who was relatively young for a Martial Senior. He needed to start out slow and steady to make sure that he didn't overstep.

Because the Senior Realm had fifteen grades, it meant that the difference between himself and the high-grade and peak Martial Seniors could be substantial. Although there were no truly notable Martial Seniors in that range in the Shadow Isles, he still did not want to underestimate them given that even reaching the mid-grade of the Senior Realm would still be impressive considering the size of the Senior Realm.

It was possible that Martial Seniors of higher grades would not be such easy targets to kill, he did not want to find out the hard way if that was true.

"Senior Sele it is." The professor nodded. "I'll have a more in-depth report on her prepared for you."

"That will be much appreciated." Rui nodded. 

It wasn't long before Rui got deeper access to the data that the Beggar's Sect had prepared on her. 

"Interesting..." Rui murmured. "A grappling-oriented assassin is something I didn't expect, I have to confess."

"There are all kinds of assassination philosophies." The man remarked. "I've seen even more bizarre ones, trust me."

"Her lack of range makes her a good target." Rui mused. "The consequences of failure will be minimized. I should get started."

"Be careful, she's a founding member of Area Crina, they will not take her death lightly."

Rui's eyes narrowed at the mention of that name. "I don't trust Area Crina. That name... You know what it's an anagram for, right?"

"Of course, we do," The professor snorted. "Do you have any idea how much manpower and a variety of other resources have gone into investigating it? We spent seven years conducting the most thorough investigation on Area Crina, the Crina Foundation, and its founder Skia Crina. After a particularly lengthy investigation, we have concluded that it is a coincidence."

Rui furrowed his eyebrows with skepticism. 

"We found nothing particularly suspicious about them. Lady Crina was born well before the Silent Shadow retired and gained her wealth before that happened. We even know why Lady Crina seeks the Silent Shadow. It truly is an unfortunate coincidence that happens to be overlooked by most people."

The Beggar's Sect's operations were extremely solid, so the fact that they didn't find anything off was a pretty solid vote of coincidence.

However, it wasn't absolute.

He wasn't able to bring himself to trust the Silent Shadow. 

He shook his head. Regardless, he was confident in his plan to use assassination to find her. It made a lot of logical sense and was a plan that he cooked up after looking at all the available information and facts at hand.

Regardless of whether the anagram was a coincidence or not, he had only one task.

Kill.

He was to kill all of them.

At least, all of the Martial Seniors. He didn't want to piss off the Panamic Martial Federation, thankfully, he didn't need to kill them to find the Silent Shadow or destroy the assassination industry in the Derschek Region.

Both of these things were things that could be done without such extreme measures.

He immediately got to work, tailing Senior Sele around in the Shadow Isles. Because of his enormous sensory range even in his passive state, he was able to tail her without drawing her attention, though he did need to take strange detours to make it look like he wasn't following her in case she did sense him.

Thankfully, she never once detected him. The dense crowds certainly helped, however, part of it undoubtedly came from the fact that she was a Martial Senior. Seeing that made Rui want to remain more alert, the worst thing that could happen was that he would grow secure in his power and end up dying as a result. 

In actuality, he felt more vulnerable, although he would be able to activate his Martial Heart before any force in the Senior Realm would be able to kill him thanks to a passively empowered instinctive reflex and senses, it was still unnerving when he wasn't using his Martial Heart.

The Squire Realm was the perfect upgrade, and while the Senior Realm was proportionally superior, it had more shortcomings than the transition to the Squire Realm did.