The Martial Unity

CLICK

The two of them instantly put on a gas mask the moment they entered the core of the dungeon. Both Rui and the Divine Doctor had independently arrived at the conclusion that gaseous mental drugs were probably one of the ways that the dungeon maintained the trance of its creatures.

They had also deduced that it most likely was a biological apparatus at the core of the dungeons since none of the three of them had ever experienced any forceful trancing attempts. This was enough evidence that core was most likely connected to how the dungeon maintained the trance of its people.

Amidst the dark region, at the core of the dungeon, was a light at its very center that drew their attention.

"That must be it!" Kane exclaimed as he cautiously grabbed the Divine Doctor and ran towards it.

He ran.

And ran.

And ran.

He even got closer.

Yet, he never reached.

The closer he got, the slower he moved.

It was almost paradoxical, yet it was real.

For some inexplicable reason, he made less and less progress the closer he got to the dungeon.

"What is this?!" He groaned with effort as he tried making more progress to the very epicenter of the dungeon core. "Why can't I reach?!"

"Length contraction." The Divine Doctor's eyes lit up with interest.

Length contraction, also known as Lorentz' Contraction, was a phenomenon in Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity that was visibly measurable when one moved at speeds close to the speed of light. The object moving at such speeds experienced a visible shortening in length across its entire body in the direction that it was moving.

Yet it appeared that, whatever the source of the manifold was, it was able to actively cause length contraction.

RUMBLE!!!

The battle between Rui and the chimera raged on.

"What does that mean?!" Kane grew desperate with each passing moment.

Each second was priceless in this circumstance.

"A truly fascinating phenomenon, even if entirely out of my specialty and interest. It means that the closer you get, the shorter your steps become. The shorter your steps become, the slower your speed. The slower your speed, the more time it takes. Thus, vastly increasing the effective distance between us and..."

The Divine Doctor froze as he laid his eyes on the source of the manifold.

While they were unable to reach the light at the center of the manifold, they grew close enough to see what it was.

It was a plant.

A sapling.

It was pure white, shining brightly amidst a region of darkness.

It was certainly visually unusual, yet, considering the exotic lifeforms that Kane had seen in the Beast Domain, it didn't shock him.

It did shock the Divine Doctor.

His frozen smile crumbled, disappearing.

The clinical interest in his eyes turned to pure, unadulterated shock.

Kane had never seen him this animated ever before in his entire life.

"What?" His stare at the Divine Doctor beside him intensified. "What is it?!"

The Divine Doctor stared at the bright white sapling with eyes of endless intensity.

A single whisper escaped him.

"That lifeform...is not a part of Gaia's Tree of Life."

The Divine Doctor was intimately familiar with Gaia's Tree of Life. Short of truly obscure and deeply hidden species like the Elder Tree, he had seen it all.

That was why he knew.

That was why he knew with but a single glance.

"That lifeform…is not of this world."

The sheer magnitude of this revelation was beyond almost anything he had ever experienced in his life. Short of the grandest epiphany of his life regarding the life of Gaia, nothing had shaken him as much as beholding a lifeform from another world!

Yet, Kane didn't share his fascination on this matter.

"I DON'T CARE WHETHER IT IS OR ISN'T A PART OF THE TREE OF LIFE!" Kane bellowed with frustration. "WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TI—"

—RUMBLE!!!

The battle between Rui and the chimera escalated in intensity as the first phase of the battle ended.

A single minute had passed, yet all hell and beyond had broken loose. The destructive devastation of the battle escalated as the chimera employed the full expanse of its horrifying power against Rui.

"Hahaha…" A shaky laugh escaped the Divine Doctor even as Kane surged forward with more desperation than he had ever experienced in his entire life, deactivating Void Step and activating Godspeed.

He knew he didn't have time!

He needed to go faster!

Faster than he had ever moved in his entire life!

WHOOOSH!

He surged at extraordinary speeds as he pushed his body to its very limit. The very air ignited under the sheer friction that Kane generated at top speed, burning the Divine Doctor's flesh in advertently.

Yet, the man didn't seem to care.

"HAHAHAHAHAAA!!!" An inhuman cackle escaped the Divine Doctor as a manically wide grin emerged on his face.

A glint of madness flickered within the depths of his eyes.

"THIS COULD BE THE KEY!" He screamed. "THE KEY TO MY LIFE'S GREATEST MISSION! SURGE FORTH! I CANNOT DIE HERE! NOT AFTER SEEING THIS!"

Kane didn't need him to tell him that.

His mind felt dizzy as he reached unprecedented speeds ever before; despite each step growing short under the Lorentz Contraction of the source of the manifold, his speed rose faster, allowing him to make quicker and quicker progress.

His muscles burned.

His flesh tore.

His joints creaked.

Yet, despite the agony of pushing himself at the cost of himself, he gritted his teeth and pushed harder.

And it paid off.

STEP

The two of them arrived before the very epicenter of the manifold.

Yet, he paid the price for pushing beyond his limits.

A single whisper escaped him before he lost consciousness.

"…Your turn."

THUD

Kane fell.

A maelstrom of emotions lit up in Doctor's eyes as he immediately began. "Your efforts will not be in vai—"

RUMBLE!!!

And in that moment, the world disappeared.

It disappeared, consumed by an endless void.