The Martial Unity

Eighteen months breezed by as Rui secluded himself in training. This was not outside of Rui's expectations when he had first set up the three projects that he was going to work on while under the Silent Shadow's guidance.

The largest consumer of his time was, of course, the Phantomind Project. There wasn't the slightest shred of doubt in his mind that this project was going to become one of his most powerful techniques to date.

It didn't take a genius to figure that out. Not only was it attuned to Rui's strengths. not only was it an entirely unique concept attuned to the knowledge of his past life, but it was a highly individualized technique that only he could use.

To say that he expected much from the technique was an understatement. The ordinary version of the technique that he had set out to create alone took nine months, while the beefed-up version took an additional nine months.

Countless hours of imagination and self-programming and even a certain amount of self-programming went into forging the technique in his mind. His Mind Palace had needed to be extended a bit, so he relied on absorbing the Shadow Isles into his mind as a part of the Mind Palace to accommodate the massive amounts of data that needed to be stored for the technique. The volume of the data exceeded even the VOID algorithm.

It took what felt like forever to create the technique, meditating for countless hours as his mind furiously chugged away.

After a long year and a half, he had finally arrived.

With three new techniques at hand.

Lycanthropic Mask, the disguise technique that he had mastered.

Sympathetic Death Lance, the close-range version of Death's Sympathy.

And the Phantomind Void technique.

"Fuuu..." Rui exhaled deeply as he stared at a fortress in the distance.

Its walls were scarred with wounds. Wounds from conflicts of the past. Yet it stood large and tall, ominously looming over a deserted landscape.

The Draekean Fortress, home to one of the most powerful warlords of the Derschek Regions, was said to be the most impregnable stronghold anywhere in the entirety of the Derschek Region.

It was said to be one of the few locations that not even the assassins that once scourged the Shadow Isles could penetrate. Now that even they were gone, it was said that there truly was nothing that could threaten it anywhere in the Derschek Region.

Rui simply stared at the domineering stronghold with soft eyes. The eighteen months of training in darker arts after his cleansing of the Shadow Isles and another half year of training in darker arts had had an impact on the impression he gave.

He still did not give off the dark aura of a cold-blooded assassin, yet he seemed to have grown sharper. A darker glint accompanied the superficial silver in his eyes.

One moment, he was standing motionlessly.

The very next, he had disappeared, rushing towards the stronghold head-on.

The area around the fortress used to be a forest and had been cleared out to deny a foe any chance of approaching the fortress with cover, without being spotted.

Yet Rui didn't seem to care.

He rushed in, heading straight towards the fortress at top speed.

Yet the extensive Martial Artists on guard and patrol didn't seem to care either.

No, that wasn't quite right.

They didn't seem to see him in the first place. Not only did they not see him, they didn't seem to hear him either.

That wasn't the extent of it either.

The various sensory Martial Artists of the Lower Realms seemed to not notice him despite him rushing toward them at extremely high speeds.

They seemed unable to even grasp his existence.

No, instead, they even seemed to avert their gaze from him to the opposite direction, frowning.

Almost as if they saw something else that drew their attention much more forcefully.

Rui saw what they saw.

He was the one showing them, after all.

In his eyes, the silent fortress stood in the distance.

In his mind, Master Uma was assaulting it from the other direction that he was approaching it from. A giant blade of wind loomed over the fortress threatening to wipe out not just the fortress, but the entire region and reshape the topography with a single attack.

Such was the power of a Martial Master.

It was a power that they subconsciously could not ignore, almost reflexively gazing in the direction that Rui misdirected it. In comparison to Master Uma, a normal weak human approaching the castle was hardly of notice.

WHOOSH!

He breezed past the guards whose gazes were still subconsciously misdirected away from Rui by the information that his motion, micro-maneuvers, micro-actions, and non-verbal communication conveyed to their subconsciousness.

'Look away.' He whispered to their subconsciousness. 'There's much more important stuff and bigger threats to pay attention to than little ol' me.'

And they obliged, only to find nothing. Yet by the time they looked back, Rui was already gone, and they were left none the wiser. He breezed through the walls of the fortress unseen and unnoticed by those who manned and patrolled them.

He swept through corridor after corridor until he finally reached the core of the fortress, an especially well-guarded section of the fortress with much more intense security.

Clearly, he was not to be there.

That's why he knew he was in the right place.

Yet despite ten times the security, he weaved through them effortlessly until he reached the object of their protection; Warlord Fekibaya's personal chambers. the old warlord lay in bed, slumbering peacefully.

Until Rui struck him with Sympathetic Death Lance, poking the man's head with a single finger. His flesh, skull, and cerebrospinal fluid sac vibrated powerfully, crushing just a portion of his brain, leaving much of it untouched.

It wasn't long before he swiftly made his way back, unnoticed.

That day, warlord Fekibaya died, and not a single person noticed. For Rui had crushed his cerebral cortex, annihilating his consciousness forever, while still allowing his heart to beat and his lungs to breath to prevent his personal guards from noticing.