The Martial Unity

Even as the young Martial Apprentice brazenly blabbed on, Rui's mind had tuned out. In his perception, the Martial Apprentices were talking in slow motion. He pondered how he ought to go about this.

('Should I just flex again?') Rui wondered. He very well could drop the mind mask and unleash the bloodlust of a Martial Squire.

('No.') He decided against it. ('These aren't the same circumstances as last time.')

He wasn't isolated like he was with the two Martial Apprentices and the finance minister two missions ago. He was in a densely populated area with a small army that was on edge because of an upcoming battle. Unleashing the bloodlust of a Martial Squire at this point in time would have negative consequences that he would rather avoid taking the responsibility for.

At the bare minimum, he would be hurting morale and terrifying the already anxious and nervous soldiers of the rebel group. The bloodlust of a Martial Squire would spread far and wide, unlike that of a Martial Squire, and would impact the entire army. It might even delay the operation as the old man would likely decide that the army was in an insufficient state for the war. That was something Rui definitely wanted to avoid.

He pondered even as the young man threw taunts at him in extremely slow motion.

('Should I just ignore him?') Rui wondered. He could just walk around and avoid the man, that option was always there.

('No...') He quickly glanced at the Martial Apprentices in the vicinity, the look in their eyes indicated this most likely wasn't something spontaneous. Knowing how cocky Martial Apprentices could get, it probably wouldn't work. Besides, running away from them also would be bad for morale, since he was someone that they had paid an enormous sum of money to hire for one specific purpose, that too. In the

('Hm, I guess I ought to handle this head-on?') He wondered before his eyes narrowed. ('Did the old man put them up to this?')

From his observations of the camp across the day, the camp was exceedingly well-run, like an oiled machine. There was a lot of order and discipline in the way things worked around here, clearly. The man knew how to run an army efficiently, as one would expect from his position.

The fact that the Martial Apprentices were seemingly running around free didn't exactly sit right with him in that case. He glanced at some of the Martial Apprentices and their clothes, noting that several of them weren't even supposed to be in this part of the base given what unit they seemed to be a part of.

('Was he lying when he expressed I was qualified to be here?') He wondered, he couldn't be sure. This could be some sort of test on his part.

That still left him with what he ought to do.

('I ought to ensure that this confrontation does not alter anything significant firstly.') Rui noted. That meant no seriously injuring the Martial Apprentices or killing them obviously. But it also meant that there could be no collateral damage whatsoever, he could not destroy their storage and inventory or other essentials that would slow down their preparations and extend the time he spent on this mission.

He also ought to prove his strength in a constructive manner, maybe he could help the Martial Apprentices out. He could take off his mind mask slowly amidst combat while avoiding an extreme emotion that would make his aura scarier than it needed to be. As long as he warmed them up to it in the right manner, there ought not to be any problem.

He finally turned his attention back to the Martial Apprentice in front of him.

"-like a normal person. Is that Martial Art uniform even yours?" He snorted, putting his hand on Rui's shoulder, feeling the fabric.

THUD

He fell to the ground with a resounding impact, having hit the ground before he realized what had even happened.

The man grimaced lightly, glaring at Rui.

"You talk too much," Rui murmured softly, yet everyone heard him clearly as the weight of his presence slowly escalated, bit by bit.

"What the fuck did you say?" Another joined in, as they walked in closer. "He was just talking to you. No reason to flip him!"

Rui snorted, ignoring his words. "Come."

They rushed at him, throwing a volley of attacks from all directions. Rui didn't bother employing any Squire-level force, as planned. He carefully grabbed their attacks, forcefully redirecting them to the ground or against each other, ensuring that the destructive power they possessed as Martial Apprentices didn't do any real harm to anybody or anything else.

"You!" The Martial Apprentice who had first picked a fight with him had lashed out at him. He threw a powerful right kick straight to Rui's jaw.

POW

His eyes flew wide open as Rui didn't so much as budge under the weight of his attack, despite it hitting his jaw! He couldn't believe that he wasn't able to move his head in the slightest. The resistance was so hard that he actually ended up falling backward.

A shiver went down his spine as Rui finally removed the entirety of his mind mask after having slowly removed it across the little clash. He, and everyone around him, had begun to realize how tremendously strong Rui actually was.

"I will be risking my life to protect you, all of you, from a Squire-level threat." He sternly announced. "I do not believe I am overstepping my bounds when I expect a certain degree of respect and courtesy."

When the onlookers remembered that this powerhouse would be fighting on their side soon enough, a surge of confidence sprung within them. A smile broke on their faces as they imagined the sheer devastation that the bastards that had seized their hometown would be experiencing when this menace would be unleashed upon their foes soon enough.

Rui nodded inwardly at their reaction, it had proceeded more or less as planned. He glanced back at the Martial Apprentice before him, extending an arm to help him up.