Hwayeon lunged again, desperate to end the embarrassment once and for all, but Merun suddenly got just a bit quicker. He dodged nearly every strike, and when a blow did land—CLANG—it was like she was hitting a mountain of iron. Her emerald eyes scanned his form for weak points, but her desperation only grew as she found fewer and fewer openings.
Before her eyes were glowing 'vital' weak points that slowly dimmed.
Suddenly, Merun's hand moved in a blur.
GRAB.
He caught her forearm in a crushing grip. Behind his mask, he couldn't help but smile. He realized that by intentionally weakening a specific spot with his Sanchin technique, he could bait her into striking exactly where he wanted.
He thought back to Ringo's lesson with Mikan: What happens when an Evasive Specialist gets caught?
Game over, Hwayeon, he thought.
He felt the sheer effectiveness of his current state; even the small jump in his power level from the Divine Arsenal had significantly dampened the damage she could deal. It wasn't just his physical body that had hardened, but his ki itself, increasing his already near-impenetrable defense. This was true technique synergy.
CLANG CLANG CLANG.
"RAAH!" Hwayeon screamed, pulling and hammering at his forearm with everything she had, realizing the severity of the grab. But his grip didn't budge. Even the vulnerable nerves of his inner elbows and wrists felt like reinforced steel due to his Sanchin.
Changing her strategy, she drove a knee toward his crotch, but Merun's tail warned him just in time as he shifted his weight with a grunt. "Watch where you're aiming!"
CLANG.
He countered with a powerful blow to her body.
BOOM.
The resulting wind current was so violent it evaporated the snow in a ten-foot radius.
Hwayeon choked as his gut punch knocked the wind out of her. This was the first time she'd been struck fully.
"Give up," Merun said.
Her eyes glazed for a second before she regained consciousness, her fingers immediately snapping toward Merun's eyes. He swatted the attempt away with ease and buried another punch into her ribs. If he hadn't been holding her arm, she would have been launched through the treeline.
BOOM.
As her eyes slowly opened again, unfocused and pained, Merun stared at her beautiful agony. A wave of guilt washed over him—he felt like a villain. Shit. Why do I feel like shit?
"You did good," he urged. "But your style has become useless. Give up."
Hwayeon's emerald eyes, now invigorated, hummed with a new light.
"...Useless?" she whispered weakly.
BADUMP.
She smiled, a beautiful, haunting expression as her pain seemed to fade into the background. "You're right... Pure Order is useless," she said, her smile so serene. "My Random Order was the solution, after all."
Her gaze softened, but her invigorated emerald eyes hummed with a new light. Suddenly, the arm he was holding began to vibrate with a frequency so high it made his teeth ache. A piercing wave of vibration shot through his grip, bringing a sudden, agonizing numbness.
It was her previous technique, but something was fundamentally different. Before, it was more like a dagger of vibration, and the rigidity of his Sanchin had reflected the damage back into her own hands.
Because Sanchin made his body incredibly rigid, it created a massive "acoustic impedance mismatch". Instead of the energy reflecting back to her, she was forcing the mechanical waves to carry their energy deep into its source—his muscles and bones.
"RRGH!" The vibration climbed his shoulder, the waves bouncing around inside his muscles randomly, creating a chaotic "constructive interference". The energy wasn't dissipating; it was stacking, peaks meeting peaks, and his arm felt like it was being torn apart from the inside.
If it were any martial artist, they would have already crumpled from the sheer pain the technique was constantly causing.
He gritted his teeth, refusing to let go, and punched her again.
BOOM.
Hwayeon choked on blood, her body jolting from the impact, but she didn't stop. Her arm continued to generate wave after wave of destructive vibration.
Like a tuning fork shattering glass, she was looking for the note that would shatter the mountain.
Merun gritted his teeth as the vibrations climbed his arm. Hwayeon's energy was now traveling in a chaotic, random pattern. Because the vibrations were random, they broke phase alignment and prevented the clean reflection his Sanchin usually provided. By scattering and misaligning the energy, it became partially trapped within his muscles, bypassing his "reflection" defense entirely.
Merun's tail screamed in warning. This was suddenly more than just a fight anymore; it was a rare opportunity for an Apex Squire to achieve a breakthrough born of a life-and-death crisis alongside the challenge to her Martial Path.
Each second she fought using her Random Order, she solidified in her mind how much better it was compared to the path of Order.
Merun's breath hitched. Beneath her tattered white robes, he could see her veins beginning to pulse with a soft, orange-colored glow. That's a technique? No... Is she ascending?
He could see it in her eyes, the desperation, the willingness to endure and to fight with her chosen path until the bitter end. He could feel her heart through her arm. It was pulsing and it was getting stronger.
Is she truly about to ascend?
Should I let her?
All of a sudden, his mind raced back to the fragments of the future he had seen—there were far scarier things waiting on the horizon. Panama, and the world itself, needed as many powerful martial artists as possible to survive the coming storms and crises.
Maybe it'd be better to let her ascend, after all... If I could get her on my side when the time comes, it could be beneficial! After all, he'd made more enemies than friends in his life here on Gaia.
While reminiscing, something suddenly snapped. It was like being slapped in the face as he realized something.
This sudden realization spurred a great change within.
Merun stopped holding back, his black eyes seemed devoid of the happy, arrogant nature he exuded before. With his other, free fist, he showered her with blows.
BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM
He gave it his absolute all, the impacts shaking the very air. Hwayeon did her best to dodge at point-blank range, but with Merun's vice-like grip on her forearm, her options were nonexistent. The painful vibrations she was generating began to flicker and weaken. She realized with a sinking horror that it wasn't just her "Path of Order" that was useless—her "Random Order" was failing too.
BADUMP.
She felt completely overwhelmed, trapped between a mountain of iron and a storm of fists. For a fleeting, desperate second, she considered the unthinkable: cutting off her own arm to escape. But that would end her martial career, her dreams of a sovereign, and her life as she knew it.
The punches never ended. Each blow was devastating, breaking something within her body with each strike.
Is this it? Is this the end?
BADUMP.
Her life flashed before her eyes. Her childhood. Picking up her first novels. Her strict lessons. Each tournament she had won. Her loving but strict father.
Was her path of Random Order truly useless?
Was her father correct all along?
.
.
.
BADUMP.
BADUMP.
BADUMP.
"NO!!!!"
In that moment of grave crisis, where her fundamental ambition was challenged, Hwayeon's Martial Heart spontaneously ignited. An internal explosion of power triggered an acute state of tachycardia, her heart rate spiking to unprecedented levels. An ocean of unadulterated energy surged from deep within her, nourishing every cell and revving her metabolism into a frenzy.
The transformation was visible through her tattered white dobok. Her blood nearly ignited with power, causing her veins to glow brilliantly through her skin. Radiant streaks began to branch out from her heart, glowing with an intense light that signaled her breakthrough.
She was now a true Martial Senior.
Time appeared to slow down as her awareness reached a cognitive ascent. Her cell walls thickened and her flesh toughened under the immense internal pressure. She was no longer just a Squire; the raw output of a Martial Senior began to vibrate through her frame, capable of generating impacts that could shake the very foundation of the earth.
She looked up at Merun, her emerald eyes no longer shimmering with fear, but burning with the light of a heart that refused to be caged.
With her newfound power, none could stand in her way now.
"Congratulations, but that should be enough," Merun whispered.
Suddenly, Merun's aura flared into a deep, visceral red, reflecting an intense rage boiling within his heart. Something had fueled his rage to that extent.
With a speed that defied logic, Merun delivered his most powerful strike toward Hwayeon's neck. The force of the strike was so immense it arced upward, momentarily cutting through the heavens before connecting with its target.
BOOOOM.
Hwayeon's newly awakened emerald eyes flickered; she grimaced for a mere split second before the world went dark. Her body went completely limp, the glowing jade veins fading as she fell unconscious.
Merun stood over her, his breath steady despite the chaos of the battle. He reached up and tapped his scouter to check his current readings:
[MERUN FURUTSU - 13,000 > 26,000 ENHANCED - MARTIAL SENIOR]
The Divine Arsenal had finally reached its current full potential, granting him a twofold increase in his base statistics. He felt the raw power of a Martial Senior thrumming through his limbs—a necessary evolution. He knew he had to finish this mission quickly and begin training the second technique of the Vajra Tyrant Style to prepare for what was coming.
While reminiscing about the past, he remembered why he fights. He fought to grow stronger, knowing of a bleak future. His anger wasn't directed at Hwayeon, but at his own previous carelessness.
How could he act so smug when he was but an ant to Masters let alone Sages? How could he forget what was on the line? This was not just a game. Plenty of lives had meaning to him now!
Complacency is one of the reasons why he could fail to protect them!
DON'T FORGET WHY WE FIGHT, MOTHERFUCKER! WE DON'T DO THIS SHIT FOR FUN MERUN FURUTSU! DON'T FORGET WHAT'S ON THE LINE!!!!
.
.
.
After calming down, and internalizing this rage to keep himself accountable, he checked on Hwayeon Yi.
[HWAYEON YI - 18,000 - LOW GRADE MARTIAL SENIOR - !BOUNTY!]
She surprisingly had a much higher power level than his base self now. Which wasn't all that surprising.
Martial Squires who reach the very peak of their Realm (grade ten or "quasi-Seniors") before breaking through will start well above the baseline entry-level for Seniors. It was the same with Rui and Ieyasu.
Gently, he lowered her onto the fresh snow, laying her down properly so she wouldn't freeze. He had applied some healing Ki to her as the state he'd left her in was absolutely pitiful. She was sleeping well now though.
The silence of the forest returned, punctuated only by the distant sound of falling ice. Merun removed his mask and walked to a nearby fallen log and sat down, letting out a long, heavy sigh as he watched the unconscious girl who had just broken through her limits.
...damn. She's really my type.
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A/N.
Hope you've been enjoying everything so far.
I'll go on a week-long hiatus as work has been killing me.
Thanks for reading!