Published at 13th of November 2026 12:06 pm

Chapter 4676: Worthy

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Had it been most other Martial Sages, they would have died on the spot. To have a piece of one’s sternum turn into pure light was an incredibly lethal attack even for Martial Sages, for it bypassed defenses and inflicted great damage from within the body of the target. If Ria didn’t know better, she would have assumed that he genuinely wanted her dead.

Alas, the attack failed to kill her.

This was a Martial Artist who had tamed a spark of materia prima as a Martial Master; once she became a Martial Sage, her mastery of materia prima had reached a whole other level. An attack that would have killed almost every other regular Martial Sage merely caused internal hemorrhaging, causing her to cough blood. The explosion that was caused by his Unilumina was muted compared to what one would have expected for the amount of matter being converted into materia prima.

And yet, even this was within Runark’s expectations. He had thrown that attack knowing that it would not be enough to take down Ria. Even when caught off-guard, Ria’s mastery over power was second to very few people in the world, a trait she had inherited from her mother, who emphasized mastery and efficiency. And it was precisely because he knew that the attack would not kill her that he charged forth with a follow-up.

The knock-out blow. Even if the attack didn’t kill her, it would surely leave her vulnerable, and he could use that to seal the deal.

Or so he thought. Instead, emerging from the remains of the fading explosion was Ria’s tautly balled fist. It shot forth at him at a blinding speed, aimed at his jaw. Ordinarily, he would have been able to easily evade it, but this time, he had been caught off-guard. And more importantly, this time he was already moving straight at the attack at top speed.

It was too late to avoid.

BOOM!!!

A thundering impact ensued, followed by the sounds of cracking ribs. She struck him so hard that his rib cage was disfigured, launching him across the battlefield.

"Rgh!" Runark grimaced as he blasted into the arena barriers before falling flat, consumed in pain that was intense enough to completely incapacitate him. Martial Artists of the modern era didn’t undergo the tempering pain from the body evolution process, after all. Their pain tolerance was significantly inferior to their predecessors, the one and only area where Martial Artists had regressed rather than progressed.

"Damn...!" he squeezed out. "She really did a number on me..."

Of the many areas in which he had grown much more powerful, durability was not one of them.

"You’re one to talk after exploding a piece of a bone inside my body."

STEP

She emerged from the smoke, blood trickling down the sides of her mouth and her nostrils. The Martial attire, despite its tremendous durability, was torn over the part that covered her sternum, singed at the edges. The deep wound in her flesh had already stopped bleeding, courtesy of the Martial Soul.

Her breathing was hazy, her eyes filled with pain. She stared at the fallen Runark with a stunned expression. She recognized the attack that had inflicted the wound on her. Her great-grandmother Bodhisattva Maitreyi had shown her the attack once before upon Ria’s insistence; she remembered the sensation. The liberation of light within the prison of matter that the technique allowed for.

Runark had managed to replicate a tiny portion of that grand power. The power of a Transcendent Candidate. As a newborn Martial Sage himself who had barely spent a year in Sagehood.

To say that was an absurd feat was an understatement. She now understood why her father had nudged Runark down this path. If this was what he could accomplish in just one year as a Martial Sage, then it beggared one’s imagination to see what he would achieve in the coming years and decades. His future was bright. It always had been bright, but it was brighter now than it ever had been.

And yet, it was only when she saw him get on his feet despite the damage he had suffered, his eyes blazing with determination, that she made up her mind.

With this much power and perseverance, he was very much worthy of standing by her side. She no longer feared that he would ever be left behind, no matter how fast she grew. He would always find a way to keep up with her. Perhaps even surpass her, if she ever let her guard down.

Then and there, she made her decision.

"You’ve truly grown strong." She smiled at him. "I look forward to this journey with you."

His eyes widened at those words. "You mean—"

"Yes."

Her voice was clear, as were her eyes. Any indecision she might have had before simply melted away as she walked towards him, stopping inches away from him.

"...I didn’t think I would hear those words from you today," Runark murmured in a tone of disbelief. He half-wondered if this was a dream. Wouldn’t be the first time he had a dream where he got together with Ria, only to wake up to reality where she was still only a childhood friend. It had happened so many times that he had lost count at this point.

This time, however, it was real.

She leaned forward, standing on her toes as her lips pressed into his, catching even him off-guard despite his reflexes. He felt the warmth of her soft lips on his, feeling a surge of tingling ecstasy in his heart. When Ria finally withdrew after a few seconds, she felt light-headed, her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.

She didn’t know where the burst of courage to do something as brave as kiss Runark came from, but she did it anyway, and it was more unnerving than jumping headfirst into an unknown, highly dangerous, infected world, not knowing if she was going to make it back alive.

"Ria..." Runark whispered as he touched his lips, feeling the lingering warmth from her kiss. "...You are a terrible kisser."

BANG!

"Ow! Ok ok I’m sorry. I was just kiddi—HEY, RELAX! I said I’m sorr—!"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMOOM!!!

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