Chapter 57: One Number That Means Two

The three treasures of Taoism were compassion, frugality, and humility. The three jewels of the mind.

'Compassion' meaning to love thy neighbour. It was not a show of kindness, but a show of humanity.

'Frugality' meaning to embrace the simplicity. To not fall into indulgence and keep one's heart pure.

'Humility' meaning to be modest about oneself. To not oversell your nature and see the world broadly.

Of the three jewels, one could say Adam had originally known what it meant to be frugal,

Although it was in a twisted sense of the word…

And after splitting into Solaris, compassion was also learnt. He learnt from the best teacher of that.

After all, who was more 'loving' that Hyuk…?

It was at the moment when the lanky felt his heart falter that he chose humility. To not lose to anger.

Seeing Adam, his creator, get ice arrowed to the stomach wasn't a pleasant experience whatsoever.

However, what would he do if in their shoes?

Of course, there was no way he wouldn't have been wary after someone gave birth to spawns.

Even HE was terrified by his female counterpart for a time… until he'd gotten used to that side of her.

If he thought of it compassionately, then perhaps there was room to forgive despite the situation.

But 'feelings' weren't the same as acting it out.

With his better judgement, Solaris knew that it was time to prepare for combat to take them all down.

From what he'd seen up until this point, the people before him weren't the type to listen to reason.

Even Lumina initially gave them a chance before spawning marionettes at them. She gave a chance.

Now wasn't the time to close off his mind and reject violence when the time came to protect her.

Compassion, frugality, and humility didn't mean to strictly abide by fearful thoughts to protect oneself.

It meant to keep a level head despite everything.

The Heart Devil within him couldn't help but gasp after sticking its head out of the fully clear ocean.

The ego of Solaris within his Sea of Consciousness looked down, then made an usually stern look.

"I guess I came at a bad time…" Seeing that the lanky was more powerful than he anticipated, the devil cut its losses and went back to hibernation. It was useless to believe this much stress mattered.

The Yang Qi thawed Adam Lumina's body. The Ice Dust freezing her organs was quickly melted away.

Even while another shot came hurling towards her again, a reinforced palm intercepted the attack.

He was quickly encircled by the Beastkin.

They showed their teamwork by forming two layers around him. Gunners and Swordsmen were mixed.

Although all of them could switch between each position thanks to their Gunblades, the formation allowed them to competently have time to reload and not get in each other's way when fighting.

Something hard to notice unless you had good eyes and high intelligence, which he already had.

"Do you think you can fight while protecting someone else?" Ardo walked into the formation.

Beastkin had enough superhuman senses, reflexes, and experience to be able to adapt on the fly.

The realm they'd came from wasn't at peace...

Without the burst of adrenaline or berserk might of the Heart Devil, he had no choice but self-reliance.

The first thing he needed to do was…

'World Unity.' The unconscious Lumina phased into his body, which made the many staring eyes widen.

However, they could comprehend this was an ability. After all, their world had Semblance.

It wasn't shocking to see he had an ability…

The only question was the limitations of that power and whether he'd use it in ways they didn't know.

Although it didn't do much to even the playing field between them, this gave a chance to fight back.

At least now he didn't have to worry about splitting his mind between protecting her and fighting them.

…Even if that didn't change he was encircled.

Fighting one of them would've been easy, but many of them multiplied just how hard the fight would be.

That's when he remembered his teacher's advice.

The second thing he needed to do was 'Stance'.

'Establish the Median Zone…' Solaris remembered the training on the basics he'd learnt from Hyuk.

Both his arms charred black in flames. A fire burnt in his eyes while giving off a Supreme Yang light.

This was the personal 'Supreme Sky Black Body Combustion' Breath Circulation technique of his.

Because of his F Rank Qi Centre, he'd normally only be able to cover one arm with Internal Qi.

And becoming a Taoist only doubled that amount.

Which in itself wasn't much of an advantage.

If he could just get to E Rank, he'd at least be able to cover his entire body in this fiery reinforcement.

Even being able to shoot balls of flames…

But thinking about that was useless. The only thing he could do was remember what Hyuk taught him.

'Stance' was a way Internal Martial Artists used their Sea of Consciousness to calculate positions.

Each fighter all started from a stance of their own… 

…regardless if they meant to have one or not.

And the 'Median Zone' was a phrase to describe the mindset a fighter went into before moving.

With his superhuman intelligence, Solaris used his fingers distance in front of him to calculate how far his opponents were. He also used this spatial awareness to draw a line on each of their bodies.

One part of his focus looked at the situation subjectively, while the other looked at a Birdseye View. The 'Median Lines' that measured where his attacks would do most damage from his own perspective, and the 'Centrelines' of movement.

The result of this calculation was heart wrenching.

There was no way to find an advantageous position while surrounded by this group. It was not possible.

While he could possibly defend against the Centrelines heading towards his front, he could do nothing about the ones behind him. If they closed in all at once, he would immediately be swarmed.

Beating them one at a time wasn't an option, nor was the second technique Hyuk had taught him:

'Footwork'.

Having this didn't mean to flail about one's legs or use a specific walking pattern, it was about positioning oneself in a way to throw out more efficient moves. A thing that was blocked off.

No matter how well he manoeuvred, there was no way to move faster than their range of adjustment.

Maybe a footwork trick could work on one opponent directly in front of him, but it would have bad effects if someone behind him was to get a better positioning thanks to him moved chaotically.

Regardless, he set down a second Zone in his head. One that helped him notice weight shifting.

'Establish the Movement Zone…' He calculated the timing of their breaths and how they could move.

Only to feel suffocated by a sense of dread…

The situation was akin to being a lone ship at sea while being surrounded by multiple opponents.

The 'centreline' of himself as a ship would be were he was facing. The direction cannons were fixed.

While the centrelines of his enemies all pointed in his direction from all sides without any deviation.

Putting down the Movement Zone and Median Zone only gave greater certainty that he'd lose.

The situation started to become more tense…

"I hope you can let us settle this peacefully. I'm not hard to fight." Solaris stabbed his broadsword into the ground intimidatingly. The flames of his arms extending through it thanks to the Earthfire alloy.

Time and space had been mathematically grasped in his hands. He was ready to fight for 'her' life!

Regardless, Ardo had no mercy.

"You started this first. You didn't come here to fight us? Then do everything a favour and die…!" The charismatic lion exited the circle and conjured a throne of ice. Then watched everything from afar.

His eyes filled with interest as the firearms clicked.

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Gunshots were the first things to go off.

All of them were carefully aimed and shot from all directions, which made all his hairs stand on end.

*Ptch* *Ptch* *Ptch* *Ptch*…

Multiple bullet wounds appeared all over the lanky's body. Blood flowed out like a red river.

 'It hurts…!' Solaris didn't have a dulled sense of pain, so this situation naturally made him kneel.

His hand was slipping down the spine of the Earthfire Broadsword, unable to grasp ahold of it.

'Am I going to lose…? Without being able to do anything?' Everything had been messed up.

Maybe they should have done things more peacefully. Maybe they'd made a mistake.

"Wrong!" He heard the weak voice of Lumina within him. His regrets seemed useless to the present her.

"What do we do…?" The Beastkin were closing in. It wouldn't take long for the crowd to capture them.

"What else? We work together as one."

"Will that be enough? The two of us separately can only take on so many. Even with your spawns."

Now that they'd seen how the marionettes worked earlier, these people will be able to act differently.

Moreover, it didn't look like she was conscious enough to control her 'fingers' and their actions.

If they accidentally killed someone and overdid their self-protection, their original goal will be lost.

Would the Beastkin accept someone who killed their own above them? Especially with their past?

These people knew the concept of 'family', if not anything else. Nothing would be able to stop them.

At least, that's what Solaris thought.

But Lumina didn't back down.

"Adam is one person, and also the two of us. Isn't that what you always say?" She clicked her tongue.

"…You finally admit it?"

"I do. Fine. I won't monopolise him anymore. You are Adam Graham, and so am I. Let's both wear this new 'mask'." With those words of admittance, the bond of Yinyang Connection went to the max limit.

Her 'Auto Protective Guard Reflex' got in top gear.

Yin and Yang were finally in harmony. Maybe there was a line of separation, but they became an array.

The True Mask of Adam Graham extended to cover the 'Supreme Sky' of his Sea of Consciousness.

'World Unity' and 'Dark Aeon Shadow Physiology' worked in tandem to let her mask over him as well.

The latter Unique Skill allowing her to completely blend her existence with him unlike ever before.

This was the true use of that ability…

Her original nature as a 'shadow' created by Adam.

Those Beastkin around Solaris were surprised when a shadow manifested overlaid over the man.

Two eyes… Two twin Seas of Consciousness…

It was reminiscent of Eclipsus, but also not the 'real' Adam. Just a mask worn by two split egos.

Both of them seamlessly cooperating to the point that there was zero percent of disharmony within.

Yin Qi and Yang Qi were used side by side…

"And who are you supposed to be?" Sitting on his high ice throne, Ardo felt something was different.

Those eyes that looked at him from afar were neither lifeless nor warm. It was a specific blend…

Moreover, the Beastkin couldn't believe what they saw. Did transforming take care of all his injuries?

How did he have such terrifying regeneration?!

"Forget it. We'll just have to skewer you then." The lion flicked his finger, and his group unfolded their weapons into blades. Various DUST enhancements could be seen on each Mystic Tool held by them.

The gang 'Adam' attacked at the same time!

But things were different now.

The messily dressed office administrator grabbed the Earthfire Broadsword by the its lengthy spine.

Then swung the blade like a reversed spear.

The grip of the broadsword was covered in a burning Yang Qi, and 'Adam' rotated his body.

*Bang!*

The first person in front of him was thrown back onto the crowd following behind, but this didn't stop those backstabbing the messy white collar from continuing their thrusts. Their attacks lethal.

The immortal's 'Black Arms' allowed him to grab the Earthfire weapon without worry of being cut himself, but that didn't extend to his back. This was why fighting multiple enemies wasn't his strengths.

This was what he'd already expected to happen.

It was similar to a how a ship may be able to fire cannons at enemies directly in front or at either side, but could not attack behind them. Thus, it gave the Beastkin the best opportunity to attack.

Moreover, the Beastkin directly in front had already switched projectiles. He was surrounded again…!

But things were different now.

It might have been impossible for him to neutralise them on his own, but 'Adam' was now complete.

The Coldsteel Longsword of Lumina appeared in his hand, allowing him to wield weapons in both arms. On top of that, 'Introspection' activated to allow him to take in information at a higher pace.

This lead to him creating a unique fighting style.

Using the E Rank Yin Qi of his female counterpart within him, Adam switched to the 'Star Marked Heaven Extremity' Breath Circulation. Frigid Energy surrounded his body, and a spawn was sent out.

That marionette took the Longsword with it while attacking in the direction he desired, then switched back to the 'Supreme Sky Black Body Combustion' Breath Circulation to grasp the sword's spine again.

His fighting style evolved into something inhuman.

After hurting himself after experimenting a few times, Solaris and Lumina found their own synergy.

Allowing them to make full use of the established Median Zone and Movement Zone in their heads.

The Beastkin roared while falling one by one…

The footsteps of a brunette that had arrived on the scene could be heard. Her appearance made Ardo have no choice but to get off his ice throne and jump into the fray. Lest he be accused of a crime.

Regardless, his assistance didn't change results.

Velma watched in awe as 'Adam' swung around the broadsword like a staff to sometimes cut and other times bash. One could call this a different version of Mordhau (Half-Sword) swordsmanship, which had been tailored for a more dynamic fencing.

The marionettes that were tossing around a frigid Longsword also didn't help the her people focus.

Their encircling formation was disrupted by the new centrelines that were added by the spawns.

Moreover, the figure dynamically manoeuvring through their chaotic footwork was getting better.

The number of marionettes kept on increasing the more he fought. Their synergy was improving.

It looked like he was experimenting on them…

With her Photographic Eyes of Self Evolution, she found that she somehow couldn't replicate this.

As if only his Broadsword Mordhau fighting style was the mere trick that wasn't part of his traits.

'Was Adam always like this? Wait, why is he fighting our group anyway?' She lifted an eyebrow.

Since no one was dying of getting any truly lethal injuries from his shallow cuts, she let him be.

Watching as the white collar took down their entire Noble Familia by himself. All with his new abilities.

When he finished up, the marionettes of icy dark flesh returned to him. This, along with the sword.

The Coldsteel Longsword  was sheathed onto his waist by a spawn, while he himself put his Earthfire Broadsword back into the sheath tied to the other side of his waist. It was a lot more awkward for him.

While Lumina's weapon slipped in, the sheer length of his weapon made putting it away a tedious task.

An action that looked amusing to his onlooker…

"Hey, sorry about this incident. Can you allow me to explain?" Both his brown eyes were tinted a shade of orange in Yang Qi at that moment. The infallible gracefulness of Solaris was displayed.

Velma glanced down at the people who had been causing their 'Queen Esparda' grief, then nodded.

The tired and groaning crowd were all left alone.

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