Chapter 21 - Martial Artists

It has been a few days since Loki finished his job for Luke and his friends. Nowadays that once delinquent group of kids were seen playing soccer at an open field. The change was so sudden that the people found it strange at first, but at this time they slowly accepted the situation as some of them liked watching the passionate display of the former delinquents. Some of them even found it extremely inspirational.

It was such a positive change, that many didn't really mind finding out the reason of the change. Couple with the fact that a lot of the gangs had disappeared from the city made the citizens feel even better.

...

A few weeks have now passed since he came to this world, and Loki had learned more and more about his current world, as well as the existence of martial artists. The martial artist of this world were the same as the warriors of his old world. They empower their bodies with spiritual energy and were extremely proficient in close-quarters combat. They were existences above the normal populace.

In the past, martial artists were treated as beings akin to deities. They could destroy boulders with their fists, and the stronger ones could cut a hundred men with a single slash. The old martial arts families were pretty much the lords of the land.

Back then there was a rule in war, that only weaker martial artists could join the fight. If a stronger one goes out then the others at the same level will crush him and his family. Each martial art family kept each other in check since their ideologies were different.

Some martial arts families wanted to rule over the general populace, some wanted to reach the peak of the martial arts and didn't bother with what was happening in the world, some wanted to help the general populace by becoming their savior, others wanted to guide the common folk into the world of martial arts, there were many more but those four examples were the general trend of that time.

Yet as human civilization grew and their knowledge widened, they understood that the martial artists weren't deities they were humans like them. The martial artists simply monopolized the knowledge on how to use the thing they called inner power. So since they could not beat the martial artist with what they currently had the regular humans tried making weapons that could aid them in battle. As the weapons evolved, over time the common folk had finally created weapons that could make even a normal human be able to somehow fight a martial artist.

When the age of firearms came the martial artists' prestige lessened. They were no longer the unbeatable Gods that they used to be. They could now be beaten even by those that don't have this so called inner power that they use.

Still, even with these new weapons, it was quite difficult to match even a single martial artist. However, the common folk were numerous and outnumber the martial artists a thousand to one. If one couldn't beat the martial artist then they would send ten, if ten won't do then they would send a hundred, if a hundred won't do then they would send a thousand.

The common folk used their overwhelming numbers to their advantage. It was then that the martial art families had fallen from their golden age.

In the current age, martial artists were still treated with great respect and fear, but they were no longer the lords of the land. Still, it wasn't just one-sided advancement, as the weapons used by the common folk were getting stronger day by day, the martial artists were also starting to grow.

Unlike when they first came out, guns weren't as effective against a martial artist as they used to be. Nowadays you need to at least have something like a fully automatic rifle if you want to even try and face martial artists.

...

'That woman called Leila that I fought the other day, surely she was one of those so called martial artists of this world. I wonder what this inner power they keep mentioning is. Since mana is an outer force that your try to manipulate, that couldn't be what they use. Something that the human body can create on its own that is comparable to mana. I wonder does this body also have the potential in using that same power, or do you need to be born with it?... Well at this point it doesn't really matter. If they are using something from a different pool of energy that would mean I'm the only one who is able to store and manipulate this world's mana. Even though it can't be compared to the mana pool of my old world, if I'm the only one using it then that's a different matter altogether. Maybe I can surpass even my old self in this new world.'

Even though his goal back in his old world was to become the ideal assassin his little sister wanted him to be, even though his goal in this current world was to protect the family he had now, deep down Loki, no Fade's own personal goal was to become stronger.