The Martial Unity

Squire Dylon’s goal was quite simple; to exploit his superior raw power to the absolute maximum in order to win as quickly as possible. He knew he was on a time limit, especially since attempting an offense in grappling was much more energy-consuming than attacking via striking.

Squire Kyrie’s goal was also equally simple, to stall the fight for as long as possible and drain Squire Dylon’s stamina as much as possible. She knew she had a stamina edge, once her opponent was exhausted, she could begin her offense and win due to a lack of sufficient energy from her opponent. She had an edge in grappling defense since Dylon was largely offensive as a Martial Artist, so she was confident that she could hold on.

The wrangled for quite some time, even spending a lot of time just immobile. Some of the Martial Apprentices grew a bit bored, since the fight had become less exciting than it had been prior. But Rui only grew more and more engrossed.

And after a while of shifting and rolling, the moment came.

Squire Dylon’s grip lost its firmness or just a split second as he felt just a mild wave of light-headeness.

But it was enough.

WHIP

Kyrie broke out and whipped her arm around his neck.

A chokehold!

That too, a sleeper chokehold. An extremely dangerous and nigh-unbeatable lock that put an unfathomable amount of pressure on the neck, the throat and the arteries. Rui gulped at the sight, with how strong Squires were, he was sure that if he was in Squire Dylon’s place, his neck would have long been crushed to a pulp by her the sheer force of her hold.

Dylon struggled to the best of his ability, hitting Kyrie as hard as he could with Outer Convergence but in that position, with his exhaustion as well as Kyrie’s formidable defense, he wasn’t able to break out.

Eventually he tapped her arm thrice, indicating his resignation and defeat. Kyrie exhaled a deep breath of relief as she let him go, while Dylon gasped for breath as he inhaled as deep as he could.

Both of them were quite exhausted.

Immediately, several assistant staff members brought them several rejuvenation and healing potions.

“Shame I won’t be getting my date.” Dylon shrugged with emphasized melancholy, merely earning a snort from Squire Kyrie.

“My, I didn’t think Instructor Dylon was someone who attacked women to get them to go out with him.” Fae teased with her classic sophistry. The Martial Apprentices had already moved to their instructors once the fight had ended.

“Hey, you make it sound like I was committing a crime!” Dylon complained, receiving a bout of laughter from the students, and even a smirk from Kyrie.

“That was an amazing fight Instructor Kyrie, Instructor Dylon.” Rui complimented. “Seeing your combat prowess makes me want to return to training even though I just finish it.”

“Don’t be so hasty my boy” Dylon waved. “With how dedicated you are, you’ll surely surpass me as long as you dedicate yourself to your path. This is true for all of you.” He said directing a glance to all the students. “Do not be discouraged by our performance, it is meant to inspire you. Each and every single one of you can obtain the power you have witnessed.”

Squire Kyrie nodded. “Talent matters less and less the further down your Martial Path your traverse, many of the most powerful and prominent Martial Artists of the past and present were not extraordinary geniuses who broke through to Martial Apprentice at an extremely young age, and many Martial prodigies did not make it past Martial Squire, and in some cases, even Martial Apprentice.”

“What matters most is how far down your Martial Path you walk, it requires perseverance, dedication, determination, suffering and sacrifice.” Squire Dylon added. “You can be the most talented Martial prodigy on the entirety of the planet of Gaea, but if you lack the will to walk down your Martial Path, you may never even become a Martial Apprentice.”

Those words were quite surprising to a lot of the Martial Apprentices gathered. They had all believed talent was the most important determining factor, or at the very least one of, despite the denial of others. But being told so in such a manner really made them think about what they ought to be focused on.

Rui understood this well, this was true even on Earth.

Talent allowed people a head start, but if they didn’t run, they would lose the race one hundred times out of one hundred. Whereas someone who may even be set back, would win as long as they ran with everything they had, one hundred times out of one hundred.

Rui knew this, but right now he was too engrossed in the fight he had witnessed to think about that. He had no objective proof, but he could sense that Martial Squires were fundamentally different. It wasn’t just a matter of being stronger, faster and durable, or having a greater evolved mind.

It was as if their bodies were constructed different, as if underneath their skin, they were robots running on motors and pumps powered by a powerful engine and energy supply.

He recalled Squire Dylon’s words, that the ‘quintessential foundation of their material bodies was different’.

It sounded like utter rubbish the man had conjured up to confound and confuse Rui, but perhaps the truth was more literal than Rui had initially thought it would be.

Rui had always had vague suspicions, but only after witnessing two Martial Squires fighting seriously had he actually come to notice differences between Martial Squires and Martial Apprentices. Their mass and weight, the distribution of mass across their body and center of mass, the elasticity of their flesh and their muscular power to body mass ratio.

There were many physical discrepancies that Rui had come to notice.

(‘Could it be…’) Rui conjectured as an explanation came to mind. (‘Could it be that the breakthrough to Martial Squires alters the body deeply on a cellular level?’)