The Martial Unity

Rui wasn’t sure what was happening. He didn’t understand how this was possible.

How was the symbiote, assuming that’s what the shadow clone of himself was a manifestation of, able to gain access to his techniques? Not just his Martial Art techniques, but also the VOID algorithm. The movements that his shadow clone-self had displayed were without a doubt the VOID algorithm, the movement used was the perfect counter to his movement and it had been initiated even before his own.

That was the classic tell-tale sign of a perfectly executed VOID algorithm adaptation via the pattern adaptation system of the VOID algorithm. The shadow clone was clearly using it, as well as other techniques.

Rui had already computed two broad plausible hypotheses. The first hypothesis was that the visions he was experiencing were not actually from the Mindmirror Symbiote. He had just assumed that it shadow clone of himself was how his subconscious mind was processing the symbiote, but that’s all that was; an assumption. It was entirely possible that the visions he was seeing now were no different from a dream or some other psychedelic illusion that his mind was generating as a result of trying to process the neurological and mental conflict with the Symbiote.

The explanation for the shadow clone of his being able to use his Flowing Void Style Martial Art was that the shadow clone was being generated by his subconscious mind which did, in fact, possess an intimate understanding of the Flowing Void Style. This would explain how the shadow clone was able to use the Flowing Void Style.

The second hypothesis was that the Mindmirror Symbiote had access to his memories and knowledge. And was able to extract information that would be useful against the host. It was possible that he was simply partly imagining the shadow clone using the Flowing Void style because those were the memories the Symbiote was accessing and triggering in some way.

There were other hypotheses, of course, but they all fell into the same category as the two hypotheses he had come up with. Either the Symbiote was genuinely accessing his memories and knowledge and Martial Art amidst the mental invasion, or he was simply imagining it due to an attempt of his mind to process the conflict in an understandable way.

However, there was one common trait that both hypotheses shared. Regardless of which hypothesis was true, it was a bad idea if he lost the fight.

If the fight really was merely his mind attempting to process the mental conflict, then losing the imaginary physical fight would mean he was losing the mental conflict since the former would merely be a visual representation of the latter according to the theory. If the imaginary physical fight was genuinely the core of the actual mental clash between his mind and the mental invasion of the Mindmirror Symbiote, then losing was absolutely a bad idea.

(‘I have to win no matter what, then.’) Rui reaffirmed.

He turtled up, defending as he gathered his concentration and focus.

Perhaps it was the peril of the situation he was in.

Perhaps it was because of what was at stake.

Perhaps it was because he was fighting a clone of himself.

Perhaps it was because he was inside his own mind.

Regardless of what it was, he was able to enter a highly focused state almost instantaneously. The shadow clone paused as Rui stared at it with his pitch-black pupils.

WHOOSH

Rui dashed off towards his dark clone, throwing speedy jabs.

WHOOSH

The clone swerved out of the way, but in vain;

BOOM!

A colossal attack crashed into his clone as it was launched away.

Rui grinned. (‘It worked!’)

If the shadow clone fought identically to him, then wasn’t there a good chance that it used the same movement patterns as he did?

If that was indeed the case then he very well could just create a predictive model on himself and apply it to the clone, couldn’t he?

Rui and his clone rushed at each other with immense speed. What followed was a marvel that would likely never reoccur.

Two identical Martial Artists.

Two VOID algorithms.

They clashed against each other in a furious exchange of attacks. They were both using the VOID algorithm, they were both using the same predictive model and the same adaptive evolution model. They were equal in nearly every way.

Except for longevity.

The worst part about losing his sense of time was that it became harder to compute stamina. He had energy constraints, yet it seemed as though the shadow clone didn’t have any restriction on that front.

Time passed, more than he knew. He grew increasingly mentally fatigued. The psychological stress of not knowing how and when this nightmare was going to end was also starting to gnaw at him, he was generally quite composed, but under such circumstances even he was starting to feel the strain. It took an immense amount of mental fortitude to maintain his calm and not panic. And it was only growing harder and harder as an immeasurable amount of time passed.

Physical stamina wasn’t a thing, but mental stamina was indeed a thing, at the end of the day.

POW!

Rui grimaced as a strike landed square on his jaw. He had fallen behind on his reactions by just a beat and the shadow clone, which had not yet ceased to be pitcher perfect, overwhelmed him in that regard. The strike had created an opening that the shadow clone brutally exploited with an avalanche of attacks, just as he would have if he were in its place. It was the best option.

That was bad news for him. He went all-out with defense and evasion as he tried to regain his bearings and restore the balance of initiative.

WHOOSH

He avoided a strike, leaping backward. Yet;

BAM!

The clone followed through immediately, predicting his retreat and landing a Tempestuous Ripple on Rui.

(‘Damn it!’) He cursed. (‘At this rate, the disadvantages will simply snowball!’)