The Martial Unity

Instead, he remained where he stood, crouching as he brought his hands and legs closer to him, making him smaller.

He reduced the feasible avenue attacks.

As a speedster, Master Grais primarily targeted the more vulnerable parts of the body since he lacked the power to do damage to particularly tough and well-shielded parts of the body.

His expression grew more severe as he understood what Rui was trying to do.

‘It’s an invitation…’ His eyes narrowed as he stared at the prodigiously young Master. ‘…and a trap.’

For a moment, the two of them simply stared at each other.

As it was right now, Rui had exhausted more energy, but Master Grais had taken more energy.

However, as they exchanged gazes, a mutual understanding came between them.

A battle of attrition favored Rui.

The longer the battle continued, the more Rui grew familiar with his opponent and the more he adaptively evolved. His SOUL and predictive models only grew stronger and stronger, while Master Grais’ speed only went downhill.

At some point, Rui would come to outmaneuver him if the battle continued for long. The fact that Rui was able to keep up without the Metabody System when he needed it before was proof of that.

If he wanted to win, he would have to do so very soon.

Rui had already foreseen this even before he used Neo Godspeed. He made sure to hurt Master Grais enough such that the decline of his speed was all but guaranteed before adopting a strategy that forced Master Grais to come to him rather than Rui adopting the role of the chaser.

“Well played, Void Prince,” Master Grais snorted. “I accept your invitation.”

His hand sharpened, straight as an arrow, as he finally activated his third system of thought. ‘Lightning Spear Jab.’ His eyes flared with power as he surged with power.

It was an offensive system of thought that relied on scanning the opponent’s body for microstructure weaknesses across the entire body before eventually adaptively altering the form of the attack to inflict as much damage as possible.

Angle, area of contact, and direction of attack all needed to be within micrometers of precision.

It was similar to how chopping karate wooden blocks was easier when done along the grain than against.

All cellular structures had imperfections that could be exploited if one was precise and accurate enough.

It was his most powerful attack.

The final exchange came sooner than anyone had expected.

WHOOSH

In an instant, Master Grais arrived before Rui.

SPLAT!

His eyes widened as his attack pierced through Rui’s torso in between his abs without resistance or defense, emerging on the other side.

He gazed into Rui’s eyes with shock. “You…!”

A wide grin appeared on Rui’s face.

He had allowed the attack to impale him thoroughly without resistance. Rui tightened his back and abdomen muscles, locking the man’s arms within his body, refusing to let go.

This had been his tactic all along.

“I have you now.”

The words sent chills down the Martial Master’s spine as he struggled to escape. Yet his speed-oriented body did not allow him to overpower Rui’s back and abdomen muscles. Additionally—

—BZZT!

A light paralytic effect weakened the elder Martial Master’s effort.

His eyes took on a grave light as he realized that there was no escape.

He would face what was to come.

What followed was beat down, unlike anything the Martial Master had ever experienced. BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!

Rui pummeled him with blows one after another, bludgeoning him black and blue. Each blow was empowered with the full power of Outer Convergence, Reverberating Lance, and Fire Breathing.

Master Grais desperately guarded with one arm, trying to inflict as much damage to Rui’s vitals with his trapped right arm.

Yet, Rui was hardly done.

“Heavenly Convergence.” Rui’s voice strained with pain even as his vision blurred from the critical internal bleeding. “Phantom Pain.”

Now that the man was locked in place, there was no need to continue employing anti-speed measures.

“AAAARRGGRHRGHHHH!!!” Master Grais shuddered with excruciating agony as each of Rui’s blows set his nervous system on fire, causing him to convulse uncontrollably.

“Rgh!” Rui’s eyes flared with determination and pain as he continued blasting the Martial Master with as much power he could possibly muster, growing weaker by the second.

Yet, the end came abruptly.

BAM!

A thundering haymaker crashed into the man’s skull with the power of Outer Convergence and Fire Breathing permeated by Reverberating Lance.

The blunt force trauma crossed a critical threshold.

The elder Master’s eyeball rolled upward as his body went limp.

The last thing Rui remembered before losing consciousness was Sage Lemolen’s declaration.

“Winner by knock-out, Master Rui Quarrier Silas Kandria.”

The world went dark as Rui finally let go, falling back.

Even as he fell unconscious, Sage Lemolen waved his hand, diffusing a rejuvenation and healing potion into the lungs of both Martial Masters in a split second.

The spectating Martial Masters converged at the scene in seconds, gazing at the two unconscious Martial Masters.

STEP

“Hah!” Master Ceeran gleefully grinned. “This means that he will be let off with a scolding, right?!”

“Indeed…” Master Zentra remarked. “A bit too light, in my opinion, but I cannot deny that he had earned it with his astonishing display of combat.”

While there was a wide variety of reactions of the many Martial Masters, none of them could deny the sentiment of Master Zentra’s words.

The Martial Union’s hierarchy was that of power. The stronger one was, the more one could get away with things that would not be tolerated by the weaker.

While Rui’s crimes against the Martial Union were still heavy, a contract was a contract. Not a single one of them had objected to the arrangements of the duel and wager thus they had no one else but themselves to blame now that the outcome was not as they desired.

“Hmph,” Sage Lemolen snorted. “You lot are far too lenient with the brat.”

He disappeared immediately after, leaving the Martial Masters to deeply ponder the outcome of the battle.

–