The Martial Unity

’She must be getting it from the flora network!’ His eyes widened as he beheld the flux of data that flowed between her mind and nature.

The minutest of electromagnetic pulses, each representing a signal.

The equivalent of a raging river of such pulses flowed between her mind and nature.

He could, of course, use Faraday’s Silence to completely shut her off, but the point of this combat exercise was not to flex how strong he was, but to understand what Mother Alicia was trying to show him.

The deduction he had made was useful; he could clearly sense that her own subconscious mind was not responsible for her movements.

Instead, it was coming from the flora network.

Likely from the organic artificial intelligence that he had fought before, which could form predictive models with its own pattern recognition system. Most likely, she was operating with a superior version of that, allowing her to not just predict his movements, which explained why she was able to pressure him as well as she did, but also to understand how to move exactly.

It was almost as if she had let herself become a puppet for the flora network of Genora. It sent signals directly to the part of her brain responsible for movement, and she had likely trained her brain to execute those orders directly.

However, that alone didn’t explain where all her raw power and movement speed were, only her reactions and reflexes.

The answer to that, however, was also similar.

He could feel it with his senses and his instincts.

“Wireless energy transmission.”

Her body contained botanical biotechnological components that could gain energy through electromagnetic induction, allowing her to harness power that nature around her sent her. She was so deep in the Internal Realm of the Nature Path that even her means of movement were derived from botanical biotechnology.

She was as strong as the nature around her was.

Which, in the Genora Continent, was quite strong.

BOOOOOOM BOOOOOOM BOOOOOOM BOOOOOOM BOOOOOOM!!!!!

All of these factors led to the devastating onslaught of blows that she unleashed on Rui, one that very few Martial Masters could possibly survive.

And yet, as a Martial Master, Rui had been entirely peerless.

“Your movements are inefficient.”

WHOOSH

The slightest step was all it took.

Her golden eyes sharpened as she surged forth with even greater speed and power. “Hyargh!”

WHOOSH

Her eyes widened as her attack crashed into an empty attack.

A feint.

BOOOOOOOM!!!!!

“Rgh…!” before she even realized, her hands automatically blocked the blow that Rui launched at her head from behind her.

“You managed to react to that?” Rui’s eyes widened. “That’s incredible.”

Technically, it was nature.

She immediately returned as she continued unleashing a devastating onslaught of blows against him, threatening to knock him out then and there.

And yet—

“Your patterns are far too transparent.”

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!!!

He smoothly weaved past all her attacks with effortless ease.

Her patterns, or those of nature’s, perhaps, were easy to dissect. That was why, despite the fact that she had more data on him from all his previous fights on the continent, his predictive model had already managed to exceed hers.

With the Prophecy of the Void, he was simply far too strong in his power, allowing him to evade her every attack.

And yet, her power only grew stronger and stronger as she gained more and more energy from nature, and the flora network supporting her reactions and decision-making also grew larger and larger.

Her reflexes were already supported by the equivalent of multiple supercomputers that furiously processed information in a matter of microseconds to help her react to him. Theoretically, as time passed, she might even be able to harness the Greater Genoran Flora Network as a whole!

His eyes sharpened.

He needed to end the battle before that happened. He knew he couldn’t win a fight against all nature on the Genoran Continent as a whole.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

He narrowly and slowly weaved past all her attacks, even as she grew faster, closing in with his first attack on her.

A powerful Flowing Cannon with Outer Convergence and Yin-Yang Spear.

BOOOOOOM!!!!!

CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK!!!

His eyes widened as he felt his knuckles disintegrate upon impact.

Like an egg thrown against a steel wall.

Mierul, on the other hand, was entirely unharmed.

His expression lit up with realization as he studied the bark armor she was covered in more closely.

“Invintium.”

BOOOOOOM BOOOOOOM BOOOOOOM!!!!

She continued blasting him with an even greater number of attacks that only grew stronger and stronger while Rui defended, caught off guard.

Unbeknownst to him, the bark she was covered in belonged to a very rare species on the Genoran Continent that could purify invintium from deep invintium ores and turn into indestructible armor plating.

It was a formidable defense system.

Taking a good look at her, he could tell that she was already far too strong for any Martial Master in the Panama Continent, requiring a Martial Sage to dispatch of her. Her attacks only grew stronger, her armor was invincible, and her reaction speed only grew faster, while her predictive model only grew more powerful.

It was an absurd kind of warrior that he had never seen before.

And yet, he was Rui Quarrier.

His second attack of the battle had arrived.

BOOOOOM!!!

CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK!!!

His other fist struck her armor, once more disintegrating upon contact.

And yet, this time, Mierul shuddered upon the impact.

“Cough!” Blood spewed from her mouth as her eyes began bleeding, leaking blood mixed with tears. The sheer impact of the attack ravaging her from inside out caused her to begin bleeding from every orifice in her body.

And yet, her bloodshot eyes flared with determination as she raised her fist despite the state she was in.

’That’s enough, Mierul.’

She gritted her teeth. “…I can still fight, Mother! I can still win—”

’Mierul.’

Mother Alicia’s tone was unyielding.

The Genoran Guardian lowered her head with a resigned expression.

“…Yes, Mother.”

She descended back into the mighty Mother of Nature once more to heal, leaving Rui alone with the titanic tree.