The Martial Unity

Chapter 2057  I Can See Your SOUL

”…Who do you think will win?” Master Vericita asked with concern. ”Rui is strong, but Master Grais is certainly no slouch, heʼs just one grade away from becoming a high-grade Martial Master.”

”…Itʼs difficult to say.” Master Zentra narrowed his eyes, observing the battle. ”His Martial Mind is quite powerful and refined. His Highness has probably never faced an opponent with a system of thought as powerful as this.”

”His Shadow Transmission system of thought is as fearsome as ever.” Headmaster Aronian heaved a sigh. ”In addition, his ability to convert speed into offensive power is even better than I recalled.”

Master Reinaʼs eyes lit up with vague interest as an insight dawned on her. ”…Stealth.”

The other Martial Masters of the pro-Rui faction gazed at her warily. ”Heʼs using stealth,” Master Reina remarked with curiosity. ”Heʼs hiding the telltale signs of his future movements with a momentary, abrupt, and transient burst of stealth. He adaptively evolves the timing and sensory-orientation of the stealth to match his opponentʼs senses and awareness for the greatest effect. Tsk, why didnʼt I think of that?”

Master Zentra nodded tentatively. ”…I am not surprised that you have managed to see through it as an exceptional master assassin. That is the secret behind the Shadow Transmission system of thought.”

All sentient beings engaged in extrapolative analysis subconsciously and consciously. Science had shown that interpreting the telltale signs that preceded movements to gauge timing was something that was ingrained in the very neurology of sentient creatures.

This was exactly what Master Grais had sought to undermine when he created the Shadow Transmission system of thought. He employed a very brief and limited momentary burst of stealth to hide all the telltale signs of his movements which disrupted all extrapolative cognition of those that observed him.

This had an extraordinarily high synergetic effect when combined with his blinding speed.

Those who observed him would see a single thing.

A Martial Master disappearing through space and time.

He was beyond comprehension.

BAM BAM BAM!!!

Three charged blows crashed into Ruiʼs vitals through his guard at extreme speeds.

He never saw them coming.

Master Grais surged forward throwing a swift blow at Ruiʼs abdomen, promptly provoking a guard from Rui.

WHOOSH

Ruiʼs eyes widened as the image disappeared.

It was a feint.

By the time he noticed the two fingers surging towards his eyeballs, it was too late.

SPLAT SPLAT!

”Argh!” Rui grimaced in pain as the Martial Masterʼs powerful finger jabs ravaged Ruiʼs eyeballs, leaving him blinded.

Master Graisʼ eyes narrowed as a golden opportunity of an opening presented itself to him.

Nineteen Martial Art techniques were activated, improving his agility, speed, maneuvering, fluidity, and efficiency.

WHOOSH!

He crossed the distance between him and Rui in less than a microsecond.

Yet, his eyes widened when Ruiʼs bloody eye sockets opened, meeting his gaze.

”I can see your SOUL.”

Those words sent chills up his spine.

BOOOM!

”Arck…!” The man grimaced as a powerful blow crashed into his body, armed with the power of Outer Convergence, Fire Breathing, and Reverberating Lance.

CRACK

His expression grew grave as he felt one of his ribs fracture under the sheer weight of Ruiʼs strike. Although his Martial Body was more powerful than Ruiʼs, its physical configuration was oriented towards speed, agility, and mobility. He could not tank strikes like a defensive Martial Artist.

”I see…” A whisper escaped Rui.

The battle paused momentarily as the two Martial Artists took a brief reprieve to catch their breath and recuperate.

”No wonder the pattern recognition system of my Martial Mind failed,” Rui murmured, displeased. ”It is partially incompatible with your system of thought.”

The predictive model of the VOID algorithm relied on analyzing the telltale signs and extrapolating them to evaluate timing. While all living beings did this to a small degree inherently, pattern recognition did it to an astronomical degree to produce incredible results as far as predictive power went.

The Angel of Laplace primarily supplied him with passive patterns centered around these telltale signs and the timing and action they corresponded with rather than active combat patterns.

Rui now understood what Master Reina meant when she said relative power levels could not be evaluated before a battle due to the compatibility of Martial Minds.

”You are still young.”

Master Graisʼ voice drew his attention.

”Far too young,” he narrowed his eyes. ”Your inexperience with the Master Realm shows. The most important factor in a battle between Martial Masters are their systems of thought and the decisions we make based on them. Take the defeat that I will be handing you with grace and learn from it.”

WHOOSH!

He surged towards Rui the moment his ribs had healed. His opponentʼs vision had yet to return, thus, waiting any longer would begin to be detrimental to his own interests.

Unfortunately for him, the battle didnʼt go as it did before.

WHOOSH!

His eyes widened as his blow landed on an empty image of Rui.

A feint.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH

The elder Martial Master barely managed to evade the incoming blows of the youngest Martial Master, circling around him to land powerful blows in his blindspot.

BAM BAM BAM!

Rui shifted to block the attacks calmly, one after another.

Against speed-oriented Martial Artists, dodging was too much of a hassle because of their speed. Given that he had opted to use Nemean Blossom, he would rather make the best use of it.

POW POW POW!

He blocked a flurry of blows from the Martial Master, carefully using the SOUL System to read his intention. Even if he could hide external telltale signs from Ruiʼs sense with momentary but powerful bursts of stealth, he could not hide his SOUL from Ruiʼs mind sense.

When Rui broke through to the Master Realm, he realized that he no longer needed Soul Void to read the SOULs of people within his sensory range. His Martial Mind, when fully active, was so powerful that it could glean the data that he needed without needing to put his opponent in a trance.

He had been studying the Masterʼs SOUL from the moment the battle began.

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