The Martial Unity

Rui opened his eyes, groggy and disoriented. As his vision proceeded to unblur itself, a white ceiling came into view.

"An unfamiliar ceiling." Rui muttered, taking the opportunity to utter a common trope he heard in anime, before chuckling. His head throbbed as he got up, struggling to remember what happened.

('The spar with Squire Kyrie.') He realized. ('The last thing I remember is Kane using his that Apprentice-level technique...') He closed his eyes, as he struggled to remember.

('And then I woke up here... I see. We failed, and miserably too.') He chuckled self-deprecatingly. Although he knew the chances of success were low, it still wasn't a pleasant outcome.

Rui's eyes caught something to his right, he turned only to be surprised.

"Kane."

Kane was still unconscious, however he looked perfectly fine physically, lying in a bed not too far away.

"They must have healed us up and allowed us to rest and wake up."

Rui sighed getting back to bed. He immersed himself in his thoughts peacefully as his headache slowly subsided.

('I wonder what she did to us.') To be able to knock both of them out and hospitalize them in the circumstances she was in was truly amazing. He just didn't know whether it was possible with Apprentice-level prowess.

Could any Apprentice really replicate her feat in those circumstances?

('Probably not.') He felt. Sure, both Rui and Kane were young. But Kane's technique was surely somewhat close to the pinnacle of Apprentice-level as far as efficiency went. It has a handful of rather severe shortcomings in general, which Rui had done a pretty decent job of mitigating. Yet for them to be crushed despite that, Rui wasn't sure it was possible for an Apprentice to replicate that.

('Which means... She must have used Squire-level battle prowess.') Rui concluded. That would explain how they got crushed instantly. She must have used a Squire-level technique of some sort, allowing to dispel the threat and knock them out.

out the students in these sparring sessions, only pushing them to their physical limits. The fact that she knocked them out, meant they had managed to push her farther than she had in any previous sparring

loss, knowing this made the loss much more tolerable. He even

Kane woke up

few seconds for him to process himself and his surroundings, before

"Hey."

him with

like shit." Rui chuckled. "How are

we?"

"Medical wing."

"Huh..."

were knocked out during the fight with Kyrie." He explained.

at the timing you told me to..." He continued, trying to recall. "...But

She must have knocked both of us nigh-simultaneously then." Rui surmised. "Definitely a Squire-level

"That's crazy."

"Right?" Rui grinned.

room they were in, taking note of

of you were rendered unconscious during a sparring session." She dutifully informed. "You have made almost full recoveries

he still didn't know how long it had

a little over six hours since you were brought to the medical wing." She replied as she prepared some medical instruments and

wear a stethoscope-like instrument, and placed one end of the instrument on Kane's chest. "Breathe deeply." She

checkups and lines of questioning of various sorts followed until

are fit to be discharged." She told them. "The headaches will persist for anywhere between a few hours or a day. Be sure to take rest for a day until

and Kane walked together towards

ask her about what actually happened." Rui said. "It's a shame she isn't always free and available in the sparring center like the