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.

it must have been necessary for her to do that. She never knocked out the students in these sparring sessions, only pushing them to their physical limits. The

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

Kane woke up with

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

"Hey."

him with

shit." Rui chuckled. "How are you

we?"

"Medical wing."

"Huh..."

the fight with

the timing you told me

of us nigh-simultaneously then." Rui

"That's crazy."

"Right?" Rui grinned.

walked into the medical room they were in,

Both of you were rendered unconscious during a sparring session." She dutifully informed. "You have

didn't know how long it had been since the

to the medical wing." She replied as she prepared

wear a stethoscope-like instrument, and placed one end of the instrument on

sorts followed until she moved onto Rui, performing

She told them. "The headaches will persist for anywhere between a few hours or a day. Be sure to

bit of paperwork, Rui and Kane

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