The Martial Unity

The two dashed towards each other.

('I'm faster.') Rui realized.

Yet despite this, Gale's strike reached first.

WHOOSH

Rui dodged the strike.

Gale continued dishing an onslaught of strikes and Rui avoided all of them cleanly. Ever since he mastered Primordial Instinct, his timing had grown much sharper and more accurate. Its synergy with the VOID algorithm was truly impressive.

Gale didn't stop, his strikes were straight forward and had a huge range. He launched all of them from outside Rui's striking range, so Rui wasn't able to do much.

('He's a long-range striking specialist.') Rui realized. Each strike had a huge reach, and he launched them in a way that deliberately prevented Rui from reaching close enough to launch his own attacks.

Rui keenly observed this before making a decision, he stopped avoiding Gale and instead dashed against him once more.

A flash of surprise morphed into Gale's expression as he quickly launched a straight jab at Rui, growing even more surprised when he saw Rui didn't avoid them, and instead ran into it even faster. Just as the strike was about to hit Rui

WHOOSH

Rui disappeared.

('A feint!') Gale realized.

BAM

impact struck

his strike away while simultaneously using Flowing Canon once he reached

reeling. He just barely managed to throw up a guard as Rui pummeled him with short

Gale leaped back, grimacing.

regain his bearings, he rushed in. Gale panicked when he saw

a cautious strike at Rui, expecting another feint. This time he was a bit more prepared, he didn't want to be

didn't dodge or

CLASP

strike hit him, moving with it to reduce the impact while simultaneously

The Binding Lash technique.

outside the realm of striking which is where his specialty lied.

CRACK

managed to cleanly dislocate his arm. The Binding Lash technique allowed the user to dislocate and break arms as long as the timing

these

had improved not just his defense but counter-offense as well, allowing him to increase the accuracy of his timing immensely. The VOID algorithm allowed him to consciously and actively analyze, evaluate

by virtue of being much older, but Rui had nailed the timing too well, that

did give up, struggling with everything he had. Despite the advantageous position Rui had, he didn't give up and ruthless pressed

inflicting pain and damage to Gale, had this been on Earth, this might have been a career ending injury, but in the world of Gaea, within the Martial Art, this wasn't much of a big deal. Healing potions ensured that Gale would

tapped Rui's arm three times, indicating his resignation. The pain was far too excruciating and even if Gale somehow broke through, he had no chance of winning with a mangled shoulder

his grip with a sigh of relief. He did not enjoy the act of inflicting pain on others. He carefully let go of

throwing

He meant it.

shown him just how big the gap between them was. Gale had spent a long time in the Academy, and even with his mediocre growth, he had come to accumulate more power than most Apprentices in the Academy currently. But Rui still beat

hand to Gale's good hand. "You're strong

would not be chosen as the representative of the Academy. "I haven't given