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

Step to draw his strike away while simultaneously using

of Flowing Canon, Outer Convergence, Parallel Walk and Balanced Direction had crashed into Gale, leaving him reeling. He just barely managed to throw up a guard as Rui pummeled him with short range blows

Gale leaped back, grimacing.

enough to let him recuperate and regain his bearings, he rushed in. Gale panicked when

another feint. This time he was a bit more prepared, he didn't want to be caught off-guard

Rui didn't

CLASP

reduce the impact while simultaneously grasping Gale's arm with all

The Binding Lash technique.

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

CRACK

Gale grimaced in pain as Rui managed to cleanly dislocate his arm. The Binding Lash technique allowed the user to dislocate and break

of these

his timing immensely. The VOID algorithm allowed him to consciously and actively analyze, evaluate and make

much older, but Rui had nailed the timing too

with everything he had. Despite the advantageous position Rui had, he didn't

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

even if Gale somehow broke through, he

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

throwing a bitter smile at

He meant it.

was putting on him mentally the entire fight along with the perfect fight that he'd displayed from start to finish. Rui had 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

man." Rui offered a hand to Gale's good hand.

won every other fight, he almost would