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

away while simultaneously using

He just barely managed to throw up a guard as Rui pummeled

Gale leaped back, grimacing.

in. Gale panicked when he saw Rui dashing in, feeling an immense

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

Rui didn't

CLASP

with it to reduce the

The Binding Lash technique.

this situation, the VOID algorithm outputted a grapple counter as the most apt way of defeating Gale, dragging outside the realm of striking which is where his specialty lied. In the

CRACK

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

of these

technique 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 and

physically stronger by virtue of being much older, but Rui

the excruciating pain he felt, Gale did give up, struggling with everything he had. Despite the advantageous position Rui had, he didn't give up and

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 make a fully

pain was far too excruciating and even if Gale somehow broke through, he

a sigh of relief. He did not enjoy the act of inflicting pain on others. He carefully let go of Gale's arm, not

Gale exhaled deeply, getting up slowly, before throwing

He meant it.

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

offered a hand to Gale's good hand. "You're

this cleanly, even if he won every other fight, he almost would not be chosen as the representative of the Academy. "I haven't given up yet though. On becoming the representative, or becoming