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

strike away

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.

recuperate and regain his bearings, he rushed in. Gale panicked when he saw Rui dashing in, feeling an immense amount

he was a bit more prepared, he didn't want to be caught

didn't dodge

CLASP

let the strike hit him, moving with it to reduce the

The Binding Lash technique.

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 domain of grappling, Rui

CRACK

The Binding Lash technique allowed the user to dislocate and break arms as long as the timing was perfect and the physicality gap

of these conditions

The VOID algorithm allowed him to consciously and actively analyze, evaluate and make a decision, while the Primordial Instinct technique allowed him to execute the decision with

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

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

career ending injury, but in the world of Gaea, within the Martial Art, this wasn't much

resignation. The pain was far too excruciating and even if Gale somehow broke through, he had no chance of winning with a

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

getting up slowly, before throwing a bitter smile at Rui. "You're

He meant it.

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

hand to Gale's good

he almost would not be chosen as the representative of