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

meteoric impact

away while simultaneously

him reeling. He just barely managed to throw up a

Gale leaped back, grimacing.

rushed in. Gale panicked when he saw Rui dashing in, feeling an immense amount of mental pressure from Rui's Martial

at Rui, expecting another feint. This time he was a

didn't

CLASP

to reduce the impact while

The Binding Lash technique.

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

CRACK

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

these conditions were

increase the accuracy of his timing immensely. The VOID algorithm allowed him

physically stronger by virtue of being much older, but Rui had nailed the

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

in the world of Gaea, within the Martial

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

act of inflicting pain on others. He carefully let go of Gale's arm, not wanting hurt him any

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

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 still beat him

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

now that he had lost to Rui this cleanly, even if he won every other fight, he almost would not be chosen as the representative of the