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

feinted with Phantom Step to draw his strike away while simultaneously using Flowing Canon once

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

Gale leaped back, grimacing.

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

was a bit more prepared, he didn't want to be caught off-guard yet

Rui didn't

CLASP

to reduce the

The Binding Lash technique.

Gale, dragging outside the realm of striking which is where his specialty

CRACK

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

of these conditions

Instinct 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 make a decision, while

being much older, but Rui had nailed the timing too well, that shoulder's fate

Despite the advantageous position Rui

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

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

did not enjoy the act of inflicting pain on others. He

Gale exhaled deeply, getting up slowly, before throwing a bitter smile

He meant it.

from start to finish. Rui had shown him just how big the gap between them was. Gale had spent a long

a hand to Gale's good hand.

to Rui this cleanly, even if he won every other fight, he almost would not be chosen as