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 Flowing

reeling. He just barely managed to throw up a guard as Rui pummeled him with short range blows boosted with

Gale leaped back, grimacing.

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

a cautious strike at Rui, expecting another feint. This time he was a bit more prepared,

Rui didn't

CLASP

strike hit him, moving with it to reduce the impact while simultaneously grasping Gale's arm with all

The Binding Lash technique.

the most apt way of defeating Gale, dragging outside the realm of striking which is where

CRACK

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

of these

his defense but counter-offense as well, allowing him to increase the accuracy of his timing immensely. The VOID algorithm allowed

Rui had nailed

position Rui

a career ending injury, but in the world of Gaea, within

even if Gale somehow broke through, he had no chance of winning with a mangled

not enjoy the act of inflicting pain on

before throwing a bitter smile

He meant it.

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 cleanly, while holding

offered a hand

he won every other fight, he almost would not be