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

strike away while simultaneously using Flowing Canon once he reached

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

Gale leaped back, grimacing.

bearings, he rushed in. Gale panicked when he saw Rui

expecting another feint. This time he was a

Rui didn't dodge

CLASP

with it to reduce the impact while simultaneously grasping

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

CRACK

Rui managed to cleanly dislocate his arm. The Binding Lash technique allowed the user

these conditions were

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

of being much older, but Rui

position Rui had, he didn't give up and ruthless pressed and twisted the already dislocated joint, causing unimaginable agony to

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

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

a sigh of relief. He did not enjoy the act of inflicting pain

before throwing a

He meant it.

pressure that Rui 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

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

he almost would not be chosen as the representative