The Martial Unity

"..."

"..."

Rui stared at him.

Nel stared back at him.

"You... what?"

"Broke through without em."

"No, surely..."

"Nope."

Rui tilted his head with incredulous confusion.

Broke through to Martial Apprentice without learning a single technique? What sort of nonsense was that?

Rui wasn't even sure what to say to that.

He wasn't even sure he believed him.

Was he lying to get Rui to lower his guard so he could later unveil them?

Looking at his sincere clueless expression, Rui shook his head, this guy was serious.

But wasn't that even more absurd?

"You... What is your Martial Path?"

"Take your stances." The supervisor had arrived, and quickly told them to be ready.

"Heh." Nel chuckled as he crouched, letting his arms dangle freely.

"My Martial Path is to beat everyone up using my body alone." He declared, his aura growing more feral by the second.

"..."

Rui's eyes flew wide open at those words.

For the very first time, he had run into someone with a Martial Path even more obtuse than his own!

"Take your stance." The supervisor insisted to Rui.

"I see..." Rui ignored him, staring straight at Nel with a boundless fascination and excitement.

He just couldn't wait!

"...My Martial Path is to beat everyone up with my VOID alone."

Rui adopted a neutral all-rounder stance, dividing his weight perfectly, positioning his arms and legs to be equally conducive to offense, defense and maneuvering.

"Fuuu..." He exhaled.

His mind went blank.

There was nothing.

And slowly...

He focused.

energy his mind

He focused.

physical energy

amazement despite

focus. It grew by the second, pouring onto

strong was

Nel wanted to know.

the savage weight of an apex predator oozed out of

maelstrom of mental pressure the two boys generated burdened

one could look

a single person could draw their eyes

supervisor commenced the

RUMBLE

sheer force with which Nel had launched himself sent

as he launched

WHOOSH

powerful swing crashed into

BAM!

kick at his ribs from the side, but

POW POW POW

threw a series of swift jabs. Rui leapt back, having calmly mitigated the strikes

combination of two mid-grade defensive techniques as well as one high-grade

He grinned.

ordinary

capable

WHOOSH

with shocking explosive speed,

BAM

his arm

he confirmed that he could not take

launched another loaded

going to try and tank it this

WHOOSH

feint. He used Balanced Direction and Parallel Walk, to circle around

BAM BAM BAM

launched a

strike was powered with Outer

it was

Nel's guard. His reflexes were too quick to allow Rui to land a clean strike on a vital, and when defended, his defense was too

"Tsk." Rui retreated.

aren't doing the

WHOOSH

kick cleanly with the help of Primordial Instinct, stepping back to open

Or so everyone thought.

when Nel charged at him with a punch, Rui charged right back

BOOM!!

clash shook the

the sheer display of raw

max with Balanced Direction and Parallel Walk, and launched a

fist

matched the power of five Apprentice-level techniques

The boys furiously fought.

Fists were exchanged.

Kicks were dodged.

Attacks were endured.

And defenses were sieged!

lower than Nel's. A symmetric battle was not

things up with Phantom

speed did, and allowed him