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.

his mind had bloomed

He focused.

of physical energy his

in amazement despite

focus. It grew by the second, pouring onto him from a boundless abyss. It was

how strong

Nel wanted to know.

the savage weight of an apex predator oozed out of every

maelstrom of mental pressure the two

no one could look

single person could draw their eyes

supervisor commenced

RUMBLE

force with which Nel had launched himself sent tremors across the

as he launched a wild

WHOOSH

into a

BAM!

powerful kick at his ribs from the side, but Nel

POW POW POW

leapt back, having calmly mitigated

was, even he couldn't overcome the combination of two mid-grade defensive techniques as well as one high-grade defensive technique with ordinary jabs

He grinned.

what if ordinary

was capable

WHOOSH

explosive speed, launching

BAM

his arm visibly

it, but only now had he confirmed that he could not take too many of Nel's more charged

another loaded

to try and tank

WHOOSH

He used

BAM BAM BAM

a flurry

powered with Outer Convergence

was not

collided against Nel's guard. His reflexes were too quick to allow Rui to land

"Tsk." Rui retreated.

attacks aren't doing the

WHOOSH

Primordial Instinct, stepping

Or so everyone thought.

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

BOOM!!

shook the

at the sheer display of

max with Balanced Direction

fist hadn't

of five Apprentice-level techniques with his sheer

The boys furiously fought.

Fists were exchanged.

Kicks were dodged.

Attacks were endured.

And defenses were sieged!

were lower than Nel's. A symmetric battle was not in his

things up with Phantom Step and Primordial

avoid more strikes than his speed did, and allowed him to land more attacks than