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

He focused.

physical energy his body could

amazement despite the

pressure from Rui's sheer focus. It grew by the second, pouring onto him from a

how strong

Nel wanted to know.

boy!" He grinned as the savage weight

pressure the two boys generated

no one could

could draw their

the supervisor

RUMBLE

Nel had launched himself

snarled as he launched a wild

WHOOSH

into

BAM!

powerful kick at his ribs from the side, but Nel

POW POW POW

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

two mid-grade defensive

He grinned.

what if ordinary jabs didn't

was capable of

WHOOSH

burst forth with shocking explosive speed, launching a

BAM

bruised his arm visibly despite his defensive

now had he confirmed that he could

another loaded

to try and tank it this

WHOOSH

with a feint. He used Balanced Direction and Parallel Walk, to

BAM BAM BAM

a flurry of

with Outer Convergence and

was

reflexes were too quick to allow Rui to land a clean strike

"Tsk." Rui retreated.

aren't doing the

WHOOSH

cleanly with the help of Primordial Instinct, stepping back to

Or so everyone thought.

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

BOOM!!

clash shook the

the sheer display

Rui had charged up his momentum to the max with Balanced Direction and Parallel Walk, and launched a Flowing Canon attack amplified

fist hadn't backed

matched the power 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!

lower than Nel's. A symmetric battle was

things up with Phantom Step

avoid more strikes than his speed did, and