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.

mental energy his

He focused.

of physical energy

in amazement despite

felt immense amounts of pressure from Rui's sheer focus. It grew by the second, pouring onto him from a boundless abyss. It was

strong was

Nel wanted to know.

see whose Martial Path is stronger void boy!" He grinned as the savage

of mental pressure the

no one

a single person could

supervisor commenced

RUMBLE

force with which Nel had

He snarled as he launched a

WHOOSH

powerful swing crashed into a feint,

BAM!

a powerful kick at his ribs from the side,

POW POW POW

back, having calmly mitigated

mid-grade defensive techniques as well as one high-grade

He grinned.

ordinary jabs didn't

was capable of

WHOOSH

burst forth with shocking explosive speed,

BAM

grimaced as he bruised his

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

launched another loaded

try and tank it this

WHOOSH

cleanly avoided it with a feint. He used Balanced Direction and Parallel Walk,

BAM BAM BAM

a

powered with

was not

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

"Tsk." Rui retreated.

aren't doing the

WHOOSH

help of Primordial Instinct, stepping back to

Or so everyone thought.

at him with a punch, Rui charged right back

BOOM!!

clash shook

gaped at the sheer display of

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

fist hadn't backed

of five Apprentice-level techniques with his

The boys furiously fought.

Fists were exchanged.

Kicks were dodged.

Attacks were endured.

And defenses were sieged!

lower than Nel's. A symmetric

with Phantom Step

his speed did, and allowed him to land more attacks