The Martial Unity

And that's when Rui noticed something odd.

Freund was continuously breathing with his mouth open. Not just a little open, he looked like he was trying to pump out air as much as possible. If he was exhausted, Rui would not have minded, but he shouldn't have been that exhausted that quickly. Furthermore, there weren't any other signs of exhaustion that accompanied heavy breathing.

Rui's eyes widened as he realized what was happening.

('He's exhaling poison!') He mused with absolute incredulity.

Rui couldn't even begin to fathom the kind of body conditioning Freund Gamor had put himself through to obtain that kind of technique. It also explained why he removed his mouth mask. Everything fit.

Furthermore, this technique was especially effective against Ian. Ian was abusing breathing techniques the entire fight, taking in an impossible amount of air every second.

A technique that poisoned the very air was a technique that was extremely well-suited to taking Ian down!

Down there, Ian had immediately shifted tactics when he realized that he was being poisoned even though he avoided Freund like the plague.

If that was the case, then he simply had no choice.

He lashed out at Freund with Lightning Breathing, and began an onslaught with Fire Breathing. If he could not avoid or even minimize the rate at which he was being poisoned, then there was only one thing left to do.

To ensure that rate at which Freund was being damaged was even higher.

He peppered Freund with an enormous amount of power! Only Fae and Fiona could match his offensive prowess.

Freund fought back valiantly, yet he was enduring damage at an astronomical rate. Wounds appeared on his body every second. After just fifteen seconds, he was already bleeding from multiple places, and half his body had been bruised badly.

Yet he fought.

As long as he could come maximize the amount of poison that entered Ian's system, he had a realistic chance of victory.

BAM!

crashed against his jaw,

THUD

fell to the ground,

moments passed as the referee check up on

Nepomniachtchi!"

have a winner folks! Representative Ian Nepomniachtchi managed to snatch victory from the jaws of loss! He will be moving onto the third round of the Martial Contest!" The commentator

very well for any longer. His

other

compatibility advantage

was no

called to him. "It's

Rui nodded. He turned around, heading towards the exit. Servil Bisha had done the same, taking a different route that would lead to the entrance on the other side

Rui was already prepared.

gathered his concentration, honing his

His attention gathered.

Bit by bit.

Drop by drop.

of absolute concentration recently. His command over his own mind had

the Flickering Ghoul, and her Flickering Core style representing the Gragol branch! On the other hand, we have representative Rui Quarrier and his Flowing Void style representing

entered the arena, stopping at a distance from

the two fighters stared at each

your stances." The

center of gravity leaning forward and her

understood

within

his legs, crouching while bring his open-handed palms to

a strong grappling affinity to it. But it also