The Martial Unity

BAM!

Rui's eyes flew wide open as Ian struck him with a more powerful blow than ever before. Rui skidded away as he gazed at Ian with a surprised expression. Why was he suddenly stronger than before despite the wound?

Ian had a furious expression on his face. "You bastard...!"

He coughed up a little blood.

('He's pushing himself to the absolute limit.') Rui realized. Ian was essentially pushing himself to his peak at the cost of accelerating the deterioration of his condition.

WHOOSH

Ian abused Lightning Breathing even as blood splurted out of his wound, to move faster than he ever had, reaching Rui in an instant.

BOOM!

Rui grimaced as an immensely powerful blow crashed against his guard. His body shook with the impact as he leapt back. Even the combination of his three defensive techniques weren't able to mitigate the impact.

Rui's senses heightened as he realized they had entered the final phase of the battle.

He abandoned all offense and shifted all of his focus on evasion and defense. Whatever happened, he could not afford to make a mistake! A single mistake was all Ian needed to turn the tables around for himself.

WHOOSH

Rui carefully evaded a strike with a feint as he immediately activated his maneuvering techniques to open up distance between them.

However, Ian was relentless.

"RAARGH!" he snarled as he shook the very ground with the sheer force he was accelerating towards with Rui with.

WHOOSH

as he evaded yet

BOOM!

a drop kick that cracked the ground Rui was upon a moment

absorbed into

were witnessing the

yet, the clinch

WHOOSH

BAM!

past

in pain as he

BAM!

jaw, disorienting him. He ignored his condition, lashing out a flurry of wild attacks, but his condition had deteriorated too much, he

POW!

simple uppercut to the jaw pushed his

THUD

ground as he bled

Quarrier!" The referee

a moment,

crowd erupted

Rui Quarrier! Against all odds he managed to overcome one of the favourites with a stunning victory! He moves onto the finals of the Martial Contest!" The commentator

He threw a deep look at Ian, who was being treated. He did not respect his character, but he respected his power, his perseverance and his determination. He never gave up until the very end, despite his

the arena

my boy." Squire Dylon smirked, throwing him a thumbs

this is an achievement you have every right to take pride in." Squire

He was relatively certain she though he had a high chance of losing in the finals. She was just being more

Dylon even managed to be funny about it. Though he

commentator announced. "One on hand, we have representative Mia Marnt and her Echo Blast Style representing the Fellen branch. On

in cheers as

two representatives. Mia was in her early twenties while Fiona was fifteen, like himself, furthermore she was short and petite for someone her age. It really did look like an adult was trying to