The Martial Unity

Rui did not forget that despite all his strength, the Academy counted him as a grade seven Martial Artist, three levels below grade ten. Even Fiona was probably at grade eight or nine at most. She had mastered a lot of techniques, but her Martial Art lacked individuality. Her prowess came from her techniques, not the depth of her Martial Path.

One of the reasons he was able to cope as well as he did in their fight despite the large gap was because his mind had reached a higher level in the Apprentice Realm than hers did. His raw cognitive and neural enhancements were greater, it's just that she more than made up for that gap with a bunch of powerful and incredibly difficult techniques.

Hafborn was the example of someone who was incredibly powerful due to a lifetime of accumulation of techniques and experience. He was not a man who had been a Martial Apprentice for merely six or seven years. Rui wouldn't be surprised if Hafborn had been a Martial Apprentice for far more than just that.

Even if Rui was a monster who could swallow up techniques at a rate of one per month, it was not possible overwhelm such a huge age and experience gap that easily.

It was for this reason that Rui truly looked forward to fighting him. An excited grin broke under his mask as he thought of the idea of testing his Flowing Void Style against Hafbor's Martial Art.

Soon, his wish was granted.

"And yet another win for Apprentice Frillix Hafbor. A remarkable performance, will his streak end?" The butler elegantly spoke. "Coming up next, we have the representative fighter of Lady Nartha Freier. This is Apprentice Falken's debut in the Martial games. How well will he perform against the defending champion?"

Immediately, a mild wave of interest fluttered through the guests. New fighters were always interesting.

Rui walked down the stair leading to the small arena below, as he felt many gazes pouring down onto him. The fact that he concealed his identity made him even more mysterious and exciting to them.

"Lady Freier." One of the women Nartha was accompanied by addressed her. "What is his identity?"

sighing. "I cannot divulge that

even reached Hafbor and the arbiter. He wasn't as immersed into his opponent as he was

stopped as he

your stances."

adopted his rock-solid stance once

a stance that focused on offensive maneuvering. He didn't bother trying to focus on raw power, his raw power was insufficient to hurt Hafbor. With maneuvering instead, he could exploit holes in his Hafbor's defense to land the

could be undone, leaving him

this out. It was clear to Rui that he was aware of this.

speed would allow him to jab those locations before Hafbor could defend, but because his arms are legs were positioned to obstruct attacks to those

the arbiter

smoothly dashing in

Yet he was unfazed.

POW POW POW!

at him using Vital Pressure

WOBBLE

his balance briefly disrupted. This sensation was rather bizarre, but it also felt unsafe, Rui couldn't really launch follow-up attacks worth launching in that state. He understood immediately that he had underestimated Hafbor's active redirection defense. Not only could Hafbor redirect strikes away from himself with little amount of energy, but he could also raise the difficulty of throwing follow-up strikes. What this meant for Rui was that it was much more difficult even maintaining a constant flow of

he retreated for a second, regaining his bearings.

shifted his guard

Yet;