The Martial Unity

He lashed at Rui, swinging his clawed hand at him wildly.

WHOOSH

BAM!

Rui somersaulted out of the attack, landed a powerful drop kick on the man's head. Vranil grimaced as he swung at Rui once more.

Rui intercepted strike at the middle of his forearm, careful to avoid his hand.

FLIP

Vranil's eyes flew wide open as the world turned upside-down. Rui had cleanly flipped him using Flow Flux. Under ordinary circumstances, Rui would not have been able to but Vranil's state of mind was not conducive to stability.

PEW

Rui's toe flew, whistling as it cut through the air and buried itself in his throat.

"ARGH!" He choked as he landed on his head.

BAM!!

Rui soccer-kicked him to the head, sending his body flying across the forest, breaking past some trees. Even if the man was strong, Rui's raw power was immense.

Having mastered two highly-powerful high-grade techniques; Outer Convergence and Flame Breathing, as well as Adamant Reforging which also significantly increased the impact his fists were able to deliver had reached a whole different level. With four techniques in total amplifying his power, every strike of his was remarkably heavy. As far as he knew, only Fae, Ian and Fiona surpassed him in raw power.

Well, Vranil did as well. But his defense wasn't nearly as good. Even he couldn't shrug off such a powerful impact to the head.

He got up groggily.

BLINK

PEW!

Rui used Blink to pierce him yet again. Vranil stumbled unsteadily as he breathed heavily as he closed the new wound Rui had just inflicted on him.

He tried to gather his bearings, but Rui was just overwhelming. Had he been in peak physical and mental condition, he would have performed much better. But he was psychologically and physically far away from his peak. Rui's schemes and plans had affected him negatively in many ways, physically and psychologically.

Furthermore, he noticed Rui had changed. The pressure he exerted on Vranil had been rising, bit-by-bit. His fighting style slowly and gradually morphed as it flowed, changing forms.

Vranil felt weaker and

sharper. He had begun shutting down everything Vranil

Every attack.

Every defense.

Every evasion.

Rui mercilessly crushed all of

It was as though every movement Rui made was made to defeat him. Every step, ever shift, every swing and thrust, even the tiniest of twitches. Each

widened as he met the

He felt transparent.

He felt naked.

felt as though Rui

his

depths of his Martial

Saw through, and denied.

Denied his success.

Denied his accomplishments.

pride as a

Art, and even his

eyes, Rui had become

in Vranil's eyes. It was as though his

move his foe made, Vranil felt like his Martial Art

as though his very Martial

He felt despair.

Art to the very depths of his core, of who he

though Rui was denying

Imperfection. Every trace

They came to life.

began eating away at his Martial Art. They ate away at his Martial Art as Rui's adaptive evolution exploited the void where Vranil's

this weak since he was a human,

Path he could no longer

It was gone.

that was left was a

he could see was the

their vitality as he went

BAM!!

away at tremendous speeds, breaking past

THUD

to the ground,