The Martial Unity

This was the single riskiest mission Rui have ever partaken in, not even the mission in the Commonwealth Duchy of Vinfrana that featured an enemy Martial Squire had been so threatening. Each of the three nations had sent its own team of Martial Apprentices that was meant to suppress him.

Of course, none of the nations had expected that he himself would be deployed alone with no backup. But the Martial Apprentices that were specifically deployed to target him were immediately informed of his arrival.

Rui pushed to his absolute maximum. He used nearly every technique at his disposal as he fought violently, trying to break past the many Martial Apprentices that had been targeting him. What surprised him was that although the Martial Apprentices targeting him from different nations did not actively cooperate with each other, they did not fight against each other either.

They were completely focused on taking down Rui.

He was forced to fight nine powerful Martial Apprentices that were specifically meant to take him down. Yet, to everyone's surprise. Rui managed to hold on, even if barely.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

Rui managed to cleanly evade the powerful attacks of a close-range Martial Apprentice.

BAM!

He was immediately struck with a wide-range projectile, pushing him away.

('I can't separate from the close-range Martial Apprentices.') Rui immediately concluded. The long-range Martial Apprentices had to restrain themselves when he was in close-range proximity to their close-quarters teammates.

He immediately rushed forward to meet the close-range Martial Apprentices as they aimed to take him down in hand-to-hand combat.

Despite being surrounded by Martial Apprentices, he managed to keep up. His heightened awareness and reactions were an absolute godsend, the combination of the Mindmirror brain and Primordial Instinct was incredibly powerful even at the highest of echelons of the Apprentice Realm.

He blocked some attacks while simultaneously contorting his body to avoid an equal number of strikes. He abused his maneuvering and speed technique to the maximum, using Parallel Walk, Balanced Direction, and Wind Breathing to allow him to evade position himself at the right time and place accurately. He further used Phantom Step to feint to misdirect their attacks and aim. He used Flow Flux to intercept and destabilize his opponents while using Blink to land as many surprise attacks as he could.

PEW!

WHOOSH

the Stinger on one of his opponents while evading a haymaker

POW POW POW!

offensive speed-oriented Martial Apprentice managed to tag Rui with a barrage of strikes cleanly, hurting him in the

BAM!

into

POW POW POW!

with different kinds of attacks from

was immediately beset

he fought back. He used Inner Divergence, Acute Edge, Elastic Shift, and Adamant Reforging to deal with

BAM BAM BAM!

and powerful attacks, using Reverberating Lance to permeate the impact of his

on the remaining two Martial Apprentices, he positioned himself between them and waited for

WHOOSH

BAM!

POW!

into an empty image, passing through it and striking each other

Apprentices and unleashed an avalanche of strikes, trying to tag him. He threw them

the Martial Apprentices chased after him, using

grew tense as the Martial Apprentices saw flashes of him in the chaotic environment. The other nations had already built an extensive profile on Rui and the way he fought. He was extremely resourceful and tactical, when

wanted to get caught up in his

had realized it

BAM!

caught the group in their blind spot with Shadow Step and the Mind Mask technique, slamming the offensive speed-oriented Martial Apprentice with a power Flowing Canon. At his current level, the attack's sheer power was beyond what something a speed-oriented Martial Apprentice could withstand when

Rui reduced one of the Martial