The Martial Unity

Rui rode a wave of euphoria as he felt his Martial Art maturing, it was a feeling of unmistakable clarity. He lashed forward as he acted on the predictive models that he had created for each of the over the span of the fight while deriving the best counter to their impending actions with the adaptive evolution model.

WHOOSH

BAM!

He avoided a predicted low kick by leaping forward with a flying knee kick, striking his opponent's diaphragm with a powerful impact. It was especially worse because Reverberating Lance permeated the impact deeper into the body, shocking the diaphragm and impeding his opponent's breathing. The woman collapsed, writhing on the ground.

Six more Martial Apprentices to go.

WHOOSH

POW POW POW!

He evaded a roundhouse kick as he threw a combo of strikes at his opponent, disorienting him with the powerful impacts of his strikes permeating deeper.

The remaining two immediately ganged up on him.

BLINK

PEW!

He managed to land a Stinger on his opponent's neck veiled through a Blink. He immediately grimaced, retreating as he cradled his bleeding neck.

The final remaining close-range Martial Apprentice threw a swing that Rui saw coming from a mile away thanks to the predictive model.

CLASP

intercepted the swing with Flow Flux immediately, destabilizing balance and

BAM!

jaw rattled his head violently, causing enough blunt-force trauma to cause the brain to shut down. Rui didn't bother trying

feints and misdirection along with his swift maneuvering. He ran straight toward them as he launched multiple Tempestuous Ripples to

many long-range attacks as they could, whether it meant extended flexibility, wind attacks, launching land, or other sorts of attacks, yet

BOOM!!

crashed into the

died on

didn't take him long to swiftly take down the

them. All of the Martial Apprentices were part of

All by himself.

had broken before he had even noticed. The various nations immediately verified his identity as they learned more about the foe that had foiled every response that

shock and anger at his feats, there wasn't much

single Martial Apprentices could not singlehandedly affect an entire large-scale war all

Or so they thought.

Shadow Step to avoid gathering the attention of the many Martial Apprentices and potion users that were wrangling with each

And soon he arrived.

knelt on the

execute the plan that he had proposed to the Kandrian Empire

closed his eyes, while still

thought that flashed through his mind as he began gathering his concentration and focus like he had done so many times. Yet this time, they were especially important,

construct the most powerful mind mask he ever had. He pictured himself as invincible, invulnerable, and omnipotent. He pictured himself embodying the very concept of power, and everything that it meant to