The Martial Unity

"Your resistance towards mental techniques is quite remarkable, even for a Squire candidate." Squire Luna informed him. "Apprentice Frix here alone wasn't able to maintain the hypnosis because you were developing too much of a resistance, I had to step in personally."

"Ah..." Rui recalled that he was able to resist offensive mental techniques. He recalled the first round of the Martial Contest where he had fought against a mental technique Martial Artist. He had been able to dominantly resist the influence of mental techniques back then.

The reason he'd forgotten about it here was that he thought he needed to actively resist the mental technique for it to affect the procedure. However, it turned out that he was wrong, his passive mental defenses alone were enough to hinder the Martial Apprentice, to the point that a Martial Squire had to intervene for the hypnosis to still be effective on him.

"My bad," Rui added apologetically.

"It's not your fault." She waved her hand dismissively.

"Your condition is remarkably well." Doctor Herin added. "We can begin the next session immediately if you so wish."

Rui nodded in response. "Please do."

Preparations were made and Rui closed his eyes as the hallucinogens entered his system, affecting him.

When he opened his eyes, he had returned to the white world that seemed to expand infinitely.

('Woah.') He got up with a jump. He glanced at his thin arms, unsurprised. This time, he was hallucinating a lightweight body. The abrupt shift from heavyweight to lightweight had caused him to use too much force.

He hopped on his feet lightly, amazed at how nimble he was.

fake Rui appeared at a distance before

He moved with a speed and agility he could scarcely fathom, crossing the distance between them

POW POW POW!

at fake Rui with blinding speed and impeccable fluidity. Yet, fake Rui

Inner Divergence, Elastic Shift, Acute Edge, and Adamant Reforging. They weren't even able to come close. Fake Rui's defensive prowess was extremely high, not only because he had

and placement than almost any Martial Apprentice

hope of ever taking him down

He still had solutions against fake Rui

WHOOSH

The predictive model he had made in his previous mental fight was

PEW!

ever had before, whistling as it cut through the air, burying itself in

him any respite. He launched a Flowing Canon amplified with many techniques at fake Rui. Although ordinary blows could not even faze

BAM!

of his wound. The bleeding immediately resumed, just as

He was a ghost.

maneuvering techniques which were stifled in the previous fight in the heavyweight body, took center stage as they shined brightly. Parallel Walk, Balanced Direction, Wind Breathing, and Phantom Step. These techniques combined with the VOID algorithm allowed Rui to express a degree of speed, agility, and maneuvering that far surpassed anything he would ever be capable of as a Martial Apprentice in

He launched many an attack, yet they all mostly bounced off fake Rui's powerful defensive prowess. Only the attacks that landed on extremely vulnerable and vital locations had any effect at all. However,

damage through the Stinger?') Rui cursed. Although his speed and maneuvering allowed him to move around like the wind, he only felt more shackled. His offensive potential was so pathetic