The Martial Unity

"Challenger; Squire Falken. Defender: Guardian Saiwal."

The two of them stepped forward, bowing to each other. Rui locked eyes with her, and he could feel cold bloodlust in her eyes. He didn't expect anything less, of course. By challenging her, Rui was basically saying that he wanted to kill her and was confident that he could do it.

He couldn't even deny it, since that was indeed the case.

Kane had already joined the Floating Sect, and it was time for Rui to follow suit.

"Take your stances,"

She took a wide stance, crouching with spread arms and legs.

Rui stood nearly fifty meters away from her, having chosen a long-range distance while she chose a short-range, with a completely neutral stance.

He stared at her with a calm expression. Yet he exerted a faint pressure on her without making any threatening stances or glares.

"Begin!"

She immediately lashed out toward Rui, hoping to reach him in her initial charge. After all, her most effective range was when she was up close with her opponent, tearing off their flesh while she roasted them in her flames.

Yet, she wasn't surprised when Rui took to the air as he leaped back. He launched a barrage of Mighty Roaring Flash Blasts.

THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM!

Unfortunately, he wasn't nearly at the distance where the creation of the technique could not be sensed. That only worked when he was hundreds of meters away. She was able to notice that he was manipulating the atmosphere somehow when he created the sonic bullets, even if she couldn't sense the sonic bullets themselves.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

sharp instincts told

Yet, it wasn't enough.

BAM!

the sound projectiles struck her even after she moved away.

launched a hail of projectiles at

eyes narrowed. ('Durability

of her Martial body, it was largely devoted to maximizing her friction, and the utility of her friction. It meant that she wasn't as strong at

for it, but it didn't help her get past Rui's attacks. She wasn't swift and nimble enough to evade all the attacks that he threw at her, nor was she durable enough to withstand

predictive accuracy that was helping him out. With each passing second that went by, he grew better and better as he memorized her active and passive patterns that

to win this way. She wasn't able to reach him, but that didn't mean she was helpless when it came to dealing with his onslaught. His long-range offense wasn't high-grade in power, thus he wasn't able to inflict too much damage with

long-range attacks were more power-consuming than close-range attacks, thus she would

into a comfortable place where she only spent enough energy avoiding his attacks while she

but unfortunately, that was much more difficult to land because he needed to spend mental effort into ensuring that the four sound waves overlapped

stretch of monotony. She did her best to avoid his attacks while still trying to close in where and when she could.

decided to

heaved a sigh as he seemingly took

opening. She did not believe that he would be able to outlast her with his attacks despite her much lower effort evasion. She lashed out, itching to

backward as she reached him, yet that

BAM!!!

her pupils dilated

CRACK CRACK CRACK!

felt several

as her vision finally came into

right before her, with his fist buried

she could even process what