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!

as her sharp instincts told her to

Yet, it wasn't enough.

BAM!

projectiles struck her even after she moved away. Rui had

projectiles at her, restricting

eyes narrowed. ('Durability

training, as well as the spec configuration of her Martial body, it was largely devoted to maximizing her friction, and the utility of her

made up 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

second that went by, he grew better and better as he memorized her active and passive patterns that existed in her motion, growing more

win this way. She wasn't able to reach him, but that didn't mean she was helpless when it

power-consuming than close-range attacks, thus she would certainly last longer at this

place where she only spent enough energy avoiding his attacks while she

needed to spend mental effort into ensuring that

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 a

been waiting for this opening. She did not believe that he would be able to outlast her with his attacks despite her much lower effort evasion. She lashed

she reached him, yet that only

BAM!!!

eyes widened as her

CRACK CRACK CRACK!

felt several

her

right before her, with his fist

she could even process what