The Martial Unity

('Tsk, he has too much power,') Rui tutted.

That statement was true in many ways.

Not only was guardian Tokugawa stronger than he had expected, but he also probably had a lot of power and influence within the Floating Sect.

Being the strongest guardian meant that he did have a lot of influence within the sect, second to only the three Martial Seniors.

Furthermore, the Floating Sect was in a state of absolute war, people like Tokugawa Ieyasu were absolute treasures whose value was second only to, again, the Martial Seniors of the sect.

That was why Rui knew that he could probably get away with killing Kane if he wanted to. The Floating Sect was not going to punish the only individual Martial Squire that was a threat to Martial Seniors without their Martial Heart during the war.

This was the kind of influence he gained from being that strong.

And strong he was, Rui had to admit. The man was able to outpace someone as powerful as Kane in maneuvering while clearly not going all out even when it came to maneuvering. If he was even remotely as powerful when it came to offense and defense as he was with maneuvering, then his true full power was far beyond any Martial Squire that Rui had ever seen. The man's power was era-defining.

Regardless, it wasn't enough to deter Rui. He immediately got to the edge of the arena.

If he saw anything that indicated that the man was going to move in to kill Kane, he absolutely would intervene without any doubt. There was no way that he was going to just stand by and watch his best friend die, regardless of what the rules were.

It appeared that Kane was unwilling to resign since it was clear that guardian Tokugawa Ieyasu was clearly not done with whatever it was that he wanted from Kane. If Kane resigned, it was unlikely that he would give up so easily. He would most likely challenge Kane again, and they would be back to square one.

He nodded in approval when Kane deactivated Fulminata.

He could not use Fulminata and Void Step simultaneously, unfortunately. The reason for that was that the Fulminata technique ran on reflexes while the Void Step technique required conscious thought.

Kane immediately leaped into action, disappearing into thin air.

reaction from all the guardians. Each of them had decently powerful senses, and many of them had particularly powerful

none of them were able to

CLASP!

Kane's attack, forcing him to stop maneuvering as he didn't let

POW!

inflicting too

as he retreated. Yet, rather than simply returning to the normal Void Step stance,

realized what he was going

the original Godspeed

Fulminata technique allowed him to control the speed of Godspeed to a

it extensively against Tokugawa, and it

to even possibly have

he had one more technique. The technique that had given him enough individuality to allow him to

hard on, yet one that wasn't used nearly as ubiquitously due to how limiting

most powerful technique in his

exhaled deeply, going all out as he

exuded from him, stirring even his

the briefest whisper escaped his

"Voidspeed."

He disappeared.

could combine the power of Void Step and

the senses of everyone around him, while also using Godspeed to cross

Yet…

THWACK!

…It wasn't enough.

behind Ieyasu, motionless for