The Martial Unity

His eyes narrowed as he studied the damage that his attack had inflicted on the Abyssfeeder specimen that he had attacked. It wasn't that he hadn't done any damage at all to its second inspection, he just realized that it was harder to tell because its anatomy was so undefined and hard to gauge.

But it was clear that it was not entirely ineffective. And yet, he was a little wary of the fact that his strongest attack did not even hurt it all that much. One of the biggest points of concern was the fact that it didn't even need that much time to begin adapting to a certain offensive.

('It's adaptation timeframe is absurdly little.') Rui tutted.

When he compared it to his adaptation, at least, the adaptation speed of the Abyssfeeder species was much higher.

Of course, Rui adapted to opponents as a whole, not to a single attack. Their adaptation also worked on fundamentally different principles.

His Flowing Void Style employed the VOID algorithm, which relied largely on data analysis starting from simply physicality and stance analysis to pattern recognition to create predictive models and did the actual adapting through the adaptive evolution model, picking the right counters based on what the predictions were.

It used to be that, but he recently added the Metabody System which allowed him to change his physical parameters to the most optimal to counter his opponent. He essentially altered them to complement his adapted fighting style.

Together, this formed the core of his Flowing Void Style.

('But this creature… It doesn't even seem to have a sophisticated mind,') Rui sharply analyzed based on their movements. ('It's adaptation is purely physiological.')

His attention focused even more as it approached. It had for some reason become an extremely flat sheet of blackness instead of the web that it was before. It began approaching Rui, which is when he sensed something was off.

('Wait a minute…') He frowned. ('I can sense it through Seismic Mapping, but not Tempestuous Feel.')

That meant it sent vibrations through the ground and not through the air.

('Which means… I see, so that's how it handled my attack.') He tutted as he understood what had happened. ('Acousting air absorption. That's how it dealt with my attack.')

It somehow had managed to alter its body in a way that would permeate the impact of the air particles through it in a manner that exploited the fact that gases are not bound together the way solids were. It would also explain why it didn't register on his Tempestuous Feel.

to get a better idea of how this creature

out

the other Abyssfeeders had also waited

other contestants grew graver by the second as they each sought to deal with the

in place as the one that he had attacked reached him. He did not want to avoid confrontation because he needed as much data on this creature

Abyssfeeder was because this was not just a clash between

a clash of

enough for the complex thought needed to have philosophies. However, despite that, it

way to adapt and evolve

where they

ability to adapt and evolve,

the matter was that the degree to which he altered his body paled in comparison to his opponent. While he used autophagy, the hyper-enhanced flow of nutrition and cell-building compounds, the Herenal Virus, cell wall thickening, and such principles to alter his combat physical parameters, these

did not even resemble its

evolution of thought. The VOID algorithm allowed him to make exactly the combat and hand-to-hand decisions that were perfectly suited to countering his opponent. The foundation of adaptation and evolution relied on

eyes as his

his heart

not afford to lose this battle. The loss threatened the dominance of the philosophy

Be water.

it out of an instruction consisting of

that wasn't quite

his lives. He had interpreted those words as referring to the state of

Yet, this wasn't Earth.

could mean

a creature whose body may as well be water. It had started out as a shapeless mass of webs, and now it was rushing towards him in the shape of a

Which water was superior?