The Martial Unity

Ieyasu's eyes intensified gravely.

This was beyond his expectations.

Through the first two stages of the fight, he had inflicted immense damage on Rui across his entire body.

Then he impaled his gut, blasted him away with an attack, and then impaled his heart.

And yet, all of that had disappeared into thin air.

As if it hadn't been there in the first place.

Of course, he knew that this was not truly the case. He sensed a slump in Rui's other performance parameters as a result.

The price of the technique.

And yet, it was worth the price.

In the first place, they both knew that his greatest asset was not his physical prowess.

It was his mind.

As long as his body was healthy and functional, then he would be able to wield the power of thought to the best that he could.

BAM BAM BAM!

A barrage of powerful blows crashed into Ieyasu, flinging him away. A deep darkness within Rui's eyes fixated on him.

Yet another Martial Art had been adapted and evolved.

Rui raced after him. A mighty Flowing Canon surged forward.

And yet;

BOOM!

Rui barely managed to guard against a powerful attack from a new Martial Art, grimacing as it flung him away.

Ieyasu raced forward with a surge of furious determination.

He had already discovered that the transition to a new Martial Art after Rui adapted to the previous caught Rui off-guard, creating an opening that he could exploit. It only worked if Rui adapted to the previous one, growing a little comfortable with all his predictions before Ieyasu made a deep fundamental shift in his mind, in his being, throwing Rui off with a new copy.

It was only in these transitions that he could regain dominance in the battle.

And yet.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

Without fail, Rui's responses would grow cleaner.

Smoother.

Like a gentle ebbing stream of pure water from a spring.

How many times could this happen?

He didn't have endless Martial Art.

Sooner or later, he would run out.

He knew this.

He knew Rui knew this. He could sense his awareness with his Mind Eye technique.

thing became clearer as the fight

Martial Art

Everything fell.

the VOID

His expression grew severe.

he exerted himself

pushed himself to the

that he had etched into his mind from

out technique

after Martial

everything he had

seen in the sum totality of his time as a

All of it.

And yet.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

the man's attacks, preparing a

read his

POW POW POW!

attacks crashed into his guard harmlessly. Ieyasu instead surged forward with a

simply ignored

BOOM!

backward, grimacing as he

was already

a

on his feet, hoping for a moment

Eye technique already

WHOOSH!

from Rui, swerving

And yet...

BAM!

him before he himself did, knocking

opening had

did not let

BAM BAM BAM!!!

Ieyasu with incredibly swift and powerful blows. His fists knew exactly where to go, navigating the man's guards and

blood as he leaped

Yet he was sluggish.

A beat too slow.

BOOM!

surged forward, crashing into the man,

caught his breath, yet a chill crawled up his skin as

give him even a

wave of emotion

the despair of having their Martial Art torn apart was enough to obfuscate an emerging

Rui was winning.

could feel this more clearly than his

as he struggled

body bled, peppered with

wounds covered

His muscles burned.

His flesh screamed.

His bones creaked.

His joints groaned.

And yet...

powerful blow surged

And yet.

CLASP!

evading it as he caught it, before rapidly pulling it down over his shoulder