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.

became clearer as

Martial Art was his

Everything fell.

VOID

His expression grew severe.

he exerted himself

creaked as he pushed himself

pattern that he had etched into his mind from countless different Martial

out technique after

after

everything he had to

he had ever seen in the sum

All of it.

And yet.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

weaved through the man's attacks, preparing a powerful

Ieyasu read his

POW POW POW!

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

Rui simply

BOOM!

fell backward, grimacing as he glanced at his

wound was

other hand, had already endured a ton of prior damage atop this new

feet, hoping for

his Mind Eye technique already knew Rui would

WHOOSH!

evaded a powerful kick from Rui, swerving

And yet...

BAM!

before he himself did, knocking him off

had

that Rui did

BAM BAM BAM!!!

exactly where to go, navigating the man's guards and maneuvers and landing

The man coughed blood as

Yet he was sluggish.

A beat too slow.

BOOM!

had already surged forward, crashing into the

crawled

had already arrived, refusing to give him

emotion stirred

Not even the despair of having their Martial Art torn apart

Rui was winning.

could feel this more

heavily as he struggled to catch

bled, peppered

of wounds covered every inch of his

His muscles burned.

His flesh screamed.

His bones creaked.

His joints groaned.

And yet...

titanically powerful blow surged

And yet.

CLASP!

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