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.

the VOID

His expression grew severe.

as he exerted himself to the

he pushed himself

pattern after pattern that he had

brought out technique after

after

everything he had

in the sum totality of his time

All of it.

And yet.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

weaved through the man's

Ieyasu read

POW POW POW!

his guard harmlessly. Ieyasu instead surged

Rui simply

BOOM!

fell backward, grimacing as he glanced at his

wound was already

the other hand, had already endured a ton of prior damage

his feet, hoping for a

technique already knew Rui

WHOOSH!

kick from Rui, swerving to

And yet...

BAM!

had already arrived at him before he himself did,

opening had

that Rui did not

BAM BAM BAM!!!

blows. His fists knew exactly where to go, navigating the man's guards and maneuvers and landing cleanly on

coughed blood as

Yet he was sluggish.

A beat too slow.

BOOM!

forward, crashing into

a chill crawled up his skin as he

arrived, refusing to give him even

wave of emotion stirred through

realization slowly dawned on the various spectators. Not even the despair of having their Martial Art torn apart was enough to

Rui was winning.

one could feel this more clearly than his

as he struggled to catch his

bled,

of wounds covered every inch

His muscles burned.

His flesh screamed.

His bones creaked.

His joints groaned.

And yet...

blow surged

And yet.

CLASP!

evading it as he caught it, before rapidly