The Martial Unity

It would be disgraceful for him to deny the convenience of his breakthrough. Things could have unfolded much worse if Ieyasu did not exist. Considering that his family very well may have been saved by Ieyasu helping Rui breakthrough so early, Rui decided not to pursue that line of argument.

He was being weirdly childish, in hindsight.

They both were. A debate about who was superior where they tried flexing on the other was uncharacteristic of both.

Rui did not enjoy bragging about his superiority to other Martial Artists. He couldn't but feel like a jerk picking on the weak when he did that. In general, he disliked demeaning others due to their lack of talent compared to his spectacular growth.

But with Ieyasu, something was just a little different. He was on par with Rui, so a competitive spirit that Rui had almost never experienced before welled up.

'...When was the last time I felt that competitive?' Rui couldn't help but wonder.

Not even Meera had made him feel that competitive, he mostly felt pity for her in the latter half of the fight.

The abyssfeeder came close, but it was too non-sentient.

Before that...

'It was when I fought Kane in the Martial Contest preliminaries.' Rui mused, as his mind flashed back to an ancient memory.

Now he found an equal who he did not need to worry about falling behind or hurting his feelings due to clear superiority. They were basically of the same generation and they had many things in common.

"If you have nothing else to say then leave me alone while I train," Ieyasu remarked.

"Now now, don't be so quick to dismiss me," Rui smirked. "You're going to be training to test your limits in the Senior Realm, aren't you? I have yet to do the same thing and what better way is there to go about it than against an equal?"

Rui took a simple stance mid-air, facing Ieyasu.

annoying but..." Ieyasu turned to face him. "...Your suggestion does

Rui smirked. "No

glint flashed in Ieyasu's eyes as he took his eyes.

soon became a

BADUMP!

them lashed forward at top speed as their

the sheer

POW POW POW!!!

exchanged as

in

techniques. The VOID algorithm blazed into action as Ieyasu activated his Mind

was determined to

too. After all, in their previous fight, Ieyasu heavily benefitted from the damage he had inflicted on Rui early on in the fight before Rui adapted to

not exist anymore, and it would give him the edge

observed Ieyasu closely. He didn't know which Martial Art he was going to go with, however, he had developed predictive models for all of

forward with Gale Force Breathing, Outer Convergence, and Thundering Lance coupled with a Flowing Canon. It appeared

didn't I?" Rui narrowed his eyes. "You cannot copy the

snorted. "The true

about that."

at full power just to undo all the damage he had initially suffered, this time he could channel those resources towards a more

him less well because he didn't have the

with Hypertrophic Surge entering the equation, Rui could finally gain an edge on Ieyasu even

his right arm twitched ever

Ninety-nine-point-eight percent certainty and accuracy.' Rui ducked, launching an

And yet;