The Martial Unity

"Mmm…" Rui dusted himself off with a wry smile. "Well, you've earned the opportunity."

He took a neutral stance. "But I have no intention of accepting payback that easily."

"Oh, come on, you don't think you can actually win under these circumstances, can you?"

"Who knows." Rui shrugged calmly. "Finding out is the reason I accepted the challenge at all."

"Well, let's find out then!" Kane's legs furled, garnering potential energy. In just a moment, he shot off at Rui at blindingly fast speeds.

It was well within Rui's prediction.

'Temporal Disharmony.'

"Tsk!" Kane tutted with annoyance as his perception of time sped up, forcing him to slow down. Thankfully, the Martial Heart increased his cognition while it was active, making it harder to hypnotize him. The fact that Rui had succeeded without a Martial Heart at all was quite surprising.

BAM BAM BAM!!!

Kane pummeled Rui while the latter balled up, covering all his vitals. Unfortunately, Kane was too fast with his Martial Heart for Rui to match the man's speed with a moving guard and a moving defense.

However, it wasn't speed alone that was overwhelming.

CRACK CRACK CRACK!

Rui narrowed his eyes as he felt his bone crack under the weight of Kane's heavy blows. It was remarkable how simply turning off his Martial Heart changed the way that he perceived Kane. With his Martial Heart active, Kane's blows were so weak that they didn't even register at times.

Yet without the Martial Heart, Rui felt like he was fighting someone stronger than the Gatekeeper.

However, attacks that each should have thoroughly killed him were being withstood.

This was because his predictive model of Kane's movements was extremely refined. He could see where each strike was going to be well before it arrived. With such foreknowledge, attacks that would have shattered past his ribcage and crushed his heart were resisted with minimal damage.

The answer was simple.

VMMM!

his feet vibrated as he redirected all

effectiveness was highest when timed correctly. With the current degree to which he was able to anticipate Kane with

to endure the sheer onslaught of

BAM BAM BAM!!!

CRACK!

bore the brunt of another brutal attack, struggling to disperse the impact. Yet,

BOOM!

CRACK!

as the attack launched him away. He actually preferred it. The greater the distance between them, the more time

prepared the technique to the cusp of execution,

POW POW POW!!

as he barely managed to time Flux Earther with

it still

CRACK!

bone cracking despite Nemean Blossom, even if it was quickly healed by Weaving Blood. He wasn't fast enough to avoid Kane without his Martial Heart; thus, he was limited to

System running at full

rushed in for another

guess I'll just

BOOM!!

abandoned his guard, allowing the

CRACK CRACK CRACK!!

Kane's strikes made contact. A deep dent formed in his chest and abdomen as the strike broke past his bones with ease, crushing into his lungs. If not for Weaving Blood working overtime to heal the damage, Rui

wasn't what caught Kane's attention. What caught Kane's attention was

"Sleep."

a deeper part of his mind. Before he could register it, the darkness had already faded. Rui hadn't moved from his spot; his broken ribs had

just happened?" Kane

at all."

had added a memory-wiping element to

was to reduce the probability that they would take some active measures to break out