The Martial Unity

As the battle passed, Squire Heviluo began exerting himself tremendously in his attempts to prevent Kane from entering.

Eventually, it appeared he could no longer keep up.

THUD

He fell to one knee, sweating profusely. His exertion had also strained his healing factor. Even if he attempted to simply wait and recuperate, Kane would not let him. Every time he stopped using the technique, Kane would rush in and employ the Phantom Step technique, or he would attack for real, forcing the man to once again use a taxing technique.

Both sides were exerting themselves, however, Kane's Fulminata technique was fueled by the esoteric substances in his tattoos, while only his Godspeed technique consumed a lot of energy, however, it consumed it over time as opposed to an instantaneous consumption like the man's hurricane technique.

The Phantom Technique was a very light technique and did not require much energy, either mental or physical, to function.

WHOOSH

Kane rushed in for real, the man desperately launched normal attacks at Kane this time instead of his strenuous hurricane technique, yet he was challenging Kane in his technique. With Fulminata Godspeed, there was almost no chance that any wind could possibly hit him.

BZZZT!

Kane shocked him, incapacitating him momentarily.

SPLAT!

In the brief moment of time, he targeted wounds that he had already inflicted prior, allowing him to pierce much deeper than he would be able to normally.

He slashed at blood vessels, widened wounds, and inflicted more damage before leaping back, narrowly evading another attack.

The man bled profusely, spilling copious amounts of blood.

Yet he never gave up. Kane simply proceeded to rinse and repeat the existing strategies. His Fulminata Godspeed eventually ran out, yet even the exhaustion that beset him wasn't enough of an opportunity for Squire Heviluo to get back into the game, especially since Kane could use Void Step for a brief amount of time even in his exhaustion.

THUD

The man's body collapsed in a pool of his own blood. Yet it wasn't until his heart stopped beating that the arbiter declared the match over.

"Squire Nake wins by death, officially becoming the guardian of the nine hundred and seventy-eighth chamber!" The man announced.

There was no applause, of course. The spectating initiates did not care for either side one way or another. Kane was just another potential target for them from this day forth.

Kane stumbled out of the battle arena in a daze.

"Congratulations," Rui smiled offering him rejuvenation and healing potions as well as some food pills. "There were some incredibly close moments, but you managed to obtain victory nonetheless."

"Yeah… that was rough," He grimaced. "I broke a few ribs and some fingers even though I took small parts of the total attack."

He quickly chugged down the potions and the pills when he was approached by a staff member.

"Guardian Nake, allow me to guide you to your chamber."

"Uh…" He turned back to face Rui.

"God," Rui gestured. "I'll catch up soon enough."

"Definitely let me know ahead of time whenever your fight happens to be."

"Will do."

Rui turned back to the colosseum as he watched the next fight ensue.

Unlike most challenges, this was one between two guardians.

The guardian of the nine hundred and forty-eighth chamber had challenged the guardian of the nine hundred and first chamber.

The difference between the two of them wasn't that great, they were both highly powerful Martial Artists that were probably on the verge of being considered grade nine. Rui paid close attention to the two of them.

The Martial Squire of the nine hundred and first chamber was a short and petite woman. The second Rui laid eyes on her, he couldn't help but frown.

('There's something off about her skin,') He immediately couldn't help but notice with the help of his sharp senses. The color was completely normal, but what did draw his attention was the texture. It was just incredibly non-standard in ways he wasn't fully able to sense.

She took a wild stance, spreading her arms to her side as she crouched a bit.

Rui couldn't even understand the point of such a stance.

Her opponent, in comparison, was much more standard. He extended both arms forward with one arm facing her with sharp palms while the palm of the second hand was tucked at his elbow.

('A Wing Chun stance,') Rui raised an eyebrow with interest. He most likely had a strong offensive close-range striking Martial Artist.

"Begin!" The battle commenced as the two of them lashed out at each other. The man rushed forward towards her in a normal fashion, but the woman, she did more than just that.

Her arms lit up on bursts of fire every time she swung forward as she ran forward.

Rui's eyes widened with surprise. ('A flame related to Martial Art?')

POW POW POW!

The two of them exchanged a spiral of strikes, and immediately, she gained an advantage. Much to Rui's surprise, her opponent's fists immediately began bleeding!

Not only that, but every strike she landed on him also tore away at his skin, leaving flesh wounds in her wake.

The man grimaced with a shocked expression.

('Was he really not prepared?') Rui furrowed his eyebrows. ('I suppose preparations isn't nearly as much of a thing as it is when you're an initiate.')

He immediately leaped back, yet she refused to give him any room to avoid her. She rushed forward, making wide extravagant movements as she began launching flame plumed at him with her every movement.

FOOOM!

The grimaced as his skin was singed by her attacks.

Yet Rui had stopped paying him as much attention. He focused on the woman, analyzing her techniques.

('It's… friction!') Rui's eyes widened. ('Her skin is rough beyond all imagination. She can shear away at her opponent's skin with just a simple brushing movement.')

Furthermore, the flames that she generated with her technique, were generated by heating up the air enough with just sheer friction alone.