The Martial Unity

"You got challenged already?" Kane frowned. "By an initiate?"

"No, actually..." Rui sighed.

He went on to narrate what happened to Kane.

"That's weird," Kane concluded.

"It is," Rui nodded. "But the duel is in three days. It is what it is. They didn't see me fight, so honestly, they probably know very little about me barring what they can learn from second-hand accounts."

"What was the Martial Path of the one that challenged you?" Kane asked. He knew that Rui was freakishly good at estimating the Martial Paths of Martial Artists just by studying their bodies.

After all, the Martial body was designed to be compatible with the Martial Path. Based on that Rui could infer what the Martial Path was to a certain degree of precision.

"The muscles of his legs were disproportionately larger and stronger than those of the rest of the body. I'm guessing power-oriented Martial Artist that uses Martial Art techniques that are centered around drawing power from his legs. Given that the rest of his body was a lot leaner, I'm guessing that he will most certainly be a mobile fighter." Rui guessed.

"Hm, sounds like you'll be fine," Kane noted. "Was he strong?"

"Sure," Rui shrugged.

There wasn't a single Martial Artist in the Floating Sect that was weak, and those three goons were no different. They were strong for having beaten a guardian to get their spot, and strong for having maintained their chambers for however long they did.

Still, Rui had not experienced too much pressure from them. That probably meant that they were not too strong for him to defeat.

"What about the Martial Art of the other two?"

"One of them was definitely defensive, an active defense-oriented Martial Artist," Rui remarked. "As for the leader… I couldn't tell aside from the fact that he was an all-rounder. But he was definitely the strongest of the three. I find it strange that he did not challenge me himself."

The more Rui thought about it, the more strange it was. Even if he dismissed the oddity of them pursuing him even after he showed that he wasn't a target worth bullying, there was the fact that the leader spoke for the other Martial Artist as though he already knew that the man would agree.

The one who he said would challenge Rui did not look surprised either. Which likely meant that this wasn't something he hadn't expected.

From that, Rui could infer that they had likely done such a thing before. But why would that be the case? Were they really just trying to flex on him to satiate their ego or maintain face?

He didn't think so. The impression that he got from the three of them wasn't that they were driven by a lot of pride and ego and had only challenged back because he made their pathetic attempts at intimidating look stupid.

This looked a lot less impulsive and emotional but deliberate and intentional.

There was also the fact that he was the guardian of a higher chamber, which meant that they did have something to gain if any of them did beat him in a fight.

('Still… duels are one on one, so their numbers are meaningless, unless…') Rui's eyes narrowed.

Rui was not worried about foul play, the Floating Sect was very rigorous in its check-ups, and he did not expect anything short of a bountiful morning. That was why he knew that the Floating Sect

Three days passed, and the duel quickly arrived. Rui made no preparations of any kind this time since he obviously did not have any intelligence on his opponent's Martial Art, he would have to start from scratch.

"Challenger; Guardian Drevolus. Defender: Guardian Falken." The arbiter announced. "This match is about to be commenced, take your stances."

The man stretched one leg back while crouching his other leg, One arm came forward bent, while the other shifted back, bent.

It was a dash stance.

His intentions could be clearer.

Rui lightly hopped on his feet, keeping them centered, making it easier for him to dash off in any direction.

"Begin!"

BOOM!

The man pushed the ground back with such force, a tremendous ripple radiated outward on solid ground!

The atmosphere tore apart as it made way for the sheer amount of force that the man unleashed.

Yet,-

WHOOSH!

-he was unable to hit Rui with his bullrush. Rui swiftly moved out of the way with Outer Convergence, Parallel Walk, and Gale Force Breathing.

('He didn't even prepare an attack to hit me with it.') Rui mused. ('His bullrush is his attack.')

Yet, the man wasn't done.

"RARGH!" He roared as he launched forward at Rui with tremendous power.

Yet it wasn't enough.

WHOOSH

Rui evaded him rather handily. In fact, the pattern recognition system loved what it was seeing because his bullrushes were easy to dissect and he had already noticed several patterns in the maneuver.

"RARGH!" The man once more dashed forward. Yet Rui was already getting bored. The easiest way to adapt to such a strategy was simply to avoid it. Although he certainly needed to employ his speed because the man was no doubt fast, it did not mean much because he was consuming more power than Rui was in the long run.

He would simply tire himself out, and then Rui could take him down swiftly after he had exhausted his stamina.

Not every adaptation was flashy, and it appeared this would be one of the more boring and mundane ones.

Yet, it appeared that Rui had underestimated the man too much.

RARGH!" Squire Drevolus launched himself forward a fourth time, yet, when Rui was moving out of the way, he kicked the ground in the opposite direction that Rui had moved in, launching himself straight at Rui.

BAM!!

A successful hit on the fourth try!

He should have been satisfied as he felt himself blasting into Rui with a powerful impact.

Yet he didn't feel that. Instead, he felt as though much of his power completely disappeared!

SHHHHHH…

Rui paused at the edge of the battle arena, appearing unharmed.