The Martial Unity

Rui watched as the man swung his blade against the empty air before him, before rushing forward at an incredible pace!

('His sword swing created a vacuum ahead of him, and a high-pressure zone behind him, allowing him to sky-walk at a faster pace than before!') Rui narrowed his eyes as he immediately launched more attacks to slow him down. ('This is a similar principle to my Gale Force Breathing, except that he applies it with sword swings instead of a breathing technique.')

Rui tutted as he watched the man cleave his Mighty Roar Flash Blast techniques before resuming rushing forward!

He could not allow the man to close the distance between them.

A wave of pressure exuded from Rui as he inhaled so powerfully, that he altered the wind patterns in the general area!

THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM!!!

He launched a barrage of attacks one by one.

Yet they rapidly merged into one single attack. Rui had used tier five Transverse Resonance as each of the five sound projectiles merged into one incredibly powerful blast toward his opponent.

The man's eyes widened as activated a powerful breathing technique, inhaling deeply. Just as the attack was about to reach him, his blade flashed into action. Six sword wings were executed nearly simultaneously in a strange pattern.

BOOM!

The attack was completely dismembered, yet the resulting explosion pushed him back a bit. He turned back to Rui with a murderous expression.

The two Martial Artists stared at each other for just the briefest of moments.

The pressure they exerted on each other may very well have wrung the air before them.

One moment they were motionless.

Yet the very next, they were fraught with struggle.

Rui's eyes narrowed as his mind furiously processed his circumstances. In just the briefest of moments, many considerations flew through his head.

('This… may not be viable,')

While the current clashes between them appeared to be able to reach a stalemate, he knew it did not mean that they were equal.

One of the disadvantages of long-range attacks in exchange for their great range and scope was their high energy consumption relative to their output compared to striking-based attacks. The reasons for this were straightforward. Long-range attacks required delivering power to media between them and their opponents, to in turn deliver an attack to their opponent. Striking-based attacks delivered attacks directly, this preserved a greater amount of the original output since there was no energy loss that naturally came with delivering power through different media.

Thus while Rui seemed to be able to hold him off with his long-range, he did not have faith in his ability to outlast his opponent.

In fact, without Hungry Pain, he would have zero chance whatsoever. It was not even a question.

However, even with Hungry Pain, the prospects of being able to outlast his opponent were slim. Rui truly found it hard to believe that the man consumed a greater proportion of his energy reserve than Rui did with his Transverse Resonance.

('But it doesn't matter if I cannot outlast him,') His eyes sharpened as he increased his output against his opponent. ('I just need to last long enough.')

He wasn't just mindlessly pummeling the man with his attacks, while he did that, his mind was observing.

Observing his opponent.

Yet he didn't just observe.

He saw. He could see the many patterns that governed the man's motions.

('His upper torso is always curled away from the direction that he's swinging to generate more torque,')

('Even while moving, all attacks occur only when his left foot is behind and acts as a crutch and a boost to his swinging power.')

('The trajectory of a swing decides whether there will be an ensuing swing as well as the trajectory of the follow-up swing.')

('All swings begin with the arm either completely stretched or completely folded.')

Rui's mind raced through various patterns as the construction of the predictive model was well underway, now, he only needed to ensure that he kept his opponent at bay with his long-range offense, while also using his long-range offense to probing him more and gathering more data on the man.

Eventually, the predictive model would be complete at this rate without any problems.

Yet the man was not willing to let that happen.

An ugly expression arose on his face at his inability to close the distance. Rui's eyes narrowed as his breathing pattern changed.

WHOOSH!

The man rapidly rushed forward, and Rui promptly reacted by launching several attacks at him. He expected the man to pause as he slashed at them, allowing Rui to get even more attacks underway.

Yet he did not pause.

SHWING!

He did swing his sword.

Yet it didn't hit his attack, instead, he abruptly dashed sideways avoiding the attack.

He swung once more, abruptly dashing forward towards Rui.

Rui launched a flurry of Mighty Roar Flash Blasts at the man, yet each time, even as the man rushed forward in the face of the attacks, he suddenly managed to sharply swerve out of the way at the last moment.

('He's killing his inertia with a combination of a breathing and sword technique.') Rui frowned. ('This allows him to abruptly stop, accelerate and change directions,')

This new technique made him extremely slippery! He was able to make rapid progress towards Rui even as many sound projectiles were fired at him.

His eyes fixed on Rui as he managed to reach the ten-meter mark!

At this range, pushing him back was going to be damn near impossible for Rui.

They both knew that.

He rushed forward as he prepared one of his most lethal techniques.

Rui, on the other hand, began firing attacks in a far more desperate manner. It appeared that he would do anything to open up the distance between himself and his opponent.

Yet it wasn't enough.

The swordsman resolutely used his sword-based maneuvering technique to weave past all of Rui's attacks.

Soon enough, he arrived right before Rui.