The Martial Unity

BAM BAM BAM!

A flurry of strikes crashed into Rui's defense of a guard and Adamant Reforging. The only reason Rui hadn't gone down despite Ieyasu's many physical techniques was because of the three mental techniques of the Hypnomatrix. If not for it, the gap in physical techniques would have completely taken him down in a short amount of time.

But Phantom Pain, Breathing Crucifix, and Temporal Disharmony were so powerful despite Rui's lacking efforts that they could even compensate for what was otherwise a large gap between them.

BAM!

Rui's eyes widened with shock as Ieyasu grew even stronger, integrating yet another Martial Art into his hybrid Martial Art, gaining even more techniques to stack.

BAM!

An even more powerful blow from Ieyasu punted Rui away across the cloud field, leaving him reeling. Never before had he wanted to use the VOID algorithm to build a predictive model than he did now. But alas, he couldn't, he most certainly had not developed the pattern recognition model in the past four years.

Thankfully, Ieyasu could not use his mind-reading technique either, among other things.

However, he still had one more ace up his sleeve that he had yet to deploy.

BAM!

Rui leaped back, minimizing the impact as his eyes were fixed on his opponent. He was waiting for the right moment to go all out. Timing was everything.

BAM BAM BAM!

He shielded himself from several blows, leaping away even as Ieyasu caught, keeping up with him.

WHOOSH

Rui rolled to the side, avoiding a hammer kick before launching a powerful kick to Ieyasu's torso.

POW!

The man guarded his attack, grimacing in pain. Although the intensity of the pain had lowered to a third of the original intensity, it was still excruciatingly painful. Furthermore, Rui had developed the technique such that it would generate the sensation that he was being rocked by his attack.

BAM BAM BAM!

Ieyasu gritted his teeth, pushing through the pain as he continuously bombarded Rui with blow after blow. His attacks grew more vigorous as he grew more accustomed to the impediments that Rui had forced onto him.

The deterioration of his offense and speed was highly unpleasant, but the fact of the matter was that Rui had managed to show him down and soften his strikes enough that he barely held a meager advantage, at most.

BAM BAM BAM!!

Rui grimaced under the increasing weight of his strikes. The man seemed to grow stronger as he better integrated the Martial Art that he had copied in the past four years.

BOOM!

A powerful kick launched Rui away as he just barely managed to defend to mitigate the damage.

"Hoho!" The Hypnomaster exclaimed while sitting in the sky a considerable distance away as he observed. An expression of excitement, enthusiasm, and intrigue covered his face as he watched his two pupils go all out in an intense fight.

Suddenly, the air changed.

Ieyasu's expression grew more grave. "Enough. Time to put this to an end."

He exhaled deeply before inhaling as much as he could to the best of his ability under his restrained circumstances. A great amount of power surged across his entire body. Rui could feel the sheer amount of energy brimming underneath his flesh.

He took a dashing stance, aiming for Rui, before launching himself forward.

WHOOSH!

He closed the distance rapidly, approaching Rui at incredible speeds.

BAM!

An immensely heavy blow crashed into Rui's guard as Ieyasu passed him, leaving him reeling and unbalanced. For just the briefest of moments, Rui was off-guard.

And that was all Ieyasu, needed.

BAM BAM BAM!!

He pummeled Rui with a barrage of heavy blows, bruising and cutting him significantly as he pummeled Rui away.

BOOM!

A powerful kick crashed into Rui's guard, flinging him away completely open. Ieyasu activated his charging technique one last time.

It was a game-ending attack.

WHOOSH!

He shot across the cloud battlefield. The sheer speed at which he launched himself disintegrated the cloud bedrock beneath his feet. Countless sonic booms and shockwaves were left in his wake. The sheer skies incinerated as several infernos enveloped them furiously.

BOOM!!!

The sheer momentum of the blow meant that it could easily qualify as a finisher as long as it had been well-timed.

And it certainly had.

Rui stood at his spot.

He didn't so much as move.

It was Ieyasu who collapsed, coughing a spout of blood. A deep bruise began forming on his abdomen. His breathing was more labored than it had been in the entire fight. "Damn you..."

Rui turned to face him. His body was significantly lighter than it had been before, a surge of energy flew through it. The upgraded Godspeed technique retained all of the speed of its original while using hypnosis-induced slowing down of his perception of time to allow him to keep up with his body.

He had simply sidestepped out of the way, throwing the simplest of blows at the right time and place.

BOOM!!

An immensely powerful kick crashed into Ieyasu's jaw, leaving him dizzy. Yet Rui didn't want to leave anything to chance, he continued to bombard Ieyasu with a barrage of blows to his vitals, refusing to allow him to use more techniques than he already had.

POW!

A simple blow to the jaw caused the blunt force trauma to exceed a certain threshold.

THUD

Ieyasu collapsed to the ground unconscious.

For a moment, there was complete silence on the battlefield, before Master Zeamer broke it as he descended. "Very well done. The victory is yours. This old man is grateful for the incredibly entertaining fight. You sure did fight reserved, didn't you?"

"I wanted to use my Godspeed technique to produce the best outcome. So I had to wait for a particularly decisive moment," Rui replied, narrowing his eyes. "Godspeed doesn't have longevity, especially the upgraded version. Had I used it normally, there's a chance I would have lost. Especially because he kept integrating more Martial Art and techniques to improve his style."

Rui stared at the unconscious Ieyasu, in thought. "How can a Martial Path undergo such a drastic change? I thought it was the crystallization of one's being. It doesn't seem like Ieyasu has changed in any way at all, yet his Martial Path has gone from imitative evolution to assimilative evolution. This should be impossible."