The Martial Unity

"Rgh!" Rui cursed as several wires converged onto him, inflicting even more wounds on him.

He leaped away, putting distance between them, yet she had already prepared for that evidently.

SZZZZZZZ!

Several more wires converged to intercept his escape.

THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM!

He warded them off using several Mighty Roar Flash Blasts.

Or at least, he tried.

SPLAT SPLAT!!

Some managed to sneak through on account of their size, inflicting superficial wounds on Nemean Blossom.

'If I cannot effectively defend against them, then I need to ensure I take you down faster than you do me.' He gritted his teeth as he stretched a hand out at her.

"Sonic Singularity."

Heaven and earth bent to his will, curving to form a domain.

The very next moment, a tsunami of sound was unleashed from all directions.

It converged upon a single point.

A single person.

Yet it never reached her.

SZZZZZZZZZ!!!

Rui's widened with surprise as a wide net of wires flashed, instantly interweaving with each other to form a netted barrier.

VMMMMM!!!

The sound released from his domain could only be converted into heat if it converged into the target.

Otherwise, it was just sound. Whatever her strings were made up of, they could withstand the pressure from the sound.

"Did you think I wouldn't prepare defenses?" Her contemptuous voice reached him even as she furious released several more attacks.

Rui narrowed his eyes.

An idea had struck him.

His hand reached out again.

"Sonic Singularity."

VMMM!!!

The array of her netted wires disrupted the sound.

"Vain desperation."

SZZZZZZZ!

SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT!

Rui bore the impact, grimacing as he did his best to minimize the damage.

Yet he never once disrupted the domain.

VMMMMMNNNNNNUUUUUUOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAA!!!

The frequency of the sound kept changing, altering the pitch of the sound. It continuously changed by the second.

"Smiling in the face of death. Perhaps I should praise you," She snorted after a wide grin appeared on Rui's face. "I've had enough of this. Now die!"

The air grew perilous.

The atmosphere grew electric.

Danger was afoot.

Her expression grew murderous as her hands and fingers spread wide.

"Stringing Executioner Style." A whisper escaped her voice as she triggered the psychological trigger for her technique. "Strings of Death!"

SZZZZZ!!!

Numerous strings converged onto Rui.

Yet he didn't so much as move.

Two words escaped his mouth.

"Too late."

Shivers crawled up her skin.

She felt a deep sense of danger even as she precisely guided her killing string attacks on him.

VMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!

The sound from the domain crashed into her wires one more time.

This time, they bypassed the strings like they didn't even exist!

VMMMMMMMMM!!!

An avalanche of sound converged onto her after effortlessly bypassing her strings.

A sonic singularity formed.

At a single point.

A single person.

BOOM!!!

"AAAAARRGRRGRGRGGRHH!!!" Her screech of agony echoed throughout the forest.

Immense heat caused unfathomable pain. Yet it wasn't just the heat that caused had caused the pain.

'Phantom Pain!' Rui's eyes flashed.

"AAAAARGHRGHRGRHRGR!!!!!" A deathly howl of pain reverberated through the forest as she completely abandoned her attack.

SZZZZZ…

The release of potential energy was abruptly disrupted, halting the attack.

HISSSSSSSS!

Her hair began smoking and burning as her flesh and skin turned red and black.

Rui mercilessly ensured that the sound followed her pained, erratic movements, never once letting her off.

She was not a defensive Martial Artist.

Durability and endurance were not her strengths.

Not ten seconds later, her agonious screeches had subsided.

THUD

Her lifeless roasted cadaver fell.

For a moment, Rui didn't move.

THUD

The very next moment, he fell to his knees, panting heavily as his strained healing factor did its best to heal the many flesh wounds that she had inflicted on him.

'That was close...!' He grimaced.

His strategy to victory was on the ball, yet he had almost died!

'Thank god for sympathetic resonance...' His eyes narrowed.

As soon as he saw that she relied on strings as a barrier for defense, the possibility of bypassing them using sympathetic resonance entered his mind.

He just needed to find the right innate resonance frequency of the substance the strings were made up of.

It was not that difficult either, and it was far easier than doing so for a human.

The strings were made up of a single substance, while humans were chemically diverse in their constitution.

That was why it had taken him merely minutes.

He continuously changed the frequency of the sound released by the domain to rather swiftly go through all the possibilities before he arrived at the right solution.

He dealt the killing blow sooner than she did, narrowly evading death.

He glanced at the dead corpse.

He would be lying if her Martial Art didn't fascinate him. He had never seen a preparation-based Martial Art before. It was incredible how she was able to leverage preparation to completely replace active effort.

Such a model had both advantages and disadvantages to it. The disadvantages to it were that there were no limits to the preparations that could be made, allowing her to exert far more stamina than her opponent in battle.

It could allow her to perform at extraordinary levels far surpassing what someone of her raw power and techniques ought to be capable of.

The disadvantages were also quite pronounced. She could never not prepare for a fight. Without preparation, she was probably the weakest Martial Senior out there. Perhaps even quasi-Senior level at worst. She undoubtedly was a rare example of a more thought-oriented Martial Senior, much like himself.

The only difference was that Rui could not afford to have a Martial Art that was fundamentally preparatory, in order to be able to adaptively evolve to anything. He needed to make sure that he could take everything thrown at him at any time.

Yet he could not afford to think about it now; he would have to save it after he successfully survived this series of assassins.

He was in a particularly dangerous spot at the moment.