The Martial Unity

The many spectators watched, shell-shocked, as Rui experienced a mysterious yet enormous surge of combat power. His speed and power were merely a minute fraction of the Gatekeeper's, yet he was somehow able to evade and even attack his opponent.

Yet even as he dazzled everybody with his almost magical ability to evade, he hadn't changed their outlook on the outcome of the battle.

There was one fact of the matter that killed any chance of victory for him in their eyes.

He had yet to so much as even hurt his opponent while the Gatekeeper continued to ravage.

Not for lack of trying.

Regardless, a single truth had become clear to each and every single one of them.

The battle had reached its twilight.

Nothing short of a miracle would be enough for Rui to seize victory under these circumstances.

POW POW POW!

He launched a short, swift barrage of blows on the Gatekeeper's jaw, instantly leaping away swiftly to evade the retaliation.

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rui grimaced as the destructive shockwave battered him with wounds despite a maximum Nemean Blossom. He immediately leaped back towards the Gatekeeper even as a maximum Weaving Blood healed his wounds, albeit slower than before.

WHOOSH

He spun, evading an astronomical blow from the Gatekeeper, simultaneously landing his own.

BAM!

The Gatekeeper didn't so much as budge. He didn't even bother defending against Rui's pathetic attacks, for his own had already been launched hurtling towards Rui.

WHOOSH!

Rui somersaulted, landing away, only to find that the Gatekeeper had already arrived with his astronomical speed, ready to pummel him with a powerful blow.

All within Rui's prediction.

WHOOSH

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rui grimaced as the destructive shockwave caught up with him even after he evaded the attack, battering him once more. Weaving Blood immediately kicked into action, yet the Gatekeeper did not give him even a moment of relief.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

Rui gritted his teeth as he leaped away dodging blow after blow after blow, barely avoiding being utterly demolished by the absurd destructive power of the Gatekeeper.

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heaven and earth shook under the Gatekeeper's devastating power. Each attack instantly carved out craters spanning many kilometers in radius!

A single one of them would utterly destroy Rui's body, Nemean Blossom or not.

The Gatekeeper's eyes narrowed with frustration as he relentlessly blasted attack after attack against Rui with blinding speed and astronomical power.

Yet, not a single one of them struck him.

Rui timed each and every movement within a microsecond of accuracy; anything less than that, and he would mistime the evasion, causing the attack to strike him successfully. The faster one's cognition was the shorter the timeframe between the inception of the attack and the final decision of the brain.

If Rui evaded the predicted attack a microsecond too early, then the Gatekeeper could reactively change the trajectory of the decided attack to hit him.

Had Rui evaded the attack a microsecond too late, then he would have been unable to avoid the Gatekeeper's astronomical blinding speed.

He had an extremely minute window to dodge the predicted attack.

He needed to time it accurately over and over and over.

The second he made a mistake, he would lose his life in addition to the battle!

If not for Temporal Disharmony reducing his perception of time and increasing the size of that window, as well as Speed Void reducing the sheer speed of his movements, not even the full might of Rui's pattern recognition model in conjugation with maximum Neo Godspeed would have been enough to avoid the astronomical speed that the Ragnarok technique gave him.

Even if it were, without maximum Nemean Blossom and maximum Weaving Blood constantly protecting him, he would have long succumbed to the destructive shockwaves of the Gatekeeper's attacks.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rui gritted his teeth, withstanding the destructive shockwaves of the three evaded attacks as his leg surged forward toward the man's head.

BAM!

It didn't so much as displace his head by even an inch.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH

The Gatekeeper gritted his teeth as the three attacks crashed into an empty image.

A feint.

POW POW POW!

Rui barely managed to squeeze in a swift flurry of strikes to the back of the man's head before a titanic backkick almost killed him.

WHOOSH!

He evaded it within an inch of his life, yet Primordial Instinct had already warned him of ensuing follow-ups.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH

He barely managed to evade three more ensuing attacks, one after the other, kicking off the Gatekeeper's head to propel himself away.

BAM!

"RARGH!" The Gatekeeper arrived before him, and a powerful drop-kick flew down at blinding speeds, threatening to crush him to a pulp.

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rui gritted his teeth, barely having evaded it, as the destructive shockwave battered him for the umpteenth time.

"Your body cannot hold out much longer, boy," the Gatekeeper's deep voice reverberated in Rui's ears. "I am unable to control the power of the Ragnarok; you will die."

Seconds had passed since the activation of the metabody forbidden technique.

His eyes met with Rui's.

"Forfeit."

Rui narrowed his eyes. "I'm not the only one who is on a time limit."

The Gatekeeper narrowed his eyes.

Rui grinned even as he coughed blood. "You're breathing is much more strained and laborious than before, old man."

His eyes narrowed. "Focus on yourself."

Rui took his stance once more.

"I have no intentions of losing."

A measure of respect and admiration lit up in the Gatekeeper's eyes.

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He launched himself at Rui, ravaging the battlefield with each step. "I will defeat you before you succumb to your power."

He appeared before Rui in a flash; his arms swung down at an astronomical speed, threatening to crush Rui.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rui grimaced, barely evading the titanic power of the blow, leaping away even as the destructive shockwave of the attack ravaged him.

"Rgh!" He vomited blood.

The continuous damage that the Gatekeeper had inflicted upon him had taxed his body even more than he had accounted for.

The end of his short and brief burst of power was arriving even sooner than Rui had expected!