The Martial Unity

He was not a dummy who would simply spam Forestep to its absolute maximum in every single fight. In this case, he had already figured out that there was little point in trying to fight a symmetrical battle against Kane centered around maneuvering. The fact that Kane had more maneuvering techniques, a Martial body whose spec configuration was centered around motion, and the original and superior version of the Forestep technique meant that he was most certainly going to dominate Rui in a maneuvering battle where they both capitalized on speed and agility.

Thus, Rui ruled out such a battle. This was the kind of logic that he had included in the VOID algorithm when he created it, however, he himself didn't need to follow the protocols of the VOID algorithm that were meant to dumb down the process for fighters. He could produce a better result with his own critical thinking.

Although it sounded fun to challenge himself against Kane's strong suit, he didn't want to when it came to a duel. He didn't mind losing spars in such fashions, but not duels. Duels were competitions where both sides were doing their best to win, and he did not want to diverge from that premise and norm.

Thus rather than mirroring Kane's own stance, he chose a stance that was most adapted to Kane's style of fighting.

Kane fought counter-offensively. He normally did not launch speedy offenses in most cases. He preferred to let his opponent attack him and counter by attacking through the chinks in his armor.

That was why Rui chose a closed stance.

A closed stance minimized the number of openings that Kane could exploit to land an attack. It also meant that Kane needed to move a greater distance to try and exploit the holes in Rui's defense, which gave Rui extra time to avoid his strikes.

However, even with the incredibly robust predictive model that he had on Kane. He did not think that alone would be enough to keep up with Kane.

He had no choice.

"Fuuuuu!" He exhaled heavily, activating his Void Forestep technique partially.

Kane grinned, proceeding to do the same. "Let's see which one is superior. Your Void Forestep… or my Fulminata!"

Rui wondered if Kane timed that, or if it was just a perfect coincidence, but a bolt of lightning struck him the very moment he uttered those words!

BOOM!

CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE!

His body took on a mild light glow while it began producing the sound of electricity crackling.

At that moment, Rui's eyes widened as he experienced something new.

A new sensation.

A depth of peril that was unlike anything he had ever felt from a Martial Squire!

The battle had already begun.

Rui narrowed his eyes as his expression steeled.

From this moment on, victory was his only consideration.

His concentration sharpened.

He was ready.

DASH!

He lashed out forward at top speed with Gale Force Breathing, Outer Convergence, and his quasi-Forestep.

In just a moment, he had arrived. The two of them exchanged a sharp glance for just the briefest of moments.

A powerful flying knee kick amplified by the momentum of his approach flew towards Kane's solar plexus.

Right off the bat, Rui threw his most powerful Flowing Canon!

However, he wasn't pleased.

He threw it knowing that it would be dodged effortlessly.

WHOOSH!

Kane casually side-stepped as he did a light twirl, completely evading the attack. He bent forward as his right leg flew up in a swift high kick aimed at Rui's head!

POW!

SWOOSH!

Kane crouched as he evaded a simple punch from an unperturbed Rui while launching a swift kick aimed at Rui's crotch.

THUD!

Rui squeezed his knees together, barricading Kane's kick while crouched a little.

The stance was unshakable to Kane.

This was the Sanchin kata. A stance from a branch of karate that was meant to make the practitioner immovable. It was one that wasn't practiced in MMA, since strikes to the gonads were illegal in the UFC and kickboxing.

Rui hadn't expected that he would find a use for it in this life.

However, Kane was hardly done. He blurred in Rui's vision, almost disappearing with sheer speed. His leg retreated before flashing forward at Rui's face in a high kick to the jaw, hoping to knock him out.

He knew that he couldn't batter Rui with damage over time. Rui's defense was too solid, while Kane's offense, until very recently, was only at the grade-one level.

Godspeed was primarily a speed supplementary technique rather than an offensive supplementary technique, the fact that his body mass reduced negated most of the boost in energy.

Against Rui's powerful passive and active defenses, he didn't really stand a chance. That was why his targets were limited to places that he could inflict damage on. He had no intention of touching any other part of Rui's well-honed and conditioned muscular body.

POW!

Kane's eyes widened as he felt the power of his strike disappear into thin air as Rui employed Flux Earther to dispel his impact into Gaia.

WHOOSH!

He crouched backward as Rui launched a sweeping elbow attack.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

Kane evaded a barrage of swift and crisp blows as he look for an opening.

BOOM!

The two of them leaped backward as a lightning bolt converged on their very location!

Thus far, the battle had been a slow balance. Neither side had revved up to their top performance as the battle steadily proceeded with both sides testing the other's capabilities.

It had been quite some time since the two of them had dueled each other. Several years, even. The last time they had dueled each other properly was in the final battle of the preliminary competition of the Martial Academy.

Rui strangely recalled the time that Kane had made him promise that he would win. A promise that Rui had ended up fulfilling that day by winning.

Something that he intended to do again.

So far, he had been impressed with Kane's new prowess. Anyone who knew him might have suspected that he was still holding back his core Martial Art.

But this wasn't true.

Kane was just that strong.