The Martial Unity

"Mmm…" Rui dusted himself off with a wry smile. "Well, you've earned the opportunity."

He took a neutral stance. "But I have no intention of accepting payback that easily."

"Oh, come on, you don't think you can actually win under these circumstances, can you?"

"Who knows." Rui shrugged calmly. "Finding out is the reason I accepted the challenge at all."

"Well, let's find out then!" Kane's legs furled, garnering potential energy. In just a moment, he shot off at Rui at blindingly fast speeds.

It was well within Rui's prediction.

'Temporal Disharmony.'

"Tsk!" Kane tutted with annoyance as his perception of time sped up, forcing him to slow down. Thankfully, the Martial Heart increased his cognition while it was active, making it harder to hypnotize him. The fact that Rui had succeeded without a Martial Heart at all was quite surprising.

BAM BAM BAM!!!

Kane pummeled Rui while the latter balled up, covering all his vitals. Unfortunately, Kane was too fast with his Martial Heart for Rui to match the man's speed with a moving guard and a moving defense.

However, it wasn't speed alone that was overwhelming.

CRACK CRACK CRACK!

Rui narrowed his eyes as he felt his bone crack under the weight of Kane's heavy blows. It was remarkable how simply turning off his Martial Heart changed the way that he perceived Kane. With his Martial Heart active, Kane's blows were so weak that they didn't even register at times.

Yet without the Martial Heart, Rui felt like he was fighting someone stronger than the Gatekeeper.

However, attacks that each should have thoroughly killed him were being withstood.

This was because his predictive model of Kane's movements was extremely refined. He could see where each strike was going to be well before it arrived. With such foreknowledge, attacks that would have shattered past his ribcage and crushed his heart were resisted with minimal damage.

The answer was simple.

VMMM!

The land beneath his feet vibrated as he redirected all the damage to the earth beneath him with Flux Earther.

The technique's effectiveness was highest when timed correctly. With the current degree to which he was able to anticipate Kane with the predictive model alone, he could accurately time the active defense technique even when completely balled up.

Yet, not even that was enough to endure the sheer onslaught of Kane's relatively devastating power.

BAM BAM BAM!!!

CRACK!

Rui grimaced as he bore the brunt of another brutal attack, struggling to disperse the impact. Yet, by then, another attack had already arrived.

BOOM!

CRACK!

Rui balled up as the attack launched him away. He actually preferred it. The greater the distance between them, the more time he had between each strike to prepare for the Soul Void technique.

By the time he prepared the technique to the cusp of execution, Kane had already arrived.

POW POW POW!!

A flurry of strikes bombarded Rui from all over as he barely managed to time Flux Earther with each of Kane's attacks.

Yet, it still wasn't enough.

CRACK!

He felt another bone cracking despite Nemean Blossom, even if it was quickly healed by Weaving Blood. He wasn't fast enough to avoid Kane without his Martial Heart; thus, he was limited to defense and healing.

"We both know that's not going to last forever," Kane remarked amidst his strikes. "Your Metabody System running at full power has extremely low stamina. It cannot compare to the power of a Martial Heart."

He rushed in for another strike.

"You're right, so I guess I'll just stop wasting time."

BOOM!!

Kane's eyes widened as Rui abandoned his guard, allowing the attack to land.

CRACK CRACK CRACK!!

Rui's ribs snapped once Kane's strikes made contact. A deep dent formed in his chest and abdomen as the strike broke past his bones with ease, crushing into his lungs. If not for Weaving Blood working overtime to heal the damage, Rui would have undoubtedly died right then and there.

Yet that wasn't what caught Kane's attention. What caught Kane's attention was the blanket of nigh-complete darkness that had enveloped his senses.

"Sleep."

Rui's voice seemed to trickle past his consciousness, hitting a deeper part of his mind. Before he could register it, the darkness had already faded. Rui hadn't moved from his spot; his broken ribs had already healed.

"What just happened?" Kane glanced disoriented.

"Why, nothing at all." Rui smiled. "Let's continue."

Rui had added a memory-wiping element to the trance-

induction hypnosis, making Kane forget about the Soul Void technique altogether. This was to reduce the probability that they would take some active measures to break out of a trance.

Yet, while Kane was not aware of it, Rui could see it as clear as day.

Kane had successfully been put in a trance. It was semi-

conscious; it did not affect his combat prowess in any way because his conscious mind still retained full functionality in regard to it.

However, his non-verbal communication had changed significantly.

It was a window to his soul.

"Alright then, brace yourself," Kane rushed forward with frightening speed, throwing a swift uppercut to Rui's jaw.

Yet, Rui had foreseen it.

BOOM!

CRACK!

Rui felt the bone in his forearm cracking even as he did his very best to disperse the impact with Flux Earther. Flux Earther could be astronomically more effective and powerful with greater accuracy in timing and placement of the technique. It was normally impossible to time something so fast that one couldn't even see it.

BOOM!!

Yet, Rui calmly replicated the feat over and over again, dispersing Kane's titanic power with perfect timing.

He couldn't see Kane's movements.

Yet, he could see the future.

That was enough.

BOOOM!

A mighty impact crashed into Rui's guards even as he increased the timeframe and distance of the collision, increasing its elasticity. The power of the attacks seamlessly flowed through his body and to his legs before being dispersed into the lands beneath his feat.

A blow that should have been a death blow was reduced to one of manageable damage.