The Martial Unity

THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM!!!

STEP

Rui's eyes widened as Senior Zenshin took a step forward in Rui's direction, overwhelming his onslaught. He gritted his teeth, pushing himself to output as much power from as many different angles as possible.

And yet…

STEP

STEP

STEP

Senior Zenshin began closing the gap between them once more. First, he walked. A minute later, he found himself being able to jog.

It wasn't long before he was able to completely overwhelm Rui's offense, running in the process. Rui's expression grew grave as his body returned to its original volume, Senior Zenshin grinned like a shark as his eyes glowed with bloodlust.

Time was up.

The very air curled with the sheer peril that the man radiated.

"You're dead…" His voice quivered with malice. "You hear me…?"

RUMBLE!

The very land beneath them shook.

"YOU'RE DEAD." He bellowed, leaping at Rui. He launched himself at a tremendous speed, his claws swinging down on Rui, hoping to tear him to shreds. WHOOSH!

Senior Zenshin's eyes widened as his attack completely missed Rui. Rui had simply sidestepped the attack in the brief moment before the attack had begun and after it was too late to change it.

"HRYAH!" He snarled, launching powerful swift claw swipes at Rui.

Yet none of them managed to so much as touch Rui.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH

Rui's movements continuously changed.

They flowed.

With every maneuver, his movements grew refined.

They grew smoother.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

His expression was empty, yet his mind flashed with countless thoughts.

'You prepare the direction of your offense too early.'

'Successive attacks are usually at a ninety-degree angle with the previous swings.'

'Your center of gravity always shifts to the forefront foot a moment before the attack emerges.'

'You always initiate attacks from the claw that is furthest away from the target.'

'Your range is absolutely constant, requiring you to make predictable distance adjustments before every attack.'

Rui had gleaned countless patterns within the man's Martial Art. They flowed within the mind, and the VOID within consumed every single one of them voraciously.

In return, it allowed to him peer into the future. The future of his opponent.

A future he could change as he pleased.

And change, he did.

"HRYAH!" Senior Zenshin swung his claw at Rui with titanic power as the latter approached him.

BOOM!

Where Zenshin had hoped to cut Rui into four ribbons, he was struck with a powerful elbow into his ribs. The impact of the powerful Flowing Canon was now powerful enough to hurt the man's powerful flesh and muscles, but the impact permeated past the man's flesh, going in deeper before it struck his internal vitals.

"Ack!" Senior Zenshin grimaced with rage as he felt a deep sense of pain emerging from deep within.

"RARGH!"

He brought swung both claws down on Rui, they surged forward at incredible speed, threatening to split him into eight sections. WHOOSH!

BAM!!

Rui had crouched, passing through the man's legs and kicking him in the back of his head, upside down.

"Damn you!" Senior Zenshin screamed, panting, as he spun. A powerful claw swipe rushed through, threatening to tear his head off. WHOOSH!

Rui smoothly somersaulted over the man's head.

BAM BAM BAM!

A swift combo kicks crashed into the man's guard, provoking him to surge with a flurry of claw slices.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

Not a single one struck them. They missed Rui by an inch, yet Senior Zenshin could sense that they hadn't even come close to touching him. He evaded Senior Zenshin with the grace of a ballerina and the effort of a sloth.

It was unlike anything Senior Zenshin had ever seen.

A single thought reverberated through his mind.

'What are you?'

Senior Zenshin had initially thought Rui was a hyper-specialized elite high-grade Senior assassin who specialized in covert ambush assassins. These types of assassins could assassinate basically anybody below a certain level and were highly respected and feared in the Underworld.

However, these types of Martial Artists were not too proficient in direct combat, their Martial Paths were centered around covert assassinations or constituting or adjacent fields.

Yet, Rui displayed incredible long-range offense. Although Senior Zenshin had successfully torn apart the man's offense, he knew that it was quite impressive. On top of that, there was also that incredibly frustrating respiratory shackle that Rui had inflicted on him. Senior Zenshin was barely able to use a quarter of his raw power, it was an extremely tiring impediment that he was unable to break.

He displayed that strange body augmentation technique that enhanced his raw power. And now, he was displaying evasive capabilities that he could only expect to see from a specialized evasive expert.

'Just what are you?'

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH

The attacks converged on Rui, yet none of them struck him. He didn't even step away, he merely swayed on his feet, evading every single one of them with seemingly otherworldly ease.

By minimizing the expenditure of his energy with his evasion, he could last longer than Senior Zenshin. As long as he moved the minimum, and used the fewest techniques, he could eventually gain the upper hand once Senior Zenshin was not only low on energy but also struggling to breathe due to the effects of Breathing Crucifix.

Victory was guaranteed at that point. He didn't rush his victory, he didn't rage forward with aggressive attacks trying to get a hit on a vital.

No.

It was patient, meticulous, rigorous, and surgical.

"Enough of this farce," Senior Zenshin whispered in an uncharacteristically soft voice.

Suddenly, Rui felt a deep sense of peril emerging from within his mind. His eyes widened with shock at the future that the predictive model predicted, immediately leaping away from Senior Zenshin with Gale Force Breathing and Outer Convergence.

'Veritable Tiger Fist: Hurricane of One Thousand Claws!' The man's arms spread out, one set of claws facing front while the others faced backward before he activated a breathing technique while spinning at top speed!

CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK!

Countless gashes spontaneously emerged across an enormous expanse of the forest, shredding its targets to bits!

"Damn…" Rui muttered with a shaky voice, several hundred meters away from him. DRIP DRIP DRIP

Blood dripped out of the many cuts that had spontaneously emerged on his body.