The Martial Unity

"Winner; representative Fiona Roschem!"

"And there you have it folks! Representative Fion Roschem makes it to the third round as well! This brings us to an end to the second round. Be sure to be here at the Martial Colosseum same time tomorrow to catch it in time!"

The crowd cheered loudly in response.

Rui sighed as he left the viewing balcony along with squires Kyrie and Dylon, deep in thought.

The following matches of the third round were;

Ian Nepomniachtchi vs Rui Quarrier.

Mia Marnt vs Fiona Roschem.

The winners of those would go onto fight each other in the finals.

"Freshen up a bit." Squire Kyrie told him before parting ways. "We'll meet in an hour."

Rui nodded as he headed his own way.

He had a lot to think about.

His next opponent was Ian Nepomniachtchi. He definitely had a lot to think about.

He had already gathered two round worth of data on Ian. Not idea, but not bad, and definitely better than nothing.

Yet he couldn't help but feel a smirk come on his face at the prospect of fighting him. Ian was incredibly strong, Rui would probably test his limits with his ability and Martial Art in that fight.

He immediately fixed himself a tub bath, soaking in, relaxing as the warmth permeated his ability.

He skimmed through all the information he had on Ian. A breathing technique specialist that generally fought by amplifying his parameters by using specific breathing techniques.

There were generally two traits that made him quite a formidable opponent. The first was that the degree to which he could amplify certain parameters by was incredibly high, matching and even surpassing dedicated Martial Artists to those parameters and fields.

The second was the fact that his parameters kept changing, making it incredibly tricky to fight him, far more so than any of the other contestants. One moment he was a speedster, the next moment he could be an offensive striker, the next moment he could be a defensive fighter.

In a way, he countered Rui extremely hard in a way. The fact that he was ever-changing meant that Rui couldn't just create a single adapted fighting style, he needed to create multiple adapted fighting styles. Furthermore, he needed a way to account for the rapid shifts and changes in Ian's parameters.

He sighed. If he was able to use the higher-end pattern recognition systems of the complete VOID algorithm, it wouldn't be a problem, but he couldn't. It was too difficult. He would need to analyze and memorize immense amounts of data in the middle of the fight and process them through the VOID algorithm.

This was also the main reason the VOID algorithm was not a viable fighting style in his previous life. It was simply too data-intensive in its entirety. That problem had not yet been solved in this life either, he had been able to mitigate the problem to a certain degree with his powerful mind, but that was not good enough by itself.

He needed to find a way to overcome this barrier, otherwise he wouldn't be able to travel his Martial path for too long.

He shook his head, putting asides such nebulous thoughts. They weren't relevant to the issue at hand.

Another thing he wasn't sure about was whether he had the leeway to hold back. So far, he had just barely managed to hold back Phantom Step, Blink and the Stinger.

Rui was absolutely certain he would need the Phantom Step to fight Ian, bare minimum. The worst-case scenario was that he would end up using all his trump cards and still end up losing. If he could do it, he would likely to keep the Blink plus Stinger combo hidden until he fought Fiona.

Time passed, eventually he met up with his instructors.

"Just do you best and hope for the best." Squire Dylon told him.

"You need to be wary of his everchanging flexibility." Squire Kyrie had told him. "In a way, his fighting style is not too dissimilar to yours."

Rui nodded at those words. He agreed. Ian was also able to change to fight his opponent. Of course, he did this in a different way than Rui did, only time would tell who did it better.

Soon the day passed and the third round was ready to commence.

"Welcome to the third round, ladies and gentlemen!" The commentator welcomed. "In the first match of the third round, we have representative Rui Quarrier and his Flowing Void Style representing the Hajin branch facing off against representative Ian Nepomniachtchi and his Breathing Mountain Style representing the Farund branch!"

The crowd cheered loudly, hyped for this anticipated matchup.

Rui and Ian entered the arena simultaneously as they walked up towards each other, never breaking eye contact.

"The promised time has come." Ian coldly stated. "I'll show you your place."

Rui stared at him wordlessly. He didn't care to engage in a juvenile exchange of insults.

Instead, he closed his eyes, emptying his thoughts.

There was nothing.

Soon, he focused every ounce of attention. Gathering every iota of concentration he could get his hands on.

The escalating focus could be felt. The very weight of his mind pushed down on all onlookers.

"Take your stances." the referee instructed.

Ian took a neutral stance, which Rui chose to mirror.

"Begin!" The referee commenced the match.

Ian immediately crossed the distance in an instant, throwing a mighty blow at Rui.

WHOOSH

The attack crashed into Rui, yet it was only after the image of Rui dispersed had he realized it was a feint.

Rui had immediately employed Phantom Step right off the bat. Ian could effectively move nearly as fast as Kane dide while throwing blows only Fae could overwhelm. He was not arrogant to enough to hold back that many techniques.

POW POW POW

Rui threw a powerful combo of strikes, yet they merely banged on Ian's guard.

('Earth Breathing.') Rui mused. He had employed his defensive breathing technique.