The Martial Unity

What it said was crystal clear;

Rui's combat prowess was no longer even in the same Realm as them.

He hadn't even been a Martial Apprentice for three years, yet he had somehow skyrocketed past all of them. Not a single person would show disbelief if they were told that Rui was the strongest Martial Apprentice of the Kandrian Empire.

WHOOSH

Rui just barely managed to avoid a strike with frightening power. Kyrie was showcasing a level of power and speed he had never faced off against before. Not even Fiona had been this overwhelming.

FLICK

He felt a sharp pain on his cheek as he avoid a strike.

DRIP DRIP

His eyes widened as he felt his cheek bleeding. ('She used a piercing technique.')

Her bodyweight shifted.

('Straight jab.')

The jab was almost blindingly fast to him, yet he managed to intercept it thanks to having predicted beforehand. He immediately activated Flow Flux, boosting it with Outer Convergence and Flame Breathing.

WOBBLE

She had limited herself greatly, and Rui had used a lot of power to destabilize her. Her balance was unstable for merely the briefest of moments.

Yet that was enough.

He launched the Stinger straight at her eyes. It was empowered with Outer Convergence and Flame Breathing.

Kyrie's eyes flashed, she had expected that. It was his trump card, after all.

Yet when she tried to catch his foot.

WHOOSH

Her eyes widened.

It was a feint.

The Phantom Step technique would not have worked, ordinarily. But unfortunately for Kyrie, the technique had shown her exactly what she had wanted to see, what she had anticipated seeing.

BAM!!

A powerful kick crashed into her gut. The sheer force of his attack launched her several meters into the air despite her remarkable defenses. Rui had purposely aimed the strike upwards so as to launch her up.

POW POW POW!

Rui launched several Tempestuous Ripples that struck her midair. The Tempestuous Ripple attacks blew her away even while she was midair, propelling her further and further away until she was headed well outside the ring!

This had been his strategy.

All those spectating widened their eyes in disbelief.

Rui was going to win!

Yet.

"Gentle Fury Style: Sky Stepping." Kyrie whispered.

Rui felt a shiver down his spine as his hair stood up.

BOOM

The very air itself shook.

A maelstrom of wind assaulted all those spectating.

Rui widened his eyes.

Kyrie had exerted a tremendous amount of power on the entire atmosphere, she stepped on the very air itself, stopping her plummet instantly with the might she possessed by virtue of being a Martial Squire. She walked down from the air as though she were walking down a staircase, returning back to the ring.

Martial Squires were capable of such power that even the atmosphere could be treated like solid ground!

"Oh yeah..." Rui scratched his head, feeling stupid. He had totally forgotten that Martial Squires were capable of walking on the atmosphere itself. He only recalled that Kyrie had mentioned it to him in the first round of the Martial Contest when Ana had demonstrated the Sky Walking technique. But nine months had passed since then that he almost forgotten.

He sighed at the sight of Kyrie returning in front of him, taking his stance once more. His plan had ended in a failure, he would need to create a new one.

Yet Squire Kyrie shook her head. "I told you Martial Squires could Sky Step, and that is true. I wasn't holding back in order to, breaking my word in the process. Thus, the win is yours."

Rui scratched his head. "Is that how it works?"

"This is the second time you've forced me to use my Martial Art." She said, as a rare smile broke onto her face. "The first when you were at the bottom of the Apprentice Realm, and now when you are at the peak."

"I look forward to seeing how far you will go, Rui Quarrier." She said with a profound tone as she turned around walking away, returning to her duties as the head instructor and supervisor of the combat training facility.

Rui bowed at her departing figure, as he himself left the ring deep in thought. He had mostly gained what he came for.

The Mind Palace was indeed a viable solution for the viability problem of the VOID algorithm. Although he wasn't nearly as adept with it as he would have liked, as was optimal, he was not saddened. The fact that he was able to use it at all meant that it absolutely was viable! As long as he worked hard and grew as a Martial Artist, he would one day be able to use the VOID algorithm to absolute perfection.

In his current state, his usage of the Mind Palace technique to store and sort patterns was still clunky, inefficient and slow. It had taken him quite some time and some preparation until he was ready to apply the pattern recognition systems of the VOID algorithm, and he was still not quite where he wanted to be.

Yet he did not mind. In fact, he was quite ecstatic. He felt a huge burden lifted off of his shoulders.

For a long time, he had gone to sleep thinking about the viability issue of the VOID algorithm. If he included his previous life, it would sum up to almost thirty years.

Thirty years of god-only-knew how much emotional investment in the matter. Words couldn't describe the relief he felt on finally gaining the certainty and confidence he had been looking for, for all this time.

Now, as long as he maintained an upward trajectory the problem would eventually be solved.

The only big problem left would be the VOID algorithm's inadequacy for the world of Gaia. Yet that was not a problem that could be solved in a short amount of time. Nor did it have a singular solution like the viability problem.

Still, he intended to solve that as well, one way or another.