The Martial Unity

"Your resistance towards mental techniques is quite remarkable, even for a Squire candidate." Squire Luna informed him. "Apprentice Frix here alone wasn't able to maintain the hypnosis because you were developing too much of a resistance, I had to step in personally."

"Ah..." Rui recalled that he was able to resist offensive mental techniques. He recalled the first round of the Martial Contest where he had fought against a mental technique Martial Artist. He had been able to dominantly resist the influence of mental techniques back then.

The reason he'd forgotten about it here was that he thought he needed to actively resist the mental technique for it to affect the procedure. However, it turned out that he was wrong, his passive mental defenses alone were enough to hinder the Martial Apprentice, to the point that a Martial Squire had to intervene for the hypnosis to still be effective on him.

"My bad," Rui added apologetically.

"It's not your fault." She waved her hand dismissively.

"Your condition is remarkably well." Doctor Herin added. "We can begin the next session immediately if you so wish."

Rui nodded in response. "Please do."

Preparations were made and Rui closed his eyes as the hallucinogens entered his system, affecting him.

When he opened his eyes, he had returned to the white world that seemed to expand infinitely.

('Woah.') He got up with a jump. He glanced at his thin arms, unsurprised. This time, he was hallucinating a lightweight body. The abrupt shift from heavyweight to lightweight had caused him to use too much force.

He hopped on his feet lightly, amazed at how nimble he was.

Suddenly, fake Rui appeared at a distance before him.

Rui grinned, dashing towards him. He moved with a speed and agility he could scarcely fathom, crossing the distance between them in just a moment.

POW POW POW!

He had launched a flurry of strikes at fake Rui with blinding speed and impeccable fluidity. Yet, fake Rui didn't even bother blocking them. Rui frowned as he realized his attacks were too weak.

Even when he used Outer Convergence, Flame Breathing, and Reverberating Lance, they were unable to overwhelm fake Rui's Inner Divergence, Elastic Shift, Acute Edge, and Adamant Reforging. They weren't even able to come close. Fake Rui's defensive prowess was extremely high, not only because he had four potent techniques defending him at any time, but because three of the techniques were techniques whose effectivity depended on the timing and accuracy of the user.

Rui was able to apply these techniques with far greater timing and placement than almost any Martial Apprentice he knew, and fake Rui had inherited his prowess.

Rui had no hope of ever taking him down with ordinary blows.

Ordinary blows, that was. He still had solutions against fake Rui if he used his trump cards.

WHOOSH

Rui evaded a hook with remarkable ease. The predictive model he had made in his previous mental fight was still effective, after all, fake Rui was not changing like he himself was.

PEW!

The Stinger flew swifter than it ever had before, whistling as it cut through the air, burying itself in fake Rui's neck.

He grimaced as he retreated, covering his wound. Rui immediately pursued him, not willing to give him any respite. He launched a Flowing Canon amplified with many techniques at fake Rui. Although ordinary blows could not even faze fake Rui, the same could not be said for Flowing Canon, Rui's most powerful blow.

BAM!

Fake Rui blocked the attack, being forced to let go of his wound. The bleeding immediately resumed, just as Rui had aimed for. He launched an avalanche of attacks that were nigh unblockable.

He was a ghost.

His maneuvering techniques which were stifled in the previous fight in the heavyweight body, took center stage as they shined brightly. Parallel Walk, Balanced Direction, Wind Breathing, and Phantom Step. These techniques combined with the VOID algorithm allowed Rui to express a degree of speed, agility, and maneuvering that far surpassed anything he would ever be capable of as a Martial Apprentice in his actual body.

However, his staggering lack of power was painful to watch. He launched many an attack, yet they all mostly bounced off fake Rui's powerful defensive prowess. Only the attacks that landed on extremely vulnerable and vital locations had any effect at all. However, they were unable to make any meaningful impact by themselves.

('Can I only inflict any significant damage through the Stinger?') Rui cursed. Although his speed and maneuvering allowed him to move around like the wind, he only felt more shackled. His offensive potential was so pathetic that it disgusted him.

Furthermore, he could forget about trying to withstand even a single attack from fake Rui. In his current state, every single blow that struck his body would blast him inside out. Each blow would be devastating, he needed to run away from all of them even if there were better responses had he been durable enough to execute them.

PEW!

Rui managed to launch a devastatingly swift Stinger for a second time, once again towards fake Rui's neck. This time he had managed to pierce an artery.

Blood spurted from fake Rui's neck as he tried covering it. Fake Rui had already activated Final Breathing to mitigate the damage done and reduce the impact it had on his combat prowess. However, too much damage had been done.

Rui simply continued to abuse his speed and maneuvering to continuously pepper fake Rui with well-timed Stingers, until eventually, too much damage had accumulated for Fake Rui to maintain his original combat prowess.

BAM!

Rui mustered all of his might as he landed a Flowing Cannon on his opponent's jaw. In his condition, the attack shook his opponent's head, triggering enough brain trauma to knock him out.

THUD

He collapsed to the ground unconscious.

Yet Rui wasn't too pleased with his victory.

('This body type may suit someone like Kane, but it certainly doesn't suit someone like me.') Rui sighed.