The Martial Unity

POW POW POW

Rui just barely managed to dispel the impact of three incredibly swift and powerful blows.

RUMBLE

The sheer might of two Martial Squires permeated across the land as a fierce maelstrom of pressure radiated from the two focused Martial Squires.

The two of them locked eyes before lashing out at each other once more.

Two weeks had passed since Rui consumed the Bentein Blood potion. He had received a significant boost to his combat prowess. In order to acquire the degree of control and accuracy over his body and movements that he had prior to the administration of the potion, he had commissioned a grade-five Martial Squire to serve as a combat training partner.

He wanted someone about as strong, or perhaps even stronger than himself to put a lot of pressure on himself to whip him into shape.

What he didn't fully comprehend was how strong a grade-five Martial Squire was.

In hindsight, Rui should have heeded Senior Ceeran's words regarding the size of the Squire Realm and the significant difference between grades of Martial Artists in the Squire Realm.

However, it was difficult to appreciate something one hadn't seen yet.

This was part of the reason he had commissioned a grade-five Martial Squire in the first place; curiosity.

Well, he got what he wanted.

His opponent was Squire Jamil, a man who had been in the Squire realm for nearly a decade, and he was not someone to be trifled with.

WHOOSH

Rui barely managed to avoid a devastatingly powerful roundhouse kick ducking backward. His eyes widened as the very air ignited due to the sheer friction caused by the blurring speed of Squire Jamal's attack!

"Tsk," he tutted before resuming his onslaught.

His large arms wound backward flying forward with incredible speed and power!

BAM BAM BAM!

Rui gritted his teeth as he pushed himself to the absolute limit trying to dispel the man's offensive prowess. If not for Flux Earther, Rui wasn't sure he would have been able to even handle the man's potent impacts.

Furthermore, he could feel that Flux Earther wasn't able to entirely dispel all of the kinetic energy of Squire Jamal's power. He could feel the pain pulsing in his arms every time he intercepted and negated an attack with Flux Earther.

This would have been a much greater problem if not for the fact that Rui's healing factor had risen considerably beyond human limits once he entered the Squire Realm. Furthermore, the Mind Switch technique that he had modified and mastered aided his recovery greatly.

The man swung an exceptionally charged strike at Rui, yet it simply landed on an empty image

WHOOSH

It was a well-timed feint.

BAM!!

Rui slammed his knee into the man's face, catching him off-guard at the perfect time. He had exploited a little opening in his attack patterns once he created the predictive model on the man, allowing him to thoroughly exploit it with Phantom Step.

"Hm?" Rui's eyes widened as he realized that he hadn't even budged the man's body despite a direct slam into his face.

WHOOSH

Rui barely managed to evade a bear hug, having predicted it with the predictive model based on subtle and tiny tells and movements that allowed him to deduce his future movements based on pattern recognition, as well as aid from Primordial Instinct.

If not for these two, Rui didn't think he would have been able to dodge the blurringly fast attack.

Squire Jamal rubbed his bleeding nose as he frowned.

Rui's eyes widened as his eyebrows knitted, his mind was at peak alertness, and he knew that he would not be able to keep up with his combat sparring partner if he did not give it his absolute most.

Despite his gargantuan physique, the man was extremely fast and agile, even more so than Rui. Seeing him launch himself forward as though he was as light as a feather was more than just a peculiar sight, Rui would not have seen such a sight had he been in the Apprentice Realm still.

Martial Artists were still limited by their mortal coils in the Apprentice Realm, sights such as juggernauts moving around like little birds, faster than someone like Rui was almost unheard of.

Yet in the Squire Realm, it was all but possible, and normal, even.

Rui could feel that the man's physical superiority over him was not just due to techniques, but also due to a superior physical body. His power, speed, and durability exceeded that of Rui's considerably despite the fact that Rui just consumed a potion that made him fifteen percent superior overall.

On top of that, the man had a wealth of experience in the Squire Realm and had no doubt devised a lot of techniques.

In fact, Rui was the one who was an anomaly for being able to keep with him in combat and even gain a tiny upper hand every now and then, even though he struggled to do so and had been bullied plenty by his opponent.

Ordinarily, he should have been crushed, even Rui understood this. His body was significantly inferior and his opponent had mastered a greater number of techniques. There was no question who the victor between them ought to have been.

But Rui was no ordinary Martial Artist.

('Double-hand drop strike; 98.7%!') Rui promptly began moving ahead of time, and yet;

BOOM!

RUMBLE

The land around them groaned as the full power of a Martial Squire struck it.

Rui just barely managed to evade the swift and powerful strike despite the boosts provided by the VOID algorithm!

Yet he pulled it off flawlessly, objectively speaking.

"Huff... Huff..." Rui panted, taking his stance one more, preparing for yet another strike.

Yet to his surprise, the man made a timeout gesture, indicating the end of the spar.

"Huff..." Rui sat down, exhausted.

"You truly are a confounding Martial Artist, Squire Quarrier," The man walked. "Today is the last day of the commission, come, I wish to speak with you."