The Martial Unity

Rui continued increasing the intensity of his long-range attacks from a distance, spamming barrages of sonic bullets, trying to slowly gather damage while keeping it away from him at a distance, while also sky-walking at top speed.

Ordinarily, this would be difficult for any grade-ten Martial Squire to overcome. Rui's long-range offense was quite respectable even without Hypertrophic Surge, furthermore, with Gale Force Breathing, and Outer Convergence he could shift around the air quite swiftly. Catching up to him was a remarkably heavy task.

Yet, the Abyssfeeder simply shifted its form. From a concave hemisphere, its shape shifted to that of a disk.

('Coefficient of drag reduced by ninety-six-point-eight percent.') Rui's expression grew more severe. ('It's adapting to aerial maneuvering by becoming more aerodynamic because I took the battle to the air.')

Now, the earlier equation no longer held true. The Abyssfeeder zipped through the air at a much greater speed than Rui could. The human body was not aerodynamic, and there was a limit to what Martial Art techniques could do in that regard.

Nothing beat literally changing the shape of one's body to cut through the air effortlessly, even particularly useful techniques like Gale Force Breathing were not enough. The Abysfeeder shot through the air towards Rui faster than any of the contestants could hope to outrun or tag with attacks, that was why most of them quickly returned to the ground.

But not Rui.

BOOM!

Many widened their eyes.

Rui sharply tagged the flashing disk with a tier three Transverse Resonance out of seemingly nowhere, displaying remarkably high accuracy that far exceeded the conventional limits of the Squire Realm!

While others had trouble landing attacks from a distance on the Abyssfeeder midair, every single attack that Rui launched struck it.

('Your propelling trajectory is transparent.') Rui narrowed his eyes as the ODA System worked tirelessly to give Rui incredible accuracy. Because the creature mindlessly became increasingly efficient and energy-consumptive in its trajectories, Rui could easily predict which direction it was going to go even without relying on a predictive model.

Despite zipping toward him at incredible speeds through the air, Rui continuously nailed it with every attack, refusing to allow it to enter close range to him. Furthermore, due to the fact that the sound bullet could not be easily perceived once it was launched, it simply was not equipped to dodge him. It could try and gauge his aim from physical cues, but that required not only being sentient and intelligent but also having an understanding of human behavior.

Rui had ruled out both possibilities. He became more and more certain of his understanding of this creature the more he fought it. He became more and more certain that it embodied the concept of the body of water as opposed to Rui's mind of water.

('Its adaptation and evolution are not guided by adaptation rules baked into its DNA,') Rui narrowed his eyes as he continued firing away at it, not allowing it to reach him. ('It's more like individual cells undergo random rapid genetic changes or mutations in the face of an environmental problem or hurdle. Cells with successful changes most likely serve as a blueprint for the rest of the cells in the body, while cells with unsuccessful changes either continue changing or copy the successful changes. Thus the entire creature adapts to any given problem or hurdle in this manner.')

As for how these changes occurred? Rui had gained insights into that as well.

He narrowed his eyes, staring at its fluctuating body. ('…RNA editing.')

RNA executed the genetic information stored in DNA. However, unlike DNA, it could be edited by the body through complicated biochemical processes. It was through RNA editing that octopuses edited their brains and bodies to be able to adapt to different temperatures during different seasons.

It was clear to Rui that the creature most likely used an extreme version of this process to adapt to much more than octopuses could, along with the presence of primordial seed in the creature's body. Together, he understood why it came to be known as the bane of Martial Art. Its ability to adapt was almost unparalleled.

BOOM!!!

Rui blasted the creature with a tier five Transverse Resonance, knocking it off trajectory a bit.

While the audience and spectators looked impressed at Rui's absurd aim allowing him to constantly knock away the aerodynamic disk from entering close range from him, Rui knew better than to be satisfied with the course of the battle.

BAM BAM BAM!

Three powerful sonic bullets struck the disk this time, and yet…

('It didn't even budge this time…It grew even faster!') Rui narrowed his eyes as his expression grew more severe. ('It's adapting quickly!')

Its external appearance had not changed, yet Rui's powerful Riemannian Echo revealed the truth. 

('It's shifted all of its mass to the core of its disk body, its external structure had become porous and hollow… a sponge to suck air better than it ever did before.') Rui clenched his fist. ('A disk form for aerodynamic maneuvering, a porous and hollow exterior to facilitate greater absorption of air not just to propel itself forward, but to increase the power of its acoustic absorption to become almost immune to sound attacks. It has literally molded itself to become the perfect counter to my long-range techniques.')

It was not fun to see techniques that even he, as modest and grounded as he was, prided himself in to be crushed so overwhelmingly. Its air and sound absorption properties made it extremely difficult to keep it out of range.

Yet…

('I'm not going down that easily.') Rui activated Hypertrophic Surge as he empowered a tier five Transverse Resonance.

BOOM!!!

The sudden surge in power clearly caught the abyssfeeder off-guard, knocking it away. Yet Rui's expression grew more severe when he saw that it could only knock it off-trajectory, it did not suffer any damage.

Just looking at that, he knew that it was a matter of time before even this powerful attack became completely negated.

Yet the fire in his eyes only grew more fierce as his thoughts raced furiously, formulating his final plan. 

If this failed, then he would lose a lot more than just the third round. 

Both his mind and body knew that.

The totality of all his mental and physical power raced to even greater heights as he truly pushed himself to the limit.

To the limit… and beyond.

BADUMP