The Martial Unity

The moment she stepped away, he too shifted. His legs immediately changed directions, planting themselves into the ground, as he managed to conserve momentum, altering his direction towards her.

Her eyes widened in shock as he once again shot himself against her, this time nearly point blank!

POW!

What followed unfolded so fast, that even Rui had trouble keeping up. He launched himself at her nearly point-blank range.

In an ordinary case, victory was but guaranteed. But not against an opponent that seemed to have eliminated thought!

POW!

He grinned as he felt the impact!

Yet his expression soured when he turned back.

She was conscious. Her arms were intact, yet they were bruised visibly. And she had already rushed back towards him with a powerful charge!

'She mitigated the impact with a well-timed retreat and shift.' Rui mused. 'That would have been impossible without her ability to move without thought. She would have been too slow and he would have broken her arms and mangled her body, to say the very least.'

The battle escalated to a higher echelon of intensity as the Kandrian prince refused to let the battle return to its previous state!

Letting his opponent take all the initiative was something he could not allow. While he was confident in his defenses, he had to admit that he had admitted her ability to hurt him. Letting that continue with as little resistance as before was no longer an acceptable choice.

"RARGH!" He rushed forward with a determined expression.

And yet, much to everyone's surprise, the elder lady, launched herself at him fearlessly.

While many others would have chosen prudent passivity in her place, she rushed forward in the face of an attack that could cripple her without even the slightest hesitation of inhibition.

WHOOSH!

His attack missed her face by a millimeter!

Yet hers didn't.

BAM!

A powerful knuckle punch dug itself into his solar plexus. An expression of pain flashed across the Kandrian prince's face as stepped back to charge at her with his entire body.

Yet his eyes widened in shock when she refused to let him open the distance even a slight inch!

Every step he took, she took, almost before he himself did. Her movements were not inhibited by thought, and her reactions were always at the peak of her reflexes at all times.

He could never open up the distance before she kept up with him every step of the way.

"GET AWAY!" He launched a sweeping attack with both hands. 

And yet...

WHOOSH!

She was already behind him having casually evaded it!

POW POW POW!

Three strikes to the kidney and the coccyx were only the beginning. 

The battle entered a new phase where the Kandrian prince was unable to even open the distance between himself and her.

She refused to let him!

She boldly stood right in front of his face. Boldly avoided every single attack just a moment before it struck her to maximize the amount of striking time she had!

Her knuckle punches abused his vitals. They were the only areas where she could hurt him, after all. She overcame all of his paltry attempts to crush her, growing more aggressive with her attacks by the second.

She was searching for an opportunity to end the battle even harder than at the start of the battle!

Rui only grew more impressed as he watched her fight. The difference between the two warriors was stark.

She was a fighter who had truly done her absolute best to squeeze the potential of not just her body but also her subconscious mind. 

Rui did not know what the conditions for the higher Realms were, but he had a feeling that she was most likely on the right track.

It was unfortunate that she was still stuck at the Squire Realm. 

Rui narrowed his eyes.

The more he watched her, the greater the suspicions he had on why she hadn't broken through despite being such a fierce warrior whose determination had persevered for a lifetime.

It was a pity, but it made sense if his hypothesis was true.

In comparison, the Kandrian Prince's flaws were more glaring and visible. 

'You have a powerful body. Yet you suck at maximizing its potential.' Rui shook his head. 

The act of developing a Martial Squire's Martial Art with individuality was the same as squeezing the most out of the potential that the body had to offer.

'Yet, instead of maximizing the potential of what your Martial Body has to offer. You have only explored its most basic application in regards to your Martial Path.' Rui shook his head.

While it was true that his Martial Path was probably centered around momentum, that did not mean that that was all his body was capable of. The closer Rui got to the Martial Heart, the more he realized just how much it took to access the Martial Heart.

Every part of the Martial Body had to be put to good use. The full combat potential of one's Martial Body needed to be realized in order to access the hidden power buried deep within it. 

Until one did that, one was unworthy of the Martial Heart.

That was the difference between the two of them.

And that difference proved to be just enough.

POW POW!

Squire Frinjschia lunged forward, jamming her thumbs at the base of his ears.

The Kandrian prince's eyes widened as he felt a wave of dizziness wash over him for just a moment. The world turned upside down as it spun to his senses.

For a moment, all the muscles in his body relaxed as his guard dropped when his attention was drawn away from her.

That opening was all she needed.

Her eyes sharpened as she activated a special breathing technique.

BOOM!

An incredibly powerful impact rocked his jaw as her high kick landed squarely on his lax jaw. The blunt force trauma it caused just barely exceeded the threshold.

And yet it did.

His eyes rolled backward as his body went limp, collapsing

THUD

For a moment, everyone was stunned. It occurred so abruptly that it caught many people off-guard. It took a few seconds for the commentator to remember that he was hired for a job.

"AND WE HAVE A WINNER! SQUIRE FRINJSCHIA PASSES TO THE NEXT ROUND AFTER A STUNNING VICTORY!"

Rui smiled. She was to be his next opponent, and he was itching to fight someone of her caliber.