The Martial Unity

He was glad that she was the one who won. She was a more sophisticated fighter than the blockhead who wielded his Martial Body like a caveman. Furthermore, he would rather avoid fighting the Kandrian prince.

He might get into political hot waters if it came to light that a Martial Squire of the Martial Union crushed a Kandrian prince. These kinds of Martial Artists were particularly vulnerable to Rui due to their lack of sophistication. In fact, Rui would need to be extremely careful to ensure that he didn't annihilate the man's Martial Path, or else he would be accused of treason.

He didn't exchange any words with her when she returned. There was time for that later.

"And for the next round, we have Contestant Janeu Meren! A powerful Martial Squire native to the Virodha Theocracy, known as the Fangfeeder! His opponent will be a junior monk of the Daeshun Temple, Contestant Xaesha representing Daeshunism!"

The crowd cheered loudly as a wave of excitement spread through them.

'Oh boy, a religious conflict.' Rui sighed, shaking his head inwardly. 'Because those always went well back on Earth.'

Yet it appeared that the people of the Virodha Theocracy were quite enthused about this matchup. It appeared that they looked forward to a battle between their own representative of the Virodhabhasa Faith versus a representative of Daeshunism.

This was a religion that Rui did not know much about.

Yet the junior monk did indeed resemble what Rui pictured when he imagined monks.

'Maybe Daeshunism was like the Buddhism of this world and the Daeshun Temple is like the Shaolin Temple of this world.' Rui speculated.

He wasn't too interested though. Getting entangled with one religion was enough of a headache for Rui. 

It appeared that there was indeed friction between the two of them.

"This isn't the soft and peaceful Daeshun Temple old man," Squire Janeau smiled viciously. "If you are soft, you'll get consumed."

"May Gaia take pity on your being," The man emphatically replied. "I shall excise you who has surrendered yourself to the beast."

The crowd roared in approval as the two of them were firmly opposed to each other.

Rui could already tell what their Martial Art were without even needing to look at their stances or their combat style. Squire Janeau had absurdly sharp canines for all his teeth, looking like a mutated beast version of a human.

Furthermore, the nails of his hands and feet were thick and long, curling into razor-sharp claws. Rui could see that he had conditioned his elbows into a sharp edge as well when flexed. The same had been done for his knees.

Only a fool would not be able to gauge his Martial Art at first glance. However, that did not mean it was weak. It was quite likely that his Martial Body had been adjusted to accommodate such conditioning with greater ease and less resistance if not outright granted with them from the start.

He could not imagine what kind of conditioning could change an incisor or molar tooth to a canine.

The monk's Martial Art was also quite obvious with the long spear that he held in one hand. 

"Take your stances!" 

Squire Janeau took the most beastly stance that a human could possibly take standing on two legs. Rui was sure that the man would rather have been born a predator beast or monster than a human, at this point.

The monk, on the other hand, took the most natural and expected stance of a spear that one could expect from a spear wielder.

What was unexpected was the weight of the pressure that he exerted.

It was silent, ordered, and honed.

On the other hand, Squire Janeau resembled a hungry predator eying its prey.

"Begin!"

Squire Janeau lashed forward with a wild grin. His hands turned into claws, one reaching for the monk, while the other was pulled back, coiled, and ready to lash out.

Rui had already predicted the paradigm of the battle even before it began.

If the spear wielder failed to take him down, or at least ward him away, before the beast entered close quarters, then he would lose.

There was no way a Martial Artist dedicated to the spear was overcoming a lethally offensive close-quarters Martial Artist at that range. He needed to ensure that it never got to that point.

And it appeared that he had no intentions of letting that happen.

The second that Squire Janaeu entered the range of the spear, the spear flashed forward at blinding speeds!

FLICK!

If anything, Rui was impressed that Squire Janeau managed to evade that with only a small scratch. Yet, he was not deterred.

He rushed forward again with a wild grin, unperturbed. Yet, he hadn't gone in without a plan, unlike the impression he gave.

WHOOSH!

He grinned as he managed to duck in time, evading the spear.

It was a simple tactic. Spears were an inflexible weapon, it meant that they generally had limited attack patterns, in exchange for offering the user solid range. Thus they were easier to predict than weapons such as swords that were much more unrestrained.

He rushed forward with a wild laugh. "You're dead!"

'Fool.' Rui shook his head.

BAM!

Just the briefest moment after he evaded the spear, a foot had already crashed into his face, launching him away.

'Expecting a spear wielder not to have taken measures to compensate and mitigate for the most basic weakness of a spear is stupid.' Rui mused. 'Then again, the Kandrian prince did not have any real measures with his Martial Body to mitigate the weakness of his Martial Art and Body.'

Both of them were short-sighted. It was always best to assume, or at least be prepared for, the worst at their level. 

The monk had already begun the kicking motion even before the spear attack had been fully evaded. Rui could instantly tell that that was one of many combos that the man had mastered to an extremely high degree of perfection. In fact, the spear attack was half-intended to be a set-up for the kick.

Overcoming such a defense was not going to be easy.