The Martial Unity

THWACK!

Meera spun, gracefully redirecting his Flowing Canon attack with the back of her hand, elegantly pirouetting away.

Yet Rui was unperturbed. He kept lashing out, refusing to give up.

POW POW POW!

A flurry of swift and powerful strikes amplified with Outer Convergence and Reverberating Lance flew at her.

Yet not a single one of them reached her. 

Her every movement was captivating. Her grace earned the admiration of thousands who beheld her beautiful form.

Not Rui, though.

It took more to impress him.

"Hm?" Meera raised her eyebrow as Rui changed. His hand had changed form, morphing into various different striking forms. From a chop to a knuckle punch. He adapted the form of his hand to the location that he was striking, to try and inflict as much damage as possible, and also to make it harder for her to redirect them.

This was Vital Pressure. One of the Apprentice-level techniques that he had ever learned in his entire life. He had come to naturally adapt this technique to the Squire Realm.

He pushed forward as Meera needed to exert herself to redirect all of his strikes. 

"Hey..."

"Yeah..."

"She's getting pushed back."

STEP

Meera stepped back as she continued redirecting all of Rui's strikes. 

STEP

Another step back.

The spectators watched as Rui's barrage of attacks had begun overwhelming her. They stared, absorbed, as they watched the balance shift.

What was the difference?

What was it that gave Rui an edge?

POW!

His fist firmly landed on her abdomen, pushing her back a bit.

The first strike of the battle had been landed!

'Your weight shifts in the direction of the flow of power just a beat ahead of thestrike.' A knowing glint flashed in his eyes.

His mind had begun creating a predictive model as soon as the battle had begun. He had resolutely avoided any preparations ahead of time. It wouldn't have worked in the first place. She was so strong that she had basically not revealed any of her capabilities in the previous two fights.

Rui's plan was simple.

He would create a predictive model. Force her to show her best. And hopefully, she would be good enough to force him to activate his Martial Heart.

Yet so far, that plan had not been going as he hoped.

BAM BAM BAM!

The balance immediately broke as Rui gained an advantage in their little scuffle. 

And yet...

"Elegant," She muttered.

Rui's eyes widened as he felt a wave of peril.

CLASP!

She caught his fist with just two fingers as her body twisted.

BAM!

She had intercepted his strike, throwing him down behind her from over her shoulder. 

BOOM!

He narrowly avoided a powerful dropkick as he leapt away.

The first bout had ended. 

"Falken," She addressed him. "Your Martial Path... It's adaptive evolution, isn't it?"

He narrowed his eyes. It appeared what Master Deivon had said about her getting aid from a Martial master on the analysis of his Martial Path was true.

"A truly beautiful Martial Path..." She smiled. "At long last, I have finally found someone who can help me complete the promise I made that day."

Rui had no idea what she was talking about.

"I wonder if he'll accept me now..." She murmured to herself, getting lost. "No... only if you are suitable. If not..."

'She's insane...' Rui watched her rambling on incoherently.

"Focus." He instructed her. "This is important."

She was one of the two people with whom he had hope. He had hope in her power. He had hoped that she would be able to push him to a higher Realm of power.

Yet, so far, she hadn't been doing a very good job at that. 

Then again, the battle had just begun. 

His expression intensified as he swiftly prepared several Mighty Roar Flash Blasts.

"...You're right," She murmured. "This is important."

THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM!

The attacks were powerful supersonic sound bullets that were extremely difficult to sense once released.

Yet he could only widen his eyes in shock as she weaved past them in a manner that partially defied his predictive model!

The peril that she exerted on him began growing.

For the first time in the battle, she went on the offence. She rushed forward with a speed that beggared the imagination.

BAM!!

A powerful blow crashed into Rui's guard. He gritted his teeth as he used Flux Earther to disperse her impact to the ground. 

Yet she wasn't done.

POW POW POW!

His guard rattled as her strikes continued growing stronger and faster!

Ecstasy flashed across her face as she continued hammering him with incredible blows!

Rui watched her with the eye of a hawk.

Her weight shifted.

His eyes narrowed as he predicted a lower hook in two beats.

POW!

His eyes widened as the attack a lot sooner than it was supposed to!

BOOM!

He grimaced as he barely managed to block an absurdly swift flying knee kick. Yet just a moment later, a powerful high kick flying at his head threatened to knock him out.

FLICK!

He leapt back. The edge of her foot had struck his forehead, cutting it open with the sheer friction it generated. 

The wound itself didn't matter. His healing factor had already clotted and was slowly mending it.

What mattered was the fact that she had completely bypassed his predictive model.

Sure, it wasn't complete by any means, yet she invalidated it like it had been wrong from the very get-go. 

This had happened before as well. 

Somehow, she invalidated the prediction of his predictive model. 

'However... She's only invalidating the timing.' His eyes narrowed. 'Not the actionpredicted. In other words, she simply underwent an inexplicable boost in speed on a fundamental level.'

He had noticed that he predicted the hook, the flying knee kick, and the high kick. The only thing he had gotten wrong was the timing. That could be fatal. If not for Primordial Instinct, he may very well have gotten knocked out then and there.

His sharp mind had noticed another pattern.

'She invalidated the timing of my prediction after the pressure and threat she radiated underwent a spike...' Rui's eyes narrowed.

A germ of an idea entered his head.