The Martial Unity

WHOOSH!

BOOOM!!!!!

Even as Rui leaped away from the attack, the man had already surged forth at extraordinary speeds. His gargantuan body had appeared before Rui in a fraction of a millisecond, his attack already hurtling at Rui.

Yet, it was within Rui's prediction.

WHOOSH!

BOOOOOM!!!!!

He had already dodged it before it had reached him, leaping away…

WHOOSH!!

…only to find that the Gatekeeper's speed had already closed the distance between them.

BOOOOOOM!!!!!!

A hint of frustration appeared on the Gatekeeper's face as Rui had somehow evaded his attack once more.

That wasn't all.

BAM!!

He had somehow landed a blow on the gargantuan's jaw quicker than he realized.

His hand shot forward like a bullet, reaching to grab Rui's fist, hoping to turn it into a grappling battle where he would undoubtedly have won.

WHOOSH!

An empty image was all he managed to clasp.

His eyes narrowed.

It was a feint.

POW POW POW!

A swift barrage of blows struck the man's jaw in vain before he could react. His eyes intensified as his arms hurled forward at blinding speeds, hoping to crush Rui before he could retreat.

WHOOSH!

He was already gone, having foreseen the attacks long before they came.

It was almost incomprehensible.

Sir Armstrong knew that he was far faster and stronger than his opponent. Yet, for some reason, he was unable to so much as even touch Rui.

WHOOSH

In a single flash, he had arrived before Rui at blinding speeds, hurling his powerful palms at Rui.

WHOOSH!

The attacks were so fast that the friction ignited the atmosphere, causing a conflagration that engulfed the entire battlefield.

Yet the attack never so much as touched Rui.

He had evaded them long before they had arrived, having timed his evasions in the short time period before the attack began and after it was too late to change them.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

Rui leaped away, putting some distance between them as he awaited the Gatekeeper's usual follow-up.

Yet, it didn't come.

"I see," the man's deep voice reached him. "So, this is the power of thought."

Rui narrowed his eyes at those words.

THUD

THUD

THUD

The man slowly emerged from the dust cloud, regarding Rui with respect.

"I have never beheld a Martial Senior whose mind exceeds their physicality."

THUD

"I have never beheld a Martial Senior to have harnessed thought to such an extent."

THUD

"I have never beheld anything quite like you."

Sincere respect radiated from the depths of his voice.

He closed his eyes.

"…In return for your magnificent display of mastery of thought, allow me to demonstrate mastery of physicality."

His eyes opened as he took a sprinter's stance.

"Behold."

His voice grew grave.

"Behold my mastery of physicality."

The air boiled.

It grew tumultuous.

A profound peril erupted from the man.

Shivers crawled down Rui's skin at what ensued.

The shining, blinding white lines of his Martial Heart streaking across his entire body changed. The blood vessels streaking across his torso and back dimmed, regressing to a bright red, while the lines that streaked across his legs grew even brighter and blinding than they already were.

Raw terror gripped Rui's heart as he understood what was happening.

He had gained a level of mastery over the Martial Heart that Rui didn't even know was possible!

He could freely allocate the resources of the Martial Heart to any part of the body however he wanted.

To him, the Martial Heart was not just a passive resource that empowered the body as a whole.

No.

It was a resource that he could distribute in any manner he saw fit to.

The man's eyes bore into Rui's, flaring with a bright red light as he increased the supply of metabolic power to them, increasing the quality of his vision to track Rui better.

A single remark escaped his mouth.

"Here I come," His inhumanly deep voice grew perilous. "Do your best to survive."

WHOOSH!

Rui's widened his eyes, dodging, as the man arrived before him faster than he could see.

BOOOM!!!!!!

CRACK CRACK CRACK…!

"AAARRGHH!" Rui grimaced in pain, gritting his teeth as his eyes peered into the Gatekeeper's.

His arm had gotten caught in the attack even as he evaded, instantly fracturing in eighteen different places.

Just as the Gatekeeper swung another attack, reality itself warped.

'Temporal Disharmony.'

The man froze in shock as the flow of time of the very universe sped up immensely!

Rui gritted his teeth, healing his arm with Weaving Blood, forced to employ the Hypnomatrix against his will. The man had heightened his speed to an even greater degree by allocating even greater resources of the Martial Hearts to his legs.

He had reached speeds that Kane would only be able to reach once and once with the original Godspeed technique that focused all the speed in a single bullrush.

Unlike Kane, however, the Gatekeeper appeared to be able to spam such speeds over and over!

"Did you think something of this caliber would be enough to stop me?"

Chills crawled up Rui's spine.

His senses and instincts heightened as the man launched himself at Rui at titanic speeds once more.

Yet this time, he was only half as fast as before.

WHOOSH!

BOOM!!!

Rui evaded the attack cleanly, leaping away as eyes narrowed. He hadn't failed to notice that the man's destructive power had reduced significantly ever since he had redirected the power of the Martial Heart to his legs to increase the speed of his bullrushes.

WHOOSH!

The man launched himself at Rui once more, unrelenting in his onslaught.

Rui had predicted the attack, perfectly timing the dodge.

Except he didn't.

Rui had failed to notice that his arms were brighter than they had ever been. That meant that they came down faster and stronger than Rui had predicted.

BOOM!!!

CRACK CRACK CRACK!!!

"Rgh!" Rui grimaced as the glancing blow shattered his arms effortlessly.

Weaving Blood rushed in to fix the damage rapidly even as the Gatekeeper surged forward, preparing another attack to demolish Rui once and for all!