The Martial Unity

"Who do you think is gonna win?" Rui asked.

Kane shrugged. "They're both freaks."

"You're one to talk." Rui grumbled.

"Fae will win." Milliana confidently added.

"I found Fae to be much harder to fight." Dalen said.

"As did I." Hever calmly added.

"Hmmm…" Rui turned. He didn't necessarily think that meant Fae was stronger than Nel.

Fae possessed a pretty decent compatibility advantage against both Dalen and Hever. Against Hever, although her regular attacks were incompatible and disadvantaged against him, her trump cards were perfectly suited to taking him down. His passive and counter-offensive fighting style were both perfect for her to leverage her trump card.

Dalen on the other hand was a defensive fighter, he had no choice but to tank Fae's attacks. Her offense inflicted most damage on his defense than his offense did against her. It was a completely symmetric battle where she had a strong advantage compared to someone like Nel, who's offense Dalen could likely endure longer.

Up on the ring, the fight was soon to commence.

"Take your stances." The supervisor instructed.

"Hehe…" Nel grinned. "Today's the day we decide who the stronger one is."

"Indeed." Fae took her stance. She tucked her right palm upside-down at her waist, coiled like a viper waiting to lash out. Her left palm faced Nel as she crouched.

Almost every single onlooking Martial Apprentice sweated inwardly at that sight as unpleasant memories welled up. At this stage, almost all of them had fought Fae, with Nel being her final opponent, and all of them had faced her fearsome offense.

Nel's grin grew wider and feral. He crouched, letting his arms dangle freely.

"Begin!" The suoervisor commenced the match.

BOOM!

The two of them leapt at each other with unadultered ferocity!

They unleashed a maelstrom of explosive blows.

BOOM!!!

RUMBLE

Their clashes shook the very ground as an unprecedented amount of power was unleashed!

"Hm?" Rui's eyes flew wide open in shock as the heavy seismic vibrations rocked him, resembling an earthquake threatening to disrupt his balance!

Every single one of their attacks blasted through the air with explosive momentum. The unyielding blasts of wind shoved against the Martial Apprentice  wave after wave. Even breathing was starting to take more effort!

Every single Martial Apprentice gaped with unfiltered shock. Not a single one of them was unperturbed.

The absurd power that the two were outputing was too unnerving. One could scarcely believe that Martial Apprentices were capable of such offensive prowess.

Fae launched few attacks, yet every single attack was immensely charged. While Nel had much less striking power but threw more attacks.

The Martial Apprentices spectating this fight braced their seatbelts in excitement, enjoying an amazing display of power.

Yet, the balance had already begun to shift.

BAM!

Nel propped up a double-armed guard as Fae's palm thrust crashed into it.

BAM BAM BAM!

Fae relentlessly threw a flurry of attacks as Nel was pushed back into a defensive position. Even with his rock solid defense, a nunber if bruises had begun accumulating on his arms.

Everyone stirred at that sight!

Fae was starting to dominate the slugfest!

Nel's pure offensive and defensive prowess as failed against Fae's unparalleled power on-by-one!

The meaning of this was undoubtedly clear.

Fae was the unparalleled strongest in a head-on striking contest!

BOOM!

A powerful impact pushed Nel away. He leapt back, disengaging.

"Hahaha…" He laughed. "I lost the punching battle. No one's ever beaten me and pushed me back head-on before!"

Fae remained silent as she charged at him, not intending on giving him time.

"I may have lost the battle…" He said as his grin grew more severe. "But I won't lose the war."

Fae's attack charged at him just in time.

WHOOSH

Only to strike empty air.

Nel cleanly dodged as landed clean strike on her abdomen through a hole in her stance.

The two began exchanging strike again. However, there was something different.

Nel began employing his remarkable speed not just offensively but also defensively.

"That's a sharp change from before." Dalen frowned.

"His evasive maneuvering is sharp."  Kane noted

"He's given up on trying to outstrike her head-on." Rui mused. "There was no way in which he could best her anyway. In that regard, I wouldn't be surprised if she was the strongest in our entire generation frankly."

"I would." Hever said.

Rui raised his eyebrow at that statement. Hever should a very thorough understanding as a counter-offensive specialist strong Fae was. Why would he be surprised at that statement?

"Ah…" Kane realized what Hever meant. "Yeah, true I guess."

Rui scrunched his face in confusion. "What do you guys mean?"

They exchanged meaningful glances.

"Not much." Kane said. "Just that it's hard to take the title of best of anything in our generation. Not as long as Fiona Roschem is part of it."

Rui's eyes sharpened at that name. He had heard that name before. Fae herself had mentioned her as well.

Fiona Roschem. The strongest.

The three of the strongest Martial Apprentices he knew had mentioned her name, and her prowess.

Rui turned back, facing Fae.

Every single strike was stronger than his strongest Flowing Canon.

If he had to fight Fae without his evasive tactics and the VOID algorithm, how long would he last?

('Maybe a minute, if I'm lucky.') Rui mused. Even if he did managed not get knocked out in that time or lesser, he would certainly be a mangled mess at the end of the ordeal.

Yet, despite this, she was not the strongest?

Furthermore, Fiona was supposed to be an all-rounder. Just how abyssmally strong was she to be able match or surpass Fae in offensive striking despite being an all-rounder?

What kind of a monster was she?

Rui shook his head, putting asides such thoughts. He would find out eventuslly, if he won. For now, he turned his attention to the ongoing fight.

Nel and Fae were caught in an intense clash, however, Fae was no longer dominating, Nel had become remarkably harder to deal with now that he dodged a large proportion of her attacks.