The Martial Unity

He reached an isolated training hall that he had reserved for himself in advance.

He wanted solitude.

He sat down, meditating. He had begun mentally training his application of the VOID algorithm. Since the VOID algorithm was a system of information protocols, he didn't need to move in order to use it. He could hone it even if he was mediating.

His goal was to refine his application of the VOID algorithm. He went back through his previous fights in the preliminary contest. He had reviewed each of them mentally, taking notes on how he could have done things better.

And yet, when he closed his eyes...

He saw darkness.

He saw the void.

Ever since he had begun training, he had been trying visualize his Martial Art as an entity.

What would it look like?

What would it be?

What would it do?

He closed his eyes and looked inward. Looked at himself. Looked at his Martial Path. Looked his Martial Art.

He saw a universe.

Littered with stars. Littered with bright life.

However, at the center of it was a void of darkness.

It moved.

No, it poured. It ebbed. It flowed.

It warped, changing its form as it consumed the light in the universe. Stars disappeared one by one as the void flowed altering its form as it enveloped as smoothly possible.

It was a psychedellic vision. One that beggared the imagination.

But he understood what these strange sights were.

This were his Martial Art.

A flowing void that consumed all.

"A flowing void..." He whispered. "Hm..."

That didn't sound bad...

In fact, he quite liked the sound of that.

He shook his head, returning back to training.

*   *   *   *   *

A week passed, and it was time. Only two days were left for the Martial Contest. The Martial Academy had arranged for secure transport that would escort him from Hajin to Vargard, the capital of the Kandrian Empire, where the Martial Contest would be held.

This would be the first time he had left the Mantian region that housed his town of Hajin. But he wasn't all too bothered with that at the moment. He had sat with his eyes most of the journey, trying to retain as much of his concentration and focus on the upcoming Martial Contest.

He went over everything he knew about the Martial Contest.

Sixteen representatives.

Four rounds.

One champion.

The Martial Colosseum that the Martial Contest was being held in was a large multi-environmental field that ensured no one Martial Art would gain an unfair advantage over the other due to a singular environment.

The tournament was an elimination style tournament where half the contestants would be knocked out and eliminated from the contest every round, until there was only one person remaining. That person would be crowned the Martial Champion.

His opponents were distinguished warriors with unique and powerful Martial Art. Over the past week, Rui had often visited the Apprentice library. The reason he did was not because he wanted to purchase any techniques for himself, but rather to go through the techniques of the styles that he knew his opponents had.

He did this to get a deeper understanding of how they might approach the fight and what their combat style might end up looking like.

Of course, it was still quite shallow since he didn't know what techniques they had, nor did he know the techniques themselves very well.

Unless he purchased the techniques, he would not be able to read all the data the Martial Academy had on the techniques. The very best he would be able to do is avoid blunders and make more targeted precautionary measures against each of them, as much help that would be.

Of course, since he didn't have much time, these measures were also simplistic and elementary. He would be able to build upon them as the Martial Contest progressed.

The best part was that he would get to see almost all fighters fight at the very least once before he ran into them himself. The difference being his opponent in the very first round, who he would have to fight blind.

However, for all the other rounds he would be able to construct a more thorough adapted style via the VOID algorithm. This effectively meant he would become a more and more difficult opponent to fight as time passed on. This format benefitted him while it disadvantaged normal fighters.

His opponents would become easier to deal with because they would be forced to reveal more of their Martial Art as time passed on, and although this was also true for him. He had his adaptive evolution that mitigated that downside and compensated for it.

In a way, the first round had a chance of being the most difficult hurdle of them all. Because he was walking in almost blind with no information. He needed to be extremely careful, otherwise he might end up getting defeated by a trump card before he even got a chance to adapt to his opponent.

However, this was unlikely. Revealing a trump card of that sort in the first round was not a good idea. Since it meant your future opponents would be quite prepared for it. Rui estimated that his opponents would try to use as little as possible in the first round.

This was his plan as well.

He would definitely not use Stinger and Blink unless he genuinely had to. He would also try to keep the Phantom Step technique a secret if he could get away with doing so.

However, that might too greedy.

All in all, he wanted to stay on the side of caution while still trying to get away with whatever he could. It was a thin line to walk. Too greedy and he might lose, too cautious and he might not be able to win the contest because he revealed too much to the other representatives.

All these consideration were flashing through his head despite his composed demeanor.