The Martial Unity

Mental manipulation.

That was Surman Marliak's specialty, according to Fae. His Martial Art and techniques were centered around affecting his opponents' minds adversely and apparently, he was quite good at it too.

This included things like misdirection, hypnosis, impression imprinting and other psychological-oriented skills. Rui had done some research into the matter in order to understand how Surman might end up fighting against him.

He looked forward to the fight. It wasn't everyday he got to fight against someone this unusual.

He made his way to the observer balcony reserved to for participants.

What he did not expect was the presence of the other representatives!

He glanced around at the several martial Squire guards inside and outside the balcony.

('Easier to protect us if we're in the same place?') He wondered. It seemed that the Martial Academies did not want to take any risks. He simply ignored them as he leaned onto the railing, ignoring them. He would pay them attention when their matches rolled up, until then, they were not important. Thankfully the balcony was incredibly wide and there was plenty of distance between each of them.

He glanced at an observation balcony on the other side of the Colosseum, his sharp eyes distinguishing the headmasters of the sixteen Academies along with the Contest Master and some other VIPs, before an announcement caught his ears.

"Aaaand we will not commence the first match of the first round right away!"

"On one hand we have Representative Ian Nepomniachtchi of the Breathing Mountain style representing Farund branch! Touted as one of the greatest prodigies of this generation, he is known as the Breathing Goliath in the Martial Community! Join me in welcoming him!"

The crowd cheered loudly as Ian entered the arena, stopping at the center. He simply folded his arms, waiting.

Rui cringed slightly. "Epithets? They actually have titles."

"They're not uncommon." Squire Dylon explained. "Prominent Martial Artists generally tend to gain one. It's a tradition primarily in the Martial Community that ended up bleeding into culture as time passed. Kyrie here was known as the Berzerker of Hajin during her prime."

"Focus." Kyrie replied.

"On the other hand, we have representative Vyoming Hurin of the Weaving Lightning style representing the Narfinius branch! Known as the Flashing Drift for his incredible speed! Give him a round of applause!"

Vyoming entered the arena, stopping some distance away from Ian.

"Representatives." The referee of the fight addressed both of them. "I'll be going over the rules one last time. No killing and no leaving the boundaries of the arena, either of those will result in a disqualification and a loss respectively. If you wish to forfeit, you may merely will it and the special device attached to your Martial uniform will alert us of your resignation, knowingly attacking after the fight ends will also result in a disqualification. Do you agree to abide by these rules?"

"I do." Ian replied.

"I do." Vyoming echoed.

"Then without further ado, begin!" He commenced the first match.

"Aaand the first match is underway!" the host announced.

WHOOSH

Vyoming blurred as he instantly crossed the distance between himself and Ian.

POW POW

He landed a double combo within the briefest of moments!

WHOOSH

Ian swung at him, only for him to hit empty air as Vyoming effortlessly dodged.

Vyoming relentlessly flashed around charging at Ian repeatedly aggressively in an impressive display of speed.

Rui's eyebrows raised at the sight. "He's comparable to Kane. He's faster in linear motion but Kane is much more agile and fluid in curvilinear motion. I see, he's an offensive maneuverer."

Rui found that to be quite interesting. The differences in their styles were quite apparent, despite both of them being maneuvering-oriented. Vyoming was much more aggressing and proactive with his offense conventionally, whereas Kane's Martial Art evasive and counteroffensive.

"Indeed." Squire Kyrie nodded. "His greatest strength is his impressive offensive combat speed."

Rui nodded.  "And yet..."

Rui glanced at Ian. "He's unharmed."

Not only was he unharmed, he was also unmoved. Literally, Vyoming was unable to even shift his position.

WHOOSH

Vyoming charged at him throwing an incredibly swift attack.

CLASP

Rui's eyes widened at what he saw.

Ian who was struggling and failing to keep up, suddenly caught Vyoming's fist easily.

What had changed?

"Is this the best you can do?" He asked Vyoming as cold pressure flushed from him pressing on Vyoming even as the he struggled to break free. "Too bad, it's not enough."

BAM!!

He delivered an incredibly powerful attack Vyoming's gut.

The sheer force he struck the latter with caused the former spit out blood.

THUD

Vyoming collapsed to his knees in pain and shock.

BAM!

Ian kicked him across the arena with a slow but powerful kick. His speed had suddenly dropped immensely from when he intercepted Vyoming's fist, but his power had risen tremendously.

The sheer impact had caused the very ground to shiver!

It was truly impressive, yet...

Rui narrowed his eyes in confusion. He could immediately tell something was off.

How did his speed suddenly spike mid-fight allowing him to intercept Vyoming with ease when he couldn't do so before?

How did his power increase so much? His striking power was just a notch below that of Fae's!

And why did his speed decrease so much again?

There were unnatural fluctuations in his parameters that Rui was unable to explain. It was then that Rui recalled that he was a breathing technique specialist.

"This must be because of a breathing technique then." Rui realized.

"Yep." Squire Dylon nodded. "Multiple breathing techniques to be more precise."

"Multiple?" Rui raised an eyebrow.

"There are breathing techniques above basic foundational techniques like the Helical Breathing you've mastered. He seems to have mastered the Fire Breathing, Earth Breathing and Lightning Breathing breathing techniques to quite a high degree." Squire Kyrie explained. "They boost strength, durability and speed respectively to an immensely high degree. However, they cannot be used fully simultaneously. Hence, he switches between them as and when he wants or uses multiple partially. That's why his parameters fluctuate unnaturally."

Rui's eyes flew wide open at that statement. That was extremely formidable, if that was indeed the case. Ian'd power and speed were shockingly impressive. Rui assumed the Earth Breathing would also be similarly impressive.

It was truly an impressive sight, indeed.