The Martial Unity

"And on the other hand, her opponent, a prominent figure from the Kandrian Empire, the seventy-sixth Kandrian prince, Contestant Reese Von Kandria!"

Rui was belatedly glad that the gargantuan man was too focused to notice his reaction because he had been caught too off-guard to hide it.

He had, of course, noticed the man with golden hair and eyes, if only for his strength, but he had not realized that the man was a prince of Kandrian Royal Family!

Even when his name had been called when he passed the third round, only his first name had been used. Rui was not familiar with all the various Kandrian princes and princesses to recall the man's face and name.

Shit... 

The presence of the prince indicated the presence of the Kandrian Royal Guard, it certainly meant that there was a lot of attention from the Kandrian Empire. That made him nervous. It wasn't that the Kandrian Empire was his enemy, certainly not, but it made him nervous nonetheless.

Thankfully, the Kandrian Royal Family did not have the kind of information on him as the Martial Union did. He knew that the two organizations weren't the best of buddies, and even had conflicts of interest. The Martial Union did its absolute best to conceal the confidential information on the profiles of each of its Martial Artists since these Martial Artists were its only militaristic power.

Furthermore, ever since Rui became a Martial Squire, he had undertaken a lot of missions under various aliases, courtesy of the safety measures for Martial Artists to protect their identity from potentially hostile clients and enemies they made while fulfilling commissions. He had also completed most of them outside of Kandrian territory. 

Immediately after that, he served a little under two years as a diplomat for the Martial Union at Vilun Island where he grew much stronger after having mastered several new techniques. The Kandrian Empire certainly was not exposed to his growth there either.

Furthermore, the Martial Union most certainly would not reveal the growth that he had undergone in the Shionel Confederation to the royal family either. 

And there was no way they had any idea how much stronger he was in the past three years he had spent after leaving the Shionel Confederation.

This means they would have absolutely no idea who Contestant Falken was. They would simply be too unequipped to possibly link him back to Rui Quarrier. Especially if he used techniques like the Metabody System, which would give anybody a completely misleading impression about what his Martial Path was.

He grew more relaxed as a result of making those insights. He didn't need to be nearly as fearful as he was. Furthermore, even if the Kandrian Empire found out, they were most certainly no friend of Chairman Deacon. Selling out its own military assets to the grudge of a weaker foreign power was not something that it was willing to do.

Once Rui calmed down a bit, he studied the matchup. He wasn't sure who would win, but he would face the winner of this match in the second round.

He was unable to discern who was stronger out of the two of them based on his evaluation of their threat level, it was too close.

This means that we're going to get a good fight. 

The two contestants walked side by side as they headed towards the centre of the colosseum.

It wasn't too long before they had completed all the initial formalities.

"Take your stances."

The Kandrian prince took a rather strange stance, he crouched, stretching one leg as far back as he could on the ground while the fingers of both hands touched the ground before him.

His sharp eyes fixated on Squire Frinjschia.

Interesting...  Rui's eyes lit up with intrigue.  An offensive Martial Art that relies on accumulated momentum to inflict damage?

Not the most unique or creative Martial Art he had ever seen, but it certainly was a formidable offense. Its clear downside was the fact that it was inflexible and more predictable, but its upside was that its offensive power was almost certain to be unmatched. Every collision would be damning, especially given the weight class and the muscle mass of the man. Rui wouldn't be surprised if he was capable of fighting Hypertrophic Surge head-on.

Squire Frinjschia, however, was unperturbed. She simply adopted a neutral stance, much to Rui's surprise.  She's an all-rounder? Interesting.

That made him even more curious about her Martial Art.

The air grew more tense as the Senior priest let the atmosphere mull for a moment.

And soon, it was time.

"Begin!"

RUMBLE!

Rui's expression lit up with an impressed smile as the Kandrian prince blasted forward, the sheer amount of force he exerted shook the very ground beneath him as he propelled his gargantuan body forward at incredible speeds!

The sheer amount of power in his attack was undeniable!

Rui would need both Nemean Blossom and Flux Earther at maximum effort to be able to eat attacks like that head-on. As expected, the final eight were not to be underestimated.

They were different from the rest of their peers.

He shot forward, boiling the air with the sheer friction he generated, arriving at his opponent in an instant!

And yet, she had already departed.

WHOOSH!

His eyes widened as he swept across an empty image. He swerved to the right as his instincts warned him of an incoming attack.

BAM!

Her elbow crashed into his neck as she spun, bolstering her attacks with as much torque as she could generate. Yet, her eyes widened as her elbow could barely dig into his extraordinarily dense and tough muscles.

A single word escaped his mouth.

"Weak!"

He swung wildly, throwing a wild haymaker, yet his attack missed its mark as she effortlessly evaded it, stepping away.

The first bout ended as the two of them momentarily paused, sizing each other up.

The crowd, however, loved every second of it!

"Woooo! Go, Prince Reese! Blast her away!"

"Show him the younglings the power of experience, granny!"

Rui smiled, for once, he agreed with every sentiment they expressed.