The Martial Unity

"Let's begin," Rui narrowed his eyes as he raced in, preparing a powerful attack.

BOOM!!

A powerful Flowing Canon crashed into the man's guard, rocking it where he stood.

Yet it held firm.

Rui raised an eyebrow as the man held on strong, impressed by his resilience.

Yet he was far from done.

WHOOSH

He smoothly swirled to the side, launching a swift upper kick to the man's head.

BAM!

The man barely managed to shift in time, blocking the powerful blow with a guard. Yet the impact imbalanced him slightly. Reverberating Lance permeated the impact through his guard, hurting him despite it.

BAM BAM BAM!!!

Rui blasted the man with an onslaught of blows and attacks. Each of them rattled his guard, but more than anything, he was constantly forced to shift his guard, for Rui never once attacked in the same place.

His guard was as hard as esoteric rock; the power of his Martial Body was higher than that of Rui's, so he would never be able to break past his guard with straightforward clashes.

That was why he focused his stance just enough on maneuvering such that he could constantly shift around and target his weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

As tough as his guard was, it was also heavy. It wasn't easy for him to shift it around constantly.

BAM BAM BAM!

The man gritted his teeth as he constantly stepped around, trying to adjust to Rui's maneuvers.

Yet Rui had no intention of slowing down.

He didn't speed either, he just maintained the pacing and patterns of striking that he normally did.

Time passed as the defensive Martial Senior grew increasingly comfortable with dealing with Rui's offense.

That was his biggest mistake.

WHOOSH!

His eyes widened as he realized he had shifted his guard preemptively in anticipation of an attack from the rear.

His prediction was wrong.

SPLAT!

"Gah!" The man screamed in pain as his eyes bled.

Rui had cleanly jabbed him in the eyes, making them bleed.

BAM!

The abrupt pain from the wound had caused his guard to become dismantled, giving Rui a clear path to victory.

CLASP!

His arms coiled around the man's neck and head, squeezing extremely hard.

It was over rather quickly.

He turned to the spectating Martial Masters. "This battle highlighted the ability of the system of thought to capitalize on the shortcomings of the opponent, to stress and strain them to the point of causing the opponent to eventually make a blunder. This is the blunder induction system."

It was a simple philosophy of a strategy that Rui had codified into the earliest iterations of the VOID algorithm before he had ventured to create the pattern recognition system.

It was also the basis of the set of voidlet techniques he had created.

"Imagine if every Martial Apprentice was able to fight so strategically. So thoughtfully," Rui remarked. "That is the value that these techniques are able to make."

The Martial Masters listened to his explanations with intrigued expressions.

It was true that if every Martial Apprentice fought in this manner from the very get-go, by the time they reached the Senior Realm, their affinities for the Master Realm would already be much higher.

"Alright, let us get to the final battle," Rui calmly replied after having consumed a potion to restore his stamina.

He turned to the Martial Senior of the Lightning Sect.

It was not Kane, unfortunately.

But then again, it was perhaps for the better. He knew Kane's patterns too well; he might subconsciously use the predictive model, which would contaminate the demonstration.

The Martial Senior of the Lightning Sect was a lean man, which was to be expected. He silently took a light-stepped loose stance that allowed for free-flowing maneuvering.

Rui took a defensive stance, this time with a knowing expression. "Let's begin."

WHOOSH!

Immediately, the maneuvering-oriented Martial Artist raced forward, yet as he approached Rui, he swiftly swirled around for his back, aiming for his vulnerability.

It was a similar strategy to the one Rui had just employed in the previous fight. Yet Rui was not nearly as slow as his opponent.

POW POW POW!

He managed to block the barrage of blows cleanly. Yet his opponent was unperturbed, turning to different points of entry to inflict damage on Rui.

POW POW POW!

The battle took on a rather dynamic turn as Rui circled about a single spot as the maneuvering Martial Artist buzzed about him like a bee, seeking to inflict as much damage onto his vitals as possible.

FLICK!

The maneuvering Martial Artist smirked as he managed to inflict a cut on Rui's body before he could guard against it.

Yet he wasn't done.

WHOOSH!

He accelerated into a blur, circling around Rui at immense speeds, throwing many swift and short blows as he pushed Rui to defend against as many as possible.

His maneuvers grew aggressive as he confirmed Rui's passivity, growing quicker and faster in his combos.

SPLAT!

A triumphant grin emerged on his face as he managed to land a deep gash on Rui, swiftly leaping away.

CLASP!

Yet he could only widen his eyes as Rui managed to catch his hair just before it slipped away.

His dark, swirling eyes pierced into the man's. "Got you now."

BAM!!!

He pulled the man's head down as he blasted it with knees, over and over.

THUD

He threw the man away when he was done, lest he break his skull. His face was unrecognizable; even his nose had been completely shattered, mashed, bleeding profusely as he coughed and gasped.

"Huff…" Rui heaved a sigh, turning to the Masters one more time. "That there was a technique that embodies the philosophy of strategic sacrifice. Calculated sacrifices to deal with opponents that are hard to engage with. While the wound he inflicted was damaging, it was nothing compared to the damage I could inflict if I could actually get my hands on him. Thus, I abandoned all preparation for defense and instead prepared to time as clinch, allowing me to win the fight."

The Martial Masters thoughtfully considered his words.

"A future where all Martial Apprentices fight with such thought is a future with more Martial Masters," Rui declared by the end, offering a simple bow. "Thank you for attending this simple presentation."