The Martial Unity

Not a single person watching was unperturbed.

Every man, woman, child, and pet.

Every civilian and every Martial Artist.

Every atheist and every theist.

Every spectator and every staff member.

All of them watched.

With shock and awe. And most of all...

Unadulterated admiration.

Not even the many Martial Masters that had gathered for this historic fight could maintain their composure when they witnessed what happened.

He was pushed. Pushed into a corner. Beaten down. His plummeting speed, power, and fortitude did not escape the ascended eyes of the exalted Martial Masters.

His defeat was nigh.

Time was up.

And yet...

WHOOSH!

"Your time is... not mine."

BOOM!

A powerful Flowing Canon crashed into her back, launching her away.

He should have been weak. Weaker.

And yet, they could tell.

He was stronger than ever.

An aura of invincibility radiated from his being.

Master Deivon grinned with excitement.

Master Carian and Greminga watched with expressions of awe.

They had been agnostic about Rui's status previously.

Now, the balance had shifted ever so slightly.

Master Uma was different from them all.

Had anyone noticed, they would not have failed to catch the devotion that she radiated from her entire being.

As well as the glint of madness within her eyes.

Rui didn't notice.

He couldn't.

They truly did not exist in his mind.

His mind was honed on one, and only one, person.

Meera skidded away as she landed on her feet. Her wide eyes turned towards him with a flash of displeasure.

STEP

STEP

STEP

Rui walked towards her nonchalantly.

Six words escaped his mouth.

"The nigh pinnacle of individual power."

Her eyes narrowed.

"I recognize your power." His calm voice reverberated across the colosseum. "Your power. Power born at the altar of madness. I cannot begin to fathom the circumstances that have culminated to result in your being."

His admiration was earnest.

"Yet an incoherent heart will never give rise to the Heart."

A profound sincerity had accompanied his composed confidence.

"You have sacrificed not just your mind, but also your Heart." Rui declared. "For as long as you live, you will never ascend to a higher Realm of power. For as long as you live, you will live shackled to the Squire Realm. The same madness that brought you to the peak is the same madness that will forever shackle you away from greater heights. Not even the Virodhabhasa can free you from the prison of your own power."

An expression of pity appeared on his face.

Two words escaped his mouth.

"How ugly."

Meera stared at him.

Frozen.

For a moment, the entire world was frozen in shock at his words.

His eyes.

For a moment, all she could see were his eyes.

She felt more than naked

She felt transparent under his gaze.

She may as well have not existed.

Her mind flashed back to a distant memory.

A man with pitch-black eyes and hair had stood over her.

'Do you see your Martial Path in myeyes?' He had whispered. 'Do you see how broken it is? As broken as your soul is. How can one tread where there is nary a Path? You will remain at its edge forever. Unmoving. Realms of power await you. Yet you will be unable to take so much as a step forward. Not even the Antithesis can help you.'

A cold expression of contempt had appeared on his face.

'How grotesque.'

One moment, there was peace.

And in the next.

Her expression crumpled into pure unadulterated rage. Pure malevolence radiated from her being.

"AAAAAAARGH!"

She lashed out with a velocity that beggared the mind.

So much so that Rui's eyes couldn't even see her.

And yet.

WHOOSH!

By the time she reached him, he was not. Her attack crashed into an empty image.

BAM!

Rui's fist crashed into her head, blasting him away.

Yet, she simply twisted, redirecting her impact. Her elbow spun towards him with an incredible amount of torque.

Yet he was already gone before she had begun.

POW POW POW!

His strikes were not fast.

Nor were they heavy.

Yet every time she tried to dodge them, they struck her nonetheless. Every time she blocked, they hurt nonetheless.

It was as though he knew where she was going to go ahead of time.

It was as though he knew how she was going to move ahead of time.

It was as though he knew what she was thinking.

BOOM!

A powerful kick crashed squarely into her throat, flinging her away.

She grimaced in pain.

Rui had already prepared his next attacks.

THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM!

His attacks crashed into her one by one. Now that his predictive model was fixed, he could use the Pathfinder technique to its absolute limit. The ODA System kicked into gear as he unerringly nailed her with every attack no matter how she maneuvered.

If she rushed forward directly towards him, hoping to weather his attacks as she reached him, then he simply increased his intensity.

If she tried to use complex maneuvering trajectories to try and juke his aim, she found that he simply accurately struck her vital points nonetheless.

No matter what she did, he mercilessly sniped her or bombarded her with attacks.

Wounds began accumulating on her body one by one. Her active defenses failed before his accuracy and prediction, and her passive defenses were not strong enough to withstand his offense in the interest of beauty.

BAM BAM BAM!

She gritted her teeth as she pushed herself to the very limit.

Her bones cracked under the combined weight of his attacks, and her stubbornness. Her joints groaned, threatening to be displaced. Her muscles burned. Her flesh bled.

And yet she persevered.

She refused to let this happen a second time.

Yet try as she might... she was unable.

The end was nigh.

BOOM!

A powerful tier-five Transverse Resonance crashed into her, flinging her against the colosseum walls. She resolutely exerted herself and yet...

"Eh?"

THUD

She fell back into the ground.

She was unable to even stand up.

STEP

Rui appeared before her, a palm jab flew forward with Flowing Canon.

She closed her eyes.

...

Yet nothing happened.

His palm stopped just an inch away from her throat.

She opened her eyes to find him staring at her with a pointed look.

Only a moment later, her voice announced to everyone watching.

"I forfeit."