The Martial Unity

Rui simply stared at him with sharp eyes.

He did understand. To a certain extent, he felt the same way.

He was not going to hold back.

He couldn't. Not if he wanted to break through to a higher Realm of power.

The Martial Heart was a power that could only be accessed if he was pushed beyond the limit of what his conventional power could accomplish. This meant that holding back was antithetical to the very nature of the activation of the Martial Heart.

That was why not only was Rui not going to hold back physically, but he had already psychologically conditioned himself to not hold back mentally even in the slightest.

That meant no mercy.

No compassion.

No empathy.

If his opponent's death was a consequence of that, then he wouldn't feel any guilt over it either.

Rui had always maintained the philosophy that if one knowingly chose to partake in something where their life was at stake, as a Martial Artist, which was an occupation where lives were always at stake, and was willing to undertake those risks voluntarily after fully understanding them, then they had consented to the possibility of having their lives taken.

Not only did Tokugawa Ieyasu consent to this, but he had been the one to initiate it when he originally challenged Rui. Even though Rui was challenging him now since he wasn't a guardian and was a challenger all over again, they both knew that Rui had not made the first move.

Neither of them had even the slightest compunctions of taking each other's lives as a consequence of pursuing their Martial Heart.

Rui even had a plan as to how he was going to do it. It was quite simple.

Form a predictive model as soon as possible.

Win.

That was all.

"Take your stances." Senior Sarak instructed.

Both Rui and Tokugawa took simple neutral stances.

Their weight was well-balanced, catering to offense, defense, and maneuvering simultaneously.

It should have been the most ordinary of sights.

A trivial occurrence.

And yet every single guardian watching could only stiffen.

An absurd amount of invulnerable peril could be felt from them.

A stone in the hands of a master was said to be more dangerous than a sword in the hands of a novice

The simplest of stances used even by non-Martial Artists were nothing short of armed fortresses in the hands of those who had mastered them to the limit and beyond.

Their minds honed even further as they focused on each other.

Everything else ceased to exist.

They themselves ceased to exist.

They existed only in the reflections of each other's eyes.

A single word escaped Senior Sarak's mouth.

"...Begin!"

The guardians widened their eyes.

One moment they were there.

And then they weren't.

They blurred in the eyes of the guardians, flashing forward toward each other with incredible agility.

BOOM!!

The first clash of the battle had been levied.

A ripple of shock washed over the spectators.

A ripple of power spread through the land and sky.

RUMBLE

Merely a single strike had been exchanged, yet the floating island seemed to groan under the weight of their power.

Yet the battle continued.

It had to.

POW POW POW!

Tokugawa took the initiative as three incredibly powerful and swift attacks clashed against Rui's guard. A powerful and swift fist flew forward, threatening to crash into Rui's abdomen.

WHOOSH!

Rui ducked, cleanly avoiding the attack as he threw a low sweeping kick at the man's legs

Yet Ieyasu was unfaltered.

He leaped forward, narrowly avoiding the sweeping kick as he simultaneously launched a flying knee kick to the crouching Rui.

WHOOSH!

Rui leaped back in a summersault, sharply avoiding the flying knee kick while launching a kick with the upward motion of his legs. A swift kick to the chin could threaten a knockout, yet Ieyasu surgically avoided it as he leaped back.

STEP

They both paused for a moment, landing several meters from each other.

Several thoughts furiously flashed through their mind.

They had a basic understanding of the other's Martial Art. Rui was aware that Ieyasu copied Martial Art by acquiring a deep amount of information on their opponent and reconstructing a superior one from the same building blocks. Ieyasu was aware that Rui constructed the most optimal counter to a Martial Art after deeply analyzing his opponent.

That was the extent of their knowledge.

Yet that was enough.

Neither of them knew how their Martial Art would interact with the other. Both Martial Art was quite esoteric and deviant from the norm, it wasn't entirely obvious what would happen when they clashed.

A number of possibilities flashed through both their minds. Regardless, there was one thing that was clear.

The faster one would win.

Unbeknownst to everyone else, a race had begun.

Whoever won the race would gain an undeniable advantage in the fight. If Ieyasu managed to copy Rui before Rui managed to adapt to him, then there would be a brief window where he would be dominant over Rui. If Rui adapted faster than he copied, then he would undoubtedly gain an edge in the battle himself.

It was a logical conclusion.

Yet something was off.

Rui couldn't quite put his finger on it. For some reason, his pattern recognition was being delayed. He had hoped to make some progress from the initial exchanges, but he had been unable to.

It could have been merely bad luck.

Yet his instincts warned him that something was off.

Both sides leaped into action, determined to be the winners. Rui's mind honed itself as he intensified his search for patterns. The quicker he found them, the sooner the predictive model, the likelier his victory.

He rushed forward as he launched a Flowing Canon with the full power of his gathered momentum.

A titanic blow surged forward toward Ieyasu, threatening to crush him.

And yet;

WHOOSH!

He crouched, narrowly avoiding the attack, before launching a powerful double-fist upward blow.

A maneuver he hadn't used yet.

Rui's unease escalated.

Rui narrowed his eyes, searching for patterns as he used Flux Earther to negate the blow before launching a swift high kick to the man's jaw.

A blow that threatened to knock him.

WHOOSH!

Ieyasu spun, avoiding the kick narrowly as an immensely powerful roundhouse kick flew at Rui.

BAM!

The attack crashed into Rui, yet he was unmoved. Flux Earther had negated the impact.

An immensely swift kick retaliated flying straight towards Ieyasu.

The most optimal choice was to dodge.

Yet...

BAM!

The attack crashed into his guard, flinging him away roughly.

A sub-optimal choice.

An edge had been conceded. It should have been a joyous gift to Rui. Yet anyone who looked at Rui's eyes could see his confusion.

A realization had dawned on him.

He frowned, staring at Ieyasu with open confusion.

Horror even.

'You... don't have any patterns? ' Rui stared at him in shock.