The Martial Unity

Senior Faputa gazed over the dead body of Senior Gemu with wide eyes.

"…Not a single scratch, but he's dead."

She could hardly believe it, however, the defensive expert seemed to have been killed very smoothly in a manner that bypassed his defenses and killed him in an instant.

'Poison…?' She narrowed her eyes. 'No…'

There were no signs of poison used on him. Every Martial Artist who delved into the Underworld became more familiar with unorthodox Martial Art, especially fields like poison that were used even outside of Martial Art.

From what she could tell, he hadn't been poisoned.

He had just inexplicably… died.

That alone wasn't the only oddity to be spotted.

'Where is his exterior robe?' She frowned.

It didn't make sense that that alone went missing. Furthermore, she found it quite likely that it alone had been torn off while other articles had been intact.

She had been sent by the Carnil Mafia for two missions, two find and extract a plum ecstasy fruit, and to find Senior Gemu who had been deployed in this particular direction within the forest.

Unfortunately, this was part of the trap that Rui had laid.

BOOM!

"Rgh!" She grimaced as a powerful crashed into her head, almost leaving her dizzy. Yet she swiftly raced away at a blinding speed, quickly recovering the effects of the blow.

She hadn't sensed even the slightest threat when the mysterious force had struck her. It was clearly someone with an incredible amount of stealth.

"Tsk," She gritted her teeth as she brought her hands together, activating a breathing technique before releasing a powerful omnidirectional shockwave to catch the invisible assailant.

POW!

Her eyes narrowed as Rui appeared out of thin air at a distance, blocking the attack. "Now you're dead."

WHOOSH!

Rui's eyes widened as she flashed towards him at a blinding speed and agility, her hands surged forward, reducing to blurs even to Rui's senses.

POW POW POW!

He defended her vitals as she launched a maelstrom of short and swift blows that were nearly impossible to evade at that range. On top of that, simply leaping away and opening the distance wouldn't work when she was faster than him, he would never be able to outpace her.

"I was you who killed Gemu and Fern, hm?" She asked with an icy tone as she plowed him with blows. "What about Nereau, was that you too?"

POW POW POW!!!

"You're going to die a painful death." She declared.

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!!

A barrage of rapid-fire attacks washed over Rui.

"The Carnil Mafia does not forgive."

POW POW POW!!

"It does not forget."

BANG BANG BANG!!

"Not until it has consumed those that cross it."

Her eyes intensified as her blows surged forward with incredible speed.

Countless sonic booms rippled across the skies.

Her dainty palms ignited the atmosphere with the sheer friction she generated as a result of her speed.

Her hands ceased being hands.

The aura of flames they generated resembled those of meteorites.

That was the origin of her Meteorite Monsoon technique. Swift short blows that exceeded the speed of even meteorites!

POW POW POW POW POW!

"My speed is beyond your capability," She declared. "I will wear you down, bit by bit. But I will not kill you. I'm sure Senior Zenshin would love to tear you alive."

Suddenly, the air changed.

She could feel it.

Was it something in her surroundings?

No…

Her eyes widened as four words escaped Rui's mouth.

"You talk too much."

Suddenly, she felt a shiver crawl down her spine.

Chills crawled up her skin.

He needed to die, that much she knew.

"Hryah!" She snarled as she increased her efforts.

WHOOSH!

Yet she could only widen as her attack crashed into an empty image. Before she could even process what happened, a titanic impact crashed into her gut.

BOOM!!

An enormous shockwave emerged from the impact, flattening a town's worth of area across the forest.

She coughed blood as the impact launched her dozens of kilometers into the air.

Rui smiled. "Watch out for the hornets."

ZZZZT!

Her eyes widened as countless Senior-level cloud hornets emerged from the clouds, threatening to tear her to shreds. She immediately dove, rushing to the ground in a matter of seconds, as she evaded the bees.

Yet she knew she was far from safe.

WHOOSH!

She narrowly evaded a blow from Rui, with incredible speed and agility. As a speed-oriented Martial Artist, she was confident in her ability to evade.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

She weaved away from his strikes, growing more confident by the second. He had just managed to get a luck hit on her. There was no way that he could keep up with her speed.

WHOOSH!

She smoothly evaded the blow, swerving to the side.

Only to find that Rui's attack had arrived at that location before she did.

BAM!

She stepped away, gritting her teeth as Rui followed.

WHOOSH!

She spun away from a strike, crouching back to land a high kick.

Yet even that had been seen through.

BAM!

His kick crashed into her head, smacking her away while he casually evaded the kick. He swiftly followed suit.

She gritted her teeth as she understood the state of the battle. She couldn't beat him, she didn't know why. But somehow he was casually outpacing her speed despite being much slower than her.

His attacks were much slower, yet they arrived earlier.

His evasions were much slower, yet they began much earlier.

It was as though he could see the future. It was as though he could move through time.

"Running away, I don't think so," Rui calmly informed her.

"Stop me if you can!" She barked as she turned around racing away.

Yet her she could only widen her eyes as she immediately crashed after taking the first step!

"Huh…?" She glanced at her legs with shock.

She somehow lost control of her speed.

Almost as if her brain couldn't keep up with her body.

"Such a shame…" Rui murmured. "I was hoping to finish this with the VOID algorithm alone. But I ended up using Temporal Disharmony."

He glanced at her. "Oh well."

BOOM!!!

He used Hypertrophic Surge to generate such power that the kick twisted her head three hundred and sixty degrees, rotating it a full round.

"Four down. Four to go," Rui calmly tallied the score.