The Martial Unity

The first phase of the battle bloomed in completion as the two combatants exerted themselves to their absolute limit. Rui had begun the battle with Breathing Crucifix, immediately hampering Senior Zenshin's breathing greatly. He did not allow the man to exert his true full power by hampering breathing for the man had abysmally superior raw power than Rui.

Despite facing the impediment of Breathing Crucifix, he still possessed more raw power than Rui, something the latter found unbelievable.

Yet it was the truth.

"Rgh…!" Rui gritted his teeth as he strained himself to the absolute limit firing off many Mighty Roar Flash Blasts in rapid succession as he leaped away from Senior Zenshin trying to maintain as much distance between them. THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM!

The sheer energy ravaged the Gereign Base and more.

Senior Zenshin, on the other hand, was no slouch. Every attack that arrived was instantly decimated with a single claw swipe. His sharp claws pierced through every single sonic projectile without exception, effortlessly tearing them apart.

"RARGH!" He snarled as he began rushing forward at an even higher pace, swinging his claws with wildly as he tore down every single sonic projectile. His charge grew faster and faster as he got increasingly accustomed to blasting away all of Rui's Mighty Roar Flash Blast.

Not even Rui's maximum output was able to entirely keep him at bay despite his sealed power.

'Long-range attacks do tend to be weaker than close-range attacks due to the greater waste of energy in launching and transit, but how is he able to keep up with me so well despite falling victim to Breathing Crucifix?' Rui clenched his fists as he pushed himself to his physical limit.

He knew the answer, of course. The Martial Heart is that shined across his body was that much superior to his own. "HYARH!" He tore past yet another barrage of Mighty Roar Flash Blasts, leaping towards Rui, his claws poised, ready to tear apart Rui at the first moment possible.

'No choice,' Rui exhaled deeply as he activated Hypertrophic Surge. BOOM!!!

Senior Zenshin's eyes widened as he was flung away by a tremendous surge in power. Rui's seemed to suddenly spike at the final moment, overcoming his own. Rui didn't necessarily have to resort to this option, he could have explored other possibilities, but he ultimately decided not to risk it.

Senior Zenshin's offense was far too lethal. A single mistake and Rui could easily lose an arm or be cleaved in half at close-quarters combat. It was best to maintain long-range combat for the time being, he didn't even want to risk it with close-range combat.

Although Senior Zenshin had remarkable long-range prowess, Rui knew that it was a learned skill that was not his primary and preferred range of combat. Close-range combatants faced certain universal problems. One of them was how they were going to close a distance against a long-range combatant who was not going to let them close the distance.

Some chose to maneuver.

Others chose superior raw power to push through with raw power.

Many chose to develop some elementary long-range prowess to combat long-range attacks. Senior Zenshin appeared to have chosen the latter two. He not only possessed long-range attacks, but he also preferred to close the gap by relying on his superior offense to tear everything his opponent threw to shreds.

It had been going well until Rui suddenly got a huge boost in power. His body grew in size and volume as he gained a muscular physique that matched that of Senior Zenshin's gargantuan body.

His offense grew proportionally.

THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM!!!

A deeply powerful onslaught of attacks crashed into Senior Zenshin, flinging him an enormous distance away. By the time the man hit land, he found that Rui had flung him so far that they had ended up in the forest.

"Bastard…" Senior Zenshin gritted his teeth, baring his fangs fiercely. "You think you can take me down with such trivial attack power?"

Rui didn't deign to answer him. He was in a tight position himself. He needed to create a proper formidable predictive model on Senior Zenshin before his Metabody stamina ran out. If he ended up in a state where he couldn't use the Metabody System or the pattern recognition system, then he was screwed.

Senior Zenshin, on the other hand, simply stared at Rui with intense eyes fixed on the man. There was a brief stand-off as neither side moved an inch having relocated to the forest. That was fine as far as Rui was concerned. He needed a bit more time before the predictive model was complete. He was holding himself to high standards. The predictive model needed to be immaculate, otherwise the risks of dying or suffering a grave injury in close quarters were too high. However, his eyes widened when he gazed into Senior Zenshin's inhuman eyes. The man wasn't just staring at Rui like a predator.

'He's…thinking.'

Senior Zenshin had not sat still for the centuries that had passed by since he became a Martial Senior. He had diligently worked hard to create enough manners of thought to reach the standards of the Martial Mind.

He hadn't yet succeeded, but progress had been made.

At that very moment, he was employing it.

'This surge of power…is probably temporary,' He realized. 'That means that bastard will return to his original weak body after some time. That means that I just need to ensure that I don't go down in the time that he has access to such power. I also need to burn his stamina to hasten the process. Once he's lost that power, he won't be able to hold me back anymore. I should dedicate half of my stance and power to defense while the rest goes to offense. Yeah, let's go with that.'

This was the complete extent of Senior Zenshin's Martial Mind, and he was quite proud of it. Had Rui heard his internal monologue, he would have burst out laughing, lowering his guard, and would have died as a result.