The Martial Unity

He could switch instantly between striking power very close to that of Fae's to combat speed on par or perhaps even greater with Vyoming. Furthermore, it was practically guaranteed that he had several other techniques at bare minimum!

In which case, Ian was a menace!

Rui grinned, gaping in amazement. His personality was rotten, but his power was the real deal. He truly deserved to be placed in the same realm as Kane as far as talent went.

In fact, without the Void Step technique, Kane stood very little chance of defeating him.

Rui watched on with great interest as Ian Nepomniachtchi went onto dominate Vyoming, carefully observing his breathing noting its traits and forms.

The breathing he used to amplify power; Fire Breathing was rather slower in frequency but much deeper and larger. Rui suspected the surge of a large amount oxygen in a short amount of time allowed for the maximization of power.

The Lightning Breathing was a high-frequency breathing technique that supplied continuous oxygen boosting speed continuously.

The different forms of respiration in the different breathing techniques caused Rui to realize that he had perhaps underestimated the power of breathing techniques. If Rui had such breathing techniques he would be able to adapt much better than he currently was able to.

('Maybe I ought to take a look at techniques like those when I get back.')

"Aaaand we have a winner!" The host declared. "Ian Nepomniachtchi moves onto the second round after a stunning victory against Vyoming Hurin!"

Ian snorted, turning his back on the mangled body of Vyoming.

"He's going to be to be an extremely rough opponent for you." Squire Kyrie noted.

"Indeed." Rui nodded. Ian's fluctuating physical parameters made evolving to him a truly difficult endeavor; Rui would need to be careful not to make a single mistake.

"And coming up next we have Representative Esfand Hanax of the Grip Scraping Style, representing the Sicillia branch!" The commentator announced, as Esfand walked into the arena.

"His opponent is Freund Gamor of the Dreamy Poison Style! He is here representing the Villimaine branch! Known as the Toxinmonger in the Martial Community, he is one of the favoured representatives of the Martial Contest!"

The crowd erupted in cheers as Fruend entered the arena.

Freund had sickly-looking skin that had a shade of purple to it. Not a single person had any doubt that his entire skin was poisonous and that touching it would be a disaster.

What Rui found suspicious was that he was wearing a mouth mask.

The fact that he was wearing it meant that the mask was thoroughly scrutinized by the security staff of the Martial Contest, meaning it was not something that unfairly gave him an advantage atleast.

But generally, when someone covered something, it meant they had something to hide. Rui assumed the mouth mask wasn't a fashion choice, atleast.

"Take your stances." The referee instructed.

Rui raised an eyebrow as both of them took aggressive stances against each other that prioritized offense.

"And begin!" The referee commenced the match.

They dashed towards each other.

SPLAT

Rui's eyes flew wide open at what unfolded.

Freund came out of the exchange bleeding while Esfand came out seemingly unharmed, with slight bruises at the very most.

Rui glanced at Esfand, who was grinning.

('Wow, he's rough just like Fae told me.')

Esfand was a Martial Artist centered around friction. He had taken skin conditioning to the most extreme level and his skin was beyond what mere 'rough' could encapsulate. His skin had so much friction that simply pressing and rubbing one's skin against it caused bleeding!

In combat, he applied his impressive offensive power through his dangerous skin allowing to unleash frightening damage and lethality!

Rui raised an eye brow, he was quite impressed. Frankly, if Esfand had been part of the Hajin branch, he would have been able to stand in the top five atleast, in all likelihood. Rui could easily see how he managed to get chosen as the representative of his branch.

SCRAP

POW

The two exchanged blows after blows, however the battle had begun to shift decisively in favour of Esfand. He was able to deal immediate damage, and had already dealt immense amount of damage.

WOBBLE

Suddenly, Esfand staggered.

His vision blurred and as he began losing all power in his muscles at an alarming rate!

WHOOSH!

He threw a haymaker that Freund easily avoided.

POW POW POW

Freund began pummeling him with blow after blow.

The battle had suddenly turned tides!

"His poison kicked in in time." Rui noted.

Squire Kyrie nodded. "From the very start, both sides were aware that this fight was a race. They were both offensive type Martial Artists with high lethality. It seems it was a race that Esfand is losing and Fruend is winning."

THUD

Esfand hit the ground, the referee kneeled in closer to him before waving his hand.

"Aaaand we have a winner ladies and gentlemen!" The commentator declared. "Emerging victorious out of representative Esfand Hanax's relentless assault; Representative Freund Gamor will be moving on to the next round! He will be facing Ian Nepomniachtchi in round two!"

Rui stared at Freund

"His poison kicked in quicker and neutralized its victim quicker than that of Avi Seth." He noted.

"Freund's poison is much more powerful than that of Avi Seth's." Squire Kyrie noted. "Poison-based Martial Art's potency is largely based on the poisons that they can wield, Talen in this field is decided by the most powerful poison that one can become immune to and then integrate into one's body. In that regard, Freund is well above Avi."

Rui nodded, agreeing with her judgement.

Esfand was quickly extracted and treated by a team of medics while Freund consumed several healing potions while he was escorted by staff out of the arena.

"Aaaand we now move on to the third match of the first round!" The commentator declared.

Rui's eyes narrowed. He was particularly interested in this matchup because if he won, he would be facing the winner of this matchup in the next round.