The Martial Unity

The Floating Sect grew alarmed for a moment as two auras that did not seem to fit in the Squire Realm boomed atop the island.

The temperature seemed to chill a few degrees.

The air between them grew taut, wrung by the pressure that the two of them exerted.

Rui's eyes sharpened. "You speak much."

"I have much to say," Ieyasu stared into Rui's eyes with his dark eyes. "All these years… All that patience… It seems my prayers have been answered. A Martial Art with a depth that eludes even my eyes."

His passive tone grew more intense. "Don't you see? You are the key."

Rui stared at him with a sharp expression, silent.

Suddenly, the air changed.

The pressure disappeared.

"Grow stronger," He turned around. "The stronger you are, the greater the final step you will be. Your Martial Art will serve as the gateway to my Martial Heart. Your death will baptize my journey into a higher Realm."

He glanced back at Rui. "I, guardian Ieyasu, challenge you to a duel upon your return."

"I accept," Rui snorted.

The man simply walked away at those words.

Rui simply stared at his retreating figure with a sharp stare.

He did not refuse this.

He did not aim to prevent it.

In fact…

"Hmph," the edge of his lip curled up in a brief mild smirk.

He looked forward to it.

Imitative Evolution versus Adaptive Evolution.

Which one would prevail?

They shared many parallels, yet their cores were decisively in conflict.

This was not just a conflict between Martial Artists or Martial Art.

At its core, this was a battle between ideologies.

The loser would lose more than just the fight.

Rui had a feeling that the loser would lose something far more important than that.

He had dedicated his heart and soul to adaptive evolution. So much so that his Martial Path was a manifestation of his drive towards adaptive evolution.

What would it do to his psychology if he realized that the very essence of his Martial Art as an attempt to fulfill Project Water was fundamentally flawed?

('That would break me…') He narrowed his eyes.

He believed that Bruce Lee's philosophy, the philosophy that formed the foundations of Project Water and the Flowing Void Style was the way to the ultimate Martial Art. That core belief had not only been the basis of his Martial Path and Art but also who he was as a being.

Losing that fight would invalidate that. It would invalidate who Rui Quarrier was.

Would he be able to pursue his Martial Path after that?

"…"

He knew the answer to that question, even if he did not want to admit it.

He suspected that the exact same thing was true for Ieyasu.

That was why his challenge was so solemn. Even though he didn't have anything to materially gain such as a better chamber, this fight was probably more important to him than any other he had ever had.

If they lost, they may very well cripple their Martial Path.

If they won… Then the very opposite may very well happen.

The sheer existential validation they would get in their Martial Path would deepen it by leaps and bounds perhaps.

Neither of them knew.

It appeared that Ieyasu was confident that fighting Rui could activate his Martial Heart. Meaning that he believed that Rui could challenge his Martial desire, the desire that drove him down his Martial Path. Rui had already concluded that only circumstances where one's prime desire for pursuing one's Martial Art was challenged, could the Martial Heart be triggered provided the other conditions were accomplished.

In that case, he was actually similar to Rui.

Rui wanted to create a supreme Martial Art that could adapt to everything

A Martial Art that truly threatened to fundamentally negate that premise such as imitative evolution, could potentially drive him to lengths that he had never been pushed to before. Part of the reason for this was because he had never run into a Martial Path that conceptually challenged his own.

He had run into powerful and talented Martial Artists, but none of them had a Martial Art that contradicted the premise of his own.

Kane's Dancing Wind Style was certainly not something that attacked the premise of his Martial Art since evasive maneuvering was something that could be adapted to, conceptually. The same was true for the Martial Art of his friends.

But imitative evolution denied the premise of his Martial Path. After all, it was premised on the axiom that all Martial Art could be imitated, and all Martial Art could be improved. How could one adapt to a superior version of one's self?

Then again, how could one imitate what was evolved to defeat imitation?

One of these was true, and superior to the other.

Neither of them was willing to concede that spot.

('Well, I'd lose the fight as I am now,') Rui shook his head.

They both knew that.

This wasn't because his Martial Path was weaker, this was simply because he, the Martial Artist, was weaker. He hadn't developed his Martial Art as much as Ieyasu had.

That was understandable to both of them.

Rui was far younger than him.

That was why Ieyasu had told him to grow stronger. It was why he challenged Rui to a duel after he returned.

He wanted Rui to not return until he was truly confident that he could defeat Ieyasu.

Rui had obliged. He would not return until he finished the first iteration of Project Metabody.

They had exchanged few words, yet a mutual understanding had formed between them. They had much to gain from the defeat of the other, and much to lose from the victory of the other.

Neither of them could back down, backing down was the same as admitting that they weren't confident in the core premise of their Martial Path. They both instinctively felt that if they admitted that, the Upper Realms would forever be out of their reach.