The Martial Unity

Rui didn't even bother hiding.

What need was there to?

WHOOSH!

He simply activated his Martial Heart as he rushed forward to the Senior-level figure that he sensed in the distance.

In just a moment, he had already arrived.

Yet it appeared that his opponent had sensed him as well. They took a moment to size each other up when Rui closed on him.

The man was gargantuan, he clearly possessed a body that was certainly attributed to offense or defense, or both.

BOOM!

Rui rushed in with a powerful Flowing Canon that crashed into his powerful guard. Instantly, an immensely powerful wave of destruction arose from their clash, erupting until it engulfed a massive amount of area.

Yet Rui could only widen his eyes when the man guarded the attack solidly. His guard held strong, hardly yielding any ground even under the weight of Rui's strongest close-range attack.

BAM!

Rui barely blocked an immensely swift haymaker swing, flinging him away a good distance.

"Which nation are you from, boy?" He gruffly inquired as he walked towards Rui. "You have the weakest Martial Heart that I have ever seen. Is it defective? Hahaha!"

He mocked Rui as he took his stance, a look of realization emerged on his face. "Ah now that I think about it, you must be the one that took down Albas, eh?"

Rui didn't respond, simply analyzing him to the best of his abilities.

"Not bad but...allow me to show you...allow me to show you just how much of a gap there can be between Martial Seniors!" He charged forward with an incredible velocity.

The very air around them burst into an inferno as the sheer friction this man generated with his charge was enough to trigger a conflagration. Rui's eyes widened as he blurred in his vision, crossing the distance between them in an instant.

BAM!

A powerful blazing-hot blow crashed into Rui, scorching his guard.

Yet the man wasn't done, his arms flashed into motion as they hailed down on Rui, barely missing him.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

Rui barely dodged the attacks with an incredulous expression, yet the persevering efforts of the giant eventually paid.

BAM!

Rui grimaced as the powerful blow launched him away, burning his flesh. His eyes narrowed as he took a greater measure of the man's capabilities. Despite being larger and heavier than Rui, he was actually much faster as well, it broke known paradigms that Rui had been accustomed to in the Squire Realm.

The reason for this was because the Martial Body used to be the most important variable when it came to the performance parameters of Martial Squire, in addition to their Martial Art. A heavier body had better offense or defense but was slower than a lighter Martial Body.

However, due to the introduction of the Martial Heart, this was no longer strictly true. A stronger Martial Heart could bridge the gap in speed just by supplying greater force and thus greater acceleration.

His Martial Heart blazed into action as it propelled a wave of burning blows forward at even greater speeds. "Eat my Burning Fist style! Hahaha!"

He laughed mirthfully, expecting to roast Rui slowly across their battle.

And yet, that did not happen.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

The man's eyes widened as Rui smoothly evaded his blows, surging through the chinks in the man's armor before-

BOOM!

Before launching a powerful blow to the man's solar plexus. The sheer weight of a Flowing Canon on a vital point caused the man to snarl in pain, before unleashing an even greater conflagration with his movements.

FWOOSH!

Rui's eyes widened as he leaped away at top speed, activating Gale Force Breathing and Outer Convergence as he leaped away at top speed.

Yet the flames were even faster!

They engulfed not just him, but everything within a hundred meters of the man. A giant fireball conflagration erupted as it engulfed a chunk of the abandoned town they were in.

Rui grimaced as many burns appeared on his skin. He didn't bother too much with the damage as his accelerated healing quickly took care of the burns. His mind was consumed with his opponent.

A Martial Artist that generated heat through friction. This was not something he hadn't run into before, but the level this mean wielded it at was vastly far above the paltry flames that the Martial Squire he fought generated.

The worst part was that Flux Earther was a technique that could disperse impacts, but could not disperse flames. That meant that the only defense that he had was Adamant Reforging.

'Insufficient.' Rui noted. 'Most optimal choice is to switch to a form of combat that evades the flames as opposed to withstanding.'

Given that the flames were too wide-range, an evasive fighting style was also not really feasible.

That left one option.

Rui leaped back, crossing many kilometers in a second as he inhaled deeply.

WHOOSH

The sheer force with which he inhaled caused a region of low pressure to develop across the entire region, accelerating the development of cumulonimbus clouds.

The skies darkened as thunder crackled.

THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM!

Rui fired dozens of hypersonic projectiles one after the other. The man sensed the activation of the technique even if the hypersonic projectiles themselves were hard to track.

"Hahaha!" He laughed. "How are you going to hit me from that far a-!"

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

His words were cut short as several powerful impacts struck his abdomen, catching him off-guard. The sheer potency of the impacts was so high that they launched him flying many kilometers away, destroying entire city blocks as he finally killed his momentum.

His eyes burned with fury as he began charging forward, this time guarding himself with his arms while also generating enough flames around him to mark the approach of the sound projectiles while weakening them before they struck him.

And yet;

BOOM!!!

His eyes widened as a mighty impact vastly stronger than before crashed into him, flinging him even further away than before. he flew across the region as he caught a glimpse of Rui in the great distance.

Yet he looked completely different!

An extremely buff and muscular figure had replaced the otherwise balanced stature that the young man had.