The Martial Unity

Rui scoffed inwardly as the man yelled the name of his attack, announcing the exact number of attacks with its name, and giving more information for Rui to work with.

Why were there Martial Artists who yelled the names of their attacks?

Was it placebo effects? It made them feel better and thus they performed the attack better.

The scientist side of him would have grown curious about it and wanted to conduct a factor analysis and an experiment to verify the correlation.

But alas, he was faced with the alleged Reckoning of One Thousand Palms, thus it would have to wait.

BOOM!!!

The onslaught of sound attacks was overwhelmed by the even greater onslaught of palm chops.

An opening between himself and Rui emerged, and he didn't hesitate to capitalize on it, closing the distance between them in an instant with a maneuvering technique that involved his palm movements.

"Thirteen folds of Ruination!" He bellowed.

Rui barely managed to replace Hypertrophic Surge with Nemean Blossom in time.

BOOM!!!

In an instant, thirteen palm chops had already crashed into Rui's body almost simultaneously.

Rui's eyes widened as he barely managed to put up a guard to block them.

Yet, the Martial Master was not done.

"Twenty-six folds!"

"Fifty-two!"

"Hundred and four!"

BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!

Attacks that Rui could deal with before became vastly hard to deal with as they flowed faster. Rui could tell that each combo was extremely honed and refined right down to the very limit. His body knew exactly what to do, and raced to complete it without being slowed down by his mind, achieving extraordinary fluidity.

Many Martial Artists relied on the principle of honed muscle memory. Those were the foundations of the many flashy combos with extravagant names and numbers.

However, they were effective, not even Rui could deny that,

The performance boost was exceptionally high. It was comparable to the gap between an extremely fast typer and a slow typer. Advanced typists could type at about 80WPM while beginners were at about 20-30WPM.

Did that mean that advanced typists had three-to-four times the finger/muscle movement speed of beginners?

No, their fingers moved equally fast, but advanced typists could eliminate thought as a hurdle, allowing them to reach astonishing typing speeds.

That was effectively what many Martial Artists relied upon including Master Krakule. It was usually highly effective against an opponent since no one could effectively deal with all of the overwhelming combinations of movements.

Except Rui.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

Master Krakule's eyes widened as Rui casually evaded a point-blank attack, moving out of the way of the attacks as they approached him.

'No…he moved before they approached him!' Master Krakule realized.

BOOM!

A powerful attack crashed cleanly into Master Krakule's body faster than his hampered perception could keep up with.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Rui deactivated Nemean Blossom, activating Neo Godspeed instead. His speed heightened, reaching extraordinary territories as he surged forward.

Yet Master Krakule maintained his composure.

He couldn't perceive the world properly, everything moved forward extremely fast, making it difficult for him to keep up. He closed his eyes as his instincts welled up. Instincts forged in wars across a lifetime. Born from the ocean of experience of a man who constantly threw himself in conflict.

His instincts came through.

'There!' He opened his eyes as he shifted to the side, cleanly evading a blindingly fast attack from Rui.

Yet his eyes widened when he realized that a kick had already arrived at his new location.

It had arrived even before he did.

BOOM!

"Ngg!" The Martial Master grimaced with shock. 'He saw through me?!'

He looked into the youngster's eyes, stunned. Within them reflected a powerful void that greedily lingered over him and his Martial Path.

Yet the Martial Master glowered. "You're still a hundred years too early to challenge me!"

BADUMP!

His Martial Heart blazed into fury as he accessed the power of the Senior Realm.

BADUMP!

A second Martial Heart blazed into power. The timely instinctive activation of the Martial Heart ensured that Rui did not get overwhelmed by the gap between the Senior and Squire Realm.

The Martial Master's Martial Heart was actually not as strong as Senior Zenshin's, which Rui found quite strange.

Yet despite that, he was far more powerful.

SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT!

His palms moved at extraordinary speeds, catching up to Neo Godspeed as he carved deep gashes into Rui's body. Rui rapidly adapted to the model to the new physical parameters of Martial Master desperately, yet he couldn't do it before the Martial Master wounded Rui with even more slicing palm attacks, doing as much damage as he could.

WHOOSH! BANG!

Rui evaded an attack before it even began, landing a heavy blow on the Martial Master's gut, flinging him backward.

But not for long.

"Hryah!" The Martial Master brought down a hail of slicing palms with the full power of Martial Body and Heart.

WHOOSH!

It crashed into an empty image. Master Krakule instinctively ducked, evading a swift kick to the head from the side.

And yet;

BAM!

He gravely blocked a powerful that had already arrived at the head, having predicted his dodging maneuver.

BAM BAM BAM!

Rui pummeled him with a swift onslaught of blows flinging him away. Yet Master Krakule patiently weathered them with a knowing look.

Rui was bleeding profusely, in comparison, the Master's honed Martial Body possessed a higher constitution that was more durable as a result of its long honing.

There was no way he could lose in a prolonged battle.

In fact, if not for Temporal Disharmony and Breathing Crucifix's great suppression, he would have dominated Rui heavily by now.

Rui rushed forward at top speed racing forward for the Master's with a powerful blow. Master Krakule hastily defended throwing down a powerful attack that would inflict severe damage if Rui went through with his attack.

The offense was the best defense, as they said.

Or was it?

Master Krakule's eyes widened as Rui went through the attack anyway without any hesitation.

SPLAT!

The slicing palm cleaved through Rui's wrist, severing his hand entirely.

Yet the wild grin that appeared on Rui's face shocked him even more. The bloody arm hadn't stopped its motion even for a split second at the severing. It instead had accelerated to the man's neck, wrangling around.

CLASP!

"Ack!" Master Krakule choked as Rui managed to successfully rope him in a rear chokehold at the expense of a hand.