The Martial Unity

Rui had limited himself to defense to explore the limits of his new technique, while familiarizing himself with how the technique felt in different counters.

STEP

('Flying knee kick; 98.9% probability,') He waited for only the briefest moment before activating Godspeed on a sidestep.

WHOOSH

He had half-dodged the attack before it had begun after it was too late for Kane to change his decision.

This was not the most optimal counter to Kane's maneuver according to the adaptive evolution model. But that was fine. His intention was to grow familiar with using Godspeed to move before his opponents moved after it was too late to change their decision. His normal speed meant that against something of the Root's caliber, even if he did begin moving ahead of time after it was too late to change the attack, he would be too slow to make it in time.

('But with this… I think I can-Hm?') Rui's attention returned back to Kane who was tired of being toyed with, taking a crouching stance.

Instantly, the air grew taut as Kane radiated danger. Yet Rui welcomed what was about to come.

"Oh…?" Rui raised an eyebrow as his smile widened. "Let's see if I can match the real deal."

The original Godspeed that Kane had mastered was a grade-ten technique. When used, it could grant him speed that was theoretically crossing past the threshold of a higher Realm of speed!

Even if barely.

Could Rui's improvisation match the original? Rui was excited to find out. Furthermore, this performance would allow him to gauge how potent the technique was.

His focus sharpened as his mind unleashed an avalanche of pressure as his demeanor grew more solemn and serious.

And then it happened.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG…!

Kane exhaled one hundred times in one millisecond as his body weight plummeted even further below how light it normally was!

A titanic surge of power flushed through his muscles.

And then he was gone.

WHOOSH.

The atmosphere rocked violently as Kane entered territories of speed that almost no Martial Squire could even begin fathoming!

The air recoiled as a shockwave the size of a small district violently expanded perpendicular to his motion, splitting all the clouds in the sky in half.

The land beneath his feat crumbled to a fine powder as the air around him was set ablaze.

He crossed Rui in the tiniest of split seconds, stopping ten meters behind him.

…

THUD

Kane fell to the ground, unconscious. A heavy bruise on his lower jaw began swelling immediately.

"Argh," Rui collapsed to one knee as he coughed some blood, much to his shock. "To think Kane could hit so hard with that technique."

His fist was still clenched from having landed a clean strike on Kane's jaw. He had purposely avoided using Outer Convergence, given Kane's constitution, the difference in power between them, and the power of the Outer Convergence technique, he knew for a fact that Kane would instantly die to an attack that powerful hitting his head.

"Still, the outcome is not perfect even then," Rui murmured with mixed feelings.

He had predicted Kane's exact movements, yet even Project Forestep technique was not fast enough to defend against the attack, which moved even faster than Kane himself did. Yet he had been able to knock him out with a well-placed and timed blow even while he incurred damage from failing to intercept the attack.

He immediately hobbled over to Kane, even before he tended to his wounds, feeding him rejuvenation, nutrients, and healing potions.

"Urgh…" He groaned as he woke up. "What in the world…?"

"You alright?" Rui asked as he consumed his own potions.

"What happ-" He paused as his eyes gained clarity. "Oh. Right. I lost."

"It was a good fight, I've never been hit by the Godspeed technique," Rui remarked. "I didn't know how much it hurt, and that was after you massively reduced your mass too, unbelievable. That was on par with a grade-ten Martial Squire attack man."

If not for the fact that his mass was reduced, Rui probably would have died. The reason Kane was able to obtain Senior-level speed with Squire level power was that he made himself incredibly light, to a far greater degree than Rui did. Otherwise, it would just be a Senior level attack and would blast a hole in Rui.

"What's unbelievable is that you accurately tagged me even though I was using the Godspeed technique," Kane shook his head with disbelief, sighing.

"Well, I considered dodging but I knew I wouldn't be able to get my entire body out of the way," Rui sighed. "Your speed is enviable."

"I am not the one who should be envied between the two of us," Kane grumbled as he got up. "So that's the trump card you came up with to handle the Root, huh?"

Rui nodded. "The roots were way too fast for me to deal with, this technique will allow me to cope with things that are way faster than I am."

The Project Forestep technique gave him speed on par with the average speed of peak grade-ten Martial Squires. It was far inferior to Kane's Godspeed in this regard. The reason for that was because of Kane's mastery and affinity to it, but also because Rui chose to spread the speed empowerment across time, rather than squeeze all of it in a single attack like the Godspeed technique normally did.

"Got a name for this technique?" Kane asked casually.

"Hm…"

Rui considered the Project's name, though it sounded too bland for such an impressively powerful technique.

"Void Forestep," Rui replied.

"Huh," Kane shrugged mildly. "That technique is insanely powerful, I bet the Martial Union would love to get its hands on that. It's probably grade ten, given that it beat the Godspeed technique."

Rui was inclined to agree, although the technique certainly was not short of its many drawbacks, that was for certain without a doubt. There were several drawbacks that it possessed that the Godspeed technique did not.