The Martial Unity

There was a difference between perceiving and being aware of.

The sensory organs generated an input of information that far exceeded what the brain could normally process. The mind could not be aware of everything it sensed, and was limited to things that it chose to focus on.

Things that were most attention-drawing.

This principle was the foundation of all magic, subtle misdirection that redirected awareness away from truly important phenomena allowed for miracles that defied the laws of reality.

The most basic application of this was making things appear and disappear.

Like an incoming fist that surged towards one’s jaw.

BANG!

Anthea’s jaw rocked as the blow destabilized his balance.

And yet, almost like gravity, his attention returned to the blood-red glow in Rui’s eyes.

His awareness magnetically returned to Rui’s eyes.

BOOOM!

A powerful knee kick ravaged his abdomen before he could even realize it, and yet, the very second that his gaze shifted away from Rui, he found his attention returning to Rui before he even realized it.

BANG BANG BANG!!!

A swift combo of hooks rocked his skull as Rui continuously drew his attention into the depth of his blood-red eyes.

Rui kept his blows short, swift, and limited in power.

If he inflicted too much damage with a single attack, then it would break the technique, allowing him to return to his senses. He needed to ensure that his eyes, as well as the information flux of Megamind, drew all his attention and remained the centerpiece of his mind.

It was perhaps the only shortcoming of the technique, but aside from that, the technique served as a powerful way to bypass all active defenses and evasion. If not for the passive elastic flesh defense that he had genetically modified his body to have, tit would have been impossible for him to withstand so many attacks.

BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM!!!!!

A maelstrom of attacks of great frequency blasted Anthea’s body as his muscles grew limp. His expression grew dazed as his eyes grew hazy. Rui’s eyes lit up with anticipation as he continued ravaging the man’s tissue, trying to inflict as much damage as he could.

Each attack left a minute amount of damage on the evolutionary’s body, and it was only by stacking damage that he would be able to eventually take him down. He used powerful Yin-Yang Spears to mow his opponent down with a myriad of attacks that permeated damage across the evolutionary’s body.

Particularly, his brain.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!

A myriad of blows collided against his skull carefully.

Rui couldn’t afford to blast him with a clean blow altogether immediately since it would undoubtedly break the immersion that he was in. He carefully inflicted a little bit of blunt-force trauma to the brain bit by bit, hoping to stack it eventually so that the evolutionary would lose consciousness and eventually be shut off.

He was surprised by how effective the hypnotic technique was, and perhaps the true world didn’t have much hypnosis, given that they didn’t have a foundational mastery of efficiency that allowed Martial Artists to perform great feats of hypnosis.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!

Blow after blow, he got closer and closer, dazing the evolutionary.

The evolutionary’s body continued to grow limper and limper as his eyes grew hazier, his motions grew less defined and more unstable.

Rui’s eyes surged with determination and drive as the final blow came.

A powerful hook to the side of the head.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!!!

He unleashed all his power for the final attack, blasting his already hazy consciousness with a thundering blow that ravaged his skull.

And yet, he had underestimated Anthea.

SPLAT!

Rui’s eyes widened as a sharp, excruciating flash of pain in his chest.

He slowly directed his gaze downwards with a shocked expression.

DRIP DRIP DRIP…!

Blood started dripping out of the opening in his chest.

The opening created by Anthea’s arm.

His arm was buried deep through Rui’s chest, having emerged out the other side with Rui’s heart in his hand.

“Cough…!” Rui spluttered as blood spurted from his mouth.

The air boiled with horror.

The atmosphere grew electric with peril.

The battle darkened despite the bright light of the afternoon Sun shining brightly overhead.

“No…!”

“Your Highness!”

“Rui…!”

The Martial Sages gritted their teeth with grave severity as they watched Rui bleed profusely from the lethal wound that Anthea inflicted upon him.

And yet, despite that, Anthea’s expression crumpled with chilling murderous rage.

“You dare addle my mind?”

His ethereal tone was one of fury.

“You dare render me incapacitated?”

He ephemeral eyes bore deep into Rui’s eyes.

“You will pay for that with your life.”

SPLAT!

DRIP DRIP DRIP…

Blood gushed out of Rui’s wound as Anthea drew his arm out, along with his heart. His skin began growing pale while his eyes began growing hazy with the blood loss. His breathing grew labored while his body weakened in its resistance. The blood-red glow in his eyes faded away as his Realms of power shut down.

“My brain is genetically modified to kick back to consciousness unless I allow it to sleep.”

Anthea’s tone was chilling.

“It means I cannot be rendered unconscious,” he gazed deep into Rui’s eyes. “If you want to defeat me, you will have to kill me. And unfortunately…”

He gazed at the gaping hole in Rui’s chest, sizing him up one last time.

“You will be too dead to ever get another chance.”

He turned away, returning his gaze to the other Martial Sages.

He turned away, having written off his opponent.

That was a mistake.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!!

“Rgh!” Anthea grimaced as a titanically powerful blow blasted into his back, flinging him away a great distance as it cracked several bones.

Even as he bled off the momentum, he stole a glance at Rui with shock, his eyes widening at what he saw.

The wound was gone.

The flesh was completely healed.

Rui grinned at him with vigor and drive as his pitch-black eyes flared with an intense battle lust.

“Thanks for the tip, I will keep that in mind.”

WHOOSH!

He surged forth with tremendous speed, throwing a powerful Flowing Cannon charged with all the power that he could muster.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!!

Anthea’s expression grew ugly as he barely defended against Rui’s immense attack.