The Martial Unity

Chapter 2418: Powerful Counters

Yet, not even that was able to exceed Ruiʼs accumulated predictive model.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

He bobbed and weaved as he evaded each attack, ducking and shifting moments before each attack was conceived.

Unfortunately for him, his opponent could read his thoughts.

BAM BAM BAM!!

Ieyasu nailed three swift and powerful blows on Ruiʼs ribs, earning a grimace from him. His eyes grew fierce as he surged forth, closing the distance between them before launching a flurry of elbows and knees at Rui, hoping to batter him with close-range, full-contact blows that were extremely difficult to evade.

He integrated not only vibration principles to deepen the impact but also other assimilated Martial Art that employed offensive principles such as friction, hardening, and collision plasticity while also drawing power from every inch of his body to deepen each impact and make it as powerful as possible.

This chimeric hybrid of offensive and power techniques allowed him to generate a truly devastating realm of blunt force lethality.

BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM!!!

Each blow tore at the skin.

Each blow sheared at the flesh.

Each blow crumpled muscles.

They chipped at his bones, threatening to break them.

Rui gritted his teeth with ferocious perseverance, holding on with all the defensive techniques at his disposal, trying to disperse the damage with…

”Temporal Disharmony.”

Ieyasuʼs eyes widened as time sped up in his point of view.

Suddenly, Rui turned into a blur that flashed beyond his vision.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!

Rui blasted him with many different blows that turned into blindingly fast attacks beyond his ability to even properly see.

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!!

Ieyasu resigned himself to passive defensive techniques while his ability to time Ruiʼs attacks reduced after each blow, leaving his active techniques crippled for once.

Yet, that wasnʼt all.

BOOOOOM!!!

Ruiblasted Ieyasu with a powerful Flowing Canon amplified with Reverberating Lance, Fire Breathing, Outer Convergence, and Adamant Reforging. They not only left a nasty bruise on his arm but launched him some distance. Rui grinned at the shock he could sense in Ieyasuʼs mind. ”More powerful than last time, isnʼt it?”

Out of all the technique systems in Ruiʼs Martial Art, the Hypnomatrix had been most strengthened by his breakthrough into the Master Realm.

Even before, his hypnosis had been stunningly crippling, allowing him to turn entire tables with a single hypnotic technique that had left his opponent stunned and reeling.

Rui flashed forward, unwilling to let his opponent gain even a moment of reprieve. BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!!

He blasted Ieyasu with attack after attack, hoping to use this momentum to bring the fight to a favorable endgame. Neither of them had even gone anywhere near absolutely all-out with their Martial Art yet. Yet, they were already outputting a performance that put an overwhelming majority of Masters to shame while conserving their most lethal and powerful trump cards for when they would most matter.

At their level, even the slightest inferiority in lesser strategic timing could grow to become damning.

It was why they both desperately fought to gain an advantage as early into the battle as possible.

The earlier an advantage, such as fewer wounds and more stamina, the more that advantage would snowball over the course of the fight and become decisive by the end.

How they spent the first half of their power and stamina would decide how they spent the rest of their power and stamina.

WHOOSH!

Ruiʼs eyes widened as Ieyasu disappeared in the face of his fist.

”Did you really think I wouldnʼt have a counter prepared for that technique?”

BAM!!!

Rui barely managed to intercept a thundering blow that impacted him with extraordinary momentum.

CRACK!

His expression darkened as he felt his ulna bone crack under the sheer weight of Ieyasuʼs attacks.

Ieyasuʼs fierce eyes bore holes into Ruiʼs as he surged forward with extreme speed and power, activating not just Hypertrophic Surge and Fulminata Godspeed but also several other supplementary techniques that allowed him to deliver far greater power.

BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM!!!

Rui gritted his teeth as he activated Nemean Blossom, struggling to hang on due to the sheer power that Ieyasu outputted with each blow.

Each attack was faster than Rui could see.

Each attack felt like a meteorite colliding with his guard.

”Breathing Crucifix,” Rui squeezed out as he dispelled Temporal Disharmony. As an expert on Adaptive Evolution, he knew exactly how Ieyasu had managed to partially negate it. He had simply managed to hypnotize his perception of time to slow down. It was the same technique that Rui applied to Neo Godspeed.

Of course, Ruiʼs hypnosis was far, far more powerful than Ieyasuʼs due to a vastly superior mind. However, he had managed to compensate for the gap using the Fulminata element that he had copied from Kane many years ago.

Ieyasuʼs eyes grew more intense and his breathing grew deeply crippled as his power was cut more than half.

It was a damning incapacitation for any other Martial Master.

Yet, not Ieyasu.

”That doesnʼt work on me anymore.”

Chills crawled across Ruiʼs skin as he felt his nerves tingling with peril.

BOOOOOM!!!

CRACK CRACK!

A thundering blow blasted Rui as though nothing had happened, launching him away with unimpeded power.

”I will show you that youʼre not the only one with the power of adaptive evolution.” Ieyasu chased after him while activating an extraordinary niche technique that he had assimilated many years ago, allowing him to absorb air through his skin rather than through his respiratory system. He had copied the technique for the sole purpose of negating the hypnotic techniques that Rui had used on him seventeen years ago to obtain victory.

WHOOSH!

In the blink of an eye, he appeared before the battered and bleeding Rui, seeking to end the battle with a singular blow.

”Itʼs over.”

WHOOSH!

More than ten extraordinarily powerful assimilated techniques, including Ruiʼs own Metabody System, surged toward him in a thunderously powerful attack that seemed to quake heaven and earth.

It was the most powerful attack that Rui had ever faced in his entire life. WHOOSH!

Ieyasuʼs eyes widened as his attack crashed into an empty image.

A feint.

”I can see your SOUL.”

Shivers crawled down his spine as he leaped away with alarm.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

BOOOOOM!!!

A devastatingly powerful Yin-Yang Spear crashed into him in a catastrophic collision.

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