The Martial Unity

The sheer speed at which he shot forth at Ria made her eyes light up. He was significantly faster than he was before, even from the perspective of his raw speed alone.

He arrived before her in the blink of an eye, launching a swift blow at her solar plexus, aiming for a vital point right from the very start.

Ria's hand shot forth, seeking to block the attack before it could reach.

Runark's eyes sharpened as a burst of reflex shot through his nervous system, allowing him to change the course of his attack at the very final moment, aiming for Ria's throat with a knuckle jab.

BANG!

Instead of hitting softer flesh, however, he ended up hitting hard bone.

Ria had managed to intercept the attack at the final moment, even if her expression was one of surprise. The last-minute change in his attack trajectory had managed to elude her expectations, diverging from her familiarity with his attack patterns.

But her understanding of causality had allowed her to intuitively intercept the attack, even if it had forced her to take a step back, making her balance a little vulnerable.

Runark seized the opportunity, launching a sweeping low kick with her pivotal foot, hoping to sweep her off her feet.

Both literally and figuratively.

WHOOSH

Ria simply hopped forward, using the opportunity to launch a flying kick to his jaw.

One that she intended to land.

And yet, she was surprised a second time.

WHOOSH

Runark ducked by just enough to evade the blow, while still maintaining a forward charge right into her torso at very close range.

Too close to evade.

BOOM!

A shockwave emerged from the impact as he drove his shoulder into Ria's torso with a heavy push. Even though he had shed a little bit of muscle mass during the few years that he had trained with his father, he could still generate more than enough momentum to hurt.

The impact should have blown Ria away, even though neither of them was using their active Realms of power.

Yet, she merely skidded away, her arms crossed in a defensive posture.

Her expression remained calm and composed.

She had managed to disperse the impact of the attack through collision mechanics principles.

Elastic collisions, prolonged impact timeframe, and distance to lower the intensity, and of course, converting an impact into kinetic energy rather than tissue damage.

These techniques had specific names in the past, but in the Era of Expansion, they had been boiled down to principles and mechanisms that weren't mastered with muscle memory for a specific set of circumstances, but were to be mastered more generally, such that the application of the technique was greater even if it came at the cost of some muscle-memory proficiency.

It was the influence of the Water Sect. The Sect, while no longer actively ruled by the Emperor of Water, had grown tremendously in the Martial World and had introduced new schools of thought that completely replaced old Martial dogma.

One of the new schools of thought was 'a technique is only as valuable as it is applied.'

A technique that was deliberately narrow in the possible sequence of actions to which it could be applied was a technique that limited its own potential. Rather than hyper-specializing in a set of motions, it was better to master the underlying principles and mechanisms of those techniques.

Acute Edge, Inner Divergence, Flowing Edge, and all such fancy techniques with low-grade principles were abandoned for their core mechanisms that were named and labeled with codes in a very systematic and scientific manner.

While higher end principles were still mastered in a manner more consistent with the old way, lower grade techniques were completely replaced with broader mastery of principles and mechanisms.

And indeed, Runark too had mastered many such principles in the past three and a half years he had spent in the manifold. His body shot forth with an almost violent acceleration that vastly exceeded anything he had been capable of before as he unleashed an onslaught of quick jabs at Ria's vitals with blurringly fast hands.

He had increased the proportion of quick-twitch muscles in his body over the past three years, choosing to prioritize speed over stamina. In order to compensate for stamina, on the other hand, he had also mastered a new breathing principle that allowed him to maximize his stamina and ensure that his energy reserves compensated for the higher consumption. He had also mastered body manipulation techniques that allowed him to better manage the lactic acid build-up in muscles, responsible for fatigue-oriented pain.

It turned his offensive into nothing short of an automatic machine gun that unleashed a river of attacks against Ria.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!

Sternon's eyes lit up as he saw afterimages of the man's fists overlapping with each other in a blurry mess.

All of this without his Martial Heart.

It was an incredible offensive that would have undoubtedly overwhelmed most Martial Artists.

But his opponent was not an ordinary Martial Artist.

Ria's amber eyes remained clear as she intercepted each and every single one of the countless attacks that he launched at her. She had been initially caught off-guard by the boosted agility and speed, but the moment she adjusted her model of him with the new estimates, it ceased to be something that could catch her off guard.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!

A smile of amazement emerged on Runark's face at the sight of Ria's defensive prowess. He knew that this much alone wouldn't be enough to get him to overwhelm her.

That was why he had trained for more.

A single remark escaped him as he activated the first actual technique of the battle.

A new technique in his Martial Art.

One that he had had his father teach him.

"Fulminata Godspeed."

It was a technique that Kane had invented many years ago in the Valley of Lightning as a Martial Squire, and had improved across the many decades he had used it.

It increased his reflexes to much, much greater degrees than was possible ordinarily.

WHOOSH

His attack lashed past Ria's guard, bypassing her defense for the first time in the battle.

BANG

Runark's fist crashed into Ria's jaw, landing the first clean hit of the battle.

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