The Martial Unity

"I think... we might not die today." The head researcher shook his head.

Subject SQ007 had been woken up, briefed and dispatched. There was a set of loud terrifying explosions later before silence reigned again.

The surviving researchers were too terrified to leave the confined of their little hideout, but they had begun to suspect that perhaps the job was done.

After all, she was a Martial Squire. There was no way she would lose to Martial Apprentices. The researchers were well aware of her shortcomings and drawbacks. She did not possess a single Squire-level Martial Art technique, only the Apprentice-level techniques that were no longer compatible with her. Furthermore, she had only very recently completed her breakthrough and wasn't too familiar with the power of a Martial Squire.

Still.

She was a Martial Squire.

There was no way she would not win easily.

Right?

"Not unless there's an extraordinary grade-ten Martial Apprentice with an unbelievable Martial Art..." He pondered, before shaking his head.

There was no way that could happen.

Suddenly;

RUMBLE!

"Woah!"

The very facility began shaking as the researchers fell to the ground losing their balance, scrambling fear.

"What is happening?!"

On the other end of the facility, a horrifying conflict had commenced.

BOOM!

WHOOSH

She had crossed the distance between her and Rui in the smallest of instances. Her body twisted as she generated unprecedented power into an attack.

The very air shivered in fear as she launched a devastating attack.

Yet, to her surprise;

WHOOSH

Rui managed to evade her attack.

A combination of prediction based on center of gravity and distance analysis, Primordial Instinct, four maneuvering techniques and one breathing technique just barely allowed him to avoid the attack cleanly.

Yet, she wasn't done.

BAM!

A swift speedy kick swung at him.

BOOM!

He grimaced as he skidded backwards, barely managing to guard in time. She immediately lashed out after him, swinging yet another attack when;

POW!

An invisible attack landed on her face, affecting her fragile balance.

Kane had tried to throw her off.

Her eyes immediately shifted to Kane despite the Void Step technique. Yet before she could even land an attack;

BAM!

Nel had caught up, landing a kick on her.

Soon Fae and Hever immediately arrived, trying to prevent her from focusing on Rui.

Every single one of the Martial Artists were clear on one thing; Rui was the key to the battle.

The Martial Squire thought so merely because he was clearly the strongest among them. That was true, certainly, yet the Martial Apprentices knew something about him that she didn't.

Rui grew stronger the longer a fight prolonged.

The more data he had access to, the more accurate and precise the predictive model was. The stronger his adaptive evolution was.

Whatever happened, they needed to prolong the battle for as long as possible and ensure Rui was as good a shape as possible.

They had an immense amount of faith in his prowess.

WHOOSH

Rui barely managed to avoid yet another attack, yet he was left wide open.

The Martial Squire lashed out to exploit the opportunity, aiming to kill him with a powerful blow in that moment.

Yet;

POW!

BAM!

Kane and Nel had just barely managed to intervene in time, launching powerful and swift blows at her vitals.

She blocked both of them, irritated.

Her expression alone sent shivers down their spine.

"RARGH!" She snarled as she flung them away, yet before she could even turn back to Rui.

BAM!!!

A tremendous blow landed on her arm.

Her eyes widened as Fae's single most powerful attack had just barely managed to bruise her flesh, pushing her away as she skidded away.

CLASP

Hever caught her arm. His extreme muscle memory activated as it furiously executed the improved Meteor Swing technique.

BOOM!!

The facility shook as he did his best to swing the Squire with as much power as he could.

"Insignificant."

The gravitas of her voice shook him as he felt boundless pressure paralyzing him.

She was unharmed.

BAM!!

He grimaced, coughing blood, as a swift kick propelled him across the facility.

She glared at Fae as she lashed out at her. Yet before her strike could reach;

CLASP

Rui had caught her shoulder.

WOBBLE

Her body stumbled as Rui activated Flow Flux at the last moment.

WHOOSH

The strike she threw missed Fae due to Rui's sabotage.

Her balance was more fragile than it normally would be because she wasn't accustomed to it. She had not developed the muscle memory of active balance maintenance for her new body. Thus, Flow Flux was especially effective on her.

She turned to Rui with a murderous glare as she charged him, looking for a takedown. She would be able to crush him in ground grappling.

Rui's eyes widened in fear as she reached him.

POW!

BAM!

Extremely swift and powerful strikes aimed at her vitals from Nel and Kane intercepted her yet again. They had managed to recover and return back just in time, yet they were far from okay. Even if her power was far below that of a normal Squire, she was still devastatingly powerful.

BAM!

Nel coughed blood as her elbow crashed into his ribs, he collapsed, losing consciousness.

WHOOSH

Kane barely evaded an attack as he escaped with his powerful evasive maneuvering.

BOOM!!

Fae landed another powerful attack on her. Yet the Squire simply withstood the attack as she swiftly turned around and blasted Fae with a powerful swing.

BAM!

Fae crashed into a wall, falling down unconscious. A single strike had taken her out of commission.

Only Rui and Kane were left.

It was a despairing outcome.

Rui closed his eyes.

"Don't wish to look death in the eyes?" She asked. "Understandable."

She lashed out, launching a straightforward strike.

Yet in that moment, a profound change had occurred.

One that wasn't beyond her senses.

But certainly beyond her understanding.

WHOOSH

BAM!

She gasped as he cleanly danced past her attack, landing a powerful Flowing Canon into her chest.

His attack collided into her bare chest as their combined power fueled the collision.

She leapt away, retreating for the first time as she glanced at Rui warily. ('...Something is wrong.')

Rui finally opened his eyes. His dark eyes locked with hers as she felt a strange profound pressure from his gaze.

His eyes pierced passed her body, as though she were transparent.

She felt naked, even more so than she already was.

"You... You need to die." She murmured. She instinctively felt she could not allow him to stay alive any longer.