The Martial Unity

He simply pulled the Martial Apprentice who was kicking down, launching himself as he somersaulted out of his position, replacing himself with him.

POW POW POW POW!

BAM!

The four Martial Apprentices who attacked him on land grimaced as they not only hilariously missed their target but also ended up hitting their teammates. The one Martial apprentice who launched a flying kick found himself standing where Rui was, while Rui was standing outside their circle.

Everyone looked at him with amazement. This is what he was capable of when he restricted and limited himself to the Apprentice Realm.

Team Gerard quickly gathered itself, regrouping before they came at him again, two maneuvering-oriented Martial Apprentices dashed out at him with tremendous speeds, launching swift and short barrages of jabs.

Rui never let his inherently high toughness do the job for him. He cleanly parried away every single strike with as little movement and effort as he could, just barely applying the necessary force to ensure that they don't connect with him properly. He considered constructing predictive models to try and minimize the effort he needed to expend to take them down, but he decided not to. That was far too overkill, they wouldn't even comprehend what happened to them and would gain the misunderstanding that all Martial Squires could replicate the feat. He did not want to give them an inaccurate view of the Squire realm.

('These two aren't bad.') Rui mused. ('But their top speed is much greater than their agility, creating unnecessarily high amounts of inertia, making it difficult for them to decelerate and reach zero. They're fast at their peak but they're not quick to switch.')

They were almost like trains. Bullet trains had a very high top speed, but these massive transportation vehicles took their time to reach their top speed and to get back to zero from top speed. Of course, this could be due to their Martial Art being highly centered around speed, but that didn't necessarily mean everything had to be sacrificed to obtain speed at all costs, everything was needed to create a viable Martial Artist.

He had already identified numerous shortcomings and flaws

WHOOSH

He avoided a powerful blow from one of the Martial Apprentices, crouching. The powerful kick blasted across empty air.

CLASP

Rui caught his leg, swinging him down to the ground.

BAM!

The man grimaced.

('This is the second time you're launching an attack off the ground.') Rui smiled behind his mask, amused. ('Don't take your feet off the ground so often if you're helpless midair.')

He sensed a powerful wind projectile being launched at him from behind.

('Oh?') Rui raised an eyebrow. As it lashed out toward Rui, he simply watched as it arrived.

STEP

He jumped, landing on the wind!

The other Martial Apprentices gaped as Rui rode the wind!

He even balanced upon it like he was surfing a wave, which he effectively was.

"Woah" He landed on the ground once the energy of the attack fizzled out. "That was fun."

He turned to face Gerard who had launched the powerful attack, nodding in approval. ('He waited for me to deal with the maneuvering-oriented Martial Apprentice who launched an airborne attack so that he wouldn't hurt them, yet the attack was launched before he was out of the way, meaning he predicted I would deal with him quick enough.')

This showed that Gerard had a respectable degree of foresight, something none of the other Martial Apprentices had demonstrated thus far.

('But you were too presumptuous.') Rui disapproved, as he casually evaded a few more attacks from those around him. ('If I chose to dodge instead of slam him to the ground, your attack would have hit him instead, inflicting critical damage.')

He returned his attention to the remaining Martial Apprentices.

There were four of them who had tried to dogpile him with attacks again, yet this time they were a bit more clever about it.

CLASP

Two Martial Apprentices grabbed him in mirror body holds, from behind while the two offense-oriented Martial Apprentices threw their most powerful strikes straight toward his face.

WHOOSH

Rui evaded them ever so slightly as he bent forward.

BAM!

He chained that maneuver into an over-body flip, throwing the two Martial Apprentices that tried to restrain him straight to the ground with a powerful impact.

POW POW!

A lean roundhouse kick swept across their faces, striking them hard. The two of them leaped back, grimacing. The Martial Apprentices took a moment to re-position themselves.

('When he said he would be restraining himself to Apprentice-level output, I thought it would be a difficult fight for both sides.') Gerard gritted his teeth. ('Since the reason why he's stronger than us; the power of a Martial Squire would no longer be in play. But he's toying with us even though he's outputting power and speed that is not too different from us.')

Gerard paid close attention to him as the battle resumed. ('What is it that makes us different? Theoretically, all of us should be physically capable of this level of power.')

Gerard studied all of Rui's movements carefully, ceasing his attack briefly. He watched Rui dismantle all opposition while making it look entirely easy. Every move he made seemed measured and planned, causing a cascade of events that perfectly played well for him.

('He's using his power like a surgeon uses a scalpel.') Gerard realized. (Each of his moves is precise and accurate. They're always at the right time and place, ultimately, it's playing a much greater role than it does when we wield that same power!')

Gerard had always thought he was a sophisticated and refined fighter, but before the elegant brilliance of Rui, he felt like a caveman swinging around a club trying to fight a fencer.

"I have a long way to go." He sighed.

Just this battle alone had given him a lot of inspiration and motivation. He felt determination growing within him, the determination to win the upcoming battle, and the determination to grow stronger after.