The Martial Unity

The Martial Apprentices quickly prepared themselves for the upcoming conflict that they were going to be participating in. In a few hours, the mission was soon enough ready to commence, and it did. The Martial Apprentices all dispatched as they rushed together towards the Bolexeuen Hill via the recommended path in their mission bills.

The distance was genuinely not all that great for a Martial Apprentice because it was already only a small portion of the core of the Serevian Dungeon which itself was a minority of the Serevian Dungeon. This meant that it didn't take much time for them to run into action from the moment they had left.

The focus of the Martial Apprentices weighed on the atmosphere, growing in weight once the two became aware of each other.

The Sekigahara convoy immediately deployed a few defensive measures, including having their many defensive Martial Apprentices deployed to intercept the incoming assault force and protect the settlement convoy of the Sekigahara Confederate.

When the assault team of the Kandrian Empire reached the general location of Bolexeuen Hill. Many cannonballs had already been fired in their general direction. Yet, the Martial Apprentices competently dealt with them. Some destroyed or overpowered them with attacks, others defended against them, and many simply evaded them.

Although cannon balls weren't slow. The sheer distance that they were coming gave the Martial Apprentices plenty of time to react and deal with them however they felt most comfortable.

Soon, the Martial Apprentices had reached the convoy of the Sekigahara Confederate. The groups of Martial Apprentices immediately clashed.

A large number of attacks were exchanged in the briefest of moments. The Martial Apprentices all began spreading out from each other to ensure that their battles with each other didn't hurt themselves and their comrades.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH

Rui evaded a flurry of sharp jabs from a conditioned piercing attack of the Martial Apprentices that had first attacked him.

His opponent seemed to be someone who had dedicated an immense of conditioning training to his nails. Rui recalled seeing the techniques long ago in the Martial Contest.

WHOOSH

BAM!

He evaded a swing while launching a powerful low-sweeping kick, staggering his opponent into an unstable position.

POW POW POW!

He threw speedy jabs to his opponent's gut, Reverberating Lance permeated the impact deeper, yet the man managed to remain conscious despite the fact that his diaphragm was no doubt immobilized due to the attack to the gut.

He took a moment to build up momentum to launch a powerful Flowing Canon at his opponent. Yet suddenly

WHOOSH

His opponent suddenly moved away from the attack unnaturally, as if being protect from harm's way.

Suddenly, three new powerful Martial Apprentices between him and Rui. The three of them exchanged a word with Rui's previous opponent, as the latter nodded and scurried away.

('They're strong.') Rui could tell. The pressure they exerted was immense. Yet what drew his attention, even more, was that they chose to intervene in his battle, all three of them.

Rui immediately inferred that these three were sent to deal with him. There was no other reason that he would randomly be targeted by three Martial Apprentices.

The atmosphere contorted under the weight of his mind as he grew more serious. The sheer pressure he exuded was not something any Martial Apprentice should have been capable of exuding, and his three opponents could clearly feel it.

Yet, they didn't hesitate.

Two of them dashed backward, and one of them dashed forward toward him. His arm curled backward as he wound up a powerful strike.

WHOOSH

Rui casually evaded the strike with a feint via Phantom Step, entering his space.

POW!

His elbow landed on his opponent's face, staggering him back. Yet when Rui went throw a front kick, he merely ducked, exposing a wind blast attack from behind him.

BAM!

Rui blocked as an immensely powerful and focused wind blast attack slammed into him. He glanced back at the source of the attack.

('So they were ranged experts? And the one before me is a close quarters Martial Artist.') Rui noted. ('So they wanted to create a synergistic team of Martial Apprentices specifically to take me down?')

The close-quarters Martial Artist rushed back at Rui with renewed vigor, throwing a flurry of jabs at Rui. Rui evaded all of them cleanly. He felt a bit impatient, which was uncharacteristic for him. He knew that they were being sent to stall him and ensure he doesn't go off on a rampage like he did last time, which made him not want to allow that to happen, yet he needed to be careful despite that.

WHOOSH

BAM

Rui evaded a strike cleanly and landed a powerful uppercut on his opponent pushing him back, when suddenly;

POW POW!

Two wind bullets slammed into him with a lot of power.

('They only attack me when their teammate isn't in my immediate vicinity.') Rui keenly noted.

There was no point in putting together a team of three Martial Apprentices if they attacked one at a time instead of simultaneously, yet here they were. They were either an incompetent team, or there was some real reason why.

('It's quite likely that their precision isn't high enough to not affect their teammate from such a distance away if we're too close.') He sharply realized.

Rui grinned at that realization.

WHOOSH

He dodged another wind bullet as the close-quarters Martial Apprentice charged back at Rui. Yet this time, instead of cautiously avoiding him, he charged forward as well.

His opponent threw a powerful swing, yet;

WHOOSH 𝓫𝓮𝓭𝓃ℴ𝓿𝓮𝓵.𝓬ℴ𝓶

It hit empty air as Rui carried out a lower takedown after having feinted an upper takedown.

This was the Mirage Dive technique.

Rui successfully leveraged his power and momentum to topple his opponent. He expertly used Flow Flux and Shifting Silhouette to gain an advantageous position until he quickly coiled his arm around his opponent's neck from behind.

As Rui had predicted, his opponents did not fire any attacks.