As Rui pondered about the solutions he would need to develop against Fae, Kane and Nel, a voice called out to him.
“Apprentice Rui Quarrier.” A staff member addressed. “Your second match has been arranged. Please follow me.”
Rui nodded, turning to the others. “Catch you guys later.”
They bade him farewell and good luck, before heading to his match to spectate. Rui was on their list of greatest threats in the Academy, and none of them wanted to miss seeing how strong he’d gotten. Only Kane had caught the latter half of his first fight having finished early, the rest were still fighting.
Rui glanced at his opponent, recognizing him. “Gheelain Marckle, it’s been a while.”
“Rui Quarrier.” He nodded. “Today is the day I beat you.”
Gheelain was a senior Martial Apprentice that Rui had run into many times. He was a grappling specialist, specifically, a strangling specialist.
He excelled at restricting the blood flow and breathing of his opponents when grappling with them. Rui immediately applied the VOID algorithm and subsequently began thinking about how to adapt to and defeat him. The answer of course, was the same as in the past.
The first principle his adaptatively evolved fighting style would need to have was maintaining distance. The intrinsic weakness of grapplers were that they had a short range outside of which they were unable to attack their opponent with grappling.
Thus, the first trait that the adapted fighting style that the VOID algorithm would create was being a long-range fighting style.
The second trait it needed to possess was difficulty in intercepting. As a grappler, Gheelain possessed anti-striking countermeasures without a doubt. The most common countermeasures were intercepting and grasping strikes forcibly turning the battle into a grappling contest.
Thus, Rui needed to increase the swiftness and agility of the strikes to make it harder for it to be intercepted, at the cost of power.
This strategy was what Fae had used, the difference here was that Tarah was purely counter-offensive whereas Gheelain was an aggressive offensive grappler, making it much harder to avoid playing onto his opponent’s playing field.
The third trait his adapted style needed to have was evasive maneuvering capabilities. Gheelain was prone to chasing after him and try and use shooting maneuvers to take him down. Shooting maneuvers were essentially charging bullrushes aimed at grabbing one’s target for a takedown or a throw. His adapted style would need to use Primordial Instinct, Balanced Direction, Parallel Walk and Phantom Step to avoid pursuit and ensure that Gheelain wouldn’t be able to get a hold of him.
The fourth trait his adapted style needed to have was a stamina advantage. If the fight would turn into a cat and mouse chase, then having a stamina advantage was vital. Since Gheelain was a grappler, he could forgo some of his striking defenses in order to conserve energy.
He could also reduce energy-intensive attacks, and focus on simpler low-risk low-energy Vital Pressure attacks that would eventually allow him to win. He ought to drastically cut down on Outer Convergence which was extremely energy-intensive as well, and use it only when an opening presented itself. Helical Breathing needed to be used continuously as well.
“Take your stances.” The supervisor instructed.
“Fuuu…” Rui exhaled as he constructed a fighting style that possessed all of the traits that he and the VOID algorithm had created.
He adopted a new stance. Feet centered and shifting, heels off the ground and hands close to the body. This was a stance that best catered to the four traits his adapted style needed to possess.
Gheelain on the other, crouched with both elbows at his ribs and open-handed arms that were looking an opportunity to grab and choke Rui. He intended to dash after Rui the moment the match began.
“Begin!” The supervisor commenced the match.
DASH
WHOOSH
Gheelain executed a shoot maneuver, launching himself at Rui reaching out to grab him, only to clutch at air. The Primordial Instinct technique ensured that such simplistic maneuvers would never ever be able to tag him in a million years.
DASH
He chased after Rui yet again, not willing to give up.
WHOOSH
Rui feinted him into grasping thin air.
POW POW
The briefest and quickest combo jabs with Vital Pressure, exploiting the opening the failed shoot maneuver created, irritating Gheelain.
“He’s not fighting like he normally does.” Dalen noted, watching Rui. “It’s remarkable how often his fighting style changes, almost like he doesn’t have a fixed Martial Art or a Martial Path.”
“That is his Martial Art and Path.” Kane corrected. “He adapts and evolves his fighting style to suit his opponent. We stick to a single style the moment we become Martial Apprentices because that style is our greatest affinity, and we would be extremely weak if we fought with a drastically different style. But what is our weakness, is his strength. Being able to change styles smoothly like flowing water is his greatest strength.”
Kane gazed at Rui with intensely with sense of hope in his eyes. Rui had already begun bullying a senior Martial Apprentice while holding back. Only someone of this caliber could beat him as it currently stood.
WHOOSH
POW POW POW
WHOOSH
BAM
“Fuck!” Gheelain cursed in frustration, he raced in as fast as he could at Rui’s retreating sight.
That was his final mistake.
Rui’s retreat itself had been a feint, he was actually standing still. But Gheelain had timed the shoot for the feint, meaning his timing was off far too early.
The last Gheelain remembered was sense of absolute dread as an immense amount of pressure from Rui pressed down on his mind.
“Got you.” Rui whispered.
BOOM
A combination of Flowing Canon, Vital Pressure and Outer COnvergence crashed against Gheelain’s solar plexus. Gheelain had timed the shoot maneuver too late because he thought Rui was further away due to the feint.
And Rui had ruthlessly exploited the opening and blasted him with his most powerful technique.
The combination of using Phantom Step to feint in a way that threw off the timing of his opponent’s attack while then exploiting that mis-timing to finish the match with a pre-planned attack was a combo that Rui had created in that very moment with the processes of the VOID algorithm.
Gheelain collapsed like a puppet with cut strings.
“Winner; Rui Quarrier!” The supervisor declared.
