The body constantly had to maintain balance. This was easy to do if one was merely standing in one place. However, it was not as simple when launching a powerful attack. A large amount of mass of the body shifted very rapidly when attacks were launched, it was not easy to maintain balance when it was being disrupted so much and so quickly.
It may seem easy to launch a strong punch, but that was only because the sub-conscious mind worked very hard and fast to ensure balance was always maintained at all times. In reality, everyone’s balance was always one step away from being lost.
Hafbor’s redirection was centered around that fact.
Rather than pushing Havier’s strikes out of the way like normal parries worked. He was pushing Havier’s body just enough off balance in just the correct way that the strike would inevitably go off-trajectory due to the body’s imbalance.
So how did the mind handle that?
It countered the imbalance he caused by shifting and moving the body in the right way to restore balance. And that was what Hafbor used.
The strike’s trajectory would be ruined because the sub-conscious mind was altering the trajectory in the correct way to restore the balance that Hafbor had ruined.
Thus, he purposefully shifted all of Havier’s strikes off-trajectory by imbalancing his flow of power precisely such that the strikes would need to go off-trajectory for balance to be restored.
The imbalancing wasn’t the impressive part, what Rui found impressive was that Hafbor knew exactly how, where and when to imbalance the body and the flow of power such that the strikes would inevitably miss him.
Furthermore, he did this in extremely brief periods of time. Havier was very fast and Hafborn only had a short window before he could do this.
(‘What a powerful dynamic defense.’) Rui couldn’t help but praise him. This defense allowed Hafborn to parry powerful and lethal attacks for very little cost. Imbalancing the body and the delicate and fragile flow of power did not require a large amount of energy or power. Even ordinary humans were more than capable of doing that.
What was superhuman was Hafbor’s understanding of balance and the flow of power. His intuitive understanding of it surpassed even Rui’s who had studied the subjects for decades. Rui’s understanding of it was scientific and technical, although the VOID algorithm did employ the science to a certain extent.
In comparison, Hafbor’s understanding was purely intuitive, drawn from heightened observation and a large wealth of experience. The understanding was embedded in his bones, in his eyes. He could almost see the flow of power every time he saw someone move at all.
THUD
Havier landed flat on the ground as he completely lost his balance entirely, completely wide open and vulnerable.
Hafbor did not let the opening go to waste.
BOOM!
He mercilessly dropped a powerful drop-kick on Havier’s face.
CRACK
Havier’s nose broke as it began bleeding profusely.
THWACK
A soccer kick to the jaw sealed the deal.
“And the winner is; defending champion Apprentice Frillix Hafbor.” The butler announced.
Medics lifted Havier off the ground as they carted him away for immediate medical treatment.
Nartha turned towards Rui. “What do you think?”
Rui paused for a moment as he considered the question.
“He’s incredibly strong.” Rui nodded as he thought back to the entire fight. Hafbor’s defense was remarkable. His invulnerable passive defense from conditioning that allowed him to endure a lethal attack with very little to no damage, and his active defense from his surgical redirection that allowed him to crush all initiatives. Anybody who could even hurt him had every right to be proud of themselves.
He was the bane of head-on offense.
“He’s your opponent for today.” Nartha smirked. “How do you feel? Scared?”
“Not particularly.” Rui replied.
“Are you confident?”
“…” Rui shook his head. “Not confident, no. Not against someone of his calibre.”
“What do you think the probability of victory is?” She asked.
“Fifty-fifty.” Rui replied curtly.
He was a specialist, which meant the VOID algorithm was comfortable forming the optimal adapted style to take him down with the techniques Rui had. However, even then it would not be easy. From the way he withstood a lethal piercing attack from Havier, Rui doubted the Stinger could do much to him. Bone was stronger than nail, however nails were sharper, which of the two performed better would depend on the specific circumstances.
However, Rui more or less assumed the Stinger wouldn’t be able to pierce his flesh significantly. He suspected the only two place the Stinger would be able to hurt Hafbor meaningfully were his eyes and his balls. Rui estimated that only if he managed to land a solid strike to either of these organs, could he possibly manage to win. He had set that as his win condition and, using the VOID algorithm, had already begun to create an adapted fighting style meant to accomplish that win condition.
Thankfully, Rui got access to lots of data. The coming fighters were diverse and reasonably strong. However, Hafbor endured everything they dished out with his incredibly passive and active defense before exploiting a gaps and holes in their defense.
Although he wasn’t an offensive Martial Artist, his offense wasn’t necessarily weak either. He was quite remarkable in that regard, as his conditioning often benefitted both offense and defense. Strong bones and flesh did indeed allow him to endure, however it also allowed him to hit harder. Each of his strikes were heavy and hard, albeit slow.
He was a solid threat. Rui estimated he would have done very well in the Martial Contest. He would have made it to the semi-finals, Rui suspected.
Seeing yet another of Martial Artist of that caliber humbled Rui to a certain extent. Although he was the Martial Contest finalist, and arguably the second-best Martial Artist of his generation. That was limited to his generatiion and age group. There were Martial Artists from previous generation who were at a similar as him, and above as well.