“It’s that time, is it?” She asked him as she took note of the depth of the weight of his mind. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she had the faintest sense he had grown stronger than just the number of techniques he had.
Rui had already requested her for a match ahead of time when he began refining his mastery of the Mind Palace technique.
The sparring facility was littered with Martial Apprentices. A routine sparring session with the Martial Apprentices was ongoing, yet they were surprised to see Rui. He hadn’t shown up to one of these in a long time.
“Yes, I’m ready.” He told her.
“Alright, come along.” She told Rui as one of the assistant instructors took over her duties.
“I recall long ago that you and Kane managed to push me to use a Squire-level technique against the two of you.” She said as they hopped onto a large sparring ring. “You’ve come a long way since then.”
“I hadn’t understood how much you were holding back then.” Rui replied. “The fact that I’ve grown vastly stronger since then and am yet so far away from you is truly astounding.”
“You’re not as far away as you might think.” She said with a pointed tone. “Perhaps we’ll find out just how close you are in this fight.”
“That is what I wish to know as well.”
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“I can limit my power, defense and movement speed to the general peak of the Apprentice Realm.” She told him. “However, my reflexes and reactions will remain at the Squire Realm. I cannot change that.”
“I understand.” He said.
“Good.” She said as her eyes narrowed. “Then I don’t have to worry.”
A powerful wave of pressure fluctuated across the sparring facility as every Apprentice’s attention inadvertently shifted towards its source.
Kyrie took a neutral stance, catering equally to offense, defense and maneuvering.
Rui simply closed his eyes.
He was fighting a Martial Squire. If he did not atleast draw out the best from within himself, he was not worthy of this opportunity.
The gravity of the air around intensified.
His mind converged as he gathered every ounce of focus.
This fight meant a lot to him. It was even more significant to him than the Martial Contest. He felt an unprecedented amount of energy saturate his muscles. His body quivered with power.
When he opened his eyes, he had already taken his stance.
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“Are you ready?” She asked.
“As ever.”
Kyrie didn’t even hesitate.
WHOOSH
RUMBLE
The very step she took threatened to tear the earth as she pushed it behind, launching herself at frightening speeds. In just the briefest of moments, she had entirely crossed the distance between them, swinging a swift and powerful strike the aimed for his head.
WHOOSH
Rui calmly evaded the blow as he swerved past it. Kyrie immediately followed up with blinding speed as she launched a barrage of swift yet powerful attacks.
‘’,
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH
Rui bobbed and weaved as he evaded the strikes narrowly.
BAM!!!
He rolled out of the way of a heavy drop kick the shook the very facility!
She immediately dashed after him. Rui’s instincts screamed as she unleashed an avalanche of attacks with untold power.
And yet.
Not a single blow managed to land on him cleanly.
He just barely dodged, barely redirected and barely guarded.
Yet, even that explosive offense did not inflict any meaningful damage on him.
Kyrie frowned.
Her parameters surpassed his, she should have been stronger and faster, yet Rui still somehow managed to defend just well.
He was slower but he moved early.
As if he knew what she was going to do ahead of time.
Her eyes widened at that thought.
Kyrie felt her pride a bit affronted. Even if she was holding back, she was still using enough power to be above him on paper. The fact that she was not able to overwhelm him meant that he was applying himself better than she was!
A kid who hadn’t even been a Martial Apprentice, was fighting better than herself? A veteran Martial Squire who was the best of her generation?
She wasn’t necessarily an overbearingly proud person. In fact, she was quite down-to-earth despite her success.
But still.
She was a Martial Squire.
She narrowed her eyes as she began moving more sharply. She wasn’t breaking her word and using her power beyond what she promised, but she was moving accurately and precisely.
BAM!
Rui skidded away from an impact as he noticed it had become harder to keep up with her.
(‘She’s starting exert herself.’) He noted. It was easier for the VOID algorithm to work against a more static opponent, but now that she was fighting more dynamically, things would grow harder.
He didn’t mind, he needed to be pushed if he wanted to test the prowess of his Mind Palace technique.
He felt a wave of excitement. He had waited for a long time for what was about to happen.
It was time.
His preparations were complete. Everything was in place.
It was time.
Time to find out whether his efforts with the Mind Palace technique were in vain, or not.
She stepped forward, shifting her weight onto her left foot as she launched jab with her right arm.
Rui’s eyes widened as his mind flashed into the Mind Palace.
(‘Probability of right-left-right combo; ninety-two percent.’)
And almost like magic, his prediction unfolded.
Kyrie threw a right jab followed by a left and another right jab in rapid succession. She had completely expected it to land on him.
Yet;
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH
He cleanly weaved past her strikes with his maneuvering techniques, boosted by Wind Breathing and Primordial Instinct as he threw a weighted speedy jab at her.
BAM!
It crashed into a hasty guard, she had just barely managed to intercept the strike. She retreated, surprised. She had managed to completely close the distance between when she launched that speedy combo, it should have been impossible for him evade it in those circumstances, let alone land an attack while evading.
Yet he danced passed her attacks and launched a powerful strike before her attack was even over.
Rui’s fixated on her as he watched her every movement like a hawk. Her every shift, twitch and movement.
Her body shifted weight, yet her arms were steady.
(‘Side kick; ninety-four-percent.) He computed as he flashed through the data in his Mind Palace.
He launched a crouching sweeping kick cleanly avoiding her side kick as his kick crashed into her ankle.
Yet again.
He dodged both attacks as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Kyrie got the impression he wasn’t even reacting, it was as though he already knew what move was the best to make. She launched a swift jab, hoping to tag him.
WHOOSH
Rui yet again, casually evaded her blow as he completely invaded her space with ease, launching a speedy jab of his own
WHOOSH
She swerved, evading the attack, yet before she could even counter, another attack from Rui had already arrived to the location she had moved to.
BAM!
The attack crashed into a hastily conjured guard.
She summersaulted away, opening up some distance.
(‘He knew exactly where I was going to be even before I did!’) She realized, shocked.