He had complete faith in Rui winning his fight. After seeing how strong Rui had become, he had almost no doubt that Rui was the strongest Martial Apprentice in the modern era. Furthermore, he knew Rui would not have appreciated his intervention.
"How's the rest of the battle going?" Rui asked as he turned back.
It was impossible to confine a large number of Martial Apprentice battles over a small volume of space. It was too dangerous for each one of them, and a single attack from their blind spot could critically injure or kill them, and none of them were willing to take that risk.
Thus, the battle had spread out over a large area.
"Hard to say when there's so much happening," Kane replied. "Anyways, let's return to the battle immediately."
"Sure thing."
The two immediately dashed back.
Rui immediately saw a Martial Apprentice of the Kandrian Empire getting overwhelmed by an enemy Martial Artist. He quickly dashed over, looking to intervene.
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH
He threw a flurry of strikes, which his opponent successfully dodged cleanly.
('Evasive maneuverer. But not nearly as good as Kane.') Rui mused.
BAM!
Rui managed to land a strike on him after faking him out with Phantom Step. His opponent grimaced, struggling to endure even a single attack. Defense wasn't his strong suit, clearly.
He tried retreating, being painfully aware that he couldn't defeat Rui. Yet Rui had no intention of letting him go.
BAM!
Rui intercepted him with Tempestuous Ripple at a distance, causing him to collapse. He turned around in fear and Rui was already there.
POW!
A swift strike to the jaw triggered blunt force trauma that caused him to collapse unconscious on the spot.
Rui sighed.
BOOM!
He launched a blow with tremendous power at the unconscious Martial Apprentice's temple.
CRACK
He immediately turned back to the Kandrian Martial Apprentice.
"You alright?" Rui asked him.
He nodded, looking at Rui with awe. "Thanks."
Rui turned back towards the direction of the main battle. "Alright, time to get back."
From that point on, Rui wreaked havoc on the battlefield. Very few opponents could last long against him. Regardless of whether they were offensive, defensive, or maneuvering-oriented Martial Artists. Rui simply disemboweled all of them with casual ease.
It was to the point where he was single-handedly making a visible impact on the battle all by himself. Yet to his surprise, he wasn't the biggest impact on the battlefield.
WHOOSH
BAM!
Kane instantly took down an enemy Martial Apprentice with the Godspeed technique.
Rui's eyes widened at that sight. ('He chained the Godspeed technique with the Void Step technique!')
One of the biggest weaknesses of the Godspeed technique was the fact that it required preparation in advance which left the user vulnerable to being attacked. However, by completing that preparation while using the Void Step technique, he had reduced the probability that he would be attacked during the preparation significantly. After all, an overwhelming majority of Martial Apprentices were unable to sense Kane when he was using the Void Step technique.
This meant that Kane could now use the Godspeed technique much more freely than he normally would ever be able to use. This made him far more dangerous than ever before.
('If I'm not careful, he might even be able to defeat me.') Rui realized. He was quite impressed with Kane's newfound prowess.
It was no wonder that he had remained in grade nine even after the Martial Apprentice grading system had gotten updated. It meant that he was very close to the previous grade ten. Rui wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't too far from reaching the current grade ten.
Kane was a bigger impact on the battlefield despite being weaker than Rui in general simply because he was far more compatible with their current circumstances than Rui was. Rui was at his best when facing off against a single opponent, whereas Kane was best suited in chaotic circumstances with distracted targets.
The two of them began sweeping through the battlefield, taking one Martial Apprentice down after the other. Soon enough, the Sekigahara Confederate couldn't tolerate the losses they were suffering
Rui picked up a new influx of Martial Apprentices heading towards the battlefield from the Sekigahara Confederate base with Seismic Mapping.
('They're sending in their defensive Martial Apprentices as well huh?') Rui mused.
Immediately, his mission tracker beeped a single time.
('Retreat.')
That was what a single beep meant.
Immediately, all the other Kandrian Martial Apprentices merrily retreated from the battleground. None of them wanted to face the influx of reinforcements.
Rui sighed. He begged to differ, but orders were orders. It was just a shame for him since he would rather have continued fighting against the new Martial Apprentices. But of course, he understood why they were being ordered to retreat. They had fulfilled their mission successfully, the Sekigahara Confederate had lost far more Martial Artists than the Kandrian Empire did. Retreating now was for the best.
The Kandrian Martial Apprentices all ran back towards the Kandrian Empire territory as fast as they could.
"Disappointed?" Kane asked him.
"You know me so well." Rui chuckled. "By the way, did anything happen to the others?"
"They're all alive, although Nel got seriously injured at one point," Kane replied.
"Well, as long as they're alive, it's all good." Rui nodded.
He valued the core friends that he had made in the Academy. He would be riddled with grief if this battle had claimed their lives. They were strong, but as this battle had shown him, large-scale conflicts were extremely chaotic and anything could happen. Even if they were strong, they could be outnumbered, run into someone even stronger, or be hit with an attack from their blind spot.
It was no longer a matter of whether they were strong or weak.
Soon, they reached the Kandrian Empire's territory. Most of the Martial Apprentices sighed in relief as they finally reached a safe space. The constant battle in a large and chaotic battlefield under raining cannon balls was more unnerving than anyone had expected it to be.
