It was incredible that even his most powerful strikes were almost entirely ineffective against the Martial Squire's defensive prowess. Rui put all the effort and power into trying to damage his opponent, yet they all were almost entirely in vain as the man before him was entirely unharmed.
('This is the power of compatibility.') Rui sighed with a hint of envy, even as the two Martial Squires shuffled around each other.
Frankly, the Martial Squire before him did not strike Rui as a particularly powerful Martial Squire in the grand scheme of things. Rui broke through at an age that was uncharacteristically young, far below average. The Squire before him was just a few years older at most, thus it was unlikely that he had much experience in the Squire Realm, the fact that he was assigned to defending a very secure fort that did not have any Squire-level threats against it prior also likely meant that this Martial Squire was quite low on the totem pole.
The fact that he was still able to make a fool out of Rui's striking prowess showed that the power of compatibility was not something that could be underestimated. A Martial Artist with grade five techniques that they were extremely compatible with was probably much stronger than a Martial Artist with grade seven techniques that they were not much compatible with.
This added a whole new variable that was not prominent when he was a Martial Apprentice. Rui had received his first reality check upon discovering just how much compatibility mattered in the higher Realms.
('I'll have to ponder the matter deeply later on.') Rui sighed. ('For now, let's win.')
Despite the vain attempts at trying to pummel his way to victory, Rui was not intimidated. He had steadily been gathering as much data on the man as he could from the moment he laid eyes on him. That data was deposited into his Mind Palace, as he swiftly processed them through the systems of the VOID algorithm.
He had already come up with a partial prediction model based on many subconscious patterns in the movements of his opponent.
Less than a single second had passed since their last exchange, however, in the perception of time of the Martial Squires, it had been several minutes since their last exchange.
Evidently, his opponent lost patience with Rui, as he charged forward aggressively despite clearly being a defensive Martial Artists.
"RARGH!" He threw a powerful left hook at Rui.
WHOOSH
Rui seamlessly avoided it as he launched a swift elbow to the man's groin.
"ARGH!"
('You have a pattern of overcommitting every time you land a blow.') Rui mused.
This was a pattern he had identified with the predictive model and had correctly chosen the right response, to inflict as much damage as he could on his opponent.
It was evident that the man's testicles were not nearly as invincible as the rest o the body given how much he appeared to be in pain.
POW POW POW!
Rui bludgeoned him with more strikes as he collected more data on the man, trying to compute a way to take him down. His foremost means of offense had already been shown to be useless, he could not take them down the way he normally would strive to.
WHOOSH
Rui swiveled out of his path as he attacked several more times, taking his time. The battle between them was reaching a bit of an impasse since neither side could effectively damage the other for different reasons. Rui because he couldn't damage him meaningfully with his strikes, and his opponent because Rui's evasive maneuvering was too effective thanks to a combination of the VOID algorithm and Primordial Instinct. The accelerated autophagy also boosted his speed and agility to a certain degree.
Rui thought he could take his time to methodically and perfectly take him down in a manner that completely overwhelmed him and minimized the probability of his own defeat. It was exciting to finally exercise all of his capabilities against a worthy opponent.
Yet all of that changed when the Martial Squire snorted, before suddenly plummeting down back to the fort where the fierce battle between the two armies had commenced.
('Well shit, turns out he isn't a moron!') Rui cursed as he accelerated downwards at top speed.
It turns out his opponent wasn't a fool. He wasn't going to waste all of his energy pointlessly flailing around when it was entirely clear that Rui's evasive maneuvering was too impressive for him to overcome. The man had managed to remember that his duty was to protect the fort and the Britannian Battalion, not chase after an elusive Martial Squire who drew him away from his post.
Rui could not let him return to his position. He would immediately begin hunting the biggest threats of the rebel army; the Martial Apprentices. Even if Rui could easily evade him, they didn't stand a chance. Rui even felt a tinge of fury at the thought of Vemy dying at his hands due to Rui's negligence.
('This isn't going to happen. Not on my watch!') He accelerated at top speed plummeting downwards at a speed that far exceeded his opponent.
BAM!!
He managed a tremendous spinning kick fueled by his momentum that pushed him away from his original direction.
Yet the man had already realized that this was the only productive way to go about this. If Rui didn't let him go, then Rui would be forced to engage with him, and if Rui did let him then he would reign destruction on the Rebel army. If Rui decided to attack the fort, then he would surely defend against the attack. Regardless of which of these happened, it was better than flailing around and trying to get a hit in on Rui.
The two began engaging in a furious back and forth as Rui intercepted every single attempt of his opponent to return back to the fort. Loud clashes could be heard on the ground as two figures clashed against each other in the sky.
