Chapter 1910 Coping

Chapter 1910 Coping

"Mmm..." Rui dusted himself off with a wry smile. "Well, you've earned the opportunity."

He took a neutral stance. "But I have no intention of accepting payback that easily."

"Oh, come on, you don't think you can actually win under these circumstances, can you?"

"Who knows." Rui shrugged calmly. "Finding out is the reason I accepted the challenge at all."

"Well, let's find out then!" Kane's legs furled, garnering potential energy. In just a moment, he shot off at Rui at blindingly fast speeds.

It was well within Rui's prediction. 'Temporal Disharmony.' "Tsk!" Kane tutted with annoyance as his perception of time sped up, forcing him to slow down. Thankfully, the Martial Heart increased his cognition while it was active, making it harder to hypnotize him. The fact that Rui had succeeded without a Martial Heart at all was quite surprising.

BAM BAM BAM!!!

Kane pummeled Rui while the latter balled up, covering all his vitals. Unfortunately, Kane was too fast with his Martial Heart for Rui to match the man's speed with a moving guard and a moving defense.

However, it wasn't speed alone that was overwhelming.

CRACK CRACK CRACK!

Rui narrowed his eyes as he felt his bone crack under the weight of Kane's heavy blows. It was remarkable how simply turning off his Martial Heart changed the way that he perceived Kane. With his Martial Heart active, Kane's blows were so weak that they didn't even register at times. Yet without the Martial Heart, Rui felt like he was fighting someone stronger than the Gatekeeper.

However, attacks that each should have thoroughly killed him were being withstood.

This was because his predictive model of Kane's movements was extremely refined. He could see where each strike was going to be well before it arrived. With such foreknowledge, attacks that would have shattered past his ribcage and crushed his heart were resisted with minimal damage.

The answer was simple.

VMMM!

The land beneath his feet vibrated as he redirected all the damage to the earth beneath him with Flux Earther.

The technique's effectiveness was highest when timed correctly. With the current degree to which he was able to anticipate Kane with the predictive model alone, he could accurately time the active defense technique even when completely balled up.

"Why, nothing at all." Rui smiled. "Let's continue."

Rui had added a memory-wiping element to the trance-induction hypnosis, making Kane forget about the Soul Void technique altogether. This was to reduce the probability that they would take some active measures to break out of a trance.

Yet, while Kane was not aware of it, Rui could see it as clear as day. Kane had successfully been put in a trance. It was semi-conscious; it did not affect his combat prowess in any way because his conscious mind still retained full functionality in regard to it.

However, his non-verbal communication had changed significantly.

It was a window to his soul.

"Alright then, brace yourself," Kane rushed forward with frightening speed, throwing a swift uppercut to Rui's jaw.

Yet, Rui had foreseen it.

BOOM!

CRACK!

Rui felt the bone in his forearm cracking even as he did his very best to disperse the impact with Flux Earther. Flux Earther could be astronomically more effective and powerful with greater accuracy in timing and placement of the technique. It was normally impossible to time something so fast that one couldn't even see it.

BOOM!!

Yet, Rui calmly replicated the feat over and over again, dispersing Kane's titanic power with perfect timing. He couldn't see Kane's movements.

Yet, he could see the future.

That was enough.

BOOOM!

A mighty impact crashed into Rui's guards even as he increased the timeframe and distance of the collision, increasing its elasticity. The power of the attacks seamlessly flowed through his body and to his legs before being dispersed into the lands beneath his feat.

A blow that should have been a death blow was reduced to one of manageable damage.

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