Rui's predictive model only grew stronger and stronger as he dealt with everything she threw at him while tormenting her with the best of what he had to offer without winning on the spot.
The one thing he did hold back was the Metabody System. It was detrimental to his goal. The pattern recognition system was all that he needed in this case. Time passed slowly as he methodically and surgically deconstructed everything that she threw at him.
She was a powerful semi-finalist, yet before even a fraction of his full power, she was powerless.
Of course, a part of this was because she had bad compatibility with him. Pattern recognition was the antithesis of pre-programmed muscle memory.
Well, pattern recognition was the antithesis of nearly everything, but her Martial Art was especially vulnerable.
Rui's hopes began getting doused as time passed and his dominance grew despite his opponent pushing herself to self-destructive extents to overcome him.
'Maybe I was getting a bit too full of myself.' He sighed as he prepared a Flowing Canon to knock her out. 'It's best to end this before I cause damage to her Martial Path.'
That was when he heard it.
His heart heard it.
A single word escaped her mouth.
"No."
Terror arose from deep within his gut.
RUMBLE!
The very land hoisting the colosseum shook.
A maelstrom of power surged forward from her elder body.
The very sky shivered as sharp red streaking lines emerged from her chest, spreading to the rest of her body.
The world seemed to welcome the birth of a new Martial Senior.
Her eyes opened, sparkling with newfound power.
They turned, fixating on Rui before her.
They were focused.
Too focused.
In that moment, Rui already knew.
She forgot about the tournament.
She forgot about the Martial Contest.
She forgot about the rules.
She forgot that Martial Seniors weren't allowed to Martial Squires.
No, whether she even knew about her ascended state itself was in question.
She was evaluating him.
At that moment, Rui felt the weight of a mountain weighing down on him.
His instincts warned him of what was to come.
He barely managed to activate Nemean Blossom at the last moment.
Her eyes narrowed at the sight.
She had made her decision.
"NO!" Senior Priest Deril rushed forward, activating his Martial Heart.
Yet he was too far.
BOOM!
A Senior-level attack crashed into Rui point blank.
The ground broke.
Every inch of the colosseum shattered.
The bedrock, comprised of esoteric compounds and alloys meant to endure even the best of what the Squire Realm had to offer, crumbled instantly.
The gusts of wind her attacks used to generate as a Martial Squire had turned into infant tornados.
CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK!
One moment his formidable guard, which remained strong and steady before all forces within the Squire Realm, was intact, and the very next microsecond, it wasn't.
The paltry dispersion of the Flux Earther crumbled before the sheer amount of force that she imparted into his body.
Rui's body was launched across the colosseum with such an extraordinary velocity that the very air around him incinerated in an inferno.
BOOM!!!
Rui experienced the single greatest impact of his life as he blasted past the giant walls of the colosseum underneath the spectator stands, stopping outside.
His body was misshapen. So much so that Kane would have thought he had used multiple Metabody techniques at full power at once, again.
He was bleeding from more orifices than one could count.
His body was broken in more places than he could count.
Yet, the moment passed, and he did not die.
His constitution managed to survive.
His brain barely managed to retain consciousness as he had shielded his head with the entirety of his body in a curled position.
It was not great. But it was enough.
He barely managed to inhale in a specific manner as he activated Weaving Blood in place of Nemean Blossom.
A sharp pain enhanced the already intense agony that he was experiencing as the Reaper Death poison kicked into action and quickly enriched his blood with the ingredients for cellular division.
The wounded tissue desperately accepted the gift and began healing.
In just a second, his muscles healed.
In the next, his flesh healed.
His bones followed suit as his muscles propped them into place before they were quickly reattached.
His arm particularly strained Weaving Blood due to how immense the damage was.
A medical team immediately had already seemingly teleported at his location from seemingly nowhere as a surge of spectators try to get as good a look at him as they could.
Master Deivon immediately appeared out of nowhere too with a grave expression. The three other Martial Masters also followed suit.
Each of them was prepared to see what they expected.
Each of them was prepared to have their faintest hopes utterly crushed.
Yet they were not prepared to see what they saw.
The sight they beheld was so utterly mind-boggling that every single one of them froze in shock.
Even the mighty Martial Masters who had witnessed much across their lengthy lives watched with unadulterated shock.
The sight of Rui Quarrier stepping out of a massive crater unharmed. All his clothes had long been incinerated.
His mask had crumbled, revealing the wildest grin he had ever donned. An almost maddening glint of excitement and ecstasy flashed across his eyes.
They watched with tumultuous emotions, they watched a moment that would forever be seared in history.
Yet no moment could last forever.
Master Deivon was the first to act.
He activated a breathing technique, snapping his fingers.
Rui disappeared, and a subtle gust of wind occupied where he once stood.
That action snapped everyone back to reality. Waves of murmurs washed over the crowd as they struggled to process what they had just seen.
A Martial Senior struck a Martial Squire.
The outcome of this event should be nothing short of either crippling critical wounds, or death, depending on how casual the attack was, and the relative power gap between the two of them.
In the case between an infant Martial Senior's very first attack that would undoubtedly be their weakest ever, and one of the most powerful Martial Squires ever, it was conceivable that the Martial Squire might survive if he was lucky.
"Then why the hell was he unharmed?"
This was a question that occupied everybody's minds
The impact of such an event could not be understated.
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