The Martial Unity

Rui noticed that he was incredibly confident and relaxed despite their environment. That probably meant that he had achieved some success. Furthermore, that also probably meant that he was quite eager to put himself to the test against Rui.

Rui hadn't failed to notice that he was barefooted.

That was strange.

Rui had told him that without the rubber that they were wearing, they were prone to getting struck by lightning.

Before he could even ask Kane what he was doing, or what he had in mind in regards to their little friendly competition, Kane had already made up his mind.

"Whoever makes a lap around the valley first wins!" Kane grinned as he shot away, getting a bit of a headstart.

"That's cheating," Rui grumbled lightheartedly as immediately pursued Kane swiftly.

Rather than trying to overtake him, he made sure to maintain a constant distance behind him. This was difficult in and of itself, given how fast and speedy Kane was.

However, he was more interested in observing the technique that Kane had come up with rather than trying to win the little competition they had going.

What he came to see blew his mind.

He noticed that Kane was about to run into an upward stream, meaning that there was a lightning bolt going to strike soon. He didn't bother warning him since he had amply proven he was capable of dodging them even if he couldn't sense and predict them like Rui.

Yet, against all his expectations, when a lightning bolt did emerge from the heavens, streaking down in a flash of light, he deliberately did not evade it!

He simply stopped on the spot as he planted himself in its path!

"Y-!"

BOOM!

Before Rui could even get out a word, it had struck him!

He immediately ran over to his friend, worried and confused. Yet Kane turned back, grinning.

His hair spiked out as a light glow emerged from his entire body, his eyes had taken on a lighter hue.

He seemed relatively unperturbed, despite being hit by a bolt of lightning. If anything, he seemed better than he did before!

"Hehehe… Try and keep up with the power of lightning if you can!" He challenged Rui as he changed directions and dashed deeper into the Thunder Valley.

"Wait!" Rui called out. "Tsk."

He followed Kane deeper, curious, shocked, and concerned.

For one, Kane's lack of hesitation told Rui that this was something he was accustomed to without any doubt. He had been doing this for a few months, which explained his confidence.

What boggled Rui's mind was what was going on. Why did he let himself get hit by lightning?

Why in the world did he look like an anime character?

What was with his strange appearance?

It wasn't until Rui saw him dodging fourteen lightning bolts simultaneously that he understood what was happening.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!

Not a single one touched Kane!

He spun through the air like a hurricane, with movements that defied his previous limits!

"Oh," Rui subconsciously murmured, feeling inadequate by what he witnessed.

This was a rare emotion for him. The only Martial Artists who could make him feel were those from a high Realm.

Yet Kane had done just that. Watching him dodge lightning like it wasn't even a challenge made him feel like everything he had accomplished in the field of maneuvering was sub-par.

For a moment, he felt an old nostalgic sensation back to the days when he hadn't even become a Martial Apprentice, back when he was still in the early stage of the Apprentice Realm. He used to truly be awed by Kane's capabilities.

For the first time in years, he felt that sensation once more.

He felt that sensation as he watched Kane working wonders!

His movement speed and his reaction speed had elevated to levels that were on par with what Rui had accomplished against the Root!

"No…" Rui's eyes widened with shock. "He has surpassed me!"

"FUUUUUUU…!" Rui watched Kane exhaling exaggeratedly, creating air currents with the sheer force of his breath.

It was only then.

It was only then that he was beginning to understand what was happening.

"He's using Godspeed in combat… Similar to my Forestep technique," Rui murmured as he watched Kane grow faster. "But… how?!"

The reason that Rui could use the Godspeed technique in the form of the Void Forestep technique was because of the VOID algorithm's ability to compensate for his severely lacking reflexes. Without that, if he dared to use the Forestep technique in combat, he would not be able to react in time to the speed of combat occurring, and would easily die to his opponent. Or he would launch himself flying due to not being able to execute certain movements in time due to his brain being able to keep up in combat.

However, Kane did not have the VOID algorithm. Even if he had the VOID algorithm, it would not help him in this case for the same reasons that it wasn't useful to Rui in this situation. He wasn't able to create predictive models on lightning due to being unable to acquire the quantum data needed to create a predictive model of lightning.

So how on Earth were his reflexes keeping up with his greatly enhanced speed?

Rui recalled the strange sight that he had witnessed prior.

('He purposely let himself get hit by the lightning,') Rui recalled. ('Bare-footed too, for some reason.')

He knew that Kane was no fool. He was actually decently sharp given his age and temperament, there is no way he would do something that foolish for no reason. Rui also had not forgotten the strange changes to his appearance after the lightning bolt had hit him.

('Could it be…?') Rui's eyes widened as an absurdly fantastical theory entered his mind. It was so detached from reality, even the esoteric reality that Rui was familiar with, that it made no sense to Rui. He didn't even dare utter it out loud due to how embarrassing it was that he was even considering it.