Rui finally got a good look at his aggressor. Not that it helped much because his aggressor was masked. However, there were things that could still be gauged despite this.


    (''Adult male. His bulky physique probably means he''s not a speed or maneuvering oriented Martial Artist, he''s definitely a Martial Apprentice though'') Rui thought as he struggled to restrain him.


    Rui''s goal in this fight was not to win. He had two goals:


    The first was to survive. His survival was the ultimate priority to him. Although he had gotten closer to Be during the mission, he was not going sacrifice his life for her. Rui never fancied himself to be a hero or a saint.


    The second, was to stall, not win. He did not intend to expend any extra energy on killing his opponent or knocking him out, though if he could, that would be great too. But for the most part, Rui was going to do his best to stall for Be.


    Stalling was easier than defeating, in most cases. Thankfully, this was one of those cases.


    This was also how Rui nned topensate for the weight difference. Rui had grown remarkably physically stronger over thest year, much more so than almost anybody else. However, at the end of the day he was still only a fourteen-year-old.


    His opponent seemed to be in his twenties, the prime of his life. An adult Martial Apprentice was stronger than an adolescent Martial Apprentice. Rui had to capitalize on his advantages as much as he could, stalling instead of aiming for a win, was part of the n.


    FOOSH


    The masked Martial Apprentice finally managed to untangle himself from Rui''s ground grappling.


    POW POW POW


    Rui immediately began showering him with a barrage of strikes of Vital Pressure, but his opponent managed to block and redirect almost all of them.


    WHOOSH


    Rui managed to cleanly crouch out of a high kick while simultaneously sweeping his pivot leg with a low kick.


    BAM


    Itnded, but the difference in power prevented Rui from knocking him out of bnce. His opponent returned the favour byunching a barrage of blows.


    BAM BAM BAM


    Rui was pushed back despite mitigating the force with Acute Edge and stic Shift, he leapt back putting some distance between them. They both paused for merely half a second, regaining their bearings. However, Martial Apprentices processedbat so quickly that even half a second inbat was akin half a dozen seconds. In fact, not even half a minute had passed since the Martial Apprentice ambushed Rui!


    (''His Martial Art leans towards power and toughness.'') Rui analyzed, while parsing the data he had collected through the basics of the VOID algorithm. (''The first step is to adapt my fighting approach such that the relevance and significance of power and durability is as minimal as possible.'')


    "Fuuuu..." Rui exhaled as he rxed his muscles, shaking and dangling them, while crouching his knees rxedly. Despite this, Rui dashed towards the masked Martial Apprentice aggressively, much to thetter''s surprise.


    WHOOSH


    Rui abruptly stopped and stepped back avoiding a counter haymaker from his opponent before circling around and entering his striking range tond a quick jab.


    Pow


    WHOOSH


    Rui jumped out of range after avoiding a low kick. The masked Martial Apprentice grimaced in frustration at the abrupt change in fighting styles, Rui had gone from passive defense to maneuvering and evasive offense, bing a much more annoying opponent!


    (''Float like a butterfly...'')


    WHOOSH


    Rui danced out of a straight punch.


    (''… Sting like a bee!'')


    POW


    A clean jab to the sr plexus.


    This strategy was not exactly pioneering. It was the strategy that the legendary Muhammad Ali once said he would use if he had to fight Mike Tyson. This strategy was simr to what Kane used against Fae. A light offensebined with evasive maneuvering to avoid his opponent''s counter. Land in jabs wherever you could, avoid all attacks through evasive maneuvering.


    But, there was one key difference. Kane aplished this through speed and agility, something Rui didn''t have.


    Ruipensated for hiscking speed and agility with the predictive and counter-deduction measures of the VOID algorithm.


    Range and bnce of weight. Using this, Rui was able to deduce the general attack that his opponent was aiming for, and the VOID algorithm simply outputted a corresponding move that has the greatest chance for sess. Rui himself had painstakingly worked on the counter-deduction system of the VOID algorithm that constructed through a mind-numbing amount of data science.


    Watching his work allow him to gain an upper hand, even if small, in a disadvantaged battle validated Rui to his very core. The Martial Scientist in him was excited!


    BAM


    Rui almost flew away as his opponentnded a solid strike on him. He got up quickly and propped up his stinging arms into a stance, prepared for the next move.


    (''Come!'') Rui urged. He sharpened his senses awaiting a bullrush, yet a guttural screech from a distance away broke him out of his reverie. He just barely managed to recognize the voice.


    (''Be!'') In a moment of shock, he nced towards the direction the scream for just a second.


    However, when he turned back...


    (''He''s gone!'') Rui cursed. The Martial Apprentice had escaped from the edge of Rui''s vision, and scurried away into background.


    (''He went away in the opposite direction.'') Rui frowned, incredibly confused as he began moving in the direction from where he heard Be. (''Does he not care if I run after her?'')N?velDrama.Org owns this text.


    The only reason he would do that is if his job was cancelled.


    (''Or if his job isplete.'') Rui froze in horror. He immediately strained himself to the absolute maximum, running at a speed that physically hurt his body.


    He sprinted faster than he ever had before, moving at a speed that ordinary people would find difficult to even follow with their eyes!


    (''No no no. There''s no way.'') He tried to calm himself down. (''First I need fucking fin-'')


    His thoughts suddenly froze as something entered his vision.


    What he saw next wiped every ounce of energy and tension in his muscles.


    He just froze without a care, tripping and crashing on the ground hard before looking up.


    And there she was.


    What he saw was a sight that burned itself into his memory, forever.


    Tears streaming down her face, snot trickling down her nose, eyes rolled almost entirely up, and a pool of blood splurting from her slit neck.


    Face-to-face with the corpse of Be Hier.


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