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    "Challenger; Squire Falken. Defender: Guardian Saiwal."


    The two of them stepped forward, bowing to each other. Rui locked eyes with her, and he could feel cold bloodlust in her eyes. He didn''t expect anything less, of course. By challenging her, Rui was basically saying that he wanted to kill her and was confident that he could do it.


    He couldn''t even deny it, since that was indeed the case.


    Kane had already joined the Floating Sect, and it was time for Rui to follow suit.


    "Take your stances,"


    She took a wide stance, crouching with spread arms and legs.


    Rui stood nearly fifty meters away from her, having chosen a long-range distance while she chose a short-range, with apletely neutral stance.


    He stared at her with a calm expression. Yet he exerted a faint pressure on her without making any threatening stances or res.


    "Begin!"


    She immediatelyshed out toward Rui, hoping to reach him in her initial charge. After all, her most effective range was when she was up close with her opponent, tearing off their flesh while she roasted them in her mes.


    Yet, she wasn''t surprised when Rui took to the air as he leaped back. Heunched a barrage of Mighty Roaring sh sts.


    THWOOM THWOOM THWOOM!


    Unfortunately, he wasn''t nearly at the distance where the creation of the technique could not be sensed. That only worked when he was hundreds of meters away. She was able to notice that he was manipting the atmosphere somehow when he created the sonic bullets, even if she couldn''t sense the sonic bullets themselves.


    BOOM BOOM BOOM!


    She somersaulted away as her sharp instincts told her to disrupt her travel path.


    Yet, it wasn''t enough.


    BAM!


    She grimaced as one of the sound projectiles struck her even after she moved away. Rui had aimed for her maneuver from the very start.


    Heunched a hail of projectiles at her, restricting her path forward.


    (''I knew it,'') Rui''s eyes narrowed. (''Durability isn''t your forte.'')


    Most of her techniques and training, as well as the spec configuration of her Martial body, it wasrgely devoted to maximizing her friction, and the utility of her friction. It meant that she wasn''t as strong at other aspects ofbat.


    Of course, her friction made up for it, but it didn''t help her get past Rui''s attacks. She wasn''t swift and nimble enough to evade all the attacks that he threw at her, nor was she durable enough to withstand all the attacks and just bulldoze through.


    However, it was his predictive uracy that was helping him out. With each passing second that went by, he grew better and better as he memorized her active and passive patterns that existed in her motion, growing more familiar with her evasion patterns especially.


    However, at the same time, Rui wasn''t going to be able to win this way. She wasn''t able to reach him, but that didn''t mean she was helpless when it came to dealing with his onught. His long-range offense wasn''t high-grade in power, thus he wasn''t able to inflict too much damage with each strike.


    Furthermore, long-range attacks were more power-consuming than close-range attacks, thus she would certainlyst longer at this rate.


    She had already fallen into afortable ce where she only spent enough energy avoiding his attacks while she waited for the right opportunity.


    He could try hitting her with a Transverse Resonance, but unfortunately, that was much more difficult tond because he needed to spend mental effort into ensuring that the four sound waves ovepped with each other. It made aim much harder.


    The battle fell into a brief stretch of monotony. She did her best to avoid his attacks while still trying to close in where and when she could. He, on the other hand, kept bombarding her with attacks.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Until he decided to stop.


    He heaved a sigh as he seemingly took a moment of respite.


    Squire Saiwal had been waiting for this opening. She did not believe that he would be able to oust her with his attacks despite her much lower effort evasion. Sheshed out, itching to shred him to pieces and then roast him to ashes with her mes.


    Rui stepped backward as she reached him, yet that only fueled her aggression.


    BAM!!!


    Her eyes widened as her pupils dted in agony.


    CRACK CRACK CRACK!


    She felt several ribs cracking.


    "Cough!" She spat blood as her vision finally came into focus.


    Rui stood right before her, with his fist buried into her gut.


    Before she could even process what had happened.


    POW!


    A swift high kick crashed into her chin.


    THUD


    She copsed to the ground, unconscious.


    (''You tunnel vision every time youunch an attack,'')


    Rui had noticed herck of environmental awareness in her previous fight during particr moments of the fight. Thus he had exploited that by using Phantom Step to y into that shoring, misdirecting her awareness momentarily, before using that blindspot tond an incredibly clean body blow.Content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    His fist had mmed into her rough body with one of the most powerful attacks that Rui couldunch at that range. Furthermore, he had managed to catch herpletely off-guard, thus she hadn''t even protected herself with a single defensive technique. That single blow had caused devastating damage.


    After that, it was just a matter of finishing the job.


    CRACK!


    His leg cracked into her head, leaving open a sickly wound.


    After that, it was just a matter of time.


    "Winner; Squire Falken! You are now officially the guardian of the nine hundred and first chamber."


    There was a sharp silence in the colosseum.


    Of course, there always was since none of the initiates made any kind of noise either way, but this one felt strange.


    He could feel the nagging attention of all of the initiates. Many stared at him with bewildered expressions, as though they didn''t quiteprehend what happened there. Most battles against guardians were extremely difficult for the challenger, yet in this case, the opposite seemed to happen!


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