His fortitude must have been trained to a high degree because he didn't even pause after landing so heavily. I could have sworn I heard the snapping of bone, but if that was the case, he ignored it. And he ignored his earth platform that I had weaponized as he launched his next attack.

He eschewed creating any more earth pillars, running towards me, his movements so fast that if I didn't have a familiarity with the [Dao of Movement] I might not have seen how he was doing it. The [Dao] increased the synaptic firing of my neurons, effectively slowing time, so that I could process what he was doing, and understand how he was able to run on air.

Earth is an interesting element. It is created, forged in the fiery core of the planet, shaped by air and water, and Newtonian laws have demonstrated the relationship between force, mass, and gravity. Daniel was manipulating the relationship between the Laws of Physics, bending them to his will. He took the principles that Newton had posited with the spacetime explanation of how space and matter affected each other and proved Newton's theory of universal gravitation.

Space acts on matter, earth in this case, influencing how to move, while matter reacts to space influencing how it curves. Daniel had advanced Newton's theory to encompass Einstein's theory of relativity, and he was using general relativity to his advantage. His control over the earth element having reached a profound understanding. It was only now, with time slowed enough that I could expand my perception, dissect what he was doing that I realized he had formed his own Dao pillar.

Daniel's skills incorporated the [Dao of Gravity]. There was no other explanation for how he was able to fly through the air. He did so because the gravitational constant that should keep his feet grounded firmly on the surface of the planet had been negated. He was creating his own gravitation force, a field that neutralized the planet's pull.

I may have made a tactical mistake by destroying the pillars he was forming. They had limited his speed. Without the need to wait for new columns to be formed and grow to the appropriate height, he was easily able to get within melee range. I could kite him, my [Dao of Movement] buttressed with [Lighting's Rush] would allow me to stay out of reach indefinitely, but it was only a delaying action.

Anytime I stopped to fire an arrow, he would begin moving towards my new location. His arms and hands moving in lightning-fast response to any attacks I launched. Arrow after arrow but each was casually batted aside, his fist forms capable of deflecting anything that came near. I released piles of billowing cloth that I sent to entangle him with, and it was likewise ignored. His movement so fast he seemed to slip between the small folds of material. His martial technique was impressive, allowing him to side-step traps and attacks alike.

I had no idea what the moves Daniel was using were named or how they worked, but the announcer didn't have that same handicap. And as he extolled our moves to the audience, his words registered with me, allowing me to identify and classify the techniques of my opponent.

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[Chase Strike], [Drunken Fist], [Arrow Fist], [Thirteen Hands], [Three Bows to Buddha]. Each of these techniques required and depended on the power of his hands and arms. I was sure he had other techniques, techniques that focused on legs he hadn't used. He probably had grappling, throws, and submission holds as part of his technique as well. But until he could get within striking distance, none of those katas could help him.

His use of Dao, his ability to draw upon a diverse number of attacks and defenses was the first chink in my mental defenses. [Tessenjutsu] was a powerful martial technique, but I had barely scratched the surface for what could be learned. I understood five of the Katas from a field of over fifty. Granted, I had learned to mix and match sections of each Kata, creating bastardized attack and defense practices, but that might not be enough.

The ability to dance with the wind, the fluidity of my technique was my real strength. I found joy in adapting each movement, to chain together deceptively graceful movements, that could incapacitate or kill. I had to hope that my adaptability was effective enough to offset the plethora of skills he appeared to have mastered.

Win or lose, I decided, it was time to prove to him, prove to myself that [Tessenjutsu] the efficacy of my technique, that for all the grace and beauty of my dance, behind the whirls, twirls, and flowing fabric, [Tessenjutsu] was a martial technique.

Decision made, I stopped evading; I pirouetted on the platform I had created, raising my left arm over my head, snapping my Tessen closed while crossing my chest with my right arm, that Tessen snapped open. The open Tessen, en Gärde, waiting to be used as a shield for any attack he would launch.

I sent a mental pulse to Storm, a firm command that the Roc did not engage no matter what happened. She could continue to release wind and lightning, the storm she was creating could be used and directed in my attacks, but she was to leave the fight itself to me.

The next few moments were a snapshot of action and reaction.

[Drunken Fist] a skill that made no sense, his hand flapping and floundering as if he had lost control was launched. I was able to deflect the attack using [Catch the Moon] my Tessen that had been fully open deflecting the fist that appeared to aim for my face, only to lurch at the last instant towards my kidneys.

That first attack was just the first of many as he began peppering me attacks and defending any of my own attacks with hastily engaged [Wax On] and [Wax Off] motions that easily deflected Tessen and fabric alike.

He was taking damage. Each time he deflected one of my attacks, the razor-sharp edge of the garrote that had been threaded between spines of the fan managed to cut him, peppering him with a growing number of small lacerations. His gi protected and deflected those cuts on the parts of the body they shielded, but the shirt sleeves barely reached past his elbows so I concentrated my attacks there.

I began cycling lightning Qi into the tines of my fan, so that each time an attack landed, an arc of electricity would be discharged. The cuts he was taking began to be interspersed with burns as the lighting was relentless.

He must have realized that he was taking the brunt of the damage. He had yet to land a blow no matter how fast his fists were flying. Each attempt was countered by my own spins and deflections, each of his attacks was met with one of my katas used for defense.

I could see the change of expression, the determination that radiated from his eyes when he decided it was time to go all out or release a finishing move. He had decided it was time, we would move into the final stage of this bout, he was about to unleash his most powerful attacks. I believed he felt he understood my abilities, the extent of my skills.

He was wrong. And as he released the full fury of [Thirteen Hands] I disabused him of that notion.