CHAPTER 2291: INDULGED

His attack came close.

Yet, it wasn't close enough.

WHOOSH!

In the final moment, K'Mala was just barely able to move out of the way, avoiding the extraordinary attack. She barely managed to activate a breathing technique that shifted the heavens along with her.

A wasteful technique that squandered most of its energy but instead offered a quick getaway in times when she couldn't afford to wait too long.

This had been one of those times.

"Huff...Huff..." She panted, drenched with sweat, as she stared at Rui with an aghast expression.

Just then, she felt it.

The immense peril of his attack.

She had just avoided death.

"I had a feeling that you wouldn't be done in that easily," he lightly commented. "That's good. The battlefield is chaotic, you know? You need to be quick on your feet if you want to survive it."

She glared at him. "Don't patronize me. I've been fighting in wars far longer than you have!" The heavens stirred as she harnessed their power, guiding and amplifying it with her own.

The heavens converged upon Rui.

Yet, he had already adaptively evolved to her.

"You're constrained by the energy dynamics of the atmosphere," Rui remarked, activation technique. "As long as I know that, it is easy to predict what you'll do. And what I can foresee, I can also overcome."

WHOOSH!

She grew stunned as a resistive force impeded her ability to harness the heavens.

Yet, Rui was hardly done.

While he activated his breathing techniques to generate currents and pressure gradients, they impeded her efforts to redirect the power of the heavens against him. This was a sub- technique application of the Muspelheim and the Niflheim that allowed him to manipulate the heavens with great control and precision.

Of course, that also meant that he himself couldn't manipulate the heavens when resisting her efforts.

However, he didn't need to.

WHOOSH!

He arrived before her in the blink of an eye.

"Let's see how good you are in close quarters in combat."

BAM BAM BAM!!!

"Rrrgh!" She grimaced as she threw together a guard that barely allowed her to withstand his offense without losing consciousness then and there. She was not a close-quarters specialist as a long-range Martial Artist. Yet, she knew that he wouldn't go too easy on her just because of that.

She was grateful that he hadn't used that extraordinary attack earlier.Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.

His power was so great that he could kill her with a single blow.

This was especially because the differences in their Martial Bodies were too great. It was why he was impressed with her performance despite how poor it was.

She would be much stronger once she consumed some augmentation potions to improve her physicality and had the Divine Doctor improve her primitive Martial Body.

POW POW POW!!

He adopted a hybrid infighting-outfighting boxing style, pummeling her with a series of short but swift blows as she struggled to keep up with them.

He was regulating his strength to ensure that he pushed her to her very limits and not an inch beyond.

Yet, the fact that he was holding back to such a degree only frustrated her even more. Just twenty years ago, she had been a Senior while he had been a Squire.

Since then, he has not only managed to close the gap between them but also skyrocketed far past her in the Master Realm.

She could tell that he was only using a minute fraction of his full, complete combat power, so much so that she hadn't the faintest idea just how strong he was. He did say that he was worried, but now she wondered if she was entirely outmatched by the Masters of the main continent.

"Let's see how good you are when it comes to grappling."

CLASP

He charged at her abdomen, going for a takedown that she was entirely too late to react to. BOOOOOM!!!

The takedown caused a crater wider than a city, at the center of which were the grappling Masters.

Rui could tell that she was entirely inexperienced. She struggled awkwardly as she wrestled in his grasp, trying to break free.

Unfortunately, while Rui was no grappling specialist, he was more than proficient enough to outmaneuver a novice in that regard. Since the G'ak' arkan Tribe did not have foundational Martial Stages as the Martial Academies did, she did not have even a decent foundation in the

field.

CLASP

His arm coiled around her neck, strangling her and restricting her blood flow.

Chokeholds were finishers in most cases.

This was one of those cases.

TAP TAP

Rui released his grip on her upon feeling her tapping out.

The two of them laid them, trying to catch their breath.

K'Mala more than Rui, of course.

"You're stronger than I could have imagined."

Her voice was filled with admiration and bitterness.

Yet, Rui could sense more.

"Well, thanks."

She turned around, facing him head-on.

Complicated emotions and sensations lit up in her eyes and her mind.

"How are you so strong?" She demanded to know.

Rui shrugged. "Talented, I guess."

She stared at him in disbelief. "Is it even possible to be that talented? I was considered to be extremely talented in the G'ak'arkan Tribe, but I have never seen so much grow so strong so quickly. Tell me, how did you get so strong?"

He heaved a sigh. "I have circumstances that have worked in my favor that you might as well consider talent. So, ultimately, I am simply gifted in ways that you cannot even begin to

imagine."

"...It's not fair." She complained bitterly. "If I was born on the main continent, I would have been much stronger than I am now."

Rui couldn't argue with that. It was simply true that even if she was born in a weak nation, she could have immigrated to a stronger nation that would have allowed her to be much stronger

than she is now.

Her hands ran across his body in her envy.

She could have had such a powerful Martial Body if she had been born in the Kandrian Empire, too. She would have been able to live to her maximum potential with the efficient Martial culture and resources of the Martial Union.

Rui could sense the envy and jealousy she had for his Body.

And her arousal.

Her hands ran up his body as his deep gaze met her suggestive eyes. She could feel his heavy

heartbeat ringing against hers as she leaned in, drawing closer. Their lips met, pressing into each other as their hands ran across each other's body, unclothing each other.

Their stay on the deserted island lasted far longer than the duel did.