Rui launched a strike at Kane, only for the strike to pass through him like he was an illusion. Kane returned strike, only for it to pass through Rui cleanly as well.
The two continued exchanging strikes that passed through illusions of each other, until;
Rui grimaced, stepping back. "Damn, you got me."
"Your timing with the Phantom Step is still off." Kane informed. "It needs to flow smoothly."
As an evasive maneuverer, Kane had already mastered the Phantom Step technique, it was extremely useful to his Martial Art. Rui had been training with Kane to refine his Phantom Step, it was easier to do this with an equal like Kane, who was in the same Realm as Rui.
They had restricted all other techniques, focusing only on Phantom Step alone and nothing else, this way it became clearer to analyze shortcomings and for Rui to compare his performance with the real deal.
"Part of the technique is the psychological part." Kane said, tapping at the side of his head. "If you wanna sell it, you gotta own it." He said.
Rui could understand that. It wasn't possible to truly fake something unless you believed it on some level, if you could believe it in superficially, then you would most likely do a better job at convincing others of it as well. Rui was treating the feint aspect of the Phantom Step to mechanically. He needed to immerse himself in the feint.
Problem was the fact this was a mindset he wasn't used to, at all. It was not easy for someone with an empirical and rational mindset such as himself to be able to engage in high levels of self-deception.
He also felt it was a bit scary and dangerous. Self-deceit could escalate and once it did, it would be very difficult to break out of it since you were deceiving yourself continuously, leading to severe cognitive dissonance and coping.
('Still, as long as I exercise discipline and self-control, I should be fine.') Rui thought to himself.
"Again." He said to Kane, before taking a neutral stance.
"Alright." Kane took a non-committal stance that allowed him to maneuver the easiest.
Rui feinted a straight punch, but alas Kane saw right through it.
He ignored the imperfect feint and landed a clean jab. Rui grimaced, rubbing his abdomen.
But Kane was seeing through almost all of them.
He smoothly punished Rui's imperfect feints.
"Tsk tsk." He tutted. "Remember, you gotta own it to sell it."
"Easier said than done." Rui replied. Before taking a moment to center himself.
He pictured the maneuver he was going to do. A dash punch, where he would launch the strike as he dashed towards Kane. He immersed himself in the image, picturing the details, making it more and more vivid.
He dashed towards Kane at high speeds, and a punch was thrown.
Kane blocked only to realize it was a feint.
Rui managed to land a clean low kick on him.
"Yeah nice." Kane complimented. "That was probably your best feint up until now, you're getting the hang of it."
Seems like as long as Rui exercised his imagination enough and immersed himself in it, the quality of the feints increased
They spent a whole hour sparring with each other, as Rui took small baby steps with the technique, getting just a bit better across the entire sparring session.
"Phew." Rui exhaled, once their session ended. "Can't wait to master this technique and unveil it in the Martial Contest and the Martial Festival."
"You sure are hyped for it." Kane muttered. "Is it really that exciting?"
"Of course!" Rui replied. "I get to test my Martial Art against the best of my generation."
Kane snorted. "It's just a platform for the rate race of clout chasing that perpetually occurs within the Martial community in the Kandrian Empire. I don't want any part of it,"
"You're not participating?" Rui asked, surprised.
"No, I'll have to participate." Kane said. "I can't even purposely get eliminated by fucking around, my family will learn of it and that will be even worse."
"I see, that does suck." Rui said.
"That's why I'm counting on you Rui." Kane said, putting an arm on Rui's shoulder.
"What for?" Rui said, raising an eyebrow.
"To beat me in the prelims." Kane said. "Each Academy sends only one representative, for a total of sixteen representatives in the Martial Contest. If you beat me, then it means I'm pretty much guaranteed not to go. So you have to win the preliminary contest that decides the respresentative of our Academy."
Rui chuckled melancholically. "So, you won't be able to hold back, but you still want me to beat you?"
Kane nodded. "Basically. You should be able to do it, more than anybody else."
Rui shrugged. "Alright. It doesn't change what I have to do to participate."
"It's not gonna be easy." Kane said. "I don't know what other techniques you've been training recently, or even the technique you mastered a few months ago, but you better be prepared. I've grown stronger."
"Oh?" Rui eyed him with interest. "How much stronger?"
"I will have mastered the Void Step technique somewhat soon enough." He said, dropping a bombshell. "I've been doing nothing but training this technique for a bit over half a year now."
Rui's eyes flew wide open at those words. "You what...?"
The Void Step technique was one of the highest graded techniques in the Apprentice Library, it was primarily a stealth technique but also overlapped with evasive maneuvering. It was extremely powerful and extremely difficult to master.
"It's an important technique for me." Kane said. "One day I'm going to escape from the shackles of my status, when that day comes, this technique is going to be a lifeline."
"And you're telling me this because..."
"Because it improves the chances of you beating me." Kane said. "Seriously, you gotta beat me. And I genuinely can't help you this time. If I slack off, my family will find out without a doubt and in the worst-case scenario they might take me out of the Academy."
The graveness in his voice revealed the helplessness of his situation.
Rui nodded seriously. "Don't worry, you can leave it to me."