Chapter 2086: Sitting Down

"What a powerful attack...!" Master Vertol exclaimed. "I have never experienced such pain in my entire life!"

Yet a grin emerged on his face. "Not enough to overcome the Yin-Yang Shield, I'm afraid."

Rui smiled. "Say, do you know how the technique works?"

"Of course," he snorted. "The shield is born from the harmony of my inner yin and the outer yang. The harmony of yin and yang gives rise to all things in the universe."

Rui stared at him knowingly. The fact that an empowered Reverberating Lance and the Yin-Yang Shield produced interference patterns that were normally only produced by the superposition of two sound waves necessarily meant that there were two sources of vibrations.

One was, of course, Reverberating Lance.

The other could only be the Yin-Yang Shield.

The source of its defensive power was sound vibrations.

Yet, that wasn't the whole explanation.

It didn't explain many things.

For instance, through the mind sense and the SOUL System, Rui knew that the man was currently exerting himself on the Yin-Yang Shield technique. Yet, despite that, he was unable to detect any sound.

The only time the force of the sound showed up was when his attack made contact with the Yin-Yang Shield.

And he had already verified that it wasn't Master Vertol who was actively maintaining the technique.

So why exactly was the sound detectable at the moment and position of impact?

'I need more data.' Rui grew a little excited at the prospect of cracking the mysteries of the Yin-Yang Shield. He couldn't believe that he had somehow happened upon the secrets of the Yin-Yang Shield.

It made sense that he was the one able to gain insights into the technique.

His insights from the nuances of his understanding regarding waves and how they interacted gave him an advantage.

Given that the understanding of the non-esoteric reality of the scientific community of Gaia was highly underdeveloped, it made sense that others had yet to gain insights into the Yin-Yang technique.

However, he wasn't satisfied with merely uncovering the source of the force.

He wanted to understand the intricacies of this mysterious technique.

Not just because it had his fascination but also because the knowledge would help him adaptively evolve to his opponent.

"Sonic Singularity." Rui immediately activated the Yggdrasil System, employing the anti-defense domain technique.

At that moment, the world screamed as an ocean of sound converged on Master Vertol, threatening to cook him inside out.

Yet, it couldn't

VMMM!!!

Rui watched as the two waves of sound interfered in destructive interference.

"Rrrgh..." Master Vertol grimaced as his body was subject to deep stress.

Yet, he endured and withstood it.

His tolerance for stress was far higher than the average Master or even other Masters of the same grade who weren't defense-oriented.

The Yin-Yang Shield held strong, withstanding everything that Rui threw at it. Be it Flowing Canons or Sonic Singularities, Master Vertol was able to withstand everything that was thrown athe threw at him.

Even the best of offense was well within his capacity to defend against.

Rui knew of his type.

This was the type of Martial Artist that dedicated themselves to one or two sub-fields within a single field and ensured that they were the very best in their chosen specialityfield.

In comparison, offense was most certainly not Rui's strong suit at the moment. Yet, the goal of the Sonic Singularity domain was not to defeat Master Vertolhim. The goal was to illuminate how the mechanics of the technique functioned.

Yet, it was only when Rui he saw classic patterns of constructive interference in the man's body that he finally understood what was going on.

"...There isn't just one source of sound," he realized. "There are actually two waves constructively interfering as one."

The superposition was so smooth that without his deep understanding of how waves overlapped, he would have never understood what he was looking at. Without his extensive experience with the Transverse Resonance technique, he, too, would not have noticed the similarities and would have been thoroughly flummoxed by the technique.

Based on his current insights, the technique was comprised of two components.

Internal vibrations and external vibrations.

The former were vibrations that were created inside the body, primarily through the movements of the diaphragm.

The latter were vibrations caused by the muscles. It was very similar to Reverberating Lance. The normal state of the technique when it was active and in effect was that of a state of destructive interference where the two vibrations canceled each other out to such a degree that one would never detect the presence of either.

Yet, the moment the user was disturbed by an external force, the delicate balance that led to an absolute destructive interference was disrupted, causing the two vibrations to interfere constructively. The constructive interference led to the sudden creation of a powerful sound wave at the point of contact with the opponent.

The sudden shift from destructive interference to constructive interference created an extremely convincing illusion. The illusion that the force came into existence out of literally nowhere, one that fooled even the powerful senses of Martial Artists.

That was the secret of the Yin-Yang Shield technique.

The reason this technique was this powerful was that it drew power from more techniques than just the muscular system. It drew power from the diaphragm and across all cells of the Body to contribute to the vibrations.

Master Vertol had most likely been trained to be able to create constant destructive interference without conscious effort such that he could maintain the technique as a matter of muscle memory alone.

WHOOSH

Rui abruptly dispelled both the domain and the Hypertrophic Surge, ceasing his attack altogether.

"What's the matter, young man?" The Master raised an eyebrow. "I'm far from done; your power isn't enough to do me in anytime soon."

Rui didn't respond.

Yet what he did shocked everybody to their very core.

He sat down.

Every single person spectating the battle froze.

They stared at the Void Prince, aghast.

"What... What is the meaning of this?!" Master Vertol barely managed to squeeze words out through his shock.