Normally, conscious reaction functioned like so;
Perception -> Processing -> Decision making -> Reaction.
But Hever's mastery of Meteor Swing functioned like so;
Perception -> Muscle memory -> Reaction.
Of course, this was extremely difficult to accomplish. It took a long time to build such immense amount of muscle memory. Merely general mastery of a technique was not enough.
This was the fruit of five continuous unhalted rigorous years of training with the Meteor Swing technique. The Meteor Swing was a counter-offensive technique, it was meant to be used when the user was attacked.
By practicing the Meteor Swing over and over and over against countless kinds of attacks, he had burned those motions into his muscle memory.
If someone threw a punch at his face, he no longer needed to think and react, his muscle memory remembered what to do when someone threw a punch at his face. The speed of subconscious sensory recollection and muscle memory was far superior to the speed of conscious cognition. Thus, he reacted earlier and there was no delay in his maneuvers caused by conscious reactive processing, because it had been replaced by the quicker muscle memory.
This was why, even though his motion and movement speed were limited, he was still able to perform extraordinarily quick maneuvers because his reactions and motions were not hindered by the tedious process of conscious cognition.
This was why he was able to keep up with Nel.
"That's unbelievable." Fae murmured, impressed.
"But why doesn't everybody do this?" Kane asked, frowning. "If muscle memory is this useful, why don't more Martial Artists take his route? Won't it make more sense to go down this route."
Rui shook his head. "In most cases, dedicating yourself to a single technique will lead to lower growth than mastering multiple techniques. The reason it's worked out so well has to do with the fact that the technique he picked covers everything; defense, offense and can handle a lot of styles as far as compatibility goes. Furthermore, it's a grade-nine technique as far potency and difficulty go. And finally... It has to do with Hever himself. His affinity and talent with that technique and counter-offensive grappling must be extremely high. All of these factor into why it worked out for him."
"I see..." Fae muttered as she turned back to the battle.
Hever threw slammed Nel onto the ground after intercepting yet another charge and swing.
None of the fighters could take their eyes off the battle. This battle was such a bizarre battle that they were sure they would never see anything quite like it ever again.
"Hever is tossing him like a ragdoll over and over." Kane said. "There's no way Nel can possibly win right?"
"I wouldn't necessarily say that." Rui disagreed, glancing back at the fight.
It was true that Hever was intercepting, defending and countering every attack while landing successful throws each time...
"Nel keeps getting up faster and faster. Rui noted. "His constitution is strong. The damage he takes with each strike is not significant."
Nel wasn't getting faster, he was getting more and more used to the timing. This wasn't the same as the VOID algorithm, which would have adapted than he did, but it was a result of the natural optimization capabilities of the human mind.
"At this rate..." Rui hesitated.
At this rate, Hever Mendelieve would likely become more and more disadvantaged. This wasn't his fault, usually someone with this level of durability and speed seldom existed. Nel was exhibiting a level of toughness that only Dalen could match while showing off speed that only Kane would surpass. Both of those were quite unconducive to Hever's Martial Art. Usually people did not last long enough to adapt to his Martial Art. Prior to fighting Nel, no one lasted for more than three throws.
But here came Nel, with the durability to endure many strikes and the speed to potentially overwhelm the Meteor Swing technique once he grew completely used to the timing of the technique.
Suddenly, there was just the slightest change in the ring.
Yet because of the monotony of the match, not a single onlooker missed it.
"Mmrrg." Hever grimaced as he took a step back!
He still managed to successfully execute the throw.
He had ceded even more ground.
Nel's grin widened at the sight as he threw more and more attacks in one direction, each forcing him to cede more and more ground in on direction!
Hever slammed him more and more, but his breathing had grown strained.
"His stamina is lacking." Kane shook his head. "He's going to lose this match, it's a matter of time." Earning approval from the others.
Only Rui and Milliana frowned.
"This doesn't make sense." Milliana commented. "It's too sudden."
Rui nodded, sharpening his eyes. "He went from pristine condition to tired in the span of twenty seconds? That's now how exhaustion works, it's linear with time, especially when consumption rate of energy is constant like in this fight. If he's this exhausted right now, we would have seen signs of it five minutes ago."
Milliana nodded in agreement. "Also, his Meteor Swing is a technique uses the opponent's energy as well."
"Yeah, it's just a bit bizarre that he's already this exhausted despite that in such an abrupt timeframe." Rui nodded. "Either he was born with strangely poor stamina or..."
"Or he's doing it on purpose." Rui's eyes sharpened, even he found that hard to believe. What he didn't understand was why he would bother. After, weren't there only demerits?
He was only ceding space, losing control of the center of the ring and reducing his own freedom. He was dragging himself to edge of the court for no reason. It would only increase the chances of a ring-out.
Suddenly Rui's eyes. "No way..."
If what he had come to suspect was true, then Hever Mendelieve was even more dangerous than he had expected!