Considerations

Rui and Kane were long thinking about the words that the Martial Seniors shared with them long after the two of them had been dismissed. Squire Ieyasu went his own way immediately after, seemingly uninclined to speak with either of them.

"Oh man," Kane sighed. "This might be our toughest battle yet."

Rui nodded. "This is going to be harder than my battle against the Root because I'm not dealing with a mindless drone, I'm dealing with a sentient being. Not just any sentient being, but expert Martial Artists who are extremely skilled and have decades of experience as Martial Artists."

While Kane couldn't help but feel anxious about what was to come, Rui simply smiled as he thought back to the discussion that he had with the Martial Seniors. 

For the first battle, they only needed to observe, it was only in the second battle that they would participate.