Martial Arts Worlds

Chapter 41 That Was Challenge

"Come on, sis!" Rashmi cheered on for her sister.

"You've got this, Kiernan!" Klaus and Timothy shouted on.

Shanta was the first one to make a move. She nimbly crossed the distance with such quick steps that it wasn't even clear whether her feet touched the ground or not.

Her stance was such that it wasn't clear what kind of martial arts she was using—she could go for a tackle, punch, or even kick.

No one knew what she was going to do.

Except for Kiernan, of course.

He shifted his stance and center of gravity slightly.

At that moment, Shanta sprang off the ground and unleashed a spinning back kick towards Kiernan's head. It was a fast, powerful, and precise kick.

Kiernan grabbed her leg and slammed her against the ground with a thunderous impact—she stopped moving instantly.

"Down!" The referee shouted. "1…"

The countdown started without any hesitation.

"Sis!" Rashmi cried out in shock.

Andre's eye twitched. It happened so fast that even he had a hard time processing what happened.

"Yes!" Karuza High's team cheered.

'This is good, really good!' Jin thought with a smirk.

It looked like Kiernan heeded his advice.

In the changing room, before the matches, he told everyone another rule that existed in nationals. If a person gets knocked out twice, they will lose.

It was because there was once a match where two students dualed for half an hour and both got knocked out several times. It was such a bloody fight that both received life-lasting injuries.

Thus, the new rule was created—two knockouts were the limit.

"5…"

The countdown had already reached halfway.

At that moment, Shanta slowly climbed back to her feet with a taken aback expression on her face. She felt that some of her ribs must've broken.

"Continue!" The referee shouted.

"Argh…" Shanta recoiled heavily, and as she touched her waist, she winced in pain. She knew she couldn't give up now, but it hurt so much that she could barely stand up straight.

"Ahhh!" She cried out all her pain and frustration, then rushed towards her opponent with all the strength she had left.

She started flailing her arms around, hoping to land a hit that would turn the tide of the battle in her favor.

Kiernan effortlessly backstepped and dodged every attack she threw at him. A few punches were near, but he simply moved his head out of the way.

It continued like this for a while.

Shanta tried to push Kiernan to the edge of the ring, to have an attempt at pushing him off, but he had learned from his mistakes during representation matches and stayed away from the edge.

He circled around Shanta to avoid going to the edge. She turned and continued punching at him furiously, but each punch was deftly dodged with ease.

It was so close, but so far at the same time.

It was clear to everyone watching the match—they were in completely different leagues.

Kiernan shot his hand forward, and his palm connected with Shanta's face.

It sent her sprawling to the ground.

Kiernan rushed in and punched down, but Shanta rolled out of the way in the nick of time. The punch landed on the ground with a loud bang.

Shanta, from her downed position, threw a kick, but Kiernan blocked it with his forearm. Then, something strange started to happen to his body—it looked like he was turning to water.

"Iron Style, Sea Fall."

Like a water serpent, Kiernan slithered over Shanta, mounted over her, and put his forearm over her throat, cutting off her air supply.

She gasped and tried to slither out of her predicament, but Kiernan simply changed his center of gravity to shut off all her escape routes. In terms of ground combat, Kiernan was superior.

With her vision turning dark, she could hear faint shouting from her sister and her coach. They were shouting for her to do something. However, there was nothing she could do.

Therefore, she quickly tapped on the ground as a sign of surrender.

Whistle~

The referee blew the whistle and shouted. "Winner, Kiernan Hunter!"

Kiernan stood up and stepped away from her downed body. He took his position in the leftmost area of the ring and waited for his next opponent to arrive.

Shanta, ashamed, left the ring with a disheartened look.

"I am sorry, sis, Andre…" She almost felt like crying as she sat back down.

"Sis…" Rashmi gritted her teeth and hatefully turned towards Kiernan, vowing to get revenge. "I'll win for us!"

"Sis…" Shanta whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Y-you can do it!"

Rashmi stepped up the steps to the ring. She glared at Kiernan like he was her mortal enemy.

"Second round, Rashmi Chakra versus Kiernan Hunter!" The referee swung his arm down. "Fight!"

"You bast—"

She was about to charge straight at him, but it was actually Kiernan who made the first move—he closed the distance with one quick leap.

Rashmi didn't expect that and quickly put her arms in front of her as a block.

Kiernan's right shoulder twisted slightly as if he were about to throw a punch with his right.

'Right punch!' Rashmi quickly focused all of her attention on his right fist.

At that instant, Kiernan's right leg propelled itself out like a whip and struck her in the thigh with a loud, flesh-smacking sound. It almost sounded like a baseball hitting the leg.

Her face immediately reddened in pain, as it felt like her skin was on fire.

Kiernan threw a quick straight punch—it squarely hit her in the face—and quickly followed up with a hook punch to her abdomen.

"Ah!" Rashmi coughed out all the air from her lungs, and it was a surprise that she didn't vomit out her breakfast.

"Iron Style, Sea Fall!"

Again, Kiernan resembled some kind of water creature and attacked Rashmi's legs with a tackle. He wrapped his arms around Rashmi's legs and brought her crashing down to the ground.

Kiernan mounted over her and started pummeling her with punches. She panicked and tried to protect her face with her arms, but the punches were so powerful that she could feel the pain rattle her entire body.

Smack, smack, smack—the punches continued to land, land, and land. It was relentless, and she could feel her body slowly break apart under the force of each blow.

"Sis!" Shanta screamed.

'Shit.' Andre clicked his tongue. 'That ain't the power of Low Stage Martial Soldier. It's the same as mine, isn't it?'

'I thought Kiernan was a striker, but he has shown a lot of grappling skills.' Jin thought with an impressed look. 'I guess there are a lot we don't know about him. I don't even know what martial arts he uses.'

The referee was on standby, ready to call off the fight if needed. It still looked like Rashmi didn't want to give up.

Kiernan switched from normal punches to hammer fists and slammed her in the face. It instantly worked wonders—Rashmi's eyes turned blank white for a moment before her consciousness returned.

However, the punch clearly had taken a roll on her, as she didn't even block anymore.

The blood spilled from her nose and mouth, staining the ground beneath her.

Kiernan raised his fist one more time, but before he threw it, he stopped. He, surprisingly, stood up and returned to the leftmost area of the ring for some odd reason.

Even after he walked away, Rashmi didn't move an inch. She just lay there, motionless. and quiet.

The referee went to check on her. She was still conscious, but she just continued breathing in and out.

"Do you wish to give up?" The referee said.

This was something he had seen a few times during his refereeing career—this happened exactly when one of the fighters lost all their fighting spirit.

Rashmi had utterly and thoroughly given up. It was because of the immense difference in strength, which she realized she couldn't overcome.

"Yeah…" Rashmi whispered in defeat, stood up slowly, and left the ring with her head hanging low. She sat down next to Shanta and put a towel over her head.

"The winner is Kiernan Hunter!" The referee shouted.

"Yes!" Klaus and the others cheered loudly.

Kiernan breathed out calmly and turned to look at Seisen High School's team—the mood was very low—but then Andre dropped his towel and stood up with a scowl on his face.

'Was that a challenge, fucker?' Andre thought to himself while looking straight at Kiernan in anger.

It wasn't that uncommon knowledge—even Jin managed to find out—that Andre's martial arts focused on grappling and mounted attacks.

If his opponent got mounted by him, the fight was usually over, as no one could escape from him.

Andre took that as a direct challenge—Kiernan had mainly used grappling and mounted attacks—as if he were challenging Andre to see who was better.