Martial Arts Worlds

"Tomorrow our team will start heading over to Tiamut. The representation match is not happening for us as everyone already forfeited. They know we're strongest!"

Montclair High's principal shouted with passion.

"Championship is all we desire!"

"Championship is all we desire!"

"Championship is all we desire!"

The students echoed with one loud, united voice.

At the corner of the gathering hall, a hooded, bulged man was sitting alone. An aura of silence surrounded him like an impenetrable force field.

No one dared to look in his direction. No one dared to breathe in his direction. And, no one, especially, didn't dare to approach him.

Zachary's face was hidden behind a cloak of shadow cast by the gray hood he wore. The hoodie was constantly fighting against the threat of ripping apart.

Even though the hoodie was trying to hide the change that was happening beneath it, it was clear that everything about him had drastically changed in the past few months.

"Huff… huff… huff…"

Zachary's loud, raspy breaths couldn't be contained within the confines of his mouth.

"The meeting is over! A bus will leave tomorrow. The rest of the school will come to Tiamut before the start of the nationals to watch the nationals in person!"

After hearing that the meeting was over, Zachary stood up, slammed the door open, and walked out.
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The door, after slamming into a wall, left a big dent in the wall. The students looked frightened by the sound.

"Huff… huff… huff…"

…

"What's up with him?"

Jonathan leaned on the door, only in his shorts because of the immense heat, and a towel over his right shoulder.

His head was still wet as he took a shower only a moment ago.

He was staring into Kiernan's room and saw him meditating next to a spinning fan that kept making clicking sounds, but it didn't seem to distract Kiernan in the slightest.

"Meditating, as you can see. He is preparing mentally."

Julian said with a chuckle, crouched down, and then leaped high into the air. He was testing his vertical jumping strength.

His fingertips barely touched the ceiling of the hallway.

"Wohoo, my jumping strength has increased!"

"Preparing mentally for what? The representation matches will be easy."

Dominic asked as he was wiping his hair with a towel. He also took a quick shower. There was pretty much a line to the showers.

The grumpy-looking girls were still waiting for their turn as they and the boys threw a coin about who goes first. The boys won.

"This preparation is also getting him ready for the nationals. Kiernan might not look like it, but he is mad nervous right now. I guess that's what happens when you put the trust of an entire city on his shoulders.

"I guess during times like these, he truly seems like a human."

"Really?"

Dominic was surprised and looked over to the meditating Kiernan.

'I've heard that Kiernan is very prone to anxiety and stress. Was he also nervous when he fought me? He definitely didn't look like it…'

"Irio's evening news is starting. They're talking about the upcoming representation matches!"

A voice came from one of the rooms, and some students went to watch out of curiosity about what they had to say.

…

Irio's News Station.

The director of the station showed three fingers, lowered one, then two, and finally the third.

A large red neon sign that read 'LIVE' went on above the cameras.

Shuffling the papers, a red lipstick-wearing news anchor smiled at the cameras and said.

"Good evening, Irio! Today, we've received delighting news that the upcoming representation matches between the four schools of Irio will happen in approximately three days.

"It is a highly awaited event because of one student in particular—Kiernan Hunter—who has the opportunity to do something that only one school in the history of Irio has done: win the national championship.

"While no one expects the representation match to be any issue for him, it will still be his and Karuza High's season opener as they didn't participate in any other minor tournaments.

"They didn't participate in the Summer Invitationals or Early Year Tournaments, so their strength is still relatively secretive, but among the winning contenders, they've been ranked in the top three solidly.

"Montclair High, a new school that has suddenly rosen in prominence because of their new powerhouse student, Zachary Lokiah, currently has the highest chance at the victory.

"Tiamut High, the superpower of New Rakuya, has been the strongest school for years and years, but this year it looks like their era of dynasty is coming to an end.

"We do still hope that our very own school, Karuza High, will lift the trophy high and bring home the trophy."

…

"Man, they've still not discovered me? I am Martial Champion, yo. If they knew about this, we would be easy winning contenders."

Julian said as he clicked his tongue.

It was true that he was still not known by anyone outside their school. They hadn't even revealed their team lineup for the nationals yet.

Their official reveal would happen at the representation matches.

"What're you all watching?"

Kiernan finished with his meditation and saw everyone gathered in the same room. He stretched his arms, legs, and his back.

The meditation did wonders, and he was able to lower his stress levels, but the nerves were still there. However, he believed to be quite ready for the representation matches.

"News segment about the representation matches. They were talking about you~ More pressure for you~"

Julian teasingly said, grinning mischievously.

Kiernan smirked, moved to his fighting stance, and did some techniques in slow motion. A hook punch to the front, a sideswipe to the left, and then a roundhouse kick to the right.

'Sharp! Those moves were sharp enough to cut steel!'

Jonathan took a deep breath.

To the untrained eye, it wouldn't look anything special, but anyone with some martial arts training could tell that what he did was not ordinary.

Some martial artists could train for their entire lives and wouldn't be able to do their techniques with such sharpness as he just did.

'I am ready. In the past few months, I've reached an even greater level. The conditioning, accuracy of my techniques, sharpness, and speed have all improved significantly.'

Kiernan clenched his hand into a fist, a smile playing on his lips. He was slowly becoming the same monster as back on Earth, where he was known as the living weapon of mass destruction.