Martial Arts Worlds

Within Kiernan's fingers, two words faded out of existence.

After using Hyperion Smash, the word "Iron" disappeared as if it was erased with a magic eraser.

Then, when he used his other technique—Rock n' Roll—the word "Valor" vanished, and there was one word left.

Mortality!

"Whoo!" Galahad started punching at Kiernan with unrelenting fury.

However, the young man kept evading the punches as well as he could. It looked very awkward when he was evading as he wasn't used to doing that.

"Firefoot!"

With dizzying footwork, he moved out of the way before the punches came to him and thus distanced himself from his opponent.

"You!" Galahad's another punch launched like a rocket.

However, before it could land, he felt an itch on his back, and when he turned around, he saw Julian punching him in the back.

Those punches barely felt anything, but it still made him angrier!

'I don't really get it!' Julian thought with a sweaty face. 'With lower rank, Kiernan is still able to deal so much damage with his martial arts—Iron Style was it, very fascinating!'

"Get off me, bug!" Galahad wildly swung his arm at Julian, but he ducked underneath it and slammed his fist into his liver area.

This time it connected with a sickening crunch.

"Argh!" Galahad's eyes turned red.

While his body was as strong as steel, these kinds of punches could still hurt him. It wasn't like he was completely invincible to all, and any damage!

The pirates watched with an awkward look. A few of them were even laughing. A feared pirate captain was struggling against two weak slaves!

Within the crowd, a young pirate came with a bounty poster in hand, his eyes wide with disbelief at what was happening in the fighting pit.

"What the hell is happening? How is Galahad struggling against them?" The young pirate said.

"Because he'd gotten weaker, obviously!" Older pirate said. "Isn't he nearing his fifties? His Age of Growth has already ended, and since he didn't reach Martial King, his longevity didn't increase; thus he is only getting weaker from now on!"

"B-but…" The young pirate looked at the bounty poster. "The navy's new bounty posters came through. Galahad's bounty has increased!"

"What?!" The pirates checked it out and looked surprised.

***

[DEAD OR ALIVE]

[Name: Galahad Mariner]

[Association: Many Men Pirates]

[Role: Captain]

[Rank: High Stage Martial Grandmaster]

[Bounty: 30,999 Gold Coins]

***

"Over 30 thousand?!" The pirates exclaimed. "That is a huge jump. It looks like he did something to get such a crazy increase, but how come he is so weak then?!"

"M-maybe the two slaves are just strong?" The weak pirate guessed.

"Can't be. That Tobias fellow is only Martial Fighter!"

"…"

Ambrose crossed his arms and then smiled. He turned his gaze to Otto and whispered something into his ear.

"W-what?!" Otto turned towards him in shock. "Are you crazy? Why?"

"Why not?" Ambrose asked with a laugh. "I just thought it would be a shame."

"It's not cheap…" Otto said with narrowed eyes.

"I'm not lacking in money!" Ambrose said. "Let's do the deal. I know you don't want to anger Galahad, but do you want to anger me? I am Pirate King!"

"Y-yes, sir!" Otto hurriedly said. "I-I'll do it right away!"

…

Galahad grabbed Julian by his shirt and tossed him across the fighting pit.

He was going to fly towards the steel wall, but Kiernan suddenly caught Julian mid-air and put him down on the ground.

"Argh…" Julian clutched his waist. "I think my ribs are broken."

"Y-yeah…" Kiernan looked at his right hand. "My hand is broken."

"We can't win like this…" Julian stood up and looked valiantly at Galahad. "Not without sacrifices."

"What's your plan?" Kiernan asked as he tried to straighten his broken fingers. 'If I had Bone Harmony, I could fix this right away, but alas, I can't use it yet.'
Experience tales with empire

"I will, uh…" Julian scratched the back of his head. "If I give you a chance, can you do a one-hit kill on Galahad?"

"I might…" Kiernan said. "It will be tough, though."

"I will give you that chance, and don't you fucking dare hesitate." Julian looked at him seriously. "If you hesitate, I am going to kill you."

"Alright…" Kiernan cracked his neck. "I'll kill him no matter what."

"Good…" Julian took a deep breath and then started running towards Galahad with his arms spread wide.

Galahad jabbed forward. His punches were like flying bullets. They landed across Julian's body and left him with purple bruises across his body!

"Cough!" Julian coughed out blood, but he kept running ahead, weaved past a couple of punches, and soon arrived right in front of Galahad.

Galahad slammed his fist into Julian's stomach, but he only coughed blood and took another step forward.

'My punches must've left him with plenty of internal injuries and bleeding, but he just keeps moving forward!'

At that moment, Julian spread his arms across Galahad's body and put him under a powerful bear hug.

'Bear hug?' Galahad grabbed his arms and wanted to tear his arms off, but despite the immense pain, Julian didn't let go.

"Do it now!" Julian screamed. "Kill me if you have to!"

'What the hell is he talking about?' Galahad wondered with round eyes, and at that moment, he saw Kiernan running towards them with the cold look of a killer.

"Iron Style…"

Kiernan pushed his broken right hand forward, stabbed it through Julian's chest, and then into Galahad's chest as well.

With his broken right hand, he slithered through Galahad's chest, between the organs, and all the way to his heart.

Immediately, he squeezed on the heart and started to pull it out of his body.

"Heart Tug!"

"COUGH!" Julian coughed out a mouthful of blood.

"ARGH!" Galahad screamed in pain.

With the last word "Mortality" vanishing from Kiernan's finger, this was the last attack he could do.

The pirates exclaimed, looking in horror at what was happening.

'This is…' Ambrose thought with wide eyes. 'Are they really about to kill one of the pirate captains?'

"Come on!" Kiernan screamed.

He wanted to rip the heart out of Galahad's chest, but he couldn't. It was like his heart was chained to his body.

"You…" Galahad grabbed Kiernan's arm and pulled it out of his body, leaving behind a gaping hole of bloody flesh.

'My Heart Tug failed…' Kiernan thought with round eyes. 'I have never struggled to pull out a heart from a body before. It's not just his body that is strong; his heart is as well!'

Galahad kicked Julian in the chest and sent him and Kiernan flying at the same time. They rolled all the way to the other end of the fighting pit.

With this, the match was pretty much over!

The pirates let out shocked sighs. For a moment, they thought that the two slaves were going to win!