Martial Arts Worlds

A week had passed since Kiernan's meeting with Sozen, and the All-Mixed Beginner Tournament was looming in the distance.

It was only a week away.

There wasn't school today, so Cleo and Jock had already arrived at the dojo, chatting among each other in the yard with smiles on their faces.

During the past week, Cleo had focused her training on the Iron Style stance, which she had become comfortable with, and for the last few days, she had been perfecting her form and balance.

She had also done conditioning training, preparing herself for the first set of techniques of Iron Style.

Jock, on the other hand, had been working hard at training his body and had started his offense training as well.

Jabs, crosses, hooks, and upper cuts. He was well versed in those already. He had also started to train his footwork.

His footwork was quite non-existent over in the tag-team competition, as he couldn't keep up his stance while moving.

At that moment, Kiernan entered the yard, one hand slipped inside his pocket, and it seemed like he was holding something inside his pocket.

"Master."

Cleo greeted him with a bow.

"Master."

Jock as well.

They thought that today was going to be another ordinary training session, doing the same things as the day before, but Kiernan had something else in hand.

"Iron Style's defensive stance is strong, yes, but I don't use a defensive stance just because I feel comfortable doing it.

"I am doing it because of one of my techniques. A technique that is perhaps my most used one. It is the reason why I have won so many battles."

Kiernan said.

Cleo and Jock looked excited.

"Rendering Edge."

Kiernan took the stance and moved his hands, like a painter waving a brush, and it looked beautiful, like a peacock spreading its feathers.

"You two are not quite ready to learn that, but I will teach you the basic version today—rock-solid defense."

He said, and then pulled out a strange doorknob from his pocket. The two kids wondered what in the world that was.

In that moment, he threw it in the air, and it formed into a beautiful brown door with a gold doorknob.

"What in the world?!"

Jock exclaimed.

"A magical artifact!"

Cleo exclaimed.

She was aware that such magical items were extremely rare and valuable. She had never seen one with her own eyes.

At that moment, Kiernan opened the door, and the Lower Hall appeared before their eyes, where they would have today's training session.

"Follow me."

Kiernan stepped through the doorway, the two of them followed right behind them, and they entered a hall with a high ceiling.

"Increase gravity threefold!"

Kiernan shouted.

At that moment, heavy gravity crashed down on them, and Jock immediately fell down to his knees.

Cleo's knees buckled slightly, and her back hunched, but she was still somewhat standing, even though she was sweating heavily.

Kiernan, on the other hand, didn't feel the effects of the increased gravity in the slightest and felt like he was having a stroll.

"Stand up, Jock."

He ordered.

"I-I can't…"

Jock said while gritting his teeth, and he did try to stand up, but it was an impossible feat with the gravity weighing down on him so heavily.

Cleo tried to go help him, but Kiernan stopped her and instead looked at Jock with an unyielding gaze.

"Stand up."

"I can't!"

Jock shouted.

"STAND UP!"

Kiernan screamed.

With a grimace, Jock screamed and pushed against the gravity. It felt like he was trying to swim through a heavy current.

In the end, his legs kept trembling, but he managed to stand up. It took all of his strength to keep on standing.

"Take the stance!"

Kiernan crossed his arms behind his back and ordered the two.

With great difficulty, the two of them took the Iron Style defensive stance and felt that it was easier to handle the increased gravity now.

It was still rather bad, but much more manageable, and both of them were equally impressed.

"Tennis balls."

Kiernan put his hand above him, and several tennis balls appeared in his hand.

In this world, there was tennis as well, but it was nowhere near as popular as on Earth. It was a very niche sport, as Punch Ball was pretty much the most dominant ball sport.

"Catch the ball. If you fail, I will keep increasing the gravity."

Kiernan said.

Cleo nodded with a determined look, and Jock was gritting his teeth heavily, as it was really hard for him to move his arms.

In that moment, Kiernan swung his hand and threw the first ball at Cleo. It came with a fast speed.

Cleo's hand moved slowly, and she blocked the ball with her right hand but didn't get a good hold, and the tennis ball started slowly falling down to the ground.

In that moment, she shot her leg forward, kicked the tennis ball back up, and then caught it mid-air with her left.

"Whoo! Huff! Huff!"

Cleo sweated heavily and let out a relieved smile.

Kiernan threw the second ball immediately after. It headed straight to Jock. It smashed straight into his forehead.

The tennis ball ricocheted off his head and fell down to the ground with a soft thud.

"Ah… I am sorry."

Jock apologized to Cleo mostly, and she replied with a smile, saying, "Don't worry about it," and then, the gravity increased once more.

It was four times the gravity back in the real world.

"Urgh!"

Jock's shoulders slumped, and his face turned long like that of a horse after a long race. He couldn't even breathe properly.

"Ahh!"

Cleo screamed, breathing heavily as she felt the pressure in her chest.

Kiernan summoned more balls and kept throwing. This time, Cleo missed, and gravity increased again.

Then he tossed one to Jock, and he couldn't even move his arms to catch the ball, so he failed as well.

Six times the gravity.

They were so hunched over that it might cause severe back pain in the future.

"Return the gravity back to normal."

Kiernan said casually.

Despite the increased gravity, he was completely fine, and after the gravity returned to normal, the two of them slumped down on the ground.

"Let's keep going. Let's start from twice the gravity and keep going from that. With failure, there is a price to pay. Keep that in mind."

Kiernan said.

For the rest of the day, this was the only training they did, and whenever one of them collapsed because of exhaustion, Kiernan used some elixir that he purchased from Master Dungeon to rejuvenate them.

It was the hardest training session to this day.

Before this day, Kiernan had gone easy on them, even though the training had still been harsh, but he wanted them to get used to it first.

It was still many times easier than his training back over on Earth, where he had to climb mountains and people-killing cliffs and run for miles in freezing cold temperatures.