Martial Arts Worlds

In the waiting room of the Martial Arts Arena, Kiernan sat silently in his chair.

He had already dressed in his Martial Ability—Black Qi—and he was silently rubbing his knuckles with his fingers.

There weren't such things as white tape wrapping in Martial Kings tournaments, and it was just pure fist fighting from start to finish.

On the television, it showed thirty-two participants of the tournament.

The tournament started with the Round of 32, followed by the Round of 16, and then the Quarterfinals ended the first day.

On the second and last day, the semifinals and the grand finals would wrap up the tournament.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

In that moment, the television buzzed, and Kiernan's eyes lingered over there with a calm and collected look.

A smiling face appeared on the television.

"Hello, dear participants of this wonderful tournament. I am the smiling man, and I am here to inform you about the rules and regulations of the competition.

"First of all, no one knows who they are fighting. The Overpowered Machine System is currently going through the information of every participant, and it will then select the matchups for each round of the tournament.

"It will go like this: The machine will select the first match's fighters, and they will go fight. Once the match is over, and everyone is ready for the second match, the machine will then select the second match's fighters, and they will go fight.

"Et cetera, you get it now, right?!?!?!

"Good!

"Then, in your room, there should be a wristwatch by the table. Put it on. It will keep record of your health points, and once your health drops to zero, you have officially lost the match.

"Zero health points doesn't mean that you will be dead, haha. Your actual health is definitely much higher, but to avoid deaths, thousand health points are the total for this one!"

The smiling man said.

With an interested look, Kiernan picked up the heavy black wristwatch from the table and put it on. It was metallic and cold to the touch.

The wristwatch had a screen.

[Name: Kiernan Hunter]

[Rank: Middle Stage Martial King]

[HP: 1000]

"Time for the first match, but before that, the wonderful arena will be selected for the first match, haha!"

The smiling man said, and then disappeared.

Instead of the smiling man, a diagonal lottery wheel appeared with hazy words written down on the wheel.

The words were hard to read, and at that moment, the wheel started spinning rapidly as if controlled by an unseen force.

About ten seconds later, it rolled to a stop, and a name appeared.

[Arena: Floating Islands]

A picture appeared on the television, and it showed several floating islands above the arena. The islands were smaller than normal islands, but there were about four of them.

It looked quite interesting.

"Time for the first match!"

The smiling man said as he returned and then disappeared again.

The twenty-two names were put in a holographic bowl. The bowl was spun around rapidly. Then, two names popped out.

[First Match!]

[Ama Record vs. Kiernan Hunter]

"Am I first? Oh well."

Kiernan stood up from the chair, cracked his knuckles, and before him, the door opened into the arena.

Amidst roaring cheers, he stepped through and was greeted by the thunderous sound of the cheering audience.

"Kiernan! Kiernan! Kiernan!"

The crowd seemed to be heavily on his side, but then, as soon as his opponent, Ama Record, entered the arena, she was met with cheers as loud as his, if not louder.

She already had a big fan base over in the Montrael martial arts scene, as this wasn't the first tournament she was participating in.

It was her twelfth year as Martial King, and during that time, she had entered many tournaments and even exited a few as the winner.

She was a beautiful middle-aged-looking woman with chocolate brown hair, piercing hazel eyes, and a graceful yet strong presence.

On her wrist, the black wristwatch also beeped with the same health point amount as Kiernan's.

[Name: Ama Record]

[Rank: Middle Stage Martial King]

[HP: 1000]

In the crowd, Cleo, Lumian, and Jock nervously waited for the start of the match, as they thought their master was quite unlucky.

Ama Record had a reputation in Montrael's martial arts space, and all three of them had heard about her.

"Ah, I found you."

In that moment, they heard a sweet voice, and was greeted by the beautiful Aoi as she sat at the empty chair next to them.

"Miss Aoi!"

Cleo said with a bright smile, and Lumian and Jock also greeted her warmly, as they quite liked her, as she had a very motherly vibe about her.

"Master has a tough opponent right off the bat."

Cleo said worryingly.

"There isn't an easy opponent in the King of the Martial Tournament. In the end, if he wants to win the tournament, he has to get through them all."

Lumian said.

"Do not be worried. I don't think Kiernan will lose to anyone of the same rank as him. I would go as far as to say that there is no one in the Martial King rank who is his equal."

Aoi said with a smile.

In the arena, the four islands were floating in the air. One island had thick forest, one had a desert, one was covered in snow, and the last one had volcanic eruptions.

In that moment, a singular firework flew upwards from the ground, reached high in the air, and exploded in a bright show of colors.

It was the start of the match.

"HAAAAAAAAAH!"

Ama screamed suddenly.

The ground around her started cracking and breaking. Sharp jagged rocks flew towards her and stopped before piercing her.

"Hahahaha!"

She smiled beautifully, looked at Kiernan, and then pointed her middle finger towards him. She wasn't flipping the bird but instead pointed it straight at him like a gun.

The sharp, jagged rocks flew forward like bullets and smashed into Kiernan with such speed that it even made the audience freeze in shock.

They barely had any time to react.

However, none of those jagged rocks was able to pierce through his powerful Black Qi armor!

"That's the first showing of Ama Record's martial ability!

"She is a Mindbreaker with the powerful ability of Push and Pull. She can pull everything towards her and then push it away with incredible force!"

Kiernan formed a fist with his right and punched the ground.

BOOM!

The ground cracked, a large crevice split the arena in half, and the Martial Arts Arena's security system kicked in.

The security system was in place to make sure that the audience wouldn't be in danger!

In that moment, Ama touched the ground and gave it a push. The ground crumbled apart, and a big black hole appeared before them, showing the abyss beneath.

She jumped high in the air with the help of the push and landed at the forest island, but when she looked over to her opponent, she saw that he already was standing on the snow-covered island.