Martial Arts Worlds

With the sun disappeared from the sky, the dilapidated boxing gym grew quiet, with sounds of snoring coming from the back room.

In an office of the boxing gym's former office, Neal slept soundly on the couch, warmed by a jacket of his acting as a makeshift blanket.

While the sound of snoring seeped through the thin walls, Kiernan sat in the middle of the boxing ring, his eyes closed in meditation.

[…Time]

Kiernan's eyes opened, and with one hand, he lifted his body up off the ground, still cross-legged.

This feat needed amazing strength and balance, which Kiernan had despite early struggles with his new body's weaknesses.

With a grunt, he uncrossed his legs and lifted them up into a powerful-looking handstand, holding the position effortlessly.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

At that moment, his phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket, and without moving out of his handstand, he pulled out the phone and accepted the call with his free hand.

"Yes?"

Kiernan replied rather effortlessly, despite the fact that his hair was falling in his face and his blood was rushing to his head.

"It's Julian. How are things at Gothic City?"

Julian's voice came from the other side of the phone.

"Eh, good. Nothing to see here, I am going to be honest. I might head over to visit other places."

Kiernan said.

"I wish I could've come with you. I am dying out of boredom here!"

"Yeah, sorry about that. I'll make sure to bring you back a souvenir."

Kiernan lowered his body, crossed his legs, and put all his weight onto his right arm, making its muscle's veins pop up.

"I'll take that. By the way, something strange is happening over here."

"Oh, like what?"

Kiernan asked out of curiosity.

"Late at night, there is always some howling coming from close to the house. I thought it was coming from the yard of one of the neighboring houses, but I went to ask, and none of them have dogs.

"The howling also sounded a lot like a wolf's. The howl came so close to the house that I almost believed that it was coming straight from your room.

"But it can't be a wolf, right? I mean, Irio doesn't have wolves."

When Kiernan finished listening, he wryly smiled, as he knew it was Fen's doing. While he can hide himself, the sounds he makes could expose his existence.

'He wasn't howling when I was there. I guess he is missing me. No worries, Fen, I'll return shortly.'

"That sounds indeed weird."

Kiernan said with a chuckle.

The call lasted for a little bit longer, but eventually, the call ended, and Kiernan stood back up, and for the next few hours, he shadow punched against his reflection in the mirror.

…

"…That is crazy."

Neal, while enjoying the school's cafeteria food, was watching a martial arts match on his phone, and shockingly enough, one of the fighters looked quite familiar.

A black-haired youth, bloodied, and clearly in pain, fought against herculean-looking muscle monster.

Neal couldn't believe his eyes as one of the fighters was his teacher, Kiernan!

After finding out his name, it didn't take long for him to find his real identity on social media, and then he came across the video of this match.

This was his third time watching it, and he already knew that Kiernan was the winner of the match. Therefore, he was also the national champion of a tier four country!

It felt unreal to him, as his dream had been to become a national participant, but it felt like an impossible dream.

However, Kiernan had already done all of that and even became the champion against all his peers in a country that was even stronger!

'Why would someone like him be here? It doesn't really make any sense, and why would he waste time training me?

'I know that there is currently a winter holiday on New Rakuya, so it is clear he is traveling around different countries for leisure.

'However, it isn't like that winter holiday lasts too long, and here he is, wasting his valuable time helping me…

'I guess it really is hard to understand the geniuses.'

Neal thought, pocketed his phone, and looked around the cafeteria, where few gazes lingered in his direction before moving away.

After his challenge to Travis, he had become an overnight "celebrity" in Sirkus Middle School, and not in a good way.

Everyone believed that Travis was going to crush him, so they ridiculed Neal behind his back as a foolish idiot.

At the table further back, Travis and his friends shot angry glances in Neal's direction and then whispered something amongst themselves.

'They couldn't possibly attack me, right… It is sacred to not attack their ranked opponent, and if one does, they can risk expulsion.

'Surely they won't do it… It is Travis, so he might…'

Neal picked up his tray and walked over to the trash to throw away the leftover food, but then someone walked behind him and did the same.

With a side glance, he noticed that the person was towering over him, making him look like a midget, and his heart started beating.

'Travis…'

"Maybe I hit you too hard, and you lost your mind. I know for a fact that you don't think you could possibly have a chance in hell in defeating me."

Travis said with a chuckle.

"…What do you want? You can't hurt me before the ranked match, and if you do, I'll sing my lungs out to the principal."

Neal said defiantly.

"Ho, ho, ho. Look at you. You've grown some balls after your previous beating. Our ranked match is a joke. It will be over in a minute, and in the days following that… I and my friends will have some fun with you."

Travis poisonously said, then picked up his jelly yogurt and dropped it on top of Neal's hair, causing it to ooze down his face and onto his shirt.

Neal choked down on his words as the sticky liquid dripped onto his face, and he could hear people laughing.

With his clenched right hand, he suddenly swung it towards Travis.

'I'll destroy his fucking face!'

At that moment, Travis moved his head to the side, let the sloppy punch slide past his cheek, and then grabbed Neal's face before shoving it into the trash bin.

"No, no. You challenged me, and you won't be able to escape this easily. I won't allow you to get expelled. You'll get embarrassed in front of the entire school, and especially in front of Katherina, who will have the best seats to your public humiliation."

Travis whispered coldly in his ear, then let go of his head and walked away with his laughing friends.

"…Shit…"

Neal pulled his head out of the trash bin, saw everyone ridicule him, and with his cheeks heated up in embarrassment, he ran away from the cafeteria as fast as he could.

However, the sound of muffled laughter haunted his ears long after he had disappeared from sight.