Martial Arts Worlds

The carriage came to a stop by the cemetery's gated entrance.

The door opened, and Kiernan stepped out.

"See you later!" The male student said. "Come check out the Game whenever you've got time!"

Kiernan nodded his head, then bid his farewells to the driver and entered the cemetery through the gate.

A shaky-looking church stood next to the cemetery. It was leaning slightly to the left as if it were about to fall down at any moment.

However, the church had always been like that ever since its creation. Whoever made the church really liked leaning buildings for some reason.

Kiernan picked up a lantern from his inventory. He bought one since it was always dark in Nightingale, and not every place had street lamps or other light sources.

The lantern's yellow glow illuminated his path nicely.

He then made his way down the dirt road, checking out the tombstones that lined the sides of the path.

'Abracadabra family should have their own crypt here somewhere.'

Kiernan thought, and as he continued walking, he noticed a small mausoleum in the distance. It was made of white marble and had tall granite doors that were slightly ajar.

The door had Abracadabra engraved on it in elegant cursive lettering. The words basically made an upside-down crescent moon.

He slipped inside the mausoleum through the slightly ajar doors and was immediately met with a rush of cold air.

"Hmm?"

Kiernan saw his hair stand up and felt his skin begin to prickle with goosebumps.

'It's cold. Just like the afterlife.'

It was indeed the place of death, but not any ordinary death. Very powerful individuals were buried inside this mausoleum.

When he moved closer, he saw rock coffins inside the walls. Each had a name and the date of their birth and death.

'This is where the big shots of the Abracadabra family were buried. I doubt my mother would've been buried here even if she is dead, but there should be a memorial wall with all the deceased Abracadabra members.

'That's what Thegan told me, anyway.'

Before leaving the Foaming Drink Inn this morning, he conversed with Thegan, and he told him about the cemetery and the mausoleum.

He only thought that Kiernan was a curious tourist.

He reached the end of the mausoleum, and as he moved the lantern closer to the wall, he started seeing carved names on the walls.

There were so many, and all were under the layer of dust. It was really hard to make sense of any of the names.

Kiernan moved his hand down and up the wall, removing the dust as well as he could, and then started checking out the names.

'If I knew her name, this would be much easier. However, she didn't tell her name even to Karma, who she had that one-night stand with, so there's not much for me to work with, but I should know her age.

'When she met Karma, she was eighteen years old. Thus, I know her year of birth.'

He moved the lantern to the engraved words—he went through the first row, second row, third row, and fourth row—and then came across the fifth row.

A heart-sinking word appeared before his eyes.

"Camella Abracadabra died last year." Kiernan said with a deep sigh. "Was born in the same year as my mother."

Kiernan's throat tightened, and he then put the lantern down and pulled out his phone.

'There should be some pictures of her!'

He searched through the dusty parts of the internet until he found one mention of Carmella Abracadabra.

It was from Nightingale's local newspaper. It was a short mention of her death, and there was a picture of her attached to it.

In the picture, she was smiling and holding a bouquet of flowers. She was quite beautiful and looked much younger than her age.

'Is this my mother?'

Kiernan grabbed a screenshot of the picture and then sent it to his father for confirmation.

While waiting, he dropped down on the ground right beside the lantern. It seemed much colder than only moments before.

Buzz!

A message came back to him.

"…"

Kiernan let out a sigh and opened the message.

It simply said, "No."

'No…' Kiernan closed the phone and took a deep breath. 'It was not her.'

He pocketed the phone, picked up the lantern, and checked the rest of the names—Camella was the only deceased woman born in the same year as his mother.

Thus, she should still be alive.

'I don't know whether I should be relieved or not.'

Kiernan shook his head and left the cold mausoleum behind, closing the heavy granite doors with him.

…

Thump, thump, thump!

A bouncy-wheeled carriage rolled out of Nightingale City. The horses were kicking up the dirt. It was very early in the morning, so the night's cold air was still lingering.

The driver breathed out a cold breath and adjusted his grip on the reins. The black gloves that he wore were worn and weathered, but they kept his hands warm on the chilly ride.

"So, where are we going exactly?" Julian asked, shivering in his seat.

"The Game!" Kiernan said. "I don't exactly know what it is about, really, but it sounded interesting. If we reach the top 10 in the rankings, we can get a tour of the Abracadabra Castle."

"It can't be easy, though." Julian said. "The kids on this island are really good. We, as Martial Champions, must be only considered as above average at best here."

"Thankfully the martial ranks don't matter in the Game!" Kiernan said with a smile.

"Yeah, I still can't believe that." Julian said. "I haven't heard a single thing that can make one's martial rank disappear like that. The martial rank is connected to the martial soul, so that place somehow is closing up the soul."

"And something as powerful as that is being used as some kind of game." Kiernan said. "It means that whatever is causing it can't be used as a weapon."
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"Thank the Lord for that." Julian said, and then peeked out of the dusty window.

"I gotta say, I am already missing the sunlight. It feels like it is in the middle of the night even though the phone shows that it is eight in the morning."

"We're here!" The driver shouted. "You paid me extra, so I will be waiting for when you come back, but only for an hour. Any more than that, and I will be leaving!"

"Sure thing, boss!"