Martial Arts Worlds

"U-u-u-urgh!"

Jun coughed blood as the side of his face scratched across the rough rock wall as if it was trying to peel his skin off.

Kourosh pulled Jun's face back and slammed it into the rock wall with a sound that resembled a watermelon being dropped from a great height onto concrete.

Blank-eyed, Jun dropped down to the ground with half of his face's flesh peeled off like a ripe fruit.

He wasn't moving, his eyes were tightly shut, and blood was pooling around his head.

"The match is over—the winner is Kourosh Bahrami!"

The temple priest shouted and then waved his hand for the temple's medical team to take Jun away for treatment.

"Jun!"

Fiona cried out and ran after him while he was taken inside the temple for treatment.

Another point was added to Ghoul Dojo's point score—they were now leading two to zero.

While Ghoul Dojo was in a festive mood, a solemn air hung over Yokai Dojo's students as they were already two losses away from being out of the tournament.

None of them expected the difference in strength between two dojos to be this enormous!

While both Jun and Fiona started their fights strong, they were eventually overpowered by their opponents.

"…"

Master Arakawa looked silently at the battle sand, the gears of his thoughts inside his mind whirring as he contemplated what to do next.

He had a difficult choice to make.

They couldn't afford to lose a third match in a row, as that would make their current situation unbearable.

"The gods are yet to be pleased. They want tighter competition. Therefore, Yokai Dojo, do not disappoint the gods."

The temple priest said in a serious tone, and every student of Yokai Dojo had a chill run down their spines.

If they weren't already nervous, they were now definitely going to be, as if they lost third in a row and made the gods displeased, the consequences would be dire.

At that moment, the temple priest took out his coin and motioned for the two masters to walk over to him.

With a joyful expression, Master Sifu approached him and threw a snarky glance in Master Arakawa's direction.

"…"

Silently, Master Arakawa stopped in front of the bald-headed temple priest, who was dressed in scarlet-red and gold silks.

"Master Sifu. Your turn."

The temple priest said.

"Heads!"

Master Sifu said.

With a toss, the coin went high in the air and shortly after came straight back down onto the temple priest's open palm, showing heads.

"It is heads!"

Master Sifu smiled at the sight of the heads-turned coin and turned to Master Arakawa with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Master Arakawa. You'll choose your fighter first."

The temple priest said.

"…Very well."

Master Arakawa slowly walked back to the line of fighters, eyeing each one carefully, and thought about unleashing one of their powerhouses.

'I could go with Kiernan. When he fought me, he showed great skill and strength with composure that can only be matched by professional fighters.

'The next fight is important for the momentum shift. If we lose again, it is over, and we don't want to disappoint the gods, so winning the next one is an absolute must.

'However.

'I have Kiernan's opponent already planned, and he might be the only one that can actually defeat that person.

'I don't just want to win one match. I want to win it all.'

Master Arakawa thought to himself and looked at his granddaughter, who seemed ready to take the stage if needed.

However.

He moved his gaze away from her, looked at Dante and Gunwoo, who looked confident, but he could tell that they didn't want to fight next.

Thus, his gaze landed on the final person on the bench, and he said.

"Ren. You're up."

Looking up from the ground, Ren's eyes met his, and he nodded once before rising to his feet and walking onto the battle sand.

He slowly slid the yukata off his body, walking on his skintight trousers and shirt that hugged his lean muscles, showing every defined curve and line of his body.

It was dark blue in color, a stark contrast to the golden sand beneath his feet, and his gray hair kept falling over his piercing blue eyes.

"Is he strong?"

Kiernan asked the girl sitting next to him.

"Ren? He is a coward."

Aoi said with a wry smile.

"Coward?"

Kiernan asked with a frown.

"Ren is afraid of pain, and that's why he never bothers to spar with anyone because he doesn't want to get accidentally hit."

Dante said with a serious glance.

"Why was he chosen then?"

Kiernan asked.

"Simple. He is strong."

Gunwoo said.

"Ren is one of the most talented fighters we have ever seen, but because of his fear of pain, he never punches because he is afraid of hurting himself."

Aoi said.

"Hmm…"

Kiernan crossed his arms and wondered how this Ren fellow would fight then if he was afraid to even punch because he didn't want to hurt his fists.

Ren arrived at the center of the battle sound and took a deep breath while loosening his stiff muscles.

From Ghoul Dojo's bench, a dark blue-haired girl walked over in her sports bra and shorts that barely covered her thighs and showed her toned legs.

"Hello~"

Koa Mokana said with a smile on her face as she looked at Ren like a predator eying its prey.

She knew about Ren's fear of pain and thought that it was an easy match-up for her, but it surprised her greatly that they actually sent Ren of all people to fight in this very important round.

"Hi."

Ren replied and moved to his fighting stance of keeping his hands up defensively with his feet spread apart in a ready position.

"Third match—Koa Mokana vs. Ren Saelim!"

The temple priest shouted, and with a wave of his hand, the gong sounded, signaling the start of the match.

Koa lunged forward with a fierce battle cry and brought her fist forward in a powerful punch.

She had a simple plan—keep punching until she landed a punch, as she knew that Ren wouldn't be able to handle a single punch.

A single punch might be enough to knock Ren out cold because he truly couldn't handle any pain!