Martial Arts Worlds

"Special event… This late?"

Kiernan stood up from the bed, put his clothes back on, and checked the time on the phone, which made him grimace slightly.

He planned to get some good night's sleep, but it seemed like that would have to wait.

As he put his hand on the door handle, planning to head out, he sensed something behind him.

He turned around with a frown on his face and saw a flickering man standing in his room—looking like a ghostly apparition.

A few seconds later, the flickering figure turned into a solid man, and it was Dark Kiernan in the flesh with a wicked grin on his face.

He was wearing the ragged clothes, damp with blood, as if he had just recently stepped out of the pit of the Devil Ritual as victor.

"Where do you think you're going? You think I am going to let you embarrass us further? You're sharing my name, after all."

Dark Kiernan said with a scoff.

"…You sure are annoying. How are you going to stop me? You're not real; I am just hallucinating you."

Kiernan said.

"Car Crash!"

Dark Kiernan tackled at him like a freight train and sent him flying through the door and into the wall behind that.

Young men in the hallway jumped in shock and turned back to his room, thinking that someone attacked him, but didn't see anyone.

"Who attacked you?"

"What the hell? Did you smash through the door by yourself? You know that you could've just turned the door handle and opened it, right?"

Kiernan wiped the blood off his lips, ignored the young men, and looked at the grinning Dark Kiernan, who was clearly invisible to everyone else.

'…How did he attack me? It shouldn't be real, so why…'

Seeing that grin, Kiernan also smiled and used Void Step—he disappeared—and appeared far away in the hallway.

The only skill of Iron Style that he could use—Void Step—was that that was his original technique and not of Dark Kiernan's!

Thus, he couldn't steal it!

However, then Dark Kiernan appeared right in front of him and hurled his fist straight at him.

Kiernan couldn't stop himself in time, and thus, the fist landed squarely in his face, and he ragdolled through the air before crashing to the ground in a heap of pain.

"Argh…"

His face was bloody, and the people close to them gasped in shock at the confusing scene before them.

They didn't see how Kiernan got hurt, as if he was fighting a ghost or invisible force.

"You must be thinking—I can't do anything without Iron Style. Please give it back! Womp, womp, womp!"

Dark Kiernan lifted Kiernan up off the ground, which made people watching scream in shock, and then hurled him through the wall.

Smashing through tables, chairs, and other furniture, Kiernan eventually came to a stop when his back crashed against the back wall.

"Ugh… What the hell am I doing?"

Kiernan stood back up and, with a bloody gaze, watched as the Dark Kiernan trotted through the broken wall with a smile on his face.

"Come on, bring it on. If you beat me, I'll give the Iron Style back. What do you say? It will be your last chance~"

Dark Kiernan said.

With a scream, Kiernan advanced forward, hopping on his heels, and swung his fists at Dark Kiernan.

"Rendering Edge!"

Behind Dark Kiernan, a mighty black fortress stood up from the ground, and his hands chopped on Kiernan's fists, deflecting them like a blade parrying another blade.

All of Kiernan's punches got smacked off the air, and he finally felt the same as all of his opponents beforehand when they came face-to-face with Rendering Edge.

"Iron Smash!"

Dark Kiernan's punch came fast. Kiernan slipped his head to the side, feeling the rush of wind as the fist grazed his ear.

Kiernan answered with a front kick, but it got deflected with the elbow of the Rendering Edge, and then Dark Kiernan swung again, this time a heavy hook.

Kiernan caught it on his forearm, feeling his bones rattle, and lifted his knee towards Dark Kiernan's groin, but he crossed his legs.

"Iron Bastion!"

Dark Kiernan dropped low, swept Kiernan's legs out from under him, and then spun and brought his fist down towards Kiernan's face.

Kiernan crossed his arms. Iron Smash landed on his arms. It made him crash into the floorboards under the force of the blow.

"Urgh!"

With a cough of saliva, Kiernan whipped his leg from the down stance, and Dark Kiernan blocked it with the side of his forearm.

With a flip, Kiernan got back to his feet, backed away, and put his arms up in a defensive position, but he knew Iron Style better than anyone.

His guard wasn't going to last if Dark Kiernan was going to use Reigning Fallow.

"Reigning Fallow!"

Dark Kiernan immediately answered with Reigning Fallow. It was what Kiernan expected. However, there was nothing he could do.

He made himself small, hid his face behind his guard, and suffered under the heavy blows of Reigning Fallow.

Smack! Thwack! Smack! Thwack!

Flesh against flesh.

Kiernan's arms turned red and bloody. It didn't sound like flesh hitting flesh anymore. Instead, it sounded like a hammer was landing against bone.

"Can't you land a single blow on me, huh!"

Dark Kiernan asked with a grin, swinging his fists in rapid succession, and rained them on the guard.

Hiding behind the guard, Kiernan's eyes turned a deep shade of red, and he reached his hand forward and grabbed Dark Kiernan by the collar.

"…"

Dark Kiernan kneed him in the chest, but despite Kiernan coughing blood, he didn't let go and instead reeled back his left fist.

"Aaargh!"

Kiernan whacked him across his face, and Dark Kiernan staggered back, looking like he was slightly reeling from the blow.

"Hmm~"

Dark Kiernan touched his swollen cheek and scoffed with a smile.

"Is that all—"

He said, but then stopped, as Kiernan pulled back his right fist, and that stance looked eerily familiar.

"Huh?"

"Iron Smash!"

Kiernan threw a devastating punch towards Dark Kiernan's face and sent him flying across the air.

SMACK! CRASH!