Martial Arts Worlds

"Oho…"

Dark Kiernan stared silently at the ceiling, blood running down his face, and then he sat back up.

"You can use Iron Smash? How come?"

He asked with a frown.

"I quickly learned it again. You may steal Iron Style from me, but you cannot steal my talent for martial arts."

Kiernan said coldly.

"Hahahaha… Good."

Dark Kiernan stood up, laughed menacingly, and whispered, 'Good,' once more under his breath.

It would be far too disappointing if Kiernan didn't put up a fight.

"Iron Smash!

"Iron Smash!"

Fist and fist collided. The muscles on their arms trembled. It ended in a draw.

Dark Kiernan lunged again, this time with brutal efficiency. He feinted an Iron Smash, then snapped an Iron Kick toward Kiernan's ribs.

The impact cracked like a branch breaking.

Kiernan staggered, gasping, vision blurring with pain. He tasted copper. Then, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

'…Reigning Fallow.'

With just a thought, Kiernan unleashed his unlimited martial arts talent and immediately relearned Reigning Fallow.

It was an immensely difficult thing to learn, but Kiernan was the greatest martial arts talent to ever come from Earth.

He pressed on with offense—he unleashed Reigning Fallow on Dark Kiernan—the fists rained down like a relentless storm.

Dark Kiernan responded with Rendering Edge. It wasn't the best choice. It was because Reigning Fallow was created to counter Rendering Edge.

He blocked one, two, and three, but the fourth slipped through, a hammering cross that snapped his head sideways.

His world tilted, as if the ground beneath him had suddenly shifted. He tried to stay on his feet but ultimately succumbed to the blow and landed on his butt on the floor.

A whipping kick came from Kiernan, but Dark Kiernan moved his head out of the way. Then he stumbled to his feet and took the defensive stance.

Kiernan's shoulder slammed into Dark's chest, driving them both into the back wall with bone-jarring force.

Dark Kiernan grunted in pain, and Kiernan pulled his head back before ramming his forehead into Dark's nose.

A sickening crack.

Blood poured freely out of his broken nose, and Dark snarled like an animal and slashed his fingers across Kiernan's face.

"Lion Scratch!"

Four long, deep cuts appeared across Kiernan's cheek, adding to the blood that was already streaming down his face.

They started grappling, their limbs tangling with each other, and then also started throwing punches at each other.

Weak, harmless blows rained down on each other until Kiernan finally landed a solid punch to the jaw.

With Dark Kiernan's eyes shaking, an opening appeared. A rare opening. And it was the best chance of the match so far!

Kiernan came forward and unleashed a brutal combination—left hook, right boss, and elbow to the temple.

All of them landed.

Dark reeled, dazed, and Kiernan finished with a spinning back kick that sent him flying into the wooden wall of the mansion.

He slid down the wall, not moving on the ground, and for a moment, the room fell silent except for the sound of their exhausted breaths.

Kiernan stood, chest heaving, every nerve on fire. He didn't lower his guard. The fight wasn't over just yet.

From the floor, Dark groaned and started to rise again with his grin stretching from ear to ear.

Flicker! Flicker! Flicker!

He started flickering, as if he was vanishing from existence, but Dark Kiernan resisted with a scream.

"No! I am not done yet! Haha, I won't fucking lose; it's not happening! I am the Devil King of Earth, the champion of the Devil Ritual!"

Kiernan listened to his speech, shook his head, and scoffed.

"Let me guess, you haven't gone to meet the organizers of the Devil Ritual just yet? You finished winning the Devil Ritual just now, right?"

"Yeah, and so?"

Dark Kiernan asked with a frown.

"They promised strength for the winner of the Devil Ritual. 100 million dollars and a chip that would make you ten times as strong!

"News flash: when I went to meet the organizers, I realized it was not as good as it sounded. That chip? A mind control device.

"They wanted to make us mindless servants to kill whoever needed killing for them. We would've lost our freedom.

"That 100 million? Fake as well. There was no money.

"In the end, we killed them all. Slaughtered them like pigs. It was perhaps the best thing that either of us ever did back on Earth.

"They were evil, dreaming of world domination. We put an end to that. No one on Earth even knew how close they were to losing their precious freedom to them."

Kiernan said with a sigh.

"…"

Dark Kiernan stayed silent, touched his throbbing headache, and said.

"No… There is no way that Devil Ritual was for nothing. I don't believe you. You're just trying to play mind games on me!"

"Haha, I sure was an unreasonable person back then. Devil Ritual really did a number on me. No worries, I will make you see the truth."

Kiernan said, and at that moment, his body started smoking—ugly black smoke—as if he were on a fire!

'…Well, how handy. It took a battle against hallucination for me to finally learn Flow State.'

With a clench of his fist, his hand cracked, and then Kiernan lunged with the smoke of Flow State following him like a fluttering cape.

Dark swung clumsily. His stamina was already waning. There wasn't much strength behind his blows.

With Void Steps and Flow State, Kiernan moved fluidly around Dark, dodging his attacks with ease.

It felt… extremely easy… even against Dark Kiernan's Iron Style techniques.

"Iron Smash!"

Kiernan whacked Dark across his face. Followed with a combination of Reigning Fallow. It forced Dark to hide behind his arms in defense, but Kiernan had already anticipated this move.

Iron Smash slipped past the guard, striking Dark in the face, and hurled his head back with an audible crack.

"Ah…"

Dark Kiernan dropped to the ground, his body flickering as he struggled to maintain his physical form, and then he vanished into thin air.

"It's back."

Kiernan breathed heavily, as he could feel that his Iron Style had returned back to his body after Dark's disappearance.

In the same moment, his cracked martial soul healed itself and peeled slightly. A layer of Martial King appeared slightly.

The members of the Martial Order thought that it would take him years for his martial soul to heal, but he already did it!

It was because he defeated the demons of his heart.