"Welcome to our palace, Wang Jin."
The giant wall-like doors to the temple-palace opened, and Wang Jin was left to feast on the sight that was the sparring room.
Wang Jin didn't know who the architects were who drew its measurements nor the builders who laid its foundations, but he wanted to thank the people who made the sparring room this beautiful… and so close to the entrance at that!
"That look on your face reminds me of Maher's when he first entered this place." The master remarked with a grin.
"I didn't look like that, did I?" Maher questioned, baffled at the expression Wang Jin was making.
"You sure did." Even the green haired Guardian chimed in.
The sparring room was a neatly walled room bigger than even the Academy's Personal Training Halls. Walls of concrete painted a beautiful peach lined the various training dummies and punching bags that hung on the walls.
In the middle of the room, there was a large space that was raised slightly, separating it from the rest of the carpet floors. Currently, the arena in the middle was empty, almost as if it was waiting for Wang Jin's arrival.
"There it is. Head on up there, you two." He gestured to Wang Jin and Maher.
The latter nodded and headed up the arena without a word. Maher, too, was eager to see how Wang Jin would fare in a fight against him.
Wang Jin slowly made his way there too. But before he climbed the arena, he turned to the master.
"Hey, old man. I'm not makimg a deal with a person who's name I don't even know. What's your name?"
"Haru Kinako."
A name all too familiar, if it were to have been heard by Dignitas. But even then, Wang Jin still understood the meaning of that last name.
"Kinako… you're The Crimson Maiden's grandfather!? And a girlish name, at that!"
"Father, you damn brat. I'm not that old. And Haru's not a girlish name, you hear? Say that again, and I'll whoop your behind back to wherever you came from."
"Heheh, totally a girl name." Maher snickered.
"Haha, girl name!" Wang Jin repeated, somehow not feeling terrified by the master.
"Enough! Get inside the arena, before I kick you in there myself!" Haru shouted.
Obeying his orders, Wang Jin finally got inside the arena with the still-laughing Maher.
"I forgot to ask. What's your name, grass hair?"
"Lev. Lev Artem."
"Cool. Alright, I'm ready!"
"If you both are done, then get into your respective stances. The moment I say it, the battle will start."
"Ready or not, here goes! Fight." Haru commanded.
Wang Jin knew the sheer difference between him and Maher. That was why he did not charge in like he normally would've against other opponents.
Instead this time, Wang Jin calmly waited for Maher to make the first move. From there on, he would react accordingly.
"Not gonna move? Fine, I'll move."
In an instant, Maher disappeared from his position, leaving a mirage. A second later, he reappeared in front of Wang Jin, and sent a flurry of one-handed punches at his opponent.
Despite using only one hand to attack, Wang Jin could see that at the rate he punched, there was basically no difference between him if he were to use two hands and If Maher were to stay using one.
Just from this alone, Wang Jin was already struggling to keep up.
"This is nowhere near the fighting expertise you displayed back in the alley. Show us more, Wang Jin." Maher jabbed.
"Oh, I'll show you more, alright!"
Visibily riled up from Maher's remark, Wang Jin fused Iron Style with Asmodeus in the blink of an eye and used it to force his opponent back.
He didn't need to use his strength to win the advantage, the burning sensation mixed with the toughness of his iron clad fists was able to somewhat damage Maher's own.
He didn't just end there, though. Boosting himself with speed, Wang Jin moved forward in small bursts, similar to how Victor Hassan moved.
Not using his speed to directly blitz to Maher was a smart move. It allowed Wang Jin to retain a good bit of his maneuverability and reflexes, instead of leaving himself open to attack.
Maher's foresight was leaps and bounds better than Dignitas' as well. Within just a few seconds, he was able to recognize the most likely path Wang Jin would travel in.
"Right… here."
Using this prediction, Maher readied his fist, before leaping into the air and smashing onto the arena below.
Boom! The resulting slam echoed throughout the arena, leaving a few cracks in the floor. Maher looked around, and noticed Wang Jin, who had just about saved himself from getting caught in the initial radius.
"That was wonderful. I'm sure you would've been caught in that." Maher's eyes widened in surprise.
"Heh, I'm not that easy to take down." Wang Jin stood up, before wiping the dust off his clothes.
"I think it's time for me to use a few of my own techniques."
Suddenly, Wang Jin's palm stretched out. This was the motion of… the first edition technique, the Ultimate Karate Chop. His hand began to imitate that of a blade's edge, long and sharp.
With his newly learned move stowed and ready, Wang Jin once again charged forward. Thanks to this, his attack power had no increased, and his hand would prove to be deadly, even against Maher.
"That looks dangerous. Guess I should get a bit serious, too." Maher thought.
Looks like Maher's definition of getting serious was different than the norm. While Wang Jin had decided to use the first technique of the Jin Body Edition, Maher on the other hand, had chosen to bring out his other fist.
The two met in the middle of the arena in a flash. Wang Jin's outstretched palm stood surprisingly… unmoving against Maher's own fists.
Wang Jin moved first, attempting to throw a sweep with his leg. This was easily leapt over by Maher, who used the momentum from jumping to do a backflip and reposition himself.
As Maher was landing, Wang Jin lead his palm in front of him, planning to slice in a wide arc where his opponent would eventually land.
But as being a Guardian wasn't enough measure of his power, Maher had to rub it in Wang Jin's face. In his view, it looked as if the Guardian had defied the laws of physics and stayed suspended in the air for a split second.
During this split second, Maher had pushed both his fists in front of him, blocking the momentum of Wang Jin's slash and stopping him from even swinging.
He landed shortly after, and began his own counterattack on Wang Jin, not giving the martial artist time to rest nor react to the phenomenon that had just unfolded in front of him.
In a hurry, Wang Jin activated a stronger version of Asmodeus on his arms, hoping to use it lessen the amount of time Maher was on him.
But unfortunately for him, Maher had already designed a way to exploit his defense.
Tightening his fist into a ball, he aimed to spend the least amount of time needed to land hits on Wang Jin.
This new move, coupled with his abnormal speed, allowed Maher to unleash an arsenal of attacks on Wang Jin while at the same time, minimizing how much he was in contact with his opponent.
Realizing this wasn't going well, Wang Jin knew he had to bring out the last option he had.
"Take this, Maher! See if you can handle my new technique!" He exclaimed.
That sudden outburst had caught Maher off guard for a split second, but he paid it no heed, believing he would be able to end this before Wang Jin could fend him back.
He was wrong. Wang Jin merely needed to remove his hand from that outstretched position and ball it into a fist.
Just as Maher was about to land a finishing blow, Wang Jin infused all of his strength into his fist, and blew it open.
"The second technique of Jin Body Edition: Iron Gun."
At that very same moment, a wave of energy burst from his fist, catching Maher off guard.
In Wang Jin's eyes, he had successfully caught Maher off guard. Believing the power of Iron Gun would be enough to wound Maher considerably, he succumbed to his fate of being knocked out from his opponent's fist.
That is, it would've hit if Maher wasn't who he was. It was fast, sure. Unpredictable, indeed. Powerful? Surprisingly. But Maher, being a speedster, was narrowly able to dodge out of the way.
The projectile launched from Iron Gun left a nasty mark on his side, but it wasn't at all lethal.
Wang Jin soon dropped to the floor, unconscious. Meanwhile, Maher clutched his side in pain, but still smiling at how his opponent was able to damage him.
"I like him. We'll train him." Haru said.