"Yawn…" Kiernan walked down the hallway with a bag slung over his shoulder.
Nath and Ryan also looked tired. They just left the infirmary and were immediately hit by a wave of exhaustion.
None of them seemed to have the energy to celebrate today that much.
Jin walked ahead and saw the exit door that led outside.
"Are you ready?" He asked.
"Yep." Ryan and Nath replied.
Klaus and Timothy gulped fearfully.
"Ready for what?" Kiernan asked with a raised eyebrow.
"For this," Jin said, pushing open the door.
Immediately, loud cheers entered their cheers, along with the sound of celebration and music. Karuza High's supporters immediately swarmed them in excitement.
It was extremely packed, but Jin pushed through the excited crowd without hesitation while his students followed right behind.
Kiernan let out a surprised whistle. He couldn't even walk straight without bumping shoulders with the crowd.
At that moment, a young kid barely managed to squeeze through the crowd with a notebook and pencil in hand. He tried to ask for autographs, but most didn't notice him and continued to push through the crowd.
"You want an autograph, kid?" Kiernan noticed him and asked curiously.
"A-ah, yes, please!" The little kid's face beamed up, and he offered the notebook.
"What's your name?" Kiernan asked as he took the notebook and the pen.
"Kiernan, we gotta go." Klaus said with a fearful look as he saw the crowd grow thicker. "We'll get trapped in this crowd if we don't go soon."
"A moment," Kiernan said.
"Jack!" The little kid replied.
Kiernan wrote something in the notebook, added Jack's name, and then finished it with his autograph. He then gave it back to the little kid.
"There ya go." Kiernan said and was about to move on.
"W-wait!" Jack quickly shouted and asked, "W-what martial arts you used?"
"Oh, it's Iron Style." Kiernan raised a single finger, aiming it towards the sky. "It is the strongest martial art."
"Strongest…" Jack whispered.
After that, Kiernan followed others from Karuza High and eventually reached their transport. Once they were all in, the car's engine roared back to life and drove off Irio High's grounds.
…
The sky over Irio turned orange as the sun began to set, casting a warm glow over the darkening streets of the city.
In Hunter's residence, Kiernan and Karma finished up the dinner and began cleaning up the dishes together using the sink that overlooked the backyard garden.
"I forgot to mention, uh, our coach planned us a training trip." Kiernan said.
During the dinner, he spoke mostly about the tournament and the nationals. Therefore, he forgot about that completely.
"To Tiamut, correct?" Karma asked.
"Oh, you knew?" Kiernan asked in surprise.
"Of course." Karma said and put some of the drenched plates in the cabinet before turning back to Kiernan. "Jin sent the parents a message about it. He needed our permit."
"Oh, I see. Well, did you?"
"I did," Karma said and pulled out a few tickets from his backpocket. "We also received tickets to the nationals."
"Oh, you're coming to watch?" Kiernan asked with a smile.
"I will." Karma said and then his smile turned sour. "However, these tickets only cover Karuza High's matches. So, to get the most out of the nationals, you better get far!"
"I'll try," Kiernan said with a wry smile. "How hard are nationals compared to the representation matches?"
"How hard…" Karma shrugged his shoulders. "It changes year after year."
"There will be 256 schools competing, and each one is aiming for the victory." Karma said with a sigh. "Of course, it won't be easy."
"Interesting." Kiernan said with a smile.
A short while later, they finished the dishes and moved over to the living room—there, the television showed a foreign martial arts tournament taking place.
It was completely different from the representation match's venue and atmosphere—the stadium looked like it could host over 100 thousand people at once, and the atmosphere was electrifying.
Right at the center of the arena, there was an enormous ring—it was hard to call it a ring because it was almost like a miniature town—with buildings and streets surrounding it.
The arena for the match was unlike anything Kiernan had seen before.
However, even though the arena was immensely big, the two fighters blitzed through the streets with incredible speed, and after each attack, the buildings toppled over as if they were made out of paper.
Their strength was scary—almost like they were gods or something.
Flashes of light surrounded the area as one of the fighters shot beams of pure light from his hands. The other fighter swung his sword made out of light with such force that it created shockwaves strong enough to shatter windows from miles away.
"Are weapons allowed in these high level tournaments?" Kiernan asked while he and his father sat on the couch, watching the intense fight on television.
"Man-made weapons aren't." Karma said. "That light sword is that person's Martial Ability."
"Martial Ability?" Kiernan asked, curious about it. It looked like there were still a lot of things he didn't know.
"After reaching a certain level, one acquires their Martial Ability." Karma said. "Those abilities belong to five classes—Physical, Kinetra, Mindbreaker, Conjuration and Special.
"That beam ability is Kinetra—that class allows one to release energy from their body. The most common use is to release some kind of projectile or beam. There're also different types of Kinetra abilities like ability to use fire, lightning, or ice manipulation."
"That sword ability is Conjuration—Weapon Conjuration to be more precise—and that is allowed in tournaments as it is part of a person's Martial Ability. Conjuration includes the ability to summon weapons or creatures from another world, apparently.
"Physical ability allows one to have enhancements to their bodies or objects. It is the most common type of ability and often involves enhancing strength, speed, or endurance."
"Mindbreaker is the opposite of physical—it allows the user to manipulate the mind and thoughts of others, as well as have psychic abilities such as telekinesis or telepathy.
"They can also create hallucinations, illusions, and mind control."
"What about Special?" Kiernan asked.
"Special abilities are unique powers that do not belong in any other category. It's obviously the rarest one to have."
"Did you ever receive your Martial Ability?" Kiernan asked.
"No…" Karma's mood had a sudden dip, but he then quickly brushed it off and forced a smile. "I reached High Stage of Martial Grandmaster at my prime."
"How high is that in the rankings?" Kiernan asked and scratched the back of his head. "I really need to check out the ranks."
"The ranks, from what we know, are—Recruit, Soldier, Fighter, Champion, Master, Grandmaster, King, Legend and Emperor.
"From what I've heard, there are people in the world that have gone beyond Emperor."
"So, if one reaches Martial King, one receives their Martial Ability?" Kiernan asked.
"That's right." Karma nodded. "It is said that once a person advances to Martial King, they're no longer humans—they've ascended to a whole new realm."
"Mm…" Kiernan nodded thoughtfully, absorbing this new information. He then noticed that the fight had ended on television—the weapon summoner won—and apparently advanced to WMAC.
"What is WMAC?" Kiernan asked.
"World Martial Arts Championships." Karma said and checked the calendar. "It is supposed to happen soon. A few weeks after the nationals. It is where the world's strongest martial artists go to duel it out."
"World Martial Arts Championships…" Kiernan repeated, excitement building in his voice. "So, the one who wins is the strongest?"