Martial Arts Worlds-Chapter 854: Strongest - Part 1

"…Some people are just destined to survive, I guess. It's like they have a guardian angel watching over them."

Kiernan mumbled to himself.

It made him remember certain things about his life back on Earth, where even he felt like he had a guardian angel.

Swoosh~!

Mercedes suddenly appeared in front of him and whipped her leg across his face with a lightning-fast kick.

With a bloody mouth, Kiernan smashed through the school building but came to a stop by the lockers, and slowly, he rose back up.

'Fight back, Kiernan!'

Bael shouted.

"Yeah, yeah… I am just getting warmed up."

Kiernan walked through the broken glass door and cracked his knuckles loudly.

"Change the temperature."

Mercedes snapped her fingers, and out of nowhere, the temperature around the school turned subzero.

"…"

Kiernan felt his blood turn cold, and he felt like he had been thrown back into space—it was extremely cold.

Yet.

That coldness didn't affect Mercedes.

'Why is the world listening to her words? I know it doesn't want to listen. But it is forced to listen for some reason.'

Kiernan thought to himself.

At that moment.

Mercedes came forward with another kick, and this time around, Kiernan blocked it with a cross block.

CRACK—the ground shattered under them.

Her fists came as fast as bullets—but much more deadly—and landed with a deafening thud against his crossed arms.

"…"

Kiernan felt the pain shoot through his arms, but he refused to show it on his face and instead tightened the clench of his fists.

She punched again, but this time, Kiernan parried it with a quick slap.

"God's Edge!"

"You should've already learned that you cannot parry my attacks. You'll only harm yourself, as you've already witnessed with your bleeding knuckles."

Mercedes said with a smirk.

She kept punching repeatedly, and Kiernan kept parrying with increasing speed—smack~smack~ smack~.

'Do something!'

Bael's words kept echoing inside his mind.

"…"

Kiernan stayed quiet.

In that moment, Mercedes' fist came fast like a lightning bolt—completely taking him by surprise—and landed a solid hit to his jaw.

Kiernan got smashed into the ground—the pavement cracking under him—and he felt like everything was spinning around him.

'Ah…'

He reached his hand towards his throbbing jaw, feeling the warm, sticky sensation of blood beginning to pool in his mouth.

'When did I become so reliant on Martial Abilities… special techniques… and such… I wasn't like this back then… The days of the Devil's Ritual.'

…

Earth, the Golden Age of the Underworld, many years ago.

"…This is the location."

With a backpack slung over his shoulder, a man—who was maybe in his late twenties or early thirties—looked at the stone steps in front of him.

The stone steps seemed to be leading towards an abandoned temple hidden deep within the forest.

"Not eerie at all. Not to mention that the tournament's name is Devil's Ritual. Well, this is the underworld we're talking about."

Kiernan scoffed.

With his head held high, he walked up the stone steps.

Meanwhile, without him noticing, there were cameras propped up in the nearby trees—recording every move he made.

…

Inside a command center.

"Who is this?"

A glasses-wearing scientist asked.

He was one of the organizers of the Devil's Ritual and also one of the designers of the "chip" that was one of the rewards for the tournament winner.

In front of him, a man typed on the keyboard, and the man's whole recorded history was displayed on the screen.

"Kiernan Hunter. It looks like he has been traveling all around the world seeking a proper challenge.

"He is the man who slaughtered his way through the Dead Man's Battlefield and single-handedly defeated the notorious Black Dragon in a duel."

The man said.

"Oh? That's the new invitee? Black Dragon was supposed to take part in the Devil's Ritual, but since Kiernan defeated him, he took his spot instead."

The glasses-wearing scientist said.

"Shall we prepare the gas?"

The man asked.

"Do that, and inform the task force to head over there immediately. I have a feeling that this one won't go down that easily."

…

Kiernan entered the temple.

It was dark, dusty, and filled with an eerie silence.

"Hey, is everyone here?"

He asked loudly.

There was no answer, and only his own voice echoed back to him.

Creak~ Creak~ Creak~

In that moment, he heard something that resembled metal wheels rolling across the ground—but that sound was coming from behind the walls.

"What?"

In that moment, all exits were blocked by a steel barriers.

"Iron Smash!"

Kiernan punched at the steel barrier and dented it, but it stood strong, and he only hurt his own fist in the process.

"What the fuck is this? Hey, come on. I am here for that fucking tournament. What the hell is this about?!"

He screamed loudly as he was certain that there must be someone that was listening to him currently.

At that moment.

Some sleeping gas started pouring into the room, and he immediately started to feel very drowsy.

'Sleeping… gas… Damn it…'

Kiernan ripped a part of his shirt and covered his mouth and nose, but it didn't do much good, and he soon dropped to the ground.

The sleeping gas lingered in the room for a couple more minutes before the ventilation system kicked in and sucked it out.

Creak~ Creak~ Creak~

The steel barriers rose back up.

And at that moment, several people entered the temple—wearing gas masks—and saw the sleeping Kiernan.

"I'll carry him out to the location. You check his backpack."

Marx said.

With nods, a couple of his men reached out towards Kiernan, but in that moment, his eyes shot wide open.

"He is still awak—"

They were about to scream, but then Kiernan grabbed them and ripped them apart as if he were a violent beast.

"Iron Style, Ripper!"

With a bloodthirsty look, Kiernan looked at all of them with a sinister grin.

"Incapacitate him!"

Marx shouted.

The rest of the men charged straight at Kiernan with wooden batons.

With his iron-hard hand, Kiernan sliced through the wooden batons and then chopped the heads of the men.

"Ahhh!"

"Shit, bring him down!"

They kept attacking, but they felt like they were facing an actual beast, and Kiernan kept shredding through them as if they were paper.

They managed to land a couple of hits on him, but he only shrugged them off and kept slaying them.

However.

'Shit… The sleeping gas is still in my system…'

Kiernan's vision started to blur, and everyone in the room started to look like there were two of them.

"You can't even defeat a half-unconscious man? You all are pathetic. The strongest task force, what a joke."

Marx kicked Kiernan across the room, and he slammed into the wall, and that was finally enough to finally knock him out.

There were many corpses on the ground around them.

They were the members of the infamous Black Legion—thought of as one of the strongest military forces on the planet—but they died like flies just now.

Marx then picked Kiernan up and slung him over his shoulder.

"Clean this mess up. Check his belongings as well. Then rendezvous at the designated area. This one should be the last one for tonight."

Marx said.

They nodded and started getting rid of the corpses and all the blood while making sure that the temple seemed like nobody had ever been here before.

…

"Argh…"

With a killer headache, Kiernan woke up from his slumber, which felt like an eternity at this point.

"…What the hell?"

"…Where the hell are we?"

He wasn't the only one waking up, as about a hundred other people also started to wake up from their long slumber.

'There are others?'

Kiernan sat up with his eyes open and looked around the dark place—there were definitely people around—it was just hard to tell anybody apart because of the bad lighting.

"What the hell was with that sleeping gas, huh? This is some bullshit. I want to get the hell out of this place!"

"Where are we even?!"

"How long have I been asleep? What day is it!"

They screamed, wanting answers.

'They were also knocked out with the sleeping gas? Is this the place then? The Devil's Ritual? If that's the case, is everyone here my opponent?'

Kiernan asked with a frown.

Swoosh~.

In that moment.

A massive screen flickered on. It cast light across the large room. Which also made everyone squint their eyes.

At that moment.

A man appeared on the screen. Looking like a scientist with his glasses, lab coat, and neatly combed hair.

"Welcome everyone to the Devil's Ritual—a tournament designated to crown the strongest man on Earth—a once-in-a-lifetime opponent for all of you!"

The man shouted with a smile.

"Why the hell did you knock us out? Couldn't we have just signed up like normal people?"

"Once I get my hands on you four-eyes, you're dead for using sleeping gas on me. I have a fucking headache because of you!"

"YEAH!"

With a smile, the man just listened to the rowdy group of martial artists, and his smile kept just getting bigger.

"Thank you for your patience—the reward for the winner of the Devil's Ritual is 100 million in American Dollars and the Chip, which'll make you ten times as strong.

"Essentially making you the world's first superhuman, and winning this tournament doesn't only mean that you are indeed the strongest… but also that you'll be EVEN stronger!"

That silenced everyone, as this was the first time that they'd heard about the cash prize—they had known about the Chip beforehand.

"100 million?!"

"I am going to be rich, hahahah!"