Martial Arts Worlds-Chapter 869: Master of Martial Arts

"Ptui!"

Kiernan spat on the ground.

He suddenly had flashbacks of his time back on Earth—during the Golden Age of the Underworld—and the Devil Ritual.

He was back at Karuza High—and Mercedes Rosburg was standing in front of him, who was another Earthling just like him.

'The days of the Golden Age of Underworld ended with me. When I killed Johan and those scientists, the underworld crumbled.

'I had no idea just how much the underworld relied on them, but that's fine. I am happy that the underworld collapsed.

'I spent the next five decades honing my martial arts. To reach the peak. I failed, but my journey continued here.

'I don't need any special abilities. No special powers. I am Kiernan Hunter, the master of Iron Style, and there is nothing else I need!'

Kiernan took an Iron Style stance and roared loudly—his roar echoed throughout the air and across New Rakuya.

"You're outmatched. I am stronger. I have greater Martial Ability. And I cannot be killed. There is nothing you can do."

Mercedes said coldly.

"Haah…"

Kiernan took a deep breath, and he suddenly extended two of his fingers, and pointed them towards the sky.

"Lightning Bolt!"

He ordered.

In that moment, the skies thundered, and out of nowhere, dark clouds stretched across the previously blue skies.

'Why are you listening to him?!'

Mercedes screamed inwardly.

For some reason, the World was living to Kiernan's commands.

In that moment. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Lightning pierced through the dark clouds and came crashing down on Kiernan, but he suddenly caught it with his fingers.

He controlled the lightning as if he were a god and then thrust his left hand's fingers towards Mercedes' direction.

"Lightning Rox!"

A bolt of lightning shot out, and Mercedes blocked it with her hand, and the lightning bolt barely did any damage.

There really wasn't any damage.

"Worthless."

Mercedes said.

"Lightning Flash!"

Kiernan ran through Mercedes—he turned into a lightning bolt himself—and then reappeared behind Mercedes.

Thump!

In that moment, the impact of a punch appeared on Mercedes' stomach, as if she got punched, but she didn't act like it hurt.

"Those attacks won't hurt me."

Mercedes said coldly and turned around to look at Kiernan.

"Firefoot."

Kiernan started walking, and at that moment, hundreds of afterimages appeared because of the dizzying afterimage.

"Hmph!"

Mercedes turned into millions of bullets and flew through every afterimage—but none of them were real, and none of them disappeared.

It was like she just went through a bunch of ghosts.

"Huh?"

Mercedes turned back to her human self.

"Reversal Taekwondo!"

In that moment.

The real Kiernan appeared behind her, and three of his afterimages appeared around her—each of them was kicking her towards the head.

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

All three afterimages kicked her—and all three felt like real kicks—Mercedes' head spun from the impact.

She felt that kick.

"Reigning Fallow!"

Then.

Kiernan rained punches at her, and she saw stars as she tried to block and dodge his fists—but it wasn't possible.

Each punch was different from the rest, and they kept hitting her like a relentless storm.

"ENOUGH!"

Mercedes touched Kiernan's head, planning to crush it in her hand, but then his whole body turned slippery.

"Water Skin!"

Her hand slipped off, and then, Kiernan turned into a "sea creature" because he didn't look human anymore but was instead in a liquid form.

"Sea Fall…"

He tackled Mercedes, wrapped his liquidy arms around her back, and then lifted her up before slamming her down to the ground.

The attacks just kept landing.

'Keep it going! We are close!'

Bael cheered him on.

"ARGH!"

Mercedes kicked him off, and Kiernan flipped around in the air before landing safely back on the ground.

In that moment, Mercedes jumped back to her feet and attacked her with blood rushing into her eyes—turning them red.

Kiernan dropped into a horse stance, and he punched forward.

"Straight Impact!"

The punch's impact traversed across the air and landed at Mercedes in the chest, but she didn't stop moving—she kept approaching him.

"Hook Impact!"

In that moment, his hook punch landed at her chin, and her head got snapped backwards with a sickening crack.

"Crash Impact!"

Kiernan punched at her, and this punch sent Mercedes flying backwards, and she smashed through the school building in the distance.

"RAAAAAAAH!"

Mercedes jumped through the ceiling and appeared high in the air, and this time around, she transformed into a meteor.

A fiery, flaming meteor that scorched everything around her—even the smallest rain droplets—and turned the sky a bright orange.

She came crashing down.

"Iron Smash Breaker!"

Kiernan's fist slammed into the meteor, and the two forces clashed, sending shockwaves rippling through the ground.

The nearby windows shattered. The grass peeled off. The trees got uprooted and flew off into the distance.

CRACK!

The meteor cracked and exploded—it turned back to Mercedes—she was bleeding from the head.

"Urgh!"

Mercedes' face was bloody and ugly.

"You're not a martial artist. You're nothing but an ability user. You will never beat the master of martial arts."

Kiernan said coldly.

"Shut the… hell up!"

Mercedes yelled, and she turned her right hand into a cannon and pressed it against Kiernan's face.

"DIE!"

She fired the cannon—it was a cannon that could destroy even the stars in outer space—but against Kiernan…

"IRON SMASH!"

Kiernan punched his fist inside the cannon, and as the cannon fired, the force of the blast ricocheted back and obliterated the cannon.

BOOOOM!

"AAAAHHHHHH!"

Mercedes flew backwards with a burned arm—it was black and ashy from the cannon's explosion—she looked to be in a horrified condition.

Swoosh!

In that moment.

Kiernan kicked at the air, kicking him forward, and he appeared high in the air—right above Mercedes.

He had his arms crossed.

"Mastered Iron Style…"

"Star Kicks!"

He kicked down, and while he was nowhere close to Mercedes to kick her directly, the force of his kicks still traversed through the air.

And they landed at Mercedes.

She got kicked back to the ground, and the whole ground shook with a massive crater in the shape of her body.

BOOM!

Kiernan crashed into the ground in front of him, and as Mercedes painfully rose back to her feet, he slowly approached her.

"ARGH!"

Mercedes swung her fist at him, but he used "God's Edge" and then thrust his spearhand into her solar plexus.

STAB!

The hand went through her like a knife through butter.

"Argh!"

Mercedes gritted her teeth.

"Iron Bell!"

Kiernan headbutted her directly in the nose, and he only heard "crunch" as her skull shattered—she coughed blood.

"Iron Kick!"

His kick connected with her ribs, cracking them on impact.

"NOOOOO!"

Mercedes, with a pathetic last attempt, punched at him, but Kiernan caught it and twisted it—a crack sounded as he broke her wrist.

Her hand pathetically dangled from her arm, limp and useless.

This was the pinnacle of Martial Arts!

There was no one equal!

This was Kiernan Hunter's full power as a martial arts master, and there was nobody equal to him in any realm.

In any existence.

Nobody was anywhere close to him when it came to martial arts skills anymore!

When Mercedes became as strong as she was currently, she completely abandoned martial arts because she thought it was worthless.

It was just kicking and punching in her opinion. It would be worthless against gods and demons because there was no way they would die with kicks and punches.

Thus.

She abandoned martial arts and fully focused on her Martial Abilities instead—which also impacted her martial soul.

However.

She had found out that as long as she sacrificed enough people, she could still keep her martial soul strong enough.

It was an artificial way of making sure that her martial soul wouldn't shell itself.

Now.

She realized her mistake, as she never imagined that martial arts could be so powerful.

'We can do it now!'

Bael shouted.

In that moment, Kiernan grabbed Mercedes's face and pressed his forehead against hers—she teared up.

"P-please… don't… mercy… I-I'll be a good girl from now on… so… please don't… please… please…"

She pleaded.

"Hmph!"

Kiernan's eyes widened.

In that moment.

A presence left his body through his forehead and entered Mercedes' body through her forehead.

She looked stunned, and she stopped moving altogether.

"…"

Kiernan let go of her, stepped away, and watched as Mercedes fell to the ground, and she seemed to be struggling inside.

"Get out… out… Get… Out…"

Mercedes whispered.

In that moment, she stopped moving altogether and even stopped breathing as if she had just died.

Her eyes closed.

The time slowly ticked down, and then, her eyes opened again, but they seemed different this time around.

"Oww…"

She said, looked at her badly injured body, and groaned in pain as she slowly stood back up.

"You really did a number on her, Kiernan…"

Bael—who had taken control of Mercedes' body—said.

"Is she gone?"

Kiernan asked.

"She is. I destroyed her consciousness. She was in a very weak state already, so it wasn't all that hard."

Bael said, and she looked at her body and felt quite weird since it was a female body—a rather attractive one at that.

Bael was a male demon… Well, demons didn't really have genders, but he had a male body… So it was a rather nice change of pace to have a female body for once.

"It's over, huh…"

Kiernan collapsed to the ground in exhaustion and looked to the distance at the setting sun—it was hard to believe that it was all over.

[Bzz… You have defeated another System User!]

[Congratulations!]

[You have been promoted to Primordial Rank!]

[Buzz… Buzz… Buzz…]

[Congratulations!]

[You have been promoted to Absolute Rank!]