Martial Arts Worlds

Chapter 3 Martial Soul

"Good job, Jonathan!"

"You're the best!"

"Thanks for the support." Jonathan smiled at his cheering fans, then picked up his bag and slowly wiped the sweat off his brows.

At that moment, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

His friends, who had finished their own matches, came to give their congratulations.

"I am surprised that your opponent didn't die, honestly!" One of his friends laughed. "He took quite a bad fall."

Jonathan shrugged his shoulders. He didn't have much of recollection of him. It was easy victory for him anyway.

"A lucky bastard, that's all." His friends smirked. "Anyway, our school is doing far better than theirs. Five of us reached the quarterfinals, while only three of theirs."

"Hmm." Jonathan moved the bag over his shoulder and said, "The quarterfinals are tomorrow, so I am off to get some rest."

"Rest? Let's visit the new restaurant that just opened down the street instead!"

Jonathan checked out the time on his phone and sighed before nodding in agreement.

With that, they left the stadium with smiles on their faces and headed towards the new restaurant.

As they walked down a sidewalk with the sun shining above them, a small pebble, barely the size of a coin, flew from the alley and hit Jonathan on the back of his head.

"The fuck?" Jonathan touched the back of his head with a grim look and turned to the alleyway.

There, he saw a white-uniformed young man leaning against a brick wall, tossing a pebble in his hand. The alleyway was dirty, with a putrid smell of trash lingering in the air.

"Did you toss this?" Jonathan asked while picking up the pebble from the ground, anger flashing past his eyes.

"Hey, Jonathan, that outfit..." His friend paused. "It is the outfit of Karuza High."

"Hmph." Jonathan tossed the pebble away and entered the alleyway with his friends.

"I did, so what?" At that moment, Kiernan turned his head towards the young men, revealing his bandaged face.

"Oh, it is you." Jonathan frowned and scoffed. "Did you not get enough beating in the arena? Do you want to die? Is that it?"

"I am... taking revenge." Kiernan smiled and dropped the pebble to the ground. "Revenge for Kiernan and for me."

At the current moment, Kiernan was at the "Unranked" level. It was for those who hadn't awakened Martial Soul yet.

Kai in front of him had reached the middle stage of the Martial Recruit rank. It was a level above Unranked.

Since he had awakened his Martial Soul, he had become much more powerful and faster. Those who were Unranked were at a significant disadvantage compared to those who had awakened their Martial Souls.

"Interesting, this world just became much bigger." Kiernan said with a chuckle.

His arms were already bruising after getting punched by Kai. However, it didn't seem like it even affected him. Kiernan looked steady as he faced Kai, as if the pain didn't affect him.

"You can handle pain well, I suppose." Kai grinned as he hopped around like a boxer, then he moved to a jabbing stance, as if he were about to rain Kiernan with punches.

"Martial Soul, huh?" Kiernan touched his chest and closed his eyes.

Something strange was happening inside him.

At the depths of his soul, he could feel a power awakening.

His soul peeled like an apple, revealing a bright, glowing orb inside. It was the Martial Soul!

Kiernan opened his eyes, and his gray eyes were glowing with an otherworldly light.

"Ahh~ I feel strength flowing inside me."

Kai's eyes widened in shock. "T-that's impossible; he just awakened Martial Soul?!"

"That wasn't too hard." Kiernan grinned and reeled in his arm as if he were about to throw a punch. "Let's see the limit of my current body!"

"Iron Style, Iron Smash!"

The punch landed on Kai's face. Kai was sent flying back, blood spurting from his nose and mouth.

Kai flew past shocked Jonathan and eventually fell to the ground—his eyes had rolled back into his skull. He was bleeding from his nose and mouth, and his face had a massive fist imprint on it.

"Ow..." Kiernan looked at his fist and saw that four of his fingers were broken. "My Iron Style sure is powerful. Even this Martial Soul couldn't handle the burden."

Ding, ding!

At that moment, a strange sound echoed in Kiernan's ears. It sounded like a church's bell ringing. However, there didn't seem to be any churches near enough to produce such a sound.

[Requirements for the System have been achieved!]

"What is this?" Kiernan's eyes widened in shock as strange text appeared in front of him.