Martial Arts Worlds

While Gardner was interrogating Drago, Kiernan went to sit on his wooden log and saw few flashes of light.

A few of the students took a picture of him and started sending it across the school pages. The news about his victory over Drago already started to make rounds on the internet.

"How did you improve your time by twenty minutes?" Julian sat next to him and asked. "I know I can improve by another ten minutes, but I have no idea where I am losing most of my time."

"There are few ways of saving time, it seems." Kiernan said. "Like, you can completely avoid fighting the stone golems, and then at the third challenge, don't let the chains grab you."

"Really?" Julian looked surprised.

"That's not exactly true."

A voice came from behind them.

They turned around and saw the cold-faced student return.

"Didn't you leave?" Kiernan asked. "Why return so soon?"

"I received a message that something interesting was happening." He showed his phone. "So I came back to watch."

"What do you mean about not being true?" Julian asked.

"Sure, you don't have to fight the stone golems." He said. "However, it is faster to defeat them."

"What the hell? How?" Julian frowned.

"There is a time penalty if you decide to not fight the stone golems. There are four stone golems, with a one-minute time penalty each."

"Oh!" Kiernan exclaimed. "Since this was just a race, and time didn't matter, Drago just decided to ignore the stone golems. I see."

"However, for some, skipping stone golems is faster." The cold-faced student said. "It will be faster to fight them only if you can defeat all the stone golems in under four minutes."

"Which is really hard," Kiernan said.

"Yes, very hard."

"Those top times must be able to defeat those stone golems instantly." Julian said. "Kiernan, if you manage to defeat all the stone golems instantly, your time would have been around 6 minutes and 30 seconds."

"That would be an amazing time if I can defeat them instantly. It's not easy, but I believe there are some areas in which I can do better, like the climbing. Drago started kicking me, so we both lost like five to ten seconds with that shit."

"You do have potential for top ten time, but stop the dreams about Zeus' time. He is a monster."

'Yes, this is nothing but a dream if I am not able to defeat those stone golems instantly, which is hard. Last time it took me like six minutes to defeat them.

'However, there is one challenge that I am able to do faster than anyone else—the fourth challenge!

'I can use Water Walking on it, and it will probably save me close to thirty seconds. Thus, I think the record is within my grasp. I'll need to find a way to defeat those stone golems quickly!'

"Alright!"

Gardner clapped his hands.

"It's time for the last race!"

"Good luck!" Julian said. "Be careful of this dude—he's a fast runner!"

Kiernan stood up and walked to the cave entrance, the eyes of everyone following him closely.

When he reached the cave entrance, Gardner arrived next to him, rubbing his neck.

Gardner just finished interrogating Drago and heard something ridiculous—he said that Kiernan was able to run on water.

'Maybe the shock of losing fried his brain. Running on water? I haven't heard of anyone being able to do that!'

Fae came between them and whispered into Gardner's ear.

"If you lose, we're breaking up. I am not going to date someone who is going to be remembered as the guy who stood naked in front of the whole school."

"Ouch?" Gardner scoffed. "You're so cold. What is with your lack of faith? It pisses me off. Of course I am going to win!"

"We'll see." Fae said. "You two ready?"

"Yeah!" Gardner shouted.

"I am," Kiernan said.

"Set…" Fae narrowed her eyes. "Go!"

Kiernan bolted off, but at his very first step, Gardner put his leg out to trip him, causing him to fall flat on his face.

"Everything is fair!" Gardner laughed and sprinted off into the cave.

"Shit…" Kiernan exploded off the ground and chased after him with a cold look.

Gardner easily reached the first challenge first. He jumped, grabbed the holds, and started climbing expertly.

He was clearly a better climber than Drago, and he looked like he was a master climber.

He was part of the school's climbing club and had even done some climbing in Nightingale's misty mountains, where most don't even dare to go because they're afraid of death.

Compared to Drago, the biggest time save already happened in the first challenge.

Kiernan climbed after him, but he noticed that Gardner was much faster, and he was already halfway through it while Kiernan was barely beginning to climb.

'With such speed, there is no way that Julian could've kept up with him, so Gardner was intentionally going slower against him so he could kick him off.

'What an evil scumbag.'

Gardner jumped the gap between holds, easily made it, and with that speed, he quickly reached the top.

Tauntingly, he turned to look down and said, "Why so slow? Is this the best you can do?"

Kiernan pushed himself to his limits and moved across the holds with greater strength. He fell into Gardner's trap. He wanted to anger Kiernan so he would start rushing the climbing and then fall because of a mistake.

However.

Kiernan jumped the gap between holds, made it, and soon reached the top of the climbing wall.

Even though he started rushing it, he didn't make a mistake that Gardner would've wanted to see.

Kiernan started running towards the second challenge, and when he reached it, he noticed that Gardner had already cleared it.

The stone golems were standing straight on his path.

"Argh!"

Kiernan pushed his leg muscles to their extreme limits, bolted past the stone golems, and continued on his way to catch up with Gardner.

The stone golems only saw a glimpse of him before he was already gone.