Martial Arts Worlds

"We pray to the Land Martial God!"

"We pray to the Sky Martial God!"

"We pray to the Sea Martial God!"

With the sky turning dark, the echoes of the prayers reverberated throughout the temple grounds.

Eyes closed, hands clasped in front of them, and mouths moving, the hundreds of students continued to chant their prayers in unison.

They had been doing it for close to an hour already, and they were starting to get thirsty, with some of them even starting to lose their voice.

"…"

Kiernan mouthed the prayers only, without actually saying them out loud, and Aoi noticed it, having to suppress her giggles.

At that moment, the sun hid behind the horizon, and the sky turned pitch dark. When that happened, everyone stopped praying, and the gong of the temple rang out once.

"Praying shall stop! The martial gods of the sky, land, and sea are welcoming us into their home, and with that done, we shall entertain them with the tournament of the dojos!"

The temple priest lifted his hands in a grand gesture, signaling the start of the tournament, and then lanterns came to life, casting a warm glow over the crowd of eager participants.

The four masters of the dojo stepped forward and approached the temple priest in the middle of the battle sand.

"The four dojos."

The temple priest slipped four pieces of paper into four balls that could be opened from the top and then tossed them into the air.

SPURT!

Through his waist, two arms sprouted out in a grotesque manner, and with his four arms, he snatched the balls from the air.

He quickly shifted them around with his arms in a mesmerizing display of dexterity and skill. It happened so fast that all they could see was a blur of movement.

At that moment, he covered the balls with his hands, each arm holding one ball, and in one swift motion, he pointed them towards the four masters.

"The winner and loser of the last martial arts festival will choose two balls. The match-ups will be decided by the balls they choose."

The temple priest said.

"Understood."

Master Sifu said with a nod.

"…"

Master Raju nodded once and reached out to the rightmost ball and held it in his hand.

With a side gaze, he saw Master Sifu taking the leftmost ball and immediately took the one next to it.

With only one ball remaining, the temple priest tossed it over to Master Raju, and he grabbed it from the air.

"Master Sifu, you have the first match-up in your hands. Master Raju, you have the second one. Please, reveal one name."

The temple priest said.

They removed the top off one of the balls, picked up the piece of paper from inside, and showed it to the temple priest.

"Master Sifu has chosen Ghoul Dojo!"

The temple priest said.

"Master Raju has chosen Kitsune Dojo!"

The temple priest snatched the pieces of the papers from their hands, tossed them to the board, and nailed them to the wall for everyone to see.

"Reveal the opponents!"

He then said.

Master Raju and Sifu removed the ball's top, took their pieces of paper out, and then showed them to the temple priest.

With everyone waiting in anticipation, the temple priest shouted.

"Master Sifu has chosen Yokai Dojo!"

"Master Raju has chosen Wraith Dojo!"

With that, the two match-ups were decided, and the temple priest nailed those pieces of paper into the wall as well.

Ghoul Dojo vs. Yokai Dojo!

Kitsune Dojo vs. Wraith Dojo!

"We are facing last year's champions. Couldn't be a harder opponent."

Aoi said with a serious look, but in the end, it didn't matter as they all were after one thing, and that was victory.

If they couldn't defeat Ghoul Dojo, what would be the point?

Master Arakawa returned with a stern look on his face and then looked at his seven fighters before saying.

"We're fighting first. Gather your thoughts, and prepare. It will start shortly with the coin flip."

"Yes, master!"

Master Arakawa looked at the two lovers at the front, saw their rings on their fingers, and said.

"Aoi, Kiernan. You can't have jewelry during the fights, so you must put those rings away."

"Oh, right…"

Aoi looked at the ring on her finger, tenderly kissing it before slipping it off, and wondered where she would put it.

She didn't want to lose it no matter what.

"I can place the ring in a safe place. I'll hand it back to you later."

Kiernan said while also taking off his ring.

"Okay!"

Aoi smiled with trust, gave him her ring, and kissed him on the cheek, which made the other students awkwardly gaze in the other direction.

Kiernan slipped the rings into the yukata's pocket, but he actually just sent them straight to his inventory, as it was the safest place possible.

"Master Arakawa! Master Sifu!"

The temple priest shouted.

After being called, they walked over to the temple priest and saw him holding one coin in one of his hands.

It had two sides—the heads side and the tails side.

"Whoever loses the coin flip will choose their fighter first. As defending champions, Ghoul Dojo shall choose the side first."

"Heads."

Master Sifu said and twirled his mustache with a serious look on his face.

The temple priest tossed the coin in the air, and it kept spinning until it landed on his palm, revealing tails.

"It is tails—Ghoul Dojo will choose their fighter first."

The temple priest said and slipped the coin back into his pocket.

With a nod, Master Sifu returned back to his students while Master Arakawa waited for him to choose their fighter first before making his decision.

A short while later, Master Sifu shouted.

"I will choose Pema Dorji as our first fighter!"

The timid-looking girl stood up, let the yukata drop down to the ground, and revealed her fight getup underneath.

She donned a sleek black bodysuit that hugged against her toned body, showing off her years of intense training.

"We will choose Fiona McBribe!"

Master Arakawa announced.

With a nervous nod, Fiona stood up and slid the yukata off her body. She wore black shorts and a matching tank top.

The two girls stepped into the battle sand, gazing directly into each other's eyes, and the temple priest stepped aside.