Martial Arts Worlds

"?!?!?!"

Kiernan looked at them in shock and then turned back to the hallway—the bodies were gone!

"Like I said, my word is law in this ship—and I made it so that no one is allowed to die on my ship."

MacJesus said with a laugh and lit up a cigar before putting it between his lips and taking a mouthful of smoke.

"If I could, I wouldn't care if you all just killed each other and stayed dead—but these pussy-ass governments think that killing the younger generation is bad, blah blah.

"Therefore, this is the alternative."

He said.

Kiernan looked at the newly resurrected people before him and felt quite awkward, especially since he was the last survivor.

'Arin must feel even more awkward. Since he killed Kairo and Malika, after all.'

However, after thinking that, they just kept looking around confusingly and didn't seem to know what was going on.

"What is going on? Who is this?"

Malika looked to Kiernan with a frown, then her eyes opened wide, and she asked.

"Now that five of us are here, does that mean Zero Event will start? Why are we outside? Weren't we inside just a moment ago?"

She yapped around, but Kiernan realized that she and the others had lost their memories for some reason.

'Is it because they died?'

Kiernan thought to himself.

"My word is law—only Kiernan is able to hear me."

MacJesus said, took a puff of the cigar, and then said.

"They can't hear me now, but since they died, they lost the memories of the Zero Event. I can't let anyone remember what happened in this event, you know.

"There will be an outcry of complaints if they went and told anyone that they were forced to fight to the death.

"It doesn't matter if they didn't actually die; it would still be an extremely bad look for the Junior Martial Arts Championship."

MacJesus said.

"Does that mean I will also lose my memories?"

Kiernan asked.

"When you step out of the ship, you will. Your memories will be replaced with fake ones, where you just battled the other four and came out victorious."

MacJesus said.

At that moment, the other pirates explained to the other four that the Zero Event had come to an end, and they happened to lose.

"What? That's bullshit! How can't I remember anything then?"

Kairo cried out.

"Y-yeah, what the hell is this, huh?"

Malika asked.

"I lost?"

Arin asked with a stunned look and stood there in disbelief.

"…Sigh."

Ishikawa leaned back, closed his eyes, and thought that his family would be greatly disappointed.

They were extremely happy that he was able to enter the Junior Martial Arts Championship, but in the end, he wasn't even able to reach the main event.

…

Martial World, Lagitech Country.

The sky was a dark shade of purple, and the dark clouds were swirling ominously overhead, but it just happened to be a common sight here.

Down at the ground, within a city with soot-covered buildings, dirty windows, pitched roofs, and smoking chimneys.

"Mamama~ Lalala~ Merry Melodies~"

With twirling skirts, the purple-dressed women danced down the cobblestone-covered streets, and when the song left their mouths, everyone's souls responded.

Sitting on balconies, on the roofs, and in the windows, the people of the city listened and felt their spirits lifted by the enchanting melody.

They even felt their martial souls responded with unpeeling, and a couple of them outright advanced to the new martial realm!

"Souls o' yeah~ Mortality o' yeah~ Immortality o' yeah!"

Swoosh~ Swoosh~

At that moment, the eyes of the people turned to the dark clouds, and they saw a pigeon-fronted flying ship cut through the dark clouds like a knife.

The large stone pigeon at the front of the ship seemed to be guiding the way, its eyes glowing with an otherworldly light.

At that moment, the anchor of the ship dropped down, hanging from a linked chain, and it came crashing down on the city.

Before it could land, just some normal person on the street jumped towards the chain, stopped it with their bare hands, and helped it to carefully land on the ground.

The anchor, this time around, didn't destroy anything.

"We've come to pick up Lagitech's representative for the Junior Martial Arts Championship!"

A voice came from the ship that was loud enough for it to travel across the entire city.

"…"

Looking out of a window of an ordinary-looking two-story house, a lightly tanned young man stared at the ship.

He had deep, steely brown eyes and stood quite tall, just a little bit shy of two meters, and had an athletic build—the kind honed not in gyms but in years of real combat.

The posture was straight, and he wore a simple dark-fitted t-shirt, combat pants, and a hooded jacket that seemed to be tailored to fit perfectly.

"Brother!"

A beautiful girl appeared in his doorway, walked next to her brother, and looked at the ship with a nervous gaze.

"Y-you're leaving."

She looked at her brother, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Why are you crying, Aera? I'll be back before you even know it. This is what I have been after all this time."

Seo Donghae said, patted the head of his little sister, and then picked up his backpack before rushing downstairs.

The rest of his family was waiting for him there, and they just nodded at him briefly.

They knew that the expectations on the shoulders of Seo were immense—so immense that the weight of the rest of the world couldn't match it.

After all, Seo was the representative of Lagitech—a powerhouse country that had been ranked among the strongest in the world.

It was a tier 1 country!

Seo stepped out of the door and then jumped into the air, flying through the air while the city folk below followed him with eyes of expectation.

Failure as Lagitech's representative was not an option.

After climbing up the chain to the ship, Seo landed on the deck and looked at the ship's crew.

They put their hands on their chest and bowed respectfully to him—it was a way different reaction than most other representatives get.

"Welcome on board, Seo Donghae. We're honored to take you to God Island."

The captain of the ship said.

"I am alone here?"

Seo asked.

"Yes—the representatives of the tier 1 countries don't have to go through the mundane task of the Zero Event. You all would win easily, either way."