Martial Arts Worlds

In the throne room of the Black Rock castle.

Murmur~ Murmur~

The sound of murmuring voices filled the air as several hundred spectators had taken their seats around the ring.

Sitting under the throne, the seven seats of the Animal Kingdom representatives were filled—Dawn, Zacred, Alistark, Percival, Singlair, Shafira, and Arazimir had all gathered already.

On the throne, Beast King Vladimir sat like a mighty ruler, but that sight rubbed some of the human spectators the wrong way.

It was as if Beast King Vladimir was declaring himself as king of the humans as well, which he definitely wasn't.

In that moment, the sound of clapping sounded as, from over the double doors, the humanity's representatives finally walked in.

Clap~ Clap~

"You can do it!"

"Defeat these beasts!"

"For humanity!"

They took their seats at the other side of the ring—completely across from Animal Kingdom's representatives.

Beast Prince Arazimir swept his gaze across them. Uninterested. He didn't think there was any worthwhile challenge to be found in these weaklings.

At that moment, Imperius and Xerxus also entered the room and saw that Beast King Vladimir was sitting on the throne.

"How bold of him~ Does he really think he is the king of the world?"

Imperius said with a grin.

"He can hear you. With the hearing of the blood lion, nothing escapes him."

Xerxus said.

"Good…"

Imperius smirked.

Sitting on the throne, Beast King Vladimir looked uninterested in the words spoken by those beneath him.

It was as if ants were throwing insults in his direction. Why would he care? It wasn't very godlike.

While he was standing at the peak of the Immortal Stage, he'd been constantly trying to approach the Martial God Stage.

To get there, he believed that he had to shed the last bit of the mortality that he had, and thus, he'd been trying to act like a God.

What would God do? What wouldn't God do?

"…"

Kiernan shut down his ears. He turned deaf. It was because he didn't want any outside disruptions.

While he wasn't going to fight today, he had already started his preparation for whenever he was going to fight.

He was planning to put himself in a perfect martial arts state, and with that state, maybe his Iron Style would become that of the Mastered Iron Style.

The martial soul of his was on the brink of peeling off. It wasn't far away. And the soul of the Martial King was already peeking underneath.

It was so painfully close!

Humanity needed him to become Martial King.

'…If I become Martial King, fighting right away is dangerous, as it can harm my martial soul, but I have no other choice.

'I will also acquire my Martial Ability, but I wouldn't have any time to learn its use. I will just have to rely on my talent to learn it quickly.

'The good thing is that my talent is mighty!'

Kiernan took a deep breath and then took a deep dive into his subconsciousness as he started his ultimate push for Martial King.

…

The world had quieted down as everyone took their seats before the television screens and watched with nervous gazes as the countdown reached zero.

In that moment, they got their first look at the location of the tournament—the throne room of the Black Rock Island—and they saw the ring.

It was quiet in the broadcast. There was no commentator. They only heard the sound of the people in the throne room.

At that moment, they watched as the referee walked to the ring—he wore a white and black striped shirt and held a microphone in his hand.

"Words are not needed. Let the tournament begin with its first match and the only fight of today!"

The humans leaned close to their televisions, and in the Animal Kingdom, it was a pretty relaxed mood as they were all watching the same event unfold.

They thought that the tournament was already won after the humanity revealed their representatives.

It was still a historical moment, as the Animal Kingdom would finally dig their teeth into human territory and expand their own.

It was a long time coming, and since they believed themselves to be the strongest race in the world, they thought it was their right to conquer and rule over the humans.

"Bring forth your fighters!"

The referee shouted.

The humans gasped as, from humanity's side, Zeus Abracadabra stood to his feet and walked to the ring.

He was shirtless, standing in only a pair of red and gold shorts. The feet were taped up to his ankles, and his knuckles were wrapped tightly in cloth.

Zeus had also tied his shoulder-length hair into a tiny ponytail at the back of his head.

In that moment, snow started falling from the ceiling, and from Animal Kingdom's side, Dawn Pawford jumped into the ring.

She was beautiful, with porcelain-smooth skin, silver-white hair, and icy blue eyes. She was wearing a tight sports bra and shorts that showed off her superbly toned physique.

There wasn't too much muscle, but she was clearly in peak condition. It was a perfect body created for a fighter like her.

"First match—Zeus Abracadabra vs. Dawn Pawford!"

"The princess of the Snow Leopard clan…"

Victor whispered from over on humanity's side and had a twitch in his eye, as Animal Kingdom definitely didn't send their weakest first.

They could, of course, lie that Dawn Pawford was their weakest, as one couldn't prove otherwise, but she definitely wasn't.

It wasn't far-fetched to say that she might be closer to Martial King than any other Martial Grandmaster in Animal Kingdom's ranks!

It was just their way of showing their dominance over humanity immediately and crushing their spirit.

"It's cold…"

Zeus touched the falling snowflakes, and they were icy cold to the touch. It was as if they were taken straight out of a freezer.

"Are the two of you ready?!"

The referee asked with a shout.

He was selected as the referee since he was half-human and half-animalkin. Thus, he had Animalistic Instinct of danger sense.

He could tell that whenever someone's life was going to be in danger, so he was a pretty perfect referee for this occasion.

"Yes!"

Dawn said.

"I am."

Zeus said calmly.

"FIGHT!"