Martial Arts Worlds

Zeus tasted the copper in his mouth, and his ears were ringing like a church bell on a Sunday morning.

He couldn't hear the countdown being said but saw the referee's mouth opening and closing as if he was saying something.

'…Shit.'

He groaned painfully and slowly stood back up, but there was a stumble in his step, and he almost fell back down.

"9!"

The referee said, and then stopped after Zeus stood back up. He took a quick glance at his eyes. They looked slightly unfocused.

"You alright?"

The referee asked with a frown.

Zeus shook his head, trying to get rid of the ringing, but failed to do so, and then he spat out the blood from his mouth.

He saw that the referee was saying something to him, but since he couldn't hear him, he just pushed him aside.

"Get off the ring. I am not done just yet!"

Zeus made his way to the Snow Leopard princess. His fist broke the space between them in a straight line.

Dawn blocked it with her hand. It was like she was catching some falling apples. She then whipped her leg in a crescent arc.

Impact rattled Zeus' ribs. They turned purple and blue from the force. He staggered back, wincing in pain.

It was one-sided. It reminded them all of their days of youth when they also fought someone vastly more powerful than them.

Everyone has had that experience in their lives.

"…"

Zeus swallowed the pain of his injuries and reminisced about his youth.

Whenever he was young enough to throw a punch, he had always fought people stronger than him, as he came from a strong Abracadabra family.

He always cried to his mother, Nevaeh, about how he was always losing and getting beat up.

It happened for years until he grew numb to the feeling of frustration, and he eventually found a way to defeat stronger foes.

"Hahaha…"

Zeus grinned.

…

World Seas, Nightingale, Abracadabra Castle.

It wasn't looking good, and the faces of the Abracadabra family reflected that as they stayed silent in their seats, staring at the television.

'…Zeus never really cared about learning Abracadabra style. He just relied on his insane talent to overpower all of his opponents.'

Messiah thought with a twitching eyebrow.

It annoyed him, as he himself had mastered the Abracadabra style, and even still, people debated to this day who would win between them.

With his talent alone, Zeus was a frightening opponent. He hadn't shown everything to Dawn yet, and he'd been saving his strength.

It was something that he hadn't shown anyone really. However, he did show it to Messiah once. And it just wasn't fair.

'…Zeus is the greatest talent of this family. The world is not ready for what they are about to witness.'

…

World Seas, Black Rock, the throne room.

"…Why are you laughing? You don't think that you have any chance at victory, now do you?"

Dawn asked, walking a circle around the ring, and Zeus did the same, moving slowly counterclockwise.

"Did you know that there are chosen children of the heavens that are gifted with talent so great that their bodies cannot handle it, hmm?"

Zeus asked with a smile.

"Huh?"

Dawn frowned cutely.

"They are known as the Heavenly Hosts. That talent is so great that it would be overwhelming for a mortal to bear. It would disfigure their bodies and consume their minds."

Zeus said with a deep sigh.

"It's not like those with godly physiques that some people are born with. My cousin, Cash, has the Titan's Physique, but that is not Heavenly Host."

He rotated his shoulders, his muscles rippling and bulging with power, and then in his back, a mark of the heavens appeared.

It wasn't there just a moment ago. It was a symbol of an angel's wing, glowing with an otherworldly light.

"I am Heavenly Host, and I was born with so much talent that I was overwhelmed by it, and I was going to die. I weighed like 10 kilograms as a baby.

"In the end, that talent was sealed away. That talent is far too much for a mortal to bear, so even if I wanted to have that talent, I would've died.

"I learned to control it, and I've only learned to unleash one percent of the sealed talent. Wanna see?"

Zeus asked with a smile, and then his veins ran up his arm, up his neck, and into his face, crackling with blue electricity.

"Hahaha!"

The muscles turned hard as rock. They turned bigger, but the flesh around those muscles looked odd, as if there were worms squirming under the skin.

"Haaaaah!"

Zeus spread his arms wide, and a surge of aura swept through the throne room like a wild storm, which knocked the spectators off their feet.

"…What is this?"

Beast King Vladimir's eyes widened slightly more. He was pretty much ignoring the match so far, as it didn't really interest him.

He expected that Dawn was going to win at any moment, but now, for the first time, his interest got piqued.

"Ah?"

Dawn gasped as he sensed that Zeus Abracadabra's martial rank was rising. It went from Low Stage all the way to High Stage.

High Stage Martial Grandmaster!

Thump!

With a stomp, Zeus appeared before Dawn. He towered over her as he was standing about three meters tall now.

"What do you think now, little miss?"

Zeus' voice had also grown deeper. It sounded menacing.

"What the hell is this?!"

Victor exclaimed, and every agent of humanity also looked utterly baffled, as Zeus never told them that he could do something like this.

"He can increase his strength with his will? If we had known, we wouldn't have sent him first!"

With the powerful aura waking him up, Kiernan opened his eyes and looked at the broad back of Zeus with a deep frown.

'…This is his absolute limit. If he releases even a little bit more, he will explode like a balloon. Heavenly Host, huh? A mortal body can't handle that.

'Only God's body can…'