Martial Arts Worlds

Chapter 42 Kiernan's Grappling

Kiernan and Andre positioned themselves on different sides of the ring.

Rashmi and Shanta raised their heads from their slumped states. They failed to do anything for their team, but if someone could help them win this, it would be Andre.

Seisen High School had been a very mediocre school for a very long time. They occasionally had Martial Fighters, but this year had been exceptionally poor.

They would usually have at least one Martial Fighter and one at the peak of Martial Soldier—in rare cases, two Martial Fighters—now only one and two at the Middle Stage Martial Soldier.

It was poor representation by them. However, they were still hopeful. It was because they believed in Andre's skills.

They expected the first match to be a walk in the park for them. It turned out to be unexpectedly difficult.

"The third match—Andre Mathieu versus Kiernan Hunter!" The referee looked at the two, then nodded and swung his arm down. "Fight!"

Kiernan stepped forward and twisted his waist as if he were about to punch, but Andre quickly tackled straight at his legs and took him straight down to the ground.

Without any warning, Andre mounted on Kiernan's chest and pinned one of his arms down, then began to rain down blows on his face.

Kiernan, with his teeth gritted shut, blocked the punches as best as he could. In the mounted position, he couldn't possibly use his Rendering Edge.

"This is not good!" Jin cried out with an ugly expression.

He warned them not to engage Andre in grappling—it was destined to end in loss—what's worse that Andre already finished his preparations to end the match—he was in his famous mounted position.

Rashmi and Shanta cheered him on. Seisen's coach let out a small smile.

Andre couldn't get one good hit in. He was throwing punches with his left, but Kiernan managed to parry every single one with his right arm—his left arm was still pinned down by Andre.

"Is that all?" Andre asked arrogantly and kept hammering his fist down. "I thought you would be better than that!"

"Watch what you're wishing for." Kiernan said and suddenly bumped his hips up, throwing Andre off balance.

Immediately, Kiernan pulled back his pinned down arm and put Andre into a triangle chokehold with his legs. His legs wrapped around Andre's neck like a pair of snakes.

"Ngh!" Andre quickly placed one of his arms beside his head to stop the completion of the triangle chokehold. It worked, as he was still able to breathe.

"Tch." Kiernan clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Rah!" Andre slowly lifted Kiernan off the ground, slammed him back to the ground, and then tried stomping his head. But Kiernan quickly let go of the triangle chokehold and rolled out of the way.

The hand was clearly injured, but not to the extent that it was broken!

After reaching Martial Fighter, Kiernan tested a few of his skills and realized that he could use a few more now. The strongest skills were still out of the question, but he could use Iron Smash a few times before his hand broke.

Andre hopped around like a boxer and then rushed in. He wasn't feeling that confident anymore. He already got defeated in his strongest area, and from what he had heard from his coach, Kiernan should be a striker.

'I'll just need to exhaust him. It is much harder to grapple when exhausted!'

Andre reached the striking distance and then threw a series of quick jabs and crosses.

Kiernan didn't even use his Rendering Edge and simply parried the punches away with his rock-solid defense. It was as effective as ever.

Andre lowered his center of gravity and then kicked from low, but his kick soon turned into a high roundhouse kick.

Kiernan shot his hand forward and grabbed the leg—he didn't use his hand to grab it—he only used his fingers that looked like a claw.

"Iron Style, Iron Fingers." His fingers squeezed into the leg with tremendous strength. He could break the leg with his fingers if he wanted to.

It was almost like his fingers were—like the name suggested—made out of iron!

"Shit!" Andre cried out in pain.

The members of Seisen High School paled significantly. They could feel their hope dwindle at visible speed. Even their ace, Andre Mathieu, didn't seem to be a match for this unknown fighter!

"Iron Style, Anatomical Bind." Kiernan, with his fingers, controlled Andre's movements like a puppeteer and forced him down on his knees.

Andre unwillingly submitted to Kiernan's techniques and fell down on his knees.

At that moment, Kiernan clenched his right hand into a fist—however, his middle finger curled up into a hook—and then he punched Andre three times in the face—once in the forehead, once in the nose, and finally at the jaw.

"Iron Style, Triple Point Strike."

Andre's eyes rolled back to his skull, and he collapsed on the ground like a pile of folded laundry.

"The match is over!" The referee jumped to the ring with his arm raised high. "Winner, Kiernan Hunter! The winner is Karuza High!"

With that, the first match ended in dominant fashion.

Karuza High's supporters and members jumped from their seats and screamed one name in their cheers—Kiernan.