Martial Arts Worlds

Chapter 46 Ryan vs. Kornelius

"I am sorry, guys..." Nath scratched the back of his head, ashamed of his poor performance.

"You did your best." Jin patted his shoulder and asked, "Need some ice?"

"I am fine." Nath sat down and poured water on his head to cool himself down.

While others were occupied by the next match that was about to start, Nath slammed himself in the head a couple of times and repeated:

"Damn it... Damn it."

...

"Whew, haha." Gray Ashworth let out a few chuckles of relief. "It looked dicey in the middle, but in the end, the match ended as expected."

"Hmm, oh..." Muriel looked over to the ring and turned disappointed. "It is not his turn yet, huh..."

"Oh, that must be Ryan Lee." A man with dark hair said. "I heard he is a Natural Fighter."

"Oh?" Gray voiced, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. "Like Johan?"

"Yeah, this might be an interesting matchup."

...

Ryan stepped up to the stage with a cold look on his face. Each step felt more suffocating as Kornelius' intense aura was locked in him.

'What a monster...' Ryan clicked his tongue. 'If I had only ranked up, I could win.'

The more despair he felt, the tougher the bottleneck became. However, he couldn't help but feel despair and frustration at himself.

The elderly referee looked at the two and said, "Second match, Ryan Lee vs. Kornelius Ashworth. Are both fighters ready?"

"Always." Kornelius hopped on his feet with a confident look.

After making it through the first match, he was feeling less pressure on his shoulders. It made his body feel lighter and more agile than it did in the first match.

"I am." Ryan responded and moved to a very forward stance, with his arms lined up in front of him and his body leaning forward.

"Fight!" The referee swung his arm down and escaped from the ring.

"Ashworth Family Style..." Like before, Kornelius planned to go straight on offense.

However, he was slower than his opponent.

Ryan's leg muscles tightened a little bit, and he accelerated forward with crazy speed.

Kornelius abandoned his attack and punched widely, but Ryan slid under his arm and jabbed him in the ribs. Pow. Pow. Pow.

"Oh!" Jin exclaimed. 'I thought he was going to use Super Acceleration straight away, but instead, he used only a small fraction of that speed so that he wouldn't ruin his legs before the fight even began.'

"Tch..." Kornelius backed off with a bruised waist and clicked his tongue. 'He is fast.'

Ryan stopped moving, turned around ninety degrees to face Kornelius, and again charged forward. The ground under him cracked with the force of his speed, sending bits of tile flying into the air.

'That movement...' Kornelius frowned. 'He can only run in a straight line?'

A kick landed on his collarbone—the collarbone shattered instantly—then his body fell down on one knee, struggling to remain conscious as excruciating pain shot through his body.

"Aaaargh!" Kornelius screamed so loudly that foam poured out of his mouth. It was the worst pain he had ever felt.

Ryan landed back on the ground with a fatigued face. His legs were shaking uncontrollably, as that move had taken everything out of him.

"Yes!" Supporters from Karuza High erupted in cheers.

'He played him!' Jin thought with a grin. 'Ryan wanted Kornelius to think that he can only run on a straight line so that his Super Jump has a greater chance to succeed!'

Inside Ryan, his soul showed signs of peeling at an amazing rate. It only needed one final push.

...

In the VIP Room.

"Grandson!" Gray cried out with a pale face.

"So that's Natural Fighter." The man with dark hair whistled. "What a tremendous natural athleticism."

"The fight's over." Muriel said with a smile. "Neither one of them can continue fighting. It would be foolish because there are more matches to come. I guess it will finally be his turn~"

...

The coach of Raimei High used his hand to comb back his hair and sighed.

"We'll need him well-rested for tomorrow..." He grabbed a towel from the bench and threw it on the ring.

As soon as the towel landed on the ring, the referee blew a whistle.

"The second match is over, winner Ryan Lee!"

"W-what?!" Kornelius screamed while holding his left arm. "I haven't lost yet!"

"Kornelius, it is fine." The coach said with a sigh. "I know you can beat your opponent even with one arm, but we'll need you tomorrow at your full strength."

'Tomorrow, huh?' Jin shook his head. 'They're not even considering us a threat...'

"Damn it!" Kornelius screamed, threw one look of hate in Ryan's direction, and left the ring.

Ryan breathed out loudly and grabbed his trembling knees.

"You too, Ryan..." Jin said. "Your job is done; excellent job."

"Oh..." Ryan nodded with a sigh and slowly limped off the ring. He then exchanged high-fives with others before getting seated on the bench.

"Ryan Lee has surrendered!" The referee shouted. "Bring your next fighters!"

All the eyes on Karuza High's bench landed on Kiernan. Their hopes landed on his shoulders.

Kiernan took one final sip of the water, then stood up and high-fived with others before going up the stairs to the ring.

On the opposite side of him, a dark blue-haired young man with tattoos filling his arms was waiting for him with a grin on his face.

"The third match—Kiernan Hunter vs. Kalen Lightning!"