Martial Arts Worlds-Chapter 266: City of Miners

"We should go."

Coach Jin said, and they headed towards their locker room, but when they walked past the ring, Zachary's enraged gaze followed Kiernan like a hawk stalking its prey.

"It looks like you have a fan."

Julian said as he eyed Zachary with a cold gaze. He could still feel the coldness of his knife on his cheek.

Yet, it had only been a few months since their encounter, and Zachary had become a… monster.

'Dude's using something. It is illegal, though, isn't it?'

"…"

Kiernan looked at Zachary only briefly before turning his gaze away and following their coach out of the arena.

After finding their way back to their locker room, they found a place to sit and watched the rest of the fights through the television screen.

It didn't take long for all the fights to end.

"The social media is going crazy."

This chapter is updat𝓮d by freēnovelkiss.com.

Dominic said as he scrolled through his phone.

[GetAJob: The fights were crazy, but… didn't that Montclair High fighter go too far?]

[Ambitionz: Yeah… how can anyone defeat him though? He looks like a human monster]

[vanillaeater: That's Zachary Lokiah. He's been ranked as one of the strongest fighters this year, and I've seen a few fights of his, but he wasn't like this]

[LordBullet: He has bulging muscles, and his eyes are filled with a killer instinct that I've never seen before. I thought that lunatic was going to kill his opponents! Heck, he might have. We don't know yet!]

"What're they saying?"

Julia asked with a soft voice.

"About Zachary. It looks like he made the biggest impression on everyone watching."

Dominic said.

"Damn it! It was my debut, but it was overshadowed by that muscle monster!"

Julian groaned loudly with disappointment.

"Is there anything about us?"

Jonathan asked curiously. He wondered whether anyone was talking about his performance.

"Mostly from Irio's citizens. I don't see too much, though."

"Alright, put that phone away."

Coach Jin said with a wry smile.

"It was just the first round. Let's focus on the next match."

Hearing his coach's words, Dominic nodded and stuffed his phone deep into his bag before turning his attention back on the screen.

Their next matchup would be announced shortly.

"Yo."

Sabbath sat next to Kiernan and leaned close to his ear to whisper.

"Watch out for that Zachary kid. I don't quite know what happened to him, but it can't be natural. It looks like he is playing with powers that he doesn't quite understand."

"His body is destroyed. The balance is all over the place. It looks like he'll be a cripple by the time he turns twenty."

Kiernan said with a calm expression.

It wasn't hard for him to tell that something was very wrong with Zachary.

"Yeah, he destroyed his future, but for this nationals, he'll be a force to be reckoned with. A muscle monster that won't get hurt by your punches. A muscle monster that can knock you out with one punch."

Sabbath said seriously.

"I won't let his punches land then."

Kiernan said and cracked his fingers one by one.

"Heh."

Sabbath smirked, patted him on the right shoulder, and then stood up.

"I won't be with you guys for the next few fights. I am quite curious about this Alabaster guy. If someone can get their hands on such powerful drugs, it must be him.

"It looks like he has some nefarious intentions here, as he is willing to destroy one young man's life for whatever purpose he is serving."

Kiernan nodded in agreement, his suspicions growing by the minute. Sabbath then left the locker room.

"Where is he going?"

Coach Jin asked with a raised eyebrow.

"He'll be back by tonight. Don't fret about him. Is the next match known yet?"

Kiernan asked, as he hadn't paid attention to the television screen.

"Not quite yet. They're going through the round of 128 matches now. Our opponent should be known soon enough."

The television showed the following round's matches. In the first round, 128 schools were eliminated. It was over half. A lot of dreams were crushed.

Tiamut High's match appeared on television. It was against Jupiter High, a pretty mediocre school, but they had previous success of reaching the round of 16 about ten years ago.

Then Kurogami High's match showed. It was against Orion High, a decent school, but they had much weaker representation than previous years.

And at last, Karuza High appeared on the screen.

Their opponents were Zvezda High. A very strange team. In their first-ever nationals, they reached the semifinals and then fell off like a meteor.

Since then, they had never reached the round of 16 in any nationals. Hard stuck as a middle-tier team.

"I haven't heard much about them. I know about their heroic run in their first-ever nationals, but it seems like they haven't been able to replicate that success since then."

Coach Jin said and quickly checked their previous results. Last year they lost in the round of 128, and it looked like they were en route to mimic that same performance this year.

…

In the Zvezda High locker room.

"Fuckin' Karuza High. I knew we should've participated in the Summer Invitationals to increase our national ranking. We had a high chance of encountering a powerhouse school in the early rounds!"

The coach said and yanked his hair in frustration. He didn't have much hair left, and with that yank, a few strands fell out onto the locker room floor.

"It is what it is~"

Mikhail shrugged and returned to reading some of his pornographic magazines.

He had a little bit of the belly peeking out from under his shirt as if he hadn't bothered to train for this year's nationals.

"Jajaja~"

Kesha lay on the bench and stared at the ceiling with a towel falling off his head. The towel fell, revealing his bright orange hair, which was still damp from his shower.

"These martial arts competitions are overrated as fuck. Why should we care about this when our dear land of Zvezda is in need of miners? Miners are rich in minerals, while these fighters are just rich in bruises and broken bones."

"Yeah!"

Mikhail said with a loud laugh.

Zvezda was a city of miners. The miners were the backbone of their economy and the richest people of their city.

Therefore, people of that city didn't want to become martial arts practitioners but instead focused on working in the mines to secure their wealth and livelihood.