Martial Arts Worlds-Chapter 270: Imaginary Fight
In the chairman's office, a heavy tension hung in the air, making most feel uneasy.
Without even opening his mouth, the chairman emitted pressure that made everyone close their mouths and silence their breathing.
Only Alabaster wasn't affected.
"I've been receiving a lot of complaints already…"
The chairman showed his phone that was constantly ringing.
"The parents are afraid of their children's safety. They want Zachary disqualified as his needless violence is unsettling… I do agree with them."
"Mister chairman, I do agree that Zachary has gone overboard, but it was only his excitement of participating in his first-ever nationals taking control of him. I'll make sure that he understands the severity of his actions and will take necessary actions to prevent any further incidents from happening."
Alabaster said.
"Gone overboard? I got three kids in the hospital getting treated for head trauma. I would've left that be as that can happen in martial arts competitions, but then this… incident happened, and I can't ignore it no more."
The chairman said with a serious look.
'It is clear that Montclair High is already getting favorable treatment as they're one of the winning contenders. If weaker schools did that to other schools, they would've been disqualified already.'
Coach Jin thought to himself.
However, he knew that something like this was bound to happen as the people of New Rakuya wanted the strongest talents of the nation to battle it out.
It was clear that their school, Karuza High, was also getting some favorable treatment in one way or another.
They wanted the strongest schools to reach the round of 16.
"And you…"
The chairman turned to look at Kiernan, who had stayed silent so far.
"You can't just interrupt official matches. It doesn't matter what reasoning you had. You and Zachary also fought outside official matches, which we cannot just allow."
'Don't get disqualified. Don't get disqualified. Don't get disqualified.'
Coach Jin prayed inside his mind.
"Therefore, the two of you will be suspended for the next round. You'll be able to return to the competition starting tomorrow morning—is that clear?"
The chairman asked.
'Huh, that's really… soft punishment.'
Coach Jin thought in surprise.
Kiernan and Zachary nodded.
"We understand, sir."
"Good! Now leave!"
The chairman waved his hand, and everyone left his office. After they left, he checked his messages and saw people mentioning him that the nationals was blowing up on the social media.
It even attracted the attention of some neighboring countries.
It was all about Kiernan and Zachary's rivalry. There was a vote going on about who was stronger between the two, and currently Zachary was leading with 80 percent of the votes.
The videos that were mostly floating around showed their short slap fight, and from that, it was easy to conclude that Zachary was stronger between the two.
'It looks like we might break viewership records if they meet in the finals…'
The chairman thought with a small smile and began to think about the following rounds.
…
"Is everything alright?"
"Did we get disqualified?"
After arriving back in the locker room, Jonathan and the rest swarmed Coach Jin and Kiernan with questions that had been plaguing their minds for the past ten minutes.
"Everyone calm down."
Coach Jin said.
"We are not disqualified, and neither is Kiernan. However, he is suspended for the next round, which in the end, doesn't really matter to us as we didn't plan on letting him fight on the first day anyway."
After hearing their coach's words, everyone felt relieved and then turned to Kiernan, who stayed silent and just went to sit down on the bench.
"Kiernan, what's wrong? Your silence is quite unsettling and is making everyone nervous."
Julian said with a serious look.
Each one of them was starting to lose confidence when they saw Kiernan just stay silent and sullen.
They had just watched the video of his slap fight against Zachary, and it shocked them to the core.
Not even in their wildest dreams did they think that one day Kiernan would get slapped around like that.
"I am sorry, but I'd prefer silence. Don't talk to me."
Kiernan said coldly and cracked his knuckles with a dark look on his face.
"What the hell is wrong with you? You're our ace and captain of the team. You must help to keep the team high-spirited."
Julian said with a hint of anger in his tone. He didn't like seeing his friend like this and knew that everyone else on the team completely relied on Kiernan's strength.
They needed him to stay strong and show that nothing could bring him down, but now, Julia, Jonathan, and Dominic looked very worried as they were losing confidence with each passing second.
"Julian is right, Kiernan. You need to pull yourself together."
Coach Jin said with a serious tone.
He didn't expect that confrontation with Zachary to shake him up so much.
"You all are mistaken. I need silence because I need to think."
"Think what?"
"Think of ways to slay the giant."
Kiernan said coldly, and in his mind, thousands of fights had already played out between him and Zachary.
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It was why he was silent, and his mind seemed to drift elsewhere. He was playing imaginary matches between him and Zachary.
In those imaginary matches, he kept losing and losing, which made him lash out in frustration a moment ago, but slowly, he started to survive longer and longer against Zachary.
The way to victory was slowly forming inside his mind, and a way to slay the giant known as Zachary.
At last, a small smile appeared on his lips, and he let out a short chuckle. It surprised everyone in the locker room.
"Got him… I had my first victory over him."
Kiernan said with a smile on his face.
'W-wait, has he already thought of a way to defeat Zachary?'
Coach Jin thought in shock.
'Didn't they have their slap fight only fifteen minutes ago? How much could he even learn from that?'
That one slap was enough for Kiernan to learn everything he needed to know about Zachary. A perfect replica of him had already formed inside his mind.
