Martial Arts Worlds-Chapter 360: Night Before
"Are you ready, Kiernan?"
Neal asked as he walked over to the tennis ball machine with some toilet paper stuffed inside his bleeding nostrils.
"Don't tell me when you're about to press the button. I don't want to know."
Kiernan said, and stood in his perfect defensive stance that had brought depression to his opponents.
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"Alright…"
Neal put his hand over the button so that he could quickly press it without Kiernan noticing and then felt a few sweat drops fall down his forehead.
'Level five was already incredibly quick. Won't level ten be as fast as a bullet or even faster? With such speed, even if it is only a tennis ball, it can clearly hurt him if he gets hit.'
Neal waited for a couple more seconds before giving the button a gentle press, sending the ball zooming towards Kiernan.
It flew so quickly that Neal didn't even notice that the ball had left the machine!
It appeared in front of Kiernan faster than anyone could blink, but with his left backhand, he smacked the ball away, and the ball ricocheted off the wall behind him.
It rolled down the floor and came to a stop beside Neal's feet.
"Amazing…"
His eyes shook with shock and amazement.
It all happened so quickly—from the moment he pressed the button to Kiernan deflecting it, it didn't take even half a second.
It all happened in a fraction of a second!
"Come down to the boxing ring, Neal. I'll show you something else."
With a nod, Neal walked to the boxing ring and faced Kiernan with a curious expression, but then Kiernan moved to a punching stance.
"You say that humans aren't capable of punching as fast as level five. Shall we test that theory? Try slapping my punch away."
Kiernan said.
Neal's eyes shook, but he quickly composed himself and took a step back, preparing to deflect Kiernan's punch.
Kiernan snapped his fist forward, and it touched Neal's bleeding nose with a gentle tap.
"Ah…"
Neal looked at the fist in shock and couldn't believe that he didn't even see the fist coming.
'I understand now… There was about five meters distance between the tennis ball machine, and me, but when facing against someone, they're most likely right in front of me.
'It's obvious that there is more time to defend against the tennis balls when they fly further away.'
"Well, how was it?"
Kiernan asked.
"I get it now…"
Neal said with a stunned look.
If the tennis ball machine was at level two, and he was standing right in front of it, he doubted he would even be able to defend against that.
It truly reminded him about how far he actually was from this young man in front of him. It didn't feel like there was only a few years age gap between them, but instead decades!
"Keep trying against level five. I'll make the machine run on automatic, so when the tennis balls have run out, put them back in the machine's basket, and keep practicing."
Kiernan said, walked over to the machine, turned it back to level five, and put it on automatic.
Without really being ready yet, Neal quickly moved into his Southpaw Stance, but the tennis balls kept hitting him across his body.
"Ouch! Shit!"
…
The days flew by, even though Kiernan wished that they would slow down, but the night before the fated date of the ranked match arrived.
With stars sparkling across the sky, the boxing gym hadn't quieted down as Neal pummeled the punching bag in preparation for the biggest fight of his life.
Half of his concentration was on the punching bag, and the other half was on tomorrow's match.
He tried not to think about it, but he couldn't help it and thought about the possibility of losing.
'I don't want to lose! I want them to stop bullying me, and this is the only chance I have left. I must win this match!'
Neal thought with a rapid heartbeat and couldn't help but think about the last year, when Travis and his friends bullied him to no end.
He remembered those painful moments and thought about moments late at night when he would cry, knowing that he would have to return to school the next day and face his tormentors again.
It was a cycle of endless torment and despair.
Tomorrow was his chance to put a stop to that cycle!
"…"
Kiernan watched him from the doorway and tapped his finger against his chin with a frown.
"System, when will the time limit come to an end?"
[…Late tomorrow]
'This is basically Neal's last chance. He doesn't know that his life is on the line. I don't know what else I could do to help Neal get his confidence back.
'If he loses, it will be impossible to get him back on his feet. If he loses, I wonder if I can still stop Travis and the rest from killing him…'
Kiernan thought, and then asked the same question from the system.
[…You can't fight against destiny. If he loses, that is his destiny, and that destiny will lead to his death in one way or another]
"Huh…"
Kiernan scratched the back of his head and thought about more ways to help Neal, as he didn't like the current odds.
Sure, Neal had grown more powerful, but in the end, he was going to fight against Travis, who had thousands of hours more of combat experience.
'I thought about using an earpiece to give Neal instructions during his fight, but that might remove the chance of him gaining his confidence back.
'He might think that he won because of me, and that would remove his opportunity to finally believe in himself.
'I also thought about just breaking a couple of Travis' fingers to give him a disadvantage, but that might result in the fight getting delayed, which would be the worst-case scenario.
'I'll just have to leave it up to him. I wonder if this is how everyone felt back in the nationals when they all had to rely on me in the final match…'
