Martial Arts Worlds-Chapter 364: Not Intimidating
"Huff! Huff! Huff!"
Neal received a towel and wiped the blood off his face, but his ears kept ringing because of the kick to his head.
"Alright, focus up."
Kiernan snapped his fingers in front of Neal's face so he would focus on the words that were about to leave his mouth.
Neal nodded shakily.
"The first round didn't go as well as I had hoped, but at least you survived through it. That's good, and you succeeded in the plan."
"Yeah… the plan… Which is…?"
Neal asked.
"You've successfully angered Travis, and he will be very impatient to finish the fight. You can use his impatience as a weapon."
Kiernan said, then leaned close to Neal and whispered the rest of the plan into his ear.
Neal's eyes widened in surprise.
"Are you sure that's a good idea? I think it is pretty risky because if I do a single wrong move, I'll lose!"
"It will work, trust me. He will want to finish the fight, and instead of Travis trying the knockout blow, you would rather want him to try to end the fight that way, right?"
"I… I guess you're right."
At the red corner, Travis gulped the water bottle down his throat while hatefully glaring in Neal's direction and saw that they were whispering about something.
"What do you think they are plotting? What will they try in the next round?"
Travis asked.
"I think they will try to avoid the edges, as you were giving him a proper beating before. I think Neal will try to go for another takedown, as he was rather successful on the ground."
Adrian said.
"That makes sense. I will go straight on offense and try to push him to the edge of the ring, where he will start panicking, and I can take advantage of his mistakes."
Travis said, tossed the water bottle off the ring, and then stood up.
Ding! Ding!
The bell rang, signaling the start of the second round.
Neal, with a deep breath, stood up and tapped his boxing gloves together while making his way to the center of the ring.
"How is your face feeling? I was trying to fix your ugly fucking mug."
Travis taunted with a smirk on his face.
Neal looked at him with a frown and then asked.
"Big words from a guy who just became my bitch. Did you enjoy the sound of my fist connecting with your face?"
"?!"
Travis' eyes shook, and then he said.
"I might've accidentally given you a brain injury back at the festival because I know for a fact that you, from a family of known losers, don't dare to speak to me like that."
Neal ignored his words and looked over his shoulder at Kiernan, who gave him a thumbs-up, as he was the one who taught him some smack talk.
"Sigh…"
He let out a deep breath, moved into his Southpaw Stance, and turned back at Travis with a sharp gaze.
The referee saw that the two were ready and swung his arm down.
"FIGHT!"
The clock started ticking down from the three-minute mark.
Without a breath wasted, Travis lunged forward with a scream of anger and punched forward as if his fists were machine gun fire.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
Neal responded with his hands, smacking the punches away, but he kept backstepping, closing the edge of the ring.
'This bastard's lack of experience is showing. He isn't even aware that he is nearing the edge of the ring!'
Travis thought with a smirk and kept punching without trying to actually hit Neal, as he was already doing what he wanted to.
At that moment, Neal reached the edge of the ring, looked behind him, and looked surprised to see that he was almost falling off the ring!
Seeing his expression, Travis laughed, lifted his knee close to his chest, and kicked in front of him, but Neal quickly dodged the kick with a side step.
Travis closed in on him, not allowing him to escape, and rained him with punches, but Neal swiftly blocked each one with precise movements.
'I don't understand how this bastard is capable of blocking my punches!'
Travis' forehead bulged with veins.
In the eyes of Neal, his punches felt slow and heavy, like they were moving through molasses. It was because he had experienced level five of the tennis ball machine and Kiernan's lightning-fast punches.
The training had paid off!
"Huff! Huff!"
Travis breathed heavily, and his punches kept turning slower and slower.
He was desperately trying to force Neal another step back, but for some odd reason, he wasn't moving anymore like before!
'Now!'
Neal's eyes widened, and with quick footwork, he circled around to Travis's back and jabbed at his shoulder.
"?!"
Travis staggered back, clutching his shoulder in pain, and noticed that he was now the one standing at the edge of the ring.
'I've been had! This is what they were planning to do in an attempt to push me off the ring! These bastards!'
With the crowd's eyes widening in shock, Neal punched at Travis's chest as if it were a punching bag, throwing jabs, straights, and hooks.
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
Travis guarded his chest, but when he did, Neal punched him in the face, and Travis staggered back, blood starting to trickle from his nose.
"This Neal kid is a powerful one. I thought it would be pretty one-sided because of the difference in their height and stature, but he is doing well."
Katherina's mother said, and her father nodded in approval as well.
"Yes… he is."
Katherina said with a conflicted look and wasn't really sure what to think about the current situation.
Whistle~
A whistle sounded, signaling the end of the second round.
"Huff… Argh…"
Travis stepped away from Neal, his veins throbbing in frustration, and he wanted to do nothing more than crush Neal's face.
However, his heart beat in nervousness as the thought of losing appeared inside his mind.
'This can't be fucking possible. How is it that I… a genius and third-ranked student of this school, am losing to this weakling?!'
Travis grabbed his head, tugged it in anger, and returned back to his corner.
"Haah…"
With a smile on his face, Neal sat down in his corner and felt his body shaking with excitement.
He was truly feeling like he was alive for the first time in years!
'I don't know why I've been so afraid of Travis all this time. He's not as intimidating as I thought he was.'
