Martial Arts Worlds - Chapter 298

Chapter 298: Alabaster’s Secret
“How have the matches gone?”

Julian asked as he checked the time and noticed that a few hours had passed since his match, so few other matches should’ve ended already.

“In the second match, between Kurogami High and Foxfire High, it was a battle between their two aces.

“Dietmar and Miroslav fought for about fifteen minutes, but in the end, Dietmar emerged as victorious. Therefore, our semifinal opponents will be Kurogami High!”

“Kurogami High…”

Julian whispered.

“How do you compare them to Kanyon High? You think we got it?”

“I think Kurogami High and Kanyon High are very even in terms of strength. However, you won’t be at your full power during that match.”

“Mmh…”

Julian looked at his bandaged body, which made him look like a mummy, and mumbled something under his breath.

“The third match just ended. It was between Montclair High and Azura Academy… it wasn’t even close.

“Like in the previous matches, Zachary did it all, and he fought Willa in the end. She got hurt quite badly in that match and had to be carried off the arena.

“It doesn’t look like they brought her to the infirmary and sent her straight to Tiamut’s Main Hospital.”

Kiernan said with a frown.

“Zachary…”

Julian narrowed his gaze.

“I want to crush his arrogant ass. With my new weapon, Flow State, he doesn’t stand a chance against me.”

“Be careful…”

Kiernan reminded him, but he doubted that Julian was listening to his warnings as he was hungry for revenge after his humiliating defeat.

“What about the last match? It’s… between Tiamut High and Rensho High, right?”

Julian asked.

“Well, it is about to end. Check yourself.”

Kiernan said, and turned towards the television, where Ariadne was battling Lionel. It was quite a one-sided fight from the first glance.

Lionel was trying everything in his power to fight back, but Ariadne overwhelmingly overpowered him with her skills.

After another two minutes passed, the fight ended with Ariadne winning decisively.

The semifinals opponents had been decided.

It was Karuza High versus Kurogami High and Tiamut High versus Montclair High.

Knock! Knock!

At that moment, someone knocked on the door, and Coach Jin peeked from the ajar door, smiling at the sight of Julian being awake.

“You’re awake. That’s good!”

“Coach.”

Julian nodded in response.

“We’re returning to the hotel soon, but before that… Kiernan. Sabbath has returned, and apparently he has something to tell you.”

Coach Jin said.

“Ah, alright.”

Kiernan nodded and headed out of the infirmary. He and Coach Jin left through a long corridor, leaving Julian alone in the infirmary.

“Huff…”

Julian looked at the ceiling silently and thought about the food he would like to eat today, but then, the door of the infirmary opened and closed immediately after.

Click!

The door got locked.

“?!”

Julian looked towards the door, and to his surprise, there was a tall masked man standing with a cold expression.

“Who… are you?”

…

Sabbath leaned on the wall, tapping his foot against the ground, and then heard some footsteps come from the corridor and turned to the side to see his disciple, Kiernan, head in his way.

“You’re back. Took you some time.”

Kiernan said.

“Yeah…”

Sabbath said and then saw Coach Jin follow Kiernan. He smiled and said.

“Sorry, Jin, but can I have a private conversation with my disciple here? We’ll meet you shortly.”

“Sure thing.”

Coach Jin nodded and walked past them to get some drinks from a nearby vending machine while waiting for them to conclude their conversation.

“Did you find something serious?”

Kiernan asked.

“Yeah… quite serious.”

Sabbath pulled out his phone and showed him a picture. It was a picture of Alabaster with the rest of Montclair High’s students.

“Is there something wrong in that picture?”

Kiernan asked.

Sabbath shook his head and then pocketed his phone.

“Nope. I took a picture of him silently and sent it to some of my sources.”

“Martial Order?”

Kiernan asked.

“No. I don’t want to give them any clue where I might be. This national tournament is a very public event, after all, and if I show them the picture of Alabaster, they might find out where I am.

“I cannot risk that. I asked some of my friends though, whom I have met during my travels, and they found quite worrisome stuff.”

“Oh, like what?”

“That this Alabaster guy is supposed to be dead. He was a teacher in a high school in Mainz, which was a city in the country of Redmany.

“About two years ago he suffered an illness called knife to the heart and was pronounced dead at the hospital.”

Sabbath said with a very serious look on his face.

“So, this guy is using his identity and his face. This sounds very familiar. I met a guy called Count Sander during my time in World Seas, and he was also using a fake face and identity.”

Kiernan said, remembering the not-so-good times he had with Count Sander.

“I know there are people in the world that can steal people’s faces and make others wear them. I don’t know if the same person helped them to change their identity, but that is a good possibility.”

“Do you have any idea who this Alabaster guy might actually be?”

Kiernan asked.

Sabbath bit his lip and eventually shook his head. His friends couldn’t possibly find that out.

“No. This Alabaster guy has been very careful, and there isn’t a single clue about who he might be. The only way I can find out is if I punch that information out of him.”

“Well… will you?”

“Don’t know yet. I’ll let these nationals finish up, but one thing is for sure: a dangerous man like him couldn’t possibly be here for a good reason.

“I don’t know what he wants from Zachary and from these nationals, but it cannot be anything good.”

Sabbath said.

Kiernan pondered as well and then had a random thought.

“Maybe he doesn’t want anything from nationals. Is there something in Junior Martial Arts Championships that could attract the attention of Martial King?”

When he heard his disciple’s words, Sabbath also started to think and then said.

“There is a reward given to the champion of that tournament, which is quite attractive, but Zachary couldn’t possibly win that event, no matter how much drugs he takes.”

“Hmm…”

Kiernan narrowed his eyes.