Martial Arts Worlds - Chapter 309

Chapter 309: Aura Image

Whistle~

“Bring forth your next fighter, Kurogami High!”

The referee ordered.

All eyes landed on the shaky-looking Loralei, who nervously stood up and made her way up to the ring.

She felt the stares hitting the back of her head like daggers, and she tried to muster up all the courage she had left to climb the last few steps.

Eventually, she reached her corner and turned around to face her opponent, but then she saw his gray, powerful-looking eyes.

They were almost hypnotizing, as she couldn’t tear her gaze away and suddenly felt a wave of oppression wash over her.

She felt like a helpless lamb being led to the slaughter.

‘I am not foreign to the expectations. I am the president of the student council, and fellow classmates and teachers have always put expectations on me.

‘I know they expect me to help the school reach the finals, but how could I possibly help this time around?’

“The fourth match—Loralei Breiner versus Kiernan Hunter!”

The referee shouted and then pointed at the two fighters standing in the arena, asking the long-awaited question—are you ready?

“I am.”

Kiernan stood in his defensive stance as always, looking like a rock fortress that wasn’t going to be broken!

“Yes!”

Loralei yelled out her frustrations, her eyes blazing like a fiery volcano.

The referee raised his arm high, and then, with lights cascading down on him, he swung it down as if it were a sword made out of flesh.

“FIGHT!”

The crowd roared.

“Go, Loralei!”

The coach of Kurogami High screamed from the sidelines.

“You’ve got this, Kiernan!”

Coach Jin shouted with his arms crossed in front of his chest. He didn’t look worried, and after seeing Kiernan fight Adalric, he knew that he was in perfect condition.

He was slightly nervous about Kiernan maybe feeling slightly rusty as he hadn’t had a chance to fight yet, but his worries were unfounded.

“Kiernan, you can do it!”

Julia cheered with flushed pink cheeks.

A sound of a whistle signaled the start of the match.

However, neither of the fighters made the first move.

Like before, Kiernan was standing still in his defensive stance, and everyone expected him to do the same, but they were surprised by Loralei’s lack of response.

She was the type of fighter that liked to fight from the get-go, but they guessed that she might take a passive approach this time.

However, they were all wrong!

‘Why isn’t he attacking? I expected him to attack, as with his offensive prowess, he can easily crush me, but why is he always taking that defensive approach? I really don’t understand him!’

Loralei gritted her teeth, and without further ado, she lunged forward.

“Loralei is attacking! It looked like she just wanted to see what kind of approach Kiernan would take, but as always, he stayed in his defensive mode!”

Chris Chang shouted from the commentator’s booth.

Flying like a spear, Loralei’s fist headed towards Kiernan’s chest, where his heart should be.

It looked like it was about to hit, but then suddenly a hand came and swatted her fist away as if it was just another harmless fly.

Kiernan stood calmly, rooted on his spot, his hands moving in front of him in a slow, fluid movement.

“Rendering Edge!”

Sting!

Loralei’s expression turned ugly as her fist started stinging with pain.

In front of her, Kiernan transformed into an impenetrable fortress with spikes on its walls to ward off any attack and also cause severe damage to anyone who dared to get close.

“Rock-solid defense!”

Coach Jin smirked.

The technique that brought depression to many of its victims appeared for the first time in this year’s nationals!

‘I’ve heard a great deal about Kiernan’s defense from our coach, but this is just ridiculous. I’ve never met anyone who can create an ‘aura image’ before.’

Aura Image—as the name suggested, it was something that a powerful aura can create to intimidate an opponent.

It was only seen by the person’s opponent and no one else. Like, she was currently the only one in the entire stadium that was able to see it.

It wasn’t a widely known ability, as it was quite a rare one, but Loralei remembered reading about it once in an ancient book of myths.

She wasn’t exactly sure whether this was Aura Image, but after a closer look, she didn’t think it could be anything else!

Swoosh!

She swung her fist, but Kiernan pushed it aside effortlessly and made the punch miss his face by a great margin.

Frustration welled up inside her.

‘What about kicks?!’

She was about to lift her leg into a kick, but as if he anticipated it, Kiernan stomped on her shin to stop her from lifting her leg and then delivered a hard blow to her stomach.

“Ugh!”

Loralei collapsed on the ground and clutched her stomach in pain as she felt like a hole had appeared in it.

Kurogami High’s bench sighed in frustration.

They expected this kind of outcome, but they at least expected her to put up a better fight than this!

However, they didn’t understand the pressure Loralei was on when fighting Kiernan. It felt suffocating and drowning, as if she were at the bottom of the ocean with no way to swim back to the surface.

Adalric was able to put up a greater fight as he was quite an intelligent fighter and was able to see through Kiernan’s traps.

Loralei didn’t have such luxury and found herself sinking deeper into despair with each passing second.

‘Kicking… was a mistake. It made me so open to his attacks, and here we are…’

She blamed herself for being so stupid, but as she was about to stand back up, Kiernan pushed her back down by holding down her shoulder.

“?!”

Loralei looked up into his brilliant gray eyes, and even though he didn’t say a word, it was clear what he wanted her to do.

“O-okay… I-I forfeit.”

Whistle~

The referee blew into a whistle and lifted his right arm.

“The match is over! The winner is Kiernan Hunter!”