"Ngh?!"

Khan's expression shifted from glee to surprise as he kept being pushed backwards by smaller Axe.

Axe was moving his legs so fast that it made it seem like they were being controlled by hidden engines inside his thighs.

The crowd gasped in shock.

"Whoah!"

Jock exclaimed.

"Axe's acceleration is so quick that he is able to use "Continuous Acceleration" which allows him to constantly increase his momentum despite having no space to work with."

Kiernan said.

In that moment, Axe smashed his hands at Khan's chest—just like a sumo wrestler would—and with his incredible acceleration, he was capable of pushing Khan backwards several feet.

Those strikes weren't "hits," so he wasn't getting any points from those, but that's not what he wanted.

He already knew how he was going to end this match.

"Damn!"

Khan stumbled back, and instantly after, with little more space to work with, Axe accelerated straight into his chest and kept pushing him further back.

Ratatatatatatata!

Axe's feet kept tapping the mat, and it sounded like a rapid drum solo.

In that moment, Khan's heels reached the edge of the platform, and a look of panic flashed across his face.

He instinctively reached out to Axe's collar and attempted to throw him over his shoulder and to toss him outside.

However, Axe refused to budge and pushed Khan off balance instead. His right leg was dangling outside.

"Ahh!"

Khan swung his right arm, which was holding Axe's collar, and pulled him towards the edge of the platform.

Both of them tipped sideways, and with both of them looking shocked, they fell outside the platform into the hard ground below.

"Gasp~"

The crowd gasped and jumped to their feet, asking themselves a question about who won, as it really looked like both of them landed outside at the exact same time.

With a troubled look, the referee headed to the back to check the video feed with other referees, as he couldn't see with his bare eyes.

"Who won?!"

Jock exclaimed.

"…Oh, you didn't see?"

Kiernan asked with a smile.

"…You saw who landed outside first?"

Jock asked with anticipation, and his look was literally pleading with him to say who won.

"Look at the faces of the fighters, and tell me, who do you think won? It should be pretty easy, as they already know."

Kiernan said with his arms crossed.

Jock snapped his head towards Khan and Axe to see their expressions, and slowly, his eyes widened in surprise.

While still kneeling from the exhausting match, Khan had a tight-lipped expression with sweat falling over his eyes.

He wasn't celebrating.

Axe, on the other hand, was standing proudly with his hands on his hips, and a small smile played on his lips.

"Axe… won?"

Jock asked in shock.

"When they were falling, Axe shifted Khan's falling position slightly, just enough to have him touch the ground first."

Kiernan said.

"Amazing…"

Jock whispered.

At that moment, the referees had seen enough, and the match referee blew the whistle before raising one arm high.

The crowd looked over.

"The winner is Axe from United Arts Dojo!"

CHEERS!

With excited screams, the crowd exploded into applause, and Axe's family was immediately running to Axe to celebrate with him.

Meanwhile, Khan slowly walked out of the venue without staying behind to watch the rest of the matches.

The crowd was actually on Axe's side during the match because the Ok Family Dojo's reputation was in the gutter after what happened literally a round ago with Weathers.

There were even a few among them that thought Khan was also going to touch, but the referees made sure to check his taping before the match started.

The cleaners went to the big platform to wipe off the blood from the mat before the start of the next match.

It was between Lumian and Cleo.

While Cleo was focusing on her mental state with the help of meditation, Lumian stood up and headed outside with his hands inside his pockets.

There were girls who tried talking to him, but he didn't even acknowledge their presence and just left.

"…"

Kiernan looked after him and cracked his knuckles.

…

At the vending machine, Lumian absentmindedly slid one gold coin inside the machine, and then it spat out a bag of snacks.

He grabbed the bag of snacks, sat beside the vending machine on the cold ground, and tore it open.

"Crack! Crack! Crack!"

The hard snack crumbled under his teeth, releasing a burst of flavor, and Lumian didn't seem all that happy about the flavor.

He wasn't much of a snacks person, as his father had always told him to eat healthy and to mind his physique to not poison it with any useless material.

However, for some reason, he didn't care about what his father thought now.

"Is it good?"

In that moment, a voice came close to him, and he looked up to see Kiernan checking the selection in the vending machine.

"Oh…"

Kiernan slid a gold coin inside the vending machine, and it spat out a bag of candy that had quite colorful wrapping.

"This is my favorite brand. It has those really soft candies that, when you bite into them, you have to stretch really far before they break."

Kiernan said, and stuffed a couple of them into his mouth before leaning against the vending machine.

The sun was shining brightly in the sky, but because they were in the shade, it was quite cool and nice.

"Can I taste one?"

Lumian asked.

With a nod, Kiernan gave him one, and Lumian tasted it before breaking into a smile, and he nodded in approval.

"It is indeed tasty."

"I have to apologize to you, Lumian. It was my decision to speak to your father about your condition. I should've known that he was going to exploit you."

Kiernan said.

"…I should've told you what kind of person my father is, but deep inside me, I had hope that he would act in a way that was best for me.

"I was wrong."

Lumian said, and crumbled the bag of snacks despite it being pretty much full still.

"You made Weathers cheat, didn't you? I saw you whisper into his ear before his match with Cleo, and then he left for about five minutes before coming back.

"Then I saw that he had re-done his taping, and in a different way that time around, as if he was hiding something underneath.

"You wanted for him to get caught, didn't you?"

Kiernan asked.

"…Yeah."

Lumian said.

"Why?"

"You know why. The rumors spread like wildfire in Montrael and by tomorrow morning, everyone knows that the Ok Family Dojo's student cheated.

"It will ruin the reputation of the dojo that my father has so carefully built."

Lumian said.

"…You are done with his dojo?"

Kiernan asked.

"…Yes."

Lumian said.

"Want to join mine?"

Kiernan asked.

"Yes."

Lumian replied.

With a wave of his hand, Kiernan brought out a black Qi uniform and a white headband from his system's interface.

"Put these on."

Lumian quickly put on the uniform and the headband. The symbol of Martial Redemption was proudly showing at his back.

"My father will be very angry."

He said.

"I don't give a fuck. Do you?"

Kiernan asked.

"No, I also don't give a fuck."

Lumian said, smiled, and then bowed to Kiernan with a word, "Master," leaving his lips, and with this, Martial Redemption Dojo acquired its third student.

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