Tiamut's Grand Stadium, present day.
Master Ichiro stopped touching Kiernan's forehead and backed off a step.
"Thanks for reminding me. I had forgotten all about that."
Kiernan said with a scoff and walked straight through Master Ichiro, knowing that he wasn't actually here, and as expected, he phased right through him.
"And look where that took you. If you had just stayed with me, none of the tragedies you endured would've happened, and I would've made you the greatest offensive weapon in the history of humans!"
Master Ichiro said with a tone of disappointment.
"You would've held me back. You didn't understand the core principle of Iron Style, so why should I let you decide how my martial arts should be used?"
Kiernan tucked his hands inside his pockets and headed away, but Master Ichiro's fragment of memory followed him like a shadow.
"And look where you are. Against people of the same age class, you don't even have the strongest offensive prowess. Where is Earth's Kiernan Hunter?"
"The Kiernan Hunter you knew disappeared a long time ago. Devil Ritual made sure of that. You died shortly after that."
"Yeah… my death… The village was under attack by those friends of yours who created Devil Ritual. We called for your assistance, but you were nowhere to be seen.
"We all died, yet you did not care!"
Master Ichiro emotionally shouted at him.
"They were no friends of mine. I slaughtered most of them, didn't you know? Of course the rest of those worms wanted revenge and attacked the last place I was before Devil Ritual, that village.
"I was saddened by the fate of the village, so I tracked down those who did that and killed them all. What else do you want from me?"
Kiernan asked with a frown.
"If you had stayed and let me train you, none of that would've happened! You don't understand what is good for you, and you'll always end up doing the opposite!"
The ghostly old man screamed.
"It is like talking to a brick wall at this point. Disappear, will you?"
Kiernan swung his arm, and the old man vanished into thin air. However, the lingering feeling of his words remained.
The morning's light dawned over Tiamut's landscape, and the honking of cars was evident as traffic began to build up on every street as they were all heading over to the stadium!
It was the last day of the nationals, and today, a champion would be crowned!
The banners of the last four competing teams flapped in the wind. It was a day filled with anticipation and excitement.
At this moment, in Karuza High's locker room, Kiernan lay on his bench, currently all alone as other members of the team hadn't arrived yet.
Instead of leaving the stadium, he just found the locker room of their school and stayed there for the entire night.
He didn't get one wink of sleep as he had a lot to think about, and he didn't really feel tired either.
At that moment, the door opened, and with bags in hand, the rest of Karuza High entered the locker room, and after seeing Kiernan already there, a few of them breathed sighs of relief.
They heard about Kiernan going to the stadium early, which surprised them, but they hadn't received a word from him ever since, so they were afraid that something might've happened to him.
Now that Julian was out, Kiernan was their only hope in having any chance at lifting that championship trophy.
With a leg brace on one leg, Julian hopped through the door, holding two crutches in his hands, and then awkwardly sat down on his bench.
It looked like he was far from happy, and his eyes looked quite reddened as if he had cried recently, and it didn't look like he slept last night either.
No one asked him about it because they knew that not being able to participate in the final matches frustrated him so much.
It was all he wanted to do, but his injury had prevented him from doing so.
Coach Jin approached Kiernan and asked.
Kiernan replied shortly and stretched his arms above his head before sitting back up straight to not take all the space on the bench.
'Something is off with him…'
Coach Jin thought, but then he thought that it was just his nervousness and went to talk to Jonathan and Dominic, who had quite important roles on the team now.
With Julian out, Dominic, as the first reserve fighter, was going to take the stage as the first fighter.
At that moment, someone knocked on the door, and without waiting for a reply, the door opened, and a person, who looked like an official for the nationals, entered the locker room.
"Hello, sir, how may we help you?"
Coach Jin approached him.
"I am here to talk about the procedure for the incoming semifinal matches. This time around, we'll be introducing the fighters to the people of New Rakuya.
"Therefore, I need the participating fighters for the semifinals. It is so we can introduce the right people."
"Alright—our fighters will be Dominic Raze, Jonathan Ackers, and Kiernan Hunter."
The official wrote it all down and threw a glance towards Kiernan, expecting people to be quite pleased about the fact that he would finally be fighting.
It was obvious as hell that Dominic and Jonathan didn't stand a chance, so Kiernan would most likely be competing in the next round.
"That will be all. Thank you."
The official said and then left the locker room as quickly as he came.
"Kiernan, do you need some quick sparring? I know you haven't fought anyone yet, so if you feel like you're feeling off, I can help you warm up."
"Thanks, but I am fine. I need some time to mentally prepare before my match."
Kiernan said and, once again, turned tight-lipped and hung his head low as he closed his eyes and entered his zone.
Dominic, Jonathan, and Julia couldn't help but be worried. They wondered whether Kiernan was alright since he acted weirdly.
Coach Jin nodded, and crossed his arms, the same worried thought appearing in his mind.