Zachary reeled back with a stunned look. He forgot for a moment about what he was doing.
Kiernan punched him in the face.
Followed with a punch in the chest.
Lastly, hook punched him in the jaw, sending him flying through the room.
Zachary crashed against the wall, blood flowing down his face, and then Kiernan appeared in front of him, grabbed him by the hair, and kept punching him in the face.
The crowd watched in horror as they watched their strongest student getting beaten up relentlessly.
However, without any warning, a small hole appeared in Kiernan's chest, and blood sprayed out in all directions.
Shocked, Kiernan jumped away from Zachary, knelt on the ground, and then used Tight Binding to close down the bleeding wound.
'Where did this hole come from? Did he poke me with something sharp?'
Kiernan thought with a frown and then saw Zachary climb back to his feet, his hair messy and face bruised with blood flowing down his forehead.
Zachary wiped the blood off his face and stared at Kiernan with hatred of a thousand souls. He wanted nothing but to rip him apart limb by limb.
"You're still standing? You're tough, I give you that, but now I will stop holding back."
Kiernan said and tightened his fist.
He was keeping a lot of his techniques hidden as he didn't want to reveal all of his cards before the nationals.
In the end, this random classroom fight didn't really matter to him. The nationals were the end goal, after all.
"You'll stop holding back? Hahahaha…"
Zachary raised his shaking arms.
It was clear that he wouldn't be able to fight much longer, which frustrated him to no end.
'Why! Why! Why! Why is he this far in strength? We're both Martial Champions, so why the fuck!'
He took a deep, long breath, and in that moment, ignored all the advice Alabaster gave him. He wanted him to stay low-key and not reveal his trump cards before nationals.
He said fuck all of that!
'I'll rip this bastard in half!'
He thought to himself, but as he was about to make a move, a loud voice silenced everyone.
"Stop what you're doing immediately!"
The crowd quieted down, and they moved out of the way as Montclair High's principal entered the classroom with Azer, both looking angry and very serious.
'It is the principal! I am so fired…'
The teacher thought with a defeated look but thought it was for the better. He didn't want to teach any of these lunatics anymore!
Montclair High's principal, Balthazar, looked at the messy classroom, then at the bloody Zachary. It surprised him since he had never seen him in such a state before.
He then looked at Kiernan, who also had some dried-up blood on his face but looked a hundred times better than Zachary.
It was clear who was about to become the winner of the fight.
Balthazar sighed heavily and loudly.
"I am greatly disappointed. I thought my students would be willing to co-exist with Karuza High, but it looks like I was naive."
Azer stood next to him, sullen and silent.
He heard the whole story from his daughter and knew that this all started because of Montclair High, but he was also angry at his students.
They shouldn't have come here to make a mess and should've let him handle the situation with Balthazar.
It could've been easily fixed with expelling those delinquents, but instead, it became a much bigger issue than it needed to.
"From now on, Montclair High won't interact with students from Karuza High. Vice versa. The rules are strict when it comes to the nationals.
"If we try to intentionally hurt the students from other schools, we can all be disqualified from the nationals. Now, we don't want that, right?"
"Kiernan and Julian, go clean yourselves up. I am really angered at what you two did today, and I hope to God that it won't happen again."
Azer said with a stern look on his face.
Kiernan and Julian left the classroom without saying a word. The crowd parted like the Red Sea as they made their way out.
Zachary combed his hair and walked past the two principals without saying a word.
"Zachary, try to behave. Remember, you're representing our school."
Balthazar said with a narrowed gaze.
"Hah, shut your trap."
Zachary said with a scoff and pushed past the crowd of students in the hallway. He was shoving them out of the way, not giving them any time to move out of the way.
"Sigh, what a troublesome student."
Balthazar pinched his nose.
With a limp in his step, Zachary stumbled into his room, closed the door behind him, and was about to take off his jacket.
But at that moment, he was grabbed by the collar and thrown across the room.
He crashed against a wall and crumpled to the ground in pain, unable to move.
He could barely breathe as all air got squeezed out of his lungs, but when he sat back up in a dazed look, he saw a person walking towards him.
"You are one stupid fuck."
Alabaster crouched in front of him, grabbed him by the bloody hair, and slapped him across the face.
A few teeth flew out of his mouth.
"What did I tell you? Do not antagonize him!"
Zachary whimpered in pain.
"You're making everything so fucking difficult. I must now make sure that those recorded videos won't get out to the public.
"You must be chosen as a representative to the Junior Martial Arts Championship, and only the strongest student from New Rakuya gets chosen.
"It is now painfully clear that the strongest student is Kiernan Hunter. It wasn't clear beforehand, but now that your stupid ass went and fought him, it is undeniable.
"You're ruining the plan. Why can't you just fucking sit still and listen?!"
Alabaster pinched his glabella and said.
"Thankfully, it is not the end yet. There are still nationals, and there, in front of the entire country, you will defeat Kiernan."
"H-how? H-he is stronger than I anticipated."
"I'll make sure that you win. However, you're too weak in your current state. There is still half a year before the nationals. Enough time for you to change."
Alabaster brought out some round pills. They looked like ordinary vitamins, but they smelled like something entirely different.
"These are power drugs. Take these, and don't complain."
"B-but, a-aren't they very illegal? They destroy one's martial soul, won't they?"
"That's just fake rumors created by the government. These will make you stronger beyond your comprehension. It is possible for you to reach Martial Master before nationals with these.
"Do you want to lose to Kiernan again?"
Zachary looked at the pills, then gritted his teeth and swallowed them without hesitation.
"A-argh! AARFGGHGH! AAAARGFGH!"