Kiernan navigated through the VIP rooms and soon came across the room with number nine etched on the door.
He knocked, and without further ado, the door went open.
It was a well-furnished room, like all VIP rooms were. A table stood in the middle of the room, a banquet of food laid out with silver platters and crystal glasses, and at the end, a man in a suit was sitting.
"Oh, you're here. Please, enter."
Bernard said with a gentle smile, then enjoyed some red wine and took some savory bites of the food in front of him.
Kiernan frowned, entered the room, and took a seat on the other side of the table. He didn't touch the silverware or the food in front of him.
"My father sent me a text to come here. Where is he?"
"I don't know where your father is. I've friends in Irio's phone service companies, so I called for a favor and made them send a text from your father's phone to yours.
"After all, these phones are never really completely private."
Bernard said with a chuckle.
"And why the hell did you do that?"
Kiernan asked with crossed arms, a distrust building up in his heart. He just heard something very illegal, which he didn't expect to hear from someone of Bernard's stature, especially considering his profession.
That made his distrust towards him just grow.
"I wanted to have a talk with you. While we talk, we can also watch your friends first match. It is about to start, isn't it? That Azer's child is fighting first."
Kiernan raised an eyebrow and stared out of the window. The fight just started. Without further ado, Julia went on the offensive, and almost like she was dancing through the ring, she quickly gained the upper hand.
She was a practitioner of Dancing Blackout Style. It was a dancing style, where it looked like the user was dancing, but it was just the footwork of the style, which can only be described with one word—unpredictable.
Like a whip, a high kick came from her that brought her opponent down to his knees. The kick rocked her opponent's brain, immediately ruining any sense of his balance.
"She is not bad. Azer taught her well, that's for sure. You may eat. You won't find better food in the four hundred kilometer radius."
"I am not hungry. I don't want to fill my belly before my fight. That would hardly be a wise thing to do."
Kiernan flatly refused the offer.
Bernard pointed at him with a fork, smiled, and nodded with approval at Kiernan's discipline.
"Good! Good! Well, I'll start talking about why I called you here in the first place. I'd like for you to join my school."
"And why would I do that? I would just switch to a weaker school, no offense."
Kiernan asked with a bored look.
Bernard said, but it was clear that those words hurt his ego deep inside him. It took him a lot of willpower to restore his composure and continue the conversation.
"For money, what else? In two years, you can make enough money to live without any worries. Your father will benefit as well, greatly."
'Money, hah. Sure, I am in great need of money. This damn system is sucking me dry of all my income. A wise thing would just join him, despite it being dishonorable, and use the money to just make myself much stronger.
'However, something about him is just off… I really, really don't trust him, and first of all, I have zero desire to leave Karuza High.'
Kiernan let out a deep sigh and said sharply.
"Sorry, but the answer is no. I do not have any desire to leave Karuza High."
Hearing that answer, Bernard didn't change an expression. He then stabbed his fork into a steak, let it stay there speared on the meat, and then turned to look at Kiernan with sharpness in his eyes.
"I expected you to refuse me. I want you to reconsider. I am a powerful man, and I can make things good for you or… hellish."
"Showing your true colors, huh? The classic."
Kiernan rolled his eyes, kicked the table to the side, and made the delicious-looking banquet of food spill all across the floor.
"I am done here. What a waste of time."
He stood up, but at that moment, Bernard's dangerous aura locked into him, making his knees tremble uncontrollably.
"I am Martial Grandmaster, know your place, trash!"
Bernard screamed and at that moment, reached his hand towards Kiernan's face, wanting to grab it, but then, a kick came from the side, and smashed into his fingers.
Bernard's forefinger, and middle finger were instantly broken. They looked twisted, bruised, and hideously scarred.
A look of pain came over his face, and he looked at Kiernan with a look of hatred. He thought with the aura lockment, he wouldn't be able to move.
However, he was very much able to. Not only that, he was even able to throw a proper attack!
Kiernan jumped to distance from Bernard, and immediately moved to his fighting stance. He wasn't panicking.
Other young men of his age would be pissing themselves in fear if they had to fight against Martial Grandmaster, but not him.
He was at the best state of his life.
He had been preparing for the representation matches and nationals for months already. It was only unexpected that he needed to use that preparation to suddenly fight against Martial Grandmaster!
Bernard ripped apart his suit jacket, cracked his knuckles, and then lifted his fists high.
With a reeled fist, he strode forward with a long vertical strike, and harpooned his fist forward like he was really planning to smash Kiernan's face in.
The fist seemingly landed at Kiernan's face, but then it just phased through as if he was a ghost.
Bernard's eyes widened, then he saw Kiernan weave his upper body to dodge the rest of his arm, and then hook punched him in the stomach.
The punch rocked his organs, and brought the food he ate back to the surface.
This was Kiernan fighting at his full strength. It was something that even took the retired fighter Bernard by great surprise.
While he was Martial Grandmaster, his true strength might've become much lower by now. He hadn't properly fought in years, and even his training days had become lesser, and lesser.