Kiernan fiddled with his phone while sitting in the changing room with the rest of Karuza High's members. After their match ended, they returned to their personal changing room to wait for their next matches.
"Yes, yes, thank you." Jin spoke on the phone and nodded constantly. Then the call ended, and he turned to Kiernan. "Principal told me to say that good job; you did excellent."
"Mm." Kiernan nodded and moved his thumb across his phone's screen.
"What're you looking at, anyway?" Nath asked, trying to peek at his phone screen.
"I am learning more about the world." Kiernan said and with a press of a button, the phone turned dark. "Did you know that there are martial artists that have lived several hundred years and have gone to seclusion in some random mountains?"
"Yeah, I have heard about it." Nath said. "If one becomes strong enough, their powerful Martial Souls can extend their lives. Some go to seclusion to find a way to advance their souls even further so their lifespan can be extended even further."
"Martial Grandmaster is the last rank that is within human limits." Jin said. "Beyond that, they are in the territory of gods. Their lifespans also increase with each advancement."
Jin quickly checked out his phone and saw something that made his eyes round up.
"Our next matchup has been updated." Jin said, causing others to tense up.
"Well, who is it?" Nath anxiously asked after seeing the coach being eerily quiet.
"I should've expected this…" Jin scratched his head with a sigh. "Because of our poor performance in the previous tournaments, our seeding for the tournament was quite bad.
"While the round of 256 was randomized, the next round—the round of 128—takes the seeding into account while deciding the matches. Our opponent is seed 10."
"Seed 10?!" Others cried out.
"That's a team that can contend for a quarterfinal spot!"
"Yeah…" Jin closed the phone and said, "Our opponents are Raimei High."
"Raimei… Raimei… Raimei…" Timothy repeated the name constantly and then exclaimed. "They just won the Summer Invitationals!"
Summer Invitationals—a tournament held in the summer with eight invited teams. It was the last tournament before the nationals. It didn't have as much prestige as nationals, but it was still highly competitive.
It didn't have teams like Tiamut and other top teams—the invited teams were around 8–32 seeds.
Thus, Raimei managing to win it was still very impressive.
"This will be the biggest hurdle of today." Jin said with a serious look. "One thing is for sure: no one expects us to win this. That's why we'll do the biggest upset of the tournament and win!"
"What's the plan, coach?" Ryan asked.
"We'll focus on the fact that they will be underestimating us." Jin said. "They've probably already heard about Kiernan. They will be cautious of him, but you two, they aren't expecting much, no offense."
"Ouch." Nath laughed. "Well, that ain't wrong, I guess."
"How strong are their fighters?" Kiernan asked.
"All three of them are Martial Fighters."
Hearing that, Klaus and others breathed in cold air. It was a frightening line up.
"Their strongest fighter should have reached Middle Stage Martial Fighter by now." Jin added.
'If I manage to defeat them all, I will level up…' Kiernan scratched his chin.
The reason why he fought Seisen all by himself was because one thing—experience points—it pushed him closer and closer to level 4.
He only needed 130 more experience points to level up. He believed that if they made it through the day, he would reach level 4 and be even more powerful for tomorrow's matches.
'I already said that I will listen to whatever the coach decides to do.' Kiernan thought to himself. 'However, I don't see Nath and Ryan defeating any of them if they are Martial Fighters.'
"We'll start with Nath." Jin said. "Use your Triple Technique and try to push your opponent off the ring. You planned to master it during the training camp, did you?"
"I did," Nath said proudly. It was one of his goals for the training camp, and he managed to accomplish it.
His Triple Technique was now flawless!
"The second fighter will be Ryan."
"Your only goal is to injure your opponent as much as possible, like you did with Kang. The rest will be up to Kiernan. It will be extremely tough, but as long as you guys get one of the opponents down, it will be considered a successful plan."
"I am sorry, guys." Ryan leaned against the locker with a heavy look. "I should've reached Martial Fighter."
'Martial Soul is ruthless,' Jin thought to himself. 'Ryan has the talent to reach Martial Fighter, but Martial Soul never allows a desperate man to advance.'
Raimei High's changing room.
"Our next opponents are Karuza High." The coach combed his hair carefreely while looking at himself in the mirror.
He looked pretty average, and there were a few bald spots in his head, which he was trying to hide with a comb-over.
"They are a very average school." The coach said: "However, they defeated Seisen High School, and they had Martial Fighter. It seems like Karuza High has gotten their hands on a secret weapon.
"We don't know much about this Kiernan kid, but he is Low Stage Martial Fighter, at least. The other two are merely Martial Soldiers. This should be an easy victory."
"Roger~" Arthan said while playing music from his phone, seeming very relaxed.
He had light green hair and a matching set of emerald green eyes. With the body of a dancer and the face of a model, he was the perfect image of grace and beauty. It was easy to mistake him for a woman.
However, his ears were adorned with a collection of piercings that gave him an edgier look. Also, his voice, deep and resonant, immediately dispelled any doubts.
He was the ace of Raimei High—Arthan Mercury, Middle Stage Martial Fighter.
"Yawn~" Kalen let out a yawn. He was the second fighter of Raimei High, with a collection of sword tattoos on his arms that counted the number of his defeated opponents.
In total, there must be close to two hundred small sword tattoos—it made his arms look like the scales of a mighty dragon.
With his rank Low Stage Martial Fighter, he was already a top class fighter in his high school circle, but his true strength was rumored to have reached Middle Stage.
"Agh, my stomach." The last member, Kornelius, left the resting room while holding his stomach. He was having food poisoning.
With his brown hair, normal round face, and bright blue eyes, he looked like someone you would see in the streets on a daily basis. However, he belonged to a very wealthy family—Ashworth Family.
Ashworth Family had been living in New Rakuya since the country's creation. They were one of the richest families in the country. That's why Kornelius has had the privilege of having the country's best coaches and nutritionists provide for him ever since his childhood.
With all that, he finally managed to become Low Stage Martial Fighter. It wasn't all because of his family; he also had decent talent and a strong work ethic that helped him reach his current level.
Beep, deep—a sound came from the intercom.
The coach stopped combing his hair and said, "It's time. We'll win, as we, Raimei High, will always do."
With the insignia of thunder on their jerseys's backs, the members of Raimei High left their changing room. Their jerseys were black in color, with blue thunder on their backs. They looked mighty and dangerous.
Whenever one of the audience members saw the match up, they were certain about one thing—Raimei High was going to dominate.
The round of 128—match 12—Karuza High Vs. Raimei High.