Klaus and Timothy had the front seats at the stadium and then saw Nathaniel join them, sitting right next to them.
"Nath, who do you think will win?" Timothy asked.
"The answer is pretty obvious." Nathaniel said with a wry smile. "Kiernan."
"Oh? You and Ryan are best friends, so I thought you would cheer for him." Timothy said.
"I do cheer for him, but…" Nathaniel shook his head. "Kiernan is above our league."
"The match is starting!" Klaus excitedly said.
When Azer swung his arm down, Ryan immediately exploded off the ground like a cheetah and vanished from everyone's eyes.
Kiernan punched ahead and placed his fist in front of him.
"Kiernan is anticipating Super Acceleration!" Timothy cried out.
"Does he think Ryan will do that move? Why?" Klaus frowned. "I would expect Ryan to avoid Super Acceleration because of what happened last time!"
Nathaniel's eyes widened in shock.
At that moment, Ryan smashed into Kiernan's fist, flew backwards like a ragdoll, and crashed into the ring with a bleeding nose.
The crowd was shocked and quiet for a moment before erupting in cheers.
"W-what the hell?" Azer looked at Kiernan as if he were a monster. 'He read Ryan's intention that perfectly?'
"Argh!" Ryan climbed to his feet with a heavily injured look on his face.
His legs were trembling, but they weren't bruised and swollen like during his time at nationals.
He'd increased his stamina and durability of his body; therefore, he was now able to do a couple of those super moves before his body gave up!
'He read me like a book!' Ryan gritted his teeth. 'I thought about what I would do in the match for the whole night. I planned my moves. Yet, he immediately knew my thought process…'
At the top row of the audience, Jin watched with his arms crossed and smiled slightly.
'Kiernan is a genius.
'Ryan's plan was to throw Super Acceleration immediately. An ordinary person would think that he would avoid that because of what happened at the training match.
'An ordinary person would think that Ryan would be scared to use Super Acceleration because he lost because of that previous time.
'However, Kiernan isn't an ordinary person!'
"Your thought process was too simple." Kiernan said and approached Ryan slowly.
"If Super Acceleration gets crossed out, you will only have Super Jump and Super Tackle.
"Super Tackle is worthless since that is only good to push me off the ring, and while Super Jump is powerful, it would be the most obvious choice, so I knew you wouldn't use it.
"Thus, Super Acceleration was the only logical decision."
"I see…" Ryan wiped the blood off his lips. "How foolish of me."
"How're your legs?" Kiernan asked. "I hope you didn't put all your cards into that move."
"Of course not!" Ryan lunged forward, and with his clenched fists, he started throwing punches.
"Rendering Edge!" Kiernan moved his hands and started redirecting the punches away.
The tall fortress stood in Ryan's path!
No matter how many punches he threw or how fast they were, Kiernan effortlessly redirected and slapped them away with ease.
"What is Ryan doing?" Klaus grabbed the back of his head. "He can't defeat the rock-solid defense!"
"Ryan knows that better than anyone!" Nathaniel said. "He must have a plan!"
However, Ryan stayed silent like a mute and just kept throwing punches. It was clear to anyone watching that it was a worthless attempt.
But his eyes stayed wide, and it looked like he was focusing on something.
"…" Kiernan narrowed his eyes and launched a low kick that slammed against Ryan's thigh.
When the audience heard that sound, they all flinched.
"Argh!" Ryan coughed in pain.
"Iron Smash!" Kiernan punched him in the face and sent him sliding back.
Without stopping, he chased after him and launched his random trajectory punches!
The punches came and landed across Ryan's body. He hid himself behind his block, but the force of Kiernan's punches was overwhelming, and he was pushed to the edge of the ring.
"I know you were planning something!" Kiernan said while throwing his punches. "Don't think that I've forgotten that you are Natural Fighter. I've studied about your kind, you see, and I know you guys are monsters of learning!"
"?!" Ryan's eyes widened in shock.
"You were trying to learn my Rendering Edge's pattern, weren't you? I won't underestimate you, Natural Fighters!"
'I see…' Ryan smiled. 'I'm glad. I truly am. You've grown more powerful… so powerful that I don't see the end of it.'
He felt like he was drowning, falling deep into the ocean's murky depths, but when he thought he finally reached the bottom, the ground split open and showed that the ocean was much deeper.
This was how it felt fighting Kiernan.
When everyone thought that they finally knew his real strength, he would always reveal another layer of power that no one had seen before.
"Haa!" Ryan reeled in his fist and punched forward.
The punch headed towards Kiernan's face!
However, Kiernan ducked under the punch and slammed his elbow into Ryan's stomach, then followed with a backhand strike to Ryan's jaw.
The double hits forced Ryan to the edge of the ring.
"Ah…" Ryan's eyes shook as his brain rattled inside his skull.
He felt himself falling backwards off the ring but couldn't do anything to stop it.
'No!' Ryan pulled back his body with a loud scream and balanced his body before he fell off.
He placed his hand on the ground and did a sweeping kick that swept Kiernan's legs out from under him, making him fall towards the ground.
"?" Kiernan placed his hands on the ground to stop his fall, but then Ryan slammed his feet into his chest and sent him sliding across the ring.
Kiernan, after sliding for a couple of meters, jumped back to his feet and patted the dust off his shirt.
"Hiyah!" Ryan yelled, flipped over, and did a handstand before launching the storm of kicks.
Kiernan used his forearms to block the flurry of kicks, but then Ryan flipped back to his feet, wrapped his legs around Kiernan's legs and brought him down to the ground with a loud thud.
"Haaa!" Ryan chopped his hand down towards Kiernan's neck, but he quickly rolled out of the way and jumped back to his feet.
The audience felt heated and started cheering loudly.
They thought that the fight was already over, but it looked like Ryan found new fire within him!
"What are these random moves from Ryan?" Klaus asked with a frown. "He has never fought before."