"Haha, as I expected, he is just going to run away until they change back to Cleo!"

Della said with a giggle.

"…"

Lumian stood silently, his brows furrowed, and there was something strange that he just saw.

Something strange indeed.

It was Jock's stance. A deeply rooted stance.

'Iron Style stance? How does he know that?'

Lumian thought with a deep frown.

He was a huge fan of Kiernan ever since the tournament against Animal Kingdom. After that, he checked every fight video available of him on the internet.

He checked all of his national matches in New Rakuya, and he even took part in Kiernan's fan club over on social media.

There were all kinds of analysis videos of Kiernan over in the fan club.

About his techniques mostly, but Lumian noticed that there wasn't anything about his stance itself, and he himself made one video about that.

When he checked his fight videos, he noticed that Kiernan specialized in two stances. One where he used Rendering Edge mostly, and the other where he relied heavily on his attacking prowess.

There wasn't much information about his attacking stance, as he really didn't use it much, but he made one video about his defending stance.

He realized that stance helped Kiernan to defend with minimal movement while leaving zero weaknesses in his defense.

It was a perfect stance.

Lumian showed his father the stance to make some improvements to the Ok family stance, but his father shut him down.

It was because his father thought that Iron Style's defensive stance wasn't good because of the heavy emphasis on defense.

Ok Family style was very offensive-oriented. It was a complete mismatch.

'Why does he know that style? Could it be…'

Lumian's eyes shook.

A little bit ago, he found out that Kiernan was here, in Montrael, and felt very excited to meet his hero in the flesh.

However, he had heard that he started his very own dojo. He thought it was interesting.

Lumian wanted to go get a few lessons, but he knew that his father would never allow it, so he never dared to go seek the Martial Redemption dojo.

He was a familiar face in Montrael, and if his father found out that he went to look for that dojo, he would be in trouble.

'Is Jock really Kiernan's student? Unbelievable…'

Lumian's heart started beating hard against his chest, and his hands turned into a tight fist.

He didn't want Jock to lose. This was the Iron Style they were talking about. It would be heartbreaking to see someone lose while using that style.

Mercilessly, Oritori chased after Jock, and his punch slipped past Jock's guard, grazing his shoulder and leaving an ugly bruise.

"Ouch!"

Jock stumbled to the side. He lost the feeling in his left shoulder.

'This stance is not working! His punches are just too savage and fast. What the hell am I supposed to do?'

He thought with a panic, and then, more of Oritori's punches came in his way, and he just jumped out of the way.

It looked very awkward, as Jock was clearly just doing everything in his power to not get hurt.

"Huff… You… can do it, Jock!"

Cleo shouted, grabbing her hips with her hands, trying to catch her breath.

'Should I try fighting back? Or should I just keep running and exhaust Oritori? '

Jock thought, and at this point, he had completely abandoned the Iron Style stance as he was just running away like a frightened rabbit.

The crowd were scratching their heads, shouting for him to do something.

Cleo's parents didn't look happy. Jock's parents were nervously clenching their hands, just hoping that he wouldn't lose now.

'What to do…'

Jock was on the verge of tears, his body heating up in embarrassment, as he knew that he was making a mockery of himself.

It was exactly what he wanted to avoid.

In that moment, something resurfaced in his mind.

…

Yesterday, during the orange evening.

"Haah! Huff! Haah!"

Jock lay on his back, the harsh stone yard under him, his chest heaving as he was slowly recovering from the tough sparring session.

Kiernan sat at the steps, looking completely fine, smirking at Jock's struggle. It made him remember his early days of doing martial arts.

Those days' memories had become quite hazy lately, but teaching Jock made him remember those days again.

It was really hard days back then.

"I-I have a question, master."

Jock panted on the ground.

"What is it?"

Kiernan asked.

"…If I completely freeze up in the match and start panicking, what should I do? I can't imagine myself keeping a clear head.

"I haven't fought before, and I am instantly thrown into a quite nervous situation.

"Even now, my heart is beating hard, thinking about tomorrow."

Jock said with a troubled look.

"Haha."

Kiernan chuckled, took a grass blade from the ground, and placed it between his lips, pretending to smoke.

"I think it will be fine. When the match starts, your heart will start beating hard, and the adrenaline will kick in."

"What if it doesn't?"

Jock asked.

"Punch yourself in the face. A proper smack to the cheek. That should do the trick."

Kiernan said.

"…Hmm. Do I have any chance of victory?"

Jock asked.

"It is a team competition. I don't think you can win against any of your classmates, but I believe I can teach you not to lose."

Kiernan said with a chuckle.

"Master, aren't you supposed to cheer me on? Why are you saying that I cannot win?"

Jock asked with a pout.

"I am an honest master. Remember, you do not have to fear your classmates. You have low self-esteem. I can't fix that.

"You need to fix it yourself."

…

At the present time.

"Shit!"

Jock swung his fist, but instead of it going anywhere near Oritori, he landed it at his own cheek, pushing his head to the side.

The stinging pain shot through his face. It woke him back up.

"Huff!"

Jock raised his hands, slid his front foot forward, and rooted his stance deep into the concrete ground of the ring.

Iron Style stance was back in the action!

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