There was something different about Jock now.

He wasn't flinching anymore. His eyes looked cool as steel. He had a confidence in his stance that was impossible to miss.

With a sharp right hook, Oritori's punch came like a bolt of lightning, and his eyes kept brightening after seeing that Jock wasn't backing away now.

'Is he done hearing all those chuckles and laughter from the crowd? A stupid decision. This will end the match!'

"Argh!"

Jock swiped his right arm against Oritori's wrist—it smacked his punching arm away—the flesh-smacking sound reverberated through the room.

It was a successful parry! It shocked everyone watching! It was the first thing Jock did in the match that didn't end up in his loss!

While it quite wasn't like Rendering Edge's defensive style, it looked rather similar and was basically the basic version of it.

Jock could feel it.

Iron Style stance was guiding him on what to do. It was leading his movements, as if there was a puppet master pulling his strings, hovering above him like a godly being.

Oritori clicked his tongue, and without even second passing from the moment his attack got parried, he pushed on.

His fists came down at him like a sideways rain, and Jock responded with his iron wall defense, his arms slicing through the air like swords.

Parry! Parry! Parry! Parry! Parry!

Oritori's punches got smacked out of the air like flies. It even hurt him. He staggered back, a look of shock on his face.

'Attack…?'

Jock leaned slightly forward, turning his stance into Iron Style's attacking stance, but in that moment, he stopped.

The strings were pulling him back to a defensive stance.

'No… If I attacked, I would lose. I am not here to win my match-up. I am here not to lose.'

Jock calmed himself down, steeled his emotions, and rooted himself back in the defensive stance.

He knew what he had to do.

"Haha…"

Lumian's lips curled into a smile, and he almost clapped.

It was just such a beautiful sight to him. That defense was masterful. Even he wouldn't be able to break through that.

"Ah…"

Cleo looked amazed.

The crowd had quieted down, looking at the nerdy-looking kid in disbelief, as they never expected him to do anything against Oritori.

'Are you having fun, Jock?'

Kiernan thought to himself, the hood hiding his slightly growing smile, and it made him happy to see his style used in a match like this.

He had never watched anyone use Iron Style from a spectator standpoint. It really looked amazing, and he was proud of that.

Oritori tried breaking Jock's defense. He changed into hit-and-run tactics with long-range kicks and tried attacking from different angles.

It all failed as Jock's defense shut down his attempt to attack, and Oritori was just exhausting himself.

"Huff… Haah… Ooh…"

With a warm sweat trickling down his back, Oritori was struggling to keep up the pace against Jock's impenetrable defense.

"Come on, Oritori, be smart about it!"

Noa shouted angrily.

It angered her to see him so desperately trying to break that defense. He was just hoping to get a lucky hit at this point.

It was really bad to rely on hope like this!

"Attack, Jock! He is exhausted!"

"Yeah, it is the perfect opportunity!"

"Go defeat him!"

The crowd tried cheering him on.

However, Jock didn't take the bait.

It made the crowd confused as to why he wasn't taking the best advantage of the opportunity presented.

"T-That is good. I am soon ready."

Cleo said with a smile.

She didn't keep her voice low so that Oritori was able to hear her. It made his expression change drastically.

'I can't keep recovering my breath any longer. I must defeat him now!'

Oritori gritted his teeth and pounced forward.

He had tried punching and kicking. It wasn't going to work. Thus, he tried something else, and that was tackling!

If he were able to throw him to the ground, he could just choke him out even if he were an amateur in ground fighting.

He doubted that Jock knew any better than him how to grapple, and their physical difference should benefit Oritori more!

'A tackle…'

Jock's eyes shook.

…

Yesterday, very late in the day.

"I have learned one thing from thousands of the matches that I have participated in: whenever my opponents became desperate.

"Whenever their punches and kicks failed, they always came to one conclusion. To attack my legs, to disturb my stance, and to try to take me to the ground.

"It was a common occurrence during my early days as a martial artist.

"It worked. I'll be completely honest. Whenever I was taken to the ground, they just smothered me with their weight until I was exhausted and unable to escape.

"It forced me to learn grappling and a way to avoid takedowns. I'll teach you that now."

Kiernan said.

"It is pretty late…"

Jock said, looking as if the sun was already gone from the sky, and only the moon hung in the starry skies above.

"It will be quick."

Kiernan said, told him to take the stance, and Jock listened, rooting himself in the defensive stance.

In that moment, Kiernan spread his arms wide and lunged low and straight for Jock's legs. He didn't move.

Kiernan stopped before tackling his legs, looked up into his eyes, and said.

"What should you do in this situation?"

"Uh… Jump aside?"

Jock asked awkwardly, just guessing.

"No. In this situation, there is only one thing to do. I haven't taught you to attack, as I just want you to not lose in your match.

"However, in this situation, you can do a defensive attack."

Kiernan grabbed Jock's knee and lifted it close to his forehead.

"In this situation, you knee-kick me in the head. Knock the lights out of me. Don't hold back, and just give it your all!"

He shouted.

"What if I miss?"

Jock asked nervously.

"Don't miss."

Kiernan said.

…

In the present time.

With Oritori's powerful launch, he neared his legs. The crowd gasped in anticipation. It looked like a really dangerous situation for Jock.

He was going for a leg tackle!

In that moment, Jock gritted his teeth and brought his knee up.

"Iron Style, Knee Strike!"

The knee smashed into Oritori's nose, crushed it under the knee's force, and sent his head flying back with a bloody splatter.

Oritori's eyes rolled back into his head, and he collapsed to the ground unconscious.

The gymnasium turned silent.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.