Martial Arts Worlds
Chapter 491 - 491: This Is Not The End of Zachary Lokiah

Irio, Hunter's Residence.

"That was a good showing. He is in fricking third place. That's insane!"

Julian said excitedly and pulled out the phone from his pocket.

He was really excited to see the social media's reaction—more importantly, New Rakuya's reaction to his success.

"Yes… Indeed."

Karma said, and then felt the phone buzz in his pockets—he was receiving a lot of congratulatory messages and calls.

"I'll go take a call."

Karma said and went to the kitchen to answer some calls from his friends and coworkers—he also received some from Kiernan's classmates parents.

Julian scrolled through the social media and just smirked to himself.

[Daabo: New Rakuya is third! What the hell is happening? I know that Kiernan is an amazingly talented individual, but holy shit, what did he eat for breakfast?!]

[MellieBellie: I have probably never screamed as loud as I did in that final minute of the event!]

[RazerDazer: While the top 2 places are far in the distance, Kiernan might actually have a chance at the podium at this rate. There are still a lot of events left, but top 10 is definitely more than possible!]

Julian then checked some global social media accounts to get a sense of what everyone was saying about the event, and they were really curious about Kiernan.

It was rare that a tier 4 representative was doing so well, but they all believed that he would drop positions in the next couple of events.

"They really don't know Kiernan well, but I am not surprised. The first event was just a warm-up for him to shake off the nerves.

"And now he will start truly performing."

…

Irio, Karuza Household.

"Yes… yes… thank you."

Azer said to the phone, and then the call ended, and he walked back to the living room—his family was seated around the table, watching the conclusion of the broadcast.

"Who was it, honey?"

Juliette asked from the sofa—she was sitting cross-legged and was braiding her daughter's hair into a fishtail braid.

Julia looked over, a bit of flushed excitement coloring her cheeks, as they just finished watching the first event.

It was amazing, and their whole family was screaming during the final minute—she truly felt happy that Kiernan did well, as she knew that he must've been nervous during it all, and so was her father.

"Grand President actually called me… He gave me his congratulations."

Azer said with a deep sigh and plopped down on the sofa.

"The Grand President personally called you? What an honor that is."

Juliette said in surprise.

"Yes, but… I don't think I really deserve that praise. I didn't teach Kiernan one bit. I suppose that honor belongs to his father, Karma."

Azer said.

"I am getting quite worried at this rate. Kiernan was wearing Karuza High's jersey, so our school is becoming a globally recognized school.

"And Kiernan will graduate at the end of this year. It isn't easy to live up to the reputation that Kiernan made the school known for."

Juliette said with a serious tone.

"Yes, indeed. Our school's future success will depend on the students who follow in his footsteps."

Azer said.

…

Beep! Beep! Beep!

A machine in a small hospital room beeped—the life signal looked to be normal—and the nurse closed the curtains before exiting the room.

"…Mh."

In the hospital bed, snuggled under a thick blanket, and with wires attached to his chest, the patient let out a soft groan of discomfort.

Zachary blinked his eyes open and looked towards the wall-mounted television—he was on pain medication, but it barely helped.

On the television, he just finished watching the Junior Martial Arts Championship—it brought him more pain than anything else could.

He was supposed to be there, representing New Rakuya, and being praised by everyone.

"…Yeah…"

"…It's Unbelievable."

"…New Rakuya… Kiernan…"

He heard the nurses speak in the hallway and heard them sing all sorts of praises about Kiernan—it made him almost scream.

"…I should be there. Argh! Shit, shit, shit! Why did Master abandon me…? If he had just given me more pills… I am sure that I could've beaten Kiernan…

"I would've… gone to Irio to challenge him for a rematch… and I would've won since I would've known all his stupid tricks…

"However, he left and abandoned me… Shit!"

Zachary gritted his teeth hatefully and pressed the pain medication button—it wasn't working—it hadn't been a whole hour since he had last taken a dose.

"Fuckers. All of them!"

Zachary removed all the wires from his body, the machine showed flatlining, and he stumbled to his feet in a daze.

The pain rocked his body like a tsunami, and he puked in front of him—it was mostly liquids, but chunks of semi-digested food were scattered throughout.

"Aaargh!"

The door opened, and the nurses came rushing in.

"What're you doing?! Go back to the bed!"

Zachary pushed them aside with a feeble strength, and then nurses dragged him back to the bed with surprising strength and pushed him down onto the mattress.

"Who… do you guys think you are? I am Zachary Lokiah!"

He screamed, but to destroy his pride even further, he couldn't overpower even one of the nurses—they had their martial soul strength while he didn't anymore.

Thus, he couldn't even beat non-martial artists.

"Get him sedated!"

A nurse came with a syringe, pumped it full of a sedative, and plunged it into his arm.

"Ah…"

Zachary's eyes closed, and he stopped moving.

"Huff… I can't believe we have to keep treating him. Isn't he a criminal? He is an abuser of Power Drugs, after all."

"You can't say such things… It is our duty to treat those who need it."

"I know, but… I am just happy that Kiernan beat him. Imagine if we had a Power Drug abuser competing in the championship, and that got discovered.

"The reputation of our country would've been in ruins, and we might never become tier 3 because of it."

While they thought that Zachary was completely out of it, he was actually conscious for a couple more seconds, so he heard it all.

'I'll… show… you all… This is not the end of Zachary Lokiah!'

Within the depths of his body, where the destroyed martial soul floated in the darkness, something appeared in the midst of the destroyed soul.

It was a small, dark purple crystal—it was beating like a heart—and it was slowly becoming bigger.