Martial Arts Worlds

The heat wave came and stayed for weeks, causing record-breaking temperatures. It was a hard few weeks for the national participants, having to train under such extreme conditions.

However, the weeks still passed by, and soon, the last night before the nationals opening ceremony arrived.

The training village had turned quiet as everyone had retreated into their cottages to do the final preparations before the weekend of the nationals.

"And… checkmate!"

Jonathan shouted, triumphantly slamming his hand down on the chessboard. He checkmated his opponent after a long and hard-fought battle.

"Shit…"

Dominic gritted his teeth and flicked his pawns in resignation.

"I am dying…" Experience new stories on My Virtual Library Empire

Julian lay under the spinning fan, feeling the cool breeze on his skin as he closed his eyes and succumbed to the overwhelming heat of the room.

His knees were wrapped with ice bags as they had just finished a three-hour-long training session. It was the most intense workout he had ever experienced.

"Mmh…"

Julia wiped the sweat off her forehead and took a long sip of water from her bottle. She was sweating so much that the water was pouring down her face in streams.

Knock! Knock!

At that moment, someone knocked on their door.

"Julian, go open the door…"

Dominic said lazily while retreating to the couch.

"Why me? You go open it."

Julian said, too lazy to move even a meter away from the spinning fan. He was afraid that he would melt down if he got any closer to the scorching sun outside.

"Just a little heat, and all of you are acting like you're dying…"

Coach Jin arrived from upstairs and walked to the door. Despite him saying that, he also looked like his face was melting from the intense heat.

He was sweating buckets as he made his way to the door.

After opening the door, he saw two sweating officials standing outside in the heat. They were carrying some papers, and one of them was fanning himself with a notebook.

"Is this Karuza High? We've come to tell you about your first opponent in the nationals and more about the opening ceremony."

"Ah, please come in."

Coach Jin let them in, and after the officials entered the cottage, the rest of Karuza High sat up straight, eager to hear about their first opponent.

"First of all, let's talk about the opening ceremony. The top ten ranked schools in the nation are participating in the opening ceremony. You all will be introduced, and the ace of your school will carry the flag of your school to the stage.

"Who will you name as your ace?"

"Kiernan Hunter."

Coach Jin said.

He didn't even have to think twice about it.

"Who is he…?"

The officials looked around the cottage, trying to figure out who Kiernan Hunter was.

"He is currently outside, but I can relay the information to him."

Coach Jin said.

Kiernan had left for a swim because of the intense heat. It had become his nightly ritual by now to cool off in the lake before bed.

"Alright. He must join us for the opening ceremony, where he'll receive the flag of Karuza High, and there he'll receive some instructions as well."

Coach Jin nodded.

It felt unreal that their school was actually part of the opening ceremony. It was the first time for their school, but in the school rankings, they were in sixth place, so it made sense for them to participate.

"Now, the first opponent in the round of 256 is… Kaleidos High!"

"Hmm?"

Others looked confused as they had never heard of that school before.

"Haha, as the sixth seed of the tournament, you'll be facing a school that is among the bottom seeds."

The official said with a wry smile.

He realized that it must've been the first time for Karuza High to start the tournament against a much weaker school.

The first round of the nationals was often randomized, but the top seeds were still manually put against weaker seeded schools.

They wouldn't want two winning contenders to accidentally battle it out in the first round. Instead, they saved those matchups for later rounds.

Last year, Karuza High dodged a bullet and avoided a powerful school in the first round, but sometimes, the representatives of Irio had gotten unlucky and had fought a winning contender in the first round.

Of course, Irio's representatives lost whenever they were facing a winning contender.

Five years ago, Irio High happened to encounter Tiamut High in the first round. In that nationals, Tiamut High ended up going all the way and won the nationals.

"Tomorrow, you'll start heading over to Tiamut. The opening ceremony will start later that day, and then the day after that, the nationals will start.

"Round of 256, Round of 128, and Round of 64 will be the first day program. Round of 32, Round of 16, and Quarterfinals will be the second day.

"Semifinals and finals will be the third and final day."

The official said, and then after sharing some more information about the tournament, they headed out to go check out other cottages and share the news about their first matchup.

'This could be it. We might be able to reach the third day for the first time in Karuza High's history…'

Coach Jin clenched his hands into fists.

…

Kaleidos High cottage.

"…"

They had just received news about their first match in the nationals, and it was very somber news.

It completely ruined their excitement.

About thirty minutes ago, they could barely sit still knowing that the opening ceremony was tomorrow, and then the nationals started.

While their school was weak and wouldn't make it that far, they were still hoping to fight against school that was close to their strength, and maybe make it to the second round.

However, after receiving their matchup, they realized that it wasn't possible anymore.

"We're up against a winning contender. Not just any winning contender, but against that guy…"

They all cried crocodile tears, knowing that their chances of advancing were slim to none.

"Uhm…"

The coach opened his mouth but then closed it immediately after. There was nothing he could say that would make the players feel better about facing such a formidable opponent.

'Well, there is always next year…'