Martial Arts Worlds-Chapter 324: Body Manipulation

"I-I feel the lightning coursing through my hair!"

The referee stood at the sidelines, his hair all spiky and crackling with lightning.

While he wasn't directly struck by the lightning, it still left a mark on the referee as he happened to stand rather close to the stage.

CRACKLE~

At that moment, his earpiece crackled like lightning, making him flinch, thinking that another lightning bolt was about to come.

However, then he heard his boss's enraged voice.

"Stop daydreaming and go check on Zachary!"

The referee apologized to the earpiece, then climbed up to the fighting stage and looked at the smoking Zachary, who was lying flat on his stomach.

It was unclear whether he was even alive.

"1!"

Without further ado, he started the countdown.

"Whoo…"

Kiernan let out a long sigh, moved back to his idling stance, and then looked down at his wounds, which were burned close.

While he was struck by the lightning and harnessed it, he used its destructive power to close his wounds by cauterizing them.

Therefore, he didn't need to use Tight Binding anymore!

'I don't think anyone can stand up after getting hit by Lightning Rox.'

Kiernan thought to himself and listened silently at the countdown.

"Yes!"

Cheers resounded from Karuza High's bench.

'How do you do that?'

Julian's eyes shook, and his faith in his Metal Style started cracking. It felt like his style was like a cheap copy.

Deep inside him, his martial soul shook as if it was about to fall.

"Calm yourself."

Sabbath firmly patted Julian on the shoulder and looked into his eyes, knowing exactly what he was thinking about.

"I…"

Julian said, but then stopped himself before looking away in embarrassment.

"Your style is still a baby. Don't think even for a moment that you've surpassed Kiernan's Iron Style. That takes time."

Sabbath said with a serious tone.

"Yeah, I know…"

Julian whispered.

"5!"

The referee had already reached five in the countdown, and everyone in the stadium was getting ready to celebrate Karuza High's victory.

It seemed impossible for anyone to keep standing after getting hit by that destructive lightning bolt!

"…"

Alabaster fumed inside like a raging volcano, and finally, he took his hands out of his pockets and looked straight at Zachary.

This content is taken from freёnovelkiss.com.

'Accelerated Healing!'

"7!"

The referee shouted.

At that moment, they heard a pained moan, and like a badly wounded warrior, Zachary stood up with a brown-tinted skin that was caused by the lightning.

"?!"

The referee's eyes widened in shock.

"Huh?"

Kiernan frowned, and without wasting any time, moved back to his attacking stance. However, he didn't attack, as the fight hadn't resumed just yet.

"Unbelievable! Zachary is back on his feet! Just how durable is that young man?"

The commentators and the crowd couldn't believe their eyes.

'Did the Bulwark Form protect him?'

Kiernan thought to himself with a frown.

While no one was able to understand how Zachary was able to stand, one person was able to see through the weirdness of the situation.

'Martial Ability.'

Sabbath looked coldly in Alabaster's direction.

Alabaster, of course, noticed his gaze, but he didn't care that he was discovered by Sabbath.

'My Martial Ability—Body Manipulation—is a special-type martial ability that allows me to manipulate my own and others bodies at will.

'However, it only allows me to do one manipulation at a time. Therefore, when I calmed Zachary's emotions, I couldn't do anything else.

'Since his emotions have already calmed down, and I don't need to use it anymore on him, I used Accelerated Healing to speed up his healing process, and it seems to work wonders.'

Those burned wounds quickly disappeared under a new layer of flesh, and as if he hadn't even been hit by lightning, Zachary looked brand new.

"I don't know what happened, but you sure are full of tricks."

Zachary cracked his knuckles and then flexed his muscles, showing off his newly healed body.

'How come he is all healed up now? Did he chug a healing potion while no one was watching, or what? Or…'

Kiernan threw a glance in Alabaster's direction and smirked in ridicule.

Sensing the gaze, Alabaster looked back at him and saw that ridicule-filled smirk. It irked him to no end, but he knew better than to react and give Kiernan the satisfaction of getting a rise out of him.

"Continue the fight!"

The referee swung his arm down and leaped off the fighting stage.

"Throw one more lightning, I dare you."

Zachary said sternly and looked towards the sky, where the dark clouds were moving away to a different location.

'Well, shit…'

Kiernan thought to himself.

This was it.

He had used all his plans, as he didn't really believe that Zachary would make it through everything he had thrown against him.

Therefore, from now on, he had to improvise!

'You want to smirk at me? What about this?'

Alabaster thought to himself and then stopped using Accelerated Healing on Zachary, as he was already healed enough.

Then, he turned his dark eyes towards Kiernan, and with a smirk forming on his face, used his Body Manipulation ability.

'Blindness.'

While waiting for Zachary to make the first move, Kiernan blinked once, and when he opened his eyes once more, everything was dark as if someone had turned the lights off.

'Dark? Did the lights on the stadium go off?'

His gray eyes turned white like milk, and he kept blinking, but there was simply nothing he could see.

'My eyes would've adjusted to the darkness already if that was the case. I can't believe it, but I guess I've just turned blind.

'This is Alabaster's power, huh? Able to control our bodily functions as he wishes?'

Kiernan moved out of his attacking stance, and even though he was unable to see anything, he still moved perfectly into his defensive stance.

He didn't need to see to be able to use his stances and techniques. They were carved into his body and mind through years of training and practice.

His ears then perked up, and he focused all his attention on Zachary's footsteps, which was hard because of the screaming crowd.

However faintly, he was able to make out the distinct sound of Zachary's footsteps approaching.