SHATTERING BONES

"How dare you—"

I punched a Hua Shan disciple square in the nose as he rushed towards me, wanting revenge for his friends.

"Don't think you'll—"

I kicked one in the stomach then immediately followed that with a left cross so powerful that I saw his pupil bouncing back and forth like a game of ping pong.

"Goddamn Mount Hua—"

Dodged her kick then I hit her with a quick three-piece combo that had her faint standing up before eventually collapsing.

"No! Sis—"

I grabbed the spear by the wooden pole and pulled it out of his hands. Off-balance, he didn't even see as an uppercut knocked him out.

Why does everyone have to announce their presence before attacking me?

This wasn't unique to the Hua Shan disciples. Even the Mount Hua disciples had to speak during their attacks. I could hear conversations going on throughout the entire stage.

If y'all could just keep your mouths shut, the likelihood of you winning a fight would skyrocket.

The only people allowed to be talking while fighting were people who were so much more powerful compared to their opponents that even their being distracted with their own conversation wouldn't make a difference.

Other than the few powerful disciples I saw in the background as I was wiping out Hua Shan Sect members left and right, the right to speak didn't apply to anyone here.

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"Hey, buddy. I see you're attacking no one other than my fellow disciples," said a Hua Shan Sect disciple who wielded two swords.

I had to be extremely careful because his swift strikes were capable of cutting me if I reacted too late.

"Hope you aren't offended by that," I said as I weaved his sword, got underneath his counter zone, and then used a powerful palm attack to send him flying a few feet away.

"I'm not offended," he said as he used his forearm to block my kick. "I just want to get revenge for my fallen friends."

He countered with a swing that I was unable to dodge. I gathered gi around my forearm and used it as a shield to bounce the sword off.

I would attack and he would block.

He would attack and I would dodge.

It was a game of tug-of-war where no one was winning.

We were equally matched.

No, he had the advantage due to his swords while I had no choice but to stick to my bare fists.

What he didn't know however was that I had a little trick up my sleeve.

I learned that my duplication ability had another use.

Due to the fact that the two bodies would merge and their status would combine, if I had my clone spend the entire time just meditating and gathering energy, the instant my ability turns off, I get a boost of energy and strength.

"Woah," he said as I suddenly picked up speed and struck him with a kick so powerful that his two swords fell out of his hands.

He blocked my punch with his palm but he was unable to keep up with my sudden burst of energy and after an exchange of a hundred blows, he collapsed to the ground.

Hold up. Give me a second. My daughter's calling me.

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Alright. I'm back. Sorry about the disappearance in the middle of a fighting chapter.

She's a little cranky because her mother had no more milk left after I drank all of it last night. I had to sing her a lullaby to put her to sleep.

Where were we?

Right.

Eliminating the dual sword wielder was huge because I had no doubt in my mind that he would've been one of the ones to have made it to the next round if he hadn't messed with me.

Better luck next time buddy. 

With that obstacle out of the way, I continued to ram my way through all the cannon fodder.

When I reached one of the edges of the stage, my job got even easier because, without the need to knock people out to eliminate them, I just ran around knocking people off the stage.

I saw this heavy dude who looked like he weighed 300 pounds at least.

How is that an outer disciple? He looks like he ate an outer disciple.

Gathering gi into both of my hands, I waited for him to be in the middle of an attack before joining the fray and striking him twice in the ribs.

I felt his bones shattering and he screamed, "I concede!" as he fell to his knee.

I turned my head to his opponent who was this buff dude that was dressed in the uniform of a martial art sect that I didn't recognize.

Must be an irrelevant sect.

He gulped and raised his hands into the air, announcing, "I concede," and began walking towards the stairs to leave the stage.

Am I being too cruel? No. They're just too weak.

"I concede. Before I leave... can I ask how you got this strong?" he asked.

Giving him a wink, I answered, "It's called steroids."

"St-steroids? What's that?"

"Don't think too much about it," I said as I lowered my head to dodge this flying kick coming from behind.

I knew it was coming because I could hear the footsteps approaching me.

My opponent was still in the air from the flying kick; I timed my uppercut perfectly and hit him right in the testicles.

"AHhhhHhhhhHHhhh!" he screamed as he fell to the ground and began to roll around in pain. 

I went over to him. Since he wasn't knocked out yet, he was still a part of the game.

Too engulfed in pain, he didn't realize that I was standing over him.

Good night.

I stomped his head and he went to sleep.

Sleep tight.

I could hear the audience, especially the men, groan. The number of participants had decreased so my every movement was being watched by the thousands of people in attendance.

"Did you really have to hit him in the balls?" asked a fellow Mount Hua Sect member who wielded this spear that had an extremely large blade.

"It was an accident," I lied.

"An accident just destroyed his children, his grandchildren, and future generations. Damn... ouch."

With only fifty people standing left, after a few more skirmishes, the battle royale would officially end.

There were a bunch of bodies collapsed on the floor. Every step you take, there is a risk of stepping on someone's body.

"Good luck, little friend," he said as he dashed towards this girl who was clutching onto her right shoulder. 

Her shoulder was probably broken but her warrior spirit refused to let her concede.

Brave but foolish.

I wasn't going to just wait for others to fight and dwindle the numbers down for me.

I wanted to get my hands dirty too for various reasons.

"I guess today is my lucky day," said this dude with a hunched back, a slim figure, and black hair so long and messy that he looked like a ghost that crawled out of a T.V.

His fingernails were extremely sharp and they were full of blood.

He licked the blood on the nail of his index finger and said, "More food for me."

Coating his fingernails in gi, they were not only sharp but wouldn't break easily from impact.

"What school or sect are you from?" I asked, getting into the stance that was taught in the second book.

I exhaled a deep breath.

There was no more clone for me to regain energy from. I needed to be meticulous with my every move or his nails would cut me in shreds.

If it wasn't for the no-killing rule, I had a feeling he would've murdered all of his opponents so far.

"No school. No sect. Just me and master," he said with a grin that suited an evil clown.

He dashed forward and immediately, I used the Mount Hua footwork to avoid his nails and to push his wrist away with a palm attack.

Then as he turned around midair using a gi technique I had never seen before, I used gi to block his attack with the bottom of my shoes.

He moves and fights like a big cat.

He was quick. Extremely quick.

His limbs were like Kim Taeyang but instead of using them like spears that utilized the long length to keep the opponents at a distance, he used them more like javelins as he threw them forward, giving me time to counter as it took a while to pick the javelins back up.

But he disregarded the safety of his own body in exchange for maximum speed and full force in his attacks.

He managed to catch me with two of his nails and part of the flesh on my arm was cut open.

Son of a bitch.

I spread my legs open to lower my body and dodge his hands that were coming at me like an arrow.

He landed behind me, rolled back to his feet, and then immediately began dashing again. 

I was trying to catch him, memorizing his movements, patterns, and tells, as well as reading the areas that were vulnerable.

It took a cut to my face and a slice in my chest but I was able to catch his wrist, gather gi in my fist, and punch his nails, shattering three of them before the fourth one stopped my attack (which happened because the punch gets less powerful the more walls it smashes through).

His head snapped in my direction and he smiled, revealing all of his teeth. 

Despite me being aware of the possibility of him countering with his other hand, I didn't even know where it came from as it was already a few inches away from my face.

"Stop!" yelled the announcer and the nails stopped just a mere inch away from my eyes.

"Lucky you," he said as he pulled his wrist out of my hand.

Lucky me? Hahaha. 

I was a little ticked off.

"See you later, pretty boy," he said as he licked the blood he had stolen from me.