Chapter 697: First Trophy “It’s time for the grand finals!” With an excited shout coming from the speakers, the audience grew excited, and they all turned their heads to the stage. There, with the symbol of United Arts on his proud back, Axe stood with a big smile on his face. He was one win away from his first tournament victory, and he could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins. Across from him, Lumian stood calmly, the sleeves of his black uniform fluttering in the breeze. The referee swung his arm down. While his arm was still moving down, Axe leapt forward and ran across the arena like a comet flying through the sky. He was a fast, unstoppable force of nature. It was like a train was heading straight at Lumian, horn blaring and smoke billowing from its stack. In that moment, Lumian formed a spearhand with his right, ducked under Axe’s powerful swing, and thrust the spearhand directly into Axe’s solar plexus. Axe tripped over, rolled for several meters, and eventually came to a stop on the red mat, gasping for air. “One point for Lumian!” He, himself, was quite strong, and that was good thing because he was able to see Axe’s movements. If he couldn’t, it would be really hard for him to be referee of the match, as he wouldn’t be able to see what just happened now. While Axe moved quickly, Lumian matched that speed shockingly enough and countered with perfect accuracy. The crowd responded with loud claps. “You’re fast, huh… I didn’t expect anything less from you!” Axe dashed to his feet, moved through the space between them, and lunged forward with a lightning-quick strike. A hand slashed through the air and parried his fist. Lumian stood still like a mighty fortress that wasn’t going to budge. With gritted teeth, Axe kept pushing onwards, trying to break through the defenses, but it was so hard. Lumian’s hands moved with precision and grace, effortlessly deflecting each blow thrown his way. Blocked! Parried! Blocked! Parried! Blocked! At that moment, Axe tried something sneaky and stomped at his feet, but Lumian pulled back his feet to avoid that. Taking advantage of the opening, Axe rained blows and expected at least one of them to land, but Lumian shot all his attacks back. Axe’s posture broke, and at that moment, Lumian punched. It was a beautiful punch, and while his fist was flying through the air, his punch multiplied into dozens of fists, hitting Axe from all angles. “Ah… That does look like Iron Smash Storm.” Kiernan said with a smile. Several of Lumian’s techniques that he was using did resemble Iron Style, even though it wasn’t the exact same. It was a replica, but it was still effective in battle. Lumian had completely abandoned the Ok Family Style, and he was only using the Iron Style from now on. Axe staggered backwards with a stunned look. The fists came at him faster than he could react, and they landed with weight. He was thoroughly dominated, and at that moment, he collapsed to the ground in defeat. “The winner is Lumian Ok from the Martial Redemption Dojo!” The referee announced loudly. It took a moment for the audience to react, but when they did, they all jumped to their feet and cheered. A completely dominating victory! While Axe was an extremely quick fighter, his normal combat skills were pretty mediocre still, and since Lumian was able to defeat his speed, it was an easy match for him. Lumian raised his arm in victory and proudly showed the symbol of the Martial Redemption Dojo on his back. He didn’t win this tournament for his family, who have only been using him, but for Martial Redemption, which was going to be his future. At that moment, the golden trophy was carried from the back, and was placed before Lumian right in the middle of the stage. “And the winner of the annual All-Mixed Beginner Tournament is… Lumian Ok!” The tournament organizer shouted, and as everyone started clapping, they wanted him to lift the trophy high as champion. However, before doing that, Lumian turned to Kiernan and bowed. “Master, I want to lift the trophy with you.” With a nod, Kiernan entered the arena in front of everyone’s eyes, and while he grabbed the trophy from the other side, Lumian grabbed it from the other side. They then lifted the trophy, and the ceiling light cascaded straight to the cup. It was late in the evening, and after a full day of the tournament, everyone started heading back home. Walking under the streetlamp lights of Action Street, Kiernan and Lumian made their way down the sidewalk. Lumian was still carrying the trophy in his right hand, but he was still thinking about what he was going to do from now on. He had shut down his phone, as he didn’t want to get spammed with texts and calls from his family members. Because he was certain that his father and family had already found out about the fact that he joined the Martial Redemption Dojo. He knew that he was just going to be insulted and called a traitor and a piece of shit, so he didn’t bother checking out the texts. Kiernan said as they arrived at the front gates of the Martial Redemption Dojo, and Lumian looked up at the rundown building. It wasn’t as majestic and glorious as the Ok Family Dojo, but to him, it felt very warm and cozy in its own way. “This trophy… I want you to have it. You can put it on display somewhere in the dojo as decoration.” Lumian said, and handed him the trophy. Kiernan said and took the trophy from his arms. The first tournament that their dojo officially participated in, and they won. He was sure that would definitely get some attention. Perhaps they were actually going to have more people wanting to join their dojo soon. “I’ll be taking my leave now. See you tomorrow, master.” Lumian said, and bowed. However, before he could leave, Kiernan asked. Thıs text ıs hosted at 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭⟡𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦⟡𝘯𝘦𝘵 “Where are you going? Home?” “I don’t think they will let me in, and they would just try to force me to go back to the Ok Family Dojo. I am also afraid to meet my father.” “Where are you going then?” “I can contact one of my friends to sleep at their place for one night.” “Nonsense. There is one guest room over in the dojo. That can be yours once you find permanent residence.” “R-Really? I don’t want to be a bother.” Lumian said with a surprised look. “You won’t be. I am also planning to purchase that one building near the dojo in the near future and make it into dormitory rooms for the students if they want to live there.” Kiernan opened the gate, holding it for Lumian to enter first. He thanked him softly and then stepped through.