20

The tiny world, where the main plot line continues is not the only world in the comics. There's the infernal realm from which dark guild operated. The abyss realm, from which the dark guild summoned an infernal demon to attack the city lord mansion, the dark prison realm where the silverwing family rules over, the lightning realm, blizzard realm and so on.

The tiny world is riddled with pathways to these realms, but because most people remain within the glory city, their chances of being found are low.

"Splash"

Hong who had dived in to the pond found himself flung out of the gateway before he got pulled back , falling on the ground with a loud "thud".

"Ugh!"

Dusting himself off, Hong stood on his feet to see a pond near his feet, completely confusing his sense of direction .

He had jumped in head first only to land out with his feet first.

'Screw it'

Deciding to ignore whatever space doohicky that was at work, Hong brushed himself off of any dirt before donning his clothes.

Looking around, he seemed to be in a cave, one that seemed to have been used multiple times according to the evidence littered around. Few remains of fires,broken pots, bones garments and even metal pieces were around, some old while some seemed to have been left very recent. All very clear to Hong's eyes from the light given by the entrance of the cave.

Reaching into his spatial pouch, Hong pulled out his sword , unsheathing it before moving towards the light. He wasn't sure what the outside was, but it never hurts to be cautious.

As he moved closer, he began to feel the same sensation, same intent of battle and blood lust became clearer and clearer. And his own blood began to boil.

This was no evil intent. There was no malice or suffering, but rather, the entire heaven and earth energy seemed to be saturated with the will to battle. To fight, and to dominate.

Walking out, he seemed to have entered a clearing of sorts. There were trees , shrubbery and other plant life present but at a bare minimum. And within it many youths were engaged in battles with everything that moved.

They fought each other, they fought beasts some even fought nature spirits. But Hong had no time to sight see as his danger senses began blaring. He barely moved from his standing point when a projectile shot past him, blocking the entrance to the cave.

"No more break points for you buddy." A teenager walking towards him cackled before stopping in confusion.

"Who are you? Don't think I saw you at the enterance,"But Hong had no time to answer as the boy's lips quickly quickly morphed into a grin.

"You know what, don't care. Let's fight!"

Hong agreed readily. Putting his sword into the pouch , Hong fell into a martial arts stance.

The boy seemed suprised by his action,but quickly fell back into his grin.

"No handicaps, huh? Fine. Let's do this tool against tool"

Then infront of Hong's eye's, the boy began soul forming.

"Haaaaah!!"

His arms gleamed in red for seconds before a pair of gauntlets appeared, encasing them up to his elbows. The air seemed to get hotter at the mere presence of the gauntlets, making the surrounding air shimmer.

But the boy seemed unaffected, infact he seemed to simply radiate fighting intent. And Hong was not willing to loose. His own fists turned white and smooth as jade, and lightning ran up along them.

"Here i go!"

'BAM'

'BAM'

'BAM'

Fists collided continiously as they both attacked each other, intending to measure their opponent's ability. And to both Hong and his opponent's delight, neither had strength lower to the other.

Then the true duel began. There are many resons as for why modern martial arts don't work well in world's like this one. But the main reason is the strength limit. On these worlds one blow has the ability to throw the opponent meters away from their initial position, making those martial arts loose their foundation. The earth.

"Bang"

Hong flew a tens of meters from the force of the blow he recived. But unfazed, he flipped around , planting his feet firmly on the ground before blasting foreward with all the explosive strength his muscles could muster to meet his charging opponent head on.

'Bang'

Fists collided and guards clashed unleashing screeches as metal gauntlets clashed with jade fists. Noticing the growing ferocity of his opponent, Hong began upping his own performance.

The small crackles of electricity grew with each clash till they reached the size of grass snakes. But it didn't stop there.

Blows were deflected, some blocked as the force of each impact continuously threw the bloodthirsty youths away from the epicenter. Each seemingly trying to erase the other's precense from the world's surface.

The ground cracked, crumbling into pieces as the force was directed to the ground, but they paid no heed. They were beyond just simple changes of nature. The clearing turned into a light show as two streaks of bright light clashed and collided at every turn on the field, causing collateral damage to other combatants until..

the boy slipped.

Hong's attack snaked through the guard of his opponent, allowing him to land a solid punch to the chin. And from there on Hong went and dominated the battle.

The boy had no chance to recover as Hong followed the trajectory of his body, moving faster than it towards its destination before intercepting him mid air. Without giving an inch to recover, Hong started delivering a never ending barrage of blows forcing his opponent to retreat the same speed Hong advanced while tanking the blows, countering them with his own attacks.

The surroundings blurred past as they both moved as fast as their muscles allowed, destroying anything that came between their fists and it's destination.

Fire and lightning flashed like paparazzi as they both exchanged hundreds of blows everywhere, in the period of a minute, each displaying their own unique technique. Hong using lightning style in absolute precision along with complicated footwork while his opponent used a basic but still explosively powerful fire martial art of his own.

The technique was quite basic, and it was solely based on his arms, containing almost no footwork at all. But it still managed to deliver enough strength to work wonders.

At least until Hong delivered a blow to the side of his head effectively knocking him out and abruptly ending the still heated battle.

Truly, All it takes is one wrong move, Hong mused internally as the soul formed arment of his combat partner broke away revealing a pair of calloused fists.

Hong dragged the boy to a nearby "break point" and he left him there to continue his journey, but not before cupping his hands as a sign of respect for the best fighter he had met till now.