The first blood was spilled!

'What a pain,' Tyler frowned. 'It feels like I was truly cut by knives.'

However, the pain was only momentarily as he shrugged it off.

"Alright then." Tyler straightened his back, and his fists clenched tighter.

The crowd roared around them in excitement.

"…"

Kiernan leaned slightly forward, but then he accelerated forward a small distance to cut their distance even closer.

Tyler steeled his body and breathed out calmly.

"Force Combat, Steeled State of Mind!"

The institution of Police Force taught him a few skills to calm himself down during the heat of the battle.

It was easy to get swept by the emotions and start making mistakes. Such things weren't allowed when dealing with criminals.

'What will you do now?' Tyler stayed strong in his fighting stance.

'I will create a few openings to lure him, and then I will do a chopping strike to dislocate his shoulder!'

Tyler quickly created his plan.

With a few changes to his fighting stance, he created a few minor openings for Kiernan to take advantage of.

However, they were cleverly planned traps by Tyler.

'Kicks, punches, tackles, locks, or grappling, do your worst!' Tyler smirked.

Kiernan stepped closer to the attacking range. He saw one of the openings and punched towards it.

'Got you!' Tyler quickly grabbed the arm and twisted the arm behind Kiernan's back, locking him in a place.

"Force Combat, Criminal Cuffing!"

"Oh no!"

A few exclamations echoed from Karuza High's bench while Liberty High's members looked ecstatic.

'I have so many options now!' Tyler thought while standing behind Kiernan, holding his arm tightly. 'What should I do now?'

"You're thinking too much." Kiernan said, and then suddenly yanked his arm out of the lock. "You're giving so much time to escape the locks!"

'How did he do that?' Tyler paled. 'I held his arm in a perfect armlock, but he easily shrugged it off!'

Kiernan's fists came raining down and landed a few hits on Tyler's face before he put his arms in the way.

Smack, smack!

'Wait!' Tyler looked at his hand and noticed that it was sweaty. 'This is not my sweat. It is his? Wait, he used his sweat to make his hand slippery to be able to slip away from the lock? Is that even possible!'

"Iron Style, Water Skin…"

Kiernan's hands were covered in a thin layer of water, making them look shiny and slippery. It was his sweat that he had used to create the effect.

'Whatever, I don't have time to think about that now!' Tyler moved back to his fighting stance. 'I already managed to trap him once. I can do it again!'

With that, he again started changing his fighting stance to add a few openings here and there to trick Kiernan into making a mistake.

Tyler still planned to dislocate his shoulder with a well-timed chopping strike.

Kiernan rushed forward, and his kick launched before smacking against Tyler's raised thigh.

The kick sounded like a thunderclap.

'Good, keep attacking, and fall deeper into my trap!' Tyler carefully and calmly let Kiernan keep attacking.

Without hesitation, Kiernan kept pushing forward and started throwing straight punches. They were pretty simple and easily predictable attacks.

Smack, smack!

While slapping those punches away, Tyler kept moving closer and closer to the edge of the ring.

Liberty High members kept screaming for him to hold on while Karuza High members cheered on their fighter.

'Will it be really this easy?' The coach Jin wondered. 'It feels like Tyler is wanting to go to the edge of the ring…'

At that moment, his eyes widened in shock.

'That's exactly it!' Jin paled. "Don't, Kiernan, you're falling into a trap!"

Maybe because the crowd was cheering too loud, it didn't look like Kiernan was able to hear it as he kept pushing even harder.

At that moment, Tyler's feet reached the edge of the ring.

The hearts of Liberty High supporters were already on their throats. They were begging for Tyler to hold on tight and not fall out of the ring.

Another one of Kiernan's punches came flying in.

'That's it!' Tyler quickly used his forearm and pushed Kiernan's arm away to completely miss his body.

At that moment, hundreds of eyes widened in shock as they saw that Kiernan was standing completely defenseless in front of Tyler.

'Checkmate!' Tyler raised his right arm high and chopped it down. "Force Combat, Justice Chop!"

The chop came down.

Smack!

Suddenly, Kiernan placed his forearm in the way and pushed the chopping strike away harmlessly like it was nothing.

"?!" Tyler's eyes widened in shock.

"Iron Style, Void Chop!"

With his whip-like right arm, he smashed his chop into Tyler's left shoulder and made it crack like a twig.

Crack!

"Argh!" Tyler's mouth foamed in extreme pain, and he quickly pushed Kiernan away before moving away from the edge of the ring.

His left arm was hanging beside his body, limp, and useless. He couldn't use that arm even slightly as his shoulder was dislocated!

"Your tricks aren't too bad." Kiernan said coldly. "However, you're way too obvious."

'He saw through it all?' Tyler thought in pain. 'Instead of me trapping him, he was trapping me all along. Cursed!'

"Yes!" Jin cheered with a grin plastered on his face. 'I should've known. Kiernan falling into a trap? Hah, why do I feel like that is impossible?!'

"Haha…" Tyler straightened his back, put his hand on his left shoulder, and pushed it back into place with a crack.

"Argh!"

"…" Kiernan rubbed the back of his neck. "Only warm-up, huh?"

"Y'see…" Tyler, with his finger, stabbed the side of his head. "This is where the real fun begins!"

"Force Combat, Level 1!"

Within his body, the blood flowed faster and stronger, which, in return, started to turn his flesh a bright shade of red.

"This is the ultimate technique of Force Combat, and why it is such a well-known style."

Tyler punched his hands together.

"Force Combat originates from tier 1 country, Justiceland. It's where the whole principle of justice was created and where Police Force was first established.

"It is also the birthplace of Force Combat!

"While it has a total of ten levels, and I've only learned the first level, this alone makes me already much stronger than I was before!"