Chapter 62: Aftermath

In less than an hour, more than half of the country's population had watched the fight between Zero and Shi Jia and in just two hours it became the most watched video online! The level of power they displayed in such a fight is not something kids their age should wield but they still did it. At this point, Zero and Shi Jia had made an enemy out of practically every dojo in the liberation union.

For Zero it was because he countered and defeated a martial art master at the peak level of martial arts in the nation. Seeing a kid defend and fight against the aura materialization was a major blow to all those who considered martial arts their life. They secretly swore to never let this matter rest until they have found Zero and defeated him to regain their lost honor.

Meanwhile, Shi Jia's case was entirely different. Unlike Zero who the martial art dojo wants to give a good beating for disrespecting their ultimate weapon, these martial arts masters wanted Shi Jia dead. They never liked Shi Jia in the first place and always complained he was too young to be considered a martial arts master but after the kid found a way to unlock the aura materialization, no one could deny his claim as a master but that didn't mean they accepted him. Now Shi Jia has successfully disgraced the martial arts community by losing to Zero in a one on one battle even after using the aura materialization, they couldn't let this one slide. In their opinion, only through death would he be able to atone for his sins but even then, Shi Jia had the protection of the government coupled with his extraordinary strength so this wouldn't be considered an easy task.

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As for the academy and government, they were still stunned by the outcome of the battle. They knew Zero was talented but not that talented. Even Miss Lane expressed her shock when the battle ended. She couldn't help but understand how Zero was able to win the fight against someone like Shi Jia. Even she will lose against him because of the nature of her special ability.

At this point, they recognized these two as the most important people of their generation and they were determined to keep them both. To do this they had to find a way to reconcile them and make them work together. For this goal, Zero and Shi Jia were transferred to the same hospital and the same ward, even though Alfred, Dan, and the others protested against this but there was little they could do about it. They weren't even allowed to visit Zero until he has recovered considerably.

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In a dark room with lots of monitors, a man dressed in a complete white attire watched the unconscious Zero and Shi Jia with hints of interest in his facial expression. If one should look closely, they would notice the lady dressed in a black gown with two files in her hands. if anyone could see her now, they would be forced to wonder how the lady could read in a very dark room.

"How serious are their injuries?" The man in white asked while playing with his white curly hair.

"Both sides suffered severe damages but Zero suffered the most…. According to the healers, he pushed past his limiters to summon that much power… that was how he managed to defeat Shi Jia…. I hate to say this but his muscles were torn at so many places… some dislocations and separations but the worst of it all is the fact that he's completely drained… there is not even a drop of spirit energy left in him… The healers believe he used his life force to perform his last counter-attack in order to snatch the victory from Shi Jia, but as a result, his life span has been reduced by a few years… the healers can really say how much years of his life he lost…" The woman absentmindedly answered those questions while going through their files.

"Wait, hold up… completely drained? I have seen people push themselves to the limit and successfully drawn out their hidden strength but this is just too much… To be able to achieve this, Zero must have pushed himself to his limits and gone beyond that as well…. Pushing past one's limits… this is the first I have heard of it… It's like drawing a hundred and twenty percent strength out of the original hundred percent a person body has… to think this kid could manage it…" The man wasn't necessarily talking to anyone in particular. He was simply thinking out loud.

"Mhmm" The woman nodded but she still didn't take her eyes off the files.

"The question now is, how was he able to push himself beyond his limit… In my opinion, he will need one hell of willpower to do that… it's official, I'm interested in that kid!" The man laughed wildly