"I'm happy to announce that the entire class is finally as equal in terms of knowledge and skill as it can be. Which means that we can finally begin with real combat training." Our teacher walked from one side of the line of students sitting on the large blanket to the other, his hands behind his back and holding his, apparently, magical stick.

Mumbling and quiet chattering came from the students.

"Finally."

"Can't wait to teach you a lesson!"

"About damn time..."

"Uh, now I can impress her!"

"Alright students, I think we should begin with our most skilled students to see what they can do. Mister Lyrius, mister and miss Galvira, if you would," mister Elster said, nodding in our direction.

The three of us got up from the ground and went up to the boxing ring or whatever it was.

"Mister and misses Galvira, would you two begin?"

"Sure," the siblings said before climbing into the ring and staring at each other.

"Now remember, no willingly harming the opponent, the first to either give up or leave the ring loses the match. If necessary I want you to hold back!"

I could feel my legs tremble with excitement as I watched my friends get ready... I could finally begin combat training, something I have been waiting for for over a year now.

The siblings began their match and immediately activated their magic marks. Fine intricate lines spread over their bodies, some of them had a thin line next to them while others seemed to form something like the nordic runes from my old world.

I could feel the mana coming from them, a skill that every mana user can use: mana sensing. It's not something that can be taught since everyone does it differently. I can somehow feel it naturally without needing to concentrate on the changes in the ambient mana around me. Probably another side effect of the absurdly high concentration of mana in my body.

The wooden floor cracked as Ilmar lunged towards his sister. She dodged his strike, put one hand on his hand, which I could only really notice due to me having activated the reflex and eyesight technique, and drove his fist into the ropes that surrounded the ring.

For a second it seemed like Ilmar was going to rip the rope in half and fall out of the ring but he managed to deactivate [Predator's Strength] before hitting it, or at least that's what I assumed from the fact that nothing happened when his fist came in contact with the rope.

"Hmm."

"Uhh."

"Ahh."

Sounds like these came from our teacher.

"Wow!"

"That's amazing!"

"How do they do it so fast!"

That came from the students watching from the blanket as the fight went on.

Alyra had gained the upper hand and was now forcing back her brother. She was exceptionally fast, maybe even faster than me when using [Predator's Agility]. In fact, she was so fast that the untrained eye, or unenhanced eye, would probably barely see her strikes. Which were all directed at her brother's face.

She's a bit aggressive, isn't she? Is this still about that teasing at the festival?

Thinking about that my face became a bit red. No... There's nothing to that... Just... teasing.... right? Damn you Ilmar, how dare you make me feel these things!

Ilmar was struggling to regain the upper hand and before long Alyra's palm struck his chest, pushing him against the ropes that immediately snapped and Ilmar fell flat on his ass. I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Ah shut it Alt!" Ilmar called out to me.

"Yeah, yeah," I responded.

The two siblings came back to me and Alyra was smiling brightly.

"I'll get you for this sis," Ilmar said.

"Sure thing bro," Alyra responded, now also chuckling.

"Now then, mister Lyrius," mister Elster said.

I immediately activated [Predator's Agility] and jumped into the ring. Was it arrogant... yes! Did I think it was epic as hell... yes!

"Now for your opponent..." mister Elster mumbled.

"I'll do it!" a student from below called out.

"Ah, mister Gridal. Are you sure?"

"Heh, of course, I am!"

"Alright, then go ahead if it's alright with mister Lyrius?" Our teacher turned to me.

I nodded and waited for the student, the one who had approached me on the very first day and made me pass out, to come up and climb into the ring. He smirked at me, his short black hair slightly fluttering in the wind and his green eyes piercing me.

"Hope you don't pass out this time 'round," he said, showing me his teeth with a bright smile.

I didn't respond.

Instead, I activated [Predator's Strength] and kept [Predator's Agility], [Predator's Instinct] and [Predator's Eyes] active. I saw the pores on his skin, every strand of hair, the yellow spots on his teeth.

Disgusting asshole...

"Begin!"

As soon as mister Elster called out I sprinted forwards, breaking the wooden floor beneath me and leaving behind wooden splinters and a hole. But my opponent was doing the same. I was about to punch him in the stomach and end this but then I noticed his fist approaching my head. My eyes immediately widened and memories flashed across my mind, memories I had tried to forget.

"You like this huh Ethan!" Martin said loudly as he brought his fist down on me.

"Sto... Stop, pleashe," I mumbled more than said.

My nose was bloody and my mouth filled with the taste of the blood running down from my nose.

"P-Pleashe," I repeated.

"You don't seem to understand you little cockroach. Your parents abandoned you cause yer stupid father had a debt he couldn't pay. So he sold you. You can't have kids anyway so why should he care for some useless dude. Now we take care of you... and you repay us by telling on us?!"

I was kicked in the stomach.

"How dare you even think about selling us out to the police?!"

He kicked me again.

"Who do you think you are?!"

He kicked me again.

"You little cockroach can be lucky we had already bribed those fucking cops!"

He kicked me again, this time harder than before and I spit out blood.

"Now listen here. You're going to stay in this room for a little while longer... let's say about a month." A smile crept over Martin's face. "A month of pure torture should be good for you."

He turned around and walked out of the room, but not without kicking me in the face. As he was about to step out of the room he turned around one last time and said, "Oh, and I hope you like rotten dog food cause you're going to have to get used to it little cockroach!"

The following memories was me getting force-fed mostly rotten dog food, burned, kicked, cut, stabbed, mutilated. I lost multiple toes and teeth over the course of that month.

When I snapped back to reality I noticed two things. One, what I had gone through right now must have barely taken a second. Two, only one word was on my mind, repeating itself over and over:

Run!

Run!

Run!

Run!

Run!

Run!

Run!

Run!

Run!

Run!

Run!

Run!

Run!

Run!

Run!

My body trembled as I tried jumping back, but at this point, nothing could stop his fist from colliding with my face.

I need to get away!

I need to get away!

I need to get away!

I need to get away!

I need to get away!

I need to get away!

I need to get away!

I need to get away!

I need to get away!

I need to get away!

I need to get away!

I need to get away!

I need to get away!

I need to get away!

I need to get away!

A sudden pain flashed through my right leg and I felt my magic mark deactivate as the pain spread to my mana organ. I had no clue what was happening but it felt as if something in my body was wiring something. I was suddenly surrounded by this black energy that had a dark green outline. It seemed to suck me in. The next thing I knew was that the sensation of a magic mark spreading over my body was present and that shortly after I stood on top of one of the many wooden beams of the advanced course, heavily breathing and exhausted.

I looked at my hand and noticed a spiralling, thick line running towards the tips of my fingers, around my entire arm as if it was badly wrapped in a singly bandage or something like that. My thoughts were running wild. I had just teleported a good twenty metres and had no clue how. But at that moment the pain in my right leg, mana organ and what a assumed were new mana veins connecting the two made my vision blurry and the last thing that I noticed was slowly slipping from the beam and falling.