Despite Gapler's tight grip around my wrist, I did not see any anger in his eyes, rather... joy. With all my might I tried to pry open the orc's hand but it was of no use. He simply slammed me back into the ground, having me yet again gasping for air.

If I could just use magic... that fuck must have planned this! Does he want me dead?

'Maybe it's a church spy that found you and is now trying to kill the last remaining heretic!' Ira joked.

I couldn't even answer, as soon as I heard the word: heretic, I lost it. Like boiling water that was left unattended for too long, my anger spilt over and I couldn't hold it back any longer. This black and white energy, my mana burst forth from my body, cracking the floor around me as I got up from the ground. Over the past few months it had changed colour further, the outline was much wider and often the white would mix itself into the black and appear like randomly drawn lines on a black background.

Before Gapler could react I burst forth and punched him right into the gut. Gapler flew through across the boxing ring and crashed right into the elastic railing. He wiped some blood off his lip and looked at me, one of his horn-eyebrows raised.

"We said no magic," he said with his deep voice.

I spat on the ground and shifted my gaze to Ilaria, which Gapler did as well.

"It's not magic," she said.

"Wha-" Gapler began but at that point I had already appeared next to him, bringing my foot down onto his head from the side.

Even at my current speed, I was quite unsure whether or not I could win this. Another factor was that while my power would be rapidly growing Ira didn't tell me how much time I had left... she had simply fallen silent.

Ah, who cares... five minutes, I'll finish this guy in five minutes.

I grit my teeth as I felt his hand close around my ankle. But instead of struggle I just kicked him against the railing again with my other foot. He groaned and I could see spit fly out of his mouth as he got pushed back and then snip forward towards the other side, letting go of my ankle in the process. I landed and immediately charged at him.

"You know, I might not be strong for an orc... but I'm fast!" Gapler said loudly as he blurred.

I gasped, partially from surprise but mostly from pure shock. At this point in time, I could feel mana pumping through my body, it surged around me with such powerful waves that the audience had to retreat and that the ground was constantly cracking, this was enough pressure to pin Terror to the ground. But Gapler seemed unfazed as if nothing was going on, and he was fast, faster than I was. On top of that, he also had far more strength than me.

I managed to catch his approaching fist and twist it, slamming him into the ground but in the process, he grabbed my leg and slammed me into the ground as well. At this point, the boxing ring was so broken that one could think it would crumble at any moment.

I got up first and tackled Gapler right back to the ground, or at least tried. I pretty much bounced off of him and fell to the ground when I tried. He seemed taller than before.

Is this what all orcs are like?

I chuckled as I tried one last thing to win this. Without Ira, I had no clue how much of the Power of Wrath I was currently using and how much time I had left. All I could do was try to direct my mana into certain body parts without using magic, I needed to try and manipulate the effects of the Power of Wrath.

Once I got up again, dodging Gapler's fist in the process I jumped back, bringing distance between us. Gapler was fast, but only in short bursts while I was capable of maintaining my speed, that was my only advantage. I clenched my fist and tried to remember the way we learned to use [Predator's Strength].

The forest appeared before me. The wooden board with the drawings on it, the students... Ilmar and Alyra... my father. A tear formed in my left eye. I shook my head and focused just on the words and the board. Channelling mana through the veins... but would this even help? It only worked because of the magic mark. How could I apply this to the Power of Wrath?

I groaned out loud, annoyed at me having remembered something like that for nothing. How could I directly manipulate the Power of Wrath without using a magic mark? As I thought about it I still tried to pay attention to Gapler, who was carefully moving towards me, flexing his muscles.

How? How can I beat him without magic? That stupid fake Sarge! If that information's not worth it! I swear to every fucking deity or whatever that I will kill him!

At that moment Gapler burst forth and I noticed too late. The next thing I noticed was that my head hit the ground and that I coughed up blood. Then I heard Ira's voice again.

'Shit!' she said.

Then I was suddenly on autopilot... no, Ira had taken over my body. And she was ruthless, she jumped up, grabbed Gapler's next attack and led him towards the railing. When he snipped back a little she kicked him in the back. She repeated that until Gapler decided to grab onto the railing so that he wouldn't snip back again.

He turned around and screamed. As he charged he seemed to be moving slower and slower as I felt my body becoming more and more powerful. The mana around me began swirling even more violently and a smile appeared on my face as Ira blitzed Gapler and smashed his head into the ground so hard that the floor split completely and crumbled, leaving the boxing ring at about half its original size.

Ira, using my body stood above Gapler who had seemingly passed out. Even after half a minute had passed he hadn't moved again. Without saying a word Ira switched with me again. My knees were week and I felt like my mana was about to go into its last reserves. The mana swirling around me calmed down until it eventually disappeared and I turned towards the corner of the boxing ring where my clothes were. I went there, picked them up, put them on and began leaving.

The people seemed shocked but eventually began applauding, cheering and whistling while some tended to Gapler.

"What's that blessing of yours called?" Ilaria asked.

"Dunno," I responded as I went to the door.

I looked over my shoulder only to see the fake Sarge smile at me, raising his tankard.

"Don't forget the info about that girl!" I said loudly, despite already knowing she was here.

If I want to get her out of here I'll need a plan... even with magic, Gapler might be a real challenge, especially when he uses sorcery. And then there's Ilaria, I doubt the leader of a branch would be weaker than her subordinate...