("Now that I've thought all I've done is increase the natural limits of my body. That doesn't mean I've drawn out one hundred of what this body has to offer in terms of power.")

He had always harboured thoughts about what he could do with his magic, but the thing he wanted most so he could defeat his uncle was impossible, so there had never been a point where he used his ideas until now.

("Hehehe, this is the first time I've ever had to cook up a way to increase power during a battle. I knew you were something special Tibaut but this is far beyond my expectations, friend.")

He felt a brief sadness, being presented with the choice of continuing to fight or giving up but the maids had more of a place in his heart than the little time he spent with Tibaut.

As the adrenaline pumped through his body, he stared at the waiting Tibaut almost in anticipation of what he could do with this level of power.

("Alright, time to see what one hundred per cent of these muscles have to offer.")

His legs tensed, and for a moment it was as if the whole world had come to a crawl in his mind. He ripped the flooring out from under with his preliminary steps within less than the time it took to blink he had covered the distance between them and had a punch aimed at Tibaut's head.

He missed. The punch only grazed Tibaut's nose. But that didn't matter to him, he was still moving fast and he couldn't stop himself. He'd slam into him and leave him a paste on the wall. But Tibaut lowered his torso then his shoulders and threw him into the wall instead. He broke through it cleanly but managed to grab at the newly formed hole. He quickly pulled himself inside to see Tibaut staring at him, blankly, and stepping back.

He clicked his teeth.

("Tsk, I've already wasted a minute.")

Seeing as throwing himself towards him had a disastrous effect he quickly walked up to him and began throwing punches. The punches were grazing Tibaut but none could land cleanly.

("At least I've evened the speed gap.") Albus thought.

His punches whistled through the air, like crossbow darts but none managed to land. He tried a shoddy leg sweep, imitating what had happened to him earlier but Tibaut stopped it with a leg sweep of his own to Albus's only grounded foot. It sent him to the floor but it did more damage to his ego than anything else.

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("This martial arts bullshit is getting annoying.")

He attempted a kip up but Tibaut landed a kick on his legs while they were airborne and it sent him back to the ground. A vein was starting to show on his forehead.

He rubbed his legs and decided to stand up like a normal person.

("What, you don't have a counter for this too!? Damnit, what else can I do to increase the limits of my body?")

His mind used the brief time he had left to try to find an answer. Tibaut was now the one who began walking towards him.

In the recesses of his mind, he found eventually something. ("If I remember correctly, there's an organ in our body that affects our use of magic.") He looked at his arm and probed around for it.

1 second had passed.

("Got it. If I remember correctly this affects how fast we can use the mana in our body. If that's the case.")

He rapidly expanded their size until it affected the size of his arms.

1 second had passed.

("Can I force myself to use more mana than I currently can? And will it translate to better magic?")

His body began an even more extreme transformation and his body now looked like it was composed entirely of muscles. Even with this change his physique still wasn't at the level at Cormac but this was good enough. At the start of this, he had over 40 seconds left but at this point, he now had 10.

He threw one of the final punches he would ever make at Tibaut. He managed to dodge it by a hair and seemed to be countering with a punch of his own.

("Hmph, it seems the skills he has truly do outclass my body. Fine then, I'll allow him to throw a punch, then immediately grab it. He can counter all the flashy shit I do but this should guarantee his death.")

Based on their current positions, he had no chance to dodge but he could at the minimum reduce its impact if he jumped back. Instead, he decided to take it head-on. Even with this new blue fire around, there was no chance it would be enough to burn his body before he grabbed and killed Tibaut.

What he hadn't noticed was Tibaut's aura had gotten smaller in size and it had gathered around the fist making its way towards his abdomen.

The instant it hit him he realised something was wrong. He felt pain. And a lot of it. It was as if his magic was just a fantasy.

He couldn't even let out a yelp before it sent him barrelling towards the other end of the room. He crashed into the wall beside the front door and clutched his stomach.

("It hurts, it hurts, why does it hurt, what did do that bastard do, I'll kill him, I'll fuckin-")

His magic soon wore off. Every perceivable muscle all at once decided to betray him. It felt like his entire body had been placed into a vat of molten metal.

"Aa-"

He tried to scream but the pain from even the brief moment of doing so made him stop. He rolled around the floor in pain but pain from doing even that made him stop. Even lying on the ground made certain muscles in his body sear with pain. This pain was the worst he had ever experienced in his life. Yet from experience, he knew this was when the pain was at its least intense.

He crawled to the door and dragged himself outside, praying Avis was still there. But much to his dismay, she wasn't. He didn't even spare his opponent his attention and crawled like a madman, praying for one of his maids to show up.