Gapler was taller than me, and on top of that, he was a mountain of muscles. His dirty-looking and hairy dark green skin almost seemed to blend in with the dirty wall behind him when the light was just right. He had massive hands that would be able to wrap around my neck and break it instantly.

He let out a war cry and charged at me. Gapler was fast, but I was faster. His first attack was a simple punch directed at my chest with his right fist. I ducked beneath it and drove my right fist into his stomach. It was rock hard... luckily for me, that wasn't something that could just stop me. Gapler tumbled backwards and I used that opening to kick him in his left knee pit, bringing him to one knee.

I could hear whistling from the ground as I lifted my foot above his head and brought it down with enough force to split a boulder. Gapler's flat chin hit the elevated floor of the boxing ring, slightly splitting it. The only noise I could hear from him was a loud groan.

To my surprised he seemed barely fazed by that since he immediately grabbed the leg I had still on his head and threw me into the ground, making me gasp for air. In the corner of my eye I could see Gapler standing up and brushing some dust off of his shoulders, then he turned around and looked down at me, seemingly waiting for me to get up as well.

I hope that information is good, I thought as I pushed myself up and rubbed my cheek while windmilling my right arm once, making my shoulder crack. Gapler once again charged at me, again trying to hit me in the chest with his right fist, as he got closer I ducked to the side, planning to once again kicking him to the ground but he pulled his right fist back and I could feel his left fist hitting right against my ribs.

Only seconds later I hit right into the slightly elastic railing of the boxing ring. I fell to the ground like a wet blanket again gasping for air as I listened to the cheers and whistles of the crowd. With my face pressed against the floor, I could feel the vibration of each of Gapler's steps.

Within me, I could feel anger boiling up. I hated getting hit, I hatted being pushed to the ground. It always reminded me of my old life where I was always pushed around. If this life was going to be shitty it should at least be less shitty than the old one.

I let out a loud war cry as I could feel mana surging around me, but I managed to keep it at a level where it was still invisible.

If this gets me disqualified...

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'It's not strictly magic so you should be fine,' Ira stated.

'And what does that mean?' I asked as I pushed myself up and faced Gapler once again.

He had a bright smile on his ugly face.

'It's a blessing... and now focus on the fight, there's no way I can explain that to you now!' Ira said loudly, her voice ringing through my head.

I grit my teeth and could feel my head twitch a little in annoyance. Then I burst forth, cracking the floor behind me. Everything around me blurred and I focused only on Gapler. By the time I saw him move it was already too late and I had driven my fist deep into his gut, making him cough and tumble backwards, falling to the ground and onto his back with a loud crash.

As I stood over him I could see the up and down movement of his muscular chest clearly, he had a strange rhythm, much faster than any I had ever seen. He let out loud and deep grunts as he regained composure and quickly rolled out of the way of my stomp attack which left behind another crack in the floor. His roll was strangely fast compared to all his previous movements.

I grit my teeth as he already charged at me.

So he was holding back...

His fist was fast, I had barely any time to lean back and let it pass by in front of my face. If that wasn't enough I had to lean back even more to avoid his backhand attack with the same fist. As I was in that unstable, shaky position I could see his left fist already approaching my face. Dodging was impossible, all I could do was bring my hands in front of my face to protect it.

Then I was hit into the ground. The force of his attack was far too much for me to handle and I felt as if my hands broke at the moment of impact. A sharp pain went through my entire body as I gave it my all to keep his fist away from my face with both hands. Even the extra support from the ground wasn't enough.

I got angrier yet again, mana began surging around me more violently and I could see a slither of its white outline swirling around me. I hoped that the fake surge wouldn't count this as me using magic and when I looked over to where Sarge was he just smiled, somehow staring right at me but not doing so at the same time.

With the new strength, I pushed Gapler's fist to the side, letting it dive into the floor right next to my head and then grabbed it with one hand before kicking Gapler right into the stomach. He stumbled to the side and I used that moment to get up, my hand still wrapped around his wrist and I threw him over my shoulder. It felt like I was moving a fucking boulder, he must have weighed at least four hundred kilograms or so. When his entire weight hit the ground it split open and a long crack appeared right in the middle of the boxing ring.

Gapler let out the loudest groan yet and his normally brown eyes had turned white for a second. But shortly after he once again regained his composure and got up again.

Can't this guy just stay down?

I sighed as I hit his face before he got up again. But he caught my fist mid-attack and wrapped his large hand around my wrist. At that moment I felt like it broke multiple times, I felt like the bones in my right arm had been crushed and turned into powder.