"Alright, easy does it. This isn't a race," Rudabaugh said as he watched Yoshino get to grips with the power her aura of dark magic provided. Yoshino raised her hands, clenching and opening them while staring intently at them.

"You say that, but aren't we in a race against time, professor?" Yoshino pointed out, looking up from her hands to Rudabaugh while raising an eyebrow.

Rudabaugh raised a finger and opened his mouth to argue back before realizing Yoshino had a point. He sighed. "True. But still, even if we ARE on a timer, we cannot rush it, or at least not rush the basics. Speaking of which, let's start with you showing me how much your physical abilities have improved with your magic." He pointed at a tree a fair distance from Yoshino while pulling out his phone. If Yoshino had to guess from where she was, the distance seemed to be around fifty meters. "Run as fast as you can to touch that tree and return to where you are."

Yoshino nodded before getting into a runner's crouch and taking a deep breath. If she had to be honest, she wasn't the most athletic person she knew. Even discounting the gym monster her older brother was and Nozomi, who, after running late for school many times throughout the years, could unironically give professional athletes a run for their money if she ever had the chance to meet and race them, Yoshino still considered herself just a little above average. So she wasn't expecting much.

But when Yoshino managed to see the tree in such detail from such a distance and focused her eyes on it, she felt she was in for a surprise.

When her feet pressed against the ground, Yoshino immediately felt the difference the aura of dark energy surrounding her body made. It was a difference that almost made her hit her face on the tree. Thankfully, she managed to stop just before impact.

As Yoshino stared wide-eyed at the tree's bark, with a trail of nervous sweat falling down her face, a smile threatened to grow on her expression. This... this is... She turned away from the tree and saw Rudabaugh far away from her now, confirming that she had gone that fast. Amazing! Yoshino thought, giggling briefly to herself before a confident smirk painted her face.

Yoshino returned just as fast as she had before but this time trying to be mindful of her speed, stopping just a few feet past where she had started. I could get used to this...

"3.01 and 3.57 seconds," Rudabaugh declared while looking at his phone.

"What?" Yoshino asked as she snapped her attention to Rudabaugh.

"The time you took to get to that tree and the time it took for you to return," Rudabaugh explained as he showed the screen of his phone with the number 3.57 to Yoshino.

"Huh... so was my time good, professor?" After a second, Yoshino spoke again. "Be honest, please."

Rudabaugh thought for a second before his face visibly cringed. "Er... I mean, you're certainly faster than the fastest regular human... but if I were to compare it with your average darkspawn... I'd say it would be pretty even. In terms of speed, of course."

Yoshino frowned before nodding. "I see..." She didn't need to be a genius to notice how Rudabaugh had picked the weakest example to compare her with instead of her mother or brother. But Yoshino chose to ignore that for now. She already knew the power gap between her and her family was like night and day. There was no point in putting Rudabaugh on the spot because of it.

Just...focus on your training, don't think too hard about it. Yoshino thought.

Even if she couldn't get any stronger, she argued with herself that, with how little time there was, it wouldn't make a difference even if she had enough potential to rival her mom and her brother. Yoshino slowly nodded as she reached that realization.

With this training, Yoshino could at least, maybe, not win but also not be a liability in a fight either. Especially with Outsider's gloves giving her something her enemies didn't have access to, her lack of proper use aside. I suppose when looking at it from this angle... my situation doesn't look as bad...

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"So what's next?" With most of her motivation to continue training brought back, Yoshino asked Rudabaugh expectantly, the latter smirking in response.

The rest of the training went on without a hitch, even though, Yoshino argued, it was less training and more Rudabaugh gauging what she was capable of, with some advice here and there. This included things like how high she could jump (she was able to easily leap from the ground to the top of the old building's roof after Rudabaugh had ensured the roof was still in good condition by jumping there first), how much she could lift (Yoshino managed to lift and hold the large piece of concrete with one hand without much difficulty), and finally, how strong her punches were (Rudabaugh managed to block them, but not without visible effort).

This continued until...

Rudabaugh clapped to get Yoshino's attention. "Ok, since now we have an idea of how strong you have become with your magic, let's get to the fun part... how to weaponize it!" A grin grew on Rudabaugh's face as he said the last part, clearly showing his excitement.

Yoshino's eyes widened before she nodded. "I see. I have a kitchen knife in my school bag. Should I go grab it, professor?" She asked, having left the knife inside her schoolbag, which was entrusted to Seiza while she and Nozomi trained.

Rudabaugh nodded. "Please do."

With the kitchen knife soon in hand, Yoshino nodded for Rudabaugh to continue.

"Alright, now that you have a weapon in hand, I want you to try and share your power with it."

Yoshino tilted her head. "Share it?"

Rudabaugh nodded. "As long as you're making contact with an object, you can share your aura and allow you to kill darkspawns with it. Or at least, that's what Ambrosius says. To me and Henry, it looks more like enhancement. In any case..." Rudabaugh shook his head. "To do that, you need to focus on a goal with the object you're in contact with. The stronger you feel towards a goal with that object, the easier it is to share your magic with it."

Rudabaugh pointed at Yoshino's kitchen knife. "Give it a try. Close your eyes and imagine a darkspawn that has done something to piss you off and imagine how you will handle them with that knife."

Yoshino slowly nodded before looking down at her knife, the reflection of her eyes on the blade briefly widening in surprise before recovering as she closed her eyes. Let's see, something to make me angry...

After letting her mind wander, Yoshino soon remembered her first encounter with a darkspawn that wasn't any of her uncles.

It was the worst day of her life and would have been her last if it weren't for Nozomi's intervention. All the pain, fear, and despair she was subjected to that day would have made her extremely pissed off at the monster who did this to her if they ever met again.

After a few seconds of concentrating on those thoughts, Yoshino peeked to see her progress, soon deflating slightly after realizing she hadn't made much.

Yoshino was snapped out of her disappointment by Nozomi's voice. "YES! Ah ah! It worked! Did you see that, professor?"

Turning slightly to see Nozomi jumping in excitement, Yoshino couldn't help but chuckle before smiling at her, even if endearing, childish behavior. Rudabaugh grew a smile of his own when he turned to see it.

Yoshino's smile diminished and her expression turned into a small frown when a sudden, unpleasant thought sneaked up on her. What if it had been Nozomi instead?

Yoshino shuddered before closing her eyes and shaking her head, but she couldn't help but think further about it.

In a way, Nozomi might have been subjected to the same fate. Yoshino wasn't conscious at the time to see how the fight exactly played out, but she at least knew Nozomi had her magical powers and, unlike Yoshino, had won against her opponent. So in the end, it wasn't the same. Which, in a sick, messed up way, she was thankful for.

"Yoshino?"

If Nozomi had been in that situation, subjected to the sadistic smile of that darkspawn as she bled out on the floor of an alleyway with only trashcans and streetlights for company in her final moments, Yoshino wouldn't stop. She wouldn't stop until the one responsible paid for it with a thousand stabs from her knife, at least. Yoshino's grip on the knife tightened as she thought of all the ways she would make that darkspawn suffer. She imagined doing it slowly, carving out that smile from the darkspawn with her knife after the amount of pain Nozomi would have gone through. Unforgivable, unforgivable, unforgivable! Yoshino thought as her expression grew enraged at her own spiraling thoughts.

"Yoshino!"

Snapping out of her thoughts, Yoshino's eyes opened wide while letting out a gasp in surprise. Rudabaugh, standing in front of her visibly concerned, was the first thing she saw.

As Yoshino took in her teacher and her surroundings, she finally noticed two crucial things: first, her aura of dark magic was gone, and second, the blade of her knife was completely black instead of the usual silver-gray. What...is happening?

"Hey, Professor... do you know what's going on?" Yoshino asked Rudabaugh, waiting with bated breath for an explanation.

Rudabaugh didn't answer immediately as he scrutinized the knife in Yoshino's hands. After a few seconds, he nodded. "I believe I do."