Rina finally released her vice grip, dropping Zara to the ground like a sack of potatoes. He gasped and coughed, nearly choking from the sheer pressure that had crushed his windpipe moments ago.
"As punishment..." Rina said coldly, brushing off her gloves, "...a 10-kilometer run."
Mark blinked, confused but not overly concerned. "Well, that's not too bad."
"On your hands," Rina added with a sadistic smirk.
Mark's smile shattered. His mind snapped back to the strict yet reasonable training under Rosemary. He felt betrayed by his current reality. "Master Rosemary... I miss you. Come back," he muttered in despair.
Meanwhile...
At the Head Priest's mansion, Rosemary sneezed.
"Achoo! Hmm... My masterpiece must be thinking about me," she said proudly, sipping tea. "Probably bragging about my flawless training methods."
Back on the training field, Mark and Zara were rushed into a handstand position.
"Ten kilometers in five minutes. If you don't finish..." Rina's voice dropped an octave, "...you'll wish you had."
"F-Five minutes?" Zara croaked.
"Start."
And just like that, they were off sprinting on their hands like tortured gymnasts. Mark grit his teeth as his shoulders burned with every movement. He glanced at Zara beside him, sweat flying from both of them.
"You were saying something about the priest's training being cruel and unusual!?" Mark shouted, wheezing through the pain.
Zara groaned. "Okay, okay, I get it! My aunt's a monster too! But in my defense, I usually ran from her. You sounded like you were some kind of training monk!"
"Tch... Touché."
Eight minutes of hell later, the duo flopped onto the ground, barely alive. Arms numb. Bodies twitching. Faces buried in the dirt.
But somehow they'd made it.
10 kilometers. On hands. In eight minutes.
And Rina still wasn't smiling.
"You took eight minutes..." Rina said, her arms crossed like a disappointed mother. "You'll be joining the others in their punishment when they arrive."
Zara groaned, collapsing onto his back. "Seriously...?"
Mark muttered under his breath, "So we're getting even more punishment than them after all."
Rina tapped her foot impatiently. Thirty seconds passed.
Her eyebrow twitched.
That was all the patience she had.
With a loud growl, she turned and bolted toward the dorms, her footsteps like thunderclaps. One by one, she slammed her fists on the dormitory doors, roaring:
"You pampered pillow princesses better get the hell out of bed! You're training to be knights, not beauty queens!"
A shrill voice called back through one door. "Leave us alone, you filthy dog!"
Bad choice of words.
BOOM!
Rina kicked down the noble boy's door like it was made of paper. In one fluid motion, she grabbed him by the collar and hoisted him into the air.
"Oh... I'm going to enjoy breaking you," she said with a twisted grin.
Moments later, all the students were herded like sheep back onto the training field. The disrespectful noble dangled from Rina's iron grip, whimpering.
"Two hundred one-arm push-ups per hand. Three hundred single-leg squats per leg." Her voice cracked across the field like lightning. "You'll learn to never be late to my class again!"
Lora Valentine, one of the noble girls, giggled. "Oof, poor boys. You guys have it bad."
Rina suddenly turned to her.
Her laughter echoed unhinged, wild, terrifying.
"Who said the girls had a different punishment?!" she screamed, eyes blazing. "You're doing the same thing!"
Lora's face turned pale. "W-What?! No way! I don't want to get all big and bulky like you!"
Rina stomped her foot, the ground cracking beneath her.
"Begin now, or face my foot being shoved up your pampered ASS!"
Nobody hesitated after that.
One hour later…
The combat field looked like a battlefield. Students were collapsed all over, drenched in sweat, wheezing, groaning defeated.
Some had dared to sneak away mid-punishment. Big mistake.
Those unfortunate souls were dragged back, slapped with weighted vests, or worse greeted by Rina's favorite bullwhip. No one escaped.
"This woman is a monster," Valentine wheezed, face pressed into the dirt. Then her eyes flicked to Rina's silhouette in the distance. "...Though, I will admit her glutes are...marvelous Wait, what am I saying?! This madwoman is messing with my head!"
DING DONG!
A bell tone echoed from the nearby audio crystal, cutting through the sounds of agony like a blade.
"Next class: Advanced Magic Theory in the Magic Study Hall."
Rina grinned, sipping cold water like a queen watching peasants suffer. "Saved by the bell. Now hurry along to your next class before she finds a reason to punish you too."
Mark and Zara didn't wait a second.
They scrambled to their feet and bolted toward the study hall, fear in their eyes like survivors of war. They weren't going to risk Round Two with Rina's wrath.
Some of the other students stayed behind, moaning.
"She can't be serious…"
"Magic teachers are soft…"
"She probably can't be worse than Rina…"
But one student knew better.
Opal staggered after Mark and Zara, pushing through the soreness like her life depended on it.
"Mark! Wait for me!" she called out, before tripping and falling flat.
Mark turned around immediately and jogged back. He crouched down and offered her a ride. Without hesitation, Opal climbed on his back, her cheeks flushed.
"Th-thank you," she whispered.
"No problem," Mark replied casually.
Behind them, Zara clicked his tongue and smirked. "Tch. You lovebirds want a room or something?"
Both Mark and Opal's faces went crimson.
"We're just friends!" they shouted in unison. "It's nothing like that!"
Back at the training field…
Rina leaned back on a bench, sipping her water like royalty. The air around her was calm, but her words cut sharp.
"You know," she said casually, "the Magic Theory teacher is actually worse than me when it comes to late students."
Valentine groaned. "You're bluffing…"
Rina looked at her sideways and grinned. "Oh? Want to bet your limbs on it?"
Suddenly, every student who had been laying down sprang up like they'd just had a potion injected into their spine.
"Nope."
"Not worth it."
"I like my organs intact."
Even Valentine, battered and exhausted, dragged herself to her feet.
"Fine, fine! I'm going."
The students limped and hobbled their way toward the Magic Study Hall, groaning in pain, but unwilling to gamble on a worse fate.
Mark took a seat between Opal and Zara in the front row. The rest of the students filed in one by one, bruised, sweaty, but just barely on time. No one wanted to test if the rumors about the next teacher were true.
Then the door creaked open.
A man stepped in.
He had long, spiky white hair that reached down to his shoulders. Each tap of his black cane on the stone floor sent faint sparks of mana into the air. His cloak was jet-black, but it shimmered with intricate silver patterns that looked like runes woven into the fabric itself.
He didn't say a word until he reached the board. Then he took a piece of chalk and wrote in large, slow strokes:
John Coraline
Turning to face the class, his voice rumbled like distant thunder.
"That is my name. You will refer to me as Mr. Coraline."
A few students in the back snickered.
"Coraline? What kind of name is that?"
"Sounds like a princess..."
"A girly name for a guy like him?"
Mark didn't even glance back.
Big mistake, he thought, sweat forming on his brow. That guy definitely heard them.
CRACK!
A shard of ice blasted across the room like a bullet stab! slamming into the wall just inches from a student's eye.
The laughter died instantly.
All heads turned.
The teacher stood still, but something was wrong. Scales began to creep up the side of his neck. His eyes slitted like a serpent's. A massive dragon tail extended from behind him, curling into the air with barely contained power.
"Watch your mouth, you little ingrates," he growled.
The class froze.
Even Mark sat stiffly in his chair, his heart pounding. What kind of transformation was that?
Then pain.
A sharp, burning ache pulsed in Mark's chest, right where his mana core rested.
Zara let out a low gasp, clutching his chest at the same time. Opal turned to them both in concern, but said nothing.
The student who nearly got impaled was pale and shaking. "W What are you…?"
Mr. Coraline's lips curled into a smirk.
"That will be your first lesson," he said, voice cold. "I am what you call a Beast Core Magic User."
Gasps rippled through the class. Even some of the nobles whispered nervously. Beast Core magic was the rarest in the kingdoms. Dangerous, unstable... inhuman.
Mr. Coraline's reptilian eyes scanned the room.
Then he narrowed in on Mark and Zara.
"You two." He pointed his cane at them. "Get down here. Now."
Mark stood slowly, still clutching his chest. Zara followed, reluctant and sweating.
"You've felt it, haven't you?" Mr. Coraline said with a gleam in his eyes. "The stirring in your cores. The primal energy. The instinct."
Mark nodded slowly. "What… what does it mean?"
Mr. Coraline grinned, showing sharp teeth.
"you two" he said, "you two are monsters just like me."