Rias sighed as she leaned back against the pillar in her skimpy negligee, letting the cold stone cool her body as she tried to relax. The bindings were still on her body and magic, showing as exotic designs under her nightie as she let herself relax enough for it to be visible. She idly turned the pages of her book as she studied various tacticians to learn new tricks and skills. Satsuki had ground it into her head that there was no such thing as too many backup plans, and how dangerous it was to assume that she or her troops were ever 'strong enough'. In the strategy simulator that Satsuki had been training her with, she had yet to achieve a decisive victory. Every so often Satsuki would still rout her utterly when she brought in a tactic or weapon that Rias was unfamiliar with...but more often than not the battle would reduce both sides to the smallest of deployable units, only for the battle to end when one or the other ran out of resources to keep them going. She had yet to be able to actually destroy the last of Satsuki's units, but she had finally begun to grasp the lesson Satsuki had declared from the start. Demons fly, so battle was always three dimensional.
Rubbing her eyes, she set the book aside as she let her mind turn over how the others were doing. Yuuto was improving in leaps and bounds under Uzu's guidance, to the point he didn't realize how fast he was going anymore. That had come to a head when he'd been serving everyone lunch and had accidentally served it undercooked because he thought it had cooked longer than it had due to a stretched perception of time. Every second now felt like two to him, which made his combat and evasion that much better. He'd been proud of that...until Uzu pointed out that his own dilation was a factor of 10, and that went up when he was focused. This only pushed Yuuto harder, which both amused and unnerved Rias. She felt there was such a thing as being too competitive.
Akeno was growing more skilled with her magic, though her power output remained stagnant. According to Nonon, there was a mental block preventing her from using more than half of her available magic, tied to some sort of trauma. Rias knew exactly what that was, and was sure it would take Akeno time to get past it. However, recently Akeno seemed to have become obsessed with the anime Nonon had shown to 'expand imagination', one episode specifically. She could be found watching it over and over again, mumbling, "Mine, not his..." over and over again as she looked at her hands. Perhaps it was the beginning of breaking past the mental block...but there was a spiritual block as well, and without closure she couldn't move forward.
Asia's progress was nothing short of phenomenal. She'd begun manifesting her magic as elemental energy, and her range and force were incredible. While she didn't have the power Akeno did with lightning, she was far more creative with her use of power. Seeing her cause a practice dummy to detonate from within by combining a fire and gravity spell from the opposite side of the training field had been unnerving...especially with the eagerly happy smile she got when Ryuko praised her for it.
...and then she'd done the same blindfolded and with her back turned after being spun around rapidly, with pinpoint accuracy. She still needed to be up close to heal someone with Twilight Healing, but her speed and efficiency there had improved dramatically. It was almost frightening how eagerly and rapidly she progressed when Ryuko praised her. Ryuko herself had improved in her training, having managed to maintain a 'score' of 25 or more in training exercises on evasion. Senketsu also seemed to be growing in strength, though he did not comment on it or explain it. Ddraig, however, seemed rather ebullient over whatever they had planned, which was very unnerving.
The real surprise had been Koneko. When she'd returned from her first training session with Ira, she had been curled up in his hand, exhausted but with a smile on her face. When she woke the next morning, she was completely relaxed and at ease, and her magic felt more at peace than it had since joining Rias' team. She also spent a great deal of her time with Ira even outside training, either nuzzled against him or curled up in either his hand or his lap. When training, Ira was all business with her, and the training took place so far away no one was sure what was happening. Outside training, however, Ira looked completely lost anytime Koneko came up to him to lean or curl against him, occasionally turning a look of confused, pleading terror in Satsuki's direction. For some reason, that always set Uzu, Nonon, and Ryuko into gales of laughter, and the first time Satsuki had let out an amused snort.
Still, tomorrow was the last day of training. Tomorrow they would test Ryuko with a Boost and Promotion to see how her enhanced abilities adjusted to it, and to be sure she could control herself. After that, they would be returning to Kuoh Academy, and she would face the Rating Game against Riser Phenex, and do her best to prove that Rias Gremory was and should be treated as more than the Gremory Heiress.
But if that were to happen, she needed to get some sleep. It would do her family no good to be exhausted.
Ryuko braced herself as Shiro Iori prepped the equipment for her next session. It was time to see what she was really made of. When he looked up at her, she nodded. "Ready."
"Ready," Senketsu confirmed, his eye shifting as he wriggled to settle better against her somewhat larger frame. She had grown since she'd last worn him, and he was still adjusting to the changes...not all of them muscular.
"Ready!" Ddraig declared eagerly, practically vibrating with excitement as the Boosted Gear appeared on her right hand. The green jewel glowed brilliantly in the early morning light.
"Beginning session," Iori stated calmly as he activated the machinery. The projectors moved into position.
"Boost!" Ddraig declared, and Ryuko felt her power double, straining at her body even as she adjusted.
"Ryuko!" Rias declared. "You have permission for Promotion!"
Ryuko raised her right arm, gem out. "Promotion! Knight!" she declared, and felt the Evil Pieces within her respond, one of them releasing extra power into her.
Light emitted from the machinery, one of the lasers she was supposed to evade. It slowly extended, the particles and wave blending as it twisted in the air towards her. Confused, Ryuko moved towards it, stepping to one side to watch. Picking up a stick, she pushed it into the beam and watched the disruption curiously, seeing the particles scatter and color even as the wave broke up around the intrusion. Now those physics lessons make sense, she mused thoughtfully before leaning back easily to evade the next one as it took shape.
She danced easily between the beams of light, seemingly having forever to dodge each one. Feeling the thrill, she moved closer, letting individual strands of her hair dance around the beams without touching, and pretending to grip one like a lightsaber, even making the sounds because she knew how much that would amuse Mako. Eventually growing bored, she moved around until she could slip behind Iori and switch the machine off.
As her power subsided, everyone had turned to stare at her. As the Evil Pieces dropped back to normal power levels, her perception of time returned to normal. She grinned widely. "Well? How'd I do?" she asked smugly.
"Score of 125," Satsuki stated calmly. "Not only evaded every blow, but moved to cut them off successfully. Well done." She turned to Rias. "It seems it's time to return." She let a smirk cross her features. "Make a roasted pheasant of that flaming peacock for me."
Rias couldn't help but return the smirk. "That's the plan," she purred eagerly.