Training

Now with some of the preparations out of the way, it was time to move on to the practical part of being an assassin. There wasn't too much to it, but there were indeed some must-have skills that would make the job so much easier.

"Now before we begin there are some general rules of thumb that you need to imprint inside your mind. Never think that lower-class people are not a threat to us just because they are low-life citizens. Your comment about the gang is the wrong kind of mindset since they are the perfect kind of group to do a company's dirty work."

"You may never have seen it, but if he is corrupt like every other business then these gangs are the perfect pawns. Every mission should be treated that someone is higher in the chain and by killing our target we anger the one above." Ayame explained how the human food chain worked and although it was a grim way to put it, that was the reality of the kind of city they were in.

"I see, I was never introduced to the dark side of my father's business so I didn't realise there was this kind of contact." Kasumi was quite naive as she never saw anything wrong and even though she did some sketchy dealings they were always with upper-class people.

"That's expected and is probably why he had you dealing with much weaker clients… Which reminds me, why did you let me kill that man back in the stadium?" Ayame recalled back to the stadium mission where she fumbled in almost every step of being an assassin.

"Didn't I tell you? He was going to get killed anyway, so you only made my job easier. It was partly the reason why I caught you since I was on the way to do it myself." Kasumi gave her an explanation, but it contradicted what she said about not being introduced to the dark side… Unless murder is something normal to her then it makes sense or her father is the one that deals with the behind-the-scenes.

Ayame shrugged it off since it really was a matter of perspective what the dark side is since she didn't consider her job as the dark side, so it must be normal for Kasumi to murder clients that are no longer of use.

"Well, I got really lucky then, as an assassin you are never meant to say your mission or even give contact details, but something in that moment compelled me to speak." Ayame was quite embarrassed since it was her job and she always tried to follow the book, but when faced with Kasumi she buckled under the pressure.

"I see." Kasumi didn't know what to make of it, but she has noticed that persuasion has always been something she has been good at.

"Anyway, besides that special case, do not say anything about the mission or anything personal. It was a fluke that happened to me and should be something that never happens. Now, there is one important rule which isn't standard for assassins and that's to place your life first over anything else. If you can't do this, run away, we are not there to kill ourselves." This rule was something Ayame followed and is a part of Tomoe's teaching.

It was more normal to sacrifice your life no matter what, but Tomoe did not want to train a mindless assassin. It would be a miserable life for Tomoe to have her only daughter be an empty shell of a person.

"I understand." Kasumi liked this rule, It was nice to know that she can back out if she needs to and is the best option when in a tight spot. It was one of her major concerns about going on a mission in the first place since she assumed a contract would not allow them to back out.

"It's the one reason why I don't get as much work, but luckily I have made a big enough reputation that people allow this condition and now I have a steady flow of work." Ayame struggled in the beginning since taking contracts that let you back out are quite rare.

However, thanks to Tomoe's networking and negotiation skills, Ayame was able to pick up work rather easily.

"Anyway, I got sidetracked, lets actually do something." Ayame realised they haven't actually done anything and the time was slowly ticking away. Kasumi stayed silent just to make sure she didn't distract Ayame.

"Alright first I am going to draw a set of magic circles and then you are to copy them yourself." Ayame got down on her knees once again drawing magic circles, but much smaller and simpler.

Kasumi could actually read the runes now, so she understood the kind of spells they are while she wrote.

Once Ayame was finished writing, Kasumi got straight to work and copied every symbol. Ayame was impressed with how fast Kasumi was able to copy them despite it probably being the first time Kasumi has ever seen them.

"Annnd done." Kasumi shot up from the ground as soon as she finished the last spell.

"Sweet, now I'm assuming you know all of the elemental kitsune gods?" This was important to know as some kitsune only specialise in one god and tend to not bother to learn the other names.

"Yes I do, although it has been a while." Kasumi recalled the names in her head, but it had been so long it took a second to remember the names. .

"Cool, now just repeat after me while standing right by your circle."

"Melgrid the kitsune of wind lend me your power." Ayame saying the phrase activated the circle in front of her causing wind to conjure at her feet and slightly raise her from the ground.

Kasumi then repeated the same words and she began to levitate as well.

At first, she almost lost her balance but was able to stabilise herself quickly. Ayame half expected her to fall right over, but it seems Kasumi's control of fire correlates to the other elements.

"Nice, now this will help with basic movement over buildings and just long gaps in general. If you want to push yourself forward, you just have to change one rune." Ayame changed the rune mid-flight to showcase what she meant. Now Ayame was drifting in the room around Kasumi as if she was swimming in the air.

Kasumi wanted to replicate the same effect, but when she tried to use her mana to shift the rune, her wind suddenly cut out. Falling straight down to the floor, Ayame quickly rushed to catch her by going underneath.

Using her own body, Ayame cushioned Kasumi's fall, but how she was cushioned was quite embarrassing.

"Hmm?" Kasumi was engulfed in darkness and when she tried to push herself up, her hands were greeted with something soft as well as a moan?

She then suddenly found herself being pushed away and up against a wall.

"What?" Kasumi looked up to get her bearings and she spotted Ayame hiding her chest with an extremely red face.

"N-nothing, but for future reference changing a spell mid-cast takes a lot of practice so please refrain from doing so until you are comfortable." Ayame quickly spoke while she straightened herself out.

However, Kasumi looked at her hand thinking about what just happened and it made her realise what she had done.

"I'm so sorry!" Quickly putting her head to the floor Kasumi hoped she did not annoy Ayame since she has been particular about personal space lately.

"I-it fine okay, don't worry about it." Ayame looked away out of embarrassment, but she was fully aware it was an accident and wanted to leave it at that.

"I-if you say so." Kasumi was extremely embarrassed herself, but she was glad that Ayame took it as an accident.

"A-ahem, now as you just tried it will take a bit more practice, so be extra careful when you plan to use this since as a beginner you need to commit to the action." Ayame returned to her teacher mode which helped her forget what just happened.

"Mhm." Kasumi made sure to keep this in mind as knowing her daring nature she will try to do something unique.

***

<1 hour later >

Ayame went through a bit more movement-related spells as well as a cloaking spell that she had used at the stadium. There were a few more Ayame could teach, but since it was going to be a joint mission she wanted to focus on the main ones they will be using.

"You've done well, I didn't think someone who is specialised in fire so much, would be good at using other elements." Ayame had to give her praise since she read if you use one element for too long it is extremely hard to use any of the other elements.

The gods helped remedy this issue, but the effectiveness suffered greatly.

"Haha thanks, you say I specialise in fire, but I haven't actually put much effort into it so that might be why." Kasumi blushed getting praise from Ayame, but it really wasn't anything that special.

"Oh, well still amazing that you can grasp these spells quickly. I thought we would be here a few more hours trying to regain your control over the other elements, but clearly, I was wrong." Ayame was now at a loss for what to do since she didn't want to overload Kasumi with too much information.

"Is there anything else I should know about before the mission or is that all?" However, Kasumi was keen to learn more if there was more.

"There is, but the spells are more niche and I will teach you them along the way when they are needed. For now, we will stick with what you learnt to keep things simple. As for what we could do, I guess we can try some parkour tricks in the time being since they are easy to learn."