"S-Stay back!" The leader frantically yelled, trying to crawl away from Loraine as she started to menacingly walk towards him. "You’re a physcho! You don’t know what you’re dealing with, do you?" He warned, getting up to his feet as he began to run toward the exit.

"Nuh-uh-uh!" Loraine said, waving her index finger in a ’no-no’ motion, activating [Magical Grasp] as she grabbed onto his body, slowly dragging him back towards her as she watched him frantically try to break free from her spell. "Where do you think you’re doing?" She asked, a slight chuckle escaping her lips.

Though her mind wandered elsewhere.

’Me...a psycho?’ She thought, the word feeling like a stab in her chest as her heart clenched at the mere thought of it. ’Don’t you dare bullshit me...’

"Funny how you’re calling me crazy, when its your kind that kills and robs people for a living," She remarked sarcastically, hovering one of the daggers from the enemy towards her as she took a hold of it, the items effects diminishing down to 1, even though its attack potency wasn’t that great anyways.

"You have no idea the hell I’ve gone through during the few days I’ve been here." Loraine said, her voice dropping to a cold, and predatory whisper as she dragged the leader closer towards her, his scared cries filling her ears as he desperately wished for an escape.

"Nearly beaten to death by my abusive superior, harboring abuse thrown my way everyday and getting treated less like human just because I wasn’t an Awakened being." She said, the golden hue in her eyes vanishing for a moment as they flashed crimson with the depth of her rage.

"Do you know how taxing it feels, to work your ass off everyday, only to be rewarded with the bare minimum?" Loraine asked, raising a brow as she crouched down on one knee, draping her arm over it as she brandished the dagger at the man’s throat, the sharp edge barely tickling his adam’s apple as she spoke.

"And now I nearly died, again..." She whispered through gritted teeth, the anger and pain she had been holding back, whether it was to pretend like the old Loraine, or keep up a friendly attitude began to erode away.

Her aura intensified around her as the defeated bodies of the bandits she had dealt with began to float up in the air around her, the very air starting to tremble with the depths of her rage.

"I now realize that I can’t keep pretending that everything’s fine, I won’t tolerate this abuse any longer now that I have the power to change it." She said, and with her statement, a part of her old self died and in its place something new began to take shape.

The laid back, care-free, and self-persevering mindset were not going to cut it if she wanted to survive in this world. Her immaturity and lack of development almost got her killed, the feeling of her bones cracking under the force of Jack’s blows, the feeling of her blood spilling from mouth as she struggled to breathe.

’I need to start taking this a lot more seriously now.’ Loraine thought, her mind flashing back to her previous life’s corporate job, and how terrible it was. Every staff complaint, yell from a boss or superior was immediately blocked from her mind as she simply refused to take anything seriously.

And while she would have loved to blame it all on her job’s terrible environment, some of it was definitely her own fault too, so had to take accountability for that. The warm exterior that was her heart began to reshape itself, a more serious side of her being taking shape.

The fear of death gripping her heart and rendering her weak, useless, and like total idiot for not utilizing her Mythical Talent to its fullest potential.

A new side of her born not of the seeds of hatred, pain, or guilt, but out of pure necessity.

"W-what are you talking about!?" The leader barked, "You think I care about your backstory!..." He spoke, a grin forming on his terrified face as he looked her in the eye. "You have no idea the hell you’ve unleashed upon yourself with what you’ve done today. Mark my words maiden...for my master’s wrath is not one to be trifled with." He said.

A defiant glint twinkled in her crimson eyes, "To hell with you, and your master." Loraine said firmly, rising to her feet as she threw the dagger to the side, the metal piece clanking against the cobblestone as she forced the leader onto his stomach with [Magical Grasp], the pressure rending his face flat on his side as he struggled to breathe and felt his bones crushing under the weight.

’The damn dagger won’t even be of use to me, its practically a butter knife in my hands.’ She thought with a hint of irritation.

Loraine raised her leg in the air, delivering a powerful kick to the man’s head as she sent him crashing into the far-side wall, rendering him unconscious. Loraine’s eyes swept over the man for a moment, watching his body go limp and double over, before scanning her surroundings around her.

Her eyes wandered to her hands, they were bloody, stained with the crimson essence of her enemies and the sight was truly mortifying. However, what would have normally terrified started to bring her peace instead.

A strange calm that washed over her soul, a heart melting relief to see that she wasn’t the one barely alive on the ground anymore, a joy in knowing that now she had the power and proper mindset to strive to be better, while still protecting those she cared about in the process.

’!’

’Hm?’ Her eyes flickered to Jacob, the tension in her body finally wearing off as [Aura Of Haste] reached its timer’s limit, her athletic build dropping back down to her more thin and slender frame, a sigh escaping her lips as she shook her head.

"Hey Jacob," Loraine spoke as she started to walk towards him, sinking down to one knee. "Its okay to look now, you may turn around. You’re safe." She said, flashing Jacob a bright smile.

’If trouble is going to come for me anyway, then I’m going to stand my ground and learn to face it head on. Even if it means getting my hands a little dirty in the process.’