Tom had never witnessed another Obscurus besides his own, but as an Obscurial himself, he understood exactly what determined its strength.
Time.
The host's innate magical talent.
The depth of magical reserves.
Those were the key factors.
Ariana excelled in all of them.
Her Obscurus had matured to its peak. Combined with years of suppressed fury, it now teetered on the brink of madness.
This time, Ariana did not restrain it.
She fueled it.
Host and Obscurus resonated as one, amplifying each other. The black mass surged forward with terrifying speed, almost like Apparition. Tom had barely finished smirking when the creature was already upon Grindelwald.
A translucent shield erupted in response. Black and white collided, forming a violent vortex that tore through the learning space.
Crack.
Crack!
Under Grindelwald's startled yet faintly proud gaze, the white brilliance fractured piece by piece. The Obscurus shattered his defense and engulfed him completely. Black tendrils spiraled into a whirling cyclone, grinding relentlessly for over ten seconds before finally dissipating.
The darkness condensed.
Ariana reappeared, breathing heavily.
She was exhausted, but her eyes shone with exhilaration. The moment she found Tom, she ran straight into his arms.
"Tom, I won!"
He rewarded her with a fond pat on the head.
"Well done. It's only an Obscurus. At the end of the day, it's just power waiting to be wielded. You…"
Ariana's expression shifted from joy to astonishment.
Above them, a far denser and more violent sea of black surged into existence.
For the first time, Tom released his own Obscurus openly.
The sky of the learning space darkened beneath the weight of it. Compared to Ariana's, his was thicker, heavier, more feral.
"I never told you before because I did not want you to worry. When I summoned you, I inherited fragments of your talents. The Obscurus was your gift to me."
"Gift…" Ariana repeated softly.
Then her eyes widened in horror.
"Tom, your body will be destroyed!"
"Relax. I've already eliminated the side effects." He smiled. "I severed the Obscurus from its instinct to drain magic and life force. It can no longer corrode me."
He paused briefly.
"If you were alive, I could have healed you as well."
"There's nothing to regret."
Ariana's tension melted into relief when she realized he was safe. She smiled brightly.
"This is already wonderful. I can stay with you forever. The Obscurus cannot hurt me here. Compared to before… this is paradise."
A cluster of white light shimmered in the distance.
Grindelwald reappeared, composed and smiling.
Within the learning space, only Tom could truly inflict harm. Grindelwald's temporary defeat had merely returned his consciousness to his original body. Once the residual pain faded, he could step back in.
He approached them.
"Congratulations, Ariana. You've finally stepped onto the threshold."
"Hmph." She lifted her chin proudly. "This is just the beginning. You're still my sparring partner until I can defeat you at your peak."
"Gladly," Grindelwald replied without hesitation.
A series of system prompts echoed in Tom's mind.
[Recognition from Gellert Grindelwald has reached 100 percent. One talent extraction granted.]
[Recognition from Ariana Dumbledore has reached 100 percent. One talent extraction granted.]
[Extracting rewards…]
[Congratulations. Talent acquired: Time Affinity (Grindelwald). Antioch Peverell's Transfiguration Talent (Dumbledore).]
[Three private instructors have reached full recognition. System upgrade conditions met. Upgrade duration: seven days. Please wait patiently.]
As the final notification faded, the learning space froze.
Time itself halted.
Tom's consciousness was forcibly expelled.
"Seven days?"
He blinked, slightly disoriented.
The system had wasted no time. The moment the requirement was met, it initiated its upgrade. And it would take a full week.
So he could not enter the learning space during that period.
He tested it. The interface confirmed the upgrade countdown.
Other functions remained active. The extraordinary mode still worked. But direct instruction and sparring were unavailable.
Seven days, then.
He was curious what the upgrade would bring. For now, he turned his attention to the newly acquired talents.
The one that intrigued him most was Grindelwald's Time Affinity.
Upon activating it, the world subtly shifted.
It felt eerily similar to when he had first gained Merlin's magical perception.
Fragments appeared before his eyes.
Fifteen minutes from now, he would walk to the bathroom.
Half an hour from now, he would lie down to sleep.
Then the vision splintered.
He still went to the bathroom. But afterward, one possibility showed him reading until two in the morning. Another depicted him falling asleep almost immediately. A dozen variations unfolded in rapid succession.
The stream continued until his head began to ache.
Only then did it cease.
"Divination… prophecy… time…"
He rubbed his eyes and promptly walked to the bathroom ahead of schedule, just to test the waters.
As he examined the gift more carefully, he recalled what Grindelwald had once explained.
His ability was not conventional divination magic.
It was innate.
From childhood, he glimpsed fragments of future events, without context, without timestamps. That was how he had known the Elder Wand rested with Gregorovitch. That was how he had seized it.
As his power grew, so did his control. He could perceive more fragments, with greater clarity.
But what he saw were possibilities.
One event could branch into hundreds of outcomes. It was his task to analyze and discern which would likely manifest.
By contrast, Sybill Trelawney's true prophecies were fixed points. Near inevitabilities.
Tom leaned against the sink, water running idly.
He had just gained a talent that touched the fabric of time itself.