Over the next few hours, Mira beat-ahem-sparred with Maria, Celaine, and Asami. Furthermore, to Mira's surprise, they were actually able to hold out fairly well, especially Celaine. From what Mira could tell, although Celaine's actions were still a bit choppy and awkward, she had great fundamentals.
She could control her body extraordinarily well, and the force behind her punches was extraordinary. It seemed like the only thing holding her back was the lack of knowledge and experience in the martial arts area. Other than that, Mira couldn't complain about her performance.
Asami was also surprisingly talented in martial arts, and although she wasn't quite as skilled as Maria and Celaine, Mira could see that the girl wasn't just a pretty face. She knew her way around a fight, and with her weapon being a fan, this made sense. Although Mira has never used a fan as a weapon and probably wouldn't ever, she could at least picture how someone with a fan would fight.
So, it should be no surprise that Asami was actually skilled in these close-quarters combat fights.
On the other hand, Maria was probably the worst out of the bunch, but that was only in terms of talent. Mira has been training with Maria for years, so she didn't lose out to the other two despite her disadvantages. Though, to begin with, Maria has never been someone who was very talented in fighting.
Despite going through years of hellish training with Mira, she still isn't all that impressive. Of course, compared to those around her age, she is a prodigy among prodigies, but according to Mira's standards, she's about average.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much Mira could do about this. She could only keep training Maria to make her stronger despite knowing about her limited talent. Mira knew that she wouldn't always be with Maria, and this was her way of protecting her.
The world is cruel, especially this world, and to someone like Mira, individual strength is more important than anything else.
Nonetheless, Mira was still satisfied with her progress and abilities.
Lastly, over the last few hours, Mira felt herself reaching a certain wall in her martial arts. It almost felt like she was reaching the end of what she was capable of, yet at the same time, it felt like she was approaching a new beginning.
That's when she knew that she was approaching the illusory 'Intent'! At first, Mira thought it would just be something like Fist Intent, but that was clearly wrong. This intent seemed to involve her entire body. That being the case, Mira decided to call it 'Martial Intent'.
However, Mira had no idea what sort of properties or effects this Intent would bring. Celaine's Saber Intent was sharp, domineering, swift, and silent. In a way, it felt like a personification of Celaine.
Regardless, Mira was looking forward to acquiring her first Intent! At the same time, Mira also felt like comprehending this Intent would help pave the way for her comprehension of Scythe Intent.
She figured that the prerequisite to learning Martial Intent is perfect control over every aspect of one's body. It would make sense that such a thing would be extremely beneficial to learning other kinds of Intent.
Hell, with just that, Mira was sure that she'd be able to use almost any weapon without much effort! That's how amazing it is to have perfect control over one's body!
She wanted to keep pounding on her friends until she comprehended it, but after a few hours, they stopped putting up a fight. Although they, too, wanted to see what kind of Intent Mira would comprehend and how strong she would be after that, they had no intention of being her punching bags for however long it's going to take her to comprehend it!
Luckily, Mira made an announcement to all of her subordinates that they could come and attack whenever and wherever. Actually, that's the whole reason Mira made that announcement. She knew that Maria and the others wouldn't let her beat them. She also knew that Celaine and Asami probably had other responsibilities, and she didn't want to get in the way of that.
In fact, Mira wanted nothing more than for Celaine to grow stronger as quickly as possible!
Mira could probably get away with beating up Maria for a while, but she was too trash at martial arts that it wouldn't be worth it.
As for her subordinates, well, they probably weren't any better than Maria, but if she suppressed her strength to their level, she felt like they could probably put up a decent fight. Not only that, but she could find out how much progress they've made over the years while giving them pointers on what they can do better.
Sure enough, after Mira's little spar with Celaine, Asami, and Maria, her subordinates began pouncing on her.
Some took the direct approach and decided to engage in hand-to-hand combat, while others came at her with weapons. Some even decided to attack her from a distance!
What surprised Mira, though, was their teamwork. They all moved in perfect sync with one another without even needing to say anything. Based on that, Mira could tell how much work they've put into becoming stronger.
That's not the kind of teamwork that can just happen overnight. They must've gone through many life-threatening battles and fought many different opponents.
Not only that, but Mira could see that despite their impressive teamwork, they didn't stop focusing on their individual strength. While they relied on each other in fights, it didn't look like they were dependent on one another.
This was something Mira was very happy to see, and she could only assume that it was Alicia that helped instill this idea into everyone. Although Mira has always talked about individual strength and its importance, that's not what she was initially looking for from this group of women.
She wanted them to be one cohesive group who are absolutely terrifying in group settings. Other than that, Mira didn't care much for anything else.
However, it seems they took the initiative here to improve themselves without Mira even needing to say anything.
This was good because it showed how intelligent and autonomous they were. Mira couldn't be happier to have such subordinates! She didn't want to have to waste her time telling them what they should and shouldn't do. If they could find ways to strengthen themselves with only a little bit of help, that would be for the best.
The only problem that they'd probably face is forming a decent Core, but Mira already had plans for that.
While finding a good Core Formation Recipe would be difficult for most, that was not the case for Mira. Her inheritance, the F.LD.I.L, was like its own universe with all the treasures one would ever need. Part of those treasures is, of course, Core Formation Recipes!
Yes, the F.LD.I.L actually has Core Formation Recipes! It had a bunch of them, in fact, but Mira wasn't about to go do hundreds of trials to acquire different Core Formation Recipes that suited each one of her subordinates.
She hasn't quite figured out what she is going to do as she still needs to take some time to learn more about her inheritance, what she can do with it, and what it has to offer.
Regardless, Mira was going to help them with their 'Core' problem.
Since she was already going that far, Mira also decided to try and spend a bit more time with her subordinates. That's another reason why she wanted to know what they were capable of.
Mira's not too good with small talk, and most of her subordinates probably thought of her as some cold-blooded killer, which is wrong, so this is the only way Mira could think of where she could spend time with them while not having the experience feel awkward.
So, over the next few days, Mira was attacked countless times in all kinds of ways. Sometimes they'd charge at her in a group; other times, they'd try and distract her. She even got sneak attacked and ambushed several times. They didn't hold back either. They were coming at her with the intent to kill.
Not in any malicious way, but they knew that if they didn't have that level of resolve, they'd never be able to catch Mira off-guard enough for them to land a hit.
Seeing them not hesitate to go for the kill made Mira extremely happy. She was incredibly satisfied with their growth. While they weren't anywhere near her level of skill or even Maria's level, it was more than enough for now.
Mira was constantly giving out pointers in hopes that they would further improve, and to her surprise, they would try to implement those ideas immediately.
Mira also used this time to adjust to using martial arts in her new body. It was a bit more difficult than she originally thought, but after almost four days of nonstop battle, Mira was finally able to adjust and break down the barrier that prevented her from progressing further!
