Suddenly, Mira entered enlightenment during a fight with one of her subordinates. The aura around her became heavy and suffocating, causing the women around her to back off in fright as they felt their life flash before their eyes.
Maria noticed this anomaly and immediately went into action, quietly pushing everyone away from Mira so as not to disturb her.
She whispered to everyone, "It seems like Mira is going through some sort of enlightenment. You guys can stay here and watch, but be sure to stay behind me. We don't want Mira accidentally turning you girls into meat paste, now do we? Hehe~"
Maria chuckled lightly, but this sent shivers down the girls' spines. They had no idea how strong Mira was currently and had forgotten about this fact as she seemed to have lowered her strength to face them.
The girls quickly huddled behind Maria, but their eyes didn't leave Mira's body. They could feel the aura around her growing.
At first, it only felt heavy and suffocating, but soon it turned chaotic and violent, almost like a rabid beast. The suffocating feeling didn't leave but instead became worse as time went on. It felt like they were facing a massive monster that could swat them away like flies.
They had no idea why this aura came out of Mira, and only Maria had some ideas. Over the last few days, Celaine would come and go to spar with Mira for a few hours every day, and during that time, Maria learned more about what Intent is.
Apparently, from what Celaine described, the aura around Mira is essentially a personification of how Mira views martial arts. From that alone, Maria could see that Mira viewed martial arts as a way to smash, destroy, and kill her enemies.
This didn't come as a surprise to Maria, though. Mira has always been more brutal whenever she fights barehanded. It's almost a guarantee that bones will be broken. Sometimes, it'll even feel like she's about to snap your neck if she gets you in a chokehold!
That's not to say she isn't brutal with her scythe, but it doesn't feel quite as bad.
The feeling of getting pummeled is just… too humiliating.
Mira's aura grew until it eventually became tangible, but then it did something nobody expected. The aura began wrapping around Mira's entire body.
Once the aura was fully condensed and wrapped around her body, Mira began practicing her martial arts.
First, she just threw a standard punch.
*CRACK**BOOM*
Her fist alone caused the air around her to quake, but a cracking noise could also be heard from Mira's body. To everyone present, this was unmistakably the sound of a bone cracking. They've heard this sound too many times not to recognize it!
Maria frowned, but she made no moves to help Mira. She could tell that instead of doing any damage, these cracks seemed to be enhancing Mira's body.
Mira went through her entire self-made martial arts by throwing various kinds of punches and kicks. She also included her tails as well!
While all of her tails seemed to be physically improving due to Mira's enlightenment, the one with the biggest improvement was unmistakably her Golden Tail.
Not only that, but Mira seemed to be adding her tails into her own self-made martial art as well by making full use of her enlightenment!
While this was amazing to watch and seemed to affect everyone who was watching, it was also incredibly terrifying. No, it wasn't her talent that terrified those watching her, but it was how Mira looked.
She looked way too intimidating! It was like every strike contained killing intent! Literal killing intent!
Feeling Mira's killing intent directly caused most of the women to go pale, but they were tenacious. They didn't want to miss this moment no matter what, so they gritted their teeth and pushed through the terrifying killing intent to keep watching Mira.
Hours passed by, and eventually, a large crowd full of Mira's subordinates gathered around her in order to spectate her enlightenment.
The 'cracks' and 'booms' grew louder and more fearsome with every attack, causing everyone to wonder how Mira was able to stay in her enlightenment despite feeling the pain of having her bones broken. Or at least, that's what they assumed was happening whenever they heard a loud crack.
From what they knew, enlightenments are very rare and precious, but also fragile experiences. For most people, they'd need to sit down in an area of peace and quiet to make sure nothing goes wrong during their enlightenment, but here's Mira cracking her fucking bones, yet it seems that these cracks are only sending her deeper into her enlightenment!
What kind of nonsense is that?! That's not something someone should be capable of doing.
Not only that but there isn't even a change in her expression! It's almost like she can't tell that her bones are breaking!
However, if they knew that Mira truly didn't feel anything, they probably wouldn't even believe her.
Well, who would? Throughout her life, having a broken bone was basically the only constant in her life. That's not even considering the tests that she had to go through in the F.L.D.I.L. Now, her pain tolerance has basically reached a point where as long as her soul is getting damaged or her body is being crushed, she can barely feel anything else.
Of course, Mira still feels pain. It's just that her mind no longer registers this kind of 'pain' as painful. At most, it feels like someone is pinching her. That's especially so after she evolved. Her brain is much more advanced now and can almost work in accordance with her will.
Therefore, as long as the damage to her body doesn't leave any hidden injuries or she's dying, then any 'pain' she experiences will essentially be null.
So, Mira can't even see these cracks as something painful, allowing her to continue with her enlightenment.
Unbeknownst to everyone watching and even Mira herself, the Intent that the reason for these cracks is that the Intent Mira was comprehending was actually being ingrained into her very body. It wasn't just her bones, but every part of her body was having this Intent ground into them.
The main reason for this is that Mira's body is, well, technically, not a weapon. At least, not a weapon in the conventional sense. Sure, her body can be used as a weapon, but it's not like a sword or saber that was forged for a specific purpose: to be a weapon.
One's body is used for so many other things, but disregarding all that, Mira's body is alive, unlike something like a sword or a saber. She's a living, breathing entity that can make her own conscious decisions.
The Weapon Endowment path is all about enforcing one's will and comprehension on the outside world, but this is mostly used in tandem with the Weapon in question. For example, Celaine can use her Saber Intent to increase her saber's speed, sharpness, and power.
However, Mira's Martial Intent is slightly different since she's using her own body as the weapon. She doesn't need to 'endow' her will and comprehension onto the outside world since her weapon is her own body.
That doesn't mean she can't, but the whole point of going down a Weapon Endowment Path is to enhance one's weapon.
And that's exactly what Mira's going through! She's endowing herself with her Intent, resulting in it being ingrained down to her very bones!
It could almost be said that Mira's entire body is being tempered to be something similar to a large hammer that can smash her opponents into meat patties! While her strength might not be rising directly, her body is being transformed into something that can better handle martial arts. She'll be more flexible, durable, faster, and slightly stronger after everything's done. Not only that but when she uses her Martial Intent on herself, the power of her body will be greatly increased!
A few more hours passed by, and eventually, no more cracking sounds could be heard. Only the sonic booms caused by Mira's punches and kicks resounded through the training hall.
Her aura, which had been getting stronger, also stopped growing and seemed to be fully condensed in and around Mira's body.
However, suddenly, her aura spiked, and Mira stomped on the ground, causing small cracks to form.
Then while releasing a battle cry, she threw the most powerful punch she's ever thrown!
"HAAAAAAAA!!!"
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
The punch was so powerful that just the sonic booms alone were more than enough to injure the surrounding people if Maria wasn't there to protect them. The force of the punch also didn't seem to diminish until it hit the wall in front of her. Luckily, this training room was reinforced, so Mira's attacks only caused light cracks to form, which immediately regenerated. The same goes for the ground she was standing on.
The cracks that were formed soon returned back to normal, as if there was no damage, to begin with.
After that last punch, Mira finally opened her eyes while releasing a deep breath.
***
A/N: Thank you so much, everyone, for the support! Last month, we made it to the Top 10 of the Golden Ticket Rankings, so here are an extra 10 chapters as thanks for all the support last month!
