She Professed Herself The Pupil Of The Wiseman (WN)

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Alfina once again knelt in front of Mira. She had seen how hard Celestina was working, and recognized that Mira had found a way to push forward, which Alfina was also grateful for. But she had more to say.

「Master, please allow me to join you if you're training here.」

The Holy Sword Sanctia was still in her hand, the blade trembling slightly as Alfina made that request. She had been too afraid of making such a request from Mira before, but seeing that Celestina had done it, she mustered the courage to ask for it.

Mira turned to look at Celestina, unsure of what to make of Alfina's request.

Celestina looked rather fussy, already afraid of what would happen if a maniac for training like Alfina joined. But she also knew that if they turned Alfina away, she would hold an overwhelming grudge against Celestina, affecting all her future training.

「You're free to join us, but we're trying to complete a special move here. You've already done that before, so I'm not sure of how much use this will be to you.」

Mira decided to let Alfina join them, but warned her that it would not help her very much. Still, Alfina looked delighted by that response.

「In that case I got here just in time! I've been thinking of coming up with a new special move, using this Holy Sword you've given me!」

「I…I see. Then feel free to train with us. Just…」

It would've been better for Celestina's mental well-being to train separately, but Alfina was so determined and enthusiastic that Mira could not bring herself to say that. So instead, Mira put a condition.

The condition was that Mira would supervise everything, since she could see in Celestina's eyes that she was afraid of the demonic pressure Alfina's training brought with it. Somehow, that condition only made Alfina happier, as being able to train under the guidance of Mira was the highest honor she could think of.

(Somehow this brings me back…)

In the past, Mira had often trained like that together with Soul Howl, Meilin, Lastrada, and Valentin. The memories of those days flooded her mind as she faced the two and raised her voice, 「Let's get started then.」

Celestina's training to obtain a special move was progressing nicely. Surprisingly, Alfina's addition ended up being for the better. She became the training target instead of a Holy Knight, as she was more nimble at defending herself, making it more clear which attacks connected and which not.

Usually, Alfina would punish any opening she saw in her sisters when they attacked during practice fights, but by Mira's request, she merely shouted aloud, though it was clear she was also getting curious as to how Celestina's switching weapons would end.

That was the product of many years of constant training on Celestina's end.

Alfina herself was training the entire time. She had obtained the Holy Sword not too long before, but by now, she already knew how to draw out its strengths. As she blocked the relentless attacks from Celestina, she was also fighting against an Ashen Knight.

Each hit let out a melodious twang like a bell, while leaving rainbow colored trails, which later exploded thanks to Sanctia's special powers. Both the sharp edge of the Holy Sword's blade and those special powers increased Alfina's damage output dramatically.

Being able to find the moments between Celestina's attacks to fight the Ashen Knight spoke to Alfina's experience and skill with a blade. Her body seemed to contort into impossible shapes to block and fight at the same time.

And the Ashen Knight would not fall down so easily either. Armor Spirits had the ability to learn, and Mira trained them like an army, so they also knew Alfina's skills. On top of that, the Ashen Knights were hybrids holding the defenses of a Holy Knight and the attack power of Dark Knights, and could be armed with Sanctia as well.

In a one on one fight, even an advanced Ashen Knight would lose. But Celestina was there, able to attack with her whole arsenal without worrying about defense. Keeping up with the two fights was not an easy task for Alfina.

And there was not just one Ashen Knight, but three of them, working together to keep themselves safe and make the fight harder for Alfina.

(Hmm…I'd say they're evenly matched now. Seeing her like this really drives home how crazy strong she is… She really has grown a lot since I met her.)

Seeing them fight like that reminded Mira of how things were when she arrived to Valhalla for the first time. The seven sisters stood atop all other Valkyries now, but back then, they were average at best.

Danbulf went to Valhalla to form a Contract with the Valkyries. As he had gone through the trials with ease, there were multiple sets of sisters willing to join him, but he could only accept one set.

The sisters did their best to showcase their abilities for Danbulf, but in the end, he picked seven sisters that had not developed their talents yet, Alfina and her sisters.

In part that was because they were the most numerous, but more importantly, their words had resonated the most with him. While everyone else put their best foot forward showcasing all sorts of abilities, Alfina and her sisters merely said that they wanted to get stronger alongside Danbulf, and that was exactly what he wanted.

After their Contract was formed, Danbulf and the sisters went through all sorts of battlefields together, defeated many enemies together, and the sisters never hesitated to throw themselves into danger, mostly because they were protected by fighting as summons. In some ways, those situations could be even harsher than Alfina's current training. But all of that helped the seven sisters grow stronger at a dramatic pace, eventually leading to them becoming the top Valkyries in the First Valhalla.

(Now that I think about it, back then it was always these two standing in the frontlines.)

Alfina and Celestina had continued growing stronger even while Danbulf was gone, and now, even when training, each of their moves carried a nerve-inducing amount of weight, showing all the experience they had gained.

「Listen up, Celestina. This is something my martial arts teacher once said. No matter how intricate someone's movements are, they always create an opening when attacking. What you're trying to accomplish here is an extrapolation of that. Do you get it?」

「Yes, thank you!」

In the end, they really had grown strong together. Those thoughts made Mira a little sentimental, but pushing that aside, she continued watching the practice fight while giving advice when necessary.