Winter was determined to become stronger, strong enough to make her way through two guardians, the arch angel of life and various other fighters she would encounter in times to come, even Az. She would have proffered to practice against a live target, but considering the training she was about to undergo she might end up killing them, besides they'd never match up against what she was going to face. So in preparation she'd set up a few targets for herself, having rented out a single ring and placing them at random spots around her.
Winter stood in the center, breathing calmly and trying to focus on the skills she possessed, she'd had little training but she valued her skills above many people, surpassing at least the average fighter. However despite her lack of training she had plenty of experience, and knew her own limits from having almost bled to death after one particularly gruesome bout. Thus she deemed herself in need of further training and was prepared to test her limits once more. She looked up, drawing one of the twin katanas on her back and focused on the target directly in front of her, she remembered that one of her greater weaknesses was that she focused on what was in front of her which made her easy to sneak up on.
The set up she'd erected was more like a cage, it had taken a lot of work to prepare and she had started almost three days ago, she'd placed traps around it as well; she was determined to test out her every attribute of fighting, her strengths, her weaknesses, her advantages and her disadvantages. Finally she charged at the first target, a simple dummy hanging from the bars at the top, Winter raised her katana above her head and slashed downwards, cutting open the dummy from head to toe, it fell in two, straw spilling from its insides, almost as soon as she'd finished she moved again, running to the cage wall and placing her foot on the wooden beam that held it together, then catapulting herself off so she flew backwards into the air. While there she span round and slashed open a sandbag hanging from the ceiling.
Upon doing this Winter had deliberately set off one of her traps, and saw soon as she landed a heady wooden beam fell down towards her, Winter threw herself aside in time to avoid it, the dust it kicked up blew past her as she got back to her feet. She eyes the next target and charged towards it, a thick wooden block mounted on two stands, she struck again with her katana, slicing the block in two and released another trap. She barely had enough time to throw herself out of the way when a log swung round and stuck the wall where she had just been, buckling the wooden cage slightly. Winter got to her feet and brushed herself down, she wasn't doing as well as she'd expected of herself, in her frustration she cut the log in two, sending the pieces tumbling to the floor.
She looked about at the four remaining targets, a block mounted on a high pole, another dummy protected by a swinging pendulum, a simple target board and a rust knights helmet situated out of her reach. Winter reached up and drew her other katana, rushing towards the second dummy, she mistimed the swinging axe and had to jump backwards out of the way to avoid it, becoming frustrated with her own handiwork she waited for the pendulum to come round again and lashed out as it did so, slicing off the blade. Now that her path was clear she ran towards the dummy and thrust her katana through the painted target on its chest.
Panting slightly she tore the katana out, letting the sand spill for the dummy's chest and kicked it over. She then turned about and tossed one of her katanas as the mounted block, she missed and the blade thudded to the ground a little way off, growing even more irritated with her own failures, Winter charged, cutting down the pole and then slicing the block in two as it fell. She then turned about and charged at the target board, cutting it into two clean pieces with her katana. Finally she turned her attention to the helmet mounted at a seven foot height, Winter hated looking up at an enemy, so this only enraged her further, she ran at it and leaped high into the air, bringing her blade down on the helmet. It connected, causing a notable clang as it did so, for a moment it looked as though nothing had happened but after a minute the helmet began to crack and suddenly was smashed in two.
Winter landed before the shattered pieces, bending her legs to absorb the shock of the landing. She stood up panting and wandered over to retrieve her other katana, she picked it up and stowed it away in the 'X' shaped scabbard strapped to her back. As she exited the cage she slashed through the support beam in the center. Once she was out the structure tumbled in on itself, creating one heck of a mess that Winter wasn't going to both cleaning up anytime soon. She sighed as she stowed her other katana away, she hadn't been as good as she'd wanted meaning that she still had a heck of a way to go before she was ready to face anybody.