Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

Mira was currently going through the forest as Rhydian killed more and more magical beasts. Mira found it extremely difficult to get Rhydian to control her strength. Even against Low-Stage Rank 3, Rhydian was still able to blow up a magical beast head. Mira started to feel that she contracted with a very troublesome magical beast. Mira just hoped that as Rhydian got older, she would get more intelligent as well. The desire to know more about the species of winged wolf Rhydian is started to grow more.

Mira just watched Rhydian pop another head off of a beast, like she was opening a can. Mira just sighed at this brutal sight as a cute little wolf pup came hopping back to her as she wanted to be praised. Mira already tried telling Rhydian no and scolded her, but Rhydian was too sad to attack the next magical beast after that and just put her head down in shame and curled up in a little ball. Mira kept trying to demonstrate what she wanted, but Rhydian wasn't looking. Eventually, Mira just had to rub her head before Rhydian stopped being upset. Mira just told her to kill the next beast she sees. Mira started to feel a headache as she realized that Rhydian would bring her endless trouble. Another sigh escaped her mouth as she decided to call the training off as she had plenty of food and learned a bit more about Rhydian's power and intelligence.

Mira then got curious about something and tried talking to Rhydian.

"Are you able to hide your wings? Golden wolves are probably not common, but golden-winged wolves sound like something out of a legend. You will already bring enough attention as it is, no need to add more to it." Mira tried to ask as she muttered the last part to herself. Obviously, Rhydian didn't understand and just tilted her cute little head.

Mira started making a flying motion with her arms and then grabbed Rhydian's wings. She then started saying 'Wings' to Rhydian until she understood that those were her wings. Mira then flapped her arms again like wings, but then brought them inside her robe so they weren't visible on the outside. Rhydian seemed to understand what Mira wanted because she tucked her wings into her fur, allowing her fur to cover up her wings. Mira was surprised by this as she could barely tell that wings were supposed to be there. If you knew there were wings then you'd be able to notice, but most people wouldn't expect there to be wings there and won't be able to make the connection. Mira rubbed Rhydian's head to show that this is what she wanted and Rhydian just started to wag her tail happily and kept her wings tucked in.

All Mira had to do now is wait for Maria to come back to her as there was no need to be in the forest anymore. Mira took out her scythe and decided that she would practice a bit with her scythe in the meantime. She wanted to see if she could gain any insights into how to improve her scythe style. She felt that even though her movements were more fluid than before, she still felt there was something that was missing. Therefore, she wanted to swing her scythe a bit.

***

Maria, Ellie, and Diana were following Maria's little red fox as he was leading them to Mira. Diana felt a bit nervous. Even though she loved to battle, Mira didn't battle with her. She was ready to execute her, it wasn't even a fight. Ellie and Maria were also a little nervous, but for different reasons. Ellie was a bit scared of Mira and Maria was hoping that this wouldn't piss Mira off.

It didn't seem Mira made it all that far away from where the 4 of them were previously, but Diana and Ellie were surprised to see beast heads that seemed to implode along the way. It was a rather disgusting sight as blood splattered everywhere and tongues, eyes, brain pieces, and teeth were scattered all over the place. There were also scenes where the head of a beast looked like it was ripped off instead of cut or sometimes they were cut, but it was in several pieces. Diana and Ellie gulped at this sight. What the hell was Mira doing?! Ellie decided to ask Maria.

"Umm, what is Mira doing to the beasts for them to end up like this?" Ellie asked in an uncomfortable voice.

"Oh! That's not Mira doing this. That's her beast companion. Part of the reason we are out here is to train her how to fight and control her strength, but… As you can see it's not going so well. She still ends up blowing up the heads. At least she stopped blowing up the whole body though!" Maria just answered without even thinking.

Both of them were shocked! Diana barely noticed the beast so she didn't know how strong Rhydian was, but Ellie saw her clearly and knew that Rhydian was Peak-Stage Rank 3, but she didn't know that the little wolf cub she saw was so overwhelmingly strong. Wouldn't she just turn into meat paste if the little wolf didn't like her?! Why did she have to get on the bad side of someone like this already!? Everyone kept quiet for the rest of the journey.

It didn't take much longer before they reached Mira. They saw the little golden wolf laying down near a tree and a small masked girl with icy silver hair and black robes swinging around a large black scythe with blue veins running down. She was swinging her scythe gracefully as each movement she made flowed into the next move as the scythe carried a huge amount of momentum.

All of a sudden, a large ice blade shot out from this masked girl towards Maria. Maria immediately took out her sword, used her light sword, and blocked the attack. After Maria blocked the attack, she started sweating as she almost got heavily injured.

"MIRA! What are you doing?! You could've killed me with that attack! Why'd you even attack me in the first place?! " Maria yelled at Mira in frustration.

"You didn't die though. Well, if you did die then I would've been extremely disappointed. That's what you deserve for bringing people here uninvited. Expect more of this in the future as punishment for your foolish actions. As for you two, why are you following her? I don't remember mentioning that you could join us." Mira said as Maria stiffened. Does this mean that she has to constantly be on the lookout for any sneak attacks from Mira that might kill her? WHY?! She wanted to scream but held it in.

"W-We came to the forest on a mission. We still haven't gotten what we came here for and I was wondering if we'd be able to accompany you if you are going further into the forest. I also wanted to use this chance to apologize to you as well. That's why I asked Maria if we could accompany you." Ellie explained nervously. Mira just slowly walked towards them. Rhydian sensed Mira was walking away and woke up. She saw the 2 people from before that looked like they tried to attack Mira. Bolts of lightning started to streak across her fur and her cute face contorted into menacing anger as the lightning bolts in her eyes shined. The 2 girls squealed a bit at this as they remembered the scenes from earlier. But Mira just waved her hand in front of Rhydian to stop her. Rhydian noticed this and went back to the cute little wolf cub and started to walk beside Mira and stare at the two girls.

"I don't care if you came here on a mission. I also don't need your apology. I got what I wanted and you got to live. I'm done here so there is no reason for us to stay in the forest. If you think that I will hold a grudge against you because you pointed a spear at me and that idiot attacked me then think again. I have no reason to as you did nothing to me other than question me. As for you with the red hair, it seems you love to fight. You're lucky that I didn't kill you, the main reason is that you didn't attack with the intent to kill. It was like you were just looking at me like some kind of sparring partner or something. Anyways, now that Maria is here we will be going. Maybe we will see you again if we join your Sect." Mira said as she looked at Maria.

"WAIT! I know that the last fight couldn't be called a fight, but I will get strong enough to fight you for real someday! I hope that you won't disappoint me when that time comes! Hahaha!" Diana seemed to go back to her normal battle junkie self as she started to want to spar against Mira.

"Don't. If you want someone to spar with then spar with Maria. Despite her appearance, she actually does know how to wield a sword. But I want nothing to do with your delusions." Mira just shoved the problem onto Maria. She was thinking this might be a good chance for Maria to learn to fight against something other than a scythe.

Maria just looked at Mira with a face that seemed to scream why. Also, she could do better than wield a sword! The stages in the trial had improved her sword skills a lot. Maria was complaining in her head when she saw Mira just start walking off. Maria looked towards Ellie and Diana and decided to say something.

"It seems that we aren't staying in the forest any longer. I hope that you complete your mission safely! Let's meet again after we join the Battle Maiden Sect! And please don't spar with me! Mira already fights me too much! Bye Bye!" Maria exclaimed as she seemed to like both of them. Maria then started to run off to Mira with Vulcan. The 4 of them started to head back to the city.

***

Ellie and Diana were a bit surprised that Mira just up and left as soon as they found her. They've never met someone so cold to others before as Mira wouldn't even give them the time of day. Though they were also relieved as Mira's little wolf was extremely terrifying along with the invisible pressure that Mira gave off. It was a steadfast and immovable pressure, like an immovable object. Mira seemed like the type of person who would never compromise.

"Hey Diana, what do you think of those two? I'm not entirely sure what to think. Mira is terrifying and aloof. That little wolf of hers is also not normal. I don't think we'd even be able to blink before we died if we fought against that wolf. Maria is also abnormal. She looks and acts very innocent and naive, but the way she blocked that Ice Blade that Mira shot shows that she is actually very capable in battle. That little fox of hers is also extremely intelligent as it seemed to understand everything Maria said. They are clearly dangerous people. Should we report this to the Sect?" Ellie asked Diana.

"I'm not really sure what to think. Mira is scarier to talk to than the Sect Elders. I can also feel the temperature drop wherever she walks. Even though I said I wanted to fight her in the future, I think the only way I'd be able to have her fight me for real is if I'm actually trying to kill her. She will probably just kill me if that happens too. Maria is a bit different. You can tell that she isn't just faking the whole innocent and naive thing. She seems to actually be like that. I wonder how strong she is though because I wasn't able to feel the slightest bit of danger from Maria. It was like she was a child in an adult's body. No need to even mention those 2 beasts. Forget about fighting, we'd die instantly from just one of them. Though I do feel that they are dangerous, they seem interested in joining the Sect. I say we just give a little hint to the Sect Elders that there are a couple of interesting people that might be joining the Entrance Exam this year! Hahaha!" Diana suggested and Ellie just sighed. That suggestion wasn't helpful at all! Both of them continued to talk as they carried on with their mission. They wanted to make sure that they were back to the Sect before the examination starts.

***