Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

Another week went by as Mira sparred with Ryuu almost non-stop, only taking breaks every now and then to meditate. However, this time was precious to both Mira and Ryuu.

To Mira, Ryuu was superior to her in terms of weapon skills, so she absorbed his teachings like a sponge.

However, Mira's expertise lies in her battle experience being through the roof. Even if Ryuu was technically more skilled than her with a sword, he was still a fledgling regarding real battles. Since after a few fights, they both had a decent understanding of each other's fighting style, Mira had to show him the world of how elites fight.

*BAM!*

"Ugh!" Ryuu groaned in pain as he hit the ground. Feeling the familiar sensation of a scythe pressed against his neck, he raised his hands as a sign of surrender and released a sigh.

"Haaaa… How'd you do that, Mira? I thought I had you on the ropes, but how did I lose?" Ryuu asked, not bothered by his loss at all. This wasn't the first time he "lost" to Mira. Conversely, he'd also "won" against Mira in many of their spars.

"I just gave you a false sense of security, baiting you into thinking you had the momentum and control in the fight. I waited for the moment you were the most confident in your win, and were going to go for the kill, then struck!" Mira retracted her scythe and explained.

However, Ryuu wasn't convinced by that answer.

"No! I refuse to believe that! This isn't the first time you've beaten me right when I was about to win. I was careful not to get too confident or cocky, yet you still finished me! Tell me what really happened!" Ryuu demanded, but unlike his words, his eyes shined with a thirst for knowledge.

Mira tilted her head and pondered for a moment, determining whether she should say the reason or not, before exhaling deeply, "Haaa… Technically, you lost this battle since the day we began sparring."

Question marks seemed to appear above Ryuu's head as he didn't understand her meaning. He replayed a quick review of all their battles up until this point but still couldn't know how he had lost.

Mira allowed him a few more minutes to think about it, but seeing that he was getting nowhere, she decided to give him a hint.

"It's my fighting style."

"...!"

Those four words were like a lightning strike to the head as his body trembled and his eyes widened in realization! His head shot toward Mira, and he stared at the woman like she had grown a second head!

Pointing his shaky finger at Mira, he said in a quivering voice, "Y-You… You… What the hell?!"

He was so shaken he didn't even know how to formulate words, but he knew how he lost.

During a fight, both sides will have their own quirks. Some people will take a large step before a big attack, while others might blink three times when they plan to counterattack. Most of these quirks are done subconsciously and are things the users aren't even aware of.

He thought that was the case with Mira as well. However, he was sorely mistaken. The quirk he felt he had discovered was all just a ruse for this moment. For this win!

Mira even used the fact that he subconsciously remembered that quirk against him!

Throughout that entire fight, Mira kept baiting him in, forcing him to focus on that quirk, and when he was going to capitalize on that and go in for the final strike, Mira switched things up, catching him by surprise and winning the battle in one move.

He gasped in stupefaction as he came to understand just how dangerous Mira could be. This information also made him think about what else about her was real or fake. Was that even her real fighting style? Did he deserve all those previous wins, or was that also part of Mira's plan? Is the scythe even her primary weapon? Even after knowing all this, would he be able to tell what is a ruse and what isn't?

Those thoughts frightened him, but it was also a valuable lesson: Never take anything at face value.

'But… Why now? Why did she reveal this information now?' He stared at Mira and wondered. 'This is something she would only reveal at the end-AH!' His mouth gaped as he suddenly understood why Mira had revealed her trump card now!

"You're about to break through to the [Manifestation] Realm!"

Mira nodded, "That's right. I didn't want to end our training session with a loss, so I planned for a guaranteed win right before I breakthrough."

Not only was Ryuu stunned by Mira's foresight and pettiness, but so was Izaria!

'What the fuck?! Who plans for something like that?!'

Mira put away her scythe and turned around, ready to find herself a nice secluded place for her to break through. Waving her hand back at him, she said, "I hope the next time we meet, you aren't so weak that this will be my last satisfying win against you! Hahaha!"

Rhydian understood Mira's intentions and swooped down in front of her, picking her up. Mira hopped onto her, refusing to look back at Ryuu. Instead, she turned to Master Izaria and nodded.

Izaria smiled appreciatively and nodded back. There was no need to share words between them, as they were smart enough to understand the intentions behind those nods.

Now that she finished her business here, Mira sent Rhydian the signal to leave, to which the winged wolf nodded, shot up into the air, and took off, leaving behind a confused and stupified Ryuu!

After Mira left, he snapped out of his reverie and stared at the dot in the sky that only got further and further away.

"WAIT!" He roared. "ARE YOU SERIOUSLY GOING TO LEAVE SO ABRUPTLY AFTER ALL THAT?!"

He wanted to spend just a little bit more time with her, or at least give her a proper goodbye, but… but she just up and left? Just like that?

After winning a satisfying battle and getting what she wanted, she just left?!

Was their relationship really so shallow, even after all they went through together?!

Confused, hurt, and depressed, he turned to the one he could always rely on in this life, his master.

However, Master Izaria just smiled and shook her head after feeling her disciple's gaze.

"I won't help you with this matter. If you have a problem with her, you should resolve it yourself, but I don't think you're fast enough to catch up to that wolf." Master Izaria chuckled in amusement, trying to hint something at her disciple.

And it seemed like it worked as his eyes burned with determination as he watched Mira's retreating back.

Clenching his fists, he thought, 'I'll be sure to snatch this win away from you, Mira. Next time we meet, I'll teach you proper manners!'

"Master, let's go to the Endless Battlefield on the Northern Continent!"

"...!"

***

After Mira left, she quickly found a secluded cave where she could isolate herself and began meditating. Rhydian collapsed the entrance so nothing would dare to come in, then curled up in a ball away from Mira, just in case something happened to her during this time.

Shutting her eyes and clearing her mind of all distracting thoughts, Mira took out her scythe and placed it in her lap. Then, she opened up the room in her Mind Palace labeled [Scythe] and let the information and experiences flow through her.

As a result of all that training with Ryuu, she was now at the peak of the [Intent] Realm, on the verge of entering the [Manifestation] Realm. All she needed to do now was visualize the essence of the scythe and create a symbolic manifestation that was unique solely to her.

'Scythe… A scythe, to me, and throughout every culture and mythology, is a symbol of death, but not just any death. Inevitable death.'

'Whether someone is Mortal, Immortal, or a God, death is constantly looming over us, waiting for our eventual demise so it can reap our souls. You never know when it'll appear, sometimes arrogant enough to believe that it'll never happen to you, but it will come, just like it comes for us all.'

'That's what I want my Manifestation to represent-the eventual demise of my enemies!'

The scythe in Mira's lap thrummed as soon as she came to this conclusion! It floated up in the air and began rotating, going faster and faster as time went by.

Soon, an illusory hourglass with a black skull resting on top of it shone over her rotating scythe. After a few more minutes, the hourglass and skull became more real, and by the time an hour had passed, it didn't seem any different from the rocks in the cave or the blades of grass on the ground.

In a flash, the hourglass and skull shrank to the size of a palm and shot toward her blade.

The scythe thrummed one last time before it dropped onto Mira's lap, except this time, an outline of a skull and hourglass was at the section between the blade and the pole.

Thus, ending Mira's breakthrough into the [Manifestation] Realm!