Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

***

While Mira was making Celaine kill anything that moved, there was a space above the forest where Ellie, Diana, and the 4 Elders were looking down towards the forest and watching the examinees. There were also other spots where other Elders were watching, but these 6 people were watching Mira's group the most while just glancing at other groups that were close to hers.

"Isn't she a bit too rough? She almost killed that Celaine girl just because she wasn't able to kill a beast. I mean, I understand that she can't have someone in her group that can't kill beasts when that's what they came here for, but still… This is a bit much." One of the Elders said as they started to pity Celaine.

Everybody else agreed, but they kept watching as Mira's group separated. Mira, Maria, and Celaine went off together while Nisha and Audra ran off separately to hunt.

Not long after, Mira found a beast that Celaine should be able to kill. Celaine was then forced to kill the beast. Celaine knew that she needs to get used to killing these beasts or she might never get Mira off her back.

The fight against the beast didn't last long before Celaine hurt the beast enough to where she could kill it.

"What are you waiting for?! Kill it!" Mira commanded Celaine and she just closed her eyes and thrust her saber into the beast.

The 6 people watching were surprised that Celaine actually killed the beast without being forced, but things didn't seem to stop here.

"Are you fucking kidding me?! Just swing that saber around and kill it! I'm assuming it's not for decoration!"

"Charge at it with the intent to kill! We aren't having a fucking tea party here! I want to see maximum effort! I know you have more potential in there than what we are seeing! Now stop being useless!"

"How'd you even get here?! If you can't even kill a simple beast right now then I might as well end your life so you don't have to suffer! Now fight like your life is on the line! Pathetic!"

The 6 people kept watching Mira drag Celaine around the forest and kill anything that moved. Mira was constantly yelling at Celaine so much that the surrounding people started to hear her and ran a bit farther away as they didn't want to get caught up with whoever was yelling.

"Umm, Elders. I'd like to comment on what Mira is doing. When we ran into Mira and Maria 6 months ago, Mira did something similar. She didn't want to kill us because she believed it'd bring too much trouble to her so she decided to test us. She wanted to see how close and trustworthy we were, so when she incapacitated Diana she threatened to kill her to see what we would do. She seemed satisfied with what I did and ended up releasing both me and Diana. I only had to tell her that I'm from the Battle Maiden Sect along with the date for the next Entrance Exam." Ellie suddenly spoke up and all of the Elders listened.;

"Hmm. Hearing that really makes one wonder if she is really a bad person or not. She might just be rough on the outside, but nice and soft on the inside. I know quite a few people like this. If you just find their sweet spot or something that they are nervous about, then they will start to get all flustered. I wonder if she only threatens to kill people to hide her own insecurities?" One of the Elders thought, but Ellie and Diana quickly corrected her.

"No! I would be extremely surprised if this were the case. I felt part of her killing intent and I can say for sure that she's killed somewhere in the thousands, if not tens of thousands of people. This is not someone who threatens to kill for enjoyment or because they want to hide. When she says that she will kill you, it's not a bluff. Maria also says that she kills without hesitation and that unless you're expecting an attack, then you are already dead if you didn't think she'd attack." Ellie said quickly and shocked everyone there.

Tens of thousands of people? Hell, all of them combined haven't killed a fraction of that amount! Is this truly a little girl or someone much more dangerous? The Elders now understood that Celaine was actually about to die not too long ago and by Mira no less.

"Is it really okay to let someone like her join the sect?"

***

24 hours went by slowly for Celaine, Mira, and Maria. Well, it was just pure torture for Celaine. After 24 hours were up, they started walking back to the rendezvous point to meet up with Nisha and Audra.

Celaine thought that this might've been the worst 24 hours in her entire life. She forced to fight countless beasts and kill them. Sometimes she would refuse to fight, but Mira just grabbed her and threw her towards the beast, forcing her to fight. Mira was also constantly yelling at her for being worthless and pathetic. If she didn't perform well enough, Mira would beat the shit out of her then throw her towards another beast. This would keep happening until she fought with maximum effort. If they came across stronger beasts then what she could handle, then Mira would just capture it and make Celaine execute it.

Walking to the meetup point, Celaine is still covered in bruises that have yet to heal, and dried-up tears stained her face. She didn't even have any more tears to cry by the end of the session. But Mira seemed somewhat satisfied because Celaine was actually able to bring out her potential now. Mira was also surprised when she saw Celaine fight. Celaine is actually a great fighter, a true talent. Just based off of talent and skill alone, Celaine is much better at fighting than Maria. She is just too weak right now. Mira also thought that it might be fun to teach her unarmed combat as well. Maybe she'd be able to have a sparring partner sooner than the hundred years it would take to train Maria.

They soon reached the rendezvous point and the 3 of them saw Nisha and Audra already waiting for them. The two of them heard footsteps near them and looked over to see who it was, but it's just Mira, Maria, and Celaine. Nisha and Audra looked at Celaine and noticed all of the dried tears on her face, but they could also see that Celaine looked a lot less nervous to be in the forest hunting magical beasts. It seems that whatever Mira did, paid off.

"Alright, now that we are all gathered here and Celaine is no longer useless I'm going to discuss our gameplan. So I want to kill a Rank 4 beast to immediately pass this test. The main reason is that slaughtering a bunch of Rank 3 beasts is incredibly boring. I bet it's similar for you two as well, Nisha and Audra. We don't even need each other to pass this test as I could guess that within the last 24 hours, you two probably already have enough by yourselves to reach the top 40. We easily have the combat power to deal with a Low-Stage Rank 4 magical beast. The only thing we will need to practice is our coordination. I've already thought about roles for all of you. Celaine will be the bait, Maria will be the Vanguard, Nisha will be the Assassin, Audra will be the mid-range fighter that will back up Maria, and I will be supporting. I will fill any spot that is required or be looking for any openings to kill or injure the beast." Mira explained the roles for each person and they were all shocked that Mira just came out and said that Celaine will be the bait, but nobody spoke up as there is truly no other role that Celaine could play in this situation.

"I will now explain what each role will do. Celaine will do her best to be annoying and distract the beast. You should be constantly trying to attack the face and eyes. You should also always be moving. Maria will be the one taking the brunt of the attacks. She is the second strongest here and also a masochist so she'll be fine as long as she doesn't die. Nisha will be doing a bunch of hit-and-run attacks. Whenever you see an opening or a blind spot then you will attack that spot. Audra will try to be in sync with Maria and attack at similar times as Maria. You can also support her if Maria gets into trouble. I will be looking for any openings as well, but my main job will be to make sure the beast's movements are restricted and that it can't get too close to you 4. I also have a technique that I can use to put a time limit on the fight as long as I hit the beast with my ice. So if worse comes to worst, just stall and wait for me to finish my technique. I don't want to go into this fight without some practice so we are going to be looking for Late or Peak-Stage Rank 3 Magical beasts while utilizing these roles. I know that you can kill these by yourself Maria, but try to handicap yourself a bit so we can get used to fighting together. Let's go!" Mira explained the roles to everyone and they didn't have any issues with them. Well, everyone except Maria.

"I'm not a masochist! And don't just put me in the front because I'm tough! I can also fight! I know how to use my sword!" Maria started complaining, but she just got ignored. They also thought that Maria must be a masochist to follow Mira willingly, she's just trying to hide it.

The five of them were now walking through the forest towards the mountain in search of stronger beasts to practice their team coordination on.