Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

Not just Eden but everyone watching could hardly believe their eyes. They stared at Mira, dumbfounded that she could take down Eden in a single move!

Granted, Eden had suppressed her cultivation to Mira's level, but that still doesn't explain how she lost so badly.

"W-What… What happened?" Eden stuttered, feeling Mira's scythe against her neck. She saw Mira release a weird pink mist, which happened to touch her, then everything went blank. Now, she's standing here with a blade against her neck!

"These tails aren't just for show, you know," Mira didn't answer her question and instead just pointed to her tails.

There were several hidden meanings behind her words, and Eden seemed to understand partially.

'I forgot she's a fox woman!' Eden thought.

"I want a rematch!" Eden declared, feeling indignant about her loss.

She understood she'd been charmed, but losing so pathetically like that was humiliating.

'However, now that I know she can charm me, I'll be prepared for it!' Eden clenched her fists.

Meanwhile, Nova stared at Mira intently and couldn't help but think, 'Why didn't she use that power during our spar? With such a powerful charm ability, she could've lasted much longer or even won!'

Mira felt Nova's burning gaze, but she didn't even bother looking at her. She just gave Eden a nod and returned to her original position.

"This time, you won't be able to take me down so fast!" Eden declared, pointing her bow at Mira.

Mira didn't say anything and just stared at her lazily, but the glow in her crimson eyes made Eden and everyone watching feel uncomfortable.

Nova cleared her throat, "Alright, let's start the rematch between Mira and Eden. The battle will begin 3… 2… 1… START!"

Wind Qi swirled around the tip of Eden's arrow; before Mira could move, she fired it!

*SWOOSH!*

The arrow shot through the air at a speed that most Core Formation Realm cultivators would be able to see.

However, Mira was different.

She raised her hand and shot three ice arrows of similar length and power to the one Eden shot.

The second arrow had numerous elements inside it, but with the third arrow, Mira put her charm mist inside and coated it with an illusion.

The first ice arrow collided with Eden's.

*BOOM!*

When Eden saw an ice arrow coming toward her, she sneered, channeled her Qi into her wrist, creating a wooden shield to block the ice arrow, then held up her bow and fired another arrow, but this one was slightly different.

Once it neared Mira, it split ten smaller arrows, and a net made of Wind Qi spread out between all the arrows.

Eden prepared the next shot but saw Mira just standing there, staring at her.

Suddenly, she felt danger approaching and raised her shield to block whatever was coming at her, but-

*POOF!*

The arrow stuck in her shield exploded into a fine powder, and the third arrow coming her way burst into a million pieces, the pink mist mixing with everything.

Many ice particles touched Eden's skin, and she even inhaled a few. Just as she was about swing her bow around and keep attacking Mira, hearts shone in her pupils, and everything went blank.

Mira didn't waste any time, activated 'Reaper', and appeared behind Eden with her scythe pressed against her neck.

After canceling all her abilities, Eden felt a blade digging into her neck, and a chill ran down her spine.

"Dammit! How?! How did I lose this time?!" Eden cursed, not understanding how she kept on losing.

No, she understood how she lost but didn't know why she couldn't detect that last attack.

She pushed Mira away and stared at her with furrowed brows, "How'd you do it? What was that last attack?"

Mira ignored her question and walked to the other side of the arena, "Would you like a rematch, or do you give up?"

Eden gritted her teeth and stared at Mira with fiery eyes, "Rematch!" She spat and got in position.

However, this time, she put the bow away and pulled out her secondary weapon, a mace.

Mira raised an eyebrow as a mace, like a scythe, was a very unconventional weapon. That's not to say it was bad, but it was a weapon designed for smashing and breaking. She didn't expect a dainty elf to wield a brutish weapon like a mace.

Eden noticed Mira's weird gaze and snorted.

Nova saw that everyone was ready and announced, "START!"

Eden coated her feet in Wind Qi and used a movement technique to dash at Mira.

She raised her free hand and shot out numerous spiked roots from the ground at Mira.

Mira jumped in the air, avoiding all the attacks, but Eden followed her.

Once she closed in on Mira, she swung her mace while muttering, 'Wind-Breaker!'

*POW!*

Surprisingly, due to Eden's attack, cracks spread across the nearby as the mace came crashing into Mira.

Mira raised her scythe to block the attack-

*BAM!!*

'Heavy!'

Mira was pushed back a few steps from the blow, but it wasn't something she couldn't handle. In fact, if she wanted to, she could've ended the battle right then again with her 'Reaper' Technique, but she decided against that.

'It's not every day I get to fight against someone using a mace. It'd be stupid of me if I didn't take advantage of this opportunity to learn how someone with this weapon fights.' Mira thought as she retaliated.

She backed up just enough so she was out of the range of the mace, then swung her scythe, but Eden wasn't going to get drawn in her game.

Eden controlled her roots to wiggle around behind Mira to cut off her path to retreat, then used her movement technique to close in on her.

Mira twirled her scythe, cutting up most of the roots, giving her a bit more space to dodge Eden's attack.

*Whif!*

Eden missed, but that didn't mean her attack was over.

'Earth-Breaker!'

Her mace smashed into the ground, creating a spiderweb of cracks in the arena and shaking the ground, hoping to destabilize Mira's balance. Without even looking at Mira, she shot dozens of small wind drills at her.

But Mira wasn't an average fighter. Just because the ground shook doesn't mean she'd lose her balance.

While creating dozens of Yin Fire drills rotating in the opposite direction as their wind counterparts, she stepped forward and swung her scythe downward, intending to decapitate Eden.

*POOF!**POOF!**POOF!**POOF!**POOF!**POOF!*

All the wind drills fizzled when the fire ones impacted with them, and Eden sensed fatal danger from above. So, without even seeing what was coming for her, she raised a wooden shield coated in Wind Qi and shot backward in hopes of avoiding the attack.

*Slice!*

Mira's scythe missed its target and left a several-centimeter indention in the ground.

"Is that all you got? If so, you might as well switch back to your bow. At least with that, you'd have a chance to hit me," Mira taunted, causing Eden to grind her teeth, but she didn't take out her bow.

"Shut up! I'm just getting started!" Eden snapped and charged back at Mira, who just shrugged at her words.

"If that's what going easy looks like, my expectations for your full power are extremely low. To me, it seems like the mace is wasted on a dainty little girl like you," Mira's words dug into Eden's heart, causing her to look at Mira with bloodshot eyes.

"Dammit! Shut the fuck up! What do you even know about the mace?! What right do you have to criticize me?!" Eden shouted. Her muscles bulged, and the veins in her arms popped as she launched a flurry of attacks at Mira.

*Pop!**Pop!**Pop!**Pop!*

The air crackled as Eden's attacks were strong enough to distort the air around her.

'It seems I touched a sore spot.' Mira smirked.

"While I don't know much about the mace, I certainly know more than you," Mira said while dodging, blocking, and countering each attack.

"Wha-?"

*BOOM!*

Eden was about to speak but was suddenly struck in the shoulder by the blunt end of Mira's scythe.

"You're arms are too wide and easy to read. In a fight like this, your mace should never go behind your shoulders," Mira commented, then rotated her scythe and smashed it against her waist.

"Twist your hips for more power."

With her golden tail, Mira smacked her elbow, "While a mace's primary purpose is to smash, that doesn't mean you need to turn into a brute. For maximum power with minimal effort, flick your elbows and wrist in one fluid motion. That way, each of your strikes will flow with one another."

Mira kicked the ground with her heel, covering the ground in ice and locking Eden's feet in place for a second.

She took a step and swung her scythe horizontally but stopped right before the blade cut through the back of her neck.

"Finally, know your weaknesses. In a battle of pure weapon skill, the mace doesn't fair well against longer-ranged weapons like the scythe," Mira explained, and Eden could only raise her hands and lower her head.

"...I lost. It's your complete victory."

Mira nodded, took back her scythe, dissipated all the ice, and returned to her original position in the arena.

Eden walked off the stage in a daze, but it seemed Mira had given her some things to think about.

Just as one of the girls was about to hop on the stage, they heard someone from the sky, "Would you mind having a little spar with me, Mira?"