Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

While Mira was running through the mountains, lost in her emotions, a large shadow covered the terrain, flying in her direction.

Rhydian, who was swimming in a pool of lava while using her ice to protect her, sensed Mira's distress and immediately stopped what she was doing. It's not like she could focus on training anyways, as Mira's overwhelming rage, sadness, and despair had polluted her mind to the point that she was affected by it.

'Something's wrong. Something's very wrong!' Rhydian panicked, 'Master never loses control! Even if the sky were to fall or Maria was killed, she wouldn't act like this! What on earth could've happened?!'

Rhydian couldn't even imagine a possible scenario that could provoke Mira like this. From her experience, the cold-blooded fox woman was the most stoic, cold-hearted, and apathetic person she'd ever seen!

However, anything that could make her so angry couldn't be ordinary.

All sorts of thoughts ran through her mind as she tried to think of something that could scare or anger Mira, but nothing came up.

Thus, she could only shrug her shoulders and hurry toward her location.

'I just hope everything's alright.'

***

A few minutes later, Rhydian started hearing the sound of explosions and the cries of numerous beasts!

*boom…*

*Boom.*

*BOOom!*

*BOOM!*

*BOOOOOOOOM!*

The closer she got, the louder the sound, and eventually, she came across a bloody 9-tailed fox woman tearing apart a herd of warthogs. However, no flesh was left after Mira pounded her weighty fists into their bodies, causing them to explode into a blood mist.

Rhydian heaved a sigh of relief, seeing Mira wasn't in danger, but that was short-lived as the woman directed her attention toward the wolf.

Rhydian froze in fear as Mira's bloody eyes bore into her soul, threatening to rip her apart and drink her blood. Her heart seemed to stop for a moment, and her blood ran cold as a certain feeling overwhelmed her senses.

Death!

Death was imminent, and there was nothing she could do to stop it!

Or, at least, that's how it felt.

However, as soon as that feeling washed over her, it disappeared just as quickly as Mira turned away and finished slaughtering the warthogs.

"Haaaa…." Unconsciously, Rhydian emptied her lungs, relief washing over her.

'That was scary.' Rhydian thought as her body unconsciously trembled, but now that she was closer to Mira, she could feel and understand her thoughts and emotions much better due to their connection.

Through the connection, she could understand that, for one reason or another, Mira lost control of herself. She tried to regain this control, but her emotions were so intense that it was nearly impossible. Also, with nowhere to vent or release these pent-up feelings, she could only run around killing things, hoping that would make her feel better.

'Hmmm~ Pent-up? Vent? Is Master in need of her mate?' Rhydian's mind wandered to Maria, the person Mira had spent the most time with, and even…

Rhydian shook her head of those lewd thoughts, 'Should I try and find her? Will that make Master feel better?'

Unfortunately, she had no idea where Maria ran off to, nor did Mira.

'It looks like it's my job to fix Master.' Rhydian thought, 'But the only things I know of that make Master feel good are dominating her mate, killing things, and having a good fight.'

Suddenly, a thought struck her!

'AH! Fighting and killing? Isn't that the reason Master came to these mountains in the first place? To kill those people that made her mate sad?'

A plan began formulating in Rhydian's mind, and soon a large smile appeared on her face, but with how big she was, it only made her look that much more terrifying.

'Maybe a good beating will wake Master up. Hehehe~' For some reason, rather than being concerned for Mira's well-being, she felt excitement at the thought of watching Mira take a good beating.

***

Meanwhile, Mira, who had just ignored Rhydian, was busy pounding the rest of a warthog's corpse into the ground, even after she had obliterated it. She didn't even realize that she was beating a beast's corpse into the ground as the only thing in her eyes was red.

Red and grey were all she could see. Anything alive, like beasts, humans, and insects, all glowed a bright crimson in her eyes. Plants and other lifeforms were dark-grey murky red, while everything else was grey.

Since she had essentially devolved into her base instincts, she labeled anything glistening bright red as an enemy and anything greyish-red as neutral.

One might think that when Rhydian showed up, Mira would immediately attack her, and truthfully, she was about to. However, something inside her told her that the flying wolf before her was friendly. Thus, in Mira's eyes, she went from red to green.

After she finished beating the warthogs into the ground, Mira's head swiveled toward her next target, but a familiar yet unfamiliar voice entered her mind before she could move.

'Master… Those beasts did nothing wrong and didn't deserve you taking your anger out on them. Instead, the ones you need to punish are the ones who hurt your mate!'

"Mate…?" Mira tilted her head, the blood orbs that were now her eyes swirled, "...Maria…."

A hint of clarity shone in her eyes, thinking about Maria. Suddenly, all that rage and anger she was pent up with was replaced with gentleness, happiness, and love. Images of their first kiss, the first time they held hands, the few dates they had together between training times, and their first time having sex flashed in her mind.

Those emotions. Those unfamiliar emotions of love and the tenderness with which Maria cared for her overwhelmed her for a second.

Amidst the hell she was experiencing and the sea of blood that covered her eyes, life sprouted from within. A small sapling grew from within the depths of the red sea, soaking up all the negative emotions swirling around it.

As those images flashed in her mind, more and more started appearing. Pictures of her past lives, when her mother, father, and siblings held her newborn self tight against their chests as if protecting her from the evils of the world.

The times when she was able to make a trustworthy friend, someone she believed would have her back no matter what.

Images of her mother and father teaching her about her new world and having little playdates. She remembered the stories they'd tell her at night before she fell asleep. Although she was mentally older than them by decades or, in some cases, hundreds of years, these tiny details still wormed their way into her icy heart.

…Or when she experienced her first love. Oh, what a momentous occasion that was. It felt like bright pink flowers blossoming after a horrible winter full of blizzards and death. She didn't even expect it to happen. It just happened, but she was thankful for it, nonetheless.

"Sam~..." Mira whispered, clutching her chest, as the image of a little, petite, brown-haired woman with soft eyes and a gentle smile entered her mind. However, as quickly as it came, it left just as fast.

Those times and experiences helped push her past all the darkness, even if she didn't want to admit it. Even though she knew that it would all come crashing down, part of her still took solace in the fact that at least these experiences were real.

…Until they were ripped apart from her, causing all those good memories to crash into the recess of her mind! To be locked away and forever stained by what happened after!

Like a dam bursting, memories of what happened after those joyous occasions took over her mind, crushing the tiny sprout of life that had begun to grow within the red sea!

Her eyes, which once shone with clarity, were now replaced by coldness and killing intent.

"God… Sue Ming… Unorthodox Faction… Crimson Slayer Sect… Must… Kill…"

She didn't even remember why she wanted to kill them. All she knew was that they needed to die, which was more than enough for her current self.

As if acting on instinct, Mira whipped her body around and ran in a different direction. Whether she was heading toward one of the Unorthodox Faction's Sects, a Beast Clan, or a regular city, nobody knew, including Mira, but at least she had a goal in mind.

And that was to kill anyone or anything that stood against her rather than just anything.

On the other hand, seeing the direction Mira ran in, Rhydian's smile dropped, and a bad feeling sprouted in her chest.

'I hope my words didn't make the situation worse!'

***

Thousands of kilometers away, a sexy blonde bombshell of a woman stopped what she was doing and collapsed to her knees while holding her chest.

Ba-dump… Ba-dump… Ba-dump

Her heart beat with so much force that it threatened to jump out of her chest.

She didn't know why she was feeling like this, but suddenly, an image of a tall 9-tailed fox woman appeared in her mind.

'Mira…'

"Mistress! Are you okay?!" A woman came and helped her up.

The blonde-haired woman nodded her head and stood up by herself, straightening out her dress.

The blonde turned to the woman and forced a smile, "I'm fine, Alicia. Thank you. Anyways, hand me the report on everyone's progress. I need to ensure they have the strength required for the plan's first phase!"

"Yes, Mistress!" Alicia saluted and took out a jade slip.

The blonde woman took the jade slip and began reading it while giving a silent prayer in her mind, 'I don't know what's going on, but please be alright, Mira.'