Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

After what felt like an eternity of flying at breakneck speeds, Nova and the others finally saw the familiar sight of the Battle Maiden Sect looming on the horizon.

As they neared the Battle Maiden Sect, and feeling that they had lost their pursuers a while ago, the girls breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Haaa... We're finally out of that god-forsaken place," Eden said, taking in multiple deep breaths of the crisp, refreshing air. With each breath, she could feel the coolness filling her lungs, rejuvenating her senses and revitalizing her spirits.

Poison still lingered in their bodies, but now that they were no longer in that wretched forest and were back at the Sect, they weren't worried about any long-lasting effects.

"When we land, Rayna and Everly, you two follow me to report to the Sect Master. We'll let Eden and Seraphina heal Mira's disciple."

"Alright," Everly said, while Rayna just nodded with her usual indifferent expression.

Seraphina and Eden also agreed with Nova, as they were the only ones in the group who knew any healing techniques in case something went wrong.

Rhydian descended gracefully, landing in the Outer Court right next to Mira's residence. Due to Rhydian's large body and immense presence, the girls could feel multiple eyes on them, each having varying emotions within them, but the most prominent was shock.

Nova and the other's appearances weren't good. They were all disheveled, pale, and sickly-looking, making everyone wonder what had happened to their Sect's top disciples!

However, there was no time to explain what happened as they had urgent matters to attend to. Thankfully, nobody tried to stop them.

Nova hopped off Rhydian's back, taking a moment to catch her breath before motioning to Everly and Rayna to follow her. The trio began to fly up the mountain toward Aelina's residence, knowing it was crucial to relay the information they had discovered.

Meanwhile, Eden and Seraphina arrived at Mira's residence, walking toward Dominique's room.

Upon entering the room, they found Dominique lying on her bed, her face pale and her breathing shallow. Her condition had worsened since Mirahad last seen her, and it was clear that the poison was taking its toll.

Hana was sitting next to the bed, reading something, trying to distract her mind from the worsening Dominique.

Just as Eden and Seraphina were about to step forward and introduce themselves to Hana, they suddenly felt a chilling gaze that made every hair on their bodies stand on end, causing them to leap back reflexively.

They were on the verge of drawing their weapons to confront whatever monster had fixed its attention on them when, just as suddenly as it had appeared, the unsettling gaze vanished. Puzzled, the two exchanged wary glances, their hearts still racing.

'What on earth was that?!' They screamed in their hearts.

Now nervous about approaching the room, the two just stood there, contemplating their next actions. Luckily, they had caused enough of a ruckus for Hana to look up from whatever she was reading.

"Are you two Mira's friends?" Hana asked while scooting a bit closer to Elenei and Dominique. Mira hadn't introduced Nova and the others to Hana or Dominique yet, so she didn't know who they were.

However, since Elenei didn't react, Hana assumed they must be related to Mira. Suddenly, she saw Rhydian peeking her head from behind them and causing her to lower her guard. She believed that Mira's "pet" wouldn't let in anyone who wanted to harm her or Dominique.

"A-Ah... Ahem! Y-Yes, you could consider us Mira's friends," Eden coughed lightly, pushing down the anxiety from that terrifying gaze.

"My name's Eden."

"...And my name is Seraphina."

Hana's eyes lit up, and her face broke into a hopeful smile. "Mira told me about you! She said you were on a mission to find something that could cure Dominique. Did you... did you find it?"

Eden smiled gently, trying to ease the young girl's worries as well as her own. "I'm sorry that we're the ones to come here instead of Mira, as she's a little... caught up in something. But yes, we found a powerful elixir called the Celestial Nectar and believe it can heal Dominique."

After saying that, she glanced at the weird serpent-like beast on the bed, wondering if the gaze she had felt earlier had come from that. However, she couldn't feel any aura coming from it.

'Am I still shaken from meeting that Basilisk? Am I starting to imagine things now?' Eden wondered, then immediately shook her head.

'No! Seraphina felt the gaze too! It'd be one thing if only I were going crazy, but for it to happen to both of us...' Eden felt the need to keep an eye on Elenei, believing that her intuition was right.

After taking a few deep breaths to gather her bearings, Seraphina also stepped forward and added, "You're Hana, right? Mira may have mentioned you in passing, but I didn't know you actually lived here with her."

Hana's eyes went through a multitude of emotions before a slight frown formed on her face.

"...It's not like I have much of a choice." She grumbled, but one could see that she wasn't truly mad or upset at Mira. However, her words caused Seraphina to raise an eyebrow.

"Hmm? What do you mean by that?"

"Ah! No! It's nothing." Hana shook her head. Then her expression changed when she remembered what Eden had just said.

Looking at the beautiful, young elf in the eyes, she walked up and grasped her hand,  "You said you had a Celestial... something... that could help Dominique, right?! Then please hurry up and save her! It hasn't been long since she's been poisoned, but her condition gets worse every day!"

Eden looked into Hana's worried eyes and squeezed her hand gently, reassuring her. "We will do everything in our power to save Dominique. Just trust us."

Hana nodded, her eyes brimming with hope and gratitude. "Thank you."

Eden and Seraphina prepared themselves and approached Dominique's bed. Eden carefully extracted the Celestial Nectar from its container while Seraphina readied her Qi to help with the process.

"We'll need to administer it slowly, allowing her body to absorb it at a steady pace," Eden explained.

As Eden began feeding Dominique the "medicine", Seraphina channeled her Qi to help the girl integrate the healing liquid throughout her body. Hana sat by Dominique's side, holding her hand, wanting to be there when she woke up.

"Will this really save her?" Hana asked, her voice filled with both hope and fear.

Seraphina nodded confidently. "The Celestial Nectar is rumored to be able to cure any kind of poison. We don't know whether those rumors are true, but since a Basilisk was guarding it, there has to be some truth to those statements."

Although Hana wasn't satisfied with that answer, she knew that Mira wouldn't send them here with something useless. So, she could only wait for the results to prove whether or not she was telling the truth.

Dominique's pale face gradually regained color as they continued with the treatment. The shallow, labored breaths she had been taking became steadier, and her body seemed to relax, indicating that the Celestial Nectar was indeed taking effect.

However, that wasn't all it was doing.

The potent Celestial Nectar was purging her body of all its impurities, causing tremendously beneficial transformations within her.

Her meridians, which had been partially obstructed due to the poison, began to clear, allowing her Qi to flow more freely. Her muscles and bones strengthened, and her senses sharpened. Even her brain, reaction speed, and all auxiliary components were being strengthened and filled with energy.

Of course, this was just an illusion of "improvement", as the Celestial Nectar wasn't directly enhancing Dominique. It just allowed her full potential to be realized.

Eden marveled at the changes, realizing that the Celestial Nectar was even more potent than they had initially thought. "This is incredible," she whispered, her eyes wide with astonishment. "Dominique's body is undergoing a complete transformation."

Seraphina nodded, equally amazed. "It's almost as if she's being reborn. The Celestial Nectar is truly a treasure."

They'd be lying if they said they weren't a little jealous, but they didn't dare covet even a drop for themselves.

Getting on Mira's bad side was the last thing any of them wanted, even more so now that she was in the Nascent Soul Realm.

If they wanted any semblance of a peaceful life, treating Dominique sincerely was the best thing they could do.

Hana watched the transformation with tears of relief and joy in her eyes. She knew that Mira and her friends had risked everything to save Dominique, and seeing her friend's condition improve made her heart swell with gratitude.

"Thank you," she whispered, her voice choked with emotion. "Thank you so much."

Eden and Seraphina exchanged glances, sharing a moment of quiet satisfaction.

However, things weren't over yet, as they could tell that there was still quite a bit of poison left in Dominique's body.

"Alright, don't get too emotional yet. Save that for when she actually wakes up, and all the poison is out of her system." Eden stated before focusing on feeding Dominique more Celestial Nectar, watching her condition steadily improve by the second.