Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

Mira and her companions halted in their tracks, turning to face the source of the booming voice.

From the direction of the city, two figures emerged. One was Marcus Lionel. Beside him stood an older, more regal figure – Augustus, the Ancestor of the Lionel Family. His presence was commanding, his eyes sharp and calculating, and his mere presence caused the ground to tremble.

Mira's gaze hardened as she sized up the Ancestor, a formidable opponent who radiated a power that surpassed Marcus's. He was a tall, sturdy man with a mane of golden hair that shimmered like the sun, embodying the majestic essence of the lion. His cultivation flared, displaying his strength to be at the 6th Stage of the Mortal Shedding Realm, a little lower than the rumors.

Elenei and Mira's faces frowned as they stared at the duo, but they didn't make a move. The two didn't want to fight such powerful enemies right now, not with Hana, Dominique, and Linnea nearby, as they couldn't guarantee safety.

"Mira, Prime Disciple of the Battle Maiden Sect," the Ancestor's voice was deep and resonant, "you have overstepped your boundaries by meddling in the affairs of my family. Return what's rightfully ours, and I'll let you leave unharmed."

Mira's expression turned cold. "...Are you sure you want to do this?" She asked, giving Elenei a glance. 

Understanding what she wanted, Elenei raised her palm toward Brightclipse City, creating a mini sun in her hand. Marcus and Augustus frowned and immediately blocked Elenei's path. 

"You dare?!" Augustus roared. "Where's your honor as an Orthodox Disciple?! How dare you threaten the innocent!"

Mira just indifferently shrugged. "I already warned you once. It won't happen again."

"Fuck! Don't you care about your reputation and that of your Sect?! What will people think when they hear you destroyed an entire city of innocent people?!" Marcus felt like he was going crazy! 

From an Unorthodox Disciple, he could somewhat justify this behavior, but Mira was from an Orthodox Sect. For them, reputation mattered, sometimes more than death, as it was through this that they could recruit and survive for hundreds to thousands of years.

However, Mira was willing to throw all Aelina's work down the drain for a mere mortal woman! How could they not be indignant?

"Doesn't matter," Mira shook her head. "I only want to leave. Everything else is irrelevant."

"..."

Now, the two from the Lionel Family finally realized that they had stepped on a massive hornet's nest. There were no good options. Killing Mira was no different than killing themselves. Fighting Mira may result in the destruction of their family and city. And letting Mira go was equivalent to cutting off their path to Heaven.

'Bitch!' Augustus ground his teeth in anger. 'Since it's come to this, then our only option is to kill! The Battle Maiden Sect has lots of enemies, if we can ally with one of them after killing Mira, maybe we can get through this.' 

Mira sensed the killing intent flooding out of the Ancestor's body and nodded at Elenei. 

Without warning, Elenei's eyes narrowed as she pumped Qi into the mini sun before a massive beam shot toward the city.

Augustus's expression changed as he got in the way of the attack, creating a barrier. A thundering explosion echoed across the area from their clash, but Elenei flapped her wings and quickly appeared hundreds of meters away, only for the old man to follow her, his expression slowly morphing into rage. 

Meanwhile, Mira launched the first strike, sending her scythe carving through the air with a chilling hiss. An arc of ice barreled towards Marcus. 

He narrowly evaded, but not without a slice across his arm. Blood dripped down to his hand, but he just gritted his teeth and ignored it.

Marcus retaliated, his Sun Lion bloodline flaring as he conjured a spear of pure solar fire. 

"Die!" He roared as he thrust it at Mira, the air sizzling around its heat. 

Mira deftly dodged, countering with a series of rapid, ice-infused strikes. Each clash of their weapons sent shockwaves rippling through the air, tearing up the ground beneath their feet.

Above them, Elenei had transformed into her Frozen Ash Dracophoenix form and was a spectacle of fire and ice. She unleashed a torrent of flame and frost, fusing the two into more powerful strikes. 

desperate to protect the city, Augustus erected barrier after barrier, each one cracking under Elenei's relentless assault.

The city of Brightclipse trembled under the might of their battle. Buildings crumbled, streets cracked, and civilians fled in terror. The once-bustling city was now a battlefield of apocalyptic proportions.

As Mira and Marcus continued their duel, the intensity only escalated. Mira's ice attacks grew more ferocious while Marcus's lion-like aura blazed brighter with every move. The two flew around the outskirts of the city, destroying and tearing up the land with each clash.

Meanwhile, Elenei's aerial onslaught was relentless. Augustus, despite his formidable strength, was hard-pressed to keep up. His barriers were starting to falter under the combined fury of fire and ice.

In a moment of desperation, Augustus channeled a massive amount of Qi into a colossal barrier, enveloping a large part of the city. Elenei, sensing an opportunity, gathered her own strength. 

With a deafening roar, she unleashed a swirling vortex of frozen flames that collided with Augustus's barrier.

The impact was catastrophic. A blinding explosion of light and energy erupted, shattering the barrier and sending shockwaves throughout the city. Buildings near the edge of the barrier were obliterated and reduced to dust in the wake of their clash.

Down below, Mira seized her chance. 

With Marcus momentarily distracted by the explosion, she lunged forward, her scythe aimed straight at his heart. Marcus, realizing the impending danger, twisted away but not fast enough to avoid a deep gash across his chest.

Blood sprayed, and Marcus staggered back, his eyes wide with shock and pain, but he swallowed his anger and retreated a few dozen meters. Mira stood before him, her scythe dripping with his blood.

Mira stared at the man, her voice as cold as an icy winter. "I'll give you one more chance to make the right decision."

Above, the skies cleared as Elenei's attack dissipated, leaving a devastated Augustus struggling to maintain his footing. Although he had only received a few minor injuries, he couldn't help but tremble as he gazed down at the ruin his city had become.

The inner and center cities were mostly fine, but the outer one was reduced to rubble with hardly any signs of life.

Marcus, his eyes burning with unbridled rage at the sight of his bloodied chest, lost all semblance of control. "You'll pay for this!" he bellowed, lunging towards Mira with a spear engulfed in roaring flames.

Mira's eyes glinted with an icy calm as a crown of frost materialized on her head, and her blue tail flared ominously. 

The temperature around her plummeted, transforming the battlefield into a frozen wasteland. Marcus's movements slowed, his fury impeded by the biting cold.

In the blink of an eye, chains of ice erupted from the shadows, entwining around Marcus's limbs. 

Mira appeared at his side. With a swift, merciless swing, she severed his arm, followed by a clean, brutal decapitation.

"You BITCH! I'll kill you!" Augustus, witnessing the fall of his son, let out a roar of anguish and despair. His grief quickly turned to a murderous frenzy as he charged at Mira, his energy surging with the intent to annihilate. "Die for me!"

But at that moment, an overwhelming sense of dread enveloped him. 

He turned to see Rhydian, the wolf he had momentarily forgotten, hovering ominously above the city. A colossal icy tornado was forming in her wake, threatening to consume what remained of Brightclipse City.

Torn between vengeance and the desperate need to save his city, Augustus hesitated. That split second of indecision was all Mira and Elenei needed.

Mira's cold voice cut through the chaos. "Elenei, now!"

With flawless coordination, Mira and Elenei combined their powers, creating a barrier of ice and fire that momentarily contained Augustus. Elenei dived towards Augustus with her beak aimed at his exposed back.

Augustus, caught in their trap, could only watch in horror as Elenei's beak penetrated his flesh, tearing through muscle and bone. He didn't understand how such a beast could penetrate his steely flesh so easily.

How could he know that the beak of a Dracophoenix was sharper and stronger than almost any metal in the world? 

With a final, agonized cry, Augustus fell, his heart ripped from his body by Elenei's merciless attack.

The city stood eerily silent in the aftermath; the once-proud patriarch of the Lionel Family lay defeated, his life extinguished in a single, brutal moment.

Mira looked around at the devastation, her expression unreadable. "Let's go," she said, turning away from the scene of carnage. Rhydian, Dominique, Hana, and Linnea followed, but not before the miniature sun that Elenei had created fell entered the tornado.

A cataclysmic explosion shook the earth as the group flew at full speed to avoid the aftermath.