Mira stood and watched Elenei heal Maria and Celaine with an impassive expression almost like she didn't care about the life and death of these 2 people at all. Well, in truth she did feel a bit sorry for them as she might've gone a bit overboard, but she didn't regret it.
These two were actually able to cause some significant damage to her and if she were to keep fighting in her current state… She might've actually lost! That's why she talked to them for so long and 'switched' her personalities as well. All to catch them off-guard with that last attack and finish the fight once and for all!
Sure, it may have been a bit underhanded, but how can she let these two greenhorns beat her?! No way! She's spent hundreds of years on the battlefield, murdering millions on top of millions of people! She's had her experiences built upon a mountain of corpses, failures, and even sometimes, her own death!
She will not let all of that go down the drain all because these two gained a bit more power than her!
Of course, what she said to them before wasn't a lie. She really has sealed away parts of her personality and emotions in order for more efficient training. Normally, doing this consciously would be impossible, but let's just say this is one of the benefits of being reborn numerous times and suffering numerous tragedies.
But still, even with her cold and aloof self right now, Mira can't help but praise Maria and Celaine. They truly are two unpolished gems…
Unfortunately, Mira can't continue acting tough anymore as she started losing strength rapidly and soon fell to the ground, unconscious.
Elenei looked over at the unconscious Mira and couldn't help but sigh. She was wondering why Mira went so far just to win and didn't just let Maria and Celaine have it. But deep down she knew why. Mira's pride simply wouldn't let her take a loss, especially to those she's personally trained.
"Sigh… I hope this troublesome child doesn't die before I'm able to hatch again."
Elenei muttered and started healing Mira as well.
.
.
.
A few days passed by until Mira, Maria, and Celaine woke up, but they were still far from being in perfect condition. They still had numerous internal injuries and even some broken or shattered bones still weren't healed. They had also lost a lot of blood and it'll probably take another week or two until they are able to reach their peak again.
This was instantly fast for people of their strength as normally they might not be able to move for months or even years before getting back to their peak state.
They have their Magma Dragon Body and Elenei's healing to thank for their fast recovery time.
Luckily, the three of them planned ahead and started this fight 2 weeks before they were kicked out of the Secret Realm knowing that the chances of being severely injured in this fight were relatively high and even death was a possibility.
Now that they are awake and have plenty of time to kill…
"Mire, what was that? Why did you turn into a completely different person? Was that really you? What happened to you? Are you really bipolar?"
…Maria couldn't help but bombard Mira with questions. Celaine and Elenei also listened in as they too were interested.
"Shut up! Yes, that was me. It was just a version of me that had a different setup of personality traits unlocked."
Mira explained, but the three of them just looked confused. Mira saw them and sighed knowing that Maria won't stop bothering her until she explained further.
"Basically, you could say that I have the ability to seal off certain aspects of myself. For example, what you see right now is me with most of my emotions and personality traits sealed off. This will help me stay focused when training and get stronger. What you fought against was me with my playful personality trait unsealed and one other trait unsealed but I won't tell you what it was."
Mira further explained in a way she hopes they can understand and from their expressions she can tell that they got it.
"But wait, are you meaning to say that if you were to unseal every part of yourself, you'd be a playful trickster like what we fought before? That's too different! There's no way I'll believe you can be playful like that!"
Maria yelled as if such a thought was impossible.
"Ugh. Stop screaming! To answer your question, no, that would not be the case. I have never been nor will I ever be a playful person, but that's not to say I can't be like that. It's just that what you saw was more pronounced because that was basically the only trait that was unsealed. What you see right now is closer to what my true self is… what I used to be…"
Mira's expression darkened towards the end just thinking about her past self and the atmosphere became heavy.
Nobody really knew what to say as this was clearly a sensitive topic to Mira, but the way Mira looked…
They could tell she looked incredibly sad and lonely at the moment. She gave off the impression that she was against the entire world alone with little no future in sight where no matter what she did she wouldn't be able to escape her fate.
It's not an exaggeration to say she's alone against the world either as that has happened several times in the past where she was literally against the entire world.
The three of them wanted to say something. They wanted to say that it'll be okay or that they will have her back, but they couldn't bring themselves to say anything even with how much they loved and appreciated her. It's not that they had any plans of betraying or leaving her, but they knew that actions spoke louder than words, especially to a person like Mira.
The four of them sat in silence and it wasn't until a few hours later that the mood lightened and they started talking again.
Elenei continued healing them until one day, she brought up something that has been on Mira's mind ever since the two made a deal with one another.
"Do you want to sign a Beast Soul Contract with me, Mira?"
"What's that?"
"A Beast Soul Contract is similar to a contract you'd sign with a beast to make it your beast companion, but slightly different. A Beast Soul Contract is a contract that can be used either between beasts or between a beast and another creature. It doesn't matter who signs the contract as long as one of the parties is a beast. A Beast Soul Contract will tie our souls together allowing the beast(s) to not only be able to enter person/beast's soul, but they'll also be able to sense each other's location, speak telepathically, partially gain each other's affinities, partially gain each other's strength, and various other benefits. The downsides are if one party dies then the other party will not only be significantly weakened, but heart demons will be a common occurrence making it almost impossible to progress. You won't die if I die and vice versa, but you will feel like dying as not only will your soul be damaged but your mental capacity and comprehension will be affected due to the soul damage. You also won't be able to enter the cycle of reincarnation if you die and your soul will be gone forever."
The three were shocked to hear what Elenei just said, especially Mira. No reincarnation? Doesn't that mean if she dies, she won't have to put up with that bastard's schemes?!
'No no no, I bet it's not that easy to find such a glaring loophole in an item that basically captures my soul when I die and forces me to reincarnate with my memories. Fuck!'
Mira inwardly complained, but her judgment wasn't wrong. She doesn't know exactly what that artifact is or does, but she knows it's not so simple that a measly contract can break it.
Mira thought for a few seconds before ultimately agreeing to what Elenei said and from the way Elenei looked, it seems she doesn't have much of an option either.
"Sure, I agree."
"Very well. Let's complete this now so I can get back to healing you guys. Enter your Soul Sea and try to sense me. Once you can sense me, extend your Soul towards me and I'll do the same. Once we connect our souls, we'll cut open our hands and connect ourselves by blood as well. The contract will start after that and all we'll have to do is wait."
Elenei explained to which Mira nodded.
Both of them sat right in front of one another, closed their eyes and entered their Soul Sea. Mira saw her scythe floating in the middle but ignored it and started trying to sense Elenei's presence. It took a bit of work, but it wasn't hard for Mira to sense Elenei's extremely overbearing Soul Sea. She released a small tendril in her direction and met with Elenei's midway.
Then the two of them cut open their palms and pressed them against each other. The contract immediately started and Mira could feel herself growing closer and closer to Elenei. Soon she was able to feel her presence, then she was able to sense her location, then something magical happened. She felt her ice affinity and comprehension rise ever so slightly and strength started to flood her body. It wasn't much but she could definitely tell she was a bit stronger than before.
A few minutes later the contract was completed. Both of them opened their eyes and could tell that they were much closer on a spiritual level than they were before.
Before Mira could open her mouth, Elenei started talking.
"We can test out our abilities later. First, you three need to finish healing."
Elenei didn't say anything else and kept healing the three of them to the best of her abilities, but if one looked closely they could see an excited glint in her eyes.
***
Two weeks went by in a flash and it was now the day of their departure from the Secret Realm
