Mira was surprised that she now has to face a combat mannequin on top of the pain in her soul, pressure bearing down on her, and intrusive thoughts. She wasn't too worried about the current battle, but she was definitely thinking about how shitty these fights might get another 100 steps from now or even more.
Mira also knew there was more to this combat mannequin than meets the eye. For the last 100 steps, Mira has been forced to die in order to continue. She found it strange that all of a sudden, this staircase would start being benevolent and allow her to kill others for the sake of descending the stairs.
The only thing she could do at this point is engage the mannequin in combat. Unfortunately, the space was too narrow for her to bring out her scythe, but that didn't matter too much.
Before the mannequin could do anything, Mira was already in front of it and had launched a punch toward its head. The combat mannequin was so weak that its head exploded without even being given the chance to retaliate.
Mira was about to see if she can descend the staircase now that she's defeated the combat mannequin, but before she could move, her head exploded!
A few seconds later, Mira's body was back to how it was before, but Mira still didn't move. She just stood there, slack-jawed.
"The fucking mannequin's life is tied to mine… What the fuck!! Who would even think of such a thing?! So now instead of the staircase killing me however it sees fit, now it wants me to essentially kill myself! Sigh… hopefully just its life is tied to mine and not the damage I do to it that is reflected back on me…"
Mira muttered that last part, but she wasn't hopeful. Her head had exploded right after she exploded the mannequin's head. Although it could be a coincidence, Mira knew this place didn't work with coincidences…
Forcing herself out of her thoughts, Mira again started her journey down the stairs and landed on the 102nd step. Just like before, the pressure on her increased a bit and another combat mannequin appeared in front of her. This one seemed a bit stronger than the previous one, although not by much.
Mira decided to run a few tests to see if any damage done to the mannequin is reflected back to her.
Before the mannequin could do anything, Mira charged at it and ripped off its left arm. When the mannequin lost its left arm, Mira felt a force wrap around her left arm and rip it off. She paid no mind to the lump of an arm left and proceeded with her tests.
She started punching it just enough to cause some bruises, enough to break bones, and strong enough to shatter bones. She also used a piece of ice to cut into the mannequin to see just how far the damage reflected back to her goes.
However, Mira was left disappointed that any damage done to the mannequin is reflected back to her in exactly the same manner. She tried defending against it, but no matter what she did she couldn't prevent herself from getting hurt.
It may have been a long shot, but she was at least hoping for some type of loophole to exploit. Like maybe using her Dao or Qi causes the damage reflected back to her to be lessened. But she was ultimately disappointed.
Not only that, but she also allowed the mannequin to hit her as well in order to see if the mannequin's damage to her will be reflected back to it.
However, it only took one hit from the mannequin to know that the mannequin took no reflective damage from attacking her.
So basically, the combat mannequin is free to hit her as many times as it wants without suffering any of the consequences while she is forced to injure and kill herself in order to pass on to the next step.
"Bullshit. This test is absolute bullshit. I'm really starting to think that I'm just being played for someone else's enjoyment. What sucks, even more, is I can't do anything about it! Even if someone is playing with my life, the only thing I can do is keep moving forward or else I might really die! Even if someone is watching me and I happen to reach the end of the tests and they decide to kill me now that I've fulfilled my purpose, it's still better than dying a dog's death in these shitty tests!"
Mira cursed under her breath as she renewed her resolve to keep going. She's been led by the nose by all-powerful beings before. So what if it happens again? She's still alive and kicking even with a god breathing down her neck!
At this time, Mira was reminded of a saying that has stuck with her through multiple lives:
The winner isn't the strongest, but the one who lives the longest.
Meaning, as long as you're alive, that's all that matters. Revenge, power, status, wealth. All of that can't be enjoyed if you're dead.
Mira was well aware of this fact, but she also knew that having strength was just as important. Nothing can go against absolute strength, after all.
Mira's goal is to reach that stage, the realm of absolute strength, but right now she's far too weak to even think about such a thing. So the only thing she can do is survive. Survive and grow stronger until she reaches her goal.
With her eyes burning with vigor and resolve, Mira charged down the next step to… well, kill herself.
And that's exactly what she did. As soon as she landed on the next step, she didn't waste any time and charged at the mannequin before ripping its head off.
With that said, Mira stormed down the stairs like a raging bull! She didn't care how many times her head was forcefully torn off or how many times her heart was ripped out of her chest due to her vicious attacks on the combat mannequins.
However, Mira was pleasantly surprised by how easy she could pass these stages and move on to the next steps!
What she didn't know was how long she was going to have to fight these shitty combat mannequins.
Soon she passed the 200th step mark.
250 steps…
300 steps…
400 steps…
450 steps…
499 steps…
Mira fought these combat mannequin's for the next 400 steps until she finally reached the 500th step.
