Mira and Robin stood there, forcing themselves to stay awake after overworking their bodies so much. It was much harder than they thought as even Mira, who went through hell in the F.LD.I.L found it difficult to stay awake.
However, this can't be blamed on her as she's already overworked her body way past its limit. In fact, she should have long since collapsed and the only reason she can still stand is because of her experience in the F.LD.I.L.
It's in times like these where Mira truly understands the meaning of 'the mind limiting the body'.
In many situations, one can push through so long as they have the willpower to do so, regardless of their body's condition. Of course, that doesn't mean they won't face the consequences of their actions later because they most certainly will, but that doesn't mean you can't push through a difficult situation even if your body is breaking down.
However, it seems there are still limits to how far one can push their body and Mira just learned hers today. Any more than this and Mira can tell that she'll eventually cause irreparable damage to her body that would ruin her body's perfect foundation.
In spite of all that, Mira stood her ground with a smile on her face. She felt truly alive in these moments of desperation, where she has to put in 110% effort just to survive. It's in these moments where she learns the most about herself and her abilities.
It could be said that Mira gained more than she could have imagined just in the last few hours than she had in years. Not in terms of cultivation or strength, but in knowing her own limits.
Over the last few years, Mira has almost never truly felt challenged by anything. The only time that she truly felt like she was in a difficult position was that time right before she left the Secret Realm and fought with Maria and Celaine.
Those two really pushed her quite a bit there and even though she doesn't want to admit it, she did have to struggle for a while there in order to beat them.
In fact, the only reason she one so easily was because the two of them are simply too young and naive when it comes to battles. They haven't quite understood that there are no good or bad methods in a fight. There is only kill or be killed and Mira just so happens to understand this concept quite well.
It's because she understands this that Mira knows she's in a really bad spot right now. Over half of her ice feathers have either been destroyed or blown up. She's battered all over her body, and she's cycled so much Qi through her body that she can feel it's going to start breaking down if she doesn't stop using it.
So, even though Mira felt a bit of heartache doing it, it's time to say goodbye to her Evolved Ice Wings and start fighting with her life on the line.
Therefore, without hesitation, Mira shot her ice feathers in all directions, narrowly missing Robin, trying to hit as many beasts with her feathers as she could.
Then, she willed each ice feather to explode…
BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!
The sounds of explosions around her were like a beautiful symphony to Mira's ears. Blood and guts flew through the air as many beasts found large chunks of themselves missing after the explosions.
*ROAR*
The beasts around them became even more enraged that the tiny bipedal ant was actually able to severely injure them.
Mira, on the other hand, felt like a mountain was lifted off of her mind and body, but she also felt a bit empty.
Those Ice Wings are truly amazing and Mira truly wished she could have them active all the time even when she's not in battle. She felt complete with such an ability and the saying 'it's like giving a tiger wings' couldn't be more accurate.
She truly felt like she could unleash all of her potential with those wings. Unfortunately, she's just too weak to use them if not for this unique situation.
Mira clenched her fist, promising herself to get stronger faster so she can use this ability again.
That's when Mira finally caught notice of hundreds of wounded beasts running in her direction and she finally paid a bit more attention to them.
Unfortunately, Mira wasn't quite sure how she was going to get herself out of this situation. Most of the beasts that are charging at her are Late-Stage Rank 6 Beasts or even Peak-Stage Rank 6 Beasts.
She can probably take on a few Late-Stage Rank 6 beasts by herself or one Peak-Stage Rank 6 Beast at most, but that's it. Even then, given the situation she's in, that's being generous.
Right now, her body's overall strength is severely reduced due to how much she overworked it. She can hardly use her Qi if she doesn't want her foundation to become unstable, and she's mentally exhausted beyond belief.
However, even with all of those things going against her, she still chose to charge head first into battle against the oncoming beasts!
"Just survive long enough for Rhydian to finish her breakthrough! Only then will we be able to get out of this shit alive!" Mira shouted at Robin before embedding her scythe in the nearest beast's skull.
Hearing what Mira said, Robin was shaken back awake, but she didn't charge at the beasts since she understood what Mira wanted her to do.
She doesn't need Robin to try and kill the rest of the beasts, she only needs her to distract them while Mira kills the beasts in front of her in hopes of surviving longer.
Although, it might sound a bit counterintuitive for Mira to charge in head first so that she can have a higher chance of surviving, but Mira didn't see it that way. The way she saw it, she would die as soon as she stopped moving. As long as she kept moving then she could live and while moving she might as well take care of a few beasts.
The two of them also knew that if one of them fell, then it'd be the end for both of them.
In their current states, they couldn't deal with the beasts if they attacked them both from all sides.
Just like that, the two of them built up a near-perfect balance where Mira uses the strength of her physical body and her scythe to cut through the waves of beasts while Robin tries to distract the beast's attention away from Mira and onto her so Mira can deal with the beasts more easily.
Unfortunately, Mira's body started wracking up more and more injuries over time and her body's natural regeneration has started to slow down despite the dense Qi in the area.
With that being said, slowly over the course of the next ten minutes or so, Mira started to accumulate injuries such as broken ribs, damaged internal organs, broken fingers and hands, fractured legs, and many popped blood vessels.
Robin was also slowly accumulating injuries as her movements slowed and she couldn't dodge as many attacks.
Thoughts of giving up started entering her mind as more and more bones in her body started to break, but seeing Mira work so hard even though she was covered in her own blood made her keep pushing.
She couldn't let down Mira's trust in her nor did she feel like dying yet. She knew that if she slacked off for more than a few moments, then the two of them were as good as dead. So seeing how Mira hasn't quite given up forced her to keep pushing her body and mind past their limits.
Then, Mira said something that nearly gave her an extra boost of strength.
"We just need to hold on for a few more minutes! I can feel that Rhydian is nearing the end of her breakthrough!" As soon as Mira's words fell, the two of them seemed to receive a second wind.
Robin's eyes lit up and her speed increased even though the pain she was feeling was torture. She began dodging the beasts and taking their attention off of Mira with more fervor than before as she only had one thought in her mind:
Survive!
She needed to do everything she could in order for not only her to survive, but Mira as well! With only that thought in mind, she took out her daggers and began slashing at any beasts she passed by.
She didn't always kill them in one strike, but she was running around the battlefield so fast that all she had to do was circle back around and slash at them again and again until they finally fell.
It was an exhausting and torturous method as she could feel the bones in her body start to fracture and break the more she ran around the battlefield, but that pain is nothing as long as she can survive!
Then, all of a sudden, a sound reverberated throughout the cavern causing not only Robin to slump to the ground in exhaustion but Mira as well.
*CRACK**CRACK**CRACK*
*BOOM*
"AWWWWOOOOOOO!!!"
A ferocious howl filled with power resounded all throughout the cavern causing the weaker beasts to kneel on the ground and the stronger beasts to cease their attacks.
Hearing that howl, Mira revealed a small smile before immediately falling unconscious due to exhaustion. She was only able to leave a few words before going into a deep slumber.
"Kill them all, you dumb wolf…"
