A few hundred kilometers away from Mira and Rhydian's position, Ryuu and Master Izaria were strolling through the mountains, looking for anything interesting. After their last encounter with Mira, they stopped following her around and went off to do their own thing.
The Ancient Beast Mountain Range was full of opportunities, after all. Ryuu and Izaria didn't want to waste their time following a reckless fox woman around like a couple of stalkers.
Suddenly, as they were camping around a lake, Master Izaria frowned and stared into the distance, her eyes seemingly piercing space itself, "Hmm?"
Ryuu noticed the change in his Master's behavior and raised an eyebrow, "What's wrong, Master? Did you sense something?"
Master Izaria's frown deepened. In an unusually serious voice, she said, "I think something is wrong with Mira."
She didn't even try to tease Ryuu by calling her his future wife, which surprised him.
Knowing that something was genuinely wrong, Ryuu's eyebrows creased, "What's wrong with her?"
Master Izaria didn't respond immediately and used her Divine Sense* to visualize everything. However, she regretted doing so as instead of the cold, indifferent fox she was used to, all she saw was a murderous demon.
[*A/N: I'll explain Divine Sense later, but for now, just know that it's basically an advanced form of Soul Sense.]
Killing intent so powerful that it seared the land around her, dried and fresh blood caked her body, and she ripped beasts apart every few seconds as if she had a grudge against them.
"I don't know. Something seemed to have happened and caused her to enter a murderous state." Master Izaria shook her head, confused.
"Do you think something happened to her while she was cultivating, causing her to enter Qi Deviation?" Ryuu asked, worried something might've happened to Mira.
While they weren't necessarily friends, they were acquaintances who had fought together and sparred against each other. It would leave a bad taste in his mouth if something terrible happened to Mira and he did nothing to assist her.
Master Izaria smiled inwardly, knowing her disciple's thoughts, but she shook her head at his question.
"No, I don't think so. As chaotic and murderous her aura is, it's also stable, not showing any signs that she'd gone into Qi Deviation." Master Izaria was as equally confused as her disciple about this, as she, too, wondered what could've happened to Mira.
"Then… should we go check on her?" Ryuu asked hesitantly. He knew that Mira liked her privacy, so involving themselves in this matter might put some distance between the two.
Master Izaria wasn't sure what to say… but as she kept watching Mira, her expression changed!
In her mind, she saw Mira stop for a second, swiveling her head as if searching for something before it finally landed in their direction. The fox woman released a huge, maniacal bloody smile, then continued running in the direction she was initially heading.
Master Izaria expanded her Divine Sense until she noticed where Mira was running, her expression turning solemn!
"Fuck! She's heading straight toward a city!"
Without asking for Ryuu's opinion, she wrapped the two of them in Qi and shot toward Mira.
***
Despite hearing Rhydian's suggestion to hunt down those from the Unorthodox Faction, Mira wasn't conscious enough to actually do that. Since all she saw was red and grey, she just headed in the direction with the most red dots, her mind labeling them as Crimson Slayer Sect disciples.
'Master! Stop! That's the wrong way!' Rhydian's voice rang out in her mind, but she ignored it and kept running.
'Dammit!' Rhydian cursed while flying above Mira. She thought about trying to stop her but immediately shook her head as she didn't want to die yet.
However, before she started panicking, she sensed two familiar people approaching from behind, causing her to breathe a sigh of relief.
'Finally! Someone that can help!'
A second later, Master Izaria and Ryuu descended in front of Mira, causing the rampaging woman to stop in her tracks.
"Mira! What's going on?! Why are you like this?" Ryuu walked forward and questioned but stiffened when their eyes made contact. A shiver ran down his spine; he'd never seen such terrifying eyes.
Surprisingly, Mira also paused when she looked at Ryuu, but for a completely different reason. A middle-aged, scruffy, blonde-haired man overlapped with Ryuu's handsome face, causing her anger to soar!
"...You…" A deep growl from the depths of hell escaped Mira's mouth, "What are you doing here?"
Ryuu and Izaria flinched, Mira's rage overwhelming their senses! Never in their lives had they ever witnessed such intense emotions coming from another human being.
However, they weren't powerhouses and geniuses for nothing and quickly regained their senses.
"W-What do you mean? I'm here to check-" Ryuu tried to explain, but Mira had no intention of listening.
"You're supposed to be dead; your body chopped up into little pieces and thrown into the ocean." Mira's deep, raspy voice rang out, causing the earth to rumble from her rage, which was palpable by now.
"D-Dead?! Mira, I seriously think you have the wrong person!" Ryuu tried to explain, but somehow, it seemed his words only fueled the endless rage burning inside of her.
"Wrong… person?" Mira stepped forward, her crimson eyes glowing, "You… You think I got the wrong person? Me?! After all you've done to my family and me, you think I'd mistake someone else for you?! HUH?!" Mira roared.
Lost in her rage, Mira shot at Ryuu faster than any bullet, launching a flurry of punches.
Ryuu's expression changed, and he hurriedly raised his arms and circulated his Qi to block her attacks.
*BOOOOM!**BOOOOM!**BOOOOM!**BOOOOM!**BOOOOM!**BOOOOM!*
The ground rumbled, and the air quaked as Mira's punches exploded outward, causing widescale destruction.
Ryuu's reaction speed and strength were enough to block her attacks, but he was still pushed back, greatly surprising both Izaria and him.
'It seems she's grown a lot over the last few weeks.' They both thought.
Seeing that Ryuu was fine after her attack, Mira pounced on him again, coating her fists with Earth Qi to create gauntlets.
Ryuu reinforced his Qi barrier, blocking all of her attacks, but the Qi consumption was immense due to the power behind each punch.
"Mira! Stop! It's me, Ryuu! We raided that Mid-Grade Spirit Stone Mine a while back together! Please, stop attacking!" Ryuu yelled, trying to calm her down, but Mira didn't listen. In her eyes, there was no longer a person in front of her, just a massive red blob.
"I don't think she can understand you, Ryuu." Master Izaria chimed in from behind with no sense of urgency at all. Rather, she was looking forward to their fight!
"If you want to get through to her, you might have to take more drastic measures." She egged him on.
Ryuu knew what she was trying to do, but it was not like his Master was wrong. He could tell that Mira was lost in her own world, merely acting on instinct.
"Ugh! I guess I don't have a choice," Ryuu grunted, annoyed, and pulled out his great sword.
Watching another fist attempt to blow him to pieces, Ryuu kept his Qi barrier active to block it, then slammed the broadside of his sword into Mira's hip.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOM!*
Mira's body shot to the side, tumbling on the ground after tanking Ryuu's hit head-on, but if one looked closely, they'd see that he dealt no significant damage to Mira.
"It seems… you've learned how to use a weapon… after resurrecting from the dead…." Mira got up and muttered before taking her scythe out, "Let's see… if you're still the same coward you were when you were alive."
Ryuu opened his mouth to say something but decided against it, knowing it would be useless.
Raising his sword again, he pointed it at Mira, apologizing in his heart, 'I'm sorry if I hurt you, Mira, but there's no other way to get you to come to your senses.'
Though, he knew deep down that this wouldn't be an easy fight. Mira was fighting to kill him, while he was doing so to knock her out. There was a huge difference.
Mira's Scythe Intent condensed around her blade, increasing its lethality. Then, she covered her body in a layer of Martial Intent and Qi. The ground shattered under the weight of her pressure, and she released a loud battle cry before attacking Ryuu again!
"RAAAAAAAHHH!"
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*
Mira's scythe created a deep crevice behind Ryuu, who was sweating buckets, thanking his ancestors that he had dodged that attack.
Carrying on with that momentum, Mira swung her scythe repeatedly, completely destroying the surrounding terrain.
Ryuu calmly dodged all of Mira's attacks, noticing that they weren't quite as calculated and conniving as before, just waiting for the right opportunity to strike.
A minute soon went by, with Mira keeping up the aggression, before Ryuu's eyes flashed.
'Now!'
Putting all of his power into his greatsword, he aimed it at Mira's head!
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*
