Not too far away from where Mira and Maria were, they heard the signs of battle. They got curious as to what was going and went to check it out. It could've been a fight between two magical beasts or a fight between two people, either way, they might as well find out what's going on. The 4 of them headed towards where the sounds of battle were and soon heard people yelling.
"Haha! Finally a battle I can enjoy! It's been a while since I've had a good fight! Good! Good! Fight me more! Hahaha!" They heard some woman laugh like a crazy person and then they heard a roar. It seemed like it was a human against a magical beast. They then heard another person.
"*Sigh* It's starting to get annoying how you look for strong opponents to fight like this. We were supposed to be on a mission, not fighting this thing. Ahhhh, whatever. Just have fun. I will be over here waiting for you to finish." Another girl said.
"You better not join this fight, Ellie! Just sit back and watch! Haha!" The crazy girl laughed as she charged towards the beast with her sword.
"I know, I know." The other girl said as she found a nice tree stump to sit next to.
Mira and Maria got closer and were now able to see the two people and gauge their strength. The crazy lady was Stage 5 Qi Condensation. She had long fiery red hair and was rather tall. The other girl, Ellie, was Stage 6 Qi Condensation and short black hair that went down to her shoulders. She had a spear next to her as she watched the battle from a sitting down a ways away. The beast the red-haired lady was fighting was a Low-Stage Rank 3 Earth Salamander. It might be a rather difficult fight since their cultivation is about the same, but an Earth Salamander's skin is extremely tough and hard to pierce.
"What should we do, Mira? Should we help her? It doesn't seem like she'll be able to kill it." Maria asked.
"Why would we help her? I only foresee trouble if we get involved with that lady. It's not our problem whether she lives or dies, but you can do what you feel want just don't involve me. And if her partner doesn't feel the need to help then why would we? We should just leave as it see-" Mira was about to finish when she sensed a presence coming towards them and turned to see what it is.
Soon, she saw that it was the lady with the short black hair that seemed to be named Ellie. Mira just stood there and stared at her. She didn't even bother to take out her scythe as this might be a good chance for Rhydian to fight a human. Maria didn't share the same thoughts and took out her scythe. Both Vulcan and Rhydian immediately went into a battle-ready mode. Ellie then pointed her spear at them and started speaking.
"Who are you and what are you doing here? Why were you watching us from afar?" Ellie asked and before Maria could speak up Mira answered.
"Why are we here? I'm surprised you didn't alert the entire fucking forest to your location with all the noise you're making. We only came to see what was going on. Now I will ask you a similar question. What are you going to do now?" Mira said in a harsh tone as that crazy woman was still yelling and laughing like a madman like she was trying to call for everything in the surrounding area to come to her. Mira was also still wearing her mask as she often forgot to take it off, but it's not like it matters that much if Maria is with her or now Rhydian.
Ellie then sensed the cultivation of the 4 of them. 2 people in Stage 7 Qi Condensation, a Peak-Stage Rank 3 magical beast, and a Mid-Stage Rank 3 magical beast. Plus the aura that they gave off was not normal. It was like all they had to do is flick her and she'd die. It wouldn't even be a fight.
Ellie gritted her teeth as there was nothing wrong with them just coming to check out what was going on and her partner was making a ton of noise. Maria then spoke up as Mira clearly made a terrible first impression and pissed her off.
"We don't mean any harm. We just came to see what all the noise was about. We can leave right now if you want as it seems there is nothing for us to see here." Maria suggested sweetly as she was able to diffuse the situation.
Ellie was about to say something when they heard a loud explosion where the fight was going on. It was silent for a couple of seconds before they heard a loud boisterous laugh.
"HAHAHAHA!! That was amazing!" The crazy girl laughed loudly. She then turned around and noticed that she couldn't see Ellie. She then sensed her presence and started to rush over to where she was. She then saw Ellie pointing her spear at 2 other girls and 2 magical beasts.
"What do we have here? Another fight? Well, I don't mind! I just got warmed up with that last fight! Hahaha!" The crazy lady laughed loudly again as she pointed her sword at Mira and charged at her.
"AH! NO DO-" Both Maria and Ellie screamed, but it was already too late.
Mira stepped forward, grabbed her wrist to stop the swing, kicked her in the stomach, and then chopped the back of her neck. She did this all in one swift move as the crazy lady went unconscious before she could even process what happened. Mira then grasped her by the throat and looked at Ellie.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't feed her to my beast companion here." Mira said to Ellie with a hint of killing intent. Maria just sighed at this and was grateful that Mira didn't have her scythe out when she charged towards her. Ellie now started to panic as she didn't expect that her partner would be knocked unconscious so quickly. What the fuck even happened?!
"We-We are inner disciples at the Battle Maiden Sect! They will definitely investigate her disappearance! I also won't let you get away with killing her!" Ellie said as she wasn't sure what to do.
"Why should I care if you are part of the Battle Maiden Sect? If I don't want them to know I killed her then all I have to do is kill you, it's not like it'll be that hard. You might even be able to help train my little wolf on how to fight humans. At least your death wouldn't be meaningless! Listen, I told you to give me a good reason. You don't have the power to negotiate here, if I want your stuff then all I have to do is kill you. I won't repeat myself again." Mira said with a scowl as she increased the pressure around the girl's neck until they heard pops.
Ellie truly didn't know what to do now. She doesn't have anything that would be worth giving and it's true that all Mira had to do was kill her to get her stuff. She fell to her knees and started to let out tears. She's never been in a situation like this and could do nothing about it.
"So this is an inner disciple of the Battle Maiden Sect? Pathetic! I guess you two can say goodbye to each other in the next life." Mira said as she started to increase the pressure around the girl's neck more before Maria interrupted her.
"You can let her go now, Mira. I know you aren't actually going to kill her." Maria suddenly said.
"I see. So your instincts are better than I thought. You must've felt that there was no malice behind my killing intent and figured that I wasn't actually going to kill her." Mira said as she half-expected Maria to know this. Maria nodded her head.
"Yes, I felt that you had no intention to kill her even though you were about to. But I also knew that if you wanted her dead, then she'd already been dead and you wouldn't play theatrics." Maria explained as Mira nodded her head.
"Yeah. It would be a pain in the ass to kill her. We would probably be dead before we could count to 10. A lot of disciples in sects have their lives linked to a life tablet. The life tablet will break if the person it was linked to dies. These two look very young, are wearing the same clothes, and are strong for their cultivation. Piecing this together, I came up with the conclusion that they are part of a sect. I wasn't planning on doing anything, but this idiot just had to charge at me like a crazy person. I thought I might as well find out how loyal these girls from a sect are to each other. I can't say that they seem that loyal to each other, but at least this girl didn't run away and this idiot immediately joined her in battle before she even knew what was going on." Mira explained her thought process to Maria. Even though Maria was surprised that Mira was able to put all of this together with just the minimal details, she still thought that this was normal for Mira. Mira then loosened the grip on the red-haired girl's neck.
Maria ran up to Ellie and put her hand on her shoulder.
"Look! She isn't going to kill your friend. She was just testing you to see what you will do. It's okay now! There's no need to cry! Mira look at what you did! You made this poor girl cry!" Maria tried to comfort Ellie and scold Mira. Mira just shrugged her shoulders and tossed the girl in her hands to the side like a rag doll and approached Ellie.
"Even though I may not want to kill you two right now, I do think that I deserve some compensation for allowing you to live." Mira said as she slowly lifted up Ellie's chin and looked her dead in the eyes. All Ellie saw were two terrifying red eyes staring deep within her and immediately froze and subconsciously nodded.
"Good. Why don't you start off by telling me a little more about this Battle Maiden Sect?"
