"Oh? Why should I teach a little shit like you?" Mira said coldly, but an interested glint passed through her eyes.
"Eh?" Dominique wasn't expecting Mira to be so blunt.
"I won't say it again. Why should I teach a little shit like you?" Mira repeated herself for the last time. Dominique panicked a bit as she tried to find the right words to answer.
"You should teach me because I'll do anything to get stronger! I don't have anyone or anything and I just want to be able to live!" Dominique said with determination as she bowed again.
"Oh? And what will you do if I say no?" Mira asked as she lifted up Dominique's head and stared into her eyes. Dominique was forced to look at Mira's wine-red eyes. She felt like a demon was staring right through her like she was naked, nothing could be hidden from these eyes. And before she could respond, Mira started to talk.
"Actually, you don't even need to answer that. I think I know. Let's see. You said you don't have anyone or anything, so I can assume you have no parents or anyone to take care of you. By the looks of it, you are just barely getting by so you've probably lived your life as a beggar that nobody wants to deal with. From your clothes and dirty appearance, it seems you grew up in a village outside of the city. You probably heard of the Battle Maiden Sect or cultivators in general and wanted to be one. You then crawled your way here to beg someone to help you. It also looks like you've placed all of your bets on this. I can tell from your eyes, you're getting desperate. You can't take what life is throwing at you so you come and try to hand that problem onto somebody else. How pathetic! If I were in your position, I'd grasp whatever I could with my own two hands instead of dragging others down with me!" Mira said in a deep cold voice filled with killing intent. Dominique would've pissed herself, but she doesn't have any water in her body to release. She knew Mira would be scary, but she felt like she was talking to the queen of hell right now! All she did was fill her voice with killing intent and Dominique found it hard to breathe.
"T-T-That's not what I'm doing! I am trying to grasp an opportunity! You are my opportunity! I don't want anybody else to teach me! I want to be a cultivator! I want to be strong, no, the strongest! I don't need an easy life, I've been surviving so I could finally grasp an opportunity to live! Please give me that opportunity!" Dominique begged, but this little speech didn't phase Mira. By this time Maria and a few Elders looked over towards Mira to see what she was doing. Most of the audience was gone by now and only the new disciples and Elders were left. They noticed a small child with royal blue hair seemingly begging Mira for something and their interest peaked a little, but Maria felt her heart nearly jump out of her chest.
'No no no! What's this little girl doing going up to Mira like that?! Please don't kill that little girl, Mira! I don't know what's going on, but she's just a child!' Maria begged in her mind since she didn't want to interrupt what was going on between them.
"I don't have time to take care of a child and teach you everything from scratch. If you want me to teach you then you have to prove yourself worthy of my teachings. I refuse to waste my time and teach a shitty brat like you." Mira said, but Dominique remained steadfast and unmoving.
"You said that I have to prove myself right? What if I make a bet with you right now?" Dominique said with determination and fire in her eyes. Mira looked at her with much more interest now. Dominique has now piqued Mira's interest in her.
'This child has a goal and is determined to achieve it no matter what. There is definitely potential in her. I bet she probably won't bother me too much as well even if I do decide to teach her some things. Very well, I will play along to see what kind of bet she wants.' Mira faintly smiled behind her mask. Mira felt a strong connection with this child and felt like it might be worth it to give her some help. Even though she already has her hands full with other things, it's not like she'd have to spend every second of every day with her. She'd just give a few pointers and have Maria deal with her or something.
"Heh. Very well, child. I will play your game. What's the bet?" Mira said which caused Dominique to have a bright smile on her face.
"You just used something called killing intent in your words just now right? How about this? If I can stay conscious while withstanding your full killing intent and the pressure from your cultivation, then you'll take me in and teach me to be strong like you. If I can't then I will just keep coming back to you until I can!" Dominique said, but the last part caused Mira to frown.
"We can do that, but the last part needs to be changed. You are betting your life on me teaching you, so this is what you will do in this bet. If you can't stay conscious, then you will lose your life. Though it will be through suicide. I don't need the blood of the child on my hands and it also won't look too good for me to just kill you in front of the Elders and Disciples here. I think tossing you into a pack of magical beasts should do it." Mira changed the bet and Dominique just nodded her head with even more determination.
'She's right! This is my life right here! If I can't get Mira to teach me, then I'll likely die soon anyways! How could I make such a half-hearted bet?!'
"Alright. Withstand it for a minute and I will take you in and give you some pointers. But whether or not I teach you will remain on you. Though I don't think you understand just how many people I've killed. It's more than you can possibly fathom." Mira said and took a deep breath. As per the bet, she has to release all of her killing intent. It's been many years since she's last let loose that much killing intent. She usually keeps most of it locked away due to how overwhelming it is.
After Mira took a deep breath and closed her eyes, she opened the lock on the rest of her killing intent along with her cultivation base.
*VRUUUM*
The entire arena was now filled with a thick red haze! It was so thick that one couldn't even see their own hands! This came along with an enormous pressure from the killing intent. Almost like a Death God has come down to slay these lowly mortals! The thick red haze started to leak out of the arena and into the city! The people in the city started to feel suffocated as they were also able to feel the pressure released from Mira's killing intent. Even the Elders found it hard to breathe in this haze. It was so intense that they could barely keep their mind sane!
The new disciples were just chatting happily with each other before they couldn't even stand anymore and found it hard to breathe. They had no idea what was going on, but they had to use every bit of mental strength just to stay conscious and prevent themselves from choking on this killing intent.
What monster did someone offend for this to happen!? What is going on?! These thoughts were going through everyone's minds!
Dominique, who was standing right next to the person who is releasing this killing intent, has lost almost all brain and motor functions. Even though this was the case, she's still alive and just barely conscious. Though she can't move or think. Her thoughts are clouded by the killing intent, preventing her from even being able to do it. But the only thing her body and brain were screaming was to stay conscious. So even though she was nothing more than a vegetable right now, she's still conscious.
The city started to go into a panic and the Elders that were watching the tournament immediately came rushing over when they saw the arena fill with such a thick killing intent that it made them wonder if this was even killing intent. Their instincts were telling them to stay away from that area!
"What's going on?! What is happening there?!" One of the Elders screamed as she looked at the red mist.
"There shouldn't be any old monsters around here and they have no reason to do something like this here! So why is this happening?! Who offended such a being?!"
The Elders tried to enter only to feel such a suffocating killing intent that it made their hearts palpitate in fear. The only thing they could do is wait to see what happened afterwards.
This went on for a full minute. Everybody in the Arena, including the Elders, were laying on the ground struggling to stay conscious, but as quickly as it came, the pressure and haze retreated back into Mira's body and dissipated. Mira sealed that killing intent up and she started feeling lightheaded. Using that much killing intent is too hard to control for her and also makes her extremely tired and dizzy.
She looked at Dominique who was laying in a fetal position on the ground. Her eyes were still open and she was still breathing. Mira bent down and snapped her fingers in front of her eyes. Her eyes blinked. Technically, this means that Dominique remained conscious the whole time since her mind is still somewhat aware of its surroundings and she's still alive. Mira picked up Dominique and put her on her back. She has to uphold her end of the deal now that she lost the bet.
Mira then looks around the arena only to find everyone is either on their knees choking or unconscious. Maria and the Elders were the first ones to stand up and look around to see what happened. They noticed that nothing seemed to happen and everyone was still here. But after further inspection, there was one person that wasn't here before. An incredibly beautiful girl, one that seemed to be sculpted by the gods. She had wine-red eyes, a perfectly shaped face, icy silver hair, and was carrying a little girl with royal blue hair on her back. Maria was the first to speak up at this sight, while everyone else was stunned.
"Mira! You're mask!" Maria yelled. Mira only looked down to see her mask was now in pieces. She looked around the arena and noticed that the only people here were the Elders and the new disciples.
"I see. Well, it doesn't really matter. I've been getting tired of always wearing that thing anyways. I planned on taking it off in the Sect anyways." Mira said as she shrugged. The main reason for wearing a mask is to prevent any males from looking at her. She didn't care if other girls saw her.
The Elders came out of their stupor after a minute.
"Y-Y-You're Mira?? I had no idea you'd look like this under your mask!" They exclaimed. The other disciples started to wake up and noticed the Elders staring at something. They looked over towards where they were looking and the only word that they could think of was 'Goddess'.
Maria ran up to Mira.
"What happened Mira? Are you okay? Who is this little girl?" Maria bombarded her with questions filled with concern. The rest of the disciples were shocked to know that this Goddess is Mira.
"How should I know? And I guess you could say this little girl is my disciple." Mira said.
"Wha-!" Maria was shocked to hear that! Disciple? Did she just hear that right? Mira actually called this little girl her disciple. Maria looked at the small child with eyes filled with pity. At this time the Elders from outside came charging in.
"What happened?! Is everyone okay?!" They yelled, but then looked around to see that nothing had happened.
"Eh?" They didn't understand what was going on. One of the Elders that was still in the arena came up to them.
"We don't know what happened, but everyone seems okay and present. It also looks like nothing has happened. I don't know why though. But I say we just try to move on and get back to the sect as soon as possible. We can also move on to the rewards and the introduction to the sect for the new disciples." The Elder suggested. They all double checked the arena only to find nothing wrong or out of place. Other than the 'Goddess' with a girl on her back. But Mira's back was turned to them so they didn't pay much attention to this. After seeing all of the Elders and Disciples stand up, one of them spoke up.
"Very well. We will lead you back to the sect where we will carry on with what we had planned today! We will wait for everyone to get ready and then we will head out!"
