Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

[A/N: I should probably give a little warning before the start of this chapter. The scenes that will play out are pretty gruesome and if you don't like that kind of stuff then feel free to move on. There isn't any r*pe or anything like that. Just gruesome torture scenes, but like I said, if you guys don't like that stuff, then feel free to skip this chapter. I'll give a brief recap of what happened in the next chapter. You've been warned!]

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After a while, Mira finally regained her senses and she immediately started searching the area to find out where she was. Unfortunately, Mira seriously underestimated this place…

"What the fuck?!"

That's when she finally realized that she wasn't able to move her body. It wasn't just her hands and legs that were bound, but every joint in her body was bound! She literally couldn't move a single part of her body. Somehow, she couldn't even move her eyes to look around! Mira didn't even know how such a thing was possible without her noticing!

However, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that she was bound by those bone trees she saw before entering this place. Though she never would've guessed they'd be used to bind her and just thought they were a by-product of this wretched place.

At this point, she finally realized that she's completely at the mercy of whatever or whoever is in control of this place. Her mind is laid bare, she lost control of her body, and even her soul is at the mercy of whatever is in control here.

Mira started squirming, trying to see if she could break free, but for whatever reason, she felt no strength in her body. She tried using her ice powers, but those didn't respond either. Lastly, her soul and cultivation were sealed! She couldn't even contact Elene or bring out her scythe!! She was nothing more than a pitiful mortal at this point.

However, even with everything going against her, she didn't panic. From what she gathered so far, it's fair to say that whatever's in control of this place is testing those who enter. Anyone who enters that doesn't meet certain requirements gets insta-killed. No questions asked.

Those who enter that DO meet the requirements, from what she can assume, have to go through a series of tests. The previous 'test' she went through was either some sort of willpower test or maybe it was testing her mind. The reason she thought this is because the previous test sealed off all her senses and essentially forced her to recall the various misfortunes throughout her past lives.

Honestly, she's not 100% sure how she passed that test because she was indeed losing herself in her memories but something shook her and gave her a moment of clarity. So maybe she needed to re-affirm her resolve to reach the peak and get revenge? Who the hell knows?! All she knows is her mind was tested and she passed!

Now, from the looks of it, her body will be tested. Or if what she thinks is going to happen actually happens then both her mind and body will be tested. If that was the case, then Mira has the utmost confidence that she'll be able to pass with flying colors! She didn't underestimate this place though. Just from the previous test, she realized that whatever is in control here has the ability to simulate true death while keeping the soul intact and the body alive.

That might not sound like much because sure, there might be plenty of people out there that can put others into a comatose state and make them experience what true death is like, but that's not the case here. She's not in a comatose state and whatever happened during her last test wasn't an illusion! It was real! Everything was real! Well, except for the torture that her mind, body, and soul went through prior to the test if it was anyone else they wouldn't be able to find the difference. Mira only can because she's actually died before, but if she were being honest those sensations felt almost exactly like how true death actually feels. That's probably the only reason she passed that test was because she knew she was still alive.

So if even Mira was almost fooled by this place then it goes without saying that anyone else who enters here and goes through that first trial will almost always believe they are dead. They might not think like that in the beginning, but having no senses wears down a person… quickly. If Mira were to guess, she'd assume that 99.99% of people who enter this place die during the first test. Again, that's just an assumption with no information to back it, but she doubts that she's too far off.

That's why Mira didn't dare underestimate this place. It can already put one in a state almost exactly like how true death feels. What else can't it do?

From the looks of it, she'll most likely be tortured, and although Mira isn't exactly new to torture and it could even be said that torture is essentially useless on Mira…

She was a bit afraid of what's to come.

That was her last thought before a pain so intense that it made all other forms of pain and torture seem more like a fluffy cloud came to caress her rather than her limbs being cut open and bones smashed to pieces.

"URGH!!"

Mira grunted but that was it. Her pride didn't allow her to scream out in pain! She's gone through too much that the mere thought of screaming in pain was humiliating even if there was nobody there to see it. It may sound weird to pride oneself on being able to take significant amounts of pain, but this is more of an accomplishment to Mira. Her pain endurance is something that has accompanied her throughout multiple lifetimes and is one of the only things she can actually take pride in.

So her screaming in pain is equivalent to her disregarding all of her previous 'achievements'. At least that's how Mira sees it.

However, Mira acknowledged that she might really have to scream if this gets much worse. She tried to look around with her eyes to try and distract her a bit, but that seemed to make things worse.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see parts of her body and from what she saw… it wasn't looking so good.

Her skin was turning a purplish-black and started bubbling. Yes, her own skin was forming giant bubbles right underneath the surface and after a while, Mira saw one of those bubbles… POP!

"UGH!!"

Mira grunted loudly and noticed that the bubble that popped released a purple fog and soon, bubbles all over her body started popping. Each and every one of those pops was gut-wrenching. It was like those bubbles targeted her nerve endings and pain receptors!

Oh, how right she was. That's exactly what those bubbles are doing! They are targeting her pain receptors while making the scene as gruesome as possible! She literally has to watch as her body deteriorates into nothing more than a purplish-black mess while going through pain that is worse than death!

What the fuck is this?!

How can there be such a perverted existence in this world?! This is something that even Mira can't fathom!

She's no stranger to the human body and its workings so she knows what places can make one feel the most pain, but this… this goes beyond that. A human, even someone who has a significant amount of cultivation can't directly attack one's nerve endings and pain receptors with precision. They are too small! Even if a cultivator could do something like that, they wouldn't be able to make someone feel pain like what Mira's going through.

What she feels is more like someone or something's manifestation or interpretation of what ultimate pain and torture feel like. It feels like these bubbles are downloading a sequence to her brain from her nerve endings that are basically telling her brain that she should feel the ultimate form of torture. It's a weird, but ultimately very painful feeling.

Mira was so lost in this pain that she didn't even notice that her skin had dissolved and now her flesh and blood were up next. However, if one looked closely, they'd be able to see that for some reason Mira's nerve endings and pain receptors were still intact and even lowered onto what's left of her body.

Now, her flesh and blood were turning into a purplish-black color, but instead of turning into bubbles, she just started dissolving. Her flesh and blood would go up in smoke, or rather fog, as everything down to her bones was being reduced to nothing.

"KUH!!! UGH!!!"

Mira kept gritting her teeth in pain, but there wasn't much left of her teeth at this point since they had been ground down to dust at this point.

Honestly, Mira should've lost consciousness at least a dozen times by now, but she couldn't even do that.

Actually, that's not all. Mira couldn't even die if she wanted to. She is basically nothing more than a pile of bones at this point since even her head was dissolved into nothing, but even with no blood and all of her organs falling out of her body, she's still alive.

Well, I guess that's a lie. If Mira really wanted to die right now then this place would just kill her. The point of this test wasn't hard to understand. Endure the pain. But the problem is there's no time limit, there's nothing to inform her what's going on, nothing to tell her how much pain she has to endure, or if this is just going to last indefinitely.

Mira won't even know if she's passed the test or not until she's out of this god-forsaken place! She could be suspended here, going through this torture, for eternity as some sort of sick joke by whatever's in control of this place and she wouldn't even know it!

What Mira didn't know is that this was just the start, no, after she became nothing more than a pile of bones, that's when the test truly started.

Soon, her bones were reduced to dust, leaving only her nerve endings and pain receptors. Even Mira's brain was out in the open for all to see. Her body was no more at this point and the only thing left in one piece was her brain. However, it didn't take long for that to start dissolving either.

Mira wanted to scream out in pain at this point, but she didn't have a mouth! She couldn't even think as all of her senses were disappearing, leaving only pain and suffering. Her memories started vanishing and she even started forgetting her own name and goal. The only thing left was pain. A pain so intense that even her soul could feel it even though none of it was directed towards her soul.

However, just when her brain was about to turn into nothing more than a pile of mush, her body started regenerating at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Her memories were returning and even her other senses were coming back to her.

"FUCK!!! FUCK!! FUCK!!! DID I FUCKING PASS?!?! ARGGGHH!!"

Mira let out a guttural roar when she finally got her body and memories back until she noticed that she didn't get her original body back. No, what she's stuck with now was nothing more than a ball of flesh, literally. Whatever destroyed her body literally reconstructed it into a giant ball of blesh, blood, bones, skin, and everything else that makes up a person. However, what Mira didn't know is that she now has more pain receptors all over her body that are more sensitive than her original ones.

She literally endured this torture only for her body to be reconstructed into a format that is more receptive to pain!!

Where are the rewards?? Didn't she pass?! Even if she didn't pass, can't you make things a bit easier?! Was what she went through nothing more than a tutorial for the real thing?! How much more of this shit does she have to go through?!

Mira didn't get an answer to any of those questions as her new 'body' started bubbling…

"AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH"

At this point, Mira didn't give two shits about her pride! What is pride?! Can you eat it? Will it lessen the pain?! Will it make her feel better?! NO! She can say with absolute certainty that this is the worst pain she's ever experienced. No, not only that. All of her previous pain and suffering added up doesn't equal what she's going through right now!

After around an hour of this gut-wrenching pain, Mira's 'body' bubbled up and exploded into a purplish-black fog only to be quickly reconstructed again, and just like before, she had more pain receptors that were more sensitive than before.

This went on for 2 days straight…

***

"AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH"

Maria, Celaine, and Elenei listened to Mira's screams over the past 2 days. They didn't know what Mira was going through, but they knew that this was quite possibly the worst thing Mira's ever experienced.

Celaine and Elenei might not know, but Maria knows Mira quite well. After all, they've been friends for over a decade now and Maria has spent a ton of time with her.

Throughout their entire friendship, Mira's expression almost never changed. Even if it did, it would be imperceptible like a tiny smile or a small smirk, maybe even a deep frown, but that's it. Mira almost always has the same unchanging neutral cold expression on her face. She's seen Mira get her body torn to shreds, jump in pools of lava/magma, almost suffocate in an ocean, and many other painful occasions, but she's never seen Mira's expression change, and the most she's ever heard might be a light grunt, but that's about it.

Now, however, she's literally listening to her scream out in pain. Not just any scream but one that says 'she'd rather die than go through this shit'.

What makes things worse is for some reason Mira's screams became worse and worse after almost every hour.

The three of them didn't know what was going on in there, but they knew that if Mira was screaming in pain, then even demons from the depths of hell would have long been dead from the pain.

Maria and Celaine wanted to go in there to help her, but Elenei, thankfully, stopped them. Even though the giant bird hasn't known Mira for long, she knew that Mira is someone who was no stranger to misfortunate events. And if someone like Mira could barely handle what's going on in there, then there is no way in hell Maria and Celaine would be able to last.

In fact, they'd probably die as soon as they entered.

The only thing the three of them can do now is to wait and hope Mira gets through this disaster…