The Spider Queen

Strange.

That was the only word that could describe how Sophie felt as she saw the world through a different perspective.

All bright colours had disappeared from her vision leaving only a world that was various shades of black and white.

White foggy clouds danced around the corners of her eyes and made everything seem almost like a dream.

It was a surreal experience.

"Arghh!" a loud scream pierced through the quiet haze in Sophie's mind.

The hybrid girl tilted her head to the left and saw an identical copy of herself engulfed in flames.

It only took a few minutes for the fire to burn through the defenses of her mirror image and soon a blackened corpse fell to the ground motionless.

White fog covered the body and then the scene disappeared.

"No…YOU SON OF A BITCH!" another loud scream forced Sophie to cover her ears in pain.

This time the cry was filled with an emotional mix of both rage and pain.

Another version of herself was forced to kneel before the fiery orb and Sophie could only watch as a blue wisp floated out of her reflection's mouth.

This blue wisp was obliterated by a short tendril that emerged from the core of the creature.

Sophie's mirror image froze in place as her eyes gradually became unfocused and her pupils turned into a pale yellowish-white colour.

Cracks began to form on the surface of her mirror image's face and then a fearsome pillar of flame erupted from the ground beneath her feet.

Sophie frowned and tired to move her body towards the pillar of flame to investigate further but soon the white fog appeared once more, and then the scene vanished.

"Please… kill…. me…." a dark growl echoed through the silent world.

Sophie felt a bit unnerved at the prospect of looking at yet another horrible sight but forced herself to see the newest picture that was now revealed.

It was by far the darkest scene.

The hybrid girl trembled slightly as she saw a picture straight out of a nightmare.

A moving chunk of battered flesh was wriggling around the desert sand.

The thing was forced to crawl on its belly as all of its limbs had been neatly sliced off. Its flesh had been blackened and burnt but somehow it was still alive.

Blood dripped from the wounds on various parts of its body and the liquid fell into the warm embrace of the sand.

If not for the two golden eyes in the middle of what could only be assumed was the creature's face, Sophie would not have believed that this was another version of herself.

This time… the end was not quick.

She watched numbly as the fiery ball slowly burned the lump of flesh inch by inch until the bloodcurdling screams of pain turned into quiet whimpers.

The white fog arrived, and the grey world resumed a state of peace and tranquility as though nothing had happened.

Sophie remained in this strange place for what felt like hours, days or even years as she witnessed uncountable visions of her death.

Another death…

Another…

And another…

Sophie had lost count as she saw numerous visions of her untimely demise ranging from instant incineration to a slow torturous process.

No… something was wrong…

What was the point of an ability that just predicted death?

Was there something that she was missing?

There were only two possibilities for what she was currently seeing.

The first was that no matter what action she took, the end result would be the same and Captain Dawn would kill her.

The second possibility was that the gift of foresight would only show timelines where certain events would lead to death of whoever she was focusing on.

She had peered into her own future… would it be possible to see the possible futures of Captain Dawn?

Sophie closed her eyes and concentrated…

She banished all thoughts of her gruesome deaths to the back of her mind and focused only on the enormous ball of flames.

She opened her eyes and saw an image begin to form right in front of her.

The details were fuzzy at the moment, but Sophie didn't panic since she optimistically assumed that the quality of the vision would be enhanced with the passage of time.

She was proven right as she could gradually make out smaller details in the image such as Captain's Dawn fragile body that was somehow in his human form and the cold glint of a sharpened blade swinging downwards.

The person swinging the blade was unknown, but Sophie had a sneaking suspicion that it was her as she could spot four appendages on the humanoid's back.

Crack!

The space instantly shattered, and Sophie found herself thrust back into the reality without any clue about what to do next.

"Damn…" Sophie muttered as she activated her movement technique and teleported away.

The never- ending barrage of fiery attacks had not ceased and if anything…

The frequency of the flaming pillars rising up from the ground had actually increased. However, Sophie was still able to avoid the attacks with ease by relying on her natural reflexes.

"No! I was so close!" Sophie yelled in frustration.

Asura Whip Art- Form Two

Hail of Frost!

The nano-fibre whip in Sophie's right hand became engulfed in illusory snowflakes as a blue colour spread across its body.

The temperature surrounding the whip rapidly plummeted until the breath that Sophie exhaled turned into a white mist.

Crack! Crack!

Two lightning quick strikes broke through the flaming orb's defense and struck the creature on the center of its body.

Screech!

An unearthly cry filled Sophie's ears, but this uncomfortable sound seemed like music as the hybrid girl realised something important.

The pillars of fire constantly erupting beneath her feet were temporarily disrupted by her sudden attack.

Did the fire elemental require concentration to summon the fiery pillars? Or did pain prevent the creature from channelling its divine power?

A bloodthirsty snarl flashed across Sophie's face as she discovered this important weakness.

She continued to launch strike after strike but now the creature had grasped the threat of her blows.

Boom!

A ring of fire erupted from the core of the flaming orb and created an impenetrable zone that extended up to twenty feet away from its body.

Dark purplish black flames rose up into the afternoon sky in an intimidating display of strength.

Sophie backed away and frowned as she realised that the creature was now out of reach for her whip to strike.

At least it seemed that maintaining this zone of flames was tiring for the flaming elemental since there were no more pillars of fire and the flaming bolts directed towards her.

An uneasy stalemate had formed.

Sophie was still wary of any sudden attacks and teleported hundreds of feet away to a spot behind a large sand dune.

There was no choice but to try to use her ability one more time.

Sophie felt a stabbing pain in her temples as her vision once more shifted into a mysterious world of black and white.

This time she kept a firm picture of Captain Dawn's new inhuman form in her mind.

Every detail about the floating fiery orb from its dark purplish-black flames to the monstrous tendrils that were created from its core.

Gazing into the future must have a price and Sophie could feel the painful throbbing feeling in her temples only get worse.

"I AM THE CHOSEN ONE OF THE SUN GOD!" a monstrous roar echoed through the strange world.

Sophie turned around and finally saw what she had been looking for…