The Spider Queen

(Earth Federation- Alpha Star System)

(Nephilim Church Starship- Meditation Chamber)

"Deep breaths… in… and… out… in… and… out," Sophie softly whispered as she calmly inhaled and exhaled.

The room was eerily quiet, and Sophie could hear her heartbeat gradually slow down as she continued to relax.

Thump! Thump!

The qi in her dantian begun to circulate through her meridians in a familiar pattern. It was a never-ending loop that transformed the vast ocean of energy in her dantian into a swirling river.

Sophie's golden eyes cycled through a variety of colors as she quietly cultivated. They turned red, then white and finally pink before returning to their original golden hue.

The powers gained from the hunter goddess swelled inside Sophie's body and she could feel the dark temptation to give in.

Sophie did her best to resist these urges and continued to cultivate while focusing on remaining in control.

Ever since she had successfully managed to kill Captain Dawn and offer his soul as a sacrifice to the hunter goddess, something had changed inside her.

Sophie wasn't sure what exactly was different but was determined to find out.

It was undeniable that being a vessel to a divine creature had granted her great strength.

What Sophie still needed to figure out was how to wield this power without it consuming her.

The hybrid girl got up from the floor with slow purposeful movements and pulled a whip out of her storage bag.

Sophie affectionately rubbed her nano-fiber whip using her right palm and then begun to practice a series of movements.

Illusory snowflakes appeared along the length of her whip and the temperature inside the room plummeted to sub-zero levels.

Sophie paid no attention to the frost that appeared on her fingertips and lashed out at a certain direction.

The tip of her whip slammed against the closest wall which was immediately covered in a thin layer of ice.

Sophie clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction and begun to repeat the movements but this time she forced more qi into the technique.

Again, she lashed out towards the wall but this time she slightly increased her strength.

Crack!

The metalloid wall shuddered under the force of the blow and the layer of ice that formed on its outer surface was now several inches thick.

"Good enough," Sophie muttered hoarsely as she placed the whip back in her storage bag.

Rachel's words from the previous night still ran through in her mind every time that she stopped to rest.

Sophie found herself unable to sleep when she returned to her room and had spent the past few hours in a daze.

Cleo…

Sophie felt a dull aching sensation in her heart as she remembered those piercing green eyes that were always filled with either mischief or affection.

It was strange but now the meeting that Sophie had been looking forward to made her feel conflicted and a little bit upset.

She had no idea that her girlfriend had suffered to that extent over the past few months.

Although the situation was probably made worse by the fact that her fate was unknown due to the random nature of the teleportation.

And then there was the whole matter about the parasite that was in Cleo's body…

Fortunately, there was good news on that front, Katarina had informed her that Cleo had visited the Peterlor estate where a private doctor had successfully managed to extract the symbiote.

Sophie closed her eyes and took a few more deep breaths in order to calm down the bloodlust that begun to surge in response to her fluctuating emotions.

"Deep breaths… in… and… out… in… and… out," Sophie repeated her mantra and unclenched her tightly held fists.

She was safe.

She was about to go home and return to her normal life.

There was no need to cloud her head with distracting thoughts.

Sophie rubbed her temples and focused on the qi that was circulating through her meridians. She knew that losing her cool so often was not normal.

It was probably some combination of both her traumatizing experiences in the Unovan Syndicate and the price of using the goddess' powers.

Sophie was seriously considering visiting a psychologist when she returned to university in order to sort out her mental state.

Time slowly passed by as Sophie resumed her training efforts and tried to get her mind to stop thinking too much.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Sophie's casual palm strikes left heavy dents in the surface of the wall since her superhuman strength allowed her to easily tear through solid metal.

The hybrid girl reached into her storage bag and pulled out the last vial of poison that was left.

She unscrewed the top and flung the fragile vial against the floor. A cloud of vile toxins rose up from the ground which Sophie observed with a cold gaze.

Poison Art- Cloud Serpent!

Sophie moved her palms in a specific pattern and channeled her qi outwards. The mist of toxins twisted and contorted into the shape of a serpent that followed her hand movements.

This dangerous gas slithered around the room like a living creature before Sophie made it enter her mouth.

A sadistic smile flashed across Sophie's face as the sweet taste of poison touched the tip of her taste buds but soon this sensation passed.

Sophie could feel her venom glands swell as the toxin made its way through her systems and empowered her natural poison.

There was nothing in the immediate area to properly test the effectiveness of this toxin, so Sophie simply bit down on a chair that was placed in the room.

A dull hissing sound was heard as the chair begun to melt until it fully dissolved into a foul-smelling puddle.

Sophie approached a sensor and gave out an order to the AI unit in charge of monitoring the room, "Activate the circulation system and scan the air for any residual toxins."

Bleep! Bleep!

Sophie felt a cool breeze hit her body as the air inside the room was filtered several times until the toxins were gone.

That was enough training for today.

Sophie wiped the sweat from her brow and then left the room. She wandered through the corridors until a familiar door appeared.

She knocked twice and then placed her finger on the scanner. The metalloid door swung open to reveal the interior of her private cabin.

Lily was nowhere in sight, so Sophie assumed that Katarina or Rachel had probably taken the little girl out to play.

Just as she was about to head into the bathroom and take a nice long hot shower, an announcement rang out from the speakers overhead.

[Attention! We have entered the inner regions of the Alpha Star System, so it is now safe to connect your devices to the virtual net.]

[The estimated arrival time to Planet Gaia is ten hours]

Sophie froze in place as Katarina's voice repeated the announcement a second time before the speakers cut off.

There was no need to wait any longer.

"Fuck… what should… I…" Sophie whispered nervously. All thoughts of taking a shower and cleaning herself up had now been tossed aside.

There were butterflies in her stomach as the hybrid girl tilted her wrist communicator upwards and powered it on.

It took a solid thirty seconds for Sophie's shaky fingers to finally press the reconnect button on the top of the screen.

Sophie watched the bar load with extreme focus until the confirmation message popped up. She was now connected to the virtual net.

The flood of messages inside her inbox were still unread but Sophie ignored the lines upon lines of text and just focused on a certain profile.

Cleo's smiling face appeared in the center of her screen. Sophie sat down as the tension filling her chest made it difficult for her to breathe properly.

Sophie took a minute to stare at the picture before mustering up the courage to tap the icon on the right corner of the image.

[Do You Wish To Videocall?]

[Yes] [No]