The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Outer Regions)

(Zrudread University Spacecraft)

Cleo sat quietly on a chair in the corner of the command deck and in front of her body were numerous holographic screens showing the live video-feed of the intruder.

Her left eye was still glowing pink and waves of mysterious energy kept flowing through her meridians from an unknown source.

The princess tapped her wrist communicator and powered it on.

She opened her inbox and saw half a dozen unread messages from Sophie.

Sophie: [Babe! Are you okay? I just saw a vision…]

Sophie: [Answer? Hello? Fuck… I'm going to the principal now… stay tight… I'm coming to rescue you…]

Cleo: [It's okay… I managed to escape…]

Unfortunately, her message did not receive a response since Sophie's communicator was either turned off or she was not paying attention to it.

Cleo furrowed her brows thoughtfully and decided to try something.

She closed her eyes and focused on the connection between herself and her beautiful girlfriend.

The mark on her chest throbbed slightly and her pink eye glowed with an eerie light.

Cleo recalled the events that had just occurred and willed those memories to travel through the bond and enter Sophie's mind.

Cleo could feel the connection between them strengthen but had no idea if her plan worked or not.

Suddenly there was a loud ringing noise and Cleo saw a notification flash across her communicator's screen.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

[Incoming Video Call- Sophie Peterlor]

"Excuse me sir… would it be alright if I talked to my friend?" Cleo politely asked her professor who was currently sitting down on a mat.

"Use the private room in the back… make sure that you don't leave the command deck since we have no idea if more intruders will enter the ship," Instructor Barrett replied.

Cleo nodded her head gratefully and then rushed towards the metalloid door in the corner of the room.

She wanted to make sure that her girlfriend didn't worry too much since the only people in danger were her classmates.

Neither Drew nor Elenora had yet to return and there were mysterious threats lurking everywhere in the asteroid field.

Instructor Barrett waited until his student had disappeared in the side room before turning his attention back to the matter at hand.

The elderly man closed his eyes and allowed his consciousness to spread across the length of the entire starship.

A mech controller was a terrifying opponent to face especially when an enemy had no idea where their physical body was hidden.

The mysterious intruder was only in the qi tide stage, but Instructor Barrett was not going to let down his guard.

Anyone could clearly see that his techniques were both dangerous and strange.

Instructor Barrett was not prepared to take any chances.

His only goal now was to make sure that his students returned to the university unharmed. There was no need to take any additional risks.

Instructor Barrett stretched out his palm and made a series of mysterious hand gestures. Several robot androids located inside different rooms on the starship made identical movements.

The elderly man took in a deep breath and then gently exhaled.

He directed the androids and coordinated with the starship's main AI unit in order to launch a simultaneous assault.

The intruder saw the incoming robots and the blood around his body formed the shape of a reaper's scythe.

He lunged forward the robots in his path were neatly bisected in half. What Kohli didn't know was that Instructor Barrett expected him to easily destroy the androids.

"Overload their energy cores…" Instructor Barrett whispered softly. A cold metallic voice answered his command.

[Override confirmed… overloading… overloading…]

The fallen androids began to glow as the energy source inside their chests overheated right next to Kohli's body.

BOOM!

An enormous explosion rocked the corridor, and a disheveled figure could be flying ungracefully through the air.

It was a cat and mouse game.

Kohli got up from the ground with a faint hiss as he felt several of his ribs crack. The leader of the Calypso brotherhood was now feeling desperate.

With every passing minute, it was more likely that reinforcements from Zrudread University would arrive and then he would have no chance to succeed in his mission.

There was no possibility of fighting above his current cultivation level since he needed the divinity from another vessel in order to break into the void stage.

Kohli stumbled forward as he felt his mind slowly begin to crumble. More wrinkles appeared on his face and his hands began to shrivel up.

An unpleasant look of disgust flashed across Kohli's face when he saw his transformed fingers.

For a brief moment he was tempted to cut off his own arm so that he didn't have to see those vile wrinkles.

Wait a minute… there was a solution!

Kohli's eyes widened in shock, and he had to resist to curse.

Although he was unable to track down the duke's daughter by her divinity, there was another method.

Blood was the answer… it had always been the answer, but he was too stupid to realise it sooner…

He still possessed the ability to hunt down biological organisms and drain away their lifeforce using their blood.

All he had to do was extend his senses and he would be led to the members of the crew onboard the starship.

Kohli rushed forward and kept sniffing the air occasionally like a mad dog.

Saliva leaked out from the corner of his mouth as the pirate eagerly kept moving through an endless labyrinth of metalloid corridors and side rooms.

He had to fight of numerous waves of robotic androids and eventually his condition got worse and worse.

Power could not be wielded without the appropriate price.

Kohli now resembled an elderly man in his late eighties and the hair on his head was now completely grey.

The boils covering his body throbbed with every step that he took and the madness behind his eyes slowly faded away.

Just as Kohli was about to give up in despair… a warm refreshing scent entered his nostrils. He tentatively stepped forward and sniffed a few times.

"There you are…" Kohli darkly muttered as a sadistic grin spread across his face.