The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Planet Rexone)

(Northern Territory- Castle Blackmore)

Qiana entered the room with quiet steps and glanced at the numerous portraits that hung on the walls.

Every single one displayed the image of a previous head of the family who stared lifelessly from behind a barrier of paint.

Honestly it was a bit creepy.

When Qiana was a little girl, she was convinced that their eyes would follow her as she walked by them.

Inside the room was a large rectangular table with enough space to fit twenty seats.

The men and women sitting down on the chairs stared at the young woman who stepped forward.

Qiana was unremarkable.

She wore a simple black attire with heavy boots that were surprisingly noiseless.

Her face unlike most of the nobles had not been genetically altered in the womb so it would easily blend into a crowd.

There was a lack of presence surrounding her body as if turning your eyes away from her would cause her to disappear.

"Welcome back," an elderly man with a full beard spoke softly as he raised up his hand and beckoned Qiana to walk over.

"Thank you, father," Qiana bowed her head and replied as she walked forward and sat down in the seat next to him.

"I heard that the space station where the auction was taking place was destroyed a few days ago. Did you secure the materials?" Count Abazin casually questioned.

There was not a single hint of concern in his voice about the fact that his daughter had been on the station when a terrorist attack occurred.

He simply wished to know if she had fulfilled her mission. Qiana narrowed her eyes as she heard the expected question.

She had stopped assuming that deep down her father actually cared about her years ago. Count Abazin only cared about growing the strength of his house.

An endless greed for power and wealth that was not easily satisfied. Fortunately, Qiana had been able to meet all of his demands so far…

"Of course. While I was unable to secure all of the Noxien… I was able to bring back two crates of the rare material," Qiana solemnly spoke as her hand reached for her storage bag.

She touched the side of her bag and two large metalloid crates appeared out of thin air.

The lid of each crate was slightly open which indicated that the goods inside had already been checked.

Count Abazin snapped his fingers and one of the men sitting down got up from his chair and walked towards the crates.

Inside each crate were the greyish- black bars that from the outside seemed to be the rare Noxien metal.

He pulled out a long thin metalloid device which he then used to scan the contents of the crates.

"She's telling the truth… these are all Noxien metal," Ryan spoke as he closed the lids and shot Qiana a look of approval which she ignored.

Ryan Abazin… her cousin and one of her father's lapdogs.

"Well done," Count Abazin whispered softly as he rested his hand on Qiana's shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze.

Qiana merely smiled as she leaned back against her chair and observed the reactions of the others in the room.

Most of the men and women sitting down had enough sense to pretend to be happy that she succeeded but there were a few who had great difficulty keeping their true emotions concealed.

Like the middle-aged man sitting down to her father's right.

"It's all well and good that you were able to secure those two crates but what happened on the station and where is the bodyguard who was assigned to you?" the man growled angrily.

"I have written up a report about the incident and have sent it to the head of the family as well as the elders," Qiana replied calmly while looking at the man directly in his eyes.

"As for the bodyguard… she bravely sacrificed herself in order to allow me to escape. Her brave act of valor will not be forgotten."

"Bullshit!" Elis Abazin roared in fury as he slammed down his fist with enough force that cracks appeared where his palm had touched the table.

"What did you do to my right-hand woman? Do you have any idea how important Victoria Hunt was to the safety of our house?"

"Are you done embarrassing yourself?" a cold voice interrupted the middle-aged man's fiery speech, and the room immediately went silent.

Count Abazin got up from his chair and slowly walked over to his brother with heavy footsteps that echoed through the room.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

He stood behind his brother with an emotionless mask on his face.

Qiana looked away as she saw her father stretched out his hand and use his finger to touch her uncle's forehead.

"Arghh… no… I'm sorry!" her uncle screamed in pain as his body collapsed in the chair and he begun to convulse.

Count Abazin watched coldly as his brother shivered and trembled but still did not stop his cultivation technique until five minutes passed.

Qiana was frozen in place as painful memories resurfaced in her mind.

She did not want to look at the scene since it would trigger flashbacks about how her father punished her failures.

This was a twisted house.

With twisted people… each and every one of them was broken or damaged in some way.

Count Abazin walked away from his brother and sat back down on his chair with a peaceful expression as if nothing had just occurred.

"I told you all before… I don't care if you try to kill or maim my heir but… failure to harm her will be punished severely," Count Abazin growled darkly.

"House Abazin has no place for failures. Do I make myself clear?"

Qiana felt her heart sink as her father simultaneously warned the other family members in the room as well as placed a target on her back.

Now every single member of the family knew that her father would not intervene or try to protect her.

It was the ultimate trial by fire.

A surge of hatred surfaced in Qiana's heart as she looked at the man who was more concerned about power than his own daughter.

Any other head of a noble family would raise and protect his heir until he or she was ready to take over from his position.

Inside her father wanted the family to fight until only the strongest survived. A culling process that would breed the most vicious monsters.

Qiana's fingers brushed against the side of her storage bag as she thought about the crate of Noxien metal that she had kept for herself as well as the mysterious ring.

In this family she needed to ensure that she would survive…

No matter the cost.