The Spider Queen

"It appears as though we have an unexpected guest…"

Sophie's blood ran cold as her body instantly froze in place.

She could feel the warmth of the foul river water surrounding her body and heard the beating of her heart in her chest.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The skeleton mage slowly raised up his bony hand and Sophie could feel every muscle in her body begin to tense up.

Danger.

Her danger sense was going off like never before. If she was not careful… this place could become her grave.

Was it time for battle?

Could she defeat a void stage cultivator?

Sophie was not immune to fear because she had too much to lose. Ever time she found herself in a life-or-death situation… her fingers would tremble slightly.

The skeleton mage's bony finger moved and finally stopped in a place. Those empty eyes that sat in a bony skull seemed to lead into an endless darkness itself.

"Come out," the skeleton mage whispered softly.

A faint warm orange glow appeared several hundred metres behind the spot where Sophie was hiding, and a familiar figure appeared.

It was the monk.

He was now wearing a plain white robe with golden threads woven into the corner of his sleeves and cuffs.

His bald head shone under the orange light that surrounded his body and the snake-like tattoos on his forehead began to wriggle and move.

"Stop this madness at once," the monk gently spoke as he raised up his right hand.

A powerful beam of energy erupted from his fingertips and shot towards the still dancing believers.

The skeleton mage only laughed and then muttered a few incomprehensible words under his breath.

A gigantic black shield erupted from the ground and blocked the beam before it could fall upon the Mendolesa warriors.

"It has been a long time hasn't it… Brother Renly," the skeleton mage spoke calmly as if he was having a conversation with an old friend.

"I am no longer your brother," the monk harshly retorted as one of the snake tattoos on his forehead reared back its head and hissed softly.

"The bond between us was the severed the day you turned your back on the order to pursue degeneracy."

"An endless lust for power will lead only to disaster… you should know that better than any of us. This will only end in tragedy."

Sophie lowered her head even further into the filthy sewer water as she listened carefully to the conversation between the two men.

Okay… so there was a connection between the monk and the skeleton. Should she join forces with the monk now?

No.

Sophie shook her head and drove that silly thought from her mind as she looked at the two figures with a wary expression on her face.

There was no guarantee that the monk would appreciate her help or even treat her as a non hostile ally.

Plus, Sophie could not help but remember the scorn in his eyes when he called her a filthy half breed.

"Oh brother… do you think those foolish old men understood what real power is? Why do you think our order is nothing more than a cult on the edges of society?" the skeleton mage spoke.

"It is because we lack the strength. We have no god stage cultivators within our ranks."

"How can we get respect when we are weak?"

The skeleton mage shook his head and despite the lack of flesh on his face, Sophie could somehow sense the disappointment radiating off him.

"Our order has no interest in participating in the many spats and quarrels that you would seek to drag us into," Brother Renly furiously replied.

The monk disappeared from the spot and reappeared with his fist mere inches away from the skeleton's face.

His hand was glowing with an eerie white light and strange holy symbols and runes floated above clenched fist.

Bang!

Sophie watched as his fist slammed into the skeleton's face with enough force that a shockwave was emitted.

The walls of the underground room began to crack under the blow and heavy pieces of stone and concrete fell down from the ceiling.

The worshippers surrounding the giant rat-like creature screamed in fear and for a brief moment they stopped their bizarre ritual.

Sophie swam a few metres to the side just as a large slab of concrete fell down where she had been just moments ago.

When the dust cloud finally settled… a shocking sight could be seen.

The monk was now gasping for breath as his entire body was now covered head to toe with horrific scars and burns.

The skeleton mage gripped him by the throat and slowly lifted him upwards until his feet were inches off the ground.

"Lil…erghh…" the monk tried to whisper something, but the skeleton interrupted his chant by squeezing tighter around his throat.

Despite being hit by such a powerful blow… the skeleton mage appeared to be completely unharmed.

"Brother Renly… it seems this is goodbye," the skeleton mage politely spoke as he rubbed his bony thumb against the monk's Adam's apple.

Rsychosis!

Three humanoid figures burst out of the murky depths of the sewer river and rushed towards the skeleton mage.

They were all identical images of a seven feet tall human hybrid with four blade-like appendages jutting out of their backs.

Their eyes were golden, but one could see a faint red mist beginning to spread from the corners of their eyes.

The skeleton mage was taken aback by the sudden ambush, but his hand was much faster than Sophie's clones.

Before the three hybrids could reach him… the mage ensured that the monk would not longer participate in the battle.

Crack!

The monk's neck was unnaturally bent by about ninety degrees as the life was instantly drained from his eyes.

The skeleton tossed the corpse on the ground and rubbed his bony feet on the body of his dead brother.

"Now to deal with the cockroaches…" the mage muttered softly to himself.

Multiple bone spikes erupted from the ground beneath the feet of the hybrid girls and skewered their bodies.

Sophie's clones spat out mouthfuls of blood as their bodies were lifted up into the air and their internal organs were destroyed.

"Now tell me… what could possibly possess a qi tide cultivator to seek out someone so much stronger than her?" the skeleton mage asked curiously.

One of the clones chuckled darkly and with the last of her strength she reached into her pocket and flung something at the mage.

It was small ball-shaped metalloid device with a red light that blinked ominously.

BOOM!

An enormous fiery explosion rocked the large room and more pieces of the roof fell down. The clones all died in the blast since their bodies were instantly vaporised into ash.

Cloud Treading Dragon!

Sophie and ten other mirror images rushed forward towards the mage whose clothes had now been completely burnt off.

There were tiny cracks in his skull that were softly widening with every passing second.

"You… you dare…" the skeleton mage stuttered in fury as he realised that he had just been tricked.

He chanted a series of words under his breath and the remaining worshippers who had not died in the explosion rushed towards the rat-like creature who was barely breathing.

"No, you don't," Sophie yelled in rage as she gestured towards two of her clones.

They separated from the main pack and ran towards the Mendolesa warriors.

Sophie did not want to kill the obviously brainwashed residents of the underground sewers but if it came down to her life or theirs…

She was selfish.

The mage shrieked and thick bolt of black energy surged towards Sophie and the clones who were directly in front of him.

Sophie's golden eyes flickered white for a brief moment and the world slowed down to a crawl as she found herself back in the mysterious black and white zone.

It was time to look into the future.