The Spider Queen

(Earth Federation- Alpha Star System)

(Planet Gaia- Peterlor Mansion)

Katarina bowed her head respectfully as her lord entered the training room.

The handsome middle-aged man wore a dark navy-blue uniform with a simple longsword attached to his hip.

Unlike many of the other high noble families, House Peterlor did not have an ancestral weapon that was passed down from generation to generation.

But none would dare mock the seemingly plain sword that the current duke Rokan Peterlor was capable of wielding.

As the youngest god stage cultivator in the history of the Federation, Duke Peterlor was a powerful genius whose swordsmanship skills rivalled those of men who had lived for centuries.

"My lord, please excuse the state of the training room. I did not expect any visitors today," Katarina spoke respectfully.

Duke Peterlor hummed softly and then walked towards the center of the spacious training room with slow purposeful steps.

He approached a rectangular metalloid device that protruded several feet into the air. A simple press of a button was all it took for hundreds of robotic killers to emerge from the ground.

"Survive for ten minutes," Duke Peterlor ordered in a quiet tone. He vanished from the spot and reappeared at the entrance before gesturing towards Katarina.

Katarina strode forward confidently and pulled two daggers out from the pockets of her battle-suit.

The sharp edges of the blades glistened dangerously under the light as a bloodthirsty snarl appeared on Katarina's face.

A holographic projection was displayed at the back of the training room with a countdown that started to tick.

[10 minutes… 9 minutes 59 seconds… 9 minutes 58 seconds…]

The eyes of the robot killers turned purple as their metalloid arms transformed into a variety of weapons.

Several robots with long range weapons such as plasma cannons and snipers directed their attacks towards the death guard holding two daggers.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Powerful beams of energy shot towards Katarina but no trace of fear could be seen on her face.

The brown-haired killer channelled her inner qi into her leg meridians and activated her movement technique.

Asura Clan Technique- Scarlet Rush!

Red lightning flickered around Katarina's body before an addicting surge of energy filled her core.

The world slowed down to a crawl as her reflexes were enhanced several times over.

Katarina ducked and weaved through the rounds of heavy plasma fire and swung her daggers forward.

Slice!

The sturdy metalloid bodies of the robotic assassins were cut sharply in half as Katarina's daggers tore through their outer exteriors with startling ease.

What she didn't expect was for the inner cores of the defeated robots to suddenly glow ominously and explode.

Katarina relied on her enhanced reflexes to jump away in time but still suffered minor burns on the surface of her skin.

A frown appeared on Duke Peterlor's face as he observed her moment of carelessness.

It was fatal on the battlefield to assume that the fight was over just because your opponent was seemingly defeated.

That was the reason why he had secretly modified the robots in the training room just for the purpose of testing Katarina's improvisation ability.

Now how would she react?

It was a credit to the harsh training that the death guards received that Katarina was able to recover instantly.

Numerous possible plans and countermeasures appeared in her mind to deal with the exploding bodies of the defeated robots.

Katarina began to slow down her movements and focus on more defensive techniques as she thought about the solution.

She tilted her head to the side and narrowly avoided a sword strike from a nearby robotic assassin while also blocking a sharp thrust that came from behind.

It was impossible to tell the exact location where the inner cores were positioned from just looking at the metalloid exteriors of the robots.

Wait… that was it!

A wild grin flashed across Katarina's face as her movements sped up and she began to chop down the nearest enemies.

This time she only used one arm to slice through her foes while her other hand would grab the glowing part of the corpse and fling it at the other robots.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Katarina fell into a state of total concentration as the countdown timer continued to tick down in the background.

[2 minutes 45 seconds… 1 minute 15 seconds… 30 seconds…]

[20 seconds… 10 seconds… 5 seconds…]

"Enough," a low voice echoed through the room.

Katarina felt an immense spiritual pressure that was so heavy that her vision briefly turned to darkness.

When she opened her eyes, all the robots in the room had vanished and no trace remained of their presence.

A proud smile appeared on the duke's face as he walked towards his loyal guard and placed a firm hand on her shoulder.

"Well done," Duke Peterlor congratulated.

He pulled out a folder from his storage ring which contained several sheets of paper. The folder was placed in Katarina's hands and the expression on the Rokan's face turned serious.

The mission to rescue his daughter had to be done in complete secrecy.

Even with state-of-the art virtual defense firewalls installed on his communicator, the duke was not going to take any risks.

It may sound old-fashioned to have the contents of the mission displayed on paper but he could rest assured that the information could never be hacked.

"Do not allow anyone else to read what is written in these documents," Duke Peterlor warned in a low whisper.

"It contains your next assignment. You will read it here now and then I will destroy the contents."

The security camera that was placed in the training room immediately powered off as the duke said these words.

"I will follow your orders faithfully my lord," Katarina swore solemnly and then opened the folder.

Katarina's eyes widened in shock as she read was written inside and an intense wave of relief appeared in her heart.

The young miss was still alive!

Katarina had served as both a mentor and friend to lady Sophie Peterlor and the disappearance of her protégé was a devastating blow.

She had spent the last couple of months relentlessly training and performing missions just to distract herself from her feelings of grief and pain.

Katarina made sure to memorise every word carefully as she scanned through the documents with surgeon-like precision.

This mission would be a joint effort between a team of death guards led by herself and a select group of holy paladins that would be escorting a certain saintess-in-training.

The duke would draw the attention of his enemies by organising a sudden round of negotiations between the high nobles that were part of his political faction.

This meeting would be the perfect smokescreen.

"When do we leave my lord?" Katarina asked curiously.

Duke Peterlor casually snapped his fingers and the sheets of paper in Katarina's hands instantly ignited and turned to ash.

"Two days from now."