The Spider Queen

(Planet Caorn- Rex Island)

(Grand Colosseum)

Jessie felt the hot wind brush against her body and could hear the vague cries and cheers of the crowd in the background.

She felt calm and relaxed.

Eight people were left.

Her match was going to be the first one of the quarterfinal stage. An exciting prospect and yet not a speck of interest could be seen on the blind girl's face.

It was all just so… boring.

No one attracted her attention. Sophie Peterlor was the only person who could have made her look forward to fighting.

Jessie let out a heavy sigh under her breath as she took a few steps forward and waited for the announcement to be played.

Because of her condition in addition to the holographic projection, there was an announcer who would call out when the match would start.

"Let's have a good match," a rough feminine voice shouted out from the other side of the field.

Jessie could tell that it belonged to her opponent.

A Mendolesa warrior from Zrudread University who specialised in a rather unorthodox form of swordsmanship.

Instead of focusing on technique and skills, she had overpowered her opponents using brute force and muscular strength.

Not the most elegant of methods but Jessie wasn't going to judge. At the end of the day regardless of the fighting style, all that mattered were the results.

She knew that fact better than anyone else.

"Thank you. I look forward this match as well," Jessie replied politely while hiding her true feelings behind a cheerful tone.

The crowds of students sitting down in the stands around the arena could not take their eyes off what was happening on the stage.

Whispers filled the air as students began to place bets on who would be the eventual winner of the fight.

"Put three hundred Enas on the Mendolesa!"

"She has a name you know… don't call her by her race…"

"Sorry my bad… well anyways… put three hundred Enas on Amelia!"

"You know what… I'm feeling to be brave today. Put down ten Enas on the representative from Tantibus University. Yeah, the blind girl."

The betting odds were overwhelmingly in Amelia's favour, and it was not hard to see why.

Despite being chosen as a representative, Jessie's performance in the tournament had not been particularly impressive.

She had barely managed to pass the first and second rounds.

Also in her fight against other students, she struggled quite badly and it was a miracle that she had even made it this far.

Her swordsmanship was just good enough to beat cultivators in the early to mid levels of the qi tide stage.

Everyone else who had made it to the quarterfinals was stronger than her by a wide margin.

Jessie's fingers drifted towards the sword attached to her hip and whispered a few words under her breath that resembled a prayer.

It was time to use her ability for the first time in the tournament.

She placed her sword into her storage bag along with her other weapons. Now she was completely unarmed and helpless.

Her opponent thought that her movements were strange but never would have guessed that Jessie had gotten rid of all of her weapons.

Seconds slowly passed as Jessie continued to slowly breathe in and out. Her world was one of darkness and sound.

Her eyes were cloudy, white, and unfocused. She could not see and had to rely on her spiritual senses to move like a normal person.

And yet… she had made it this far.

The majority of the students attributed this to luck, but the smart ones had quickly realised something.

In this tournament… luck was also a skill.

The holographic projection in the air finally changed and new lines of text appeared. A loud booming voice began to read out what was written on the screen.

[Quarter Final- Round!]

[Jessie Ward vs Amelia Harper]

[Start!]

The Mendolesa girl roared loudly and rushed forward on all fours like a dog with a massive great sword held in her right paw.

The black armour covering her body became a rolling mass of metal and fur.

It was an intimidating sight but meant nothing to Jessie who remained in place almost like a statue.

Amelia soon closed the distance and raised up her sword to swing it at the blind girl who appeared to be full of openings.

Jessie did nothing to stop her.

The sword came closer and closer to her body and yet she did not flinch.

BOOM!

An enormous wave of sand rose up in the air where the sword landed and cracks began to appear on the arena's floor.

When the dust cleared, Jessie was standing in the same place. The sword had missed her entire body by only a few centimetres.

An embarrassed expression flashed across the Mendolesa girl's face.

She was sure that spectators thought that Jessie blocked the attack at the last moment, but she knew the truth.

She had actually missed…

Amelia raised up her blade and swung it horizontally to cut her opponent in half. Jessie smiled gently in response and her purple cape fluttered in the wind.

Amelia stepped forward to add even greater momentum to her swing and her rippling muscles bulged and flexed.

"This time you won't get awa… urgh…" Amelia's voice was cut off as she tripped over a loose rock on the ground and stumbled.

Her sword passed harmlessly away from Jessie's body. So far, the blind girl had not moved even a single inch since the round had begun.

Confused murmurs and whispers filled the air as the spectators were not sure what was going on.

Was Amelia always this clumsy?

Or was she playing around and putting on a show since she was facing an easy opponent?

Amelia growled darkly and decided to just rush forward and grab the blind girl. It was time to just finish this.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Jessie whispered softly as if she could somehow read Amelia's thoughts.

The Mendolesa girl gritted her teeth as she felt as though she had just been mocked.

Her hindlegs sprang forward and she stretched out her paws to grab the blind girl by her neck.

Suddenly a massive earthquake rocked the arena causing Amelia to lose her balance and fall down flat on her face.

Jessie did not seem to be affected by the intense vibrations as she slowly approached her fallen opponent.

"It is difficult… isn't it?" Jessie spoke in a gentle tone.

"You know that I am weak. You know that I am an easy opponent and yet… none of your attacks can reach me."

"And they never will."

"We'll see about that!" Amelia roared angrily as she got up from the ground with great difficulty and used her paws to grip into the earth.

A bemused smiled flashed across Jessie's face as she crossed her arms and waited to see what other event would happen next.

Amelia abandoned her sword and pulled out a blaster pistol from a hidden pocket in her black armour.

She raised up the weapon and pointed it directly at Jessie who made no attempts to dodge, hide or react to the gun.

Amelia's paws trembled slightly but she still pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The earthquake had loosened the sand in the arena and a sinkhole appeared directly below where Jessie was standing.

The blind girl rapidly sank down several metres and the plasma round passed harmlessly above her head and towards the barrier surrounding the arena.

It was an impossible event.

The probability of the sinkhole appearing just as Amelia had fired off her blaster pistol was astronomically small.

Hell… the Mendolesa girl wasn't sure what were the chances of an earthquake appearing just as their fight had begun.

"Have you figured out my ability yet?" Jessie asked curiously as she crawled out of the hole and brushed her uniform to get rid of the sand particles.

"I don't know but it seems like a cheap trick," Amelia replied with venom as she pointed the gun at Jessie with a sense of caution that wasn't there before.

"Ahh… well… the smarter ones in the crowd have probably figured it out already," Jessie replied with a disappointed look on her face.

"It's probability manipulation."

"No matter what you do… no harm can ever befall me."