The Arachna Lady pierced her sharp nails into the Captain's left eye. He clutched her neck, cracking the fragile bones.

Though she had a shorter reach, the spider legs on her back would finish the Captain if he were to separate. With a gun in her hand, he could only engage in the close-quarter combat to disarm her.

The slender finger slid into the eye socket. The Captain felt a rush of electricity throughout his body. He shuddered. His arms lost their strength. His instinct screamed at him to retreat, but he forced himself not to.

A gunshot rang The bullet drilled his thigh, sending a wave of agony to his heart. His hand that failed to disarm the gun loosened its grip.

The recoil pushed the Arachna Lady back. The Captain tried to snatch the gun, his hand seizing her wrist and pinching her joint. His finger stabbed her nerves and slowly forced her hand to relax.

The Captain weighed onto her and impaired the movement of her sharp legs. By hanging above her, his blood rained down upon her, his eyes searing, his legs quivering.

As he tightened his hand, the Arachna Lady gradually paled. Her left hand dropped the gun. It fell onto the puddle of blood surrounding them. As the blood tainted it, its smooth black colour shifted to gloomy crimson mixed with glistening green.

The Arachna Lady tried to move her legs, but the dagger prevented her muscles from contracting. She gripped his arms and scratched his face, though he never moved.

A series of footstep broke the balance. The Captain gazed at the newcomer. His right eye brightened.

"Angelica, take the damn gun and kill her!"

The Captain shouted before letting out another groan right after. The Arachna Lady inserted her entire finger into his eye socket. It wiggled inside his body and felt his soft warmth.

Blood flooded down her face. The metallic taste in her mouth gave her the energy to hold out from the lack of oxygen. Despite the appearance of the android, she remained calm, enjoying the Captain's shaky expression.

He gritted his teeth, his eye glaring at her. If she were a human, she would be one of the gorgeous noble ladies, though her insanity robbed him of any lecherous thought.

Angelica strolled to the gun, passing the two without emotions before she bent down and retrieved the pistol. Her movement was efficient and ruthless, yet hidden within it something was building up.

The Arachna Lady licked her bloody lips. Her pair of azure pupils gawked at the Captain. A smile deliberately manifested.

Angelica turned to the Captain and the Arachna lady. Without any pre-programmed instruction, she could only point and shoot as commanded.

She aimed at the Arachna Lady's forehead. Her finger rested on the trigger, pausing for the right moment to complete her objective.

"Angelica, wait! Let me do it instead."

The Captain stopped Angelica. His anger told him to finish the Arachna Lady himself. She killed his men, so he had to avenge them.

Fueled by his fury, the Captain slammed the Arachna Lady against the wall. He forcibly sat on top of her. She clawed at him, but a gun pointing at her brow halted her movement. The Captain held the mighty barrel, the all-consuming cylinder blowing smokes at her.

Facing the reaper, the Arachna Lady remained smiling, her azure pupils curving up and taunting his hesitation. The Captain panted, staring at her with a vicious smirk on his face. His expression was uglier than the Arachna he killed.

"This one's for me." The Captain pulled the trigger. He closed his eye and waited for the light crackling noise.

The trigger snapped, and the gun quivered. There was no aftermath of the action. A muffled noise resounded, but no bullet left the chamber.

A rush of blood assaulting the Captain's throat. A torrent of pain shivered his body. He snapped his eye open and witnessed the spider leg piercing him. Its smooth, dark-purple surface easily punctured his bones.

"You . . ." Before he could speak, blood flooded his mouth and interrupted his speech. They escaped from the gap of his teeth and gushed downward.

A thought hit onto him. The sadistic grin she had, the gun she used, and the spiderlings commanded, everything fell into their places and revealed the clear picture of the puzzle.

The Arachna lady drove another spider leg into his heart, sliding through his fragile body and exiting on the other end. With its departure, it carried with it his beating heart.

"Angelica, under an emergency circumstance, I shall hereby assume command over you." The Arachna lady moved her mouth. Her eerie yet feminine voice echoed into the room.

The quality of her voice exuded the authority of an unquestionable majesty.

"Error detected: voice recognition failed; rebooting the system." Angelica paused her action and fell silent. The Arachna Lady's voice still had the Arachna-quality in it, causing some confusion for the android.

The Captain widened his eye, trembling in horror as the mind-breaking terror descended upon him.

"I have no obligation to answer your question. Just quietly die."

The Arachna Lady bashed the Captain away with her spider leg. His lifeless body flew away from her and landed somewhere nearby. She didn't pay any attention to up afterward.

Grabbing the android with her slender hand, the Arachna Lady stood up to observe the malfunctioning android. She locked her gaze at the pair of mechanical pupils and let Angelica scan her face.

"Angelica, I am your owner," the Arachna lady said. Her voice shifted its tone. The Arachna-quality disappeared from the speech.

"Voice recognition completed. Pleased to meet you, Mistress." Angelica's mechanical eyes dimmed as she performed a graceful bow.

Without anyone to interrupt her command, the Arachna Lady took control over Angelica. From her observation, Angelica was a cheap model, and the Captain had enabled all privileges to his group who could command her by calling her name.

After making sure everything was safe, the Arachna Lady pulled the dagger out. The pain punched her guts, but she resisted her screams and merely groaned.

Angelica walked to the Arachna Lady nursed her wounds, oblivious to her monstrous appearance.

"Mistress, please input your name."

Every owner of the androids must assign their name to the record, for the sake of convenience when browsing for relevant data.

"My name?" The Arachna lady fell silent after hearing the question. She tried to recall her past but couldn't think of anything.

No—there was something. Something was calling out to her. A word—so embedded into her mind she would never forget.

"Codename: Princess. Call me Princess."

Her attitude, her ruthlessness, her indifference, and her sadistic behaviour—she was truly the royalty of the Arachna.

"Princess, may your reign be everlasting," Angelica said, a faint smile creeping on her face. She expressed basic intelligent and employed proses.

"Angelica, let us finish what we've started then." Princess reached out her hand, and Angelica gratefully accepted it.

...

The man struggled to walk forward and escape the vessel. He glanced at his behind and saw Princess strolling to him, casting her vast shadow over him. He almost tripped as he sprinted away from her in panic.

He leapt forward and rolled to the weapon. He stopped his movement by exerting his strength and aimed at Princess.

The gunshots resounded. The man collapsed onto the floor, a rain of bullets drilled countless holes in his body. The security turrets heated up with a faint cloud of smoke.

Like a fragile bottle of painting, his body crashed against the floor and ruptured, staining the surrounding with the metallic fragrance.

In his fading vision, Princess stood in the same place, motionless. Her face expressed the aloofness of the higher lifeform, a complete disregard to all others.

...

Crushing the man's head with its stomp, the uninvited guest manifested before Princess. Covered in pale-white scales, it exuded the madness exclusive to the Arachna.

It bent down, touching the bloody floor with its head. To witness the birth of Princess was its honour. It submitted to her with absolute loyalty.

"What are you?" With her light step, Princess walked toward the creature with interest.

As she said nothing more, the creature remained kneeling, waiting for her gaze to rest upon it.

...

"Unauthorized signal detected, determined to be of an artefact-class. Codename: Shifting Mist," an emotionless voice rang.

The message echoed for a few moments before various figures manifested in front of the underground display.

They exchanged information faster than computers. In an instant, they conveyed countless events and matters with one another, sealing national deals nonchalantly.

"Calculate the approximated distance," the figures came into an agreement and issued the command. The display changed its presentation into an on-going process of calculation.

"I'll remain here." One of the figures said. "If it's real, I'll clean this mess myself."

The others nodded. One by one, they gradually disappeared into nothingness.

The top of the Great Races had works to manage. If not for the sudden appearance of an artefact-class of important priority, they would never gather in an emergency meeting like that.

In the on-going war between the Great Races and the Arachna existed countless layers of conflicts where one wrong move could annihilate a metropolis, not to mention the exotic forces beyond just the two.