The Spider Queen

The pale blue moon hanging high above in the sky illuminated the endless sea of sand dunes and the humanoid figure that scuttled through the shadows with quiet steps.

Sophie's golden eyes constantly swept the nearby tents and the surrounding area to make sure that she wasn't spotted.

Now was the most critical part of the escape plan.

She needed to sneak out of the camp and immediately flee towards the gathering point without being seen.

The captain's tent was in the middle of the campsite, so it took the hybrid girl around ten minutes to return.

Sophie quietly pushed the door open and crept inside. The metalloid device in her palm shone a red light that swept the interior of the tent multiple times.

She could not afford for anything to go wrong so Sophie was being extra careful.

It was always better to be safe than sorry.

"Lily! Are you ready to go?" Sophie called out.

There was a muffled sound of someone jumping off a bed and soon a tiny child ran into the living room.

"Big sister…. you are okay!" Lily cried as she hugged Sophie's knee with as much force as she could muster.

"I was so worried," Lily gazed up at Sophie with a small pout.

Sophie gently picked up the little girl and hugged her tightly. The tears on Lily's cheeks made her bodysuit slightly wet but Sophie didn't mind.

Honestly, if she were an eight-year-old child suddenly trapped in a foreign land, Sophie wasn't sure she would be able to handle it as well as Lily.

"There… there… didn't I say that your big sister is the strongest?" Sophie teased as she tickled Lily's stomach.

The little girl smiled shyly at her big sister and leaned in to press a small kiss on Sophie's cheek.

"Are we going now?" Lily asked eagerly.

"Yep! Just let me prepare something and then we will leave," Sophie replied with a confident grin.

It was important to reassure Lily that everything was in control.

Besides even if something went wrong, Sophie had confidence in her ability to get them out of the dangerous situation safely.

Wait… wasn't there something else she had to do now?

The decoys!

Sophie hurriedly placed Lily on the ground and whispered softly to the little girl,

"Baby you just wait here, and I'll be back in around five minutes."

She gave Lily a gentle pat on the head and then walked towards the shared bedroom.

Opening the metalloid door, Sophie was greeted with the familiar sight of the cot and the old mattress laying on the ground.

Sophie closed her eyes and communicated with the clone outside about what the next steps of the plan were.

After the pair left, Sophie's mirror image would return to the bedroom under the escort of the younger knight to ensure that she had an alibi.

Inside the bedroom would be an identical copy of Lily and the duo would pretend to be the originals for a few days.

The clones created by the 'Rsychosis' technique would die within a week, so Sophie planned to give her mirror image a miniature bomb.

If the knights did not attempt to kill them, then the clones would blow themselves up and die in the explosion.

Sophie reached into her storage bag and pulled out a small disc shaped device that made a soft bleeping noise.

She pressed a small button on the side of the disc which caused the bleeping noise to stop, Sophie then carefully tucked the device under Lily's pillow.

Now it was time to use the modified version of the 'Rsychosis technique' to create a copy of Lily.

Sophie pulled out the syringe from her pocket and stared at the tiny pool of blood gathered in the vial.

With a smooth motion, Sophie unscrewed the top part of the syringe and threw the contents into her mouth.

Lily's blood had a slightly metallic flavour that was surprisingly not as bad as Sophie had imagined.

"Maybe I could drink some more…" Sophie muttered as her golden eyes briefly darkened and a killing intent welled up.

Pierce!

Sophie stabbed her fingernails into the flesh of her right arm and used the pain to snap herself out of her sudden frenzied state.

Don't lose focus…

Don't lose control…

Sophie waited patiently for her bloodlust to calm down and then begun to circulate her qi in a mysterious pattern.

According to the scroll, she needed to constantly picture Lily's image in her mind while activating the technique.

Sophie closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to bring herself into a state of concentration.

She could clearly recall even the slightest of details from Lily's curly black hair to the mischievous glint in her eyes to her fair skin that was soft to touch.

Rsychosis!

Sophie's figure blurred slightly and then a tiny humanoid child appeared in the middle of the bedroom.

The hybrid girl opened her eyes and saw what appeared to be a great success!

She could not tell any difference between the child in front of her and Lily in the other room.

"Well, this is incredible unsettling," Lily's mirror image spoke using Sophie's voice.

"Err… is it supposed to work like this?" Sophie asked in shock.

"How am I supposed to know? I only have your memories remember!" Lily's clone yelled.

Hmm… it seemed that the 'Rsychosis' technique was not as perfect at copying others as Sophie had assumed.

She had created a little child that was identical to Lily's image, but that 'child' had all of her memories and her voice.

Lily's mirror image sighed heavily and spoke,

"It's alright. I think I can pull this off without gathering any suspicion."

"I'll just pretend to be sleepy and not talk much."

Sophie sheepishly nodded and reflexively moved in closer to pat the child on the head, but her outstretched hand was immediately dodged.

"Yeah… I'm not actually a child so please don't treat me as one!" Lily's mirror image scolded.

"Sorry. It was a force of habit," Sophie coughed awkwardly and explained.

The atmosphere inside the room turned a bit uncomfortable so Sophie just explained a few more details about how to act in the next couple of days and then left.

She closed the door quietly but could see the mirror image of Lily holding the bomb in her hand with a bored look.

Sophie could use the link between herself, and the copies created by the 'Rsychosis' technique so she could sense the discomfort caused by the clone being trapped in a child's body.

She wasn't really looking forward to absorbing those memories once that copy died.

But now wasn't the time for contemplation so Sophie hurriedly threw those distracting thoughts to the back of her mind.

"Ready to go?" Sophie walked into the living room and scooped up Lily in her arms.

"I'm a little bit scared," Lily admitted as she snuggled closer to the warm chest in front of her body.

Sophie stared at the little girl with determination in her gaze and whispered softly,

"Lily…I swear that no harm will come to you with me around."

"That's a promise."

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