The Spider Queen

[Remaining Students… 15… 14…]

[Leaderboard: Sophie Peterlor- 73 eliminations]

Sophie glanced upwards at the floating holographic screen before turning her attention to the figure fleeing in the distance.

Her crimson eyes darkened, and a surge of bloodlust began to run through her veins.

Sophie's figure blurred and then vanished from the spot as she ran forward at a breakneck pace.

"Come on! The first round is nearly over!" Nathan yelled loudly at his pet who was following closely by his side.

His combat beast was an eighty-foot-long serpent-like creature with two heads that both let out soft hisses.

Despite the creature's fearsome appearance, Nathan had no faith in its ability to actually help him defeat any students that crossed his path.

Why did he think that way?

Well… his combat beast was afraid of strangers.

Nathan let out a heavy sigh as he continued to run forward while keeping a close eye on his immediate surroundings.

He didn't know why or how so many students were being eliminated so quickly but at least that was good news for him.

Only the remaining ten students would move on to the next round so the end was in sight.

"Hey… why have you stopped move… OH SHIT!" Nathan's voice ended in a shriek of terror when he saw the figure directly in his path.

It was a hybrid girl.

She was over seven feet tall and had a lean muscular physique.

Four bladed appendages with sharpened edges extended outwards from her back and her fangs gleamed under the sunlight.

Nathan barely had any time to react before one of the bladed appendages shot forward and dug into his ribcage.

He felt his vision slowly fade away to darkness as blood leaked out of the open wound.

He could vaguely see his terrified combat pet immediately leave the scene and had to resist the urge to let out a curse.

Grade S? That cowardly thing was a grade S?

Nathan spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed on the ground with a broken heart. He felt as though he had been tricked by the smooth-talking salesman in the Imperial Pet Store.

His last thought was that he was definitely going to head to a different pet store immediately and pick up a new beast companion.

Sophie pulled her bladed appendage out of the corpse and ran her fingers along the length of the sharpened barb.

The hybrid girl sniffed the air twice like a dog as her pointed ears twitched slightly.

Sophie still retained a thin thread of sanity, but she was now beginning to fall under the influence of her bloodlust state.

[Remaining Students… 13… 12…]

[Leaderboard: Sophie Peterlor- 74 eliminations]

A bloodthirsty grin spread across Sophie's face as she searched for her next victim. There was no suspense to be had in her group.

No student was capable of matching her strength.

Sophie's vision shifted into a world of orangish red, and she soon spotted two students fighting desperately a few kilometers away.

This time the hybrid girl jumped into the air and landed on the treetops.

She used her bladed appendages to stab into the trunk of the trees and leapt from one branch to the other.

"Stop fighting! We can both pass!" Sia yelled in frustration as she dodged the dagger that was thrown in her direction.

"Hell no! You think I don't know that you'll stab me in the back later? You're such a fucking snake…" Ellen retorted with a sullen expression.

"Snake? Bitch I know you didn't just…"

"So what? Fight me then!"

The two girls continued to trade barbs as they flung weapons at each other with reckless abandon.

Neither seemed to notice the threat that was rapidly moving towards their location.

Perhaps if they had paid more attention to their surroundings, they would have been able to react in time.

Boom!

Sophie's fist hurtled towards the girl on the left and the force of her blow caused the girl's ribs to instantly shatter.

Ellen screamed painfully as her body flew forward and slammed against a nearby rock. She slid down to the ground and moaned in agony.

"What the…" Sia trailed off in shock as the hybrid girl directly met her startled gaze.

Sophie lunged forward and used her bladed appendage to easily stab into the girl's chest and rip out her still beating heart.

She tossed the heart to the side and turned around to finish off the barely alive Ellen when a harsh ringing noise echoed through the arena.

RING! RING!

Sophie furrowed her brows and took one step towards the injured girl before forcing her body to freeze in place.

She closed her eyes and focused on the steady beating of her heart. Now was not the time to lose control and go on a rampage.

Not when she had made so much progress over the last few months.

RING! RING!

Sophie took in a few deep breaths and gently exhaled. She began to count silently in her mind until the feeling of bloodlust faded away.

The hybrid girl slowly reopened her eyes which had now returned to their normal golden luster.

Sophie looked up at the holographic screen and saw that the lines of text floating in the air had changed.

[ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS IN GROUP ONE- THE FIRST ROUND IS NOW OVER!]

[PLEASE REFRAIN FROM ANY FURTHER COMBAT!]

[Leaderboard: 1st place Sophie Peterlor- 75 eliminations]

[2nd place Hallie Collins- 3 eliminations]

[3rd place Marcus Young- 2 eliminations]

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.

.

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[10th place Michael Hart- 0 eliminations]

"What the… when did our university have such a powerful freshman?"

"That girl is a monster… it wasn't even close…"

"Did you see how she killed them? By the gods… I'm praying that I don't have to face her in the next rounds…"

"Face her? Listen if we get matched… I'll just give up."

Whispers filled the crowded stands as the students discussed amongst themselves the shocking scenes that they had just witnessed.

They were not alone and even some professors were staring at the screen with a variety of expressions on their faces.

Their reactions of course were completely understandable.

The gap between first and second place was an insurmountable chasm that could not be explained by common sense.

Duke Peterlor's daughter had caused twenty-five times more eliminations than second place who paled in comparison.

Only Professor Macabre seemed to be unfazed by Sophie's display of strength and a gentle smile flashed across her scarred face.

She knew that Sophie had actually been hiding most of her strength in the first round.

If she had used poison…

Then there was no doubt in Professor Macabre's mind that her star pupil would have ended the competition within three minutes.