"Mistress, could you not go?"

Inside the empty hallway, the maid stared at her mistress. She tried to catch up, but the distance between them never shrank. Like the quicksand, the red carpet dragged her away from her mistress.

"You mustn't grieve for me. I who was born within The Empire shall live and die for it. This life has already experienced enough."

Filled with her determination, the mistress never ceased her footstep. Despite the threat of death looming above her, her expression remained unfazed.

Outside of the mansion, the mistress glimpsed at the maid and smiled for one last time. Their pupils met.

"Tell them what happens today. Let them know that I didn't live my life in vain."

"Mistress, I'll wait for your return."

The maid knelt against the floor, her body trembling. The softness of the red carpet felt like countless needles piercing her flesh. They embedded within her sorrow and melancholy.

"It is futile to change fate." The mistress gazed at the sky. "Farewell, my dear ———"

The sentence lingered in the air, though no one could hear its meaning. The maid hung her head low, her weep mixing with the distant echoing of an aircraft's engine.

"Mistress, if only you weren't . . ." She stared at the vessel in the sky. Its shadow descended upon the mistress and took her fleeting body with it.

As her eyes met the blinding light, the maid involuntarily clenched her hands. She suddenly lost her reason to exist.

...

Princess touched her face, feeling the warm tears on her face. She glanced at the surrounding and found herself outside of the vessel, standing beside Angelica.

Her eyes gazed across the gloomy horizon. With layers of dust concealing the sunlight, the shadowy vibe tainted the land. Though there were winds, they only blew dust and ashes.

"Mistress, what happened?"

Angelica tilted her head, her eyes sparkling in curiosity. She watched the residue of Fons around Princess dissipating while attempting to study it.

"It's nothing. A part of me remembered something." She strangely didn't feel much attachment to her past as if she was watching someone else's memory.

"Mistress, you've awakened." Angelica bowed, forming a perfect arch.

To sense and to manipulate Fons was the signs of awakening. Only those with talent and affinity for Fons could become an Arbiter. With the power of Fons and enough preparation, one could achieve everything.

After absorbing the will inside the Broodmother, Princess gained valuable information about the Arachna and her power.

She caressed the gem in her chest, feeling Fons circulating her body. Like Angelica, her source of Fons came from her core, the azure pearl in her chest.

Tapping her core, Princess felt a slight tickle. The gem, embedded in her chest, was like her heart and brain. If destroyed, she would die.

Princess closed her eyes. In the darkness, she sensed a particular swarm of mist drifting in the surrounding. It merged and diffused, glowing with quantity.

She reached out to it, but her fingers went through it. The Fons was intangible and undetectable. Only the Arbiters could feel their existence with their talent.

"Angelica, record the process."

To satisfy her curiosity, Angelica shifted her position to catch a better view of Princess channelling the spells. She activated her recording mode and captured Princes's every move.

Princess waved her hands, guiding Fons to form a simple structure that resembled a circuit. Once the Fons completed the circle, a dot of soft light glowed from the centre.

Like the flowing motion of water, Princess weaved Fons into an instrument of an increasingly complex structure. With every layer of spell completed, the brightness intensified. The glow turned into a star, illuminating the surrounding with a pale light.

As she exerted her mind, the gem in her chest filled her body with Fons. It eased her stress and strengthened her body. She instinctively indulged in the feeling.

"Illumination."

Princess tapped the semi-transparent formation. It erupted into a burst of light, piercing the gloomy atmosphere around her with brightness akin to a pulsar. It lingered in front of her, dispersing into the wilderness.

"What do you think?"

Princess turned to Angelica whose eyes gleamed and widened in wonder. She didn't hear Princess's question and continued to observe the Fons.

As an android, Angelica knew her spell was a counterfeit. She only injected Fons into a predetermined pathway. When she saw the real thing, she got enchanted by it.

"It's perfect, mistress."

Angelica shook her head and recollected her thought. She averted her gaze, embarrassed from getting caught while absent-minded.

Princess furrowed her brows. "How about we escape to Northern Mistwood?"

Tthough she didn't want to roam the wasteland, it would be a viable option if all else failed.

By sacrificing the Broodmother, Princess could avoid the danger, but she would lose her only source of spiderlings and other Arachna. In the long-term, this would harm her.

A humanoid Arachna was an unacceptable existence for the Great Races. Once found, she would be eliminated, her corpse dissected, her core researched.

"Mistress, why must we?" Angelica shivered under the prospection of leaving the interference field.

"Since when could you question me?" Princess glanced at Angelica, her mouth curving into a smile.

Contrasted to her previous actions, Angelica gradually exhibited more emotions as time went on. Furthermore, during the spell-casting sequence, Princess found that Angelica held the most Fons inside her, even after excluding the Fons battery in her chest.

"I'm sorry, Princess." Unwittingly gazed at Princess's eyes, Angelica trembled and took a step back.

She realised that her owner was an Arachna, a being of great ruthlessness and low empathy.

As Princess cast a shadow over Angelica, she exerted an unquestionable authority. Her presence towered over Angelica, demanding her to submit.

"You have something to say. Why not tell me?" The sensation of holding Angelica's life within her hand filled her with euphoria.

"Mistress, could you not go?"

Angelica hung her head low and closed her eyes, waiting for the cruel harsh words, but they never arrived. A hand reached out and stroked her cheek.

"I'm sorry, Angelica. You should cry."

The sadistic smile melted into a wry one. Princess felt a sense of melancholy permeating her soul. A fleeting phantom of her past overlapped with her vision.

"Don't worry, I won't go anywhere." Princess lifted Angelica's face, forcing eye contact. "But you must tell me the reason."

"Mistress, if I step out of the interference field, he will regain his control over me." Angelica shuddered. Within the interference field, her robotic nature gradually wore off, and something else broke free from the system.

"Who is he? How could he control you?" Comparing Angelica's words with what she observed, Princess concluded that Angelica wasn't lying.

If one would talk about its improbability, Princess knew the best that she herself was an impossibility—a human in an Arachna's body.

"I don't know." Angelica held her breath, her eyes threatening to tear up. For an android, her expression was too life-like.

"Aren't you afraid? I'm an Arachna, not a human."

"Mistress, no matter what you are, you saved me. What you programmed onto me, I gladly accepted. I'll remain your sole property," Angelica said, her voice unwavering. She cared not Princess's identity for she professed herself her one and only companion.

"A fancy oath, very well. Angelica, you are my sole property. You shall serve me with all your heart and soul. In turn, I will protect you from all harm." Princess placed her left hand forward. "For this is who I am, and this is all I could give you."

"Princess, mistress—your most loyal servant—Angelica, swears with her heart and soul to faithfully serve you until the very last moment of my existence." Angelica knelt on the ground and grasped the hand in front of her.

Her cold cherry-pink lips touched upon the hand. A sudden rush of Fons invaded her body. She gratefully accepted it.

"May your reign be eternal and ever-illuminating," the human–android hybrid said.

"May my reign be eternal and ever-illuminating," the human–Arachna hybrid said.