The Spider Queen-Chapter 22: How I lost to your mother

The young duke roared in rage as his muscles began to swell up with frightening power. His eyes were now scarlet red and small droplets of blood dripped down from his mouth.

No trace of the elegant young man remained as this was a troublesome opponent who he could not afford to underestimate.

Phantom blade dance!

His figure vanished from the spot and reappeared above the spider woman without making a sound. The blade in his hand started to glow with power as the duke sliced down with enough force to split a starship.

A resounding boom was heard, and a cloud of dirt swirled up in the air which blinded him temporarily. Rokan leapt backwards with a small frown on his face and quickly scanned the landscape around him.

Why was there no contact?

The phantom blade dance could only be performed after forcibly raising his cultivation and would allow him to strike at superhuman speeds. Even if the woman's reflexes were quick enough to pick up on his attack, there was no way her body should have been able to react in time.

"Is that all you got human?" came a mocking laughter behind him.

Rokan froze in shock and quickly swung his blade at the direction of the voice.

Phantom blade dance!

Another cloud of smoke rose up in the air as the planet's surface itself began to tremble under the weight of his attack.

"I can't last for much longer," he muttered to himself.

Using the blood sacrifice art forcibly granted him enormous strength but he could not maintain this state otherwise his cultivation foundations could be damaged. This fight was on a timer that was ticking dangerous in his opponent's favour.

Stake it all on one strike!

Under the curious gaze of the insectoid woman, the little human closed his eyes and started to breathe deeply in a strange pattern. The qi in the air began to flow into his body at a rapid pace and trace amounts of lightning flickered around his sword.

Rokan opened his eyes and unleashed the strongest sword skill he had...

(Main Story)

"Then what happened?" Sophie asked hurriedly

She had been deeply engrossed from start to finish and could not believe how powerful her mother was! The Duke of Peterlor was known as one of the strongest fighters of the younger generation and had defeated constantly powerful foes in battle.

Just knowing that her mother could give him such a hard fight even when he was at the god stage made her heart pound in excitement.

"Well…. I basically unleashed the first skill of the Lighting Blade Arts and swiftly defeated your mother. Then she fell in love with my strength and told me I was the most handsome human she had ever seen," came a confident reply from her father.

The duke puffed out his chest while trying to project an impressive image to hold his daughter in awe.

Technically speaking, the events may not have been exactly as he told her at the end… but he conveniently decided to omit the actual ending to the fight.

"You're lying dad!" Sophie puffed out her cheeks and scowled fiercely at him.

Perhaps the original host may have been tricked by the confident tone and posture from the duke, but Sui Meng had worked in the business world for many years. The subtle twitching of his fingers and the sweat on his brow all could not escape her sight.

"Um…honey….," the duke stammered slightly and could not think of the proper words to say.

Since when was his princess so perceptive!

"Didn't you tell me that lying is bad father?" Sophie asked in a sad tone with tears welling up in her eyes.

The poor old duke's heart shattered at the sight of his little girl crying and quickly wrapped her in a hug.

"My precious daughter… please forgive this silly old man! I will tell you the whole story," he whispered softly.

The duke let out a small sigh and continued his tale of embarrassment, but he failed to notice that his daughter's tears had miraculously disappeared and she bore a small smile.

(Flashback continued)

Lighting Sword Arts

These ancient sword techniques consisted of thirteen forms of astonishing speed and power. Only the most talented of cultivators had even a chance of even grasping the basic stance of the first form and even Rokan's master had only managed to learn seven forms after a lifetime of practice.

The first form was Thunderclap Flash and was a piercing thrust that could destroy all obstacles that stood before it.

"Interesting technique human…. I guess you deserve to see one of mine!" expressed a charming voice from the woman.

Her hands started to shine with a reddish glow and a purplish flame hovered silently above her palm. The flame did not seem particularly hot but Rokan's instincts warned him not to let the strange ability touch his body.

But her petty tricks were all useless before his blade!

He could not resist taunting the beautiful lady and confidently spoke,

"This is the end for you, insectoid scum! Consider yourself lucky to die under the hands of the greatest swordsman of the federation!"

The sharpened blade hummed in acknowledgement and he vanished from the woman's sights before lunging towards her with a fierce thrust.

Thunderclap Flash!

Streaks of lighting surrounded his body as the blade slid pass the astonished eyes of the woman and pierced straight through her body. With a quick flip of his hand, the sword sliced upwards and split his opponent in two.

Blood spurted from the terrible wound and the light dimmed from the lady's eyes as she dropped to the ground lifeless.

Rokan fell to his knees with a victorious grin on his face and wild laughter burst out of his chest in happiness.

He was undefeatable!

Unfortunately, the side effects of the blood arts had kicked in, which left his body starting to feel sluggish and his qi slowly began to halt circulation.

Just as he was about to ingest a healing pill, a slow clapping noise came from the treetops in front of him. The duke's eyes slowly travelled upwards and he gasped in horror at the figure before him.

It was the spitting image of the dead woman!

Wait... could it be that the person he was fighting all along was an illusion.

A sinking feeling welled up inside his heart as he turned reluctantly towards the corpse laying still on the ground.

The image abruptly shattered and disappeared into sparkling light particles that danced mockingly in the air. Under Rokan's astonished eyes the perfectly fine woman dropped down from a nearby tree. She then revealed her enchanting figure and gently placed a fingernail against his neck.

"You lost human," a cheerful voice spoke up.

She then followed up with words that threatened to make him cough out blood in anger,

"I guess the greatest swordsman lost to some insectoid scum!"