System Change

Chapter 377: Cassandra

Alanah and Queen Cassandra had been fighting for some timeif one could call what they were doing fighting. At the very beginning of the battle, Cassandra had tried striking first and catching Alanah off guard by throwing dozens of poison laced needles at her. Alanah had, of course, easily dodged the needles before returning the favor.

Once the fighting began, Alanah kicked off the ground and, to Cassandras bewilderment, grabbed hold of the queen and carried her into the distance at her full speed when she wasnt in her Dawn Siren form. The queen was quite shocked at what happened and before she realized what was going on and tried to counter, the two had already moved quite the distance away from everyone else.

The reason for all of this was because Alanah knew that Queen Cassandra was a user of poisonsome would even call her a poison master. Alanah didnt want their fighting to spread to any others. It would only take a poorly blocked needle or Cassandra releasing an area of affect poison and there would be more casualties than needed.

Another reason that Alanah dared to be so bold as to directly charge at the woman was because she was confident in her stats and abilities to negate or at least slow the spread of poison within her own body if she was affected. Alanah was, after all, very prepared. She has dozens upon dozens of potions in her storage rings, and a good portion of those potions were anti-toxin, anti-poison, and anti-venoms.

She had dealt with poisons beforemultiple times, in fact. Poison was the one element that she refused to allow Zac and Lucas to train in when Avery brought them to her restaurant in the capital. She hated it, and wasnt very fond of people who used it, either. Poison was good for one thing, and one thing only: Killing.

Sure, killing was a big part of the Great System, but Alanah, after so many years of being hungry, had a certain appreciation for good food. If a beast was poisoned to death, there was a good chance that it would no longer be edible. That wasnt the only reason she looked down upon poison usersshe wasnt a big fan of how it was used to indirectly kill people.

Maybe she was a hypocrite, though. She had used her own Deathsworn to kill others, and technically, that would be considered killing indirectly, too. Maybe her overall reason that she hated poison was just because shed had to deal with it so many times in the past, and barely got away with her life on multiple occasions. She could only scoff that she had ended up having to fight against a person from a house known solely for their poisons.

Thats what I get for using that ability when I wasnt sure if I could control it, she thought to herself as she backed away from the poison master. The first thing she did when she transformed was rip the heart out of Cassandras son. It had taken her a short time to get control after she transformed, and by the time she was in control enough, the guy was already dead. I doubt I would have done anything differently, though.

The Crown Prince of Astrus had interfered in her fight with Ryven and had already greatly irritated her. She most likely would have taken him out either way because of how annoying hed been without worrying one bit about the consequences.

So, there she was, squaring off against the queen of a country while everyone else was in their own battles. Well, everyone other than that old elf who had fought against the former king. In the short time that it took Alanah to move her battle away from the others, then the time she spent dodging attacks from Queen Cassandra and learning more about how her opponent fought, she noticed that a once potent aura that she had felt had simply disappeared.

For a short time, she took her eyes off of Cassandra and glanced up at the sky where Marrick and Traven had taken off to have their fight and noticed that the old elf was the only one left in the air. He was floating on a small cloud of sand, hunched over with his hood up and fingers interlaced behind his back while looking over the rest of the battlefield.

Alanah had believed that the man would be strong just because of how he talked to the leadership of the other country and his age, but she had no clue he would be that strong. She actually didnt know much about the man, which was rare considering how much information shed gathered in the time that shed been on the continent. She knew of the name, but there really werent many stories or rumors going around about him, and she mostly focused on information related to Cydaria.

In fact, his granddaughter was much more well known than he was because of her tragic love story before she eventually found another love and had children and grandchildren of her own. Just how old is Marrick? Alanah couldnt help but wonder. The elven man seemed to have surpassed the usual longevity limits of even an elf.

Still, those physical stats were nothing to Alanaheven when not transformed. For the first time in the fight, she held her hand out and her rapier appeared in her grasp. She held the weapon vertical in front of her body, then, with her free left hand, she flicked the blade, causing it to vibrate.

Alanah looked around and hoped they were far enough away from everyone so that the high pitch of her skill didnt bleed over into any of the other fight, but at the same time, she was aware that everyone battling were truly elites. Everyone other than the soldiers that Derek and Silvi are entertaining, but it doesnt really matter if it reaches them, it wont have any effect on those two anyway She thought. So, even if her sounds and vibrations reached them, she was sure they would be able to withstand it.

Cassandra winced when the vibrations began, and a small droplet of blood even fell from her nostril. She reached up and wiped her face with the sleeve of her robestaining a couple of active runes in her own blood. The woman sneered and, instead of retreating, actually rushed forward to meet Alanah.

Surprised by the womans actions to get close to her, Alanah shrugged and kicked off the ground. As a sign of respectwhat little she had for the queenshe had chosen to keep the fight grounded since it appeared that the woman did not have the ability to fly or battle in the air, at least not easily.

She was like Avery in that aspect. At least, she was like how Avery was. Alanah thought about the dragon wings that he had told her about and was happy that he finally received an ability that helped negate his biggest weakness.

Soon, the two met, and they clashed. Alanah ducked under a set of clawed blades laced with poison and drove her rapier directly into the heart of the Queen of Astrus. The battle was over in an instant.

I got you the woman muttered while breathing heavily. Then, a massive green cloud exploded from under her robes. You shouldnt have gotten close.

No Alanah said, standing directly in the cloud. You didnt even get close. From there, she increased the vibration of her body, and blew the poison cloud away with it never having reached her.

Panting heavily, Cassandra tried to wipe away more blood that had fallen out of her mouth this time, but her arm fell just as she tried to raise it. I guess not.

Queen Cassandra took one final deep breath in, then Alanah finished the fight. With a flick of her wrist, her vibrating blade, which had been driven through the other womans chest, cut through her body horizontally before soon cutting directly through her right arm. Alanah ceased her vibrations and her blade appeared solid in front of her againnot a drop of blood staining it.

Cassandras arm fell to the ground just before her body fell over. Soon after, Alanah received the notification.

Good fight, Alanah muttered quietly.

The Queen of Astrus was dead, and with Traven being taken out just before, Astrus was left with no rulersunless they counted a captured dukewhich she didnt. With the foundation destroyed, it was only a matter of time before the rest of Astruss leadership collapsed.NewW novels updates at wuxiahere.com