Rogue Villain-Chapter 376: Succession Battle

Willow grabbed Rose by the neck before the latter could jump. Willow squeezed tight with her gauntleted hand, drawing blood, thanks to the sharpness of her metal and the softness of her sister’s skin.

Willow met Rose’s eyes as she continued squeezing harder. Tighter. Crueler.

She ignored the shouts from the crowd. If only someone had shouted like that for her sake.

Eventually, following a soft crack, the light in Rose’s eyes faded. Her arms hung limp at her sides. Her nails and fingers were bloody from trying to tear Willow’s arm away from her throat.

The red blood dripped to the wooden floor with pattering sounds that haunted the painful silence that followed in the wake of Rose’s death.

"No going back now."

Willow dropped Rose’s dead body to the floor.

The crowd shouted at her in outrage. But the grizzled elders that seemed to have fused with their seats at the top of the amphitheater’s seats were unmoved.

There was nothing anyone could do when Willow had won in a fight that Rose started by using the succession battle as a pretext. When it came to deciding the next Spokesperson, whoever remained standing at the end was the victor.

As long as no rules were broken, such as bringing in help that went against the methods allowed, all was fair, at least on the stage.

No one would support a ruthless murderer. If anything, Willow had just reduced her chances of becoming the Spokesperson and put a target on her back for the other candidates and Rose’s family.

It was a slight deviation from the plan. But it was barely more than changing a sequence of events.

Willow wouldn’t have let Rose live for much longer if she became the Spokesperson.

Willow stopped looking at her sister’s corpse as she faced the crowd. She turned her head so everyone could see she was looking at them. Willow specifically looked at the other participants in the succession battle.

"Since I’m here anyway, I’m going to stake my claim on the position. I will become the Spokesperson of Eternity in this meeting. Any and everyone who disagrees will have to fight me for it."

Willow took another turn as she looked at every participant she could recognize.

She thumped her hand against her chest with a clank.

"Come!"

Willow’s hoarse shout was all the invitation they needed.

It wasn’t the first time in history a candidate for Spokesperson challenged everyone else. But usually, it was when the person in the lead was overwhelmingly strong and didn’t want to waste time.

It wasn’t unheard of for a low-ranking candidate like Willow to challenge everyone. But it had only happened once or twice. And both times, it ended with the challenger’s disastrous defeat.

However, Willow had killed Rose, who ranked fourth, with overwhelming ease. She hadn’t used any of her magic. Rose wasn’t known for her strength, and she was under noticeably mental distress.

But the elves worth their salt recognized Willow as a threat.

That was why no one missed out on the opportunity to accept her challenge. It was better to get rid of her before she became stronger. Besides, sitting out would tacitly mean their agreement to her succession as the Spokesperson and thus boot them from the succession battle.

All elves and their comrades, if they had any, made their way up on or around the stage when there wasn’t enough space. Now, the only people left in the stands and seats were spectators to the succession battle.

Willow glanced around at the people who looked at her with mixed eagerness to fight. She used her helmet to mask her nervousness and hide her face.

’Now what?’

When they agreed on a plan with Ackster, all Willow had to do was gather all the participants in the succession battle if possible. After that, it was up to Ackster.

However, the only way Willow could do that with a modicum of success was to challenge them all to the position. If Ackster didn’t deliver on his promise, Willow would have entered a one vs. all battle to the death against every elf in her generation.

It would be fine if Ackster did as promised.

But if he didn’t, Willow would die.

"What did I tell you?"

Tenrick had found his way to Willow’s side and put his back against hers.

Willow didn’t answer.

She didn’t need to. She didn’t have room to.

As soon as Willow did anything, even if it was talking to her one companion, it would light the fuse and ignite the battle.

Currently, no one wanted to be the first to attack her since chaos would ensue. But many were itching to attack Willow.

Willow could feel her muscles cramp from the tension.

Time slowed to a crawl as Willow stared down the crowd of elves fighting for prosperity.

Suddenly, between moments in time, the ground in the center of the amphitheater opened up like a dark hole.

Instantly, the stage and the ground around it disappeared into the dark, bottomless pit.

Before anyone could react, all the participants in the succession battle were devoured by the ground. They were gone.

But there was one exception.

Willow still stood in the center of the flat, spotless earthen floor. Tenrick stood next to her with a shocked and frightful expression that he hurried to get under control as the brunt of the Elder’s gazes bore down on them.

Willow killing her sister in a fair duel was one thing. Using impossible and foreign means to extinguish every single other participant in the succession battle was an inexcusable crime.

There was no way Willow or Tenrick had done something even the Elders from the Forest of Eternity couldn’t notice in advance or react to. Besides, both of them were as stunned as the rest.

The Elder in the center, whose gender was impossible to determine, opened their closed eyes and locked Willow on the spot. Their white hair reached and pooled at their feet.

"Speak, child."

Their voice rang with power that didn’t allow Willow to even consider refusing. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Willow stubbornly met the Elder’s gaze.

"I didn’t break any rules."

"You mean to tell us you obtained this power on your own?"

"The personage who acquired the Alchemaze owed me a favor."

Willow’s words were an aftershock to the earthquake of shock that was everyone but her disappearing.