Chapter 545 - Trinity – The Showdown Begins (VOLUME 3)
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Trinity
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Solanum wanted to prove herself right away. She ran at me with her sword raised and ready to attack, actually, she was ready to kill. I needed to be on my guard and ready to do just the same as her. I needed to be prepared to kill her in an instant.
I lifted my sword with plenty of time to spare. Using my sword to block her attack, I parried the blow and countered the move with one of my own. Solanum had been prepared for that though and my move was blocked as well.
Now, with Solanum standing a few feet away from me and panting with anger, I knew that the true battle was about to start. This was going to be what decided the outcome of the war that was happening back in the clearing. This was it.
Right before my eyes, I saw Solanum changing. It was subtle, but I could see it happening, nonetheless. Her hair had grown a few inches, but it also looked wet. It was as if she just stepped out of a lake or pool, there was water just dripping from it. It was also moving as if it were in water, like there was a slight current moving through it.
Solanum's complexion changed as well. Instead of that pale purple she started to turn pure black. She was literally the color of pure onyx by the time that her complexion had finished shifting colors. And it didn't take long either, it was in the span of a few seconds.
The last thing that changed about Solanum's appearance was her eyes. They stayed their deep, plum colored purple, but there were no longer any whites to her eyes. All the white around her irises disappeared and her eyes seemed to get bigger. Also, they were glowing with a trail of mist coming off of them. She looked even more sinister than usual.
"Oh, Granny, did you decide to power up because you were worried that you couldn't handle me in your original state?" I may be making a joke about it, but she truly did seem like more of a monster than a person right now.
"I cooould taaaake youuuu onnn wifff nnooo proooblemmm." He words came out slurred and stretched out a little bit, like she was having trouble speaking with and using the mouth that she had now. Maybe her monster side wasn't used to talking. "Ssstooopp tryyying toooo deeelayyy thissss furtherrr."
Hearing the way that she was talking now didn't make it seem funny at all, it made my skin crawl. Just what was she now? Was this the true human form of the Kelpie?
"I don't plan to delay it anymore, Granny. I plan on ending this here and now." Following through and putting actions to words, I lunged toward the other woman with my sword at the ready. She hadn't been prepared for that at all, however, she still moved quickly enough to save herself. My attack only caused a slight cut to open up along her left arm.
The blood that dripped from Solanum's injury was pure black. It was also thicker than regular blood and seemed to ooze out of her like it was some kind of thick and disgusting looking syrup.
What was worse though, was when that blood fell to the ground it started to cause the ground to scream in pain again. Just like her saliva had with the tree. She truly was evil through and through, every part of her was deadly to the world around her.
I worried for a moment about what her rotten blood would do to my beautiful new sword. With panic filling my eyes I looked at it hurriedly. I could see small traces of that thick, black, viscous fluid on the end of my blade, but it was freezing over. It was like the ice was stronger than the blood and it was not affecting it at all. Thank the Goddess.
"Youuu beeetterrr waaatch oooout." Solanum smirked and laughed when she noticed me checking the blade of my sword. "Iiiiif annny offf mmmy booodilyyy fluuuidsss getttt onnn youuuu, theyyyy wiiiill eeeeat youuuu alllllive." She seemed to think that was funny.
"Well, then I guess I need to make sure that they don't touch me at all."
My resolve was firm and unbreakable. I wasn't going to let her shake me or break my confidence at all. I was going to win this battle, she would see. Still, I wanted a small amount of protection against her deadly bodily fluids.
As a last attempt at protecting myself, I decided to send a thin, yet extremely strong, layer of ice out all over my body. It was going to be flexible for my sake but strong enough to block her fluids from damaging me if she were to fling them at me in an attempt to sway the battle in her favor.
The armor didn't take long to put into place, and it was virtually impossible to notice it if you didn't know that it was already there. With that in place now, I was ready to get back to the fight. This was far from over right now.
"I thooought I ssssaid tooo stoop taaaakingggg sssoooo llllongggg.'' She was getting so frustrated with me right now that I just wanted to goad her some more.
"Oh, but Granny, don't you like playing these games with me?"
"I! AAAMMM! NNNOOOTTT! YYYYOURRR! GGGRANNNNNYYY!" She had trouble getting the words to form as she screamed at me. That was kind of fun to see.
"Yeah, yeah, believe what you will, Granny." I chuckled and lunged at the same time.
"Youuu wiiiill paaayyy foooor yourrrr insooolennnccce."
Solanum dodged my attack and started to chant a spell that I did not recognize in a language that I had never heard before. Thankfully, due to the translator spell that I had used on the instructors at the castle, I could understand every word that she was saying.
"Water, my home, bring it to me. Water, my source of life, come to me. Water, offer me your aid, be my shield and my weapon. Water, powerful as you are, give me your strength. Water, give the child of your lineage your assistance."
She was calling on the water? But why? What was she trying to do here?
As soon as I asked myself those questions, the entire forest around us was flooded with water. It came in as a massive wave that pushed trees from the ground and sent everything in its path flying. Everything except for Solanum and myself.
After the wave passed, the ground beneath us was covered in a thin layer of crystal clear water. I was just glad that it wasn't that nasty red water from the ocean beyond the cliffs. I didn't want that water touching me at all.
"Heheheh, youuuu wiiiill ssssee whyyyy youuuu arrre ssssooo usselessss nowww." Solanum grinned evilly as she took a step forward and disappeared altogether.. She was there one moment and then the next she seemed to just fall straight into the water at her feet. What in the hell?