Return of Black Lotus system:Taming Cheating Male Leads

Chapter 577: Chapter-577

The remaining assassins paused, their dead eyes widening in sheer, unadulterated shock. They had been briefed that the Vanguard Madam was a formidable general, but they had expected a woman weighed down by heavy banquet robes, exhausted from a long night, and easy to overwhelm with numbers.

They had absolutely no idea they had just locked themselves in a dark room with a monster.

Heena slowly stood up straight, flicking her wrists. The fresh blood splattered onto the dusty floor in a perfect, arching line. The elegant, theatrical grace she had displayed during her dance in the Great Hall was completely gone. This was the real Vanguard martial arts. Ugly, brutal, and flawlessly efficient.

”Well?” Heena asked, a dark, blood-chilling smile curving her lips as she looked at the remaining nine assassins. ”Are you going to stand there all night, or are you going to show me what the Prime Minister’s money bought?”

The remaining nine assassins did not hesitate. Recognizing the terrifying threat they were facing, they abandoned all pretense of a structured encirclement and attacked simultaneously.

They moved as a single, deadly wave, their poisoned blades slashing through the darkness in a chaotic web of lethal strikes.

But Heena was the Vanguard. She didn’t fight in structured, honorable duels; she had survived the bloodiest trenches and the most lawless battlefields.

She dove straight into the center of their formation.

Clang!

Heena crossed her daggers, catching a heavy overhead strike from one assassin. With a brutal twist of her wrists, she snapped his blade in half, immediately driving her right dagger into his chest. As he fell, she grabbed his collar, using his armored body to absorb two incoming thrusts from his comrades.

She spun, moving like a phantom in her heavy champagne robes. She kicked off a rotting wooden pillar, launching herself sideways to avoid a sweeping slash aimed at her legs. While in mid-air, she hurled her left dagger. The midnight-black blade flew true, burying itself to the hilt directly between the eyes of an assassin charging from the rear.

She landed gracefully, sweeping the leg of the man beside her. As he hit the dusty floor, she didn’t even bother to pick up her thrown dagger. She simply snatched his dropped sword out of the air and drove it straight through his heart.

”YES! Get them, Host! Show these discount ninjas who they’re messing with!” the System cheered from the safety of her fur collar, completely abandoning its fear now that Heena was winning.

Within sixty seconds, the cold, dusty floor of the Cold Palace was littered with bodies. Blood soaked the rotting wood. Heena stood in the center of the carnage, breathing evenly, holding a stolen, blood-drenched sword.

Only three assassins remained.

They were backing away, their hands trembling slightly as they gripped their weapons. Their dead, emotionless eyes were now wide with absolute, primal terror. They had lost nine of their best men in under a minute, and the Vanguard Madam hadn’t even sustained a single scratch.

”Is that it?” Heena mocked coldly, taking a slow, predatory step forward. ”I expected a bit more resistance before I sent you to hell.”

She lunged, fully intending to execute the final three in one sweeping, brutal motion.

But as she closed the distance, the leader of the remaining assassins realized that crossing blades with her was absolute suicide. Instead of raising his sword to block, he aggressively threw his left hand forward, crushing a small, wax-sealed paper packet hidden in his palm.

Heena’s eyes widened slightly. She recognized the movement instantly, but she was already entirely committed to her forward momentum.

Poof.

A massive, thick cloud of fine, crimson powder exploded directly into Heena’s face.

The powder was so incredibly dense it hung in the air like blood-red smoke. Heena immediately squeezed her eyes shut and threw her heavy fur sleeve over her nose and mouth, violently twisting her body backward to escape the cloud.

But she was too close. And she had been breathing deeply from the exertion of the fight.

A tiny, microscopic breath of the crimson powder slipped past her defenses and entered her lungs.

The reaction was instantaneous and horrifying.

It felt as if someone had poured boiling acid straight down her windpipe. Heena stumbled backward, dropping the stolen sword as her hands flew to her throat.

A violent, uncontrollable cough ripped through her chest.

Cough! Cough!

Blood immediately splattered against the inside of her hand. Her lungs were seizing, desperately trying to reject the toxic dust, but the poison was already in her bloodstream. It was a high-grade paralytic neurotoxin, specifically designed to bypass martial arts defenses and shut down the central nervous system in seconds.

”Host?! Host!” the System shrieked, the bravado completely vanishing as it felt her body temperature plummet. ”Warning! Neurotoxin detected! Vital signs dropping rapidly!”

Heena tried to take a step, but her legs completely lost all sensation. Her knees buckled violently, slamming against the hard stone floor.

She desperately reached out, her trembling fingers digging into the dusty floorboards, trying to drag herself up. Her vision blurred, the edges of the room turning completely dark. The last of her strength evaporated, and her arms gave out.

Heena collapsed heavily onto her side.

Her champagne robes spread out over the bloody floor, completely motionless. Her breathing became incredibly shallow, her eyes half-open but glassy, staring blankly at the rotting wall.

The three remaining assassins stood at the edge of the dissipating red cloud, panting heavily. The leader carefully stepped forward, nudging her limp shoulder with the tip of his boot.

She didn’t react.

The leader let out a shaky, exhausted exhale, raising his poisoned blade high above his head to deliver the final, killing blow.

The leader’s poisoned blade paused just inches from Heena’s neck. He gave a sharp, silent gesture with his hand. Killing her right here would leave a massive pool of blood on the floorboards that would be too difficult to scrub away before dawn. They needed to dispose of her properly, somewhere deep within the rotting bowels of the Cold Palace where no one would ever find the Vanguard Madam’s body.

Before the leader could even pull his sword back, the glowing blue lion materialized directly over Heena’s fallen body.

It threw its small digital arms out, standing firmly between the masked assassins and its Host.

”What the hell are you doing?!” the System shrieked, its pixelated fur standing completely on end as it glared up at the ruthless killers. ”Stop! Don’t you dare touch her!”

But of course, they couldn’t see the glowing entity. To the assassins, the space above the fallen Vanguard Madam was completely empty.

Two of the black-clad killers stepped forward, their heavy boots stepping right through the System’s glowing blue tail. They grabbed Heena roughly by her shoulders, hoisting her limp, dead-weight body off the bloody stone floor. Her head lolled back lifelessly, her beautiful champagne robes dragging through the dust and gore.

”Get off her!” the System roared.

The lion lunged, throwing a desperate, glowing punch directly at the leader’s masked face. But the moment its paw made contact, it simply phased through the man’s jaw like a wisp of blue smoke.