Cassandra

"Your lack of resolve that is necessary at the very end, that's the large wall that separates a number one and a number two."

- An Awakened Cassandra to an Awakened Roxanne

Cassandra was Claymore No. 1 during her generation and is one of the eight most powerful No. 1 Claymores of all time. During her lifetime, she became known as "Cassandra the Dust Eater" (塵食いのカサンドラ, Chiri-gui no Kasandora), a nickname given to her by Roxanne to describe her unique fighting style.

Alongside Hysteria and Roxanne, she is resurrected by Dae (using the flesh from Priscillas left arm) in order to subdue the rebellion of the current generation of claymore warriors against the Organization. Despite the fact that she had 126 different wounds over her body, she was considered to be one of the less wounded between the strongest warriors, at least in the context of the physical nature of the body.

Etymology
"Cassandra" is a transliteration of the Japanese "Kasandora" (カサンドラ).

"Cassandra" comes from the Greek Κασσάνδρα, daughter of Priam of Troy, seduced by Apollo who gave her the gift of prophecy, but when she betrayed him, he amended it so that, though she spoke truth, none would believe her. The name is of uncertain origin, though the second element looks like a feminine form of the Greek word ἀνδρός meaning "of man, male human being."

Claymore
As a claymore, Cassandra had a short, pale, layered pixie cut that was wavy. She had elf-like ears similar to Irene, Ophelia and Queenie. She had silver eyes and wore the standard warrior uniform.

Awakened Being
Cassandra's Awakened form consists of a large humanoid base, between the breasts of which Cassandra's upper body is attached. The base resembles Cassandra while utilizing the Dust Eater, i.e. feet rooted to the ground and leaning back. It has no arms nor head. Tentacles arise from the shoulders and groin. Where the head and neck are supposed to be located is a stump of flesh from which specialized tentacles arise. These tentacles are somewhat thicker and terminate with faces resembling Cassandra's. These specialized tentacles have been shown to be incredibly fast, managing to bite off Roxanne's left arm and part of her torso without her noticing.

Personality
Cassandra seems to be self-conscious, modest, even shy, and easily embarrassed, as seen when she blushed and averted her eyes when Roxanne complimented her. She was also stubborn in refusing to allow other warriors to accompany her when hunting for Awakened Beings because of her technique, which often frightened other warriors and made her look as if she was eating dirt/dust. This is evidenced when she recalls the fear in the eyes of her comrades upon witnessing her technique and when she vigorously wiped at her cheek after Roxanne jokingly told her that there was a speck of dirt soiling her face.

Cassandra also appears to have a strong sense of justice, as shown by her attempt to avenge her friend's death, who died at the hands of Roxanne.

After Awakening, Cassandra's behavior changed drastically, becoming very self-confident and more vicious as she takes her time to torment Roxanne, shown when she is licking Roxanne's face after devouring her limbs. She continues her mocking when Roxanne herself Awakens - even when Roxanne, for a short moment, has the advantage as she hits back by stepping on Cassandra - and she takes a bite out of Roxanne's foot, again declaring Roxanne "still tastes worse than shit". When striking the fatal blow that seals Roxanne's end, she declares, smirking, her superiority over her with the words: "Your lack of resolve that is necessary at the very end, that's the large wall that separates a number one and a number two".

Claymore
Initially, Cassandra doesn't appear to be as powerful compared to the other two resurrected warriors. However, after being wounded, she finally decides to use her secret technique that she disliked using in front of other warriors because of how it looked. Without the technique, her skills were only comparable to that of an average No. 5, according to Roxanne. She demonstrates the first part of the technique while evading Nina's Shadow Hunter, stopping short of the counterattack, only to demonstrate it fully moments later.

Dust Eater
The Dust Eater entails anchoring both feet to the ground and then moving the user's head like a pendulum. Then, using centrifugal force, the body is swung very close to the ground, utilizing the awkward angle to catch the target completely off guard. The user would immobilize the target by aiming for the legs first, and then the arms, sealing off all movements and making it easy for the user to finish off the enemy. Despite the seemingly rooted nature of the Dust Eater, it is shown that Cassandra is able to adjust the angle and height of her movements to avoid enemy attacks. She also remains able to use her other high speed movements from the Dust Eater position, allowing her to to attack several opponents in quick succession over a large distance.

Cassandra deveolped the technique spontaneously while in combat as an urgent bid to protect her friends and classmates. Those who saw the skill, however, were gripped with fear and later kept a distance from her. Since then, Cassandra decided never to show her technique in front of other Claymores for fear of continuing to be shunned. This was the reason why she never allowed anybody else to join her on an Awakened Being hunt.

The only warrior not to fear the Dust Eater was a certain No. 35, whom Cassandra saved from a failed Awakened Being hunt. The warrior was grateful for the assistance and did not fear the technique nor its owner. Since then, that No. 35 would display friendly behavior towards Cassandra, which puzzled the latter. Eventually, the two became friends. Following her friend's death, Cassandra used the Dust Eater to cut her way towards Roxanne, who had orchestrated the tragedy.

Incredible Resilience
According to Dae, when Cassandra went past her limit, the warriors sent to execute her cut her to pieces out of enormous fear. She displayed incredible resilience as it still took several hours for her to die despite having 126 different wounds all over her body.

Abyssal One
Though stated by Roxanne to only have skills equal to that of a No. 5, Cassandra's Awakened form seems equivalent to those of her counterpart Abyssal Ones. Miria recently estimated that Cassandra's powers were the highest among the three resurrected Abyssal Ones. Despite the massive size of her Awakened form, Cassandra is still able to perform her Dust Eater efficiently and retained her former agility as demonstrated when she easily avoided attacks from an Awakened Roxanne.

Cassandra's tentacles have been shown to be remarkably fast, particularly those tipped with heads that resemble her own, as they were able to easily fend off Roxanne's attacks. The heads appear to be quite hard as most sword attacks were only able deflect their course. In comparison, the Awakened Roxanne's limbs are shown to be cut by one of the unnamed twins. The flat, square-shaped teeth in each mouth are strong enough to chew through an Abyssal One, as shown when Cassandra bites off a part of an Awakened Roxanne's hand off.

Cassandra also performs an attack similar to the Dust Eater when she is controlled by Priscilla's mind. This attack involves multiple tentacles (not to be confused with the extended offshoots with heads) that are continually spun blindly around her body, completely slicing up everything surrounding her at incredible speed. This attack is assumed to be the Awakened variant of the Dust Eater, in the similar fashion that it chops up its targets in horizontal slices, starting from the legs and gradually moving up through the body and finishing with the dismemberment of the head. It is assumed that this attack has great velocity and force, as none of the high tier Awakened Beings surrounding Cassandra's body are able to dodge or avoid this attack, many of which are quickly beheaded.

Life as a Claymore
Cassandra was Claymore No. 1 of her generation and was reputed to be far more powerful than the No. 2 at the time. As such, other warriors usually kept their distance from her. She always fought alone and the Awakened Beings she hunted were always shredded to pieces, so nobody really knew her abilities.

Roxanne, a former low-ranking warrior who ascended through ranks by copying the skills of higher-ranked warriors, took interest in Cassandra and the two struck a friendship of sorts. While sparring, Roxanne noted that Cassandra's swordsmanship could not even match the "Beautiful Sword" technique she had copied from Elizabeth, a former No. 5, further fueling her curiosity as to what the higher-ranked warrior was hiding.

During one instance, Roxanne used her Yoki Synchronization ability to completely erase her presence and secretly watched Cassandra battle an Awakened Being. After the battle, she teased Cassandra about having dirt in her face, having seen Cassandra's technique. It was then that she gave Cassandra the nickname "Dust Eater," a nickname that Cassandra "disliked up to the very end."

Some time later, Cassandra rescued a warrior ranked No. 35 from an Awakened Being with her Dust Eater. Grateful, the warrior would make friendly attempts at conversation whenever they saw each other. Cassandra became very confused about this, for the warrior gave no indication that she feared the Dust Eater at all, unlike many who witnessed the technique before her. When Cassandra asked her about it, the warrior claimed that she had become attached to her because of her way of wiping off her face (it reminded the No. 35 of the cat she owned as a human). They both laughed about the comparison and became "true friends" afterwards.

One day, Cassandra discovered her friend was heading out on an Awakened Being hunt with Roxanne as the team leader. She felt very uneasy about this, though she didn't know why, and prayed that her friend would return unharmed. Unfortunately, she later discovered that the warrior had become the Awakened Being's toy, tormented and then ripped to shreds until nothing but her head remained. However, none of the other warriors, including Roxanne, suffered a single injury during the incident and did not kill it. Cassandra eventually slew the Awakened Being herself, realizing during the fight that Roxanne had let it be in order to have it kill the younger warrior.

At the Organization headquarters, Cassandra used her Dust Eater to try and cut a path towards Roxanne, not bothering to evade any attacks and not caring that she was being cut by her comrades in turn. In time, she lost her right arm, left leg, and an eye, but made it to Roxanne with intent to kill. However, Roxanne stopped her using the Blade of Evil, slamming the hilt of her sword into Cassandra's head. This allowed the other warriors to cut Cassandra to pieces, eventually killing her. She was devastated that she never managed to incur damage on the "murderous" Roxanne.

After Resurrection
Cassandra is among the three No. 1 Claymores revived by Dae in the order of strength, the other two being Hysteria and Roxanne. Her aim was to stop the rampage of the current warriors rebelling against the Organization.

After injuring or possibly killing most of the warriors, she engages in combat with Audrey, Rachel, and Nina. She relies solely on her sword fighting initially, too embarrassed to use her secret technique. As such she is overwhelmed. However after recieving several glancing blows while struggling to defend against the three warriors, Cassandra decides to use her technique and easily dismembers the three single digits, cutting their arms and legs to shreads.

Despite missing her lower limbs, Audrey tries to attack Cassandra, resulting in the loss of the former's right arm. Angered, Rachel launches herself at Cassandra, losing her remaining leg and both her arms in the process. Audrey's remaining arm is soon cut off, and the Nina's arms follow suit. Cassandra wipes her face to remove the blood and dirt and then prepares to finish off Audrey, only to miss and deliver a shallow strike, much to her confusion. Raftela, from a distance, is using her Sensory Control to make all of Cassandra's attacks miss.

Cassandra eventually stops attacking Audrey, for her memories begin to return. She remembers in particular being cut over and over again, commenting that her entire body is hurting. As this occurs, the various wounds across her body suddenly reopen, covering both her and Audrey in a shower of blood. She remembers her life as a warrior and her relationships with the nameless No. 35 and Roxanne. Due to her severe wounds and emotional devastation, she breaks though her limit and Awakens, becoming the first of the three resurrected warriors to Awaken.

After Awakening
After Awakening, Cassandra attacks Roxanne, easily defeating the No. 1 and dismembering her. She notes how bad Roxanne tastes after devouring the latter's limbs and licking her forehead. Later, Roxanne herself Awakens due to the injuries she sustained from Cassandra.

Cassandra interferes with an Awakened Roxanne's pursuit for one of the warriors, stating that all the warriors present were hers to eat, and that a No. 2 like Roxanne should just eat shit. Roxanne argues that she became No. 1 after Cassandra was chopped up miserably, and the two Abyssal Ones then engage in combat. Roxanne lashes out at Cassandra, but the latter manages to avoid all of her attacks, all the while saying that compared to her, Roxanne was just a No. 2 that was worse than shit.

The two Abyssal Ones appear evenly matched until Roxanne begins firing the small blades attached to her appendages. Cassandra manages to evade those from a single arm though the blades puncture and cut off some of her tentacles. When Roxanne releases the blades from three arms simultaneously, however, Cassandra suffers far greater damage, thus allowing Roxanne to step on the human-sized portion of her Awakened body and mock her. Later on, it is shown that Cassandra had recovered quickly from the damage and was taunting Roxanne that since the latter couldn't regenerate her blades instantaneously, she wouldn't dare use all the remaining blades at once. Roxanne counters that she was merely playing around up to that moment. Roxanne unleashes an attack just as Miria flees the battlefield, having successfully lured Hysteria into it.

Cassandra accidentally devours part of Hysteria in the following events, noting in surprise how "it didn't taste like shit" before realizing she was not devouring part of Roxanne but part of Hsyteria instead. Roxanne gloats after her attack and expends her last armful of blades on Miria. Cassandra appears, having waited for Roxanne to use up all of her blades and two of her tentacles impale Roxanne through the chest. It is revealed that Roxanne hesitated to use all of her remaining blades, and thus, released blades from only two arms. Cassandra says Roxanne might have won had she used all three arms and goes on to say that indecisiveness at a critical moment was what separated a No. 2 from a No. 1. Roxanne tells Cassandra to "go ahead and eat shit for the rest of [her] life" and is devoured shortly thereafter. She senses Priscilla's Yoki flowing out of Hysteria's dying body, and after the ghostly image disappears, she walks over, giving the warriors a glance and muttering something unheard. Afterwards, Cassandra leaves Staff, Helen wondering if eating "that big one" had satisfied Cassandra's hunger.

Afterwards, Cassandra is shown to be traveling through a dense forest, easily leveling the ground she treads on. Miria deduces that Priscilla is manipulating Cassandra in some way in an attempt to free herself from her "prison." Helen immediately expresses regret in placing the mass near Rabona, thus endagering its inhabitants. She voices out that they should depart immediately and stop Cassandra. However, Miria states that since Cassandra dealt Hysteria a fatal wound and likewise devoured Roxanne, Cassandra is likely the strongest of the New Abyssal Ones, and as such, it was unlikely that they could stop her. Miria voices concern that if Cassandra were to break Priscilla free and the two merge, Priscilla would become even more powerful than before. As such, she focuses her plan on rescuing/freeing Clare from the mass before Cassandra manages to break Priscilla free in the hopes that Cassandra would regain some of her self-consciousness and create an opportunity for them.

The Seven Ghosts vs Cassandra
Cassandra is next seen confronting Clare, Miria, Helen and Deneve while en route to Rabona. Cynthia, Tabitha and Yuma stayed behind, synchronizing their Yoki with Cassandra's in an attempt to release her from her trance while she was distracted by the aforementioned four.



Cassandra sends several head-tipped tentacles towards Clare, but the latter pulverized them with the Quicksword. Later, she uses regular tentacles, which were likewise unsuccessful. She barely manages to dodge an attack to her main body, with Clare managing to tear at the left side of her head, torso, upper arm and the left breast of her base body. Despite this, she continues to move forward, quickly mending the damage as if it were nothing. Dae, who had been observing from afar, says that such offensive power was nothing to an Abyssal One, and likely viewed the group as annoying flies. With things looking bleak, Octavia and the rest of the female, high-ranking Awakened Beings appeared behind the Claymores, expressing intent in joining forces to take down Cassandra.

The Awakened Beings individually attack Cassandra's head-tipped tentacles, displaying their powers and abilities, but Octavia notices this doesn't effect Cassandra's movement and concludes they have to attack the main body. She assumes her Awakened form and joins the fray, finally forcing the Abyssal One to stop. Tabitha, Cynthia and Yuma quickly use the opportunity to try and pull out Cassandra's own will. The seven Awakened Beings surround Cassandra, most in their awakened forms.

Despite all their efforts, the three warriors are shocked to find out that Cassandra's inner will simply does not exist anymore. The massive new Abyssal One was simply a shell with Priscilla's will at the core. Dae hypothesizes that it was Cassandra's consumption of Roxanne, who herself contained Priscilla's flesh, that allowed Priscilla to control the Abyssal One.

Cassandra's body, now sporting different tentacles with tepered ends, suddenly stands up to reach a colossal height, surprising the Awakened Beings and the Seven Ghosts. Slowly, Cassandra's smaller form at the upper chest of the base body transforms into Priscilla. Miria and Clare quickly sense an upcoming powerful attack and order everyone to fall back. Cassandra, then, performs the Dust Eater, injuring all of the Awakened Beings and outright killing most. From her vantage point above the Abyssal One, Clare clearly sees Priscilla's form.

Two female Awakened Beings seemingly survive the attack. Chronos and Lars arrive and point out a third surviving Awakened Being who was feigning death, Europa. All three assume their Awakened forms and join the battle. Octavia restrains Cassandra with her ribbons, stopping the latter from using the Dust Eater a second time. Cassandra is torn apart by the combined efforts of the awakened beings and Clare destroys the center of the Abyssal One's chest which held the Priscilla-like torso.



After Clare's attack, Cassandra regains her true self and engages the Awakened Beings once more, demonstrating even greater mobility than when she was in a trance-like state while under Priscilla's control. She evades and successfully injures one of the awakened beings. She dodges two more blows from Octavia and Chronos. Cassandra attempts a counterattack, but Chronos manages to jump in time to evade the blow. After Europa's sudden departure towards Rabona, four awakened beings remained to face her.

By the time Priscilla has ended her battle with the Riful-like being, only Chronos, Octavia and Lars remain. Cassandra, noting the similarities between her current situation and the circumstances surrounding her demise, goes for the offensive, having only evaded and counterattacked up to that point. She quickly defeats Lars, ripping him in half. At this point, the warriors decide to reinstate the original plan of luring Cassandra to Priscilla, which Octavia agrees to. Chronos, however, expresses his desire to take revenge for his friend's death himself, but Octavia scoffs, saying that he didn't have the power to pull it off. She added that Europa had the right idea when she escaped.

The Dust Eater is Eaten
The fight between the three remaining awakened beings continues. While the claymores are taking on Priscilla, they are able to draw her to a spot close enough that the other awakened beings' battle interferes. Suddenly, all awakened beings and warriors begin attacking Priscilla. Finally, Raki sneakes up behind and pierces Priscilla's throat with a claymore, giving Clare the moment to chop her to pieces with her Quicksword, seemingly defeating her. But Tabatha, before dying from her fatal injuries from Priscilla, states that Priscilla has not yet been defeated and is still alive. Clare notices that Cassandra is missing and ventures off deep into the forest in search of Priscilla. Following the scattered pieces of Cassandra's flesh she finds Priscilla in the woods, ripping apart and devouring the dead Cassandra, making her flesh a part of her own and gaining Cassandra's hydra ability. The end of the Dust Eater has come, by being eaten.

Final Duel
Although the reborn Cassandra's body has been consumed by Priscilla and incorporated into her own, Cassandra's consciousness and power prove too great to be completely assimilated. When Teresa of the Faint Smile is reborn in Clare's body, she senses this continued presence inside her nemesis and challenges it to a duel between two former number ones. Unwilling to decline such a challenge, Cassandra physically breaks out of Priscilla's body, leaving it severely weakened, and faces Teresa in her human form. Upon Teresa's request, Deneve loans Cassandra her sword, and the two strongest warriors of their generations clash in a fierce battle far beyond the capabilities of the on-looking Ghosts.

Although Cassandra manages to land a hit on Teresa, she loses her right arm to her. Revealing herself as left-handed, she continues to fight, but ultimately, Teresa prevails, and Cassandra allows her to strike her down, grateful for a chance to fight as a Claymore at the top of her ability and telling her opponent that, were she to be reincarnated, she would have liked to be friends with her. Teresa thanks her, too, and ends her postmortem existence with a quick and honorable death.

Roxanne
Roxanne and Cassandra were warriors of the same era and naturally knew each other, being the No. 2 and No. 1 respectively. At some time after Roxanne's promotion to No. 2, the two became good friends, and Roxanne was the one who gave Cassandra the nickname "Dust Eater" after secretly watching her fight an Awakened Being. Their friendship didn't last long as Roxanne left her after giving her the said nickname. Then, after discovering that Roxanne had allowed her "true friend" to be killed by an Awakened being, Cassandra was consumed with anger at and hatred for the murderous warrior and attempted to kill her in revenge. In time, it was Roxanne who delivered the final blow to Cassandra after the No. 1 had been all but cut to pieces by several other warriors.

Cassandra's Friend
Cassandra's friend was Claymore No. 35, a warrior of the same era as Cassandra and the sole survivor of a failed Awakened Being hunt. Cassandra saved her, fighting with her "Dust Eater" technique. Cassandra eventually developed a close friendship with her, despite the difference between their ranks. She was the only true friend to Cassandra, since she became friends with her even after seeing her use the Dust Eater technique. The No. 35 died in another failed Awakened Being hunt led by Roxanne, who was No. 2 at the time. She became the Awakened Being's toy and had her limbs torn off, and it is mentioned that the Awakened Being kept on playing with her even after her remains had been reduced to her head, though the other members of the hunt didn't even incur a single injury despite the incident. Cassandra later realized that her death had been planned in advance by Roxanne and sought to avenge her death.