On my second playthrough, they were full of malice towards me.

Lord Ash's apparent life strength might only require two, or at most five, strikes to end him directly. The problem is that Lord Ash always manages to deal with it ingeniously, either by using strange items or special abilities.

And so, in the scene before us, the Dragon Girl, under the astonished gazes of numerous gladiators, spectators, and the organizers, found herself locked in a prolonged struggle with the grey-robed man, a far cry from the clean and efficient combat she had displayed in countless previous matches.

As time went on, the Dragon Girl went from having an absolute advantage to gradually reaching a stalemate, and finally, she was completely at a disadvantage, having her strength greatly depleted by the gray-robed man and becoming somewhat exhausted.

However, looking at the gray-robed man, although his face was covered by his cloak and no one could see it, his attitude showed that he was not relaxed at all. On the contrary, he seemed to be even more vigilant and nervous.

Holding the dragon girl, Liao Ji was also recalling the details of the "BOSS battle" in the game that he found so memorable.

It's no wonder he was nervous at the end of the battle.

After all, this is when the BOSS is about to unleash his ultimate attack.

As expected, seeing that she would be worn down if she continued like this, the Dragon Girl took the initiative to distance herself from the gray-robed man. Then, that familiar move came: the Dragon Girl summoned a flaming longsword from her chest, using a do-or-die attitude to bring her momentum to its peak, ready to use a fatal blow to end the match against the gray-robed man.

That's right.

This move impressed Liao Ji, who was watching from outside the screen.

Previously, whether it was Jiu You as a BOSS with health and attributes far exceeding those of the players, or various small skills and moves, he could try every possible way to find a way to break through and resist them, but there was only one move that was guaranteed to kill.

Liao Ji vaguely remembered that he used save/load three times before he successfully used "Reconnaissance" and learned the skill description of this move.

Simply put, [Akame ga Kill!] will determine the outcome based on the strength of both parties. Given Liao Ji's level at the time, there was a 99.99% chance he would be instantly killed.

This move ignores all defenses, damage reduction, and the resistance effects of items. With the resources I had in the game at that time, there was no way to defend against it.

Therefore, Liao Ji's only option is to gamble.

I'm betting that this "Dragon Girl BOSS" will fail to unleash her skill, betting on that 0.01% chance.

fortunately.

He is a stubborn person.

If once doesn't work, try twice; if twice doesn't work, try three times, five times, ten times, fifty times, a hundred times.

This is why Liao Ji has such a "deep memory" of this battle.

Even though it was just a game to him at the time.

Liao Ji did nothing that day except frantically save and reload in front of the screen. He was instantly killed by Jiu You, so he just reloaded and tried again! Again! Again!

Fortunately, it was probably the 1300th save/load attempt, Liao Ji couldn't quite remember, but he finally succeeded.

In the scene, the dragon girl, full of imposing aura and about to unleash her "flawless strike," suddenly seemed to have gone awry somewhere.

In just a few seconds, instead of unleashing the flames, it deflated like a punctured balloon, its powerful momentum vanishing as if it had suffered some kind of backlash.

The grey-robed man seized the opportunity and, amidst the incredulous screams of everyone in the arena, successfully defeated the dragon girl and pressed his blade against her neck as she knelt before him.

"So, Jiu You, what were you back then?"

Seeing this, Liao Ji asked curiously, "In the game, it's just cold numbers. I really want to know why Jiu You in reality failed to unleash her skill."

Jiu You's answer surprised Liao Ji at first, but then he showed a "no wonder" expression, as if this was indeed the only reason.

"Lord Ash, for some reason, I seemed to see the phantom of my mother behind you at that time."

"So at that moment, I recalled my past memories, and fear and dread filled my heart. Without the blessing of non-thought, this strike was no longer flawless, and I could no longer unleash the attack on Akame."

"Now that I think about it, Lord Ash, was my mother helping me?"

Jiuyou murmured to Liao Ji.

After all, it was precisely because she failed to unleash that subsequent stories unfolded, that Jiu You came into being, and that the Ash Emperor came to save the world.

Liao Ji stroked the red hair of the dragon girl in his arms.

Is this it?

It doesn't seem so. After all, Jiu You doesn't know, but he does. In the thousands of save/load attempts before this, Tang Ke never appeared to help him. His character was instantly killed by the Dragon Girl.

but

"Of course, Aunt Tang must have been moved by my persistence towards Jiu You, which is why she came to help!" Liao Ji chose the most romantic explanation.

However, Jiu You clearly couldn't understand it.

The dragon girl raised her head in a daze, looked at Liao Ji's face, and asked softly, "Lord Ash's obsession with me?"

"Hmph, actually, in places you don't know about, I've already fought you thousands of times back then, which is why I know you so well. To be honest, you yourself might not even know this dragon girl Jiu You better than I do!"

To Liao Ji's surprise, Jiu You was not happy after hearing his romantic speech. Instead, her eyes welled up with tears, and her beautiful purple dragon eyes became misty as if she was about to cry.

The reason is also very simple.

"Then, was Lord Ash killed by Jiu You thousands of times? I, Jiu You, truly deserve to die, I..."

Uh

Liao Ji was truly surprised by Jiu You's thought process. Looking at the crying dragon girl with a look of utter guilt, he quickly tried to comfort her:

"How could that be! You underestimate me! In fact, you've lost badly in all these thousands of matches! You haven't been able to hurt me at all!"

"Then why does Lord Ash come thousands of times?" Jiu You didn't catch Liao Ji's evasive tone and asked bluntly.

"Because...because cough! Losing gladiators definitely need to be severely punished and disciplined! For an evil dragon girl like you, one discipline isn't enough, you'll definitely need to be disciplined thousands of times!"

Liao Ji was pressed for answers and had no other choice but to resort to this tactic.

After hearing this answer, Jiu You nodded as if suddenly understanding, accepting it. Then, as expected, the dragon girl whispered quietly, "Lord Ash, how perverted."

Liao Ji pretended not to hear and twitched the corner of his mouth.

However, Jiu You quickly stared intently at the young man again, then smiled through her tears and whispered in Liao Ji's ear, just like that lively and adorable little dragon-human girl who was a bit obsessed with good looks:

"Now I like the perverted Liao Ji brother even more, Jiu You!"

Cough cough cough cough!

Unlike a certain pink-haired succubus, Jiu You has always been adept at being direct.

Seeing the dragon girl blinking at him, Liao Ji felt a little embarrassed and quickly changed the subject, focusing his attention back on Zero's memory fragments.

In the scene, after defeating the Dragon Girl, a legend of the arena, and pressing the sword against her neck, the surrounding audience erupted in a deafening roar of madness.

"Kill her!" "Kill her!!" "Kill her!!!"

Without Tang, the arena returned to its bloody state, and every spectator eagerly awaited the grey-robed man's strike to end the dragon woman's life.

Even the Dragon Girl herself felt the same way; at that moment, she seemed to have finally found liberation.

At that time, Liao Ji had two choices on his screen.

Kill her (execute the action)

Or

"Turbulent times and calamities are our true enemies" (verbal dialogue)

Liao Ji would choose without hesitation. In reality, the gray-robed man did not swing his weapon; instead, he put it away, left a message for the dragon girl, and then turned and left.

“Turbidity and calamity are our true enemies.”

Amidst the disgruntled shouts and curses of the arena spectators, the gray-robed man's words echoed in the Dragon Girl's mind. She stared blankly at his departing figure as he let her go.

At that moment, the Dragon Girl's usually expressionless face finally showed some emotion. She seemed to recall some of her mother's words and seemed to understand why she saw her mother's shadow in the gray-robed man.

At that moment, the dragon girl moved her body, as if she wanted to chase after her.

But soon, at the exit of the arena, there were two figures who looked like gray-robed men who had been waiting there all along, anticipating a triumphant return.

One of them was dressed as a nun, and the other looked like a housekeeper.

Seeing the followers the two grey-robed men already had, the dragon girl realized that she could not leave the arena. She was a gladiator here, branded with a mark that she could not leave, and the organizers would never let her go.

The glimmer of light that had just brought the Dragon Girl into the darkness seemed to vanish as the gray-robed man and his two followers disappeared into the distance, plunging the Dragon Girl back into darkness, leaving her eyes dull and lifeless.

until

That night.

Not the arena, but the entire Gurasei base, was destroyed in just one night by a gathering place called "Ash".

Completely conquer.

That night

The light of fire

It illuminated the night once more.

I've been a bit busy these past few days, so I've combined the chapters together. I feel it will be smoother to read. I'll continue with double updates from now on.

Chapter 258 That was Lord Ash

"Damn it! Where did all these people come from?!"

"What is that holy light?! Why is the enemy's gunfire so intense?! How many of them are there?!"

"Disaster-level!? It's calamity-level! They have two calamity-level calamity-transformers!"

"Don't panic! Activate the anti-Cyclone device! Hold the line!"

"Old Peng, they seem to know our base inside and out. All the defenses at the Chief's Mansion are paralyzed and completely inoperable!"

"This was premeditated! There are definitely spies among us!"

"There's no time! Run, Old Peng! They'll come after us if we're any later!"

Violent explosions shattered the stillness of the night. The once grand and luxurious mansions of the base were now being consumed by fire, and the beautiful furniture and precious potted plants were reduced to ashes by the gunfire.

Many of the high-ranking members of the Gurasai were beheaded, leaving only the old man who was the leader of the base, his trusted deputy leader, and a group of defeated soldiers and guards, who began to flee in panic.

Seeing that the base was about to fall, they thought they should at least take the last of their treasures with them. So the group went to the arena and rushed into the room of a dragon girl.

"Quickly! Escort us away!" the deputy leader commanded sternly, giving the order directly to the dragon girl who was sitting cross-legged by the bedside.

The dragon girl opened her eyes. The blood moon in the night sky and the flames of the explosion mingled together, forming an eerie red glow that shone through the window onto her.

The expressionless dragon girl remained motionless, coldly observing the group of high-ranking officials from the base and the organizers behind the arena.

"Damn it! Are you deaf?! Come and protect us!"

"Don't forget who you are! Everything you have now is given to you by us! You are a gladiator, a slave of the arena! You are nothing but our assets!"