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

Let alone the "well," even if the "abyss" were to reappear, if Lord Ash were inside, she would tear it to shreds.

No one, nothing could stop her from going to Lord Ash.

Bang!

Below in Loba, among the many people of the sealed city struggling within the "well," all they saw was their Empress slamming her fist down on the brown barrier.

A crimson light, as bright as day, followed the punch, bursting and flashing on the brown barrier. From the direction of everyone below, it looked as if a small sun had appeared in the darkness.

And then, as the light faded...

Click. Click, click, click!

It started as a single point, then spiderweb-like cracks rapidly spread across the brown sky shrouding the sealed capital, and in the next second...

Snapped!

The well is broken.

That was the entire Turbid Death Domain in the Sealed City, which was directly blasted down by Jiu You with just one punch.

But for the Dragon Girl, it seemed like she had just done something incredibly simple. What she was truly anxious and concerned about was what was to come.

As a member of the Guardian class, she lacked exceptional perception, so Jiu You could only resort to a clumsy method: scanning the entire Sealed City with her gaze.

Fortunately

Soon, the dragon girl's purple eyes locked onto a rather conspicuous phantom.

In the blink of an eye, the Empress's figure vanished from the sky, disappeared into the Sealed City, and arrived in front of Karl.

As for the first sentence he uttered, it was also very simple.

They didn't even care how Jiuyoulian Karl got here, why he appeared here, what happened in the Sealed City, or how the Turbid Death Domain came to be.

The Dragon Girl only cares about one thing.

"Lord Ash, where are you?"

Chapter 97 The Man Behind the Scenes

So this is the first thing they said?

Looking at the red-haired dragon girl in front of him, who had hardly changed and was still as beautiful, powerful, and taciturn as ever, Karl shook his head inwardly. He had even slightly looked forward to meeting the Empress again after three hundred years.

After Lord Ash disappeared, the first person to leave the Ash Empire was Lord Jiuyou.

If Karl remembered correctly, more than half of the demi-human races willingly chose to follow Lord Jiuyou from among the five personal guards, including him, and together they established the Dragon Kingdom on this land.

For the first two hundred years, the Dragon Kingdom was thriving, the beautiful land they had longed for where humans and demi-humans coexisted. However, in the following three hundred years...

Karl clenched his fists. As a "psychic" spirit of the Forgotten, he had read Loba's memories in reverse as soon as he was summoned, so he had a general idea of ​​the current Dragon Kingdom.

Why the Dragon Kingdom, which had only existed for three hundred years, had become like this was something Karl didn't have a clue about at first.

until

Just now, while he was assisting Lord Ash with the teleportation, Karl discovered that...

It was something that made him extremely terrified when he thought about it.

Thinking of this, Karl mustered his spirits. He was determined to pass on this crucial information, which he couldn't tell Lord Ash.

"Lord Jiuyou, Lord Ashes doesn't seem to want to see you yet. He left via 'Relic' teleportation before you arrived. You're a step too late."

Seeing that the dragon girl opposite him turned to leave after listening, as if she didn't have time to deal with him anymore, Karl was speechless.

He quickly stopped being mysterious and revealed the next part of what he really wanted to say.

"But! I secretly noted down Lord Ash's teleportation coordinates when he wasn't looking. Following these coordinates, with Lord Ash's current speed, he absolutely cannot escape your grasp!"

really.

The dragon girl turned halfway around and then immediately turned back.

"Give me the coordinates," Jiu You said earnestly, staring intently into the eyes of the Forgotten Spirit opposite her.

“I can give it to you, and that’s what I’m planning to do, but on the condition that you listen carefully to what I’m about to say.”

Seeing that the opposing dragon girl finally calmed down after using "coordinates" as leverage, Karl breathed a sigh of relief.

He then straightened his expression and adopted a more serious tone.

"Lord Ash teleported to the Demi-human Realm located in the south of the Dragon Kingdom, but as you know, Hearthstone Tears' targeted teleportation requires the user to have been to that coordinate at least once. So the one who actually initiated the teleportation was a fellow Demi-human of mine who was under Lord Ash's command."

"In order to assist Lady Ash, and since we are both cat people, I took the opportunity to share some of my inherited power with her. But it was at this time that I discovered a problem: her bloodline is very wrong, to be precise, it is cursed."

"Later, in order to verify this, I checked the remaining few demi-humans, which confirmed to me that this was not an isolated case, but that the bloodline of all demi-human races was cursed."

Carl was initially shocked by this conclusion, but what chilled him to the bone was the deeper layer hidden behind it.

"Yes, judging from your expression, you must have thought of the same thing as me. There was indeed one among us who was good at cursing."

“But she should already be dead,” Jiu You said, her brows furrowed.

"That's right, I also thought that all the 'original generation' like me should have died by now, but now I'm absolutely certain that among the remaining twenty-three seats after my death, there are definitely still some alive today!"

This is what terrifies Carl the most.

“That’s impossible. Those who haven’t reached the ‘Calamity Level’ couldn’t possibly have such a long lifespan.” Jiu You shook her head.

"But what if? What if some of them really do reach your level? The best proof is the bloodline curse. If it is just a certain bloodline of demi-humans who are cursed, then it can be called a disaster. But if all demi-humans, the entire race, are cursed, then it is not a disaster, but a calamity."

Karl remained silent.

Although she didn't say anything, you could tell from the dragon girl's expression that she still found it hard to believe.

Very simple.

Back in the world where the Calamity still existed, Lord Ash poured all his resources into gathering the power of so many Calamity-afflicted beings to cultivate these five girls.

After the Abyss of Turbid Calamity was destroyed, the concentration of Turbid Calamity in the entire world dropped to almost zero. In an environment where it was extremely difficult to even produce a "Disaster-level" Calamity-transformer, let alone a "Calamity-level" Calamity-transformer who was a hundred times more difficult to produce.

But on the other hand...

If what Carl said is true...

"Why would she do that? Cursing demi-humans... what good would it do her?" Jiu You didn't understand.

Carl shook his head at first, but after hesitating for a moment, he said, "I don't want to believe it either, but I suspect it's for revenge."

"revenge?"

Seeing the deep confusion on Long Niang's face, Karl sighed inwardly. He didn't know how to explain it to Jiu You in simple terms, but judging from the conclusion alone, the Old Alliance had succeeded. They had successfully split the Dragon Kingdom, and the demi-humans who had gradually lost their power after being cursed had also quickly lost their social status. Even the subsequent promotion of the slave constitution made Karl suspect that the Old Alliance was behind it, pushing the Dragon Kingdom into the abyss and planting the seeds of hatred between the two races.

The more Karl thought about it, the more regretful he became. If only he were still alive, if only there were other sensible people to serve the Empress...

The dragon girl in front of him was always at the forefront of every battle five hundred years ago. She was always their most reliable teammate on the battlefield. As long as Jiuyou's body stood firm, they still had full confidence no matter how bad the situation was. But once she left the battlefield, Lady Jiuyou could do nothing. She couldn't cook, couldn't read, and she even had to be forced to learn to read and write by Lord Ash.

But it didn't matter for Lord Jiuyou back then, because they were there, Lord Ash was there, Jiuyou protected them on the battlefield, and they took care of the Dragon Girl in their daily life, the silly Dragon Girl.

The thought that those old allies would so cruelly deceive and manipulate even the innocent Lord Jiuyou in front of him filled Karl with rage. Did they deserve every arrow Lord Jiuyou had shielded them from on the battlefield and every drop of blood he had shed for them?

He forced himself to calm down. No matter how angry he was, it wouldn't help. Besides, now that Lord Ashes had returned, it meant that Lord Jiuyou no longer had to pretend to be the "Empress." And the true emperor would definitely make those schemers pay the price, Karl firmly believed.

That's why Karl was worried about something else, which is also why he didn't tell Lord Ash what he had just mentioned.

"Lord Jiuyou, I wonder if you still have any contact with Lord Anuo?"

Karl abruptly changed the subject, asking a question that would have startled most people, prompting them to speculate and wonder. However, the dragon girl on the other end simply recalled the situation before replying earnestly:

“Three hundred years ago, Anno approached me, and there were four others as well, to remind us of the problem of the Turbid Pollution and to suggest that we use hibernation to resist it. After that, we all followed Anno’s advice and entered a state of seclusion. After that, we never heard from Anno again.”

"As expected?" Upon hearing this, Karl's expression became even more uneasy, muttering to himself as if he were trying hard to think of something.

Soon, as if he had just realized something, Karl quickly pressed on with the question:

"What about Lady Lena? Did she say anything at the time? Did she also go into seclusion like you?"

“No, she’s the only one among us who doesn’t listen to Anno. Lena, she always has been.”

Karl breathed a sigh of relief after receiving the dragon girl's shake of the head, and the tense expression on his face relaxed considerably.

He knew that Lady Lena, who was also a "superpowered" person, wouldn't be so easily fooled!

"Lord Jiuyou, you must not tell Lord Ashes what I am about to say, because I suspect that Lord Anno is behind the Alliance of the Old Days! Only Lord Anno's protective abilities could have allowed them to survive until now!"

"You don't need to think too much, just tell Lady Reina this for me! This is my last request! If you agree, I will tell you the coordinates of Lord Ash right now!"

"Okay, I promise you."

After receiving confirmation from the Dragon Girl, Karl finally felt relieved. The reason he didn't tell Ash Lord these things was because of Anno's identity.

If Lady Jiuyou felt like the eldest sister in the family, then Lady Anno, a noble elven knight who possessed the complete opposite gentleness and humility, was definitely the mother of this family.

Therefore, Karl believed there must be some misunderstanding. Lord Anno would never betray Lord Ash, much less harm anyone. Because he believed this, he was afraid that Lord Ash would misunderstand and become an enemy of Lord Anno, which was not what he wanted to see.

Unfortunately, he has already taken his final bow, and everything can only be entrusted to Lady Lena. Although if he had to make an analogy, Lady Lena is like the rebellious second sister in the family, always the one causing trouble, Karl believes in Lady Lena and in the pride of their "superpowered" family!

After sending the coordinates to the dragon girl on the other side, he had completed his small revenge on Lord Ash. He believed that Lord Ash would forgive him for such a small grudge!

Karl was extremely satisfied to be resurrected after death, to see the world again, and to meet some of the most important people in his life.

Therefore, Karl remained quite calm when faced with this final matter.

Lord Jiuyou shattered the barrier of the "Well" with a single punch, but if he, the "engine," doesn't die, the Well will make a comeback. Moreover, even if it succeeds, it will only be the Spirit of Oblivion, no longer "Karl".

"Let's do it, Lord Jiuyou."

Jiu You: "."

Will you blame me?

"How could that be? After all, it was us who left you behind first."

Many things don't require a lot of dialogue.

In the blink of an eye, Jiu You grasped the air and a flaming longsword appeared. This was her main weapon, and for five hundred years no one had been able to equip her with it.

Dragon Lady swung her blade, and the blazing peak of flame struck Karl's Forgotten Spirit. A calamity-level Forgotten Spirit, formed from the turbidity of hundreds of thousands of people in the entire Sealed City, began to be consumed by the flames with a single strike, its body being burned to ashes.

However, even at the very end, Karl still had a smile on his face.

Judging from the lip movements that ultimately failed to produce a sound.