The Almighty Ring

To be fair, Akatziris was completely made of metal yet her appearance, despite the different outfit, was exactly the same when she was in the game. Her metal skeleton was completely covered with living tissue. Besides the mechanical eye, she could not be discerned from a regular human being. That was why Jiang Fei choked on his words when the beautiful babe was only inches away from his face. The guilt, coupled with his inability to reciprocate woman’s feelings, had rendered him mute.

“I…”

No matter how Jiang Fei tried to think otherwise, he could never bring himself to ask for Energy Crystals from Akatziris. He could not even ask about teaming up again to fight the Unknowns.

“Sister! Please stop!” Isabella cried out. “We are here to set things straight.”

Jiang Fei could not be more thankful for Isabella. And thank god that she thought Akatziris was only trying to mess with Jiang Fei. On the contrary, Akatziris was being serious.

“Set things straight?!” Akatziris stepped away from Jiang Fei and snarled. The anticipation that was flaring in her eyes vanished. It was then she realized something cruel. All the time she was hoping Jiang Fei to confess his feelings to her, hoping that Jiang Fei would have space for her in his heart. Sadly, she understood from how Jiang Fei had reacted, how Jiang Fei had decided to keep quiet, that he never had feelings for her, from now and ever.

At this point, Akatziris steeled her already dead-cold heart. Her hatred for him was only getting stronger.

“Tell me, what do you need?” said Akatziris. The warmth on his voice was completely gone. She was now back to how she was, Z0-11, the stone-cold Unknown. Straz, who was monitoring the entire conversation, sighed with relief. The thought of Akatziris still harboring feelings for Jiang Fei had frightened him to his core.

Bennette Straz was the Dragon God. He was extremely famous for his insatiable lust for women. He would not stop at copulation only, as he also wanted to own the women’s heart. Being the master of courting, he would know what was going on with Akatziris. The flare in her eyes, the unrelenting deep breathes she took, the unfazed stare of lust into Jiang Fei’s… it was all signs of wanting, signs of carnal desire. He was afraid that Jiang Fei might actually reciprocate her feelings! If that happened, the leader of the Supreme Android would immediately revert back to become Jiang Fei’s pet, the succubus daughter of the Third Princess of the Royal Nephilim.

It was fortunate because Jiang Fei was silent all the way. With Isabella’s sudden uproar, the entire tense atmosphere was dispelled. If Akatziris had offered herself to Jiang Fei, every Unknown that was under her wing, her leadership, would be given to Jiang Fei. If he could, he would refuse it wholeheartedly but because of their structural hierarchy, their built-in absolute command, they could never disobey Akatziris’s order.

“We would want to work together with you again!” said Isabella. No one, including Jiang Fei and Akatziris, noticed how oddly Straz was behaving.

“Work together? Is it to steal some more Energy Crystals?” Akatziris asked, smiling ever so slightly.

“Yes,” Jiang Fei answered quietly.

“Sorry. Not interested!” Akatziris croaked before Jiang Fei could repeat louder.

Because of the previous incident, Akatziris now had more than enough Energy Crystals to finish her work. Even though starting the ship would require a tremendous amount of power, Akatziris had everything within her calculations. She had the Energy Teleportation Core in her hands, the main one even. The speed of which it produced Energy Crystals was much faster than Jiang Fei’s backup Teleportation Core. There was no need for her to go out of her way to steal more Energy Crystals. Based on her calculation, by the time the ship was ready, she would have gathered enough Energy Crystals to start the ship and even operate it for some time.

Having sufficient Energy Crystals was not the main reason why Akatziris rejected Jiang Fei’s request. She had only done so because Jiang Fei had let her down for the last time. She had doubts but she remained optimistic about Jiang Fei. She took a huge blow when she discovered that Jiang Fei had no feelings for her. She blamed herself for this. How could she allow herself to dwell on Jiang Fei for so long?

With so much hatred built up, Akatziris would never agree to help Jiang Fei. Even if she had so many Energy Crystals, more than a lifetime’s worth to power the entire ship even, she would never help Jiang Fei. For what it’s worth, she decided to dedicate herself to cause trouble for Jiang Fei.

When love turns to hate, one would do anything just to make sure the used-to-be paramore suffered greatly, even if it meant suffering together with him, even if it meant to pay greater than he!

“Sister!” Isabella grunted. Until now, she was still believing in the premise that Akatziris was merely toying with Jiang Fei just to get on her nerves.

“Have you thought this through? Can you please reconsider it,” Jiang Fei asked. Although he was panicking, Jiang Fei managed to conceal his emotions well enough. If Akatziris downright rejected his request, Jiang Fei would be forced to attack the enemy on his own.

“I didn’t say I won’t work with you. I’m only not interested in the energy business,” said Akatziris. She was purposely playing around with words just to cause trouble for Jiang Fei. Even though it was just one attempt, it did make Jiang Fei felt bad. And this made her feel satisfied.

“What are you suggesting?” Jiang Fei asked, after he had drawn a deep breath. He could feel it deep in his bones that Akatziris was punishing him for his wrongdoings. What could he do then but swallow it whole? Right now, Akatziris had the higher ground. There was no one to blame but himself. He had misunderstood 0541’s message and had wronged Akatziris for it.

“Hmph… Let me think about it. You will hear from Bennette Straz after three days!” said Akatziris, grinning from ear to ear. She was thoroughly enjoying this moment. Savoring every suffering that Jiang Fei had. Every time Jiang Fei flinched or frowned, it brought an inexplicable joy to her.

“And with that, I shall take my leave,” Jiang Fei answered lifelessly. He was tired. He was sad. Most prominently, he was filled with guilt. Today was not a good day for him.

“Wait!” Akatziris came to Jiang Fei and held his hands.

“What more do you want?” Jiang Fei answered lifelessly.

“I have something to talk to you. Alone,” said Akatziris, emphasizing the last word loudly before she turned to Isabella, “sister, could you please take the other muse out. I’d like to have a word with your little lover boy.”

“What?!” Isabella was shocked. She quickly turned to Jiang Fei which he then quickly replied, “I’ll be fine.”

Isabella nodded defeatedly and took Ariel out.

“You too,” said Akatziris as she nodded towards Straz.

“Yes, my leader!” Straz answered immediately, bowing respectfully before leaving the scene with Isabella and Ariel.

“What do you want?” Jiang Fei asked.

“My master. O, my sweet-loving master. I only wanted to ask…”

Akatziris’ eyes flared with hope once again.

“Speak your mind,” Jiang Fei said. In his heart, he thought he knew what Akatziris wanted to ask until she actually spoke.

“If I’ve done something… something terrible. Something so grave, would you end me?” Akatziris asked as she looked into Jiang Fei’s longingly. At the same time, her finger flinched, beaming out invisible energy to the ring. The ring flashed and blinked repeatedly for a brief moment.