?After the defeat of the evil dragon, like the witch from the beginning, its body disintegrated into countless memory fragments.
Zero was the only one capable of this feat.
As a mechanical being, the characteristic of its kind is to observe and record everything around them every moment, using the collected data for imitation and learning, to enhance themselves.
So, in a sense, Zero is the best historical encyclopedia, a collection of stories.
Dreams can dig deep into one’s memories, and this is true for the mechanical species as well.
Now, these fragments are from the deepest part of Zero’s database.
Within the light and shadows of these memory fragments, scenes of the past are being presented, belonging to Nova’s true past,?a story where Nova meets the man in the grey robe.
…..
The blade pierces through the heart, and the gladiator in front collapses powerlessly with fear and despair.
The clean and efficient fight did not evoke cheers in the arena, but rather dissatisfaction among many spectators. After all, watching a one-sided match might be fine once or twice, but it becomes tiresome after dozens of times, and no one wants to watch a match where the outcome is known and lacks suspense.
However, the Dragon Girl in the center of the arena does not care, or rather, in this world, there is nothing left that she cares about. The only reason she still lives, perhaps, is to fight. .𝒎
With an expressionless face, she sheathes her sword and steps over the corpse of the gladiator in a pool of blood. The Dragon Girl’s heart has become numb; this is the one hundred and third gladiator who has died by her sword.
The audience in the arena despises the Dragon Girl, and when the Dragon Girl returns to the gladiators’ resting room, all the gladiators inside cast hateful and resentful glances at the young Dragon Girl.
It’s not because of Noya; Noya has become a thing of the past. Under the deliberate control of the organizers behind the scenes, Noya was quickly forgotten by everyone in less than half a year.
The new batch of gladiators is simply afraid of the Dragon Girl, for she is like a killing machine, a killing machine without self-awareness, becoming the knife for the organizers to “borrow and kill.”
After the incident with Noya, the organizers learned their lesson and increased control over the gladiators.
Whenever there appears a gladiator rising in popularity, the organizers immediately arrange for them to face the Dragon Girl.
As for the outcome, it was just like the last match.
So, the Dragon Girl now is like a dark cloud looming over all the gladiators’ heads, a sharp sword hanging over their necks.
But they are helpless because they cannot defeat her.
No, not just defeat; no one can even inflict a scratch on the Dragon Girl. So, the only thing they can do, perhaps, is to convey their hatred through their gazes in the resting room like now.
After all, the dragon girl, who cared about nothing, naturally wouldn’t care about their hatred.
However, this time in the resting room, the dragon girl sensed something different among the many gladiators’ hateful gazes at her. There was another gaze, a very calm one, with a hint of scrutiny.
The dragon girl instinctively looked towards the source of this unique gaze.
There, in a corner of the resting room, sat a man whose entire body was shrouded under a cloak.
Such attire would be considered strange anywhere.
Like a weirdo.
The dragon girl quickly diverted her gaze, continued in silence, and walked straight out of the resting room, no longer sparing another glance at the man in the grey robe.
This was… Her first encounter with “Ashen.”
After this fragment of memory, Nova, who had just cried in Renji’s arms with tear stains not yet faded and her nose red, couldn’t help but grip Renji’s clothing tighter, evidently feeling immense guilt for ignoring him at that time.
“I’m sorry master, I, back then, I…”
“I guess you must have looked down on me then, thinking I was too weak right?” Seeing Nova stammering, trying to explain but not knowing how, Renji smiled and spoke first.
After all, Nova was quite naive.
If it were Suthia, she would definitely argue a bit more, but Nova’s straightforward nature made her simply nod.
“My memory of that time is very vague, but I remember I only had one thought, hoping to find someone like me back then.”
Nova’s words were very subtle, but Renji could easily understand. She hoped for a strong person to appear, someone who could kill her in the arena just like she had personally killed Noya.
This was the liberation the dragon girl was seeking at the time.
Quickly, the next memory fragment appeared. It was from the dragon girl’s perspective, witnessing the man in the grey robe who truly, just like her initially, emerged victorious through the ranks as a newcomer in the arena, achieving a record of total victories, becoming the biggest dark horse of the season.
Naturally, such a person caught the attention of the organizers. Soon after, the man in the grey robe met with the dragon girl again, but this time, it was not in the resting room but inside the arena.
Seeing this, Nova was completely absorbed because she would never forget that day.
It was this man, whom she had ignored and considered weak, who truly defeated her in the subsequent arena duel.
It wasn’t that the man in the grey robe had hidden his strength; on the contrary, once the fight began, she sensed correctly that her own power was indeed far superior to Ashen back then.
The real reason for her defeat was losing in what she was most confident in – her martial skills.
Indeed.
Nova vividly remembered this battle. All her moves seemed to be anticipated by Ashen, as if he knew exactly what she was going to do next and had his defenses ready in advance.
For the first time, Nova felt that despite her immense strength, it was as if she was hitting cotton.
On the surface, Ashen’s vitality might only withstand two of her strikes, at most not more than five, to end it directly. However, the problem was that Ashen could always respond brilliantly, either using strange artifacts or special abilities.
Thus, the scene unfolded with the dragon girl entangled in a prolonged struggle with the man in the grey robe under the shocked gazes of many gladiators, spectators, and the organizers, unlike her countless previous matches that were clean and decisive.
Even as time passed, the dragon girl went from having an absolute advantage to gradually being on equal footing, and finally, she was completely at a disadvantage, having expended a great amount of her strength and becoming physically drained.
However, looking at the man in the grey robe, whose face was hidden by the cloak and could not be seen by anyone, his demeanor showed no sign of relaxation; on the contrary, he seemed to be even more vigilant and tense.
Renji, holding Nova, was also recalling the details of this memorable “BOSS battle” from the game.
At the end of that fight, it was no wonder he was nervous.
After all, this was the time when the BOSS would use her ultimate move.
𝑖.𝘤ℴ𝘮