The Almighty Ring

Due to unfortunate settings in the game, Akatziris had never once revealed her identity or made any sudden moves to break character. For as long as possible, she had kept a low profile until she was chosen by Veigar to be revived in the real world.

That was her one and only escape route, and she took it without hesitation. With mastery over Namekian technology, she built an outstanding profile amongst the other machines. In time, she managed to create a hierarchy and lead a group of her own, breaking off from Veigar.

Before that moment, if she had been in the presence of Veigar or the three Elemental Lords, Akatziris would practically be a little bird in the nest of a hawk. If they had found Akatiziris sooner, they could have simply destroyed her. The tables turned when Akatziris completely took over the ship. With the power of Braveheart, she could not be stopped.

The three Elemental Lords were rather unfortunate. They had just stolen the Bio-Lab as well as Bio-Pod and used them to create living bodies for themselves. Neptulon was even luckier than the rest for he had obtained the Core of Time, although it was rendered useless when he was trapped inside the prison room.

They thought they had hit the jackpot when they managed to find their tracks through the space-time continuum. However, not only did they fail to capture Jiang Fei and the ship, they were caught, rendered powerless, and forced to face the captain whom they thought to be dead. They were more afraid of their original captain than any other threat they had faced.

“So it makes sense now…” Jiang Fei muttered to himself. These people were once Namekians, and Akatziris was the original captain of Braveheart. No wonder 0542 and 0543 would betray him again and again. 0543 had only been born recently, possessing zero evolution progress, yet she, too, had decided to betray Jiang Fei. Right then, Jiang Fei realized that they had never betrayed Jiang Fei! They could not do it because their protocol clearly stated that any Namekian would automatically be the captain of Braveheart should they made an appearance. Compared with Akatziris, Jiang Fei was the puppet of the show, and she was the puppeteer.

“Captain! I’ve explained everything! Please spare us!” Ragnaros pleaded. All three Elemental Lords could never be revived, and this death would truly be the end of it all.

“I’ll deal with you later.” Akatziris scoffed before she addressed Jiang Fei, “Now, do you understand what is going on? Do you understand who the real owner of this ship is now?!”

Jiang Fei could not say a word. By right, Akatziris was the real owner. He had nothing to say to claim the ship as his. Even so, Jiang Fei had to admit that the greed in him was never going to allow him to give up just yet. He had spent too much on the hunt for Braveheart’s parts around the world. To ask him to give up his conquest for Braveheart just because the truth dictated it would be akin to asking him to give up everything he had done and return to square one!

If there was one thing Jiang Fei had learned throughout his journey, it was the unrelenting urge to fight on. As fortunate as he could be right then, he still had one ally!

“Come on, old buddy. Don’t you let me down now!” Jiang Fei thought to himself. Isabella, the strongest fighter then, was powerless against the walls of the prison. To depend on the girls—even if there were fifty of them—to escape the room would be asking a group of children to fight a war.

Also, even if they could escape the prison room, what could they do to fight Akatziris when she had complete control over the ship? One way to defeat Akatziris right then was to have an ally from behind enemy lines! Just so happens, Jiang Fei had one!

0541 was Jiang Fei’s ultimate trump card. During the last inspection, he had managed to unlock 0541’s seal but not his entire program. It had been running in the background for a while but Jiang Fei had no idea what the progress was. By hook or by crook, Jiang was going to bet everything on 0541.

Then again… something inside him was telling him to be careful. While 0541 was truly one of a kind, there was reason to believe that even 0541 would have to follow Akatziris’ orders. It was obvious that 0541 was subjected to the deep protocol of all support systems. Unless he wished to be locked up again, he had to obey Akatziris.

0541 could have unsealed himself but whether or not he would help Jiang Fei was another matter entirely.

“Sister! What are you thinking?! Please don’t do this! Please, stop!” Isabella cried her eyes out. She knew the truth about herself and the false memory of her sister. Even so, those memories were so real that it became a reality in Isabella’s mind. It was the same as Akatziris’ feelings for Jiang Fei.

Namekians were asexual beings. Emotion existed but never romantic like that of humans. No one in Namek had a gender. Even though Ragnaros and Neptulon were male, while Akatziris and Therazane were female, they were only that way because of the game’s programming.

In Namek, everyone reproduced asexually without the requirements of two separate sexes. There was no romance, no love, and no feelings for their counterparts because there was never a counterpart! Akatziris, of all people, knew that well, but she could not shake her love for Jiang Fei! That was the reason why she had always been lenient toward Jiang Fei.

The current Akatziris was never going to be the same as she was before. The embedded personality and memories inside her had affected her more than she dared to admit. If she had not been affected by them, she would have killed Jiang Fei at first sight and take the ring for herself.

“What am I doing, you say? What am I thinking, you say?” Akatziris paused for a while.

“Hmm, hahahahahahaha! What am I thinking? What a good question! I’m thinking about what I should do with the lot of you!”

Akatziris’ plan was to kill every competitor for Braveheart including the rest of the ship’s original crew members. Jiang Fei was, of course, on top of that list. However, even after capturing Jiang Fei, she could not bring herself to actually kill him. Something deep down inside Akatziris could never allow that to happen.

“Captain, please spare us! We have been nothing but loyal to you!” Ragnaros continued to plea.

“Please spare us! We’ll do anything you want!” Neptulon chimed in.

“That’s right! Spare us, we’ll do anything you ask of us!” Therazane added as she knelt down on her knees.

Akatziris paused for a moment before she announced her decree.

“I can let the two of you live. But you…” Akatziris turned to Neptulon. “You must die for me.”

“I… I understand…” Neptulon wanted to plea further but finally understood the reason why he needed to die. He had fused with the Core of Time. Akatziris obviously needed it for her own reasons, and the only way she could get it was for him to die.

“Thank you, Captain! Thank you, Captain!” Both Ragnaros and Therazane got on their knees and bowed repeatedly. Their own brother, who had just been sentenced to death, was ignored.