Chapter 204: True performance

"Although I don't know where you came from, you are a good subordinate."

Esdeath waved her arms, and dozens of ice thorns beside her shot forward rapidly.

Su Xiao's pupils contracted slightly, and he began to capture the flight trajectory of those ice thorns.

Checking Zhan Long Shan in his hand slashed continuously, and those ice thorns flying toward him were slashed and shattered one after another.

Su Xiao felt that Esdeath was very strong, stronger than any enemy he had fought, but she talked a bit too much during the battle. If they fought for their lives, the two of them would very likely perish together. He had a way to deal with that move of freezing space.

Looking at Esdeath in front of him, Su Xiao suddenly thought that if he wanted to climb up in the empire quickly and approach the little emperor, Esdeath was a good opportunity.

"You won, I am your subordinate now."

Su Xiao's words stunned Esdeath.

"Are you kidding? This level of battle can't satisfy me."

Esdeath was obviously a bit unhappy.

"What if there is an army attacking from behind?"

"Army?"

Esdeath stopped her movement of rushing forward. She just loved fighting, not without reason.

Su Xiao half-squatted on the ground, inserting his fingers into the snow.

"One, three, five on the left."

Hearing Su Xiao's words, Esdeath smiled dumbly.

"Five people are also called an army? Even if 5,000 people come, it doesn't matter. A clumsy excuse, I suddenly don't want to accept you as a subordinate."

Su Xiao looked up at Esdeath.

"What if it's fifty thousand?"

Esdeath turned her head to look at her adjutant beside her.

"Have you received news of an enemy attack?"

The adjutant immediately shook his head.

"General, there has been no news from the scouts ahead..."

Boom, boom.

The earth was still trembling slightly, and in the distance, amidst the flying snow, a dark, dense mass of shadows could be vaguely seen rushing over.

"Retreat into the fortress."

Esdeath immediately led her people back into the fortress.

"You come too."

After saying this, Esdeath rushed toward the city wall.

Su Xiao put away Checking Zhan Long Shan and followed behind the numerous soldiers; according to the information in the original work, joining Esdeath's army was a good choice.

Although Esdeath was a female general with a beautiful figure, she had a tendency to abuse and torture her enemies, yet her reputation within the army was extremely high.

The money the Empire bestowed upon Esdeath was all used by her to reward the soldiers under her command; she ate and drank the same as the ordinary soldiers and had no habit of having special meals prepared for herself.

The army under Esdeath's command was different from other imperial armies; they never accepted bribes and had harmonious relations with the imperial civilians, enjoying an extremely high reputation within the Empire.

If Esdeath were to raise a banner of rebellion, the success rate would exceed ninety percent, or even higher.

Excluding the facts that she loved to torture enemies and was obsessed with slaughter, Esdeath was a top-tier military talent.

The decaying Empire was able to hold on until now largely because it relied on the hundreds of thousands of troops under Esdeath's command; of course, the fact that the Empire possessed many Imperial Arms could not be ruled out.

A huge roaring sound gradually approached from the distance; rows of soldiers were already standing on the city wall at this time. Some of these soldiers were fighting while ill, and although their spirits were flagging, their fighting will remained high.

"How could there be so many enemies? Could the intelligence be wrong?"

Esdeath stood on the city wall, staring into the distance.

The rapidly approaching dark shadows in the distance drew closer. After seeing the appearance of the shadows clearly, the soldiers on the city wall let out bursts of exclamations.

"Snowfield Wolves? Haven't these types of Danger Beasts already gone extinct?"

What entered everyone's eyes was a dense mass of giant wolves. The giant wolves' fur was grayish-white, and they were the size of tigers. As they ran, they revealed white, bone-chilling fangs, their eyes filled with ferocity and cunning.

"So that's how it is. It seems the Jibei Army has already reached a consensus with that cunning beast."

Esdeath murmured. She was born in the northern border region and understood a bit about the situation here.

"General, shall we send out troops?"

Esdeath's adjutant asked.

"No need. I was wondering before why the Jibei Army dared to invade suddenly; now it seems that beast gave the Jibei Army confidence."

Esdeath watched the numerous giant wolves below with some interest.

"You, come with me."

Esdeath looked at Su Xiao.

Su Xiao hesitated for a few seconds before nodding. This should be some kind of assessment; wanting to join the Imperial faction was not as simple as he had imagined, and his teleportation location was too much of a trap.

Esdeath gave the adjutant a few instructions. The adjutant was somewhat stunned and said urgently:

"General, this person's background is unknown; doing this is too risky."

"It doesn't matter. As long as they are strong, my army will accept them. If they have ill intentions, I'll skin them and throw them into the fire."

Esdeath turned her head to look at Su Xiao, her gaze seemingly studying where to make the first cut.

Su Xiao remained expressionless.

After sizing Su Xiao up for a while, Esdeath rushed forward a few steps and jumped off the ten-plus-meter-high city wall.

Just as she was about to land, a layer of ice formed under Esdeath's feet. After stepping lightly on the ice layer, she landed steadily.

Esdeath pressed one hand lightly onto the snowy ground.

Boom.

A layer of solid ice spread instantly. Those giant wolves that were running all came to a standstill, turning into ice sculptures.

Seeing this scene, Su Xiao was not surprised. Esdeath's development direction belonged to anti-army, while he was inclined toward killing powerful individuals.

Su Xiao also jumped down from the city wall and stood on the ice surface. A chill gradually rose; the temperature here was even lower.

The extreme cold weather in the north was very suitable for Esdeath to fight, but the combat power to kill tens of thousands of enemies in one blow was enough to shock anyone.

"Let's go."

Esdeath got up and walked toward the distance, and Su Xiao also moved forward with her.

Walking among the ice sculptures formed by the giant wolves, Su Xiao was somewhat puzzled. Where was Esdeath planning to go? And it was obvious that these giant wolves had attacked with a purpose.

"You didn't use your full strength during the fight just now, did you?"

Esdeath spoke suddenly. Su Xiao guessed that this was the other party trying to probe his background. After all, he belonged to the unknown, and if he didn't clarify his background, his infiltration plan would basically be ruined.

Fortunately, Su Xiao had read a large amount of information on Akame ga Kill and had long since simulated his background, origin, and so on in his heart.

"About seventy percent."

Esdeath was in front, Su Xiao was behind, and the two chatted as they walked.

"Seventy percent? It seems I underestimated you. A guy with your strength wouldn't just appear out of thin air. If you want to join my army, state your background and name."

"I can."

"My name is Bai Ye, from Paxiasen in the east of the Empire. I've worked as an assassin and mercenary recently, was trained in an organization in the east, and then served in the army for several years, mainly responsible for: assassination of key personnel, sabotage behind enemy lines, and beheading enemy leaders. I served in the army for five years, after which the army prepared to dispose of me, and that's it."

Esdeath's brows furrowed. In her view, Su Xiao's background was somewhat complicated; he had been an assassin and had also worked in the dark department of the army.

"Why did the army you were in abandon you?"

"I knew too many secrets. And the country I was in had already won, so they no longer needed someone like me."

Esdeath pondered whether Su Xiao's words were credible. Although Su Xiao's background was somewhat complicated, Su Xiao's strength was there; it would be suspicious if someone with such strength didn't have a complicated background.

"What is your purpose for coming to the Jibei this time?"

"I was prepared to defect to Numa Seka of the Jibei Army, but I felt that guy had no future, so I'm defecting to the Empire, which has more power."

Su Xiao's words were simple and clear, and unless Esdeath took the initiative to ask, he never said an extra word. This was the speech style most accustomed to by assassination units, and Su Xiao was trying his best to simulate it.

"After joining the Empire, what is your purpose? Or rather, what are your ideals?"

Esdeath asked the final question.

"Ideals? The purpose for which I was trained was to kill. Give me money and status, and then I kill."

Hearing Su Xiao's somewhat blunt answer, Esdeath was very satisfied. She felt she had found a treasure this time: a 'homeless' former dark department member was very popular in any unstable country, and the things they could do were things soldiers could never do.