Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 288: The Last Emperor & The Last KGB Officer (3)

Dragon Raja 3

“Not every kaishakunin takes up the job of beheading. Tell me your reasons before we proceed,” Chisei replied, resting on the long sword and sitting across from him.

“The sins of my past are so numerous that they could fill volumes. There’s only one way for me to atone for them—death,” Tachibana said softly. “My real name is Bondarev. I was an intelligence officer in the KGB, and I was the one who sank the Lenin into the Japan Trench.”

Chisei’s expression changed slightly. “Go on!”

“It’s a long story, one that starts with my youth. I grew up in an orphanage in Moscow, supposedly the child of martyrs who died for the revolution. As a martyr’s son, I was honored with the opportunity to be trained at a special school for spies. At the age of 21, I joined the KGB, becoming one of their youngest and most talented agents. Before that, my life had been quite fortunate—my only troubles were some strange memories. In those blurry recollections, I was born in a desolate, snowy place—a place so barren it felt hopeless. By chance, I came across a classified file marked ‘Б’ (B), which was a KGB investigation report on a port within the Arctic Circle. The port belonged to the Soviet Union, yet even the KGB didn’t know what went on there. Tucked within the file was a list of numbers representing a group of children. In the 1960s, these children were brought out of the Arctic Circle by the Lenin icebreaker. They were then sent to various orphanages in Moscow and later entered different state institutions. This was an experiment to observe the social behavior of those children.” Tachibana paused. “I grew up in one of those orphanages.”

“You were one of them?” Chisei asked.

Tachibana nodded slightly. “Those strange memories were finally confirmed—they weren’t imagined but fragments left from incomplete brainwashing. I conducted reverse brainwashing on myself, using drugs to force myself to recall the past in my dreams. Eventually, I remembered that nameless port in the Arctic, covered in snow and ice, where I and a large group of children played in fields of blooming yellow flowers. ‘Б’ wasn’t just the name of a file, but the designation of a research project. In this project, countless test-tube babies were created. I was one of the first generation of those children—part of the first batch of test-tube babies with Dragon bloodline.”

“Go on,” Chisei said, keeping his composure.

“In that nameless port, there were Dragons, and there were Hybrids discovered across the Soviet Union. Dr. Herzog, the project leader, extracted ‘perfect genes’ from them to create new humans. Almost no one could leave that place. I only left because of the ‘social experiment.’ Herzog wanted to see how his first-generation products would integrate into society. Once the experiment was over, we were supposed to be retrieved, but I was selected by the KGB to join their secret organization, disappearing from Herzog’s sight. After regaining my memories, investigating that nameless port became my sole purpose. My identity as a KGB officer gave me significant privileges, and I discovered that the so-called ‘Б’ project had its origins in Nazi research. The Third Reich had been the most scientifically advanced regime in human history. They created the first missile, the first forward-swept-wing bomber, the first jet fighter, and they were close to developing the first atomic bomb. However, the technology they valued most has been largely overlooked by the public,” Tachibana said. “That was genetic engineering.”

“To prove that the Aryans were the superior race?” Chisei asked.

“Yes. The Third Reich’s academy gathered the world’s best biologists to compare and analyze the genes of different races, attempting to prove Aryan superiority. But the results shocked them—gene samples from Japan exhibited mysterious vitality. Japan might possess the world’s most perfect genes.”

“The genes of our family?”

“Yes, the European Hybrids were very cautious about letting their genes out, but our family gifted gene samples to Germany. At that time, Germany and Japan were allies, and the family hoped to find the path to evolution with the help of the Third Reich’s technology. Actually, it wasn’t just the Oni Clan—some in our family also longed to evolve into Dragons, believing Dragons to be the most perfect creatures on earth, with the power to change the world. However, the research didn’t progress enough before the Soviet Red Army entered Berlin. A certain Soviet official, who knew the secret of the Dragon race, acquired the gene bank along with the project’s lead scientist, Herzog. Instead of handing everything over to the Soviets, they moved all of it to the Arctic Circle. In that remote place, they built a new port as their research facility, and beneath it, they hid the intact remains of a Dragon King. This became the second major research center in the world focused on Dragons. Cassell College was the first, but they possessed even more ‘materials’ than Cassell.”

Chisei nodded. “Go on.”

“After I discovered all this, I knew I had to return to my homeland. I had to meet Dr. Herzog—but not as one of his ‘products.’ I created a false identity for myself as a descendant of the Romanov family, the grandson of Anastasia, from a family that has guarded the secret of the Dragons through the ages.”

“Did the Russian royal family really carry Dragon blood?” Chisei asked.

“It’s possible. According to KGB reports, Anastasia, the Tsar’s daughter, was shot by the Red Army and her body was thrown into a mine, but her body mysteriously disappeared. Whether she was resurrected or someone took her corpse remains unknown. I simply used Anastasia’s story, combined it with Rasputin’s tale, and crafted an elaborate lie. I had to make Herzog believe I was an ally, someone he could share the secrets of the Dragons with. To win his trust, I even forged a two-billion-dollar promissory note. For a senior KGB officer, that wasn’t too hard.”

“What were you hoping to gain from Herzog?”

“At first, I didn’t know. I was just too eager to learn the secret. It was a civilization of Dragons, a prehistoric world that existed before human civilization. Once that door was opened, you could enter a mythical world. Who could resist such curiosity? But I didn’t expect to find something even more thrilling.” Tachibana paused. “In the end, it wasn’t my fake identity that won Herzog’s trust, but that two-billion-dollar promissory note. At the time, the Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse, and Herzog’s research had hit a critical juncture. He was desperate for support, so even a cunning old fox like him let down his guard. He showed me his ‘factory,’ a massive nursery filled with countless incubators that looked like a beehive. Inside each incubator was an embryo, labeled with the origins of its genetic material. Among them were two of the most special ones, labeled π and ω—those were you and Chime. Herzog said you two were his closest-to-perfect creations, possessing an incredibly high proportion of Dragon blood, yet stable. What he wanted to mass-produce were new humans like you, to form an invincible army.”

“He didn’t want to revive any Dragon King!” Chisei suddenly realized. “He wanted to replace Nidhogg and claim the throne!”

“Exactly. He wanted the throne of the world. This mad ambition ignited my own greed. If Herzog could do it, why couldn’t I? The seeds of a new human race were right there—whoever seized the opportunity could become the creator of a new world.”

“Since you, Chime, and I were all created using the family’s genetic material, why did only Chime and I inherit the Emperor’s blood, but you didn’t?”

“Because your genetic samples came from a great man, while mine came from an ordinary branch of the Tachibana family. My maternal genes came from a woman named Tachibana Chiyo, and my paternal genes from a Russian named Lavrov. My bloodline isn’t pure; I’m just a distant branch of the Tachibana family. But you two are different—your paternal genes came from a man named Uesugi Koeru. He was once the leader of the Yamata no Orochi, the only, and strongest, Emperor of that era!”