Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 485: Sakura’s Wrath (7)

Dragon Raja 3

Next to appear were Chisei in a black coat and Chime dressed as a woman. The actors looked exactly like their real-life counterparts, but Lu Mingfei wasn’t surprised. In a performance reserved by Lu Mingze, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Chisei and Chime led their respective troops into a battle scene, with the drum beats from behind the set falling like rain. The fight choreography was extremely realistic—blood and flesh flying everywhere, the special effects so lifelike that it was mind-blowing to see it on stage. Lu Mingfei found it a bit unsettling but still bearable, knowing it was just a performance. No matter how gory or violent, it wasn’t real.

What did surprise him was Erii’s appearance. The actress wore the limited-edition taffeta white dress that he had helped her buy at the shopping mall in Minami Aoyama. He still remembered the store clerk mentioning that it was a one-of-a-kind piece.

And when Erii stepped onto the stage, he once again caught the scent of “Sakura Dew.” Could it be that the girl who had been in the Mercedes earlier was this actress? Lu Mingfei felt a wave of confusion.

However, the unfolding plot quickly absorbed his attention. It was truly a captivating show, with every twist and turn catching him off guard. As each mystery unraveled, the vast conspiracy revealed itself on stage, and he had no time to think about anything else, just like Lu Mingze, who was completely focused on the story. When Herzog manipulated the circular saw, preparing to dismember Chisei, the plot reached its climax. Erii suddenly awakened from her slumber, her authoritative gaze sweeping across the stage, and the grand background music announced the awakening of a king. Both Herzog and Chime trembled under her gaze. Lu Mingfei also began to tremble, feeling a growing sense that something was wrong. The stage lights illuminated Lu Mingze’s face—his childlike features were half-lit, half-shadowed, utterly expressionless.

“Great… great God! So you are still alive!” Herzog exclaimed, abandoning Chisei on the dissection table as he staggered towards Erii, clutching a black wooden baton.

Erii roared in fury, unleashing a deafening howl that sent violent winds across the stage. But Herzog continued striking his baton, the sound so powerful that even Lu Mingfei trembled. With each hit, Erii’s expression shifted rapidly—sometimes she was the familiar girl he knew, and sometimes she was a wrathful ruler. One moment, her face showed the terror of a child about to cry, and the next, she displayed the anger of a sovereign. Herzog, eyes filled with greed, mustered his courage and approached Erii. Even when he was only three meters away, Erii did not attack, instead curling up in fear like a child. This final gesture gave Herzog the courage to act. He pounced on her, knocking her to the ground, tearing open her dress to reveal her snow-white back.

Under Herzog’s tearing hands, Erii became completely naked, her youthful, graceful curves strikingly beautiful, almost terrifying. But at this moment, Herzog was no longer interested in her beauty; what caught his attention was the scorpion-like creature crawling beneath her skin.

“What a magnificent life! What a magnificent life!” Herzog held Erii’s naked body tightly in his arms. “How could something like you be killed by a mere human?”

While no one was paying attention, the god—or saint’s remains—that had seemingly died began to move again. It was nothing more than a scorpion-like fragment of bones, yet it crawled through the blood and bit into Erii’s spine, burrowing inside.

It had realized that the perfect host was right in front of it. Erii had been prepared as its vessel from the beginning, and now it used her body to open its eyes again. Just as it was about to let out a king’s roar, the sound of the clapper interrupted it.

Like Chime, Erii had also undergone a corpus callosum surgery. Her personality switched with the sound of the clapper, and the saint’s remains fought against the clapper’s sound for control of her body but was suppressed by it.

Herzog, tears of excitement streaming down his face, kissed Erii’s lips and lifted her towards the sky, as if offering a sacrifice to an almighty god.

“This is the day the path to the underworld opens!” He stood up, slowly stepping away from Erii, retreating to stand beside Chime. “My student, hold on and don’t die yet. Use your mortal eyes to witness this great moment, or you’ll die with regrets!”

Chime was completely stunned by the scene before him. From Erii’s body, thin white threads began to sprout—exactly like the ones that had surged from the bottom of the well when the the Yamata no Orochi awakened. These threads extended from her delicate nose, chin, hair, and fingertips, connecting with the surrounding white threads.

She looked like an abandoned doll that had been left for a thousand years, covered in cobwebs. But in reality, the opposite was happening—an energetic evolution was taking place inside the cocoon of white threads. The genes of the White Empress were transforming her body.

Herzog had no intention of stopping it. After all his efforts to obtain the saint’s remains, he had willingly let Erii have the opportunity to evolve.

“You didn’t expect this, did you? What you’re seeing now is the core of the plan. That man, Bondarev, had already figured out the method to unlock the path of evolution—he just never got the chance to put it into practice.” Herzog softly praised. “The saint’s remains are parasites left behind by the White Empress. Anything parasitized by it can evolve into a dragon, but they lose their consciousness. They’re simply lending their bodies to help resurrect the White Empress. Why would she help humans? She is the supreme Dragon King, and humans are as insignificant as dust in her eyes. To keep your consciousness while evolving into a dragon, you can’t let the saint’s remains parasitize you. You need to use another vessel to house the saint’s remains, then exchange blood with the unborn White Empress. The king’s fetal blood contains the highest vitality and the weakest toxicity—it’s the ultimate cure.”

“She was born… as a vessel?” Chime stared blankly at the horrific scene before him. Sometimes the cocoon echoed with the roars of a dragon, sometimes with the cries of a girl. Erii’s soul was imprisoned in the deepest layers of her consciousness, crying out in loneliness.

Lu Mingfei suddenly erupted, hysterically rushing towards the stage. In that moment, clarity returned to him before he completely lost his mind. He finally understood what Lu Mingze had meant when he first spoke to him—he had arrived too late. The final act had already begun… no, it had already ended. What Lu Mingze had shown him wasn’t some performance—it was a reenactment of this tragedy. The Mercedes that had brought him here was the same one that had been transporting Erii. No wonder the scent of “Sakura Dew” lingered in the air. Lu Mingfei didn’t know much about high-end bath products, but he knew that scent because Erii only used that specific body wash. The suitcase left behind was also Erii’s. She was a monster capable of destroying a small town—who could possibly have captured her? There was only one person who could: the man driving her… Herzog!

Everything clicked into place. The tragedy had already occurred, and Lu Mingfei wanted to stop it, but he had arrived too late.

He wanted to jump onto the stage and put an end to this damned tragedy, but he slammed into an invisible, transparent wall. There was an unseen barrier around the stage. He couldn’t break through it, not even by ramming his head against it. All he could do was press himself against the wall, helplessly watching the tragedy unfold.

“No! No! No! Stop! Damn it! Herzog, I’ll kill you!” He pounded on the wall and screamed like a madman.

But it was useless. Herzog couldn’t hear him at all. Slowly and methodically, Herzog continued his speech, full of his gruesome theories: “You think it’s cruel, don’t you? Human history has always been this cruel. Do you know about cowpox? Once, smallpox was the most terrifying virus. One in four infected people would die, and those who survived were left scarred for life. The great Roman Empire declined because of a smallpox outbreak. But today, you hardly ever hear the word ‘smallpox’ because humans invented cowpox. Cowpox is created by infecting cows with the smallpox virus, then treating the cow’s pus and using it on humans. After passing through the cow, the virus weakens, and while it won’t cause illness in humans, it grants immunity. Isn’t Bondarev’s method similar? My pretty little girl here is like the lovable calf. Her purpose is to filter out the toxicity of the dragon’s blood for me.”

“Now, let’s add some nutrients for the rebirth of the White Empress. Your precious royal blood must be something the White Empress would enjoy. Your genes will help complete the White Empress.” He placed the barely-alive Chisei and Chime onto a small cart, pushing them towards the cocooning Erii. “I must say, you and your brother have been a great help to me. Without you, it would have been nearly impossible for me to control both the Oni Clan and the Yamata no Orochi at the same time. Especially your righteous brother—he truly believed in me. You even helped me find the Well of Bones. And now, you’ve both become sustenance for the god. I’m quite satisfied. Consuming someone’s worth bit by bit like this is the most elegant way to dine. Anything else would just be wasteful!”

With all his strength, Herzog pushed the cart towards Erii. The surrounding white threads reached out like tentacles, enveloping both Chisei and Chime. Blood immediately began flowing from their bodies towards the cocoon where Erii lay.

“Too bad no one can share this final and greatest moment with me.”

Herzog made a theatrical bow in all directions. “Ladies and gentlemen, you are about to witness the arrival of a new era! An era where you will be enslaved!”

His delight and excitement were so overwhelming that his true nature was fully exposed, fidgeting and prancing like a monkey.

A blood transfusion tube had long been inserted into the carotid artery of Uesugi Erii’s neck. Herzog connected the tubes to his own neck, and under the influence of the blood exchange machine, their blood began to circulate between them. The fresh blood of the newborn dragon flowed into Herzog’s body, while Herzog’s aged blood flowed into Uesugi Erii’s body. This was an unprecedented, grand surgery that had never been seen before, using blood as a medium, transferring the powers of the White Empress into Herzog’s body. His pupils grew brighter, as if molten lava flowed beneath them. White threads sprouted on his body, and his skin gradually became smooth and supple, glowing with the redness of an infant. He stretched out his arms blissfully, allowing the white threads to wrap around him, feeling the overwhelming power surging through his body.

No one spoke. Only one sound echoed on the stage — the soft sobbing of the girl trapped inside the cocoon, whispering someone’s name. She muttered, “…Sakura…Sakura…Sakura…”