Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 292: The Last Emperor & The Last KGB Officer (7)

Dragon Raja 3

“So, you killed even more people,” Chisei said.

“Yes, people are like that. Once they make the first mistake, they continue making more, using new mistakes to try and fix the old ones,” Tachibana sighed deeply. “It was only then that I realized the dragon bloodline is something humans can never truly control. It’s the most savage and violent force in the world, something that should never be released from its cage. Anyone who tries to tame it for their own purposes is bound to be punished. I hoped my sins would end there, that everything would sink into the depths of the sea… but I never anticipated that someone on the lifeboat had also been contaminated.”

“Chime?” Chisei asked in shock.

“No, it was Erii,” Tachibana’s voice was filled with sorrow. “It was my daughter, Erii.”

“You’re saying Erii is your daughter?” Chisei instinctively removed the cigarette from his mouth, crushing it in his palm.

For a long time, he had been unclear about Erii’s true identity. He only remembered the first time Tachibana brought Erii to meet him. It was at the shrine, with strong winds blowing cherry blossoms everywhere. Erii lay on a hospital bed, hooked up to a respirator. Tachibana said, “This is the only remaining descendant of the Uesugi family that we’ve found. Her bloodline has been recognized by the clan leaders, but her health is poor, and she requires constant medical attention. Today she’s not feeling well, so you’ll have to meet her like this.” Chisei had walked to the bedside to see a girl who appeared healthy but had lifeless eyes. Her neck was wrapped in bandages, said to be from injuries she had inflicted on herself during a violent episode. Chisei couldn’t help but feel pity for her and grew fond of her. He had pulled out his newly purchased NDS game console from his pocket and handed it to her as a gift for their first meeting. That was when Erii first began to enjoy playing video games. Chisei could hardly imagine her life before then, confined to the intensive care unit, listening to the monotonous beeping of heart monitors, always waiting for someone to ask if she felt any better, living like a creature isolated from the world.

From that moment on, his feelings for Erii solidified. It was the love of an older brother for a younger sister. He had already lost one brother, and the empty place in his heart needed a sister to fill it.

“Yes, Erii is my daughter. I’m sorry for keeping this from you for so long,” Tachibana said softly. “She should have been named Tachibana Erii, but to hide our blood relation, I gave her the Uesugi surname. My bloodline abilities are quite ordinary, so my daughter shouldn’t have possessed a superior bloodline. But you must have noticed that Erii’s bloodline is even stronger than yours. That’s because she was infected by the dragon’s fetal blood. Unlike the crew members, her body was able to accept the dragon blood and evolve, granting her the ultimate Yanling, ‘Judgement.’ But her evolution was incomplete. Even now, the dragon blood continues to erode her body. She doesn’t have much time left. This is the most painful mistake I’ve ever made. I touched upon a taboo that humans should never touch, and for that, I will lose my daughter.”

A long silence followed, and an overwhelming sense of fatigue welled up from deep within Chisei. He almost wanted to end this conversation, find a quiet place to sit alone, breathe in some fresh air, and slowly force himself to accept this cruel reality.

Before tonight, he might still have been able to abandon everything and flee to France. But after tonight, he would be wrapped in layers of destiny, unable to escape, left with no option but to fight his way out!

“And what happened after that? Now that we’ve come this far, you might as well finish the story,” Chisei said softly.

“I didn’t want Erii to die. She’s the only family I have left in this world. I knew she could lose control at any moment and turn into a Death Servitor. I had to find a way to slow the dragon blood’s erosion of her body. So, I started researching based on Herzog’s records. I underwent plastic surgery, changed my name, and joined the Execution Bureau. I hunted Oni, especially those injected with evolution drugs, and used various chemical agents to extend their lives. Herzog was both a madman and a genius; his data was invaluable. After countless experiments, I discovered some methods to suppress the dragon blood’s corrosion. The research materials have already been compiled. They’re in a black folder in the lower drawer of your office.”

“You established that gene lab for this purpose?”

“Yes, that gene lab was a replica of Herzog’s original lab, but its purpose was not to promote evolution—it was to suppress it. I found that I could extract a serum to suppress evolution from the bodies of Death Servitor fetuses. Only this serum could extend Erii’s life.”

“If you’ve mastered this technology, why didn’t you use it on Chime? He’s an Oni, just like Erii. If the serum works on her, it should work on him too! If you had the serum, why did we still have to keep killing people?” Chisei became agitated.

“My story has one final part. Once you hear it, you’ll understand why I couldn’t save Chime,” Tachibana said in a low voice. “After joining the Execution Bureau, I realized it wasn’t as easy as I’d thought to gain the protection of the Yamata no Orochi family. It’s a weak family, controlled by Cassell College, with the clan leaders acting independently and without unity. I didn’t have the strength to care for you brothers and Erii at the same time, so I sent you two to be fostered in the mountains near Kobe and devoted all my efforts to analyzing Herzog’s research. I had received advanced pharmaceutical training in the KGB, which was very useful to me. As my position in the Execution Bureau rose, I gained more access to Oni for research.”

Chisei suddenly realized something, his voice growing cold. “Father, did you intentionally develop evolution drugs for the Oni?”

“No, but someone did. When I first joined the Execution Bureau, there were only thirteen of us. We only hunted Death Servitors. For Oni who hadn’t yet fallen, we merely monitored them. For those who had joined the Oni Clan, we simply gave up on them. Each year, we only had to deal with a dozen or so Death Servitors. But then the number of Death Servitors increased dramatically—from dozens to hundreds—and their dragonification became more and more evident. I knew something was wrong. This was no mere coincidence; it was being orchestrated from behind the scenes. I analyzed several Death Servitor corpses and eventually discovered a gene purification drug.”

“Wasn’t the Molotov cocktail invented by Ryuzou Oyama?” Chisei recalled the perverse doctor.

“The Molotov cocktail is just one form of the gene drug. It has many variants, and the most powerful one is called ‘Swan Blood.’ The ingredients of that drug match the data left by Herzog. In other words, someone out there has the same information as I do. While I used it to research inhibitors, they used it to create evolution drugs, also extracted from the serum of Death Servitor fetuses. During the destruction of Black Swan Bay, I wasn’t the only survivor—someone else escaped as well!” Tachibana said. “I’ve heard that a new leader has emerged in the Oni Clan, and the evolution drugs come from them. I realized that the other survivor might be hiding within the Oni Clan, so I took the risk and infiltrated their Osaka headquarters to assassinate him.”

“Did you find that person? Who is he?”

“I don’t know. He wore a Noh mask and sat quietly at the far end of the hall. I decided to strike first and threw one of my homemade incendiary bombs at him. I had filled it with white phosphorus and napalm, capable of generating thousands of degrees of heat—hot enough to melt steel. But that person… he walked out of the fire unscathed! His clothes, including the Noh mask, were burnt to ashes, revealing his true face—thorn-like teeth and a forked tongue. He was no ordinary being but a monster, as powerful as a pureblood dragon. He was more dangerous than any Death Servitor you’ve ever faced, and unlike them, he had full consciousness.”

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