Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 293: The Last Emperor & The Last KGB Officer (8)

Dragon Raja 3

Chisei shivered slowly. “He too… was corrupted by dragon blood!”

“Yes, that strange entity was a ‘half-evolved form’ corrupted by dragon blood. Like Erii, he was in the middle stage of evolution. He hadn’t yet fully fallen into becoming a Death Servitor, but it was only a matter of time. This explains why he was so desperate to create an effective evolution drug—it’s the only thing that could save him. He has no way back; his only option to survive as a complete being is to evolve into a dragon!” Tachibana took a deep breath to calm himself. “To this day, I cannot forget that scene. That half-evolved form walked out of the raging fire, and he recognized me! He smiled at me! He looked like the emperor of demons, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his face, from that smile. The overwhelming pressure made it impossible for me to breathe. I could only kneel and bow to him, waiting for him to kill me… but then my phone rang. It was you calling, asking me something trivial about whether I wanted to go hiking over the weekend. I mustered all my strength to press the answer button, and suddenly, the immense pressure on me lifted. I fled for my life, though with his abilities, I shouldn’t have had a chance. He was on the same level as Erii. Fortunately, I had prepared for this. Before infiltrating, I planted explosives. I remotely detonated the bombs and escaped through a window, burying him under a twelve-story building.”

“Did he die?” Chisei asked.

“No, without a doubt, he didn’t die. Afterward, even stronger evolution drugs quietly spread among the Oni.” Tachibana’s voice grew heavy. “I know I can’t escape now. Osho has recognized me. He must have been one of the researchers at Black Swan Bay and had seen me before. Though I altered my appearance, it wasn’t enough to fool him. My sins from that time have been unearthed, and the person who discovered them is a demon! I must kill him, even if it costs me my life! This demon is something I personally unleashed from hell.”

“No wonder you’ve been cautious in everything you do, except when it comes to fighting the Oni Clan. Against them, you’ve become a reckless warmonger,” Chisei said.

“Yes, I have to use all my power to wipe out the Oni Clan and kill Osho! To do that, I rose in the ranks of the family, revealing my identity as the heir of the Tachibana family. I passed the bloodline test, became the head of the Tachibana family, and eventually the clan leader. Finally, I had the strength to face Osho. I also had you and Chime—you are π, and Chime is ω. You two are Herzog’s most successful creations. After Black Swan Bay was destroyed, the gene bank was lost. Even if Herzog came back to life, he couldn’t create another like you two. You are the only ones with a chance of contending with Osho. I waited for you both to grow up and awaken… but I was wrong. When it came to you and Chime, Herzog lied to me. The two of you were meant to be experimental comparisons—a pair of ‘mirror images.’ The dragon genes you carry are opposite.”

“Herzog separated the dragon genes, just like human genes, into a double helix. He speculated that one strand would create stable hybrids, while the other carried the most powerful bloodthirsty traits. But he didn’t know which strand held the bloodthirsty genes, so he used each strand to create a hybrid. One of you has the bloodthirsty genes in your sequence, while the other doesn’t. You were meant to be compared—one is a successful product, while the other is doomed to fail. The reflection in the mirror is a noble emperor, but the image it reflects is a ferocious Oni. That’s what it means to be ‘mirror images.’”

“So Chime was the failed experiment,” Chisei murmured.

Tachibana shook his head. “No, you were the failed experiment. Herzog wanted the Oni with the bloodthirsty genes. If he could figure out how to control the Oni, he could create a terrifying army. He didn’t want to create emperors—you were the byproduct!”

“No wonder Chime changed,” Chisei said quietly. “The Oni inside him awakened. My brother disappeared, and only the Oni occupying his body remained.”

The lights outside cast shadows on his face, making it look as hard as lapis lazuli.

“The story is over. Now you understand why I passed the position of clan leader to you, right? Because I am a sinner. I am not qualified to lead the clan into a long, contentious war,” Tachibana said in a mournful voice. “Because of my greed, many people have died. My hands are stained with blood. I released a demon from Siberia but lacked the power to kill him. I implicated you and harmed Erii. Today, my experiments caused the deaths of so many innocent people. According to the clan rules, I should commit seppuku to atone for my sins. After I do, you will be able to give the clan an explanation. But before I die, I have one last request. I hope you can fulfill it.”

Tachibana straightened up and pulled out his short blade, the cold light gleaming from its edge. He looked at Chisei silently, with a gaze that was both resolute and pleading.

“Yes, for someone who has made such grave mistakes to go unpunished, how could I, as the clan leader, face these innocent clan members who died in vain?” Chisei said, looking at the bodies covered with white sheets. “Tell me your request.”

“There’s no need to mention killing Osho; that’s already understood,” Tachibana said, undoing his shirt and revealing his still-muscular abdomen. “My request is about Erii. She’s already a half-evolved being, more dangerous than many of the Death Servitors you’ve killed. But she is my only daughter, and I can’t bear to see her executed. She doesn’t have much time left. Besides me, you are the only person she trusts in this world. If she can be useful in the battle against Osho, that would be ideal. But if she completely loses control, then I ask you to be the one to take her life. However, until that day comes, please let her live happily. There’s no need to tell her about me. She’s lived all these years without knowing she had a father. Telling her now would only add to her sorrow.”

“I understand, all of your requests are reasonable.” Chisei threw his cigarette butt to the ground, crushed it under his foot, and drew his divine blade.

Tachibana let out a long breath and softly recited, “The heart has long been sick, the soul roams barren fields in dreams.”

This was a slightly altered version of the death haiku left by the Japanese haiku master Matsuo Bashō before his death: “Falling ill on a journey, dreams run about in a withered field.” The meaning of the words rippled like wind over water. As the last words of a black path overlord, it was imbued with too much Zen philosophy. Tachibana had spent the last twenty years transforming from a once-ambitious KGB agent into a man of Japanese spiritual cultivation.

Chisei kicked the blade into position and walked behind Tachibana, lifting the divine sword high above his head. Tachibana plunged his short blade into his lower left abdomen. The ritual of seppuku started with a cut from the left side of the stomach to the right, followed by the kaishakunin beheading the person to end both their pain and their life.

The divine blade came down, sweeping with an arc of light. Blood splattered from Tachibana as he collapsed, trembling.

The short blade was embedded in the ground, and all five fingers of Tachibana’s right hand, which had held the blade, had been severed. He hadn’t managed to plunge the short sword into his stomach.

Chisei remained expressionless as he sheathed his sword, then pulled out a handkerchief to tightly bandage the base of Tachibana’s fingers to stop the bleeding. His swordsmanship was precise: he had severed all of Tachibana’s fingers but left just enough of the stumps to be able to tie them off to stem the blood flow.

Series Navigation

<< Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 292: The Last Emperor & The Last KGB Officer (7)Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 294: The Last Emperor & The Last KGB Officer (9) >>