Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 433: Night of Wind and Tides (13)

Dragon Raja 3

As he turned, he saw Sakurai Nanami rolling up the sleeves of her kimono and loosening the hem, holding a gleaming tanto of her own.

Meanwhile, the guests were desperately trying to push open the massive door in an attempt to escape Takamagahara. The door had a steel core wrapped in fine camphorwood, intricately carved by a master artisan. It weighed over a ton and was motor-driven—a symbol of Takamagahara’s prestige. But now, it was the very thing blocking their path to survival. The emergency exits had also failed, as waves of white water gushed in through the fire escape.

Fūma Kōtarō led the Iron Squad toward the third floor, but as soon as they reached the stairwell, they heard the sound of dense footsteps from above. He instinctively pulled back the officer at the front, and in the next moment, a hail of bullets rained down. Blood splattered as several men were hit.

Gunmen in frogman suits had taken control of the stairwell. Their masks bore the flowing kanji for “Oni”—they were Oni Clan.

“Out of the way!” Fūma Kōtarō leaped onto the stair railing, as light as a dragonfly landing on a lotus leaf. He sprinted through the barrage of bullets, his tanto flashing like silver lightning as it slit the throat of a gunman.

Though he was old, he was still the King of Ninjas. Even if he didn’t have a blade, even if he was only given a razor blade, he could still kill. If the Oni Clan thought a few gunmen could keep him from reaching the patriarch, they were underestimating the leaders of Yamata no Orochi.

Chisei kicked open the door and rushed onto the rooftop. Lightning tore through the clouds, illuminating Tokyo beneath him.

A Tokyo consumed by despair.

Everywhere he looked, there was only ocean. Dark waves surged forward, crashing against the ruins and sending white foam spraying into the air. The water undulated, stretching out like an endless wasteland. Branching lightning struck the sea surface, resembling monstrous trees growing from the blackened abyss into the sky.

The coastal areas had suffered the worst. Skyscrapers tilted at unnatural angles, their exposed steel reinforcements reaching toward the heavens like skeletal fingers. Two towers had collapsed toward each other, their rooftops colliding into a lonely, broken “人” (human) shape.

The city had become an archipelago, with buildings transformed into isolated islands amidst the rising black tide.

How could this be happening? They had killed the god—the mercury-stained bones at the bottom of the Crimson Well bore witness. The biologists at Ganryū Research Institute had examined those remains over and over, confirming there were no survivors. The creatures they found were grotesque beyond any artist’s imagination—reptilian, mammalian, and ichthyic features all appearing within a single organism. Giant blind eels, over two meters long, had evolved with the powerful forelimbs of lions and tigers. Some serpentine beings bore forked spines, growing two, sometimes even three heads. Everything about them matched what Tachibana Masamune had once described—the cave sealed off by Rasputin years ago. The fetal blood of the gods had mutated the underground river’s ecosystem, triggering a chaotic evolution. The biologists had found no divine presence among the corpses.

Could it be that the god had never been carried by the Akaoni River into the Crimson Well? Had Osho already obtained the god?

Chisei knew exactly what he had to do. The Tsuru Squad’s helicopter would surely attempt a rescue—right now, it was the only way to leave Takamagahara quickly. He had to return to Genji Heavy Industries at once. Without him, there would be no way to organize a new defense.

The Tsuru Squad arrived as expected. Their armed helicopter fought against the raging storm, drawing closer to Takamagahara. A figure inside waved to Chisei before throwing down a rope ladder.

But before Chisei could reach it, a streak of fire pierced through the helicopter. “Ninja” was instantly engulfed in flames, the deafening explosion shaking the air. Its rotor blades sheared off from the fuselage, slashing into a nearby skyscraper.

That was a man-portable anti-air missile. The one who fired it was standing on a rapidly approaching speedboat. The nimble boats leapt over the turbulent waves, surrounding Takamagahara from all sides. They were packed with men in frogman suits, wielding military-grade shotguns. These were the same operatives who had eliminated the Yagumi snipers—emerging from underwater to ambush them before they could react. One by one, the elite sharpshooters had fallen.

A massive black shadow broke through the clouds, descending slowly. It was the rigid airship again. Despite the fierce winds, it remained unnervingly stable—far more resistant to turbulence than a helicopter. While the Tsuru Squad had risked their lives to land, the airship was calmly and precisely lowering its cargo onto Takamagahara’s rooftop.

A shipping container crashed onto the rooftop, cracking open the concrete. From within, the cries of an infant leaked through the fissures. Then, snake-like shadows slithered out. They wriggled sluggishly at first, as if sniffing for Chisei’s scent, then suddenly sprang to life, hissing and rising like towering trees before him.

The speedboats deployed grappling hooks, securing themselves to Takamagahara’s walls. Gunmen climbed through windows, kicking down doors and firing without hesitation. The Death Servitors ignored the Oni Clan operatives entirely—their eyes were locked solely on Chisei.

Chisei quickly drew two conclusions. One, the Oni Clan had indeed found a way to control the Death Servitors. Two, they had no intention of letting anyone leave Takamagahara alive. If he wanted to escape, he’d have to carve a path out himself.

Which, fortunately, was something he excelled at.

The elevator doors opened, but what poured out was an entire shaft filled with water.

Lu Mingfei was utterly stunned.

He had just escorted Chime to the elevator when the air raid sirens blared. Then came the roar of rushing water, the tremors in the ground—before they knew it, they were being swept down the corridor by a powerful current. Saltwater forced its way into his mouth and nose, bitter and briny.

He flailed uselessly, dizzy and choking, until Chime grabbed him and hauled him to the surface.

Spitting out water, he finally took in his surroundings. In an instant, the hallway had turned into a river. White rapids raged as far as the eye could see, rising over two meters high. They couldn’t touch the floor, only barely keeping hold of a wall lamp to avoid being swept away.

One by one, the ceiling lights short-circuited and went out. Darkness gradually swallowed them.

“W-what’s happening? Did the drainage system collapse?” Lu Mingfei stammered. He struggled to apply logic, and the only reasonable explanation he could come up with was a sewer rupture.

“No, it’s Osho! He’s here!” Chime whispered, trembling more and more violently, losing control. They hadn’t even seen Osho’s shadow, yet fear had already gripped him.

“Don’t talk nonsense! That’s impossible!” Lu Mingfei tried to reassure him. “Even if Osho came, he’d need to know how to swim!”

That much was true. If Osho had really shown up, he’d probably be wearing swim trunks and goggles because Takamagahara had turned into an ocean.

“No, you don’t understand. Osho really is here! He won’t let me meet my brother. From the moment I met him, I’ve never been able to escape,” Chime’s eyes filled with a gray, deathly color. “He’s a demon… he’s a demon!”

Lu Mingfei was frantic, but there was nothing he could do. If they stayed in the flooded basement much longer, they’d both drown. But Chime had lost all will to fight, muttering endlessly that Osho had come.

The water beside him suddenly turned red. Lu Mingfei was momentarily stunned before he turned to look at Chime’s pale face. Taking a deep breath, he submerged himself underwater. One glance and his blood turned cold. He could see clearly—the sharp edge of the wall lamp had sliced open Chime’s waist. When the current had slammed them into the wall, Chime had used his body as a shield, sparing Lu Mingfei from a direct impact. But he was no longer Ruri; in his current weakened state, shielding Lu Mingfei had come at the cost of his own life. From the looks of that torn wound, even if Osho didn’t come to claim his soul, Chime wouldn’t survive much longer unless they found an ambulance quickly.

But in the midst of this chaos, where could they possibly find an ambulance?

Lu Mingfei glanced at Chime’s face, then looked away, desperately searching for someone to help. But there was no one in sight. He wanted to scream, to cry out in frustration, but the tears wouldn’t come. What the hell was happening? People were dying—Sakura, Tachibana, and now Chime too. It felt like all of these people were marked on some cosmic death list, and no matter how much they struggled, the outcome was always the same.