Dragon Raja: Reboot

Chapter 156 Orochi

"Snap!"

Countless shards of glass flew into the air, reflecting the dappled sunlight of the morning.

In the instant that Genjiro was distracted, Akira Sakurai shattered the window of the old-fashioned train, leaped out, grabbed the top edge with one hand, and flipped himself onto the roof of the carriage.

He looked around. The train was stopped in the middle of the Xiajiang Bridge. At the end of the tracks, a man carrying a heavy pistol with an extended barrel was squatting on the tracks smoking. Next to him stood a strange man urinating for three feet in the wind, his bodily fluids falling into the deep valley and drawing a beautiful arc.

The crows guarding the end of the tracks stared blankly at their "target" that had climbed onto the top of the carriage.

The young master actually failed?

He was just discussing with Yaksha the local mixed-gender hot springs and the rice wine specially brewed using cold spring water.

As for the target inside the carriage, please, with the young master personally taking charge, how could we not capture him with ease?

But as it turns out, accidents always catch people off guard.

The heavy pistol's muzzle was aimed at Sakurai Akira's head in an instant. After a slight hesitation, the Raven's muzzle dropped and aimed at the target's right leg.

The family's orders were to capture Sakurai Akira alive as a priority. If conditions allowed, he was to assist the young master in capturing Sakurai Akira alive. In this case, of course, it wouldn't be to blow his head off, but rather to disable his ability to move.

But the crow soon regretted it.

He was indeed a renowned sharpshooter in the family. Even as Sakurai Akira fell backward into a chasm hundreds of meters deep, his gun still struck Sakurai Akira's right leg.

The latter's right leg exploded into a spray of blood, leaving a large hole running through it. Given the injury and the height, even Sakurai Akira, who had taken gene-enhancing drugs to reach Grade A, would have had no chance of survival if he jumped.

But that man was laughing!

The man who fell backward into the chasm, letting his body fall freely, was smiling and waving to them, like a man boarding a train in springtime, preparing to go far away, waving goodbye to a friend who came to see him off through the train window.

Crow pursed his lips, his gaze icy, and without hesitation, raised his gun, aimed at Sakurai Akira's head, and fired!

The shot hit his right shoulder. The power of the enhanced heavy pistol almost shattered Sakurai Akira's entire right shoulder. Anyone else would have screamed in agony from such an injury! But the guy remained silent, instead closing his eyes, opening his arms, and plummeting down!

A suicidal madman?!

But soon, the crow saw that the man's injuries had mostly healed in mid-air. The bleeding stopped immediately, followed by a self-healing ability that made flesh and bones grow back!

Holy crap! What kind of self-healing power is this?!

Is he a dragon?!

Crow's expression changed drastically. He tried to raise his gun and fire again, but it was too late. Sakurai Akira had blended into the huge waterfall in the rift valley, and his figure disappeared beneath the water.

"Damn it!" Crow cursed under his breath, his face turning extremely pale. The failure of the mission would not only result in him and Yaksha being held accountable, but would also affect the young master's reputation within the family!

Ogata Madoka, dressed entirely in black, emerged from the shadows, having changed out of her school uniform and white stockings. Her demeanor and appearance changed accordingly. Ten minutes ago, she was an eighteen-year-old high school girl, but now, with her hair tied in a long ponytail, she suddenly appeared to be in her twenties. She was no longer a sweet and tempting prey, but a blade exuding a chilling aura.

Sakura stood beside the crow and said calmly, "You failed?"

The crow, with a sour face, didn't reply.

He did indeed make a mistake this time. If he had aimed the first shot at the head, he believed the opponent would not have been able to escape. His "mercy" caused this failure.

He used to enjoy joking around with Sakura, but when a mission failed, he wouldn't make excuses for himself, because a man shouldn't make excuses for his failures.

"Even if you aim your first shot at his head, you might not be able to kill him," Sakura calmly commented.

The crow, its face stern, said in a hard voice, "Men don't need comforting."

"This isn't just comforting words, it's the truth," Sakura said calmly. "When you aimed at him, he didn't try to resist at all. It had nothing to do with the part you were aiming at; he simply didn't take your bullet seriously."

"Hey! If you really want to comfort me, can't you try a different approach?" the crow grumbled.

"I wasn't trying to comfort you, I was just stating the facts," Sakura said calmly. "This guy does indeed have a lot of secrets hidden inside him, and his self-healing speed is probably at the level of a dragon."

"...Is it a gene therapy drug?"

"It's hard to say, maybe it's the power of words." Sakura thought for a moment and added, "Perhaps the fact that he took the gene-enhancing drug but wasn't consumed by the dragon blood is also related to this ability."

"If this were a Word of Power, it would be so enviable." Crow muttered enviously. "If Yaksha had this ability, our combination would be invincible. I would fire from behind, and Yaksha would stand in front as a meat shield. Tsk tsk, Sakura could just stay behind and cheer us on in her sailor uniform and white stockings."

"Hey! Don't drag me into this!" Yasha said, annoyed, as he zipped up his pants.

"Congratulations," Sakura said calmly. "You were in a state of self-isolation for ten seconds longer this time than last time."

"Oh dear, it's all thanks to Sakura's guidance!" Crow wiped his nose and shrugged shamelessly.

Sakura stopped talking and sat on the railway tracks to pack up her school uniform and socks, rolling them together with the handmade ceramic urn and cat hair accessories, and stuffing them into a plastic bag labeled "13".

As a ninja, Sakura has dozens of identities that she can use at any time. By simply changing her hairstyle and makeup, she can lower or raise her age by more than ten years. Naturally, the cat "Little Sticky" does not exist in the world. These are all scripts that Sakura has prepared in advance.

When someone suddenly tries to impersonate another person, they will always reveal their flaws. But a ninja will fantasize for years that another person lives inside her body, constantly adding details to make her more complete and captivating. That's how "Ogata Madoka" came to be.

From any angle, Sakura was confident that she had not revealed any flaws or clues.

but……

This guy named Akira Sakurai seemed strange from the very beginning.

His opening remarks seemed to suggest that he had been waiting for "Xiaoyuan" to appear from the very beginning.

Did he anticipate in advance what identity he would appear in?

Is there a mole within the law enforcement team?

If this was merely what made Sakura suspect whether there was a mole among the law enforcement officers, then the subsequent conversation made Sakura even more suspicious.

As she began to review the previous conversation, she suddenly realized that Sakurai Akira had no reason to know about the cat named "Sticky," which only existed in the female ninja's fictional fantasy!

Even if there were a mole within the law enforcement team, it would be impossible for them to have this information!

But he happened to know, and even offered to let me tell him the story of Xiao Nian!

What's wrong with this guy?

"Did he escape?" Genji stepped out of the carriage, stood on the tracks, and looked out into the hundred-meter-deep chasm.

"Is the young master alright?" Sakura asked.

Yuan Zhisheng shook his head, lit a cigarette, and stared blankly at the distant sky for a while.

"Let's go back." After a long while, Genjiro stubbed out his cigarette and said calmly.

"Young Master, aren't we going to gather men to hunt him down?" Crow asked in astonishment.

Yuan Zhisheng stopped, looked down at the hundred-meter-deep chasm, and said softly, "If he can survive at this height, you'll just be throwing your lives away if you go up there in the wild."

"Why didn't Young Master make a move just now?" Sakura suddenly asked.

Genji was silent for a moment, then asked, "Sakura, have you ever been to Otaru? What's Otaru like?"

"I'm sorry, I've never been there," Sakura replied calmly.

"I've been there! I've been there!" Crow eagerly raised his hand. "Just follow the railway tracks and you'll get there. It's a very beautiful place. There's a Buddhist temple from the Kamakura period in the mountains, and the sake and hot springs are excellent. There's also a communal bathing hot spring that girls with very delicate skin often go to!"

"That does sound like a good place for tourism and burying friends," Genjiro mused. "Have any of you crows ever experienced a school trip?"

"I dropped out of junior high to dedicate myself to the great cause of revitalizing my family. There's no need for a vacation or anything like that. Isn't it just to get closer to the prettiest girl in my class during the trip? If I'm lucky, I might just succeed on the trip," Crow said smugly, spreading his hands. "But the reason I dropped out of school is because I succeeded with the prettiest girl in my class."

"Sometimes I really don't know if we're the villains or the prey are the villains," Genji said casually. "Then let's take a few days off like a business trip. Let's go to Otaru. Sakura, do you like railways?"

"railway?"

"I like railways. If you walk along a railway, you're sure to find a city or some other inhabited place at the end. Unlike birds flying in the air, they have no idea what awaits them ahead."

"Does the young master want to go to Otaru because of Sakurai Akira?"

"...Sakura, don't always be so perceptive," Genji said helplessly. "Okay, that guy does make me very concerned."

"What aspect do you care about?"

"Many things, like what he said." Genji paused. "Sakura, you felt it too, didn't you? This guy seemed to have anticipated our arrival, watching our every move."

"Perhaps there is a traitor within our ranks."

"Is that so?" Genji glanced back at the crow and the yaksha.

The two men's hair stood on end. They raised their hands high above their heads and cried out, "Young Master, we're innocent! We are absolutely loyal!"

"It seems we can rule out the possibility of internal sabotage," Genji said calmly, withdrawing his gaze.

Sakura was silent for a moment, then whispered, "Word of Power: Prophet."

Genjiro's pupils contracted. He had heard of this Word of Power. It was said that there was currently a student in the main department who possessed this Word of Power. This Word of Power was believed to be able to peek into fate, but in fact, it was very difficult for the host of this Word of Power to control it. Historically, those who possessed this Word of Power almost always used it passively as a "prophet".

"Let's leave the discussion here for now." Genji glanced at his watch. "Yaksha, Crow, hurry up, the next train is arriving in three minutes."

"Understood!" Yaksha and Crow scrambled onto the roof of the carriage.

A fierce wind swept down from the sky as a massive engineering helicopter rose from behind the mountain, hovered above the railway bridge, and dropped steel cables with hooks. After securing the two hooks, the helicopter lifted the carriage off the bridge and then released the hooks, letting it fall into the valley. The burning carriage crashed against the rocks with a deafening roar, startling flocks of birds roosting in the forest.

While the crow and the demon were cleaning up the mess, Sakura stood in the shadows behind Genji.

"What is the young master thinking about?"

"I don't know." Genji sighed, looking inexplicably weary. "In fact, I don't even know what I'm thinking."

"Are you really that concerned about Sakurai Akira's last words?"

"...You heard it too?"

"Um."

"What I care about isn't the words themselves, but the person who had Sakurai Akira deliver the message to me," Genji said softly. "I want to talk to him in person."

……

……

Follow the water flow downstream.

Akira Sakurai emerged from a pool of water, his body covered in fine, ferocious dragon scales, his pupils gleaming with a majestic crimson gold.

A girl in a white dress sat on a rock by the pool, splashing water with her bare feet, humming an unknown tune.

"Mako, have you been waiting long?" Sakurai Akira climbed out of the pool, placed the waterproof travel bag beside him, took a breath, and removed the bloodline mark.

The dragon scales covering his body slowly disappeared beneath his skin, the crimson gold in his pupils gradually faded, and the burning dragon blood gradually calmed down.

The girl rested her chin on her hands, smiling sweetly, and said, "I always feel that you are more manly with the bloodline mark."

Sakurai Akira paused for a moment, then couldn't help but smile wryly.

The Bloodline Mark is a special ability bestowed upon him by the adults. In this state, he can no longer be called human, but rather a beautiful yet ferocious creature. His bulging muscles and protruding tendons tell people about the immense power contained within his body.

Under the Bloodline Mark, his bloodline will be forcibly elevated to a level close to that of a pure-blooded dragon in a short period of time, and his self-healing ability will be even better.

The adults gave this state a name—【Orochi's Remnant】.

The reason it is incomplete is because its bloodline is not yet sufficient to support the complete [Yagito].

He didn't know what price the adults would pay for granting him this ability, but he knew very well that among the six, only he had obtained the Bloodline Mark.

This is an unparalleled honor, but also an immense pressure.

That is why, in the bizarre world behind that demon-slaying gate, Sakurai Akira was always the most insane one.

He honed his martial arts skills and tempered himself in life-or-death situations, just so that he wouldn't be powerless to help adults when they needed it, just like before.

"Speaking of which, Your Word of Power and Bloodline Mark are a perfect match, Myojun. Could it be that the Lord bestowed upon you [Orochi] because of your Word of Power?" the girl suddenly asked.

Sakurai Akira rolled his eyes. This guy was always resentful that he was the only one to receive the master's favor, and he always analyzed from various angles why he was able to gain the master's favor.

He lay sprawled on the edge of the pool, the sunlight shimmering on the water's surface. He yawned, preparing to take a nap there.

While the effects of Bloodborne are terrifying, they are also very mentally and physically demanding.

"My Lord, have you fought against that Amaterasu?" the girl asked curiously.

"No, I smashed the car window and ran away. I definitely wouldn't be able to win in a real fight, and the other party wasn't alone. If I got entangled, I wouldn't be able to come back." Sakurai Akira yawned.

"Even with the bloodline mark, you're still not confident you can defeat Amaterasu?" The girl wrinkled her nose, dissatisfied. "Are you too weak, or is she too strong?"

Sakurai Akira sighed, "She's Amaterasu no Tsurugi. The nobility of imperial blood is something we demons can't contend with. Even with the master's blessing, I haven't had enough time to hone my skills. If I could fully master the bloodline mark, perhaps I could put up a fight. Of course..."

He paused, then chuckled, "My Word of Power, combined with my Bloodline Mark, can be more terrifying than this Amaterasu in certain situations."

The girl pouted in boredom, clapped her hands, got up and urged, "Let's go, let's go back to sleep, the adults are already waiting for you."

Sakurai Akira sat up abruptly, his eyes gleaming, and asked, "You've come to Japan, sir?"

Mako smiled charmingly and said, "I'm sorry, it's not that person, but someone else, your dear editor Ze."

……

……

Note: A brochure explaining combat capabilities will be posted later.

(End of this chapter)