“What were those memories just then.”
“Who knows.”
“…Did you kill all of them?”
Yu Jitae shook his head. Things have gone back in time and all the black dragons that he had killed should all be alive again.
“They are all alive for now.”
Myu had already given in, so it was not a wise idea to continue instigating her hatred.
Her favourability facing him was at extreme levels already and was close to exceeding the limits. Considering that they had to spend quite some time together due to the experiments, it was a better idea to create an amicable relationship even at a superficial level.
He used the stick, and it was now time for the carrot.
“There is no need to hate me too much.”
He found it ridiculous after saying such words, considering how he already hated Myu himself.
“Let me reiterate this. As long as you cooperate, I will guarantee as many things as I can.”
“…”
“It takes a hundred years for a normal dragon to create their nest right? If you did that in 5 years, you must have been trying your hardest to settle on Earth while cutting down on your sleep. You must have been desperate as well.”
“…”
Her slanted lips faintly curved downward. She realised that the momentum had completely shifted to his side.
“Filling the 72nd floor of the Tower of Mages with the dragon’s black metal, [Ethril], making the Tower stand on your side and inciting the entire world with a fake identity was all for you to live a good life was it not?”
“…”
“I’ll respect that at the very least and I will guarantee that you won’t be mistreated during your isolation. I will also give you some freedom.”
Her loosened eyes were still filled with hatred but it was hard to decipher her exact thoughts.
“How aggravating…”
Soon, her heart began to beat as usual.
“So my race hasn’t died yet huh…”
Myu said while gasping for breath.
It seemed that the mere attempt to stop her heart had caused trouble for the body. She grabbed her chest and calmed herself down before wiping the blood off her eyes with her white wrist.
“Yeah. Ask me anything if there is something you want to request for the cooperation.”
The outline of the negotiation was finally set. Yu Jitae was the one in control of the negotiation and he didn’t necessarily hate deals that were made under his lead.
Myu glared at Yu Jitae.
Lowering her gaze, she looked at her reddened wrists before turning her eyes towards the crushed bed. Soon, a light of resignation flashed past her eyes.
“I will demand three things…”
“Speak.”
But by the time she gazed back up into his eyes, it was again filled with hostility.
“One. Do not abuse me more than necessary.”
“That will depend on how you act.”
“As I have stated, no ‘more than necessary.’”
Yu Jitae remained silent.
“I will take that as a yes. Two. I conform with being isolated in this place and I will help with the experiment. However, I wish for a treatment that fits my status.”
“What is that about. Do you wish to get treated like a king?”
“Anything wrong with that?”
“… Explain the details.”
“Move the isolation room to a bigger place. Send in attendants that will move as my hands and feet and reduce the chains to the minimum. Give me an animal that I can play around as a toy and if I ever wish to spend time quietly in this place, let me lay my hands immediately on anything I desire.”
“Alright.”
It wasn’t anything difficult.
“What’s the last.”
“Before saying that, there is a question I must raise. My Nemesis. What exactly is the vivisection and experiment that you were talking about?”
“It is regarding your heart and the Origin Fragment.”
“How many experiments, and how long would it take?”
“That is unclear. It won’t finish in one go. It would have to be several times.”
Yu Jitae was expecting Myu to request for freedom at the end of the experiment. No-one in the world unconditionally wished for death and Myu must in the end have some desire to live as well.
After some hesitation, Myu opened her mouth.
“After one experiment, let me leave the isolation room for a short time.”
But her request was different from what he had been expecting.
“You want to leave?”
“Yes.”
“That won’t do.”
“Why is that?”
“Because it’ll be troublesome. Any other requests?”
“None. This is something I cannot concede. I am a black dragon and we are the wandering race. I am tired of being locked up in one place.”
Her expression was serious to the point that he could sense the resolution behind her request.
“Where are you planning to go.”
“Wherever my feet carry me.”
“To do what.”
“Whatever I lay my hands on.”
In other words, she had nothing planned.
Yu Jitae stopped his words. If Myu had to go outside, there was only one way to do it.
“…There is a condition.”
“Speak.”
“Wherever you’re going and whatever you’re doing – from the moment you leave the isolation room until you return, you must be with me. You cannot go outside the boundaries I have regulated and you cannot do things I tell you not to do.”
Myu curiously asked back.
“Right. I was expecting that much. But, what is this boundary and what are the things that I cannot do?”
“Brainwashing someone, deceiving them, attempting to run away, or sending those disgusting thoughts of yours to someone else. Things that interfere with my experiment.”
“What ‘disgusting thoughts’. If only I could torture you to death…”
Revealing her fangs, Myu growled.
“…Alright. What about anything else? How about coming into contact with humans?”
“It will be fine as long as they do not interfere with the experiment.”
“Even if I were to allow ten able men into the bedroom, do you mean you will be simply watching over the window?”
“The debaucherous life of dragons is none of my business.”
Myu glared at Yu Jitae with a crooked gaze before caressing her aching cheeks. She contemplated but she probably knew that this was everything he could permit and that there weren’t any other things she could choose.
“My Nemesis.”
Before long, Myu opened her mouth with a resigned look.
“Explain the experiment process to me.”
“There will be a physical and mana contact with the Origin Fragment.”
“So you will be splitting the skin.”
“Yes.”
“How dangerous is it.”
“It won’t be dangerous at all.”
“Will you be inserting objects? I hate discomfort.”
“There is none. The experiments will end with each experiment. However, it will be painful and will thus require anaesthesia. At times a recovery will be necessary after the experiments.”
“Does that bag have tools for the experiment?”
Myu pointed at the cubical bag he brought in.
“No. That’s for the anaesthesia. Since the shock and pain will be considerable.”
“Tranquilising the dragon heart, is something difficult to imagine.”
“It is quite troublesome. It will take around a fortnight for the anaesthesia to tranquilise the entirety of an adult dragon’s heart.”
“…Alright. I have understood it all.”
She raised her body that had been leaning on the wall.
“Begin right now. That heart experiment or whatever.”
“After fixing the broken bed.”
“No. Do it now. I must get out of this suffocating place as soon as possible.”
“Alright.”
Things advanced smoothly now that they had matching thoughts. Myu used magic to create an alternate space on the floor and laid herself down on it. Yu Jitae approached her and opened his bag.
“Before starting the experiment I will carry out the anaesthesia. Sit back. Once it goes in and you feel sleepy, do not resist it.”
But blinking her purple eyes, Myu said something outside his expectations.
“There is no need.”
“What?”
“There is no need for anaesthesia. Did you not say it would take a fortnight?”
Lying on the ground, she grabbed onto the neck part of her t-shirt with extended claws, and pulling it straight down, she ripped it in half.
The body that was made by mimicking a human body was revealed.
“Do not waste any time.”
Myu closed her eyes.
He had mentioned already that he would be cracking open the dragon heart. It was like ripping open a person’s flesh and naturally, dragons also felt pain.
Even though she tended to act like a young entity, things like this made her look like an adult dragon.
Yu Jitae closed the bag and sharpened the killing intent at the tip of his fingertips into an extremely fine and keen point.
“Thanks for your cooperation.”
The words that unconsciously left his mouth were surprising even for him. It seemed that he had become used to daily lives so much that such words had left as a habit.
In response, Myu widened her eyes and glared at Yu Jitae with a hostile gaze. She then seethingly uttered words one by one.
“You little shit…”
He didn’t reply.
Instead, he formed over 40 utensils by articulately crafting them with killing intent. There were seven different types of knives as well as hammers, chisels, electric chainsaws, wires and needles.
“If you show signs of pain, the experiment will immediately come to a stop. And I will carry out the anaesthesia.”
“I do not mind pain.”
“It’s not because I’m being considerate of your pain. Every little twitch will be an interference to the experiment.”
“Do as you wish.”
Saying that, she closed her eyes.
Jiiinng—
And the chainsaw of killing intent began to rotate.
***
Myu suffered throughout the experiment.
By tearing through the flesh and cracking open the bones, Yu Jitae approached the dragon heart and the Origin Fragment in various ways. By crushing, splitting it, embedding devices and injecting liquids.
Despite the pain, Myu remained still and all she did was occasionally frown or grab the bed sheet. Thanks to not a single groan and not a single twitch, the experiment smoothly came to an end.
After he healed the wound and closed it,
“Is that all…?”
“Yeah.”
“Then leave at once…”
Myu finally released her tight grip on the bed sheet and fell asleep so Yu Jitae covered her body with a robe. She had lost a tremendous amount of vitality so she needed to take a long rest.
Before leaving the basement, he told Thimithi.
“Leave B-12 alone for it to recover. I will later send you further terms so follow them and contact me as soon as it wakes up.”
– Okay.
After ending the work at the isolation room, while walking down the long corridor, Yu Jitae had to pacify his emotions that were drenched with excitement.
The results of the experiment were extremely good, to an unbelievable level.
Due to the crack in the [Will of the Ancient One], Yu Jitae was able to access the Origin Fragment via mana and there, he identified 9 authorities that were being individually operated.
One of them would be [Heart Suspension] while the other will be the [Immediate Summon] for the Amusement. The likes of [Infant Dragon Protection], [Long-range Dimensional Intersection] that forced open a fissure to the distant dimension upon death and [Amusement Assistance] that stopped hatchlings from being overly attached to their Amusements should be included.
In the next experiment, he had to distinguish them and tell which was which.
And if he could identify the authority of [Long-range Dimensional Intersection], he would be able to find the coordinates of their dimension, which he couldn’t find due to the sheer distance, and open a fissure.
The reason he could progress and envision the future experiments in one go was because of his built-up experiences from the 4+ iterations.
It won’t succeed in one or two experiments.
He might have to sacrifice a few things.
However, compared to all the time he had thus wasted, he predicted it to take an immensely shorter amount of time.
And if he could confirm the coordinates,
If he could at last confirm those coordinates…
Closing one of the doors, he continued down the long corridor as something wriggled within his emotions.
If he could find it, the baby dragons would finally return home…
“…”
Yu Jitae reflected on the memories of the past.
In the night sky of his imagination were stars.
That was the Regressor’s dream and an aspiration that he had harboured for so long.
It was too far to reach and too hazy to see. At times he was zealous, telling himself that he would definitely see it and undoubtedly reach it…
However, it all turned vague after repeating failures upon failures. It should be somewhere around there. I’ll reach it one day if I proceed on…
No matter how long he waited and tried, he could not see the stars. The world was too dark for him to see it.
Yu Jitae stopped his feet.
Something squirmed from the depths of his heart.
His blood felt scorching hot. The pulsations of his heart reached his ribs, as the blazing blood rhythmically flowed down the arteries to every nook and cranny of his body. His entire body felt heated up from the rising temperature.
This wasn’t good.
Excessive expectation has always been poisonous.
The emotions that had returned from living daily lives were the problem. The Regressor could not deny that his rampaging emotions that had surged up after seeing the concrete evidence were agitating him.
How long had he lived trying to just see those stars…?
He turned around.
Off in the distance down the corridor, he could see the firmly shut entrance of Myu’s isolation room. The light seeping out of the palm-sized window attached to the door appeared like a road sign in this dark tunnel.
His eyes wavered and couldn’t suppress the movement behind his chin. By silently standing still, he quietly restrained his bursting emotions.
On the other side of the darkness, were flickering stars.
*
Myu only woke up from her sleep after a few days.