Madame Gao had coveted the Divine Dragon's immortality for a long time. Failing that, she could learn from the mages—contracting with the demon that Ashina called Shura and the Teai-kai called Black Void, forcibly binding herself to it and sharing a portion of its life force. That was also an option.
Currently, she was walking through a hospital she secretly controlled. Over a hundred survivors occupied an entire basement floor. But the more she looked, the angrier she became.
When the large group of survivors had appeared, the charm she'd obtained long ago from a descendant of Kamo no Yasunori had spontaneously ignited. She'd realized immediately: the demon that ancient Japan's supernatural community had called the Black Void had arrived in Japan.
She'd dispatched her subordinates to search, and the haul had been substantial—over a hundred people. But now it didn't seem so substantial after all, because not a single one of them had brought out any Dragon's Heritage. Not even a trace.
Contracting with a demon was ultimately a last resort. She was a martial artist, not a mage. She couldn't make heads or tails of the loopholes in demonic contracts. What she truly wanted was the Divine Dragon's power of the Dragon's Heritage.
"Tell me—what people did you encounter in Ashina? What happened there?" In one of the patient rooms, she questioned a survivor in a stern voice.
She didn't know confusion-type spells, but just as the Nine Yin Manual contained the Soul-Stealing Technique, martial artists who reached the highest levels had similar methods. The effects just weren't as refined.
"Don't know... lots of people... big ship... battlefield..." The survivor mumbled incoherently, not knowing what he was saying, only able to describe the most vivid scenes from his memory.
Battlefield—Madame Gao understood that. Lots of people—she could comprehend that too. But where had this big ship come from?
Four hundred years of life hadn't been wasted. Experience bred wisdom.
Without much effort, she guessed that the survivor's memories had been altered by supernatural means.
After some thought, she made her voice gentler: "Your Japanese is so good. When did you learn it?"
The survivor's speech hitched. Language abilities couldn't be modified—if someone tried to forcibly alter those, the person would become an idiot. Neither Bella nor the Divine Dragon had touched that part of his memory.
Using language as a doorway, the sealed memories cracked open just slightly.
"What's your name?"
"...Kyujirou?"
Madame Gao whispered in his ear: "Kyujirou, think carefully. What left the deepest impression on you in that place? I won't tell anyone else. Think hard. That memory is in the deepest part of your mind. Actually, you want to remember too. Think with all your might..."
Kyujirou's mind was completely under her control. His eyes lost focus as he mumbled: "Monkeys... monkeys with swords... cutting... cutting!"
His words left Madame Gao utterly baffled. She was trying to discuss serious matters, and he was going on about monkeys?
She asked twice more. If it wasn't gold and silver treasure, it was mountains full of monkeys, or complaints about being tired.
She hadn't obtained any key intelligence. She could only move on to the next person.
"What's your name?"
"...Iwata..."
Madame Gao sneered inwardly. Look at these Americans! Two of them had fully adopted Japanese names! In this state, they didn't even give their real names but their Japanese names instead. Just imagine how deeply their Ashina experience had affected them.
She asked again: "What left the deepest impression on you?"
Iwata's emotions suddenly became agitated. His limbs started twitching, and if not for Madame Gao's cultivation holding him in check, he would have nearly broken free of her control.
"Tentacles! Tentacles...! White eyes without pupils, eating...! Eating my... brain, brain!"
Madame Gao was completely dumbfounded. What kind of hellhole had these people gone to? This didn't sound like Sengoku-era Japan at all!
A face with tentacles, eyes without pupils, eating human brains? What kind of monster was that? Just imagining it sent chills down the back of her neck!
This kind of questioning was extremely exhausting. After interrogating two survivors, she decided to stop.
Either way, they hadn't brought out the Divine Dragon's immortality. So she'd have to contract with the Black Void.
All the survivors were brought to the second basement level. This space was vast, like a large parking garage. The survivors were tied to wooden stakes while two burly Teai-kai shinobi carried out a half-meter-tall (1.6 ft), pitch-black shrine.
The deity enshrined within was impossible to make out—only a mass of black fog-like substance.
Two shinobi carried the shrine to the first survivor. A wisp of pale gray mist emerged from the survivor's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, then merged with the black fog inside the shrine.
One, two, ten, a hundred.
The fog from every survivor was absorbed. By now, the shinobi carrying the shrine had increased from two to eight, and even with eight people, it was still extremely heavy.
The black fog inside the shrine roiled continuously, seemingly furious at being trapped.
Madame Gao stared at the black fog within the shrine, her sharp eyes filled with greed. As she watched, she suddenly turned her head toward the entrance to the first basement level.
Bella walked out from the shadows, wearing a baseball cap.
"Some interesting stuff here."
The shrine's original deity was unidentifiable, but now it was being used to imprison a demon. Madame Gao did have some tricks up her sleeve. If left unchecked, she had a ninety-nine percent chance of success.
Madame Gao's eyes swept over her from head to toe, her voice drawling: "So you're a survivor too? Which country's spy are you? Or a descendant of some ancient martial lineage? Would you mind telling me your name? At least let me know who brought me down today."
Bella's expression was serious, her manner brooking no argument: "Daisy Johnson. That's my name. Got it memorized? Old dog!"
Madame Gao savored the name for a moment: "That name is unpleasant. I felt disgusted the moment I heard it..."
Before she finished speaking, she shot forward like an arrow leaving a bowstring. The old woman trusted her instincts. She treated Bella as a major threat from the start, instantly channeling over seventy percent of her chi, preparing to kill her enemy in a single strike.
Since her initial physical enhancement, Bella's subsequent improvements had all been in psionic power, with minimal gains in physical attributes.
The old woman's explosive speed was a notch faster than Wesker's. Bella didn't dare be careless and met her with full combat readiness.
This time she didn't try to match her head-on. Instead, she leaped backward, rapidly opening the distance. Not only did she dodge the old woman's thunderous strike, but her right hand's fingers made a subtle beckoning motion toward Madame Gao.
What's this? Madame Gao had simply been out of practice for too many years. Her reaction time was a full beat too slow.
By the time she noticed Bella guiding something inside her body to connect with a nearby red-clad shinobi, sudden realization struck.