Bungo Stray Dogs - Volume 5 Chapter 5 Part 4

5—4

“A dragon…?!”
Akutagawa’s eyes bulged as he sprinted toward Skull Fortress. Just up ahead was a massive dragon that looked as if it was guarding the tower.
“…” Kyouka, who was running close by Akutagawa’s side, bit her lip when she caught sight of the creature as well.
An extraordinarily gargantuan enemy stood in their way. They could see it with their eyes, feel it on their skin. The dragon’s ferocious power felt almost crushing.

Even the Special Division for Unusual Powers, watching Skull Fortress from a satellite, instantaneously became aware of the dragon.
“Abnormal values for singularity are increasing!” shrieked a staff member from the Division’s operations room. The values displayed on the operator’s screen rose as he was overcome with fear and panic.
“They’re twice—no, 2.5 times higher than they were six years ago!”
Ango Sakaguchi’s expression tensed at the red light that represented the risk level. The Special Division had already taken every measure available. There was nothing left they could do, but they couldn’t just sit back and watch, either. Ango was sweating bullets from fretting and praying. He slammed his fist against the desk and asked, “Where is A5158?”
Before the operator could even answer, a voice yelled over the radio: “Calm down, ya damn pansy!”
“…!”

“It’s startin’ to feel nice and warm out here.”
Code name A5158—Chuuya Nakahara, the man who had just yelled at Ango over the radio, smiled with evident satisfaction.
Hovering in the sky over the fog and clouds of Yokohama was the Swan, the aircraft used by the Special Division for Unusual Powers for sensitive operations. Its rotary wings kicked up wind as they roared. The room shook, and the hatch slowly opened. The round moon came into Chuuya’s sight along with the chilly nighttime air. The moon was especially beautiful as it hung in the cloudless sky.
Its brilliant shine illuminated the fog-covered Yokohama and the colossal dragon that looked like it could consume the city in the blink of an eye. It was like something out of a dream, and yet, both the fog and the dragon were real, and there was no denying that both brought destruction.
“Chuuya,” came Ango’s subdued voice over the radio while Chuuya squinted and looked down at Yokohama. “Dazai has most likely been disposed of by now. Do you understand what I’m getting at?”
Chuuya removed his gloves and replied, “I don’t care.”
“Are you sure?” asked Ango. “You won’t be able to accept your reward.
You won’t be able to take my life if—”
“Don’t get cocky,” jeered Chuuya, cutting Ango off. Nobody could see Chuuya’s expression as he prepared to jump from the aircraft over Yokohama. Only his calm voice reached Ango. “You were a nobody six years ago—a low-level undercover agent,” continued Chuuya as if he understood it all. “Not a single soul lent you an ear even when you opposed getting Shibusawa involved. Am I wrong?”
“…” Ango fell silent.
“I’m probably just talkin’ outta my ass here, but…,” Chuuya muttered, almost to himself, “I’m willin’ to bet that idiot Dazai’s in there.”
He was watching the dragon wreaking havoc on Yokohama, and his gut was telling him that Dazai was inside the creature.
“And I’m not gonna be satisfied until I punch him in his stupid face,” he declared before briefly adding “Later” and promptly hanging up.
“…I’m counting on you.”
Ango reflected on the fact that he was powerless, and all he had was the bitter grief in his heart. He didn’t know whether his words—his prayer— reached Chuuya.
Regardless, Chuuya had made this choice for himself and was now standing at the rear hatch of the Swan, gazing down at the world below.
“We’ll be reaching the destination shortly,” came a voice.
He glanced in the direction it came from and saw a suited woman with almond-shaped eyes and her long hair in a bun. Chuuya looked at her and briefly pondered something before raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, I remember you. You’re—”
“Tsujimura.” She introduced herself and stared hard at Chuuya. “…Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Yeah.”
“There’s no point!” Tsujimura shot him a piercing glare. “It’s hell down there!”
In her mind, the dragon below was clearly a monster that exceeded human comprehension. Fighting it would be no different from suicide.
“There’s no way you can defeat that thing. Skill users are still human. Your overconfidence is going to get you killed,” she declared. But Chuuya merely snorted.
“That still doesn’t mean it’s okay to chicken out and run away,” he replied bluntly before taking an audible step forward. “Know when it’s okay to chicken out and run away?”
Chuuya’s overcoat flapped wildly in the wind. Puzzled by what he meant by his question, Tsujimura shook her head. “No. When?”
“Never.”
“…!”
Chuuya ridded her of her bewilderment and sprinted forward assuredly. He then jumped off the hatch and into the sky, fully confident in the path he had chosen. The wind pressure pushed against his body, and the rush of air sliced at his skin. The next moment, he felt the dragon haunting Yokohama lock eyes with him.
“O grantors of dark disgrace, do not wake me again!” Chuuya quietly muttered.
The marks of Chuuya’s skill began to crawl up his arms and emit a glow that grew brighter until his entire body was covered. He was filled with immense power. The corruption had begun. Not even Chuuya himself could stop it now.
By manipulating gravity, he pushed the fog away so he wouldn’t touch it before landing on a building’s rooftop, which he simultaneously destroyed. Concrete cracked under his feet, sending gravel flying into the air. He then dashed up the slabs of broken concrete toward the dragon.

“Wow…,” Tsujimura couldn’t help but mutter as she watched Chuuya from the airship. “He’s getting higher and higher.”
Ango came in through the radio while monitoring the satellite imagery and measuring apparatuses. “His skill is gravity manipulation.”
Chuuya Nakahara’s skill, Upon the Tainted Sorrow, was extremely powerful.
“However…,” continued Ango in a grave tone, “in this state of corruption, having turned himself into gravitons, he can no longer control nor disable the skill.”
“Are you saying he’s just going to rampage until he dies?!” Tsujimura turned pale.
“Only Dazai’s nullification skill can stop it,” Ango quietly confessed.
“Without that, Chuuya is already…”
“No…!”
Neither Ango nor Tsujimura said anything after that. All they could do was watch over Chuuya as he dispersed the fog with incredible force.

Tsujimura, Ango, and the rest of the Special Division saw Chuuya hop from one floating slab of concrete to another, heading toward the dragon. But the dragon eventually sensed Chuuya’s presence and launched dozens of light beams from its tail. Each trail of light took the form of a dragon before attacking and restraining Chuuya. Chuuya, however, immediately tore through the dragons and broke free from its cage. He then created a massive graviton bullet with his right hand and launched it directly at the dragon’s nose. In that same moment, the creature opened its mouth and shot a beam of light at Chuuya.
Their attacks clashed. The explosion buried the sky in light and sent Chuuya flying backward. He was shot straight down without even a moment to manipulate gravity before slamming into the ground. The stone pavement shattered wildly, burying Chuuya underneath rubble. He couldn’t move.
The dragon closed its mouth, and the light began to dim. The battle appeared to be over in a matter of seconds. But at the very next moment…
Chuuya rose from the fog with something massive in his hands—a building.
An entire building was defying gravity and floating in the air. Chuuya lifted the structure, which was over three stories tall, and hurled it at the dragon.
One hit. Two hits.
Chuuya roared like a beast as he slammed the building into his foe. It was hard to imagine someone so small fighting a battle of this scale. After taking a few blows from the enormous building, the dragon opened his mouth once more to unleash another beam of light.
Three hits.
Chuuya forcibly crammed the entire building inside the dragon’s mouth. The ground quaked as the building crushed the dragon, which then destroyed the building. The extremely high concentration of energy—the dragon—clashed with the structure’s enormous mass, distorting the space around it. The energy ball shining in the back of the dragon’s throat had lost its only exit point and exploded inside its body. Chuuya then used this opening to raise his fist into the air and pelt the dragon with countless graviton bullets, harnessing every last bit of strength he had.
“Dazai!”
His scream shook the air as another bullet pierced the dragon. The creature writhed, and its entire body lit up as if it couldn’t take any more.
There was a flash of light.
The dragon suddenly disappeared, leaving only a crimson glow in its wake. The fog was blown away, disintegrated by scorching flames, and the glowing light enveloped Skull Fortress. The dark, looming tower broke into pieces that slowly began to crumble under the silent, blinding light until it was no more.

Meanwhile, at the center of that light, Chuuya was closing in on Dazai’s floating corpse. As blood trickled down his body, Chuuya clenched his fist and punched Dazai right across the cheek. The violent blow forced the knife out of Dazai’s back, and Chuuya heard something burst—as if the pill in Dazai’s mouth had been crushed from the impact.
The capsule with its venomous-red-and-pure-white coloring broke open in Dazai’s mouth, releasing the medicinal solution inside. The viscous liquid slid down Dazai’s throat until eventually, long, slender fingers touched Chuuya’s ghastly, corrupted face. When they made contact, it instantly nullified his skill.
“…Did you use Corruption because you believed in me? You’re gonna make me cry…,” came a calm voice. It was the voice of a man who was supposed to be dead.
Without even showing a hint of surprise, Chuuya responded, “Yeah, I trusted you were too damn crafty and far too stubborn to just die.”
The corruption in Chuuya’s body had already disappeared. Dazai had nullified it. He placed a hand on Chuuya’s cheek where it had been punched and smirked slightly. “So this is how you wake Snow White? Kinda violent, don’t you think?”
“Hey, you’re the one who hid that antidote in yer mouth knowin’ you were gonna get punched in the face,” griped Chuuya, making his disgust no secret.
Everything had gone according to Dazai’s plan.
Fyodor pretending to work with him while secretly conspiring with Shibusawa; their plot to poison Dazai; the Special Division for Unusual Powers dispatching Chuuya; and finally, Chuuya punching Dazai’s dead body—it was all as Dazai had anticipated.
The light—a remnant of the dragon—slowly faded, and the countless pieces, small and large, that made Skull Fortress collapsed. Dazai dropped into the wreckage, followed by Chuuya, who landed right on top of him. Chuuya scowled. He desperately tried to get up, but he could hardly move a muscle.
“Get off me,” he demanded, but Dazai kept him still. “Don’t move.”
“The hell?”
Chuuya grimaced as Dazai held his head down. While glancing around,
Dazai admitted, “Looks like the fog hasn’t completely cleared yet, and I’d rather not have to protect you from your skill right now.”
Chuuya’s eyebrow twitched. “It’s still not over…?”
“…It’s probably just getting started,” replied Dazai with a serious expression.
“Damn it…,” groaned Chuuya in frustration as he tried to sit up. But he couldn’t manage to do that much, especially with Dazai holding him down. “I can’t even…move my fingers…”
His every last drop of energy sapped, Chuuya immediately fainted. Dazai glanced at him, then turned his gaze at the wreckage of Skull Fortress. The tip of the crumbling tower still remained as it stood tall among the ruins. Dazai stared at the fortress as if he were focusing on someone inside, then mumbled:
“This much I expected, but the rest…is in their hands.” The tip of the tower began to shine with a suspicious light.

The night was still young, and the party had only begun. The dragon quietly changed form.