All Done

"Oh? Pretty tough!"

Seeing that Souren Araya had blocked his blade with just his arm, Shirou neither panicked nor was shocked.

Raising an eyebrow, a faint, almost imperceptible smirk curled at the corner of his mouth. Shirou directly lifted his blade and swung a second strike. Though the motion was a bit like chopping vegetables, the force behind it was genuine.

With a second strike naturally came a third. Three blows landed on the same spot, each heavier than the last. Shirou was confident enough that even tank armor would be cleaved open—but Souren Araya's arm remained completely unscathed.

As the old saying goes, "A man who doesn't move is a turtle!" And Souren Araya was no turtle, so of course he wouldn't just stand still and let Shirou hack at him. Having lived for two hundred years, he understood the principle that prolonged defense invites failure.

Clenching his right fist, after a brief moment of gathering strength, Souren Araya punched toward Shirou's abdomen.

"Hm?"

With his eyesight, Shirou naturally detected Souren Araya's movement. Though he was confident that his Steel Skin would prevent Araya from even breaking through his defense.

But the man was still a magus, even if an unconventional one. Against a magus, the main thing to watch out for was their flashy tricks.

His body twisted before the blade, using the rotation to drive the longsword. After a single slash, he leveraged the centrifugal force from the spin to strike the same spot again. Finally, before Souren Araya's fist could land, he used the recoil from that blow to propel himself back, creating distance.

Looking at Souren Araya's left arm, aside from the torn clothing, there was no damage at all.

Souren Araya glanced at the blade in Shirou's hand with slight surprise and said, "Perhaps I misspoke earlier. What you call a 'little trick' is indeed commendable. But don't get too cocky. My left arm has been implanted with the Relic of the Nirvana Saint. There's no way you can break through its defense!"

The Buddhist relics in this world weren't the kind of calcified growths from bone spurs. They were conceptual armaments, similar to Avalon.

Though their levels were vastly different, in terms of quality, both were on the same tier—both belonged to the conceptual level.

However, using a Buddhist relic wasn't as convenient as Avalon. What Souren Araya meant by "implanted" was a three-step physical process: dig open, insert, and seal shut.

The method was a bit like the Uchiha's eyeballs, but those could be installed and used right away, albeit with massive side effects (for details, refer to the chakra measurement unit of Naruto—Kakashi). The former, on the other hand, required a period of adjustment like a Magic Crest, taking time to synchronize. Though effective and side-effect-free, it was a hassle.

"No, in my view, nothing in this world is absolute." Shirou retorted as usual. "The fact that I couldn't break your defense just means the power I used wasn't strong enough. There's no such thing as absolute defense in this world."

With that, Shirou snapped his fingers.

Trace On!

A flash of magical light passed, and dozens of blades materialized, floating around Shirou like they were paying homage to a king.

Each was an ordinary blade, but all were masterpieces among their kind. With a wave of his hand, the blades rained down toward Souren Araya.

"Wang Xian! Serpent Scorpion! "

Seeing this, Souren Araya didn't hesitate and quickly deployed his barriers for defense. Though his left arm was implanted with the relic, granting immense defensive power, the relic's protection couldn't cover his entire body. If someone wanted to kill him, a few blades could do the job.

"As expected of a top-tier Barrier Master, the pinnacle of human combat capability. So how will you handle this?" Shirou parted his lips and calmly recited an incantation—

Broken Phantasm.

Though they weren't Noble Phantasms and lacked any faith-based power, he had deliberately poured a massive amount of magical energy into forging these blades with Projection Magecraft. When detonated, the force was naturally considerable.

"Not good!" Seeing this all-too-familiar scene, Souren Araya's expression instantly changed.

Those blades had been blocked, sure, but after that, Araya had let his guard down, never considering whether the weapons that fell to the ground were Eighth Route Army broadswords or Japanese melon grenades. So the blades had landed all around Souren Araya—and the worst part was, most of them were inside the barriers.

Even worse, barriers were like eggshells, protecting the yolk and albumen inside. Nothing could get in, and nothing could get out.

Shirou's move was like tossing a grenade into a Japanese bunker—utterly unexpected.

Fortunately, Souren Araya's eggshell wasn't just one layer, but six—

"Fear Not, Vajra, Dai Tian, Top Sutra! "

All six barriers were activated by Souren Araya, layering three inside and three outside to seal the explosion within, ensuring that the commotion wouldn't cause any trouble.

After the explosion, Souren Araya remained completely unharmed. Though the blast had been fierce, it had only destroyed two barriers: Serpent Scorpion and Dai Tian.

As the smoke cleared, Souren Araya seemed to recall something. His pupils contracted sharply, and he shouted, "I remember now. It's you, the dog of the Counter Force! Have you come to hinder me again?"

Seeing that Souren Araya had blocked all the blades and withstood the Broken Phantasm explosion, Shirou had been about to set up another wave. But at Araya's words, he couldn't help but pause.

Some things were worth explaining, or misunderstandings might cause trouble later.

"Uh? Have you met 'me' before?"

Shirou roughly understood what Souren Araya meant. This poor old magus had run into the Red Archer, and then gotten beaten up.

"'You'?" Souren Araya couldn't quite grasp Shirou's wording.

"Yeah, to be precise, a future version of me from another world line. Spent all day wanting to become a hero of justice, then got tricked by Alaya into being a wage slave. Drove himself crazy day after day with killing work, eventually went insane and tried to kill his past self, only to get talked down by that past self with a mouthful of logic—a total idiot."

Shirou rattled off a bunch of incomprehensible nonsense. Fortunately, Souren Araya latched onto one key point.

"Araya?"

"Huh?" Shirou was taken aback, then explained, "Oh, not your surname. It's the Counter Force for primates. Just happens to sound the same as your name." Shirou clarified.

"Is that so? And what about you?" As he asked, Souren Araya subtly clenched his fist. If Shirou's answer didn't match his expectations, he wouldn't hesitate to attack.

"At least right now, I have nothing to do with the Counter Force." Shirou spread his hands, striking a classic Red Archer pose before replying.

"Is that so? But in my eyes, since you're obstructing me, you're essentially no different from a dog of the Counter Force!"

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