Seeing that Shirou showed no intention of continuing the fight, Souren Araya melted into the wall. Shirou felt far too dangerous to him; even on his own turf, he had no confidence that he could win. Shirou's lack of intent to attack was simply the best possible outcome for him.
Seeing Souren Araya leave just like that, Mikiya grew somewhat agitated. After all, he believed these two had the ability to defeat Souren Araya.
"Hey, Shirou, Miss Touko Aozaki, how can you just let that guy leave? Shiki is still in his hands!"
Only when Shiki was involved did Mikiya become like a different person. Shirou waved a hand at him. "Relax, Mikiya. Have a little faith in Shiki. She's Ryougi Shiki, the God-Slaying Origin! Besides, you're not supposed to be the nervous one."
"Hey, how did you even come up with such an embarrassingly cringeworthy title?" Touko Aozaki complained.
"Shiki said it herself: 'As long as it's alive, I'll kill it for you.' So I just gave it a little more presence and changed it to, 'As long as it's alive, even if it's a god, I'll kill it for you.' Combined with her constitution that reaches the Origin directly, doesn't that make her the God-Slaying Origin?" Shirou solemnly spouted nonsense based on an old internet meme from his previous life.
The moment Shirou finished speaking, something immediately happened at Ogawa Apartment. Cracks began spreading across the walls, and the entire building started shaking as if an earthquake had struck.
"So it's started? That Enjou guy really is pretty reliable when it comes to getting things done!" Shirou had no intention of sitting idle for now. He pressed a hand to the ground and used Reinforcement magecraft.
The scattered circuits somehow gave off the feeling of a masked man summoning the Nine-Tails.
Reinforcement circuits swiftly crawled across the entire apartment building. Though Reinforcement magecraft was merely a commonplace technique among magi, under the support of Shirou's vast magical energy, it forcefully demonstrated that brute force could indeed create miracles.
The Reinforcement held Ogawa Apartment firmly in place like glue.
"Done!" Shirou stood up, patted the dust that had never existed from his hands, and spoke.
Touko Aozaki's mouth twitched. As a Grand Magus, she naturally understood just how much magical energy it took to achieve such an effect with Reinforcement magecraft. If all of Touko Aozaki's magical energy were counted as one Touko, then this Reinforcement alone would consume roughly forty to fifty Toukos' worth of magical energy. And then there was Shirou, looking utterly unfazed...
At that thought, Touko Aozaki looked at Shirou with a strange expression. "Sure enough, you're a monster, aren't you?!"
In a high corridor of Ogawa Apartment, Souren Araya stepped out of a wall. This tall man, who barely looked Japanese at all, was unsteady on his feet. He clutched his abdomen with his right hand. This had been his greatest mistake.
He had overlooked Kuji Kanetsune, a Mystic Code that was practically the nemesis of barriers, simply because it had been brought here by Enjou Tomoe, a man whose very Origin was "worthless."
There was no doubting Kanetsune's strength. Shirou's projected imitations had effortlessly destroyed other magi's barriers several times before; merely placing one somewhere was enough to damage a barrier.
Now that the genuine Kanetsune had been placed inside the barrier, there was no question that it would slice through it as easily as a hot knife through butter.
For Souren Araya, that was not even the worst part. The worst part was that the barrier was linked to him.
While doing so gave him absolute home-field advantage within the barrier, the tradeoff was that once the barrier suffered damage, Souren Araya himself would suffer corresponding injuries.
The barrier was now ruined, and Souren Araya had naturally been severely wounded as well. Yet he had persisted for more than two hundred years for the sake of his ideal. Though he was now half-crippled, he was clearly not someone who would give up easily.
"No, I haven't lost yet. As long as..." Souren Araya thought, constantly urging himself onward. As long as he could obtain Shiki's body, the body capable of reaching the Origin directly, his plan could still succeed.
Unfortunately, reality was destined to disappoint him. The elevator doors slowly opened, and Shiki gradually walked out.
"No! Why?! Why can a body like that still move? Why can she wake up after suffering injuries like those? Why didn't you stay unconscious a little longer? Why? Answer me, Ryougi!"
Souren Araya roared. His barrier was ruined, he was badly injured, he had failed to be killed, and now even Shiki had escaped. Souren Araya's plan had basically gone completely bankrupt.
"Of course I woke up on my own!" Shiki held Kanetsune and staggered toward Souren Araya. After all, she had already suffered broken bones earlier. Even if she did not fear pain, she still had to show old Newton some respect.
"I finally understand why I can fight you to a draw and still not laugh, Souren Araya. It's not that I want to kill you. I just can't stand your existence!"
Dragging a body that should have been sent straight to orthopedics, Shiki staggered toward Souren Araya. Then she drew her blade and opened the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception at the same time. It was ridiculously cool.
Facing Shiki's attack, Souren Araya raised a hand.
"Bind!"
Souren Araya still harbored fantasies about Shiki's body, which could reach the Origin directly, so his first move was once again Bind's gravitational suppression. But he had overlooked one more thing: the blade in Shiki's hand, Kuji Kanetsune, was the nemesis of all barriers, while he himself was a Barrier Master...
Under that pressure, Shiki's short hair stirred without wind, though this was hardly an effect she wanted.
With a forceful swing of her blade, all the pressure vanished without a trace. That was Kanetsune's power. Whether it was a grand temple or an ordinary barrier, a barrier was still a barrier! As long as it was a barrier, one slash was all it took.
The already restored Six Realms Boundary had opened the moment Shiki approached, responding to Souren Araya's control and reaching out to capture her. But it was still a barrier. One slash was all it took to destroy it.
Did that remind you of Fairy Tail's Erza One-Slash?
How should I put this? Yeah, that was truly too cruel!
Kanetsune destroyed the barrier, leaving Souren Araya exposed for a brief instant. Taking advantage of that opening, Shiki directly launched a Charge!, cutting off Souren Araya's right hand in a single stroke.
Souren Araya did not possess super-speed regeneration, but even if he had, it would have been useless. Under the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, that arm had already been "killed." No method could possibly restore it.
"Damn it! You didn't have this much fighting power when you fought Shiramizu Rio. Could it be—" Looking at the long blade in Shiki's hand, Souren Araya somehow thought of his old friend Touko Aozaki. She could use glasses to alter her field of vision, thereby suggesting to herself that she switch personalities.
"Using different weapons to suggest things to yourself and draw out different combat abilities? So you weren't fighting at full strength before."
If Shirou had been here, he would definitely have told Souren Araya: You're overthinking it. It's just that dagger-wielding Shiki is a four-star Assassin, while long-blade-wielding Shiki is a five-star Saber. Different classes having different attributes is perfectly normal!
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