The apartment building serving as the external vessel began to crumble and collapse outright before the terrifying explosion.
Crimson, searing heat, flames.
Amid thunderous blasts, anything not torn to pieces by the dense flames, which seemed almost solid, would be blown away.
For an instant, even Kirei Kotomine, inside the Barrier, could hear nothing but the beastlike howling all around him.
Yet he felt no anxiety. He even wanted to laugh. Encountering such a crisis at the most crucial moment was the best proof that fate favored him.
His cause was just!
However, although the little vehicle had not approached his position, even Kirei Kotomine's battle-hardened Executor body could hardly escape serious injury from the shock waves of that savage, surging tide of fire.
Still, Kirei Kotomine believed he would not meet such a fate. This judgment came not from blind confidence in some nebulous destiny, but from his observations over the past few days.
As the greatest Barrier master of the age, Araya Souren would not have his foundations destroyed by an explosion like this.
"Fearlessness, vajra, serpents and scorpions, bearing heaven, crown sutra, manifest king!"
Amid the rubble raining down, in the gap between life and death, the stern-eyed man stepped forward and began salvaging everything in an oppressive, anguished voice.
With every incantation he spoke, Araya Souren's voice grew louder, until it was almost a roar.
"Still-!"
With the final incantation, Araya Souren raised his arm once more.
What answered him was a demonic hand capable of destroying even space.
Flat, golden Barriers rose continuously, forming a three-dimensional structure that abruptly spread outward. Brilliant golden light became ribbons that pierced the flying rubble and forcibly pulled it back.
The spreading explosion, too, seemed caught in an invisible hand. Once the flames had spread into a circle, they