Shiki abruptly stopped in front of the bounded field, gripping the handle of the knife she had been holding with one hand until now. She slightly lowered her center of gravity, firmly holding the knife handle in front of her waist, with the blade gradually facing the enemy in front of her. This was a proper stance – commonly used in many swordsmanship styles – and it was the most basic and powerful fighting posture.
Shiki stood in confrontation with Souren Araya, her sharp killing intent manifesting as a clear blade piercing through Araya's body. It signaled the instant commencement of an offensive and defensive battle.
"The Rainbow" level Mystic eye, the "Mystic Eyes of Death Perception", awaken!
Araya exerted force through their outstretched wrist. At this moment, he acted not out of a desire for battle but purely on the instinct to kill Shiki.
"Fugu!" Although the temple had already been destroyed and the terrifying power to destroy space was no longer present, the remaining bounded still provided Araya with a considerable advantage as if it were his workshop. This roar possessed enough power to crush a human body.
There was no delay whatsoever. In the instant of shouting and shaking hands, Shiki's defeat had already been decided – at least, that's what Araya thought. But the next second, reality overturned his expectations.
The girl, who acted later than him but moved faster than his shout, raised her hands holding the knife. The speed was so fast that it appeared as a flash of light. The knife, raised high above her head, was swung down with even greater speed than before.
The incation of "Fugu" was cut off by the slashing death lines. The pressure capable of crushing a human body was eliminated before the girl's eyes.
Araya once again infused power into his hands. It was just the act of opening and closing his palms, but it was still too slow compared to the swift movements of Shiki.
... Araya couldn't utter a sound, and before he could even think, he took that blow.
Shiki, as her name suggested, leaped forward. She maintained the posture of cutting through distortion with a single stroke and struck Araya as she approached.
Before taking a step forward, she swung her knife horizontally, causing the bounded field that Araya relied upon to disappear.
If only the outermost circle was destroyed by that blade, it wouldn't matter much. Araya thought, with a sense of awakening, that even if he was approached, the outcome would be determined when Shiki destroyed the second layer of the barrier.
However, with just one stroke, both the outer and inner barriers were simultaneously eliminated.
Then Shiki took another step forward. If one were to describe the swing of her knife as "lightning-fast," then her footsteps were even faster than "lightning-fast." With a single step, Shiki closed the four-meter distance to zero.
Her body flowed, and the step she took was also the pace to unleash the deadly strike. The excessively fast movement of her body even gave the illusion of time moving backward.
The blade approached, the strike descended, and Araya jumped backward. Shiki maintained her posture after swinging the knife and watched him, a trace of blood flowing from her mouth.
She wasn't injured; it was just a recurrence of the previous injuries. Just over ten minutes ago, Araya had broken her ribs, and her internal organs had suffered considerable impact. If it weren't for Sakura's emergency treatment using the "Scepter of Pharaoh," she wouldn't even be able to stand.
However, even so, she had only recovered to a level where she could move. Any significant movement would aggravate her injuries, let alone engaging in combat. The current Shiki had every organ from her throat to her abdomen protesting her reckless actions.
But this recklessness yielded fruitful results. Souren Araya, who jumped backward, had his right arm severed by her fierce strike. No, it wasn't just the hand; it started from the shoulder, and the entire chest connected to the hand fell off.
Araya Souren, a close combat master who could dodge bullets, only jumped backward after completely taking a strike, without even realizing it himself.
"Who exactly are you?"
◇◇◇
The "EIHWAZ" defensive line was in jeopardy, and the two-meter diameter protective field was quickly compressed to less than a meter. It would soon burn the girls' clothes.
Alba, consumed by black jealousy, had no intention of letting the two girls off.
"Touko Aozaki and all of you will die. Yes, that's right. Once I kill you, I will be the first. I will still be the first, and you shouldn't exist!"
"Just—"
Just as Alba was preparing to launch another attack and turn the two girls into living torches, he encountered an unbelievable situation. His right hand, extended in conjunction with the incantation, moved involuntarily.
It spun, kept spinning, 10 degrees, 20 degrees, 30 degrees, and continued until it twisted nearly 90 degrees without stopping, surpassing the limits of what the wrist joint could bear.
The twisted pain in his wrist shattered Alba's incantation. In increasingly intense agony and with a bewildered gaze, the wrist emitted a groan of unbearable burden and ultimately snapped.
"Ah... Aaaah!" A belated wail, filled with extreme misery.
Cornelius Alba, who had been late in unleashing the "Sea of Flames," instinctively took several steps back, clutching his arm that had lost its right hand. His eyes, stripped of jealousy and replaced by fear, reflected a pair of peculiar eyes, intertwining red and green, as if ignited spirals.
"My... Mystic eye—golden, no, could it be a gemstone!!!"
Alba, now deprived of his right hand, was incoherent. He was familiar with the Clock Tower's hierarchy of mystic eyes, but he had never witnessed a gold-tier or higher mystic eye before. He never expected to encounter one in this remote eastern land. If he knew that Fujino's mystic eye was not at the level of a gemstone but rather beyond it, at the level of the "Rainbow," he might have simply fainted.
The girl wielding the Mystic Eye of Distortion stepped out of the defensive circle of runes. The power of distortion concealed within her eyes tore through the sea of fire, ripped apart the grass, tore through the earth, and finally locked onto the enemy's head.
At this critical moment, the targeted Alba immediately collapsed to the ground, rolling and crawling to evade Fujino's gaze, narrowly avoiding the tragic fate of having his head twisted off.
Although he had shown poor performance and repeated defeats, Alba was still a top-tier magus, on the same level as Kenneth during the Fourth War. His experience and knowledge were extraordinary, including his experience in dealing with mystic eyes. After all, mystic eyes relied on the eyes to cast magic, which meant that as long as they were not seen, the influence of the mystic eye would be greatly diminished.
Covered in dirt, Alba used both his hands and feet to desperately retreat, while repeatedly chanting.
"Repeat! Repeat! Repeat!"
Successive waves of flames surged forth, forming walls of fire, obstructing Fujino's line of sight.
His remaining left hand was not idle either, carving rune after rune into the air.
Naudiz (Survival)
Ihwaz (Otherworld)
Algiz (Protection)
Although overshadowed by Touko later on and despite his incomplete foundation, Alba was still one of the few skilled users of runes in the world. Even with Fujino's "Rainbow" grade mystic eye, it would take some time to break through the triple runes.
Defending with runes that require no incantation and attacking with his unique chanting technique, this is the capital that Alba has accumulated over thirty years in the world of magecraft—although he never imagined that he would have to go all out against two underage girls.
Under the obstruction of the walls of fire and runes, the distance between Alba and Fujino grew wider and wider, and the heart that had been hanging on the edge of death gradually descended back to the ground.
As long as he put enough distance between them, he would be safe.
At this moment, Alba had abandoned his intention to kill Touko's Disciples. He wanted to leave this dreadful city as soon as possible, leave Japan, and head to the Clock Tower.
He had to deliver the news about Asakami Fujino, the holder of a "Gemstone" grade mystic eye, and Sakura Matou, the user of the "Original Rune" to the oldest classroom in the Clock Tower—the Secret Ritual Disciplinary Bureau, Astral Observatory, Calion. The order for "Sealing Designation" would be issued from there.
Touko was already on the "Sealing Designation" list, and her two disciples would surely be added to the list as well. By then, the Clock Tower's hounds, the "Executor" forces, would come to deal with these three troublesome women. And Alba, who was once an "Executor" and even a squad leader of the "Executor" forces, with his connection to the Secret Ritual Disciplinary Bureau, would take charge of leading the most elite "Executor" forces to seal these three women.
'You will become living specimens, thoroughly, and become the collection of the Clock Tower!'
At the thought of this, Alba couldn't help but laugh, and his broken right hand didn't seem so painful anymore.
PS: Based on Alba's understanding of Sakura, her current performance is not worthy of being designated for sealing. He plans to exaggerate the facts. After all, the order for "Sealing Designation" is also issued by people.
PS2: Of course, if Sakura's true identity were fully revealed to the Secret Ritual Disciplinary Bureau, that would be another matter. Not to mention the issues of Sakura attribute 'Imaginary Numbers' and magic circuits, just the fact that she has consumed a Golden Apple is enough to warrant a sealing designation.
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