Chapter 214: The Garden of Sinners Episode 5: Paradox Spiral! (Part 12)
Ryougi Shiki and Araya Souren suddenly launched into a fierce battle.
In a flash, Shiki lunged at Araya, aiming to plunge her dagger straight into his chest in one decisive strike.
However, at that very moment, the atmosphere abruptly shifted—
"Fearless, Diamond, Venom."
As Araya Souren uttered those words, three circular sigils materialized around him, instantly halting all motion in the space.
At the same time, white lines like spiderwebs coiled around Shiki's body, completely immobilizing her.
"This body," Araya said coldly, "I, Araya Souren, shall now claim it."
He slowly approached the paralyzed Shiki, extending his left hand, as if preparing to crush her head like an egg.
Despite the creeping dread that filled her, Shiki instinctively lashed out and sliced off his left hand.
"Daiten!"
Yet, despite having been severed, Araya's hand instantly regenerated—as if nothing had happened—upon him muttering a single word.
"Top Sutra."
Then, with his right hand, he seized Shiki's face, effortlessly lifting her off the ground.
"Ah—"
Shiki let out a shaken cry. Fear rippled through her entire body.
Meanwhile, Araya remained eerily calm:
"Foolish. In this left hand lies a fragment of a Buddha's relic. Even your Mystic Eyes of Death Perception cannot perceive a mortal point. Mere physical severance is meaningless. Besides, I cannot die. My Origin is Stillness. When one calls upon their Origin, they become governed by it. If one has already become still, how can they be killed?"
Shiki offered no reply. She was desperately forcing her brain into overdrive, trying to find the line of death that must exist somewhere on Araya's body.
Araya continued exerting pressure, almost crushing her skull in his grip.
But in that hopeless moment, Shiki finally spotted it: a barely perceptible line, one so faint that under normal circumstances it wouldn't be noticed at all.
She immediately sliced through Araya's right hand.
"—Gh!"
As Araya recoiled from the injury, Shiki took the chance to break free, putting distance between them and escaping the triple-layered barrier beneath their feet.
"I see… It was my oversight," Araya muttered. "Living or dead, as long as something can move, you can sever its source of action. That's your true power. Even my halted life—because I still exist—has a line representing that existence. If you cut that, you can kill even me. Truly, your eyes are too dangerous… not just tools, but deadly even as attachments of Ryougi Shiki."
He prepared to strike again.
But Shiki scoffed and snapped:
"Too late. You don't have another chance."
"Barriers are nothing more than boundaries. If the edge that forms them is severed, then their power vanishes. They're just walls of magical separation."
Saying this, Shiki stabbed her dagger into the ground, directly breaking through the outermost of the three-layered barriers!
"Even so, two remain—"
"Still useless!"
With that, Shiki opened her prosthetic arm and revealed a hidden spare dagger, which she hurled straight at Araya.
Clack!
Using the moment of distraction, the girl closed the distance, piercing through Araya's body with a deadly thrust, and followed up by stabbing through his throat.
"Ggh—ah!"
The blow was devastating. Blood poured from Araya Souren's body, and he stumbled, on the verge of collapsing.
Outside the screen, the viewers let out a collective breath, assuming the battle had ended in Shiki's favor.
However, both Shiki, and the average viewer, had celebrated too early.
Despite having been run through and looking like death was certain, Araya Souren suddenly spoke:
"Still clinging to life, Shiki? If you go on like this, you'll get lost on the path to Yomi."
"Why?!" Shiki cried.
"Indeed, this was my weak point," Araya Souren said. "But that alone is not enough. Even the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception cannot kill someone like me who has survived for over two centuries. I've long been prepared—this body of mine had already died long ago."
As he spoke, Araya slowly raised his left hand, and with a single blow, he struck Shiki with crushing force, sending her flying.
"————!!!"
Immediately after, the walls around them began to twist and pulse, swallowing the unconscious Shiki entirely into their mass.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Shiki's defeat came as a complete shock to most of the viewers.
Just moments ago, when they saw Araya Souren's body impaled, they were certain the battle had ended in Shiki's victory. But the final outcome completely subverted everyone's expectations.
In that moment of silence, even the nobles—who had been grumbling and scoffing non-stop earlier—fell quiet. The plot's intensity had left them utterly speechless.
By contrast, the Constantine, seated beside Edward, muttered in disbelief:
"How could Araya Souren possess such terrifying power? Is he really just a magus?"
Before Edward could respond, Arcueid, seated nearby, answered with calm confidence:
"Of course he's not a mere magus. According to the lore, Shiki's Mystic Eyes of Death Perception can kill any form of life. So for Araya Souren to withstand a blow from her and still live—clearly, he no longer qualifies as alive."
"Then… does that mean…?"
A wave of realization and shock washed over those present. After all, if someone wasn't living, only one possibility remained—
"Is Araya Souren an undead?"
To this instinctive question from Daphne, Arcueid cast her a slight smile and explained:
"Not exactly. The nature of the undead is still rooted in life—they're just twisted into another form of vitality. Araya Souren, on the other hand, is existing as a dead being. In essence, he's no different from a zombie or corpse animated by an unnatural force."
"I see…"
Having received an answer from the ancient being herself, Daphne shrank back instinctively, clearly still a bit afraid of speaking with Arcueid.
After all, until today, she hadn't even known her family harbored a vampire who had lived for who knows how many centuries—one who also happened to be the original Southern Territory Grand Duke. Accepting such a truth wasn't exactly easy.
While the nobles at the Duke's manor were still processing the shock of the film's developments in stunned silence, the public watcher in the Southern Territory had already erupted into a frenzy of discussion.
Shiki's defeat had caught almost everyone off guard—and many simply refused to accept it.
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[1] https://www.patreon.com/collection/162522?view=condensed
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