Chapter 220: The Garden of Sinners Episode 5: Paradox Spiral! (Part 18)
A brief flashback sequence painted fragments of Araya Souren's past—hints of his twisted purpose behind everything he had done.
And yet, the details remained vague.
For the average viewer, it was still impossible to fully grasp what could have driven him to such extremes.
But before they could process it, the film shifted scenes again.
A new setting, a new presence.
A firm knock echoed through the narrow hallway of Ogawa Apartments.
A moment later, the door creaked open—she had arrived.
A woman in a coat stepped into the room with confident strides.
A voice, laced with arrogance, greeted her from within.
"So impatient. I'm surprised you couldn't wait, really."
Alba's voice.
The man wasn't known for his charm—in fact, he was universally disliked.
But Touko didn't so much as glance in his direction.
Expression frosty, she unceremoniously dropped her shoulder bag onto the floor with a loud thunk and retorted coldly:
"The manifestation of the Taiji diagram… That wasn't your idea, was it? Hurry up and bring Araya out. You're not important enough for what's about to happen—and I don't have time to waste on someone so far beneath me."
Her words cut like a knife.
Even as she spoke, her eyes scanned the room—not for Alba, but for someone else.
Alba, clearly offended by her blatant disregard, twitched with anger.
He raised a hand, magic beginning to gather—he wasn't about to let this insult go unanswered.
But just as he made his move, Touko coolly tapped her foot against the bag she'd dropped earlier.
Tap
"Come out."
The moment she uttered those words, the bag exploded open.
WHOOSH!
A sudden gust of wind roared through the apartment.
From the darkness inside, a massive black shadow surged forth.
A black cat—no, a beast in the shape of a cat, easily larger than a man—materialized beside Touko.
Its fur bristled like knives.
Its eyes gleamed with spectral menace.
Alba's expression changed immediately.
"W-What the hell is that?!"
He staggered back, clearly unprepared for this development.
Eyes wide, he gasped, "Wait—Didn't the rumors say your familiar lost to your sister? Was that a lie?!"
"Who knows?" Touko replied with a shrug, completely unfazed.
Before Alba could act again, the monstrous black cat pounced.
CRUNCH!
In the blink of an eye, the beast sank its jaws into him.
The arrogant mage was swallowed whole, rendered unconscious before he could even scream.
——
It ended in an instant.
Many of the audience members couldn't process what had just happened.
A powerful mage, taken out in mere seconds?
No one expected it.
And even fewer expected her—Touko—to reveal such overwhelming force.
That eerie black cat, unlike anything seen before, struck fear into the hearts of viewers.
"What… kind of familiar is that?" someone asked aloud.
Even Arcueid, who had been watching silently until now, furrowed her brow.
"That thing… I've never seen anything like it. Is it even alive?"
"I honestly don't know," Edward said with a troubled sigh.
"It was actually provided by one of our studio's core staff. I thought it was a specter, maybe some kind of summoned monster, but now… I'm not so sure."
"Hmm…"
As a vampire, Arcueid possessed a finely honed sixth sense for danger.
And right now, that sense was screaming at her.
There was something deeply wrong about that creature.
But she couldn't say what.
Meanwhile, Edward found himself hesitating.
Should he tell her the truth?
Told her that the black cat wasn't part of the original script?
That it was summoned by Latisha—the Arch Lich—through a ritual whose origins even the studio couldn't fully trace?
He shook his head.
No, now wasn't the time.
Latisha's identity was far too sensitive.
On one hand, they had a centuries-old vampire.
On the other, a lich from the chaos land—an undying sorceress with no natural predator.
If those two ever met face to face…
Who knew what kind of disaster might unfold?
Edward made up his mind.
It would be better for him to check things with Latisha later before revealing anything more.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Elsewhere, reactions were exploding across the southern territory.
The scene had left a deep impression on viewers.
Many hadn't expected the confrontation to end in one move.
They were even more stunned by Touko's hidden strength.
But no group was more shaken than the mages of the Imperial Mage Academy.
"Wait a second. What was that thing?" one exclaimed.
"Did Touko just… summon it? So she's a summoner-type mage?!"
"A summoner-type mage? Come on, don't mix up TV shows with reality! And besides, there's no such strange-looking black cat among known familiars in the real world, is there?"
"Exactly. Just looking at it gives me the chills. Something about it feels... unsettling."
"Really? I mean, sure, it looked kind of creepy when it grew larger, but normally, isn't it kinda cute?"
"I-I think you might need to see a doctor if you can say that with a straight face!"
"Don't mind her. She's from the necromancy department. They're all a bit... off."
"..."
The murmurs of the students rippled through the lecture hall. Most of the young magi instinctively felt an overwhelming fear toward the black cat shown in the footage.
Only a few from the Necromancy Department remained unaffected—but their lack of reaction only confirmed that something was undeniably wrong with that cat.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
At the very peak of the Alchemy Tower…
"Sheesh~ First it was a demon god in Fate/Zero, and now it's a chaos entity? Edward really knows how to draw in some serious troublemakers."
Administrator Hohenheim's dry remark prompted a wave of surprise from the other Arch Mages gathered in the chamber.
Even among them, it seemed, not everyone could immediately identify the creature in question.
With a solemn tone, Hohenheim continued:
"No physical body, yet not a spirit either… A being suspended between life and death. Only chaos entities from the chaos land fit that description. It's all in the Grand Library's records."
"Ugh, the Grand Library? That place has way too many books… It's not like we've read every single one!"
"…Seriously?"
The Administrator let out a tired sigh, realizing he might be the only one who'd ever bothered reading through those obscure volumes.
. . . . . . .
Back on screen, the scene continued to unfold.
After swiftly eliminating Alba, Touko's figure stood tall.
But just then, Souren arrived—snatching Alba away from the black cat's grasp.
A tense exchange of words followed before the clash erupted.
Souren, wielding a stillness-bound barrier, effortlessly wiped out Touko's bizarre familiar and then, with a single devastating punch, Touko crashed to the ground, blood splattering.
It was then that Touko realized the terrifying truth.
The entire apartment complex wasn't just trapped in a bounded field—it was the bounded field.
Souren had connected the structure directly to his body.
In other words, Ogawa Apartments itself was Souren Araya's flesh.
To Touko, that level of control—over space, over reality—was no different from magic itself.
And just as Souren declared his inevitable victory with chilling calm, Touko suddenly spoke:
"Souren… Do you know the three conditions that make something truly terrifying?"
"First: the thing must not be able to speak."
"Second: its true form must be unknowable."
"And third: it must be something that does not die."
As her words echoed through the wreckage—the black cat, which should've been slain, reappeared.
Its eyes gleamed with a cold, inhuman light.
And in one swift motion, it bit down on Souren Araya—crushing his body into a mess of blood and bone.
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