Shinji Matou at Your Service-Chapter 863 - : The Senpai Must Lose Her Head

Blood spurted from Ciel's mouth, staining the white collar of her nun's habit, mixed with fragments of her internal organs.

Ciel's body was resilient, but that didn't mean her internal organs were equally sturdy. The punch from the long-haired man wasn't just a regular strike; he concentrated his strength into one point, penetrating her body and then unleashing it internally, causing severe damage.

"Cough, cough."

The gravely wounded girl coughed as she tried to support herself with the impact hammer and stand up. However, the man shadowing her caught up and struck her again, shattering bones this time. She couldn't even stand, only managing to lift her head with great effort to ask:

"Who... who are you...?"

"Araya Souren, a magus. You could say I'm Roa's companion."

His voice, like a divine decree, echoed heavily in the dark forest.

Though she had never heard the name before, from this moment on, Ciel remembered him, remembered this dangerous bounded field user.

Roa, with his hands still tucked in his sleeves, approached. His face showed no gratitude; instead, he frowned and muttered, "Meddlesome."

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"It's not meddling; it's a necessary judgment," Araya Souren declared without even moving an eyebrow.

"I'm aware of your strength, but don't forget your current state. If the power you use exceeds the bounded field's limit, your actions will be recorded by the world, and that princess will become aware of your presence."

"Hmph, finishing her off doesn't require that much power. All I need is this—"

As Roa spoke, he drew his hand out from his sleeve, a dark gleam flashing in his grasp.

"—and it's enough!"

As he finished speaking, Ciel's head separated from her neck, and the blood, no longer held back, shot skyward under the pressure.

Only then did the dark gleam in Roa's hand reveal itself—a dagger. It looked like an ordinary tactical knife, difficult to imagine how such a dagger could decapitate someone with a single stroke.

Blood rained down from the sky, with a few drops landing on Roa's face. He extended his crimson tongue, licked them, and clicked his tongue in appreciation.

"Blood imbued with magic always tastes the best—Ah, I forgot to ask her how she survived. But it didn't matter; it wasn't anything important. You barely managed to survive and then rushed to your death—how pitiful, Elesia."

"What about the body?"

Araya Souren asked.

"Just leave it here; the Holy Church will come to collect her remains."

"And what about that conceptual weapon?"

"Don't touch it either. Unless your bounded field can seal a millennium-grade holy scripture, no matter where you go, the Holy Church will be able to find you."

As a former high-ranking member of the Holy Church and the founder of the Burial Agency, Roa was all too familiar with the Church's methods. A conceptual weapon of this level was equivalent to the highest precision tracking device.

"Aren't you afraid the Holy Church will use it against you again?"

"There's nothing to fear. For a magus, the greatest threat comes from the unknown. Once something is understood, there's always a way to deal with it. Your last failure was largely due to the unknown."

Araya thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Indeed. I didn't know that woman had so many troublesome people around her. I should have waited until I was better prepared."

"Exactly. At least half of the failures in the world stem from insufficient preparation. An ace like the Seventh Holy Scripture should be used only when you're certain it can eliminate me—still not mature enough, my daughter."

Daughter—this term wasn't incorrect.

Ciel was the most similar to Roa among his descendants, and since she had been possessed by Roa, she had inherited all his knowledge. In a sense, their relationship was closer than that of a true bloodline parent and child.

"What a shame—hmm?"

At that moment, the head that had fallen to the side suddenly flew up, reattaching itself to the severed neck.

Simultaneously, the scattered blood began to flow back into the wound, even the blood that had already seeped into the ground.

"This—this is—!"

Seeing such an unbelievable spectacle, even Roa and Araya, who had lived far longer than ordinary humans, were stunned.

At the same time, Ciel's lifeless eyes regained their light, and she immediately raised the impact hammer in her hands and pulled the trigger at the two men in front of her.

In the nick of time, the instincts accumulated over their long lives saved the two. Their bodies moved faster than their thoughts, dodging the spikes by the narrowest of margins.

As he recovered, Roa fixed his gaze on Ciel, his eyes filled with both shock and confusion—he had decapitated her, so how had she recovered?

But he also knew this wasn't the time to think. The priority was to deal with Ciel, and afterward, there would be plenty of time to ponder and research.

With this thought, Roa swung his dagger and charged at Ciel.

Araya moved as well, having made the same decision, his actions even faster than Roa's.

Having witnessed Araya's formidable skills, Ciel didn't dare to be careless. She switched to wielding the impact hammer with one hand and drew a Black Key with the other, rapidly launching it.

At such close range, with the Iron Armor Effect enhancing it, the scattered Black Keys were an attack that couldn't be dodged.

The enemy didn't dodge, nor did he block. He simply uttered a heavy verse: Taiten and let the Black Keys pierce his body.

With three Black Keys embedded in him, Araya's movements weren't hindered in the slightest. Instead, he became even swifter, closing the distance and extending his left hand. The palm, brimming with overwhelming force, seemed poised to crush Ciel's head.

The moment his fingertips touched her face, Ciel reflexively arched her body backward, her legs launching a series of kicks. In the Burial Agency, she had undergone comprehensive training; close combat was fundamental.

Even faced with such fierce kicks, Araya remained unfazed. As the sound of her legs hitting his abdomen echoed, he unleashed his poised right hand.

It was only then that she noticed there wasn't a single drop of blood where the Black Keys had struck.

"What kind of monster is this, what is his body made of?"

Ciel cursed inwardly, using the recoil to retreat. He wasn't afraid of stabs or kicks; close combat was futile.

However, Roa, who had been blocked by Araya's body, had already circled to cut off her retreat. As the dark gleam flashed once again, Ciel lost her head a second time.

Having learned from the earlier experience, Roa didn't stop. He continued swinging his dagger, severing Ciel's limbs and tossing the Seventh Holy Scripture, the weapon most threatening to him, far away.

Only after doing all this did he put down the dagger and crouch beside the corpse to observe it closely.

"Let's see how you recover this time."

PS: Regarding Araya—Araya's immortality isn't due to his ideology but because of his origin's Stillness embodiment. The event in 1998 that supposedly killed him led to his slow revival through conceptual means, though it took a long time—there's a line in the novel Kara no Kyoukai (which wasn't adapted in the anime), where Aozaki Touko tells Araya: "We'll meet again in the next century, right? Well, it's the next century now." With Roa, the ultimate survivor, assisting him, it's not surprising he's revived. By the way, many of the other characters voiced by Kotomine's VA are also quite tenacious.