Chapter 18: Mystic Eyes of Death Perception

"Sei!"

"Ha!"

A sharp flash from a claw, but it was repelled with a piercing sound.

However, that was already within expectations, and Arcueid-san immediately lunged from the side.

"Die."

The ground was scraped, and flesh was torn and bones were crushed.

Roa vanished with a spray of blood and a roar.

However, he immediately revived, like the hands of a clock going backward.

"How tedious, Arcueid Brunestud. Was the True Ancestor Princess only ever this much? Where did that terror that made the Dead Apostles tremble, which knew neither mercy nor forgiveness, go?"

"…!!"

He’s strong, or rather, you could call it cheating. No matter how many times we attack and kill him, he keeps reviving like this. As I knew from the [Original Work Knowledge], seeing it again makes me realize how unreasonable infinite lives are.

"Kukuku, well, if you intend to kill me, you shouldn't rely on physical attacks but should prepare a conceptual armament from the Church, something on the order of a thousand years."

Roa scoffed at us, and Arcueid-san's killing intent intensified in response to his words.

A Conceptual Armament is something that strikes the target not through physical impact, but by concept, specifically, the weight of the soul. For example, the Black Keys—at first glance, they look like throwing knives, but they destroy the Dead Apostles by re-baptizing them into their original human bodies. The Seventh Holy Scripture used by Ciel-senpai, for instance, is not merely a pile bunker but negates the very phenomenon of reincarnation.

In short, for this opponent, a special effect is required rather than a physical effect. Unfortunately, both Arcueid-san and I are "physical-minded" and don't possess such a grand item. Alternatively, if she were in her serious, or rather, 'Hime-Arc' state, she could likely annihilate him instantly, but the moment she becomes Hime-Arc, the world ends. After all, in the Melty Blood Hime-Arc route, she tried to stop the Earth's rotation and bring about the extinction of humanity.

Incidentally, she was stopped by Arcueid-san herself, who rushed in—

"Laugh and forgive me. I know I'm going berserk, but I can't stop myself."

She showed off her magnificent stupidity, which drove Ciel-senpai to the depths of despair in various ways...

"Now then, I've talked enough—This is my repayment."

The moment he swung his arm down, a blinding flash and shockwave ran through the air.

"Ah, ...gh..."

My consciousness and vision were hazy. The smell of dirt stung my nose, and I finally realized I was on the ground. I moved my neck to look around and saw Arcueid-san lying face down a little distance away.

"Guh..."

I tried to put strength into my body to stand up, but I only trembled like a newborn fawn. My breath was ragged, sounds were indistinct, and my consciousness remained hazy.

"Hmph, is a degenerated Princess only this much, after all? What a disgrace. Then, to erase you with my own hands is at least a mercy."

Roa said this and deployed a magic circle from his hand, aiming at Arcueid-san. Damn it, it feels less like I'm about to be defeated and more like I'm being completely ignored, is that it? Damn it, damn it! Anything, just move, move, MOVE!

Thanks to my desperate plea for my body to move, it did. I stretched out my arm, instinctively picked up a stone that was rolling nearby, and threw it at Roa with all the strength a vampire could muster. It cut through the air, and although Roa noticed before it hit, it was too late. The stone struck him directly on the head, scattering brain matter around.

That was the moment I had certainly killed a person with my own hands.

However, my opponent was a vampire who had lived for hundreds of years. The head, which had looked like a cracked watermelon, immediately reverted to normal as if time was rewinding. And the attack that was meant for Arcueid-san was redirected at me.

"A useless struggle."

"Ah, guh..."

The pain was beyond the point where I could move properly. I was kicked and rolled on the ground, but I couldn't feel the sensation.

"Hmph, well, fine. First, I will dispose of you, little girl."

Roa, who was looking down at me, expanded his sorcery and was about to kill me right then. Ah, this is where Satsuki Yumizuka's life ends—the situation was more than sufficient to make me think so, but—

"Roa—!!"

Haha, took you long enough, Shiki.

"Roa—!!"

When I rushed over, Arcueid was on her knees on the ground, gasping for breath as if trying to stand up. Meanwhile, Yumizuka was lying down in front of SHIKI—Roa, clearly battered and weakly looking at me.

"Oh, Shiki. Did you come? I was worried that you might have run away."

"I don't care about your speeches—I'll be your opponent."

My blood boiled at Roa's joking attitude, which he didn't hide as he looked happily at me. So, I announced my declaration of war against Roa without hiding my anger.

"Haah, how cold. Are you so devoted to the True Ancestor, or rather—"

Roa cut off his words and stepped on the head of the fallen Yumizuka. A faint groan of pain leaked out, but Roa completely ignored it.

"Or is it this woman?"

"You... bastard—!!"

Driven by passion, I lunged into Roa's space in one breath. I swung my knife, intending to slice the line running diagonally across his forehead, but the knife didn't reach. I myself was blown away before the knife could touch Roa.

"Gah!!"

In an instant, I was spectacularly thrown back, slamming my back into a park tree, and my consciousness momentarily flew away. Not only that, but the contents of my stomach felt like they were about to spill out of my mouth. My entire body ached from the impact.

But more than that, seeing the battered state of Yumizuka and Arcueid right now made my heart feel like it was tearing apart. I also have a promise to Akiha, so I can't collapse here.

"Ku, kuhahaha, ahaha, hah hah hahahaha...!!"

While enduring the pain in my body, I heard Roa's laughter.

"How does it feel? To have something important to you wounded, huh? But you are the greatest! That face! That desperate look of struggling even when you're hurt—that's what I wanted to see!!!"

Ah-hyahyahya, Roa—no, this is probably SHIKI—continued to laugh. It's unpleasant. I want to silence that noise right now—I want to immediately dismantle the 'Enemy' into pieces. Even though the moon is so beautiful tonight, that voice, that existence, everything is a nuisance to me.

"Say, Shiki. If you like this little girl so much, join us. It would be a waste to let the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception you possess die out here, and since you and I are fundamentally the same, there could be no better partner. Oh... it seems the personality overlap with SHIKI is intense... no, it's fading away, is it?"

Is that so, SHIKI is going away. I vaguely listened to what the 'Enemy' was saying. Surprisingly, my heart was calm, even as I prepared to dismantle the 'Enemy.'

"Well, I don't care about your will, though. Don't worry, just like this little girl, I'll neatly eliminate such bothersome things for you."

—Snap

I felt like I heard that sound in my head. With that single word, my consciousness became perfectly clear. I took a breath and asked Roa:

"SHIKI, no, Roa. I'll ask you just one thing: Are you seeing lines? Or are they points? No, can you only see the lines of living things?"

"Hah! I thought you were begging for your life, but what a foolish thing to ask. How could inanimate objects have the concept of 'death'?"

He asked mockingly, as if to say, why ask such an obvious thing now? At least, given Roa's personality, I don't think he would lie in this situation. Well, it can't be helped, my 'Eyes' are a special specification that sees a different channel.

Then, Roa and I—

"We're different..."

"Aan?"

Roa said something, but I couldn't hear it. My gaze was already focused on 'things,' causing a headache. It was a headache unlike any before, but I continued to stare, making preparations to take down the 'Enemy.'

"Honestly, you don't even have a final word while you're alive? But chatter ends here. I also have to dispose of that Church dog and the True Ancestor over there."

Clack, clack, Roa made a sound as he approached me. Conveniently, he showed no caution whatsoever, maintaining his composed attitude.

"SHIKI, or is it Roa now?"

"...Who knows. As the Infinite Reincarnator, I infest the soul of my host, but because this is not the original body that formed the Roa personality, it inevitably affects 'me' as a spirit. I am SHIKI, and I am also Roa. Perhaps this is correct."

I see. Then I'll be killing SHIKI, even if he's Roa.

"—SHIKI, you and I are different. You don't understand death."

Click, the channel completely switched over. The death of 'things' that 'shouldn't be understood' was vividly reflected on my retina. Roa sensed my sudden change and his eyes widened in astonishment.

"—Wh-What are you..."

"Death is a void, nothingness. But it's not just living things; death exists in all things around us. Death is connected to everything, so it feels like the whole world is on the verge of collapsing."

"Y-You—What, surely not, that's impossible."

Roa's agitated voice echoed. I recall someone once saying that people feel aversion and fear towards what they cannot understand.

"D-Don't come! Don't come here!! Do you even care what happens to this little girl, Shiki!!"

He put pressure on his foot crushing Satsuki to threaten me. But I, with a fluid movement, stabbed my knife into the ground at a single spot. The sound of glass shattering simultaneously rang out, and the magecraft circle Roa had set up vanished.

"What?! The magecraft circle set up in the park has been dispelled?! Killing the Thaumaturgy itself... that's impossible—Impossible, IMPOSSIBLE!!"

You cannot understand, huh? Very well, I'll teach you.

"—I'll show you. This is what it means to kill a thing."

I said briefly and drew the knife across the ground with a slash! Instantly, the lines woven around where Roa stood writhed, and the ground caved in.

"Wha—!!"

A scream mixed with terror. The spot where Roa was standing collapsed along with the ground. Yumizuka, now free, leaped like a fleeing rabbit, escaping Roa, and shouted:

"—Shiki!!"

Ah, I know. Let's put an end to this karma. It's not enough, not enough killing. I can't kill him simply.

He viciously cast a spell, but I killed it, then severed his right arm as a start, stripping him of his capacity to resist.

"Gaaahhhh!!"

Realizing that sorcery was disadvantageous when I was close, he switched to a physical fight. The kick, which would easily destroy a human like a crushed tomato, was incredibly slow to me.

I crouched low as if crawling to evade, but in an instant, I was facing Roa head-on. Roa was unsettled by my sudden appearance right in front of him, but I unhesitatingly sliced the knife horizontally, killing both of his eyes.

A scream, but his mouth was intact, and the target retreated, chanting what seemed to be a spell. A flash approached, but it was even slower than the previous kick, and it was too bothersome to kill, so I avoided it with a lateral jump. Then, I closed in and sliced Roa's thin jaw.

At this point, the target was babbling something. It seemed he was feeling extreme terror because the vampire's regeneration ability was not activating. He was likely no longer able to make calm judgments—but this is boring, tedious.

I expected him to dance more, but he's a disappointment. For a vampire who has lived for hundreds of years and preyed on Yumizuka and Arcueid, he's weak. This won't do; a defective toy must be broken.

I kill the left arm.

Severed wrist, massive blood loss.

I kill the right leg.

Severed right Achilles tendon, making walking difficult for the target.

I crush one lung.

Bloody foam erupts from the target's mouth. Even breathing must be agony now.

I kill the left leg.

The thigh flies off spectacularly with a spray of blood.

I kill the internal organs.

As the target floats in the air, I stab the knife into his abdomen, completely stopping his internal organ functions.

Kill

Kill Kill

KOROSUKOROSUKOROSUKOROSU

KOROSU KOROSU KOROSU KOROSU KOROSU KOROSU KOROSU KOROSU KOROSU KOROSU

"—Monster."

The target, now a bloody doll or a chunk of flesh, sent me a short, accurate word describing what I am now.

"—Yeah, I'm a monster, a monster. But know your limits, vampire. As long as you have a form, vanishing is the minimum rule."

You're not wrong, but at least I am closer to death than anyone else. Unlike you, I know the preciousness and gratitude of life, and the warmth of an ordinary, everyday life.

And then—.

"See ya, Roa."

Thud, I stabbed the point just to the right of Roa's heart.