XElenea
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MP : 69 All for Sharingan!
🕑 Added 2024-11-21 16:00:02 +0000 UTCOn the first day of training, Roy created a big scene for her.
He said it was to awaken her potential, but he didn't practice with herself as he had the night before. Instead, he simply threw a strange, sharp little knife at her and had it practice over there with a pre-prepared partner.
As for the training partner, it wasn't a normal person.
He had somehow found a strange puppet over two meters tall.
The puppet kept spinning, along with various sharp knives and pointed objects hanging from it, making it impossible to get close. After a long struggle, when Shiki chose to take the initiative, she still couldn't do anything about it. In just a quarter of an hour, she lost her ability to move.
"Is it really not working?"
Compared to the precarious situation Shiki was in below, Roy was merely observing the changes in her condition with seriousness.
Several attempts yielded no results as he expected. However, when he saw her defeat, he snapped his fingers, stopping the puppet.
According to the original plan, he shouldn't have stopped the puppet here because he hadn't pushed her into a true deadlock yet.
The arrival of such immense power is never without reason, especially in the case of Shiki's legendary Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
To briefly explain the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, everything originates from the Root. If there is a birth, there must be an end, which we refer to as death. The end of something is predetermined from the moment it is born. When something flows from its Root, its death has already been determined by the Root. If there were a pair of eyes capable of connecting to the Root and seeing the death of things, we would call them the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
This is a power that even the gods in myths do not possess.
Therefore, for Shiki to acquire it is difficult as hell.
In Kara no Kyoukai, without the death of SHIKI, Shiki would not have gained her most powerful weapon, the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
However, Roy could not let SHIKI die just for a pair of Mystic Eyes, even if those eyes were a miracle of the Root.
These past few days he had been trying to call out to Void Shiki, but she never responded to him. In order to help Shiki awaken her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, he had no choice but to resort to this underhanded method.
Only by experiencing death can one have a chance to obtain the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
As long as he keeps Shiki hanging on the edge of life and death, he could stimulate her to awaken her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception through this external stimulus.
But if he were to take action himself, he couldn't bring himself to do it. So he hurried to Touko's place to have her custom-made self-regulating puppet equipped with weapons.
Fortunately, as a Grand Puppeteer, she had as many of these common puppets as she wanted. So Roy simply brought back several suitable puppets for training.
However, the results didn't seem impressive.
Although Shiki had been precariously hanging on the edge of danger, was this machine not enough for the so-called life-and-death struggle?
If that's the case, should he get a few more to try?
Though he thought that, Roy quickly stopped the puppet and swiftly jumped down from the high platform, lifting the injured Shiki and giving her the simplest treatment.
The bleeding quickly stopped, and her wounds healed. With some strange medicinal aid, Shiki felt that she had recovered somewhat.
Then Roy asked, "Are you ready to start the next round?"
"Of course, bring it on."
Shiki showed no fear as if the previous life-and-death struggle was just child's play to her.
"Good. Just be careful not to die."
With her affirmative response, Roy immediately flashed her back and snapped his fingers again. This time, not only the previous puppet but also two others hidden in the corners of the training field joined the battle.
Three puppets equipped with different weapons formed a triangular encirclement under Roy's control, waving their weapons and preparing to attack the Shiki in the center.
This time he personally controlled the puppets, trying to gauge the right balance and continuously pushing her into a deadlock through encirclement and constriction of her survival space, attempting to stimulate her potential and awaken her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
"Don't blame me for being cruel. Compared to losing something and then regaining it, now is the best time."
"Only by infinitely approaching death can one comprehend the true meaning of survival."
"Shiki, if you truly wish to protect SHIKI, then struggle as much as you can to gain the power that belongs to you!"
Roy raised his arm and suddenly swung it down, launching a joint attack from the three puppets.
...
Swipe!
Accompanied by the swing of a steel knife, Shiki received another deep wound on her back.
The intense pain made her grit her teeth, "Ugh."
However, the attacks from the puppets showed no signs of slowing down due to her injury and continued to close in on her position.
These three puppets were not only as hard as steel but also moved quickly, with their equipped weapons making it difficult for her to get close.
When there was only one, she could barely manage to dodge using her agility, but now that three were attacking together and cooperating, how was she supposed to respond?
Was this reckless trial really just meant to kill her?
She couldn't help but glance up at the man standing on the high platform, his eyes still cold, confirming that he would never come to her rescue before she died.
Swipe!
Barely dodging the flying wheel shot by the puppet, she felt somewhat dazed. Every time she tried to attack one of the puppets, the other two would sneak attack from the side.
Though it was training, these puppets were not real people; they didn't know how to hold back. Any hit would leave her severely injured.
Each attack or dodge gave her a sense of being on the brink of life and death.
But she couldn't keep dragging this on. She needed to find a flaw in their coordination and take them down in one fell swoop.
Shiki pondered for a moment, preparing to take the initiative again.
Roy also, as he said before, no longer showed mercy. In the gaps created by Shiki' every attack, he would control the puppets to launch direct attacks. Although Shiki was agile, with enough attempts, there would always be times when she would be hit.
Around her fifth attempt, her body was already covered in wounds, and blood had soaked her clothes.
Fortunately, during this time of life-and-death struggle, she had also found some clues, or rather, she discovered the flaws that Roy had deliberately left on these puppets.
However...
Though it seemed she had found some patterns, she still didn't have absolute confidence. If she wanted to practice, she would truly have to gamble her life in her current state.
But if this situation continued without taking action, she would only be exhausted to death.
Shiki had never been a weak, delicate lady.
So...
She was going to take the gamble.
Though these three puppets appeared to cooperate perfectly, upon closer observation, one would find that their attack patterns were fixed.
The knife in her hand was a specially crafted tool given to her by Roy, capable of cutting through the unique material of the puppets. She only needed to exploit their attack patterns, and then take them down one by one.
Shiki suddenly understood the words Roy had told her before they began.
"Don't view the enemy as a whole. Use your imagination, think carefully, break them apart, and then further break them into countless lines and dots. Once you've found the connection point that holds them together, then... "
Shiki seemed to grasp something.
"You wretched puppet!"
Noticing the change in Shiki's actions, a bad feeling suddenly surged in Roy's mind. It seemed like this girl was about to pull off something big.
Facing the puppets again, the situation appeared unchanged. Shiki gripped the knife, attempting to attack one of them first. At that moment, the other two puppets, following Roy's preset patterns, launched their assault on her.
However, this time Shiki didn't retreat. Instead, she made a very bold move. She thrust toward one of the puppets and then bent down to dodge the incoming blade, luring the other two puppets to crash into her position.
Seeing this, Roy raised a hand to stop the puppets, but when he saw the courage displayed by Shiki and her determined eyes, he decided to lower his hand.
"Fine, let her handle it."
Screech!
The sound of special metals clashing and grinding was excruciatingly sharp. As Shiki had predicted, the three puppets collided violently, sparking a cascade of flames. Shiki witnessed everything up close in that fleeting moment.
"I knew I was right."
"No, you're completely wrong."
'I told you to awaken your Mystic Eyes of Death Perception by focusing on points and lines, but instead, you're using their force against them.'
The idea was to break down the construct of the puppets, not split up their formation.
If it weren't for his intervention, Shiki's left arm would likely have been sawed off by the puppet at that moment.
"Whatever."
Seeing the result, Roy couldn't help but sigh. "Looks like Plan A failed, so let's move straight to Plan B."
The three puppets were still trembling violently. Countless parts began to fly around the training ground like bullets, and the situation showed signs of spiraling out of control.
Shiki tried to escape from the danger, but her injuries severely slowed her down, and she was about to be hit by the flying blades.
"Don't look up."
At that moment, Roy leapt down from the platform, landing swiftly in front of her. With one hand, he shielded Shiki, who was about to pass out from blood loss, while with the other, he slowly brought down the runaway puppets.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Several muffled explosions echoed, like grenades going off. The puppets, crushed by Roy's magical power, exploded into pieces, scattering components across the training ground.
The entire Ryougi Family was startled by the loud explosion.
Had an enemy organization planted a bomb at the Ryougi headquarters? All the members grabbed their weapons, ready to investigate, but they were stopped halfway by Mr. Ryougi who appeared suddenly.
He glanced in the direction of the explosion, roughly understanding what had happened, and shook his head slightly. "Disperse, there's no need to investigate. Return to your posts."
Although some wanted to ask for the reason, they were firmly refused and had no choice but to nod quietly and obey.
"Understood."
The gathered crowd quickly dispersed.
...
In the dream world.
"Are you really going to do this? Even if you succeed, are you sure this girl won't hate you?"
"If using ordinary methods could help her activate the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, I obviously wouldn't resort to such extreme measures. But the ordinary methods don't work, so this is the only option."
"Rather than waiting for her to awaken the Mystic Eyes after losing someone precious, helping her gain this power now is undoubtedly the best choice."
"Is it worth it? She won't understand your intentions."
"It doesn't matter. I owe her my life. Whether she understands or not is her choice, but whether I do this is mine. Even if she ends up resenting me, so what?"
"Sigh, fine, fine. Since you're closely connected to that one, do whatever you want. If something goes wrong, she won't come after me."
"I'm counting on you then, Merlin." Roy bent down and, in a rare gesture, bowed to Merlin.
"Sigh, you..."
In the dream world, in the familiar Avalon once again, Merlin, who had been absent for a while, and Roy were having another tea chat in the realm of dreams.
At first, Merlin was quite happy to see Roy, who hadn't visited him in a long time. He hadn't even had time to set up the dreamscape for tea, but this time, Roy brought a huge task right from the start.
This turned Merlin's smiling face into a bitter one. He wished he could quickly send away this disaster that had suddenly arrived.
Roy, are you out of your mind?!
This guy came straight in, asking Merlin to enter her dreamscape and craft a highly realistic dream world based on the script provided by Roy, in order to stimulate Shiki Ryougi and awaken her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
Such a bold, reckless plan shocked Merlin, something he hadn't felt in centuries.
Roy had his own reasoning. After trying so many things, he had decided that since external stimuli between life and death couldn't help awaken the Mystic Eyes, he would directly replicate the conditions from Kara no Kyoukai, having Shiki Ryougi experience the pain of losing SHIKI in the dream, thereby helping her unlock the Mystic Eyes.
He wanted to try every possible option until he succeeded without sacrificing SHIKI.
Although Roy had some experience with illusion magecraft, crafting a dream world as realistic as reality was far beyond his capability. Worse, Shiki Ryougi might notice the illusion and become guarded, which would cause the plan to fail.
So, he sought the help of the strongest illusionist in the moonlit world, none other than the scoundrel Merlin, who also happened to be a Swordsmanship Master.
Roy would act as the director, crafting the script, while Merlin built the stage and threw Shiki Ryougi into a tragic performance without raising any suspicion.
But while the idea was grand, the reality was harsh.
Initially, Merlin didn't take it seriously when he heard it was just creating a specific dream, an easy task for him, so he agreed right away. However, when Merlin realized Roy wanted him to enter Shiki Ryougi's dream and set up a specific scenario, he was horrified and in disbelief.
He was a hair's breadth away from pointing at Roy and cursing him, "Do you even know who she is? You want me to lay a trap in her dream? If I upset her, and she brings her sword to Avalon, even I'd be done for. This is impossible!"
Merlin was ready to send Roy away, fearing the worst. However, Roy retorted, pointing out that Merlin had freely entered his dreams in the past when Roy was still ignorant and powerless. Why was Merlin now so reluctant? Could it be that Merlin was selectively cautious, depending on whom he dealt with?
Merlin responded, "Back then, you had no awareness or power, so why would I fear you? But this one is different. She's tied to the Root and is everywhere. If you upset her, I won't have a good time either. I'm just a poor, weak, helpless Magus of Flowers. Go find someone else!"
After much back-and-forth, Roy finally convinced Merlin by signing a guarantee that he would take full responsibility if anything went wrong, promising that Shiki wouldn't come after Merlin. He also agreed to do some favors for Merlin, which finally persuaded him.
"Alright, I'll give it a try, but don't get your hopes up. That one might be watching us right now."
Merlin sighed deeply. Looking at the sleeping Shiki Ryougi, his hands trembled as he prepared to work his magecraft.
"If she does appear, no matter what you offer me, I'm not doing this. You'll have to fend her off."
"Alright, I promise. If she shows up, I'll explain it myself. You can leave. How's that?"
"That's more like it."
With Roy's assurance, Merlin felt slightly more at ease.
Under Merlin's arrangement, Roy tied a colorful ribbon around Shiki Ryougi's wrist, then signaled Merlin with an "OK" gesture from the dream world.
Feeling the connection through the ribbon, Merlin nodded and began chanting a rare spell, constructing the dream world.
Drip Drip
Like water droplets falling into a pool, creating ripples.
In another layer of the dream, a stage for Shiki Ryougi was silently being built on the water's surface.
...
"Interesting."
As the two were busy at work, a gentle female voice suddenly echoed in the darkness.
