Shinji Matou at Your Service-Chapter 868 - : The Real-Life Doctor Octopus

It seemed that the female magus's attitude had enraged Araya. With just a body's length between them, he let out a roar and launched a series of punches, his eyes wide open, resembling the wrathful guardian deities from Buddhist legends.

With wrathful eyes, he slayed demons and monsters.

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Unfortunately, the female magus wasn't a demon; she was far more terrifying than one.

No matter how much force Araya used or how many punches he threw, she blocked them all with ease. Each punch was precisely intercepted, with the most damaging parts of his fists always landing on the softest parts of her palms, as if she had foreseen his every move.

While blocking Araya's punches, the female magus didn't forget about Roa on the other side.

"—Iron arm of War, fire at will."

With this command, the steel claw at the end of the mechanical arm blocking Roa's knife opened up, revealing a dark barrel that began firing energy blasts at a speed that rivaled a submachine gun.

Roa didn't dare be careless. He pushed off with his feet, moving laterally faster than the mechanical arm, while simultaneously aiming a lightning spell at Caren.

However, the female magus had anticipated this as well.

"—Tin arm of Protection, intercept."

Another metallic arm emerged from the ground amidst a cloud of dust, intercepting the lightning before wrapping around Karen's body.

"—Lead arm of Roaring, capture."

At the same time, a third metallic arm extended and grabbed Ciel.

"—All arms, return to base!"

Finally, all three mechanical arms began moving toward the female magus.

Roa, of course, was not willing to let his prey escape. He unleashed magic with both hands and pursued them using the Living Step technique, rapidly advancing.

But by this time, Ciel had fully recovered, her body restored to peak condition. She unleashed a relentless barrage of Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind Burial Rites, using the overwhelming quantity and power of her magic to suppress Roa's spells.

As for Kirei Kotomine's prized Living Step, it was interrupted almost as soon as it began—by a fourth mechanical arm. No matter how sophisticated the footwork, it required a stable footing to be executed. With the ground unstable, even the most intricate steps couldn't be performed.

The first spot where Roa chose to land had the fourth mechanical arm hidden beneath it. How could he continue the chase? He could only watch helplessly as Ciel and Caren moved further and further away, eventually escaping his grasp.

Realizing that his fists alone wouldn't be enough to defeat the female magus, Araya reverted to his old tactics. He chanted incantations, and circles began to extend outward from beneath his feet. Within the bounded field's range, everything would be affected by the concept of stillness, making this one of the most troublesome techniques in close combat.

The simulated circles touched the female magus's body—and then they disintegrated.

"!!!"

Araya's face twitched, and the hand controlling the bounded field trembled slightly.

Just like before, Araya's normally unstoppable bounded field crumbled the moment it was supposed to take effect, without any warning whatsoever. Naturally, his strategy of using the bounded field to immobilize and kill the female magus fell apart as well.

Even worse, during the time he was setting up the bounded field, those four strange mechanical arms had already circled back to Fiore's side, attaching themselves to her from behind.

Only now did he and Roa get a clear look at the true nature of the mechanical arms hidden underground. They were part of a spider-like device, its body a backpack about half a person's height, while the spider's legs were the four mechanical arms that had given Roa so much trouble.

"Now, there are no more distractions."

Standing on the ground with her feet planted firmly, two pairs of mechanical arms extending from her shoulders and waist, the female magus looked like a real-life Doctor Octopus. Although her face was obscured by a black veil, the determination in her eyes was still palpable.

"You two, protect yourselves. I'm going in."

The moment she made this declaration, the mechanical arms on her shoulders began firing energy blasts, while the two on her waist dug into the ground, helping her move forward.

The woman's steps weren't fast, and her movements lacked any discernible technique, clearly indicating a lack of formal training in footwork. Compared to martial arts experts like Araya and Kirei Kotomine, who had honed their skills in martial arts, she was no match. But with the added assistance of the mechanical arms, the effect was completely different.

No matter how stable one's lower body was, it couldn't be more stable than mechanical arms that could dig directly into the earth.

No matter how fast one could run, they couldn't outrun the mechanical arms' thrusts.

Even more terrifying was the female magus's predictive ability, which was incredibly accurate. Almost every step was within her expectations, and combined with the mechanical arms, which were far more agile than her body, she made Araya and Roa extremely uncomfortable. If it weren't for a few minor, harmless mistakes she made, the two would have thought she possessed eyes on the same level as the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, said to be capable of seeing the ultimate future and fate.

It was precisely because of these minor mistakes that the two didn't choose to flee. They were confident in their ability to outlast her in a prolonged battle, where small mistakes would gradually accumulate into larger ones, eventually deciding the outcome.

Just like now!

Araya's body began to glow with golden light, using his incredibly tough physique—so strong that even the Seventh Holy Scripture struggled to damage it—to overpower the four mechanical arms. Seizing this opportunity, Roa used his superhuman speed as a Dead Apostle to instantly appear behind the female magus, stabbing a knife toward her back.

The female magus quickly turned, one hand reaching for Roa's arm and the other striking toward his abdomen.

This was exactly what Roa had been waiting for. The female magus's response was correct, textbook even—this had been her consistent battle style.

And precisely because of this, she had left herself vulnerable. After all, textbooks emphasize rigor and generality, seldom considering exceptional cases—and Roa possessed a special power that broke the rules: his eyes.

He could see lines invisible to others, and by slicing along these lines, no matter how sturdy the part, it would be easily cut. His target wasn't her back at all but her arm. As long as his knife grazed the line, her arm would suffer irreversible damage, beyond the repair of ordinary healing magecraft.

As for the hand striking toward his abdomen, Roa paid it no mind. With the regenerative abilities of a Dead Apostle, he would recover soon enough. He was willing to take a punch to sever her arm.

Your arm, I'll take it. Next, it'll be your life—

The vampire grinned maliciously as he rotated the knife, slashing it swiftly toward her arm, leaving no room for her to dodge.

However, just as the knife was about to touch the line on her arm, Roa's expression suddenly twisted in agony, as if he were in immense pain. He staggered, his grip on the knife faltering, and even his voice trembled with pain.

"Ughhhh—You, could it be that you are—"

PS: Regarding Roa's mystic eyes, the official setting is that they were obtained through multiple cycles of life and death, but it's never said they can't be inherited.