Not an Enemy, the Human Instrumentality Project!

Bai Cangshu confirmed it once more. This world was indeed a Derivative World, but the person before him, those eyes, and that death threat capable of ignoring his immortality…

There was no doubt about it. She had to be Ryougi Shiki.

Bai Cangshu was only surprised for a moment before drifting down from the streetlamp.

Since he knew he would be entering the Fate World, Bai Cangshu had naturally considered the possibility of such a composite setting.

"You know me too?"

There was little surprise in the woman’s voice. Instead, she sounded faintly resigned, as if she had expected this.

Bai Cangshu closed his eyes, then opened them again. They had transformed into a pattern resembling blue skies and white clouds, while intense soul fluctuations emanated from his body.

The corners of his mouth rose involuntarily, as though boundless greed were about to awaken.

The Mystic Eyes of Death Perception… Even within the Infinite Dimensional Space, they counted among the most exceptional Mystic Eyes.

If he killed this woman here, then with his luck, there was likely some chance of obtaining them.

And besides…

Though Ryougi Shiki’s Mystic Eyes were powerful, the physical skills and swordsmanship supporting that terrifying instant-death power had only barely reached superhuman levels.

The various techniques and secret arts of the Four Exorcist Families were not particularly frightening once the Mystic Eyes were excluded.

As a Martial Artist who had brought his physical techniques to an extremely high realm, Bai Cangshu was confident he could evade Ryougi Shiki’s blade, unless…

"Yes, I know you. More precisely, I like those eyes of yours. If it’s convenient…"

Bai Cangshu had never been one to hesitate or stand still. Once he desired something, he would act and take it.

The instant his voice sounded, the ground showed no signs of cracking, and the air merely gave a soft pop. His entire body had already appeared at Ryougi Shiki’s side like a phantom.

His fingers came together like a blade. In an instant, jet-black Haki wrapped around them, while purple-red Satsui no Hado flowed behind his elbow.

Buzz~

It sounded like cicadas chirping, yet also like countless insects beating their wings.

Enhanced by over 50 points of base Strength and Constitution, the killing power of Bai Cangshu’s hand blade had long surpassed that of ordinary Swordplay System Reincarnators. Bolstered by Haki and Satsui no Hado, it could effortlessly kill Strong-tier Reincarnators in a single strike.

Ryougi Shiki’s physical body was merely at an ordinary human level. Even with a great weapon like the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, there was no possibility of survival under such an absolute gap in speed and strength.

Pfft!

Blazing White airwaves surged like a raging sea, violently splitting before Ryougi Shiki. Calmly, she raised her short blade and held it before herself.

Bai Cangshu’s hand blade stopped quietly before that short blade.

The force bursting from Bai Cangshu’s jet-black hand blade swept up the air like a Blazing White sword aura. Riding the residual force of the slash, it slammed directly into the short blade.

The short blade did not move in the slightest, as though it had not encountered any obstruction at all.

The force and impact capable of shattering a building were smoothly cut apart, plunging into the alley behind her from either side of Ryougi Shiki’s body.

The Blazing White trailing air currents continued to roar, whipping up fierce winds that sent Ryougi Shiki’s short hair and Bai Cangshu’s long hair flying wildly.

Crack.

Bai Cangshu took half a step back with his left foot, crushing the ground beneath it as the leaking force discharged.

Even the Six Eyes in his pupils seemed to show admiration.

"So it was you…"

Bai Cangshu looked at the woman in the red jacket. The corners of her lips seemed to hold the faintest smile, while her expression remained calm.

At this moment, that tranquil smile carried a completely different meaning in Bai Cangshu’s eyes.

Even with the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, Ryougi Shiki was indeed no match for Bai Cangshu. But Root Shiki was entirely different.

In the Type-Moon World, nearly all Magi and magic users pursued the power known as the Root.

The Root was the beginning of all things, the truth, and the sum of every factor in this world. It concealed every cause in existence.

The slightest vortex radiating from the Swirl of the Root formed all magecraft in this world.

Only those who reached the Root could comprehend the true ultimate principle.

Even setting aside the philosophical desire to explore truth and the origin of the world, those who reached the Root and returned could master inconceivable Magic.

Note that this Magic was Magic as defined by the Type-Moon World. It differed from the "magic" used by Reincarnators in other worlds, where any spell driven by mana was called magic.

In the Type-Moon World, Magic and magecraft had a clear distinction. Simply put, any effect that could be achieved through non-mystical means could not be called Magic; it could only be called magecraft.

For instance, the various forms of magecraft used by modern Magi—cutting magecraft, fire magecraft, freezing magecraft—could already produce burning, freezing, cutting, and similar results through technological means as human science advanced.

Therefore, methods that created such effects through mana could only be magecraft.

Magic, on the other hand, was a miracle that could absolutely not be achieved by any other means.

By that standard, magecraft and Magic in this world were not fixed. In ancient times, human technology and knowledge were primitive, so many miracles and forms of Magic existed. But as technology advanced, more and more Magic turned into magecraft, and Mystery began to fade.

Now, only the Five True Magics completely transcended magecraft and touched the Root.

The First Magic: creation from nothing;

The Second Magic: interference with parallel worlds;

The Third Magic: materialization of the soul (Heaven’s Cup);

The Fourth Magic: denying reality and completely concealing one’s existence;

The Fifth Magic: perhaps Magic capable of even destroying time and order.

The reason these forms of Magic were Magic was that these abilities either touched the Root, or were Magic obtained by Magi after entering the Root—power acquired from the truth of the world.

Unfortunately, the woman before Bai Cangshu, Ryougi Shiki, possessed a true personality within her body that was one of the very few beings in the Type-Moon World connected to the Root. Or rather, Ryougi Shiki herself was an existence that had flowed forth from the Root.

Once that true personality known as Root Shiki awakened, she would become something that possessed traits almost identical to the Root itself.

"Do not mistake your enemy, evil… Savior…"

Ryougi Shiki—or rather, Root Shiki—walked past Bai Cangshu step by step. She had neither any intention of fighting him nor any intention of explaining herself.

Bai Cangshu turned his head slightly and watched this person, whose physical body was no more than that of an ordinary human, walk past him with those precious Mystic Eyes.

His right hand flexed, but in the end, he did not attack. The light of the Six Eyes had also faded from his gaze as he recalled the image that had appeared before him in that instant.

He had stopped his hand-blade strike not because he sensed her short blade before him, nor because continuing the slash would cause his arm to be "killed" first.

Rather, during the strike, a terrifying image had appeared before his eyes. In it, he stood above an empty Fuyuki City. Humanity had completely vanished below, every person transformed into liquid and fused together.

A massive void had appeared in the sky. The source of the world, known as the Swirl of the Root, seemed to hang above it, while a woman in a white robe trimmed in gold slowly passed through the void and entered the Root.

The image had been so real that the silence of that world made Bai Cangshu stop.

More importantly, he could probably guess what that image represented…

It was not an evil ritual, not Magic, nor any kind of sacrifice.

It was the ultimate pursuit of another world—the Human Instrumentality Project!