"Out of control and even more terrifying... Not considering control and manipulation, your phantom is truly perfect. Among all the Fakers, you are the strongest—no doubt about it."
Shinji clicked his tongue as he watched the exaggerated scene below.
"Princess, I request permission to use the Chains of Earth."
"Granted," Arcueid nodded slightly in agreement.
"Ensure the enemy is annihilated, my knight."
"Yes, my princess!"
Shinji clenched his right hand into a fist and struck his left chest.
"Reveal yourself, Silver Chains that Bind the True Ancestor!"
A silver chain, two fingers thick, appeared out of thin air. Under Shinji's command, it wound around the phantom Arcueid like a serpent.
The phantom continuously unleashed powerful energy and illusions, but they could not stop the chains from binding. The moment they touched the chains, they disintegrated into nothing, helplessly watching as the chains tightly bound them.
"What... is this... thing?"
Perhaps because Shinji's projected thoughts were not grand in scale, or perhaps because Zepia had divided his thoughts to create a safe zone unaffected by the mental backlash, the vampire who was nearly turned into an idiot regained his speech and mobility.
"Didn't I just say? Chains of Earth, chains specifically designed to bind True Ancestors."
The chains Shinji first saw in the Millennium Castle Brunestud, filling the entire sealing chamber, were these very chains. They were weapons created by Arcueid, specifically for sealing the powers of True Ancestors to the greatest extent.
Arcueid is the executioner of vampires, and her targets include not only Dead Apostles but also fallen True Ancestors.
True Ancestors are nature's offspring, possessing nearly perfect bodies that can alter reality with mere thoughts. Their only flaw is an ever-increasing bloodlust. Once they cannot suppress this urge, they fall and become Dead Apostle.
Fallen True Ancestors are still True Ancestors, but without the need to suppress their bloodlust, their powers are fully unleashed, making it difficult even for Arcueid to kill them. Thus, she created chains specifically for True Ancestors.
After she drank blood because of Roa, the chains' target also included herself. Each time she killed Roa, she would return to the Castle, heavily binding herself to the throne to suppress her powers and bloodlust. She intended to enter eternal slumber this way once Roa was permanently eradicated.
For True Ancestors, blood is a drug. As long as they don't drink blood, the urge will increase, and once they do, resisting it the next time requires twice the mental effort. Arcueid knew that she would one day be unable to resist the bloodlust, so she entrusted the chains, in a seemingly joking manner, to Shinji. If she ever lost control—whether due to bloodlust or any other reason—he should use the chains to seal her.
With Arcueid's naivety, she naturally didn't think to name the chains. Shinji named them, inspired by Gilgamesh's beloved Noble Phantasm, Chains of Heaven.
The Chains of Heaven are divine weapons that become stronger the higher the target's divinity. True Ancestors are considered divine but exist differently, without divinity, hence the opposing name.
Until now, Shinji had never used these chains, until this moment, to deal with the false True Ancestor.
The bound phantom Arcueid weakened due to the chains' seal, unable to move.
Shinji once again gripped the Noble Phantasm Harpe and approached the struggling, seemingly broken alchemist.
"Ah, what a sight of pain, sorrow, and joy!"
"This splendid battle will be reduced to ashes. Vermin! Spin! Reverse the second hand! Reverse creation! Reverse the world!"
"Spin! Spin! Spin! Spin! Spin! Night Ruler The Blooder Dealer!"
A black mist enveloped the vampire, spreading and dyeing everything around it black. However, this level of attack was of no concern to Shinji. The purest solar flame manifested, sweeping away the black mist and restoring clarity.
"Information condensation! Cast! Cut! Cut! Cut!"
Zepia had not given up, using his last computational power to create a new phantom, one that once again left Shinji in shock.
Of course, it couldn't be Arcueid again. If Zepia could replicate her again, Shinji would immediately summon Pegasus and retreat. He was stunned because this phantom was someone he was still very familiar with. Although he had only spent a little over three months with this person, they had a profound impact on his life.
This person taught him martial arts, this person taught him magecraft, this person granted him knowledge, and this person truly made him understand what it meant to be strong and how to become strong.
Her name was Scáthach, the immortal queen of the Land of Shadows.
"I didn't expect to see you here..."
Shinji involuntarily stopped and murmured.
He stopped, but Zepia did not. The phantom Scathach's red twin spears, like two bolts of lightning, struck at Shinji's vital points with the force of a storm.
Forehead, throat, heart.
Left shoulder, side abdomen, groin.
Upper left, lower right, six consecutive strikes.
This was a feat that only a divine master whose spear skills had reached the divine realm could achieve.
"Useless."
With a sigh, several arms formed from spirit particles appeared around Shinji, stopping the spears just inches from him, binding both the spears and the phantom herself.
"This must be using the opportunity of the first strike to capture the deepest impression of a strong person in my memory. It's a good idea, but I have to say, you chose the wrong person."
Shinji's main body swung the scythe, slicing the replica in half at the waist.
"Her strength is indeed great, and she means a lot to me. Unfortunately, in my memory, due to certain reasons, could only exert a very limited portion of her power, while I was no longer the person I was back then. Even if you could perfectly recreate her, you still wouldn't be my match. And her greatest wish was for me to kill her with my own hands. Whether you're trying to play the strength card or the emotional card, it's all meaningless."
Then, the arms of the divine form extended continuously, severing all EtherLight Weave and cutting off all of Zepia's escape routes. Shinji would not give the enemy another chance.
"It's over, Night of Wallachia, Zepia Eltnam Oberon."
With a series of flashes, the Noble Phantasm Harpe endowed with the Refraction of Longevity effect was swung repeatedly, dismembering the powerful Dead Apostle who once brought countless horrors and held the thirteenth seat among the Twenty-Seven Ancestors.