Shiki Ryougi, the living embodiment of the void with the power to kill anything that lives, even if that thing is God

VS

Dies Irae’s version of Michael Wittmann, the revived WWII tank ace with the power to destroy anything with his bare hands, now more commonly known as “Deus ex Machina”.

WHO IS DEADLIEST!?

Shiki Ryougi

Shiki Ryougi was born to a family of skilled martial artists who were descended from "demon hunters" in late 20th-century Japan, Shiki was born with two personalities, one male and one female. Shiki was hit by a truck sometime in her final year of high school, placing Shiki in a coma for two years from 1996-1998. During her coma, Shiki loses her male personality, stating that "he" died in her place. Shiki also gains her signature power "Mystic Eyes of Death Perception" allowing her to see "the mortality of all things", essentially enabling her to kill any living thing, destroy any object, and dispel any magic with only her trademark knife. The mystic eyes manifest themselves as lines that only Shiki can see or interact with. Cutting a line will bisect an object, in the case of a human, often severing a limb, while thrusting into the point where the lines meet will instantly kill any living thing, destroy any object, or dispel any magic. Shiki also has a magical prosthetic arm that can grip objects from a range and grip spirits. Shiki also has superhuman speed, enabling her to lunge with her knife a distance of three meters at extreme speeds. Also, using a katana, Shiki can extend her lunge distance to nine meters.

After gaining her abilities, Shiki works for Aozaki Touko’s paranormal investigation agency alongside Mikiya Kokutou, with Ryougi serving as primarily in roles that require combat, while Kokutou serves as an investigator. During the course of her work for Aozaki, Shiki engages in combat with a number of dangerous paranormal entities, including group of ghosts haunting an abandoned apartment block, and a girl with highly destructive telekinetic powers, a serial killer with superhuman speed, and bomber who uses precognition to place his explosives. All of the adversaries are somehow connected with Souren Araya, a nigh-immortal sorcerer seeking to reach the “Spiral of Origin”, the metaphysical “root” of the universe through magical experiments that caused hundreds of deaths. Ryougi eventually engages in combat with Souren, and after an initial defeat, she returns and defeats him.

Tanto

Shiki’s primary weapon is tanto-like knife with an overall length of about 30cm. She uses it to cut the “lines of death” she can perceive with her mystic eyes.

Katana

During the fifth movie, Paradox Spiral, Shiki makes use of a magic katana known as Kanesada Kuji, which possesses the power to break through magical barriers, even proving capable of breaking through the pocket dimension that Araya Souren briefly traps Shiki inside after Enjou Tomoe places it in the elevator of the Ogawa Apartment Complex, the location in the real world corresponding to the pocket dimension. Apart from this property, it is basicaly a regular katana with an overall length of about 90cm. There is, however, one additional factor related to the blade that is not a property of the sword itself. When armed with a sword, Shiki’s lunging ability becomes tripled from three meters to nine meters.

Mystic Eyes of Death Perception

Shiki’s main ability is the power of “Mystic Eyes of Death Perception”, which grants her the power to see and interact with a series of lines and points visible in all objects that represent the “mortality of all things”. Cutting one of these lines with a blade or even her fingernail will instantly bisect the object it is associated with, regardless of its durability, while thusting a blade into the point where the lines meet will instantly kill any being, destroy any object, or dispel any magic the line happens to be associated with. Shiki’s abilities extend to metaphysical concepts with no physical form, however, it must have something physical, or at least visible associated with it- in essence, Shiki can only destroy something if there is something for her stab.

Spirit Grip

After losing an arm in the fight with Asagami Fujino, Shiki has her right arm replaced with a magical prosthetic created by Aozaki Touko. This prosthetic has a “Spirit” grip that allows it to grip intangible objects such as spirits, as well as grab objects from several meters away and has the strength to pull Shiki’s weight through the air towards the object.

Superhuman Speed

Shiki possesses the power to travel so quickly she appears to teleport, however, she is stated to be limited to a distance of three meters when wielding a knife, and nine meters when wielding a katana. At one point, she uses this ability to get clear of a C-4 blast less than second before detonation, giving some indication of the speeds she is capable of. After using the ability, or if the target is more than three or nine meters away (depending on her weapon), she must pause for no longer than a second, at which point she is briefly reduced to peak human to low-tier superhuman levels of agility.

Michael Wittmann

The version of Michael Wittmann featured in the visual novel and later anime Dies Irae diverges from his real life counterpart after his death in 1944, when he burns to death after his tank is destroyed in battle. This was not the end for Wittmann, who has his soul taken by Nazi occultist Reinhard Heydrich, and is forced to fight in a series of single combats against tens of thousands of other fallen German soldiers, including his former comrades. As the winner, Wittmann’s soul is placed in a new artificial body and give a spot in Reinhard’s occultist organization, the Longinus Dreizen Orden. As a member of the L.D.O., Wittmann was more commonly known as Gotz von Berlichengen or Deus ex Machina (or just Machina). Wittmann was traumatized by being forced to kill his comrades, and had no desire to be revived and serve Heydrich, wishing he had died a warrior’s death when his tank was destroyed, but realized that Heydrich was so powerful that resistance was futile. As such, Wittmann fell into despair at his fate, displaying the cold, emotionless personality he displays in the visual novel, desiring only a final death with no possibility of resurrection. This desire shaped his Be’riah, a type of highly destructive sorcery shaped by the innermost desire of the user into the power to kill any living thing or destroy any object with his bare hands. Wittmann served Heydrich only the hope that, in exchange for his service, Reinhard would grant him the end he desired.

During the latter parts of the Second World War, Wittmann attempted to use his powers to stem the Soviet time, however, while his abilities made him immune to any weapon they possesed, he could not be everywhere at once, and the Soviets simply advanced around him. By the time of the Battle of Berlin, neither Wittman, nor any other member of the LDO cared about the Reich, and massacred German and Soviet, soldier and civilian alike as sacrifices to fuel the ascension of Reinhard and his top lieutenants, including Wittman into his hellish extradimensional “Valhalla”, where all trapped within were stuck in cycle of constant battle, death, and resurrection, to await the rest of the LDO performing a ritual in the city of Suwahara Japan sixty years later, to pave the way for Reinhard to ascend to godhood. Wittmann’s fate varies depending on the route of the visual novel, with him never returning to Earth in the Kasumi route. In the Kei and Marie routes, Wittman is killed in combat with Ren Fujii, while in Rea’s route, he actually turns against the LDO and sides with Ren in their final battle against a fully divine Heydrich.

Deus Ex Machina

Wittmann’s “relic” or “Yetzirah/formation” is his own artificial body granted to him after he won the battle royale against countless other revived German casualties of war to become Reinhard’s champion. This body initially appears to be human, however, upon sustaining damage, it is revealed to be a magi-mechanical construct befitting his LDO title “Deus Ex Machina”, transmuted from the Tiger I tank he operated in life, the very same vehicle he died in. This mechanical body has all of the usual abilties of users of Die Ewigkeit (see below), including superhuman speed, strength, durability etc, enhanced far beyond the levels of most members of the LDO. Even without activating his Ber’iah, Wittmann’s fist has the power to end the existence of practically any object it impacts, proving capable of destroying even the nigh-indestructible (even by Ewigkeit standards) body of Valeria Trifa.

Midgardr Völsunga Saga

“

Death, O glorious, final death! Savior of man! My heart, drowned in venom, ravaged by time, may beat its last within your embrace. May spear’s wound, may venom’s bane, all perish at your coming. Aye, behold! This festering void gnawing at my soul... Clasp your blade, draw your steel! And plunge deep, deep till the hilt! Hark, brave knights, and know this: As the sinner finds his last refuge, his anguish done. So shall divine light be shower’d from the heavens above. Ber'iah: Midgardr Völsunga Saga!

— Wittmann activating his Be'riah

”

Midgardr Völsunga Saga is Wittmann’s Be’riah, a type of sorcery accessible to high-level Ewigkeit users, based on the innermost desire of the user. In the case of Wittmann, he desires only to die, and as such a wish obviously cannot be granted so long as he is under Reinhard’s control, it manifests itself as the power to not only kill any living thing or destroy any object, completely erase it from existence with his bare hands in a single strike. Like all Beriah, this ability must be activated by reciting an aria (which for some reason, in spite of being about ten lines long, does not interrupt the flow of a battle or render the user open to attack). Wittmann’s Beriah proves capable of destroying even Marie, who is revealed to a be partially dormant goddess in Kei’s route, however, it is also stated that Reinhard Heydrich (who ranges from an emergent god to fully divine depending on the point and route in the visual novel), is resistant to this ability, though this may be a case of having powers that would make it effectively impossible for Machina to hit him, rather than actual immunity to the attack itself, as elsewhere in the VN, it states that the attack would effect even Reinhard himself.

Die Ewigkeit

Through a form of macabre sorcery known as Die Ewigkeit, which involves using the souls of the dead as a means of shielding oneself from physical destruction, Machina possesses superhuman durability and strength exceptional even for an Ewigkeit user. In the visual novel Kei Sakurai estimates that two lower-tier Ewigkeit users, Wilhelm Ehrenburg and Rusalka Schwagelin are invulnerable to any physical destruction save for nuclear weapon (unless they are hit with an attack that can bypass durability, such a the powers of other LDO members). Machina possesses over 100,000 souls in his Ewigkeit, in comparison to the few thousand of Ehrenburg and Schwagelin, which make him exponnentially more powerful, to the point that the abilities of lesser Ewigkeit users do not even affect him, as seen in Rea’s route when Rusalka attempts and fails to hold him in place with her powers. In addition, Die Ewigkeit allows a user to regenerate from damage, making them even more exceedingly difficult to kill.

X-Factors

Durability

Shiki Ryougi: 30
Michael Wittmann: 90

For her all of her powers, Shiki is a glass cannon, possessing no greater durability than a normal human. While she has a very high pain tolerance as seen she kept fighting after Fujino Asagami tore off her arm, she can be killed by pretty much anything that can kill a normal human. Machina can effortlessly shrug off the attacks of weaker users of Die Ewigkeit, such as Wilhelm Ehrenburg, and Rusalka Schwägelin. To give a more conventional estimate of his durability, weaker Ewigkeit users Wilhelm Ehrenburg and Rusalka Schwagelin are estimated by Kei Sakurai to be immune to any conventional weapon save perhaps a (presumably strategic i.e. >200 kilotons) nuclear warhead, and Machina is described as having durability exponentially GREATER than that, suggesting he would likely survive even a direct hit from the Tsar Bomba (50 megatons). Wittmann can, however, be damaged by weapons that bypass durability and damage the very soul of the target, or instantly kill it regardless of durability, however, Wittmann has a substantial resistance even to attacks by Ewigkeit users (which damage the soul of the target) as seen when he fight the much weaker Ewigkeit user, Rusalka Schwagelin in Rea’s route, where he notes that Rusalka’s Ewigkeit (with a few thousand souls within) would need another 200,000 or so to have any effect on him.

Agility

Shiki Ryougi: 90
Michael Wittmann: 70

While still possessing the ability to travel at supersonic speeds like all Ewigkeit users, Michael is described in the visual novel as being slow compared even to weaker Ewigkeit user Wilhelm Ehrenberg. Shiki, meanwhile, can move fast enough to escape a C-4 blast, probably as fast if not faster than the Machina.

NOTE: Contrary to what VS Battles Wiki’s estimates claim, nowhere in the visual novel does it state that (Wittman’s comrade) Wolfgang Schreiber was using his full faster-than-light speed (this is only when Schreiber activates his Ber’iah which allows him to always be faster than his adversary) while Wittmann is shown to be capable of keeping up with him. The only situation where Machina was presumably capable of FTL speeds was when was merged with a fully divine Reinhard and became a pseudo-deity in his Legion. In a fight with the base-level Wittmann (which will be the one seen in this battle), which is described as “sluggish” even compared to the much weaker Wilhelm Ehrenburg. Hence, I believe based on the text of the visual novel that it is safe to assume that Machina’s speed is capped at supersonic and thus is NOT capable of superluminal speeds.

Destructive Power

Shiki Ryougi: 98
Michael Wittmann: 100

Both Ryougi and Wittmann possess the power to kill any being and destroy any object with a single attack, making them even in this regard save for one slight difference. Shiki boasts about being able to kill a god, but never actually is shown to achieve this. Machina, on the other hand, manages to destroy the physical form (albeit not the spirit) of Marie, a dormant goddess, and is also capable of not only destroying any object and killing any being, but erasing it from existence completely.

Battle

December 24th, 2006, it was cold winter's night in Suwahara City, night before Christmas. The downtown of the city was bustled with activity, countless couples on dates, as was the Japanese tradition of the foreign holiday, the Christmas lights and lighted storefronts glittering around them. By contrast, Tsukinogawa High School was deserted, its windows darkened, the students having gone home even before the usual winter holidays, the school being shut down early out of concern for the students after a few mysterious murders earlier that month.

But this was no ordinary Christmas night. The sixth point of the swastika-shaped portal that would herald the return of high-ranking Nazi turned occult abomination Reinhard Heydrich had been opened, allowing his three "Einherjar", Heydrich's most powerful servants, to return to Earth. On roof of Tsukinogawa High School, one of the three, the tank ace Michael Wittmann, now an amalgamation of machine and sorcery with the power to end any existence with his bare fists, a literal Deus ex Machina, descended to earth. The somber knight turned towards to center of the city, where he could sense the soul of his destined adversary. Before he could make his way to their destined battleground, however, he sense another attacker behind him...

Shiki Ryougi burst through the roof access door of the high school and lunged through the cold night air. She had been sent to this city on a mission of utmost importance. Her client had uncovered intelligence that a the little-known Nazi occultist organization, the Longinus Dreizhen Orden would converge on Suwahara to enact the ritual to return their leader, a man believe by most to be dead, to Earth and pave the way for his ascension to godhood. Furthermore, the mysterious murders and accidents in the city over the last month were no coincidence: The ritual had already begun! Protected for any normal weapon save perhaps a nuclear warhead and even the ravages of 60 years of time itself by a macabre sorcery powered by the life force of thousands slain, the LDO thought there was nothing that could stand in the way of their final victory, their Dies irae.

But they had not expected the power of Shiki's Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. With this power, even the "armor" of Die Ewigkeit would be pierced by a single strike. Shiki's eyes glowed with an ethereal blue light as she lunged at superhuman speeds, her Mystic Eyes revealing the lines of death, the inherent mortality of all things, on her target. It would be over with a single strike.

At the last second, Machina evaded the attack. Compared even to other LDO members, his movements were sluggish, but still far faster than a normal humans. Nonetheless, as a veteran of millions of battles with the hellish "Valhalla" he was forced into after his death, Machina was all to familiar with detecting an attack from a faster adversary.

With Machina's last-minute evasion, Shiki's sword, the magical katana Kanesada Kuji instead cleaved through the chain link fence surrounding the rooftop, before continuing to slice a park bench clean in half. With the power of Shiki's Mystic Eyes, the blade cut through all without distinction, slicing through the fence as easily as though it were made of paper.

Machina remained unscathed, having evaded the strike, and spoke in a low voice, most unlike what would expect of a proud warrior going to battle. Instead, Machina spoke with with a sullen, downtrodden voice, like one resigned to their fate. "You are like me, but I do not sense you are my destined adversary. And yet you lack but a single soul- none but one who has taken hundreds of thousands of souls for a desire such as mine, for the final warrior's death I was denied, should be able to wield such a power."

"You're 60 years overdue to die, Michael Wittmann!", Shiki replied, sword in hand, "I am here to correct that!"

"Your knowledge of my past changes nothing. My fate was determined the moment I triumphed in that gauntlet of malice I was forced into after I should have burned alive in the wreckage of my tank. Since that, I serve because Herr Heydrich wills it, There is no force in the universe that can stop him.", Machina said.

Then, Wittmann retaliated, Shiki ducking his all-ending fist, which instead struck an air conditioning unit, which exploded into pieces, spraying sparks and arcs of electricity as it was destroyed. Shiki hardly even registered the pain as a fragment of the AC grazed her side, only barely drawn blood. Shiki then made an inhumanly fast lunge across the roof, appearing to normal human observer to have teleported.

But Machina was no normal human, with his ability to sense the soul of his target given by Die Ewigkeit, Machina swung his fist forward in a right hook. The blow struck something solid, but it was not Shiki's body. Instead, Machina's fist struck Shiki's sword, the blade snapping in half as Machina's fist destroyed it as it would any other object. Shiki did a rapid backflip, evading the a second upward strike from Machina, before appearing to teleport about three meters and drawing a knife.

"Your resistance is admirable, but futile. This world will fall into Herr Heydrich's Gladsheimr, there is no force in existence that can stand before his power.", Machina said as he prepared another strike.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that!", Shiki replied, "I can kill anything that lives, even if that thing is God!"

"I tire of this jest. Time to end this.", Machina responded, "Death, O glorious, final death! Savior of man! My heart, drowned in venom, ravaged by time, may beat its last within your embrace. May spear’s wound, may venom’s bane, all perish at your coming. Aye, behold! This festering void gnawing at my soul... Clasp your blade, draw your steel! And plunge deep, deep till the hilt! Hark, brave knights, and know this: As the sinner finds his last refuge, his anguish done. So shall divine light be shower’d from the heavens above. Beriah: Midgardr Völsunga Saga!"

Machina kept maneuvering, able to evade even Shiki's faster speeds even as he recited the aria to his Beriah. As he spoke, a great iron gauntlet covered his fist as his blasted forward like a shell from from a tank gun. At the last second, Shiki jumped into the air going over Machina's head. Instead, Machina's fist impacted the entrance the roof access stairs of the school. The impact completely annihilated the entrance, erasing it from existence and leaving on a hole in the roof in its place.

Shiki, however, was unscathed, and she lunged forward again just as Machina turned around and brought his all-ending fist forward as Shiki's Mystic Eyes glowed an ethereal blue. It was the clash of an unstoppable force and an immovable object. As the two were about to make contact, Shiki moved at inhuman speed beyond even that of Machina, evading the strike of his all-ending fist and made a strike with her knife. The blade cut thorough Machina's arm with far more force than a normal blade of that side should have, instantly severing his all-ending fist. A fraction of a second later, Shiki plunged her blade into Machina's origin.

Machina collapsed forward, falling face down on the roof. Would his soul simply return to Heydrich's hellish "Valhalla" like it had so many times before, or would Shiki's Mystic Eye finally grant him the final end he had desired for over half a century? Shiki did not know or care about that particular detail, he was but one target destroyed, of the twelve more she had to destroy this night.

WINNER: Shiki Ryougi

Expert's Opinion

Shiki Ryougi won this battle because of her superior speed and reach with her sword and dagger. In a clash of two foes who could both one-shot the other, Wittmann's durability conferred no real advantage, while his speed, described as slower even than weaker enemies, would allow Ryougi to run rings around him and get into position for a killing blow while evading his attacks.

To see the original battle, weapons, and votes, click here.

Shiki Ryougi (Kara no Kyoukai) VS Michael Wittmann (Dies Irae)

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