Araya's Origin is Stillness/Suspension. It makes him specialized in equilibrium/balance and boundaries/division:
This Origin is also beyond Death's reach, as it represents the ultimate equilibrium and cessation of motion. Because of this, Stillness is considered "already dead" and "stopped", which makes it logically unable to be killed:
Ryougi could only kill Araya's physical body. Since, unlike his essence, it still participated in reality and had a faint thread that allowed its interaction with space-time:
His Soul, however, has achieved true immortality. Even after Shiki killed his last spare body, both him and Touko noted that he will simply wait into Akasha until he is cycled back into the material world in the next generation:
This is important, because Death is one of the most fundamental principles in TM, to the point that Void Shiki equated it with Akasha:
It can kill "all things without exceptions" by looking at the floor-plan of reality, and is the power that aligns the most with Ryougi's nature, as her Origin wishes for the death of all creation:
Furthermore, during their final conversation, Touko described Araya's Origin as "Zero" (Having no clear end or beginning) and noted that his desire was "Nothingness", bringing about a perfect realm of Death:
This means that Araya is fundamentally empty at his core, and his desire mirrors Void's desire in bringing about the death of all creation. In fact, Paradox Spiral features a noticeable Yin-Yang symbolic representation of him and Ryougi:
Almost as if Araya acted as some form of counterpart to her.
So we know that Araya's Origin is beyond Death's scope, and is depicted as an emptiness intertwining with Ryougi's Nil, which is aligned with the One itself. From this, we can gather that Stillness corresponds to the finality of Death and the Nothingness where all things are in potential, with no clear starting point or end. This ties into the name of "Zero" mentioned by Touko, as it represents the ground for all things to arise, and is, as a number, found both at the beginning and at the end of a numerical sequence. In many philosophical and spiritual traditions, Zero is seen as a representation of potentiality and wholeness. It is the state of nothingness from which everything emerges and to which everything returns.
Moving on his abilities, Araya studied the nature of the soul and recorded Death, taking in the countless suffering into the world, to the point he became the physical manifestation of Hell itself:
He has also been outright compared to Yama:
Yama is the God of the underworld and the ruler of Hell:
This comparison makes sense once you consider Araya's role in recording Death and being able to read someone's Origin, deciding their worth. This parallels Yama's role in keeping watch over the cycle of Death and Rebirth and dealing out judgement and karmic retribution. This is further backed up by Kishima Kouma referencing Araya in MB Act Cadenza:
Notice how he described him as the embodiment of Hell like in KnK, meaning that he doesn't disagree with it. This is significant, as Kishima's own power is derived from Hell:
With his Last Arc being named after Yama himself at that:
If we go back to Red Demon God, Kiri Nanaya realized that he couldn't match up to Kishima, who innately possessed "Death" within him. Kiri, despite his talent and fascination with killing, could only ultimately pursue Death, without actually achieving it. The only thing that could match Kouma would be something born broken, like him, a "master of Death." :
This reference directly points to Shiki Nanaya/Tohno, whose innate ability to perceive death is exclusive to him, as the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception are an innate Origin power possessed through birth:
And Tohno was actually stated to have MEoDP as a natural ability, with his near death accident being merely the trigger for it:
Add the fact that the Nanaya personality only showed up after Tohno's pseudo death, him describing himself as the "guiding principle" of Tohno's body and as his "foundation", and Tohno being able to surpass the limits of his body when being guided by his mind and killing instincts, and it's clear that Tohno (And by extension Kouma) are Origin awakened beings.
Kiri also makes an interesting distinction: the Kishimas specialized in Destruction, whereas the Nanayas specialized in killing:
Kouma was a "master" of Destroying (innately wielding its power through his Origin), while Kiri only "pursued" killing. The one who could fight Kouma would be the one that was a "master" of killing, aka Shiki. This suggests that while Shiki's Origin is Death (hence his innate Death Perception), Kouma's Origin is Destruction, both being different types of "Death."
This explains the comparison with Araya: Kishima is simply an agent of Hell, bringing about its destructive potential and the breaking down of old forms allowing for new ones to take their place. Araya, on the other hand, is Hell itself/its ruler due to acting as a judge-like figure and embodying the static, endless suffering associated with Hell. Touko even went as far as saying that maybe it would be better to compare his apartment complex (Which is an extension of Araya's will) as Purgatory:
So Araya is also a "Master of Death" like Kishima and Tohno/Nanaya, but he is the most superior variation of such a title, being the very embodiment of suffering and judgement. He is a static constant that controls the very framework under which both Death and Destruction operates.
Moving on to his barriers, they are a representation of his internal world, constructed from his soul and imposing his will and nature upon the external world:
They are described as "worlds" contructed from his body/Origin. They are conceptual constructs that casts stasis, suppression, existential dread, reverse physical damage and distort perception to make Araya impossible to sense. They are, for all intents and purposes, actual "worlds" separating Araya Souren from the outside, untouched by conventional rules and only imposing Araya's own rules and will upon anything that enters their domain. They are even called after the six heavenly realms in Buddhism:
Meaning that they symbolize Araya's ability to control and impose judgement on all of creation and its souls, just on a very localized scale.
Now, how did Araya unlock this barriers? Well, he quite literally mastered them by accident, without even being aware of it:
This makes perfect sense if you look at other Origin awakened characters: The more they align with their true nature or gain knowledge about their Origin, the more powerful and versatile they become. By absorbing death and suffering as an immortal monster transferring his soul from body to body, and studying the origin and soul, Araya acted as a fundamental constant mirroring the static suffering of Hell and the role "cosmic" judge of Yama. This, overtime, resulted into Araya gaining an understanding of the cycle of transition and the fundamental truths governing existence. This understanding eventually manifested as his bounded fields, as the most basic pratical application of his Origin powers. It allowed Araya to exert his understanding of suffering and reality onto the external world.
This also means that the more Araya understand existence and its mechanics, and the more his power grows. This is precisely what he did in KnK when constructing his apartment complex. It acted as an extension of his will and a representation of his internal world:
This building not only took over Araya's role as an Hell that recorded Death and suffering in a closed loop, but it was also a temple of the Taiji, representing duality and balance. It also acted as a separate world untouched by natural physical laws:
The building even reached True Magic:
This, once again, proves the importance of Araya's Origin, as his inner landscapes qualifies for True Magic. We also know that it represents Taiji, further expanding into his role as a cosmic judge bringing balance into the world:
The building was structured by starting to replicate the 64 possible types of Death, which represents all the possible interplay of fundamental forces:
This eventually allowed Araya to trace from this 64 hexagrams to the 8 Trigrams (The fundamental building blocks for the 64 hexagrams), then the 4 phenomena of Yin-Yang theory, and finally Yin-Yang itself (The Ryougi), represented by the building's two halves containing activity/life and stillness/death. The complex on itself could have then gone even further and opened a path to the One. Araya only refrained due to the Counterforce's interference:
To sum it up, the complex has the same function of Araya's barriers to separate the inside from the outside, suspend conventional rules, enforcing Araya's own will and record and manage the cycle of life and death, but on a far larger scale. The building also encapsulated every possible interaction between the fundamental forces of Yin and Yang, acting as a microcosm of creation. This enhanced Araya's understanding of reality, on top of him gaining an understanding of how to manipulate spatial boundaries by merging his body with the structure of the building:
This greater understanding of the structure of the world, on top of the building being isolated from the outside (Meaning that the Counterforce and Gaia could not override his attempts at altering their domain) allowed Araya to experiment and finally delve into abstract reality warping. This resulted into him creating an infinite dimension, and set up abstract laws to define its working:
Before anyone points it out, no. The dimension being described as a "closed loop" and "enclosed" does not disproves its infinity. The space itself is boundless and limitless, but is governed by abstract rules that function to isolate its contents from the outside world. The infinite nature of the space means there are no physical boundaries, while the functional rules, such as the Möbius Ring structure and the concept of spatial isolation, create an environment where escape is impossible.
However, Araya still lacked significant insight into abstract manipulation and still had a long way to go, as seen when he underestimated Ryougi's MEoDP:
However, when Ryougi killed him, Araya had no more spare bodies to anchor his soul to the material world. This means that he will go into Akasha with his self awareness and mind intact due to his immortality. KnK actually mentions that Araya had never actually experienced death prior to that:
This is important, as remember that even Tohno and Ryougi could only actually unlock their MEoDP by experiencing death with their mind through their near-death experiences. Ryougi was capable of reading abstract concepts like time during her experience, and she eventually became able to grasp Death with her brain:
Likewise, Araya, by reading abstract concepts with his mind and being in direct contact with Zero, will almost definitely be able to gain full mastery of Stillness, applying it to an abstract level.
For context, Type Moon clearly derives its metaphysical system from Neoplatonism but with some modifications from Taiji, with the Root being often called the One with the same terminology. When taking into account everything we have seen so far, Stillness can be easily equated to the Dyad, which is the principle of differentiation and multiplicity. The One by itself cannot create something outside of its essence, as it is pure unity and undividedness, it must first generate the Dyad. The Dyad then create boundaries and distinctions, deciding which of the boundless possibilities of the One are actualized and which are not. It structures the logical framework under which the One's essence can be expressed, setting up the rules of all creation. This is why Araya is often compared to a judge-like figure and hell: The Dyad is the ultimate cosmic judge, deciding what can and cannot exist, all souls upon death are either returned to potentiality or cycled back into reality according to its judgement. This is also why Araya is described as symbolizing the paradoxical spiral:
Stillness is the balance and the empty boundary between contradicting dualities such as life and death, destruction and creation, etc. Ensuring that the cosmic order remains intact. This further ties into the number Zero being the transitional state between positives and negatives values, while Stillness is the transition between potential and actualization. This also explains the Yin-Yang parallel between Ryougi and Araya: The One (Ryougi-Yang) is the active source of existence and the underlying unity behind all things, while Stillness (Araya-Yin) is the passive backdrops under which the One operates and that regulates its infinite potential, allowing for its expression under a logical system, rather than being everything and nothing at once.
This is why Kara no Kyoukai (Boundary of Emptiness) is stated to be his story, because he is literally the Empty Boundary dividing the inside from the outside:
So TLDR: Araya started by being able to read Origins, and his constant quest to study reality and absorbing suffering allowed for the subconscious mastery of his bounded fields. To make an easy comparison, this is like when Tohno Shiki just got his MEoDP and became able to read the Lines of living beings and enact their Death, but still struggled with non-living objects. This barriers are the starting point of Stillness' power, making the user a world of its own that can impose boundaries and structure the rules of existence.
The more Araya gains knowledge of reality's inner workings and "complete himself" the more versatile and significant the worlds he can construct from his body becomes. After making his complex, Araya brought the same concept of his bounded fields to a much larger scale, encompassing the physical world and gaining a glimpse of the abstract world. He became able to manipulate space to an extreme extent and create a new, infinite reality and set up its abstract laws. This was a basic manifestation of the Dyad's principles of structuring something boundless, just on a smaller scale.
And while, at this point in time, Araya had just gotten a hold of merely the basics of "coding" realities, Ryougi killing him actually sped up his learning massively. This is because he can now directly perceive how the Dyad, Nothingness and the abstract concepts works with his mind. This will complete his knowledge and understanding, allowing him to use Stillness at its full potential to create or dissolve distinctions between all things, change potentiality into actuality or vice versa, and just generally express the One's possibilities into any type of logical framework he wishes.
Now, remember when Araya's complex was stated to have reached True Magic? Well, KnK in its guidebook actually hints at the First Magic with this entry:
So the First is hinted to be capable of creating "Nothingness", as in, creating shapeless and raw potential that can be later guided and shaped into anything. This mirrors the Dyad allowing for the actualization of potentials and manipulating or creating this primordial state from which all forms arise.
Ether as described here is similar to Zero or Stillness in that it is a fundamentally empty substance that serves as the ground for all creation. Just as Ether is formless and can be shaped into any of the Four Elements, Zero represents the undifferentiated potential that can be shaped into all possible forms or distinctions. Mahoyo further backs this up:
"...At the beginning, the First changed all." clearly refers to the Dyad, at the beginning of creation, changing "all" (The One's wholeness and infinite potentiality) into something definable, which are then recognized by the Second as all different possible parallel worlds etc.
So yeah, Araya's Stillness is the First Magic. And when he will grasp it at its fullest in the next generation, he will easily be the second strongest TM character by far. Before you mention it, Yumina and all of that shit has only showed up in Grand Order and recent times, no proof it applied to the older canon. And even if it did, it just means it was a subordinate lower aspect of Stillness. The broader point about its capabilities does not change.
Mr. "Root is not Negative theology"
