Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume13 Chapter7 (section)

===Part 1===

"...Wh...y..."

Faced with Judia Laurenfrost's unexpected disappearance&mdash;

Rinslet seemed totally lost as though her soul was gone.

"Where... Where has she gone...?"

In front of the shattered cursed ice, she had collapsed to her knees in shock.

"..."

Kamito's gaze fell upon the shattered fragments of cursed ice all over the floor.

The fragments were scattered in a radial shape, implying that the cursed ice was not melted from outside but broken from within instead.

(Judia Laurenfrost broke the magic ice on her own? That's totally ridiculous&mdash;?)

Cursed ice that all the elementalists in the nation were unable to melt could not possibly have been destroyed by a human's power.

That left the possibility of the Water Elemental Lord releasing the cursed ice, but Iseria Seaward herself had rejected the notion.

She had said that even herself could not melt the cursed ice until she recovered her full power.

Besides, supposing Judia was released from the cursed ice, then why did she not return to her family at Winter Gulf Castle first?

(...What on earth happened here?)

Just as Kamito was stuck in deep thought&mdash;

Crash&mdash;The temple was suddenly shaken.

"...An earthquake?"

A deep rumbling sounded from the earth. Columns of ice fell from the ceiling.

Kamito frantically shielded Rinslet who had crouched down.

"Staying here further will be dangerous, let's get out first."

"...Yes... Right."

Rinslet nodded, still half-dazed.

After they hurried out of the temple&mdash;

They were met with an unbelievable sight.

"...What... is that!?"

Dozens, no, fully a hundred&mdash;

Near the peak of the Kyria Mountain Range, countless ice dragons were circling in the air.

"So many ice dragons, where on earth did they come from..."

Rumble, rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble&mdash;!

The ground shook violently.

"The Kyria Mountain Range is shaking...!"

The long, giant mountain range. The snow accumulated on the surface of the mountains were sliding off, causing avalanches.

With a flash of lightning, a giant tear appeared in the air above the Kyria Mountain Range.

"...That thing, is it really a gate to Astral Zero!?"

"Impossible, how could such a massive Gate be possible to open in the human realm!?"

"Something's coming out...!"

The tear in space expanded. Violent blizzards began to blow.

Appearing from the tear were countless ice dragons swirling in the air as well as&mdash;

A massive claw. It enlarged the tear further.

"...!"

Frozen in space, Kamito was unable to utter a single word.

It was an immensely huge sculpture formed from blue ice.

Spreading its wings in darkness, the emperor of ice dragons.

There was a tragic sense of beauty about its appearance.

"Domination ice spirit Zirnitra..."

Rinslet held her breath.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh&mdash;!

Zirnitra flapped its wings, shaking the atmosphere.

"...Could it be that the Elfim in the forest released the seal!?"

"Why would they do that kind of thing...!?"

"...No idea."

While muttering, Kamito recalled a certain term.

(...Queen of Ice Blossoms. The princess maiden appearing in the forest huh?)

Did the appearance of the guardian spirit have anything to do with that?

At this moment, the spirit seal on his right hand generated slight pain.

'&mdash;Kamito, that is likely a being similar to me.'

He heard Est's voice in his head.

"...A super-ancient ''spirit weapon'', is it?"

'Yes, Kamito&mdash;'

Spirit weapons&mdash;an umbrella term used for spirits that were deployed in battle during the Spirit War that had occurred several thousand years ago.

During the Blade Dance, Kamito had battled Muir Alenstarl's Valaraukar which was also a spirit weapon. But the pressure he could feel from the domination ice spirit far surpassed that of the demon flame spirit.

From atop the peak, the domination ice spirit flapped its wings fiercely, flying into the sky.

Mixed with hail, the wind swept towards the forest, causing many shards of ice to cut open the ground.

"...Tsk, it's going to the center of the forest&mdash;"

There was impatience in Kamito's voice. The forest was Restia's possible location.

"...Rinslet, return to the castle first."

Saying that, he gripped the Demon Slayer's hilt.

Seeing that, Rinslet seemed to realize Kamito's intentions.

"...Going alone will be very dangerous."

"I'm not going to fight that spirit. I'll just look for Restia and come back."

"What are you talking about? It's already so dark now, how are you going to look for the darkness spirit&mdash;"

"Once I get close, it should be clear."

Kamito shook his head and rested his gaze upon the spirit seal on his right hand.

"As long as she's still alive, there will definitely be a reaction&mdash;"

Kamito poured his divine power into the Demon Slayer.

Instantly, the blade gave off dazzling light, illuminating the surroundings.

&mdash;Just at that moment.

Multiple dark shadows descended upon them.

"...!"

A group of ice dragons, baring their fangs and claws. Crying out shrilly, they breathed out cold air.

Kamito swiftly drew his sword to block the cold air. However, he was unable to deflect cold air that was released in a wide area. Thus his feet were frozen to the ground. As sharp claws attacked from the side, Kamito instantly pulled the blade back to deflect the claws. Then stabbing the blade into the ground and releasing divine power, he instantly shattered the ice on the ground.

"Freezing fangs of ice, go forth and pierce -- Freezing Arrow!"

As soon as she spoke, the aimed arrow instantly pierced an ice dragon's head with perfect timing.

"Kamito-san, I'll cover you!"

"Thanks&mdash;"

Switching the Demon Slayer to a reverse grip, Kamito instantly chopped down two ice dragons that had landed behind him. At this moment, Rinslet's next wave of projectiles rained down, turning the ice dragons' giant bodies into ice sculptures.

Although he had a tough battle on the snow mountain last time, mere ice dragons were no match for Kamito to begin with. Landing one after another, the ice dragons fell to Kamito and Rinslet's combination attacks.

&mdash;That being said, the enemy numbers were quite problematic.

(We'll just have to force our way through.)

"Dance, a storm of ice summoning destruction&mdash;Diamond Dust!"

Suddenly, an awe-inspiring voice sounded in the forest.

Dazzling light appeared in the air before their eyes. Just as Kamito was thinking it was about to explode, a powerful blizzard started blowing with Kamito and Rinslet's location as the eye of the storm.

"...!?"

As many as dozens of ice dragons were trapped in ice within the blink of an eye, turning into immobile ice sculptures. This was high-level spirit magic as well as being combination magic requiring multiple casters of top caliber.

"Rinslet?"

"No, it was not me."

As Kamito turned to look at her, Rinslet shook her head.

"This spirit magic must be&mdash;"

"&mdash;Princess!"

Accompanied by the sonorous sounds of horses' hooves, a shout came from the darkness.

Out emerged several knights riding dappled gray horses.

The leading knight raised a torch, illuminating her face.

"You're..."

Kamito opened his eyes wide.

A girl clad in silver-white light armor. Upon closer examination, it was the head maid who had presented the food for dinner at Winter Gulf Castle.

(...So she's really a spirit knight.)

The knights swiftly dismounted and knelt down before Rinslet.

"Princess, are you unharmed?"

"Natalia, why are you here?"

"Mireille-sama said you had come here, Princess... Any injuries?"

"I am fine."

"Princess, please return to Winter Gulf Castle immediately. The castle is under attack from ice dragons."

"...What did you say!?"

Surprised, Rinslet looked in the castle's direction.

A swarm of shadows was converging towards the castle walls lit by the numerous watchfires.

"Why would this...!?"

"Thanks to the isolation barrier, they can still barely manage to endure, but Mireille-sama is not capable of commanding the Wolf Ritters&mdash;"

"...Hmm, then I shall return immediately."

Rinslet nodded and looked at Kamito.

"Uh, Kamito-san&mdash;"

"I..."

Whether he should head to the forest to look for Restia or return with Rinslet to Winter Gulf Castle for defense&mdash;

Just as Kamito was hesitating between the two choices...

"Kamito-sama, I have a request for you."

Natalia spoke up.

"...A request?"

Kamito repeated the words. Natalia nodded and said:

"Yes, elites of the Wolf Ritters have headed out to attack Zirnitra. It is my hope that you could converge with them, Kamito-sama, and join the attack party."

"You can't be thinking of fighting that thing, are you?"

"Zirnitra is the culprit summoning the ice dragons. Unless we drive it back to Astral Zero, the castle will fall eventually. The lands of Laurenfrost would surely be ravaged as well."

Natalia spoke with an expression of determination.

"However, our current forces are insufficient for defeating a spirit of that level. Also, we have no choice but to divide our numbers for the sake of the castle's defense... We have a very good idea of your power, Kamito-sama, for you have fought alongside our princess in the Blade Dance. Please lend us your assistance."

"Kamito-san, I am begging you too."

Rinslet faced Kamito.

"You are the only one who can oppose that spirit, Kamito-san."

"...I understand."

Kamito nodded lightly.

"I am not good at joining forces with others, but I'll try my best. Rinslet, you can focus on protecting the castle."

"Very well, leave it to me."

Kamito turned his gaze to the domination ice spirit flying towards the center of the forest.

(...If it's defeated, Restia should be safer to some extent.)

Crack&mdash;The ice sealing the ice dragons began to show fissures.

The magical resistance of dragons was nothing to sneeze at. They were probably going to break out of the ice very soon.

"Quick. Hurry before the ice dragons wake up."

"Kamito-san, I am counting on you."

Rinslet gallantly mounted one of the dappled gray horses of the knights.

"&mdash;May you be victorious."

"Yeah, don't worry."

Kamito nodded and ran towards the forest with the Demon Slayer in hand.