Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume16 Chapter11 (section)

===Part 1===

Zapzapzapzapzap&mdash;

Across the dusty desert, intense lightning erupted. The city walls of Zohar, the demon city that had merged with Leviathan, made contact with Mordis' barrier.

Incinerated by holy lightning, terrifying tentacles were struggling in pain.

"...It is working. This looks like it could buy a bit of time, Rubia-sama."

Standing on the city wall, Fianna turned her head back to look at Rubia.

"N-No&mdash;"

"...Eh?"

Looking past Fianna grimly, Rubia shook her head.

Fianna turned to face Zohar again.

&mdash;Within the blink of an eye, the tentacles that should have been destroyed regenerated again.

"...H-How could this be possible!?"

"Leviathan possesses extremely potent self-repair functionality. So a strategic barrier of this scale will not even manage to stall for time...?"

Fianna could sense a hint of anxiety in Rubia's tone of voice.

&mdash;The barrier only endured for several minutes.

"Fianna-sama, the barrier has been breached!"

A princess maiden keeping watch on the wall reported in almost a scream.

The regenerating tentacle clusters kept attacking the barrier relentlessly in spite of the holy light incinerating them, finally creating a large opening in the barrier. Once breached, the barrier would become brittle and quickly collapse in a chain reaction.

"...!"

Fianna bit her lip. Although she never expected to hold off the strategic-class militarized spirit with just a barrier alone&mdash;

(I never thought it would be breached in such short time&mdash;)

The gigantic dome-shaped barrier covering Mordis' surroundings vanished. The city's last defense line remaining were its walls of stone.

Covered with huge numbers of tentacles, Zohar's walls were approaching with a cloud of dust and sand in its wake.

"...! Collision incoming! Brace yourselves for the impact, everyone!"

Fianna shouted to the surrounding princess maidens.

Just as everyone on the wall crouched down&mdash;

BOOOOOOOM!

Zohar's outer edge made contact with Mordis' city wall.

At the impact zone, entire pieces of the stone wall was gouged out. A watchtower was instantly smashed.

"Kyahhhh!"

Blown away by the impact, Fianna fell into the city from the wall.

The painful fall made her entire body hurt, preventing her from breathing for a moment.

(...How is everyone!?)

Pulling her hazy consciousness together, Fianna looked around her.

Like her, the princess maidens on the wall in charge of maintaining the barrier had been sent flying by the impact. Even standing was a challenge for them. Some of them were bleeding from the forehead, unconscious, while others were groaning in pain, the legs twisted in unnatural directions.

"...Ah, guh, ooh..."

"...Calm down. I shall heal you immediately!"

Intending to cast healing on them, Fianna began to recite spirit magic of the holy element.

&mdash;But at that moment...

A disgusting sound ripped through the air.

In the next instant, terrifying tentacles crawled over Mordis' city walls and attacked the immobilized princess maidens one after another.

"Kyahhhhhhh!" "Eeek&mdash;!" "N-Noooooo!"

Screams of princess maidens sounded then disappeared immediately. Each tentacle tip opened its jaws wide, instantly swallowing a princess maiden whole.

"&mdash;O holy king, I implore thee to punish evildoers&mdash;Holy Edge!"

Against the incoming swarm of tentacles, Fianna used blades of spirit magic to rip them apart.

&mdash;However, this sort of resistance amounted to nothing more than a drop in the ocean against the flood of tentacles surging over the walls. The tentacles did not seem to moving under human control. It looked like they only attacked in response to the divine power in the princess maidens.

Escaping the blades of spirit magic, a few tentacles approached Fianna.

(...!)

Fianna could not help but close her eyes.

But in that instant&mdash;

"Not even time can escape a frozen fate, conflagrating flames of absolute zero&mdash;Frost Blaze!"

Howling blue flames of Elstein immediately destroyed the tentacles in one fell swoop.

"...! Rubia-sama..."

"Do not give up, Fianna Ray Ordesia&mdash;"

With Frost Blaze enveloping her left hand, she stood on the city wall.

That figure of hers, with long crimson hair fluttering in the wind&mdash;

Was the image of the ideal princess whom Fianna had idolized in the past.

"&mdash;Believe in your Demon King."