Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume18 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 1===

"...These spirits are relentless!"

"They are most likely following the scent of our divine power&mdash;"

Ellis complained in suffering while racing through the streets of the Demon King City like the wind.

The spirits sent by the Sacred Spirit Knights were behind, chasing after them. They belonged to the special operative Ayla Cedar whose contracted spirit Shade Wolf was a spirit collective. As a fully autonomous type of spirit, they were able to stay in the shadows of Claire and Ellis and keep following them while they kept running.

Several minutes earlier, the two of them had encountered the Sacred Spirit Knights in a plaza in the Demon King City. Luminaris was searching for the Fire Elemental Lord's avatar that they had lost track of, whereas Claire and Ellis happened to be moving around with the Fire Elemental Lord.

"The Holy Kingdom has found out we're here."

"Yes, looks like it would be wise to meet up with Kamito and the others then get out of here!"

Ellis turned her body and swung Ray Hawk.

The wind blade generated from the spear tip sliced a chasing shadow hound into two.

However, the bifurcated hound silently melted into the ground, then emerged from the shadow of another building.

"There is no end to this."

"Collective spirits specialized in tracking ability, what a pain..."

"I was chased by that shadow hound during the final round on Ragna Ys. Looks like fate has brought us together again."

The hound attacked from above. This time, Claire intercepted it using Flametongue.

With the sound of air being torn apart, the hound was instantly burned to nothing.

(...This kind of pursuit is to the enemy's advantage. This is bad.)

Without even glancing at the shadow that had been turned to charcoal, Claire silently pondered. It was quite likely that the knights under Luminaris' command were lying in wait ahead of time at the exit of this road.

Given Claire and her companions' current level, they could probably hold their own in a fight against Luminaris or the spirit knights of the Holy Kingdom. However, fighting so many of them at the same time would still be too challenging.

(That being said, we can't use Ellis' wind magic to fly either&mdash;)

That would end up playing into enemy hands, since the Sacred Spirit Knights included a couple professional snipers.

"Seriously, where has Kamito gone off to at a time like this!?"

"I really doubt that Kamito has been caught by the Holy Kingdom&mdash;"

"This way, circle around the back and capture them!"

Luminaris' command sounded on the main street.

Ahead of them, footsteps of multiple people approached.

"They have us surrounded front and back. What do we do?"

"That leaves us no choice but to break through directly...!?"

Claire and Ellis prepared themselves, stopping to manifest their elemental waffen. Just then...

A terrifying explosion was heard. The ground shook intensely.

"...W-What!?"

"The ground is splitting open!?"

Cracks appeared in stone buldings, which then collapsed in the massive earthquake.

This was not the Sacred Spirit Knights attacking, because they could see Luminaris and her subordinates up ahead in the main road in confusion just as Claire and Ellis were.

"&mdash;Claire, we are taking flight!"

"Got it!

Claire swiftly nodded and Ellis grabbed her arm. Using this moment of confusion would allow them to capitalize on openings in the enemy snipers. What a bold yet accurate judgment call.
[[image:STnBD V18 BW01.jpg|thumb]]

Ellis swung Ray Hawk with one hand, producing intense wind that formed a hurricane. The two girls instantly passed over the roofs of buildings and flew.

Released by the snipers, arrows of holy light fell like rain. However, because they reacted to late due to the chaos, they committed a serious mistake.

Turning swiftly in the air, Ellis evaded the rain of arrows spectacularly.

"Turn into charcoal!"

As payback, Claire released a Fireball, blowing away all the snipers hiding in the shadows of a building.

"Anyway, let's escape to the hotel where Fianna and the others are standing by&mdash;"

"Yes, but what was the earthquake just now...?"

Ellis wiped sweat with her sleeve while looking down at the Demon King City beneath them.

A sudden massive fissure that had appeared across the land, swallowing roads and buildings, looked like it had gotten bigger.

"This is no ordinary earthquake&mdash;"

"Yes. All things considered, earthquakes are phenomena caused by angry earth spirits. In this Ghul-a-val, the land forsaken by spirits, earthquakes should be impossible&mdash;"

"Ellis, look now! There's something in the fissure!"

"...What is that?"

Ellis looked at where Claire was pointing at.

In the depths of the giant fissure, amid viscous darkness, some kind of gigantic shadow was trying to crawl out.

"Could it be a spirit...?"

"...Come on, what the heck is going on!?"