Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume20 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 1===

"...!?"

Even forgetting to put up his guard, Kamito stood frozen in his spot in astonishment.

What was displayed on the surface of the dark orb was&mdash;

A gigantic vortex. A conglomerate of order and chaos that kept devouring and giving birth to countless stars.

"What is... this...?"

Kamito uttered in wide-eyed amazement.

"This is the origin of all creation. This is the source of all phenomena, the sea of chaos giving rise to innumerable worlds. It is what created this Astral Zero&mdash;"

"...It created Astral Zero?"

The Darkness Elemental Lord's avatar pointed at the center of the vortex.

"You have seen this before, haven't you? At the Elemental Lords' shrine&mdash;"

"...!?"

Kamito gulped as soon as he saw that thing.

The gigantic vortex of chaos, swallowing stars.

At its very center were countless tiny lights flashing.

"...Aren't those angels!?"

Kamito widened his eyes.

"&mdash;In other words, that giant vortex is the Otherworldly Darkness?"

"Half correct, my adorable child."

The avatar girl lightly shook her head.

"Half&mdash;"

"Not only Darkness. Light, Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, all elements were born from that vortex of chaos&mdash;"

"...Say that again?"

The image projected on the orb of darkness changed.

The bubble in the vortex's center split open, producing countless spheres.

"Every fragment of the ruptured bubble is the source of a world. Vast though this Astral Zero may be, it is merely one of such fragments."

"What&mdash;"

This time, Kamito was speechless.

(&mdash;That bubble is ''the world''?)

"For starters, only a very small proportion succeed in forming worlds. The vast majority disappear like bubbles before developing into an embryonic world. However, in any case&mdash;"

The avatar girl turned her gaze back to the image.

"&mdash;This Astral Zero was born from that vortex of chaos."

Part of the fragmented bubble turned into a perfect sphere. Inside that sphere&mdash;

Light, and darkness too, were born.

"First to be born were the spirits of Light and Darkness. After these two spirits' power covered the entire world, the spirits of Fire, Water, Wind and Earth were born as well."

"The six main elements... In other words, the current Elemental Lords?"

Kamito asked.

"More precisely, the entities that became the cores of the Elemental Lords. The primordial elemental spirits did not have any will yet. They simply brought the constituting elements of order to a world of chaos."

The image in the orb kept changing.

The sky and the earth separated, mountains rose up, rivers appeared, forests flourished.

The power of spirits resided all over the world, finally filling the world with large numbers of living spirits.

Giant beasts in the ocean, herds of animals, magic beasts, dragons, giants, as well as the elves who were the common ancestors of humans and the Elfim race&mdash;

"It was a paradise filled with order and peace, maintained by the power of spirits. This world was originally meant to persist forever&mdash;"

"..."

"&mdash;But one day, the primordial spirits, which only served as constituting elements of the world, changed. Will, or perhaps one might call it the soul, came into being."

"Spirits gained will&mdash;?"

The Darkness Elemental Lord's avatar nodded.

"It is still unclear why that sort of thing appeared. Perhaps such a change happened in response to the worship from the elves. But no matter what&mdash;"

She sounded self-effacing.

"&mdash;That was the beginning of all sins."

"...Sins? You mean the fact that the Elemental Lords gained their own will?"

"Indeed. Having gained their own will and personality, the Elemental Lords were driven by basic instinctive desires in their souls, and believed they ought to make themselves into even more perfect beings."

"...Perfect beings?"

"Every element existing in Astral Zero is ultimately copied from the origin of worlds. Something like a shadow. Hence, the Elemental Lords wanted true elements."

"True elements..."

"They wanted the elements of true darkness, true light, true fire, water, wind and earth&mdash;"

"...!?"

Hearing this, a flash of inspiration went through Kamito's mind.

&mdash;True Darkness. Cardinal Millennia Sanctus had used this to refer to the Otherworldly Darkness corrupting the Elemental Lords.

"...So that's what happened, huh?"

That Otherworldly Darkness was the darkness element existing in the origin world?

"The six self-aware Elemental Lords joined forces to open a Gate connecting to the origin and succeeded in stealing true elements. However, there was a severe miscalculation in the plan."

"Miscalculation?"

"After part of the World was stolen, the origin sent angels to Astral Zero."

The image on the darkness orb changed again.

And endless army of angels passed through the Gate and descended from the sky.

"This is..."

Kamito had seen this scene before.

From the dream of Ren Ashdoll's memories&mdash;

Weapon-wielding Elemental Lords, Est, Ortlinde, and the powerful spirits known as spirit weapons were fighting intensely against the army of angels.

"The war with the angels only ended when the Elemental Lords sealed the Gate. During the intense conflict, all Astral Zero obtained was true Darkness and a small amount of true Fire. True Darkness went to Ren Ashdoll, whereas true Fire was stolen by the elves, its whereabouts unknown&mdash;"

Although the war with the angels left gigantic scars on Astral Zero, the Elemental Lords also obtained what they had desired.

However, saying that, the Darkness Elemental Lord's avatar bit her lip lightly.

"&mdash;The true Darkness brought to this world began to corrupt the Elemental Lords."