Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume20 Chapter7 (section)

===Part 1===

Listening to the rumbling wind behind him, Kamito dashed towards the Holy Lord Palace.

His entire body was hurting intensely from the injuries sustained when breaking through the wind barrier. Without Est's protection of steel, he probably would have been carved into pieces by the wind blades.

(...I need to hurry&mdash;)

The Otherworldly void in the sky above the Holy Lord Palace was slowly expanding.

Despite his worries, Kamito did not look back.

The girls trusted in Kamito.

Hence, Kamito must trust them too and continue forward.

He kicked the ground hard, exploding the divine power gathered at the soles of his feet. While crushing stone tiles underfoot, Kamito kept sprinting towards the Holy Lord Palace.

Sensing massive divine power, guardian spirits appeared one after another to block his path.

"Get out of my way!"

However, Kamito cut down each and every one of them with a single blow without getting slowed down at all.

Every time Kamito swung his two swords, spirits turned into particles of light and vanished.

After taking care of dozens of guardian spirits&mdash;

Kamito arrived at the bottom of a tower of pure white, towering over a vast courtyard.

The Holy Lord Palace.

This was the great shrine built for worshiping Holy Lord Alexandros.

The final enemy was on this tower.

(...No elementalists guarding this tower, huh?)

Kamito searched the surroundings for presences, but could not find any tracde of the Sacred Knights.

There did not seem to be any militarized spirits deployed in the area either.

Going closer to take a look, he still could not find anything like an entrance.

In front of him was just a smooth polished wall of white.

Kamito swung the Demon Slayer.

Sliced open by the sword, the wall collapsed with a loud crash.

"..."

Stepping inside, Kamito instantly had a strange feeling.

Sound vanished. The howling storm sounded very far away now. Even battle noises from Greyworth's group and the Earth Elemental Lord could no longer be heard&mdash;

It felt as though the entire space was isolated.

He looked back, only to see that the white wall had been restored without any signs of destruction.

"...What? Did I get teleported?"

Kamito checked out his surroundings with suspicion&mdash;

In front of him was a familiar-looking corridor.

'&mdash;Due to Astral Shift's influence, it looks like the Holy Lord Palace's interior space has overlapped with the Elemental Lords' shrine.'

His left hand's spirit seal glowed. He heard Restia's voice.

"...I see."

Muttering, Kamito walked towards the corridor.

On two separate occasions, Kamito had walked through the corridor leading to the Elemental Lords' shrine.

The first time was with Restia.

The second time was with his Team Scarlet companions&mdash;

After walking along the corridor for some time, that strange feeling surrounded his body again.

Appearing before his eyes was a grand set of stairs.

&mdash;Stairs leading to the thrones of the Elemental Lords.

Last time, that was where he had personally stabbed Restia.

Kamito readied his two swords and stepped on the stairs.

Looking up, he could see three pillars of light reaching to the top of the sky.

After getting on the stairs&mdash;

What appeared before his eyes was not the shrine of the Elemental Lords but a wide open hall made of stone.

It was even bigger than the circular training ground at the Academy.

There was no roof over the great hall, only the void crack pierced by pillars of light. At the base of the light pillars, he could see the thrones of the Elemental Lords corrupted by the Otherworldly Darkness.

And at the center of the five thrones, on the throne that used to be empty&mdash;

"&mdash;Perfect timing, Ren Ashdoll's successor. Welcome."

The Sacred Maiden wielding the sacred sword&mdash;Areishia, i.e. Alexandros&mdash;smiled.