Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume20 Chapter9 (section)

===Part 1===

Primordial forest sprouted at the feet of the earth giant.

Spreading radially, the trees surged like a giant wave.

"...! Retreat behind the Fortress, otherwise you will be devoured!"

Velsaria deployed layer after layer of Dreadnought's fortification walls and fired again and again.

Parts of the forest were blown away, but the rapid growth showed no signs of slowing down.

Tree roots destroyed walls and stripped away Velsaria's armor.

"...Gah, ah, ahhhhhhhhhh!"

Velsaria gritted her teeth and groaned in apin.

"Absolute Blade Arts, Third Form&mdash;Shadowmoon Waltz!"

Greyworth rushed to the forefront and severed tree roots in one breath but it was nothing more than a drop in the bucket.

"This monster intends to grow a sea of trees, huh?"

There were signs of fatigue on Greyworth's face.

The circulatory channels in her body had been thoroughly damaged before when she taught Kamito the ultimate technique.

Although the damage was repaired when she de-aged to prime condition, repeated usage of the Absolute Blade Arts like this would eventually cause her to lose the power of spirit contracts again.

"Nothing less expected from the Earth Elemental Lord&mdash;"

Leonora was using her dragon's heat beams to incinerate the forest, but all she achieved was stalling for time.

"Muir, how many militarized spirits do you have left?"

"Seven. I could burn forests, but what use is that?"

Hearing Greyworth's question, Muir shrugged.

Muir's militarized spirit Garuda had tried to attack the Lord of Earth, but ended up entangled by countless vines and then easily crushed.

"Indeed, using several militarized spirits until they broke would not change the situation&mdash;"

Greyworth muttered in a conundrum. Just then...

A giant shadow descended over them.

"...! W-What is that!?"

Muir pointed into the air and cried out.

Appearing in the sky was&mdash;

A red dragon, large enough to rival the Earth Elemental Lord.

Gahhhhhhhhhh!

The red dragon opened its jaws, releasing a heat beam that incinerated the forest.

"W-What, that dragon... Could it be, a spirit&mdash;"

"&mdash;His Majesty the Dragon King!"

Leonora shouted loudly. Everyone looked at her.

"What did you say?"

Greyworth asked in surprise.

"No mistake. That dragon is the king of our Dracunia, Dragon King Bahamut!"

Leonora's voice was very emotional.

"But isn't Dracunia's Dragon King sealed in the depths of Dragon Rock Fortress because of the Earth Elemental Lord's curse?"

"Yes, that is supposed to be the case&mdash;"

'&mdash;I was liberated.'

Just then, an elegant voice sounded in their minds.

"Dragon King...!"

'As the Earth Elemental Lord transformed into a Gate, the curse binding me disappeared too. I apologize for my late arrival. I flew here as fast as I could.'

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The gigantic dragon spirit landed on the ground, tussling with the Lord of Earth.

Two legendary-class spirits were fighting in the center of a giant crater.

It was practically a reenactment of a scene from the Spirit War six thousand years ago.

Gruoooooooooooooooooh!

The Dragon King released flame breath at close range.

However, the Lord of Earth was completely unfazed by the fire and violently grabbed the Dragon King's wings.

Even Bahamut could do nothing more than restrain an Elemental Lord's power.

&mdash;Hurry, while I have him pinned down.

Realizing the Dragon King's intent, Leonora and Greyworth sprang into action.

Holding their elemental waffen swords, they rushed into the sea of fire.

The Lord of Earth roared with anger, lifting up the Dragon King's massive body.

Next, he then smashed the Dragon King hard against the garound.

The earth shook. The giant swung his fist against the Dragon King's head lying at his feet.

"&mdash;Dragon King!"

Leonora cried out.

Just at that instant, the Earth Elemental Lord's movements stopped.

"...What?"

Running side by side with Leonora, Greyworth exclaimed in surprise.

Of course, that was not a reaction to Leonora's shout.

O-Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Still in the posture of throwing a punch, the Lord of Earth roared at the sky.

It was a roar with a hint of sadness amid madness.

"...How on earth&mdash;"

Leonora could not help but halt.

&mdash;They did not realize the reason for change in the Earth Elemental Lord.

Hearing the prayers from so many princess maidens in the human realm, Earth Elemental Lord Lode Gear had recovered his sanity in a brief moment&mdash;

Though brief, this duration was a rare opportunity.

Greyworth called out to Leonora behind her.

"&mdash;Dragon lass, you have experience with the lad's swordsmanship, yes?"

"...? Huh, yes&mdash;"

''What am I supposed to say at a time like this?''&mdash;Leonora frowned with puzzlement on her face.

"Seeing that your aptitude is not bad, I shall teach you some tricks. Be that as it may, this is just the basics of the basics."

"...?"

Saying that, Greyworth pressed her hand against Leonora's forehead.

Leonora instantly widened her eyes, turned red from the curse of Dragon Blood.

"...! This... is...?"

"I have passed on to you knowledge of my swordsmanship and insight towards the usage of divine power. This was originally supposed to be passed on to a graduating disciple only&mdash;"

"...Ah... Ku...!"

Faced with this massive surge of information, Leonora could not help but groan. Throwing her a glance, Greyworth then turned her head back to face the Lord of Earth behind her.

Aiming at the paused Lord of Earth, Velsaria fired all her cannons.

&mdash;The Lord of Earth began to move again.

"&mdash;Let's go, dragon lass."

"...Easy for you to say... But I have no choice but to go all in&mdash;"

Gritting her teeth, Leonora readied her Dragon Slayer.

Seeing that, Greyworth smiled with satisfaction.

The two of them began to sprint at the same time.

The Lord of Earth swung down his raised fist. In that instant, Bahamut's jaws opened to release a heat beam. As a result, one of the arms of the Lord of Earth was blown away.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Roaring, the Lord of Earth lost balance.

Two elementalists rushed up his gigantic body all at once&mdash;!

"Absolute Blade Arts&mdash;Destructive Form, Bursting Blossom Spiral Blade Dance, Sixteen Consecutive Strikes!"

Aiming at the head, Greyworth unleashed the most powerful Absolute Blade Art.

A haphazard dance of the demon sword's blade.

Immediately afterwards&mdash;

"Absolute Blade Arts, First Form&mdash;Purple Lightning, Tyrant Dragon's Claw!"

Leonora's Absolute Blade Art went straight for the neck of the Lord of Earth.

This was a single-point destructive skill launched by the Absolute Blade Art of godlike speed, amplified by Dragon Blood.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The Lord of Earth's gigantic body fell on the ground, crumbling to pieces.

"...!"

Having exhausted all her power, Leonora fell towards the ground just like that.

Velsaria summoned a fortification wall to catch her just before she crashed.

"Hmph, though far inferior to the brat, I admit it looks like you do have a bit of talent."

Landing beside her, Greyworth grinned.

"&mdash;I suppose I could take you as my second disciple, dragon lass."