Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume7 Chapter9 (section)

===Part 1===

--A few moments after that.

Kamito and his group arrived at the historical site which the Rupture Division had formerly used as their stronghold.

"Is this really the place?"

"...Yeah, no mistake about it."

Faced with Ellis' doubtful question, Claire gulped a mouthful of air.

Ellis' question was not without reason. Currently, the surroundings of the ruins was filled with an ominous aura that did not match with a barrier built by an elementalist.

"It seems completely different from the last time we came here..."

Kamito stepped in as he placed a hand on Terminus Est at his waist.

"This is already the interior of a witch's barrier -- Be careful."

"It's almost like a spider's lair. The air is rather turbid."

Shao spat out her words.

Entering an elementalist's carefully constructed stronghold was like attacking a secure castle. Without sufficient superiority in combat potential, breaching the defenses would be impossible.

(Especially a stronghold constructed by a princess maiden skilled in ritual magic--)

Feeling an illusion as if his feet were trudging through a muddy bog, Kamito made his way forward.

The entrance of the ruins lay open like a mouth of darkness, inviting victims to an obvious trap.

"...This is exactly like the Pandemonium of legend."

Just as Claire muttered, in that instant--

"...Something's coming!?"

Kamito halted his steps and turned back to look up at the pitch black night sky.

Instantly, numerous magic circles appeared in the air -- the whole area was covered by crimson flashing light.

Then--

From the magic circles, a swarm of innumerable strangely shaped beings burst forth like a tide.

Gigantic eyes with several arms growing out of them. Burning skulls that cackled noisily. Amorphous amoeba that tumbled about. Giants with heads sprouting from their arms and shoulders. Spherical shadows that expanded and contracted incessantly--

"...Demon spirits!"

"We of the Four Gods were wiped out by these things!"

In order to protect Linfa, Shao readied her elemental waffe, the Divine Tiger Fangs.

"But these numbers... Cannot compare to last time!"

Dozens, hundreds, thousands -- the swarm of demon spirits was increasing without bound, forming a pitch black cloud that enshrouded the entire vicinity of the ruins. Even though Sjora Kahn was known as the demon caster, summoning such an enormous number of demon spirits should be impossible.  Very likely, the ancient ruins themselves functioned as some sort of summoning device.

"Freezing fangs of ice, go forth and pierce -- Freezing Arrow!"

Rinslet unleashed arrows of ice, striking down dozens of demon spirits in succession.

Nevertheless, this was merely a drop in the bucket. The rate of increase in numbers greatly surpassed Rinslet's efforts.

"...This is hopeless. Faced with such numbers of spirits as opponents, this will be never ending."

Claire yelled out as she swept enemies away with Flametongue.

"..."

Watching the cloud-like swarm, Kamito pondered for a while, then said:

"Hey, I've got a suggestion--"

"What?"

"Leaves these things to me. Claire and the others, why don't you go rescue Fianna?"

Slicing the demon spirit before him in half, Kamito suggested.

"...No way! Even for you, Kamito, these numbers are--"

"You'll exhaust your divine power very quickly and become unable to use your elemental waffe!"

Claire and Rinslet instantly objected.

Indeed, Terminus Est's massive consumption of divine power was its one and only weakness.

--But of course, Kamito was already aware of that.

"No problem. After all, we have the great imperial princess here who is highly skilled in ritual dance performances, right?"

"Hmm, you can rely on me."

Clad in the Kirin's elemental waffe of the Seraphim Feathers, Linfa thumped her paper-thin chest confidently.

"Making use of the stronghold's leylines to obtain blessings is completely effortless."

"I will be in charge of guarding Linfa-sama. Kamito, you focus on destroying these things."

Using the Divine Tiger Fangs, Shao instantly swept away the demon spirits at the shrine entrance.

"...I understand. Then I'll leave this place to Kamito and the rest here. Let's go!"

Claire took swift action as soon as their decision was made. Nodding briefly in acknowledgement, she rushed towards the shrine entrance together with Ellis and Rinslet.

"I'm relying on you girls to rescue Fianna!"

"Yes, we will definitely bring her back!"

Kamito watched as the three disappeared into the depths of the shrine--

For just an instant, Kamito relaxed his shoulder completely.

"Very well, ''with that, I can now use her sword techniques without any reservation''--"

Licking his parched lips, Kamito grinned fearlessly.

"...Come, third rate flunkies. I will take care of you all no matter how many of you there are."

In the next instant, several hundred demon spirits rushed towards Kamito all at once.