Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume16 Chapter11 (section)

===Part 2===

Underfoot were vibrations that felt like the earth rumbling&mdash;

What they could hear were noises of battle behind them&mdash;

Kamito and Claire ran singlemindedly towards Scorpia.

"What kind of training did all of you go through in just a few days?"

Running, Kamito asked Claire beside him. Although he could tell from a glance that the girls were much stronger than before, he never expected the change to be this dramatic&mdash;

"Rather than training, I feel like I've conquered obstacles in my heart&mdash;"

"What do you mean?"

"Umm, it's hard to explain clearly... But, anyway, that's the gist of it."

"What do you mean, anyway...?"

Just as Kamito was puzzled, he heard Restia's voice in his mind.

'These girls had very powerful potential inside them in the first place. However, they each had a minor mental hangup, which obstructed them from communing with their spirit&mdash;'

"In other words, they released their hidden potential, huh?"

&mdash;Just then, a large gate appeared before the two of them as they ran along a main road.

This point onwards would be Scorpia territory.

"Kamito, I sense something repulsive."

"Yeah, I get what you mean..."

The two of them halted and swept their gazes around them.

At that moment, something unexpected happened.

The palace gate opened from inside with a heavy noise.

"...!?"

What came into view was a large garden on the other side of the gate.

In the center of the garden, something resembling dark miasma was prowling.

"What is that?"

As though answering the question posed by the frowning Claire&mdash;

The dark miasma shook violently and changed shape.

Then seven knights clad in pitch-black armor appeared.

They each drew their sword and prepared a stance. A single crimson eye glowed with eerie light under each helmet.

This image, like the incarnation of darkness, was something Kamito had seen before.

"...Could that be Nepenthes Lore!?"

He groaned from the back of his throat.

Nepenthes Lore was a monster wielding the Demon King's power during the Blade Dance, awakened by Restia. It had singlehandedly destroyed several national representative teams, even crushing the Knights of the Dragon Emperor led by Leonora.

Nepenthes Lore was a far more terrifying and powerful existence than the tactical-class militarized spirits earlier.

&mdash;And here were seven of such things.

"What the hell... Why is that dark monster...?"

'Nepenthes Lore is the result when a human ends up devoured by the Demon King's power. The Demon King cult preserved these dead bodies. Sjora must have used the power of the Demon's Circuit to awaken these corpses...'

"...Th-That's cheating..."

Enveloped in dark miasma, the seven Nepenthes Lores moved silently to surround Kamito and Claire.

Readying their respective elemental waffen, Kamito and Claire stood back to back.

Next&mdash;

"Claire, ''watch my back''&mdash;"

"Huh?"

Hearing what Kamito said, Claire exclaimed in surprise.

In the past, Kamito would usually say stuff like "please cover me" instead of "watch my back." Despite acknowledging Claire's power, he did not go so far as to entrust his back to others unconditionally. However&mdash;

"On my own, I'd get a bit overwhelmed. Didn't you train to become stronger?"

Right now, his comrades in Team Scarlet had progressed immensely. It was enough for Kamito, who had always fought alone, to entrust his back to them without worry.

"...V-Very well, leave it to me!"

Claire nodded happily then cracked her whip, Flametongue.

"...I'm going to use a ''special move'' I learned during my training. It'll take some time, but you'll be okay, right?"

"That move will work on Nepenthes Lore?"

"Yes."

Claire nodded.

"Got it, then until that move is ready, I'll guard your back&mdash;"

Kamito readied his two swords and faced off against the seven Nepenthes Lores.

Behind him, Claire began to recite words sounding like an incantation&mdash;

&mdash;In that instant, the dark miasma expanded all at once.

The miasma surging out from all over the Nepenthes Lores' bodies turned into whips, swinging all at once.

"...!?"

At the same time, Kamito and Claire jumped left and right respectively.

Stone tiles in the plaza were blown away, turning into a swamp of miasma.

With a terrifying roar, the seven Nepenthes Lores charged.

(...Tsk, they move so fast despite being so big!)

Kamito caused the divine power concentrated under his feet to explode, then swung the Demon Slayer at the Nepenthes Lore in front of him.

The pitch-black armor shattered, spurting dark miasma violently upwards. Although any contact with the dangerous miasma would result in divine power being stolen away, the ultimate sword spirit Est possessed anti-magic properties that could neutralize even that.

(First one down&mdash;)

Without even looking at the fallen enemy, Kamito immediately switched to his next action. Pouring divine power into the Vorpal Sword in reverse grip, he charged and aimed at another Nepenthes Lore's throat. Then&mdash;

"&mdash;Pierce, Vorpal Blast!"

He yelled. The jet-black demonic lightning instantly erupted from the blade, destroying the monster's head.

(That makes two!)

Kamito immediately turned around to aim at the next target. At that moment&mdash;

'&mdash;Not over yet, Kamito!'

Est warned.

"...!?"

Kamito hastily ducked down. The tip of a large sword instantly swept past the top of his head.

The sword was swung by the earlier Nepenthes Lore that had lost its head.

Clad in armor, a massive foot stomped at him. Kamito rolled on the ground and narrowly avoided getting his entire body crushed. Using his residual momentum, he stood up and jumped back.

The two Nepenthes Lores, which ought to have suffered fatal wounds, were attacking with their swords as though nothing had happened.

(Damn monsters&mdash;)

Kamito cursed under his breath.

(...So the only way to defeat them is to break them apart completely?)

To begin with, Kamito's sword skills were unsuited for fighting non-human enemies. The assassination skills he had learned at the Instructional School all aimed at vulnerabilities in the human body. In Greyworth's case, the swords skills she taught him were essentially anti-human moves for seizing victory at the Blade Dance. Of course, he did have moves such as Bursting Blossom Spiral Blade Dance for hunting large targets, but they were too costly in terms of the physical strain and divine power consumption. Spending a great deal of divine power in the current situation could very well awaken Ren Ashdoll's power.

(...That being said, these aren't enemies I can take out while holding back.)

&mdash;After all, these things had been Demon King candidates in the past, just like Kamito. It was thanks to the power of the Crusaders spirit sealed in Milla Bassett's eye that Team Scarlet managed to defeat Nepenthes Lore last time.

While resetting his posture, Kamito glanced at Claire behind him. She must be preparing quite a powerful move. While nimbly dodging attacks from the miasma whips, she kept chanting her incantation.

Two Nepenthes Lores charged to attack Kamito.

Pouring divine power into his two swords, Kamito leaped.

"Absolute Blade Arts, Third Form, Alpha Variant&mdash;Shadowmoon Waltz, Major Double Turn."

This was a dual-wielding variation on the anti-army Shadowmoon Waltz. This was a new move innovated by Kamito on his own after his fight against Greyworth. Left and right, his two swords slashing all directions, he instantly chopped off all the arms of the Nepenthes Lores.

However, these were not fatal wounds. As conglomerations of dark miasma, Nepenthes Lore could easily repair the damaged parts.

"Absolute Blade Arts, Third Form, Beta Variant&mdash;"

He immediately turned his sword around, slicing horizontally through a Nepenthes Lore in one slash.

(&mdash;Is it taken out!?)

From the corner of his eye, he could see the Nepenthes Lore's body chopped in two. Although he did not know if it was defeated, at least it should not be as easy to regenerate as arms.

However&mdash;

'&mdash;Kamito, dodge!'

Restia's voice sounded in his mind.

No sooner had she spoken, the top half of the bifurcated Nepenthes Lore exploded.

The instantly expanding dark miasma was about to swallow Kamito.

(...! Crap&mdash;)

The dark miasma was troublesome stuff that would steal divine power from a single touch. If splashed by a large amount, Kamito's divine power would be consumed all at once, resulting in depletion. With that, the other source of divine power dormant inside Kamito&mdash;Ren Ashdoll's power&mdash;would awaken.

Kamito jumped, trying to evade&mdash;

However, the other Nepenthes Lore had regenerated its arms and caught Kamito's leg with a miasma whip.

(...!?)

In that instant...

"O flames, let a night of red descend upon the earth&mdash;Crimson Judgment."

Kamito's view was dyed all red.

The crimson blaze drowned out the darkness, instantly devouring the Nepenthes Lore's massive body completely.

"...What!?"

Kamito was rendered speechless, holding his breath. Could this current flame be&mdash;

&mdash;The blazing flames flickered intensely then began to take on the form of a petite young girl.

Appearing out from there was&mdash;

A beautiful girl with red hair, all her limbs enveloped in flames.

"The Scarlet Valkyrie&mdash;Ortlinde. I hereby manifest in this world, heeding the call to my true name."

Saying that, the cat-eared girl bowed her head respectfully with a serious expression on her face.