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

===Part 2===

"&mdash;Holy Lord Alexandros."

With the sound of footsteps, Kamito advanced through the great hall.

Keeping his two swords ready in a stance, he faced off against the Holy Lord who was wearing the Sacred Maiden's appearance.

Shiny blonde hair. Ancient armor glistening with silver-white luster.

Held in her hand was a sacred sword in the same style as Est. The only difference was that her sacred sword was double-edged, while Kamito's Demon Slayer had a single-edged blade.

Previously, Kamito had seen Sacred Maiden Areishia's sword in Est's dreams.

Spirit Weapon&mdash;Terminus Est.

(So that's Est's main body, huh...)

Kamito gripped the Demon Slayer in his hand.

The ultimate sword spirit whom the Five Great Elemental Lords used to fear.

Simply facing off was enough to make Kamito feel an oppressive presence that made his hair stand on end.

To resist, Kamito released divine power of darkness.

Oh? Seeing this, Alexandros seemed quite amused.

"Is this power of darkness inherited from her?"

"That's right&mdash;"

"Frankly speaking, I am surprised. I expected you to be devoured by her darkness&mdash;"

Alexandros got up from the throne and looked down at Kamito.

"Even with the Otherworldly Darkness corrupting her, Ren Ashdoll managed to pass along her last hope. Her wish was that eventually someone inheriting her power would appear from among the human race."

"So that is you, huh? Demon King&mdash;Ren Ashbell."

"Yes. I am the assassin's blade, here to kill you."

"I see. So that is her will."

"&mdash;No."

Facing the shrugging Holy Lord, Kamito shook his head and spoke.

"She simply entrusted her power to me. I am seeking to destroy you out of my own will. You should not exist in this world."

Kamito pointed the brightly glowing Demon Slayer at the Holy Lord.

"&mdash;Ah, well said. From this world's perspective, I am indeed the enemy."

The Holy Lord smiled. There was not the slightest malice in that pure smile.

The Sacred Maiden looked up at the crack to the Otherworld, penetrating the sky and reached out lightly.

"&mdash;Consequently, I must become the world itself."

She spoke with anticipation.

"So that's why you're going to absorb the power of the Angels from the Otherworld, to refashion this world according to the image in your mind?"

"&mdash;No."

The Holy Lord denied Kamito's accusation.

"What?"

"What I want is not merely the power of Angels, but something behind the Gate."

"...Something behind the gate, you say?"

So Angels were not the only things behind the Gate to the Otherworld?

"Indeed. So-called Angels are nothing more than beings guarding a certain something. In that case, when you saw those countless Angels while you were devoured by the Otherworldly Darkness, ''what exactly were they guarding''?"

"...!?"

Kamito gasped in surprise. Cold sweat dripped down his forehead.

&mdash;So-called Angels, were as implied by their name, messengers of heaven.

In that case, who was the one who had sent those Angels?

"Behind that Gate is the origin that had created us Elemental Lords as well as this Astral Zero. The origin of all power, all existence. In other words&mdash;"

The Holy Lord giggled with a young maiden's face.

"&mdash;An omnipotent being. One you could call God."

"...!"

&mdash;God.

Just an empty concept, something that did not exist in this Astral Zero.

The origin of everything, an omnipotent being.

(No way, can something like that...)

Kamito looked up at the Gate to the Otherworld, swirling in the sky.

Rather than taking the authority of Angels to recreate the world, the Holy Lord wanted to merge with what the Angels were protecting, the origin of the world.

&mdash;Wanted to become God himself.

"...! Is that even possible?"

Kamito stared unerringly at the Holy Lord, demanding an answer.

"Yes, I&mdash;no, ''we''&mdash;set the plan in motion for this very purpose."

(...We?)

Hearing the Holy Lord use that self-reference, Kamito instantly felt there was something odd.

Was he referring to Holy Lord Alexandros together with Sacred Maiden Areishia who had become his vessel? Or perhaps&mdash;

"...''Who exactly'' are you?"

Kamito asked.

&mdash;Why did the Holy Lord know about what existed behind that Gate?

Suppose Kamito's hunch was correct, then&mdash;

"Yes, it is as you think."

The Holy Lord shrugged and nodded.

"I am both the Holy Lord and the Sacred Maiden&mdash;and simultaneously, an Angel of the Otherworld."

"..."

&mdash;''I knew it'', Kamito muttered in his thoughts.

"Just as you know, Angels once descended six thousand years ago, attempting to retrieve the Darkness stolen by the Elemental Lords. It was a war between the Angels and Astral Zero. The Elemental Lords deployed numerous spirit weapons to fight the army of Angels. Naturally, I was no exception."

The Holy Lord smiled.

"During that war, I began to think. I wanted to eat ''that''."

"...! W-What are you saying...?"

Kamito was speechless.

"I secretly captured an Angel to study. It was then that I found out. That Angel was the Light element with its form altered&mdash;"

"Angels, the light element..."

"Indeed. I was delighted. Just as Ren Ashdoll desired Darkness of the origin, I hungered for the Light of that world's. Using our mutual affinity for the light element, I absorbed the captured Angel into myself. And then&mdash;"

Saying that, the Holy Lord laughed.

"Merged with an Angel, the Light Elemental Lord was assimilated by True Light to become the Holy Lord. Did you know? I did not start out as the Holy Lord. Instead, I used to be known as the Lord of Light."

Lord of Light&mdash;Alexandros.

The being opposite to the Darkness Elemental Lord.

"...I see. So that's what happened."

&mdash;Everything finally made sense.

Merging with an Angel was equivalent to merging with Otherworldly Light.

Precisely because he had already been assimilated by the Light, the Holy Lord alone did not get corrupted by the Otherworldly Darkness like the other Elemental Lords.

Also, there was the scene seen in the dream of Greyworth, who had contracted with the Holy Lord.

The scene of the giant of light devouring an Angel&mdash;

It was actually something that had happened for real.

The result of an Angel merging with a spirit. That reminded him of a certain spirit.

"The same nature as Millennia Sanctus, huh?"

&mdash;Yes, that cardinal. The spirit born from fragments of Terminus Est. In her eye resided Otherworldly Darkness, which finally turned into a Gate to summon Angels.

"Indeed, she was the experiment created in this manner. Although the results were less than ideal, she and Lurie both performed to the limit of their capabilities. Their sacrifices were not in vain."

"That's absurd!"

"Sacred Maiden, Angel, Lord of Light. Within me are three consciousnesses mixed together. I have even forgotten what exactly is the nature of my existence. All that is left is a desire to merge with that origin, nothing more. To this end, I have waited a thousand years in full."

The Holy Lord's eyes were filled with mad desire for the origin.

&mdash;To overturn the world and begin anew, to become the world itself.

"&mdash;You can think whatever you want."

Kamito readied his two swords and spoke.

"But we're the ones living in this world. Even if you guys were the creators of this world, you have no right to take it away from us."

"Yes, you have the right to resist. Just as in the past, the Elemental Lords rose in rebellion against that world that had created us."

The sacred sword in the Holy Lord's hand glowed.

That excessively blinding light filled the entire hall.

"&mdash;Unlike the incomplete specimen that you hold, this is the light of the true Terminus Est."

"...!"

The torrent of light instantly erased the divine power of darkness on Kamito's body.

However, Kamito glared intently at the Holy Lord, holding his ground.

He had no intention of being ignored.

"&mdash;How dare you call her incomplete?"

Kamito poured divine power into the Demon Slayer.

It was at that temple in the Academy's surroundings that he had contracted with Est.

That contract was admittedly incomplete.

Its power was only a tenth or so of the original.

However, that was what had allowed him to fight throughout the whole Blade Dance, winning to the end.

The sacred sword that had grown together with Kamito, overcoming countless trials and tribulations.

"My Est is the strongest sword spirit. Right, Est?"

'Yes, Kamito&mdash;'

Est's voice sounded in his mind.

''My Terminus Est will not lose against the Sacred Maiden's sacred sword.''

"&mdash;Come, Holy Lord Alexandros. Let me show you my blade dance."

The Demon Slayer neutralized the light of Terminus Est.

&mdash;And so, the blade dance between the Demon King and the Sacred Maiden began.