Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume2 Chapter7 Draft (section)

===Part 2===

They finally reached the entrance of the mine when—

Sounds of weapons violently clashing reverberated from within the tunnel.

"Kamito, look—"

Claire pointed inside the darkness, which was immediately illuminated by an intense flash of light.

There, Ellis Fahrengart fought, wielding her elemental waffe<!--Her lance is an elemental waffe and her elemental waffe is a lance. These words are contextual synonyms. So this will make it a form of tautology.-->.

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Her ponytail was wavering in the violent wind.

Her armor appeared destroyed and from where he stood, he could see that her entire body was covered in wounds.

"Ha, as expected of Captain-sama, you've managed to entertain me considerably, haven't you?!"

A loud ear-splitting laughter resounded in the tunnel.

In front of Ellis stood a boy with shining red eyes.

Jio Inzagi, a male elementalist, who called himself the successor of the Demon King.

Rakka and Reishia lay at his feet, injured.

"You bastard, how dare you do that to my comrades —"

Ellis swung «Ray Hawk».

The tunnel wall was destroyed, the hard bedrock broken as if made of glass.

Jio laughed shrilly and jumped up. A movement like that could not be performed by humans, which meant that he was possessed by some spirit that was strengthening his body.

"Hey, hey, is that it? Is that all a Sylphid Knight can do? This is not a children’s game, you know?"

"You bastard!"

Ellis shouted, enraged that someone insulted her comrades.

'''"Evil wind, thou, become countless blades and cut up my enemies—"'''

She released the power of «Ray Hawk» — the elemental waffe of her demon wind spirit «Simorgh».

This spear was able to create blades of wind, something which gave Kamito a lot of trouble during their duel at the academy. Even if someone managed to avoid it by a paper-thin margin, the countless wind blades that were followed would cut the target to shreds—

However.

"How reckless— reflect it, {{Furigana|Demon Mirror Spirit|Mirror Wall|margin=13}}!"

The moment Jio shouted, a bright red mirror appeared before Ellis.

And then the girl’s attack touched its surface… only to be immediately redirected upon its owner.<!--’wind’ appeared three times in this sentence.-->

"...!?"

The Knight managed to dance out of the harm’s way, but was still cut by the following wind blades and thrown into a wall.<!--’Boisterously dancing ‘ is not used when talking about evading death. I think.-->

"—Ellis!"

With Terminus Est in his hand, Kamito hurried to the girl’s side.

Jio turned around and sneered after noticing their presence.

"Yo, more idiots are coming out."

"Kamito, don't!"

The boy stopped after hearing Claire's warning.

At that moment, a spirit seal engraved on Jio's right arm glowed—

"—Manifest, {{Furigana|Rotting Poison Spirit|Rafflesia|margin=13}}! Play with them until the insides of their lungs are sore!"<!--The previous variant didn’t make much sense.-->

With tremendous force, thick bluish smoke gushed out from his hand.

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The skin-burning poison wrapped Kamito's whole body, and started invading his lungs—

"Ga, Ha...!"

His eyes started arching. His throat felt as if it was being roasted.

Kamito tried to protect himself by covering his mouth, but it was too late, blood started flowing through the gaps between his fingers and dripping onto the ground.

(This is a poison attribute spirit... could it be that the smog itself is an elemental waffe!?)

A groan echoed through the tunnel.

Bearing the burning pain, Kamito opened his eyes slightly.

Ellis and her companions were completely covered in smog and writhing in agony.

"Ellis...Kuu!"

The muscles in his throat cramped, so he could barely talk. Kamito was still able to stand, but if he were to move, he would lose consciousness long before he could reach the girls.

(...Why wasn’t he poisoned?)

A wide range extermination type spirit like Rafflesia couldn't be handled normally.

It was very hard to control, so any mistake the user made would end endangering him too. 

However, Jio Inzagi was calmly standing in the smog of deadly poison.

—Then, Kamito noticed it.

There was a slight wind flow in the boy's surroundings.

(...I see, he's using a wind attribute spirit at the same time!)

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He heard that elementalists with more than one contract were able to combine the powers of their spirits, which allowed them to do this kind of thing.

"...Damn, isn't that cheating?!"

Kamito cursed silently.

(I wonder if Rinslet can shoot through the smog effectively?)

He turned around and searched for her, but when he found her—

The girl nocked an arrow and stood without moving, her aim was fixed on Jio.

(—She isn't shooting?)

Rinslet's judgment was correct.

Her opponent displayed the {{Furigana|Demon Mirror Spirit|Mirror Wall|margin=13}}, which was able to reflect Ellis's elemental waffe.

If she shot poorly, she might end up finishing off the Knight and the others, who were lying nearby.

Beside her, Claire, who was performing an aria with her fire attribute elemental waffe, stood in front of Fianna, protecting the princess. 

The spell will take mere seconds to finish, but all this time their bodies will suffer further damage.<!This part didn’t make sense. I tried to correct it the way I understood it.>

(Damn...)

Kamito felt as if he was being roasted alive.

—At that moment.

Something rumbled inside the tunnel.

(Ellis!?)

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'''"Oh...winds, decimate my enemies— «Wind Bombs»!"'''

Immediately gusts of violent wind blew away the poisonous fog until there was no trace of it left. 

And then—

"Haa, Haa...ka...haa!"

Using her lance as support Ellis stood up. 

Her uniform was cut up, and her whole body was covered in wounds.

She could barely stand because of the cramps in her leg muscles and her stockings were torn to shreds.

Even so, standing there firmly and glaring icily at her enemy—

She was so beautiful that Kamito’s heart skipped a beat.

Ellis prepared her elemental waffe and declared in a hoarse voice.

"I fight with the pride of Sylphid Knights on the line, so even if I lose... I will take you down with me!"

"That hurt... you death escapee."

Jio, who received a direct hit from the attack, snarled.

"If that's the case, I'll relieve you of your suffering and kill you!"<!--He doesn’t actually wish for anything.-->

The spirit seals engraved on Jio's whole body ominously glowed—

"—Like I'll let you!"

Just as Kamito moved away, two fireballs were sent flying towards Jio.

It was Claire covering him. The thief managed to repel the attack, but Kamito used this distraction to approach him.

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The moment he was in striking distance the boy swung Terminus Est in a perfect horizontal arc.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Gaa*— The sword sliced right through the bedrock in its way.

"Haa, don't make such a scary face, hey!"

Jio dodged the sword swing, jumped up and landed on a rocky area that was about to collapse.

Without pursuing, Kamito went straight towards Ellis and the others.

The Knight was out of breath, and it seemed like she could collapse at any moment.

"Ellis, are you alright? I'll help—"

"D-Don't do something... unnecessary."

He tried to support her when she wobbled, but she shook off his hand.

"I do not need your—"

"Don't be stubborn about trivial things, think about your friends."

Ellis stiffened. She looked at the fallen forms of Rakka and Reishia. The girls seemed to be alive, but if they were left like that, their lives would be in danger.

Ellis herself wasn’t in a much better condition. As it were, she could barely stand.

"Guu...Kazehaya Kamito, I owe you."

"I didn’t do it for that. I was just helping my comrades."

"...!"

Ellis's cheeks reddened at Kamito's words.

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Having helped the injured girl rest her back against a wall, Kamito fixed his sight on Jio.

"You, how dare you—"

Ellis Fahrengart— She was a girl with a strong sense of justice, serious and brave.

Just the sight of her injured form, made his anger rise until it seemed about to overflow.

"Don't get in my way, I’ve waited long enough and now I am going to beat that impertinent girl to death."

Jio smirked as he slowly got off the rocky area.

"—I'm relieved."

Kamito raised his sword and glared at Jio.

"If it's a nasty rascal like you, I don’t need to worry about beating you up."

"Haa, those are big words! Too bad that it's impossible for you to defeat me."

"We are also here!"

Claire and the others approached them. The girl readied Flame Tongue as she stood next to Kamito.

Rinslet nocked an arrow, and Fianna grasped spirit crystals in both hands.

"Fianna, can I count on you to treat Ellis and the others?"

"Yes, I have a few healing spirit crystals. However, the effect is limited to only giving a temporary peace of mind."

Fianna nodded with a tense expression.

"Kamito, you and I will corner that guy. Rinslet will be the support artillery battery."

"What did you call me!? I am a splendid archer!"

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Rinslet snarled, but Claire ignored her.

"—Hey, is the discussion over?"

Jio calmly laughed as he neared the group.

The spirit crest engraved on his right arm glowed ominously and bluish-white lightning surged through it.

What appeared in that hand was— an elemental waffe similar to Est.

"Shall we find out which is stronger, {{Furigana|Sword Spirit|Gladius|margin=13}} or that thing?"<!--’Sword’ appeared four times in a row.-->

"Don't mess around. There is no comparison between my Est and that third-rate spirit."

Kamito roared, raising his sword.