Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume8 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 2===

And now, the boy ― Kamito was blending into the night in the witch's courtyard.

The imperial capital's suburbs. The grounds were large, but as a home for the former number one of the Numbers that had been granted great peerage, it was plain.

Let alone a spirit protecting the gate, there didn't even appear to be a single servant......though he already knew this from the information he had received.

The time Greyworth would return from the royal palace was drawing nearer and nearer.

Cloaked in darkness, Kamito touched the ring he had hidden within his jacket.

He stroked the words written on its outer edge in spirit language.

(......If this goes well, I can free her.)

The one sealed within the ring was the darkness spirit girl.

The girl who had given human emotions to he who had become an empty tool at the training facility.

But giving emotions to Kamito, who was supposed to be a tool, had angered the instructors, resulting in her being sealed once again.

Although he had succeeded in stealing the ring during the opportunity created by the Instructional School's destruction, Kamito did not know how to undo the seal. In addition, the instructors who would have known how to undo the seal had all been killed by that evil flame spirit.

(But if I can just get the Key of Solomon, then I can definitely―)

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He would assassinate the continent's strongest elementalist for the sake of getting back her smile.

He had not done an assassination mission yet, but he was confident that it was something he would succeed in.

The sound of a horse-drawn coach coming down the road. Kamito heard it with his extraordinary hearing ability.

(―This mission will be decided with the first attack. If I miss, I'm dead.)

This was the iron rule for when a non-elementalist fought with an elementalist.

It seemed that all the assassination attempts on the Dusk Witch so far had failed.

The Murders bunch hadn't told him what had happened to those who failed. ―Not that he really wanted to know.

The coach arrived before the gate.

Kamito covered the lower half of his face with a black cloth and drew the twin swords at his waist.

Special short swords forged from spirit crystals ― items he had received at the Instructional School.

They had no inscription. They were not actually designed for battle but instead were twin swords intended for use in a princess maiden's blade dance ritual; however, supplying divine power to the blade would allow it to also cut spirits, so it was convenient for missions.

Even so, there was no comparison in performance with an elementalist's elemental waffe.

The door of the coach opened, and a woman with ash blonde hair came out.

Kamito sprung all his muscles into action and shot out from the darkness.

It did not leave any room for a reaction. He closed the distance in an instant and slashed out towards the woman's neck.

He felt a hard impact with his hands.

The twin swords' blades had stopped in midair.

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"......!?"

"―Ohh, you're different from all the other ones."

Cloaked in a grey dress, the beautiful woman smiled bewitchingly.

In her hand was a single thick book.

That book had stopped the twin swords.

"Tch―!"

Shivers ran down his spine. That was something that he should have lost already, instinctual fear.

Those bottomless grey eyes pierced through Kamito.

(This person is―)

A monster ― that word floated into his head.

He withdrew his twin swords and slipped into the darkness. Fighting any more than this would be meaningless.

Seeing as he did not take her down in a single strike, he would have to bide time until the next chance.

"My goodness, did you think you could just escape after aiming for a witch's neck?"

The Dusk Witch smiled like she was enjoying herself and put out her hand.

In an instant, a revolting lump of darkness was born from thin air.

(......Is that a demon spirit!?)

They had a different spirit structure and consequently could not be controlled by humans.

The one who could control them was ― only the heretical Dusk Witch.

The lump of darkness coiled around her arm and formed into a vibrating sword.

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Even if he were not an elementalist, he could feel it with his skin.

The one before his eyes was a top-class demon spirit.

It was probably the same rank as Restia, no less―

(―Even though she's a retired spirit knight, she's contracted to spirits of this caliber!)

He had heard about it but ― even though it was right in front of him, it was hard to believe.

Normally, a princess maiden's ability was at its peak from ten to the early twenties, and they would only weaken after that. Those elementalists who had lost their power would retire, marry a noble of high birth, and pass their power down to their daughters.

If it was true that she had fought during the time of the Ranbal War, then her power should have weakened long ago.

A sharp flash split the air.

(......Fast!)

He barely reacted by using his instincts, but the blade grazed him.

The cloth over his lower face was cut and fell gently to the ground.

"―Ohh, quite a cute girl."

The sharp grey eyes widened slightly.

"......I'm not a girl."

Kamito spoke for the first time.

He could not escape from his opponent's blade's reach. He would only be killed the moment he retreated.

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(―Then there's no other way but to resolve myself.)

Kamito readied his twin blades and stared back at the falcon-like eyes of the witch.

"I have ― come to kill the Dusk Witch."

He immediately kicked off the ground and closed the distance.

The godspeed slash was aimed at the witch's windpipe, but just before that.

The witch's figure swayed.

A moment.

"Absolute Blade Arts, First Form ― Purple Lightning."

"......!?"

Greyworth's sword penetrated straight through Kamito's abdomen.