Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume17 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 3===

Carrying Kamito and team, the sand ship continued to advance across the boiling desert.

The sun was setting, producing long shadows on the deck. However, there was not an oasis in sight no matter where they went in this sea of red sand.

"At this rate, it looks like today will be fruitless too..."

Leaning against the railing on deck, Kamito sighed.

"Did Princess Saladia really come here?"

"Who knows? We might even have overtaken her&mdash;"

"Well, that's not impossible."

Claire shrugged.

"If only we had more clues&mdash;"

Muttering, Kamito took his hand off the railing.

"Where are you going?"

"Oh, to check out Est."

"Hmph... You're doting on Est as usual."

"I guess."

After replying and patting off the abundant sand stuck to his uniform, Kamito walked towards the cabin.

Two days earlier, Est had had a dream about the past.

Ever since, she started showing mysterious facial expressions of unease.

At first glance, they resembled her usual expressionless face. However, Kamito noticed subtle changes in his partner's expressions.

Back to the cabin, he opened the door&mdash;

He noticed a small bulge in his bed.

From a corner of his sheets, he could see messy silver hair poking out.

"What's wrong, Est?"

It was rather common for Est to slip into Kamito's bed.

Wait a sec, for that to be common would be a problem in itself...

Kamito approached his bed and gently lifted the sheets.

"...Est?"

"Kami... to..."

He saw the sword spirit, completely naked except for a pair of kneesocks, staring at him with a dazed look&mdash;

In the next instant, she spread her slender arms and hugged him tightly.

Kamito instantly understood that this was not her usual behavior when she simply wanted to be pampered.

She must have dreamt another unsettling dream.

Furthermore, this was not the only difference from usual.

"E-Est, what is going on!?"

Kamito could not help but exclaim in surprise.

Instead of her usual black kneesocks, she was wearing multi-colored striped kneesocks instead.

"...!"

In response, Est widened her violet eyes and started to create new black kneesocks frantically.

"I have disgraced myself in front of you."

"Not exactly, I really don't get your hangups..."

Clearly, striped kneesocks were quite cute too&mdash;

...Putting that aside, nothing like this had happened before.

...This implied how unsettled she was.

"Est, are you okay? Did you dream about the past again?"

"&mdash;Cannot remember."

"I see..."

&mdash;Kamito had some idea.

(Est's past memories awakening has happened before...)

It was the night before the first round of the Blade Dance tournament. In order to erase the cursed brand that Rubia had cast, Est had used her power as a sacred sword to the limit.

Although only temporarily, her spirit contract with Kamito had been interrupted. Memories of the genuine Demon Slayer&mdash;Est's main body located somewhere in Astral Zero&mdash;had awakened as a result.

Perhaps similar to last time, Est's current dreams were the result of the real Terminus Est's memories flowing to her here.

In that case&mdash;

Kamito's gaze fell upon the sword spirit seal branded on his right hand.

(...Could it be that Est's spirit contract is about to return to normal?)

In fact, the contract between Kamito and Est was quite incomplete. The current Demon Slayer was capable of mustering at most one tenth of the original Est's power.

Could it be that the original power was about to return to Est?

Est clutched Kamito's clothing tightly.

"Kamito, I am so afraid."

Her shining long silver-white hair shook, looking as though it might disappear any moment.

"Every time I see that dream, I feel like I am no longer me&mdash;"

"Est..."

Seeing the sword spirit like that, Kamito gently stroked her head.

"To me, Est is only you. Only you are Est."

"Kamito&mdash;"

Est raised her head forcefully, her violet eyes blinking.

&mdash;At that very moment...

Boooooooooom...!

Suddenly, the ship shook violently with a rumbling noise like an earthquake.

"...! W-What's going on!?"