Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume3 Chapter8 (section)

===Part 3===

The strongest blade dancer— Ren Ashbell.

Three years ago, since the day she crossed her blade with hers, Velsaria's life changed.

On that day, she received a great shock.

Before that day, Velsaria had taken pride in being the strongest knight.

It wasn't like she was making light of the girl, who appeared before her eyes, for being a title-less newcomer two years younger than her.

No matter who it was, as long as they faced her, she would wield her full strength and strike them down.

That was her belief as a Knight.

She fought with all her strength— And then, she was defeated.

However, what grew in her heart at that time was not hatred.

It was more like a sense of veneration towards her.

It was something trivial; she too was, like Ellis and the other girls, fascinated by Ren Ashbell's blade dance.

So, what she received a shock from was not the defeat.

It was the eyes that the strongest girl faced at her, the loser.

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What was reflected in the girl's jet-black pupils—

Was not hostility, not pity, not contempt— There wasn't even any emotions.

Velsaria was not even reflected in the girl's eyes.

...It was unforgivable. There was no way she could accept that.

She would defeat that strongest girl and make her ''acknowledge her existence''.

This was probably— in a sense, an emotion that was comparable to love.

(...Soon, I can fight her again in the Blade Dance.)

Any other things were irrelevant.

(Even if my mind and flesh are consumed by this 'heart'—)

Late at night. Deep inside the Spirit Forest—

Loitering alone in the darkness, Velsaria had been suppressing her feelings of haughtiness.

At this moment, the bushes behind her moved slightly.

"—Is that you, witch!"

"Ha, as expected of you, you were able to detect my presence~"

There was the voluptuous sound of laughter heard within the forest.

The one who appeared was —the Cursed Armament maker— Vivian Melosa.

"You did well yesterday, because of you I got good data~"

"I knew it, it was you who implanted those Cursed Armament Seals on them."

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Velsaria emitted a fierce murderous aura. Leaves of the trees swayed like they were astir.

"Yes, but, they broke immediately. Even for the famous Areishia Spirit Academy, I can't seem to come across a fine specimen like yourself!"

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"Disappear. I told you to never appear in front of me again."

"Wah, you're pretty cold. I just came here to check out the corrosion rate of the 'heart'."

"I have no intentions to assist your research. The 'heart' is being fully controlled."

Vivian Melosa laughed out loud.

"Please stop acting tough. For ''a Cursed Armament Seal engraved on a heart''— the only one who could control such a thing is possibly the Dusk Witch. If you just leave it like that, you will die in a few years~"

"Not a problem. As long as I live till the Blade Dance in two weeks, it is enough."

"That troubles me. You are actually a specimen I took a liking to—"

In an instant, Velsaria turned towards Vivian Melosa and released her elemental waffe.

A lump of compressed divine power blew apart the trees in the forest and gouged out the space before her.

After the dust had settled, there was no one there. There was only the dense darkness.

"...That damned witch."

Facing the empty space, Velsaria bitterly groaned.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Thump*—, the 'heart' ached.


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