Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume10 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 4===

"...Sorry for my delay."

Shielding the collapsed Fianna behind his back, Kamito turned around and said to her.

Due to his forced entrance, the arm he used to deflect the wrecking ball was now slightly numb.

"Kamito-kun... How did you know I was here?"

Surprised rather than relieved, Fianna asked with astonishment.

"Rinslet and Ellis told me. Also, I saw the flash from the spirit crystal."

Rushing to the battlefield, Kamito and Rinslet had separated to look for Fianna.

Seeing the intense burst of light, he tried to rush over here and succeeded in finding her as expected.

"...Kazehaya Kamito. The elementalist who defeated our second squad Stahl Wölfe huh."

The wrecking ball-wielding girl glared at Kamito with contempt.

"Are you a member of the Sacred Spirit Knights?"

"Alda Reed. Luminaris-sama's right hand."

The iron ball and chain rattled loudly.

"If you retreat instantly, I'll let you off for now. I'm sorry but you're no match for me alone."

Kamito shrugged and declared.

Although his divine power had not recovered completely from the battle against Valaraukar, a single opponent was no problem at all. So long as he restricted Est's power, he should be able to blade dance for several minutes.

"I appreciate your goodwill, but the Sacred Spirit Knights never let prey get away from them!"

"...!"

Alda Reed yelled as she launched the wrecking ball at Kamito.

Kamito jumped and dodged. Like a dance, he leaped continuously in the forest.

The shining Terminus Est traced out a trail of light in the darkness.

Against the background of the night, the chain twisted and turned like a snake. In this forest with poor visibility, trying to read its changing trajectories would be challenging&mdash;''Indeed, that would be the case for a typical elementalist''.

(Compared to Claire's whip, these trajectories are way too crude.)

Jumping between the trees, Kamito instantly read the chain's path.

Dodging the endlessly swinging chain by a paper-thin margin, he engaged the girl on the wall in close quarters&mdash;

Only to see Alda Reed's lips twist slightly.

(&mdash;Oh no, I made a mistake!)

Kamito suddenly realized.

Her target was not Kamito&mdash;

"This is your weakness. Male elementalist."

The chain's trajectory changed dramatically in midair, making its way to behind Kamito, towards Fianna who was watching the blade dance from the ground.

"&mdash;Fianna!"

Fianna had not even noticed the incoming attack. There was simply no time to dodge&mdash;!

Kamito threw his sword towards the air, stepped on a tree to perform a somersault, instantly squeezing the most out of his leg muscles&mdash;jumping over.

The Instructional School's combat skill Thunderclap<!--迅雷-->&mdash;making use of god-like speed, Kamito rushed before Fianna and blocked the wrecking ball's attack with his arms crossed.

"...Guh, ahh...!"

The impact made his body feel like it was about to fall apart. The sound of bone shattering rang out.

"Cough...!"

"&mdash;Kamito-kun!"

Fianna frantically embraced Kamito from behind as he collapsed on one knee.

Although he had enveloped his body in divine power beforehand, blocking an elemental waffe barehanded was too excessive.

(...That wrecking ball is completely materialized.)

The Blade Dance was not about mutual slaughtering without rules. Under normal conditions, elemental waffen were required to be kept in an astralized state, unable to cause physical damage to the body&mdash;

The thrown sword fell before Kamito after spinning several rounds in the air.

Spitting bloody froth, Kamito clutched the Demon Slayer with a trembling hand.

"...I misjudged you. To think the Holy Kingdom's knight would resort to such underhanded means."

"I am not so arrogant as to think I could defeat you in direct combat."

Playing with the Morningstar which had returned to her hand, the female knight spoke coldly.

"Besides, Luminaris-sama's instructions were to destroy the demon sword of darkness&mdash;"

"Demon sword...? What on earth is that about&mdash;Guh...!"

Kamito coughed blood again.

(...This is bad.)

Sweat appeared on his forehead. The impact just now probably damaged his internal organs.

"Kamito-kun, let me perform healing magic right now."

"Don't, it's unfortunate but the enemy won't give me time&mdash;"

"Of course!"

Alda Reed yelled as she threw the Morningstar.

Dodging was not possible. The target was not Kamito but Fianna.

"You...!"

Still about to move the Demon Slayer with one hand, Kamito swung it upwards in one breath.

The sword's edge deflected the heavy iron ball. If used at full strength, Est would probably have sliced the wrecking ball into halves. But currently, simply deflecting the attacks was already taking all of Kamito's strength.

"Hmph, how much longer can you last with one arm!?"

"Tsk...!"

Kamito clicked his tongue as he deflected the wrecking ball again.

...Indeed, he could not last long like this. Since the enemy's target was Fianna, he could not leave this spot.

"Fianna, hurry and summon Georgios&mdash;"

"I am unable to summon at this time."

Fianna shook her head at Kamito's call.

(...Well, that makes sense on further thought.)

The fact that she had not summoned her contracted spirit in a situation like this already indicated her inability to summon.

Did she exhaust her divine power or did the spirit suffer too much damage and had to recover?

In order to break out of the current situation, their only hope was waiting for reinforcements from Ellis and Rinslet who were fighting the dragon knight in the air&mdash;

(...They're in a desperate struggle too.)

The faint sounds of weapons clashing could be heard from afar.

The enemy was a member of the Knights of the Dragon Emperor, a regular competitor at the Blade Dance. Furthermore, they were fighting a flying dragon elementalist whose top specialty was aerial combat. Only through teamwork were the two girls barely able to keep up with the dragon knight.

From the way it looked, Kamito could not expect any reinforcements within short time.

&mdash;At this moment, the sound of trees falling could be heard from behind.

"...What now!?"

Turning back, Kamito found amidst the collapsed trees a massive ground dragon!

"A tyrant dragon spirit...!"

"You are the Knights of the Dragon Emperor's prey!"

Riding the viciously roaring dragon was a girl in a military uniform who looked down at him.

"Kazehaya Kamito. Deceiving Leonora-sama is a severe crime!"

"What are you talking about!?"

"Talking is useless, prepare to die!"

The ground dragon roared viciously and swung its massive front limbs.

Kamito hastily used his sword to block the attack, but&mdash;

(...W-What is with this monstrous strength!)

Tyrant dragon spirits were unable to fly, but instead possessed overwhelming strength.

Even someone like Kamito could hardly block its attack with one hand.

"...Take&mdash;This!"

Even so, Kamito released divine power in his legs and endured forcibly.

However, if this continued, Fianna would be crushed behind him&mdash;

"How foolish. To even dare try beating a combat-type tyrant dragon spirit in a contest of strength!"

"Guh... Oooh..."

With a frightening roar, the tyrant dragon spirit concentrated all its weight on its claws.

Kamito's feet sank deeply into the ground as he fell upon his knees.

(...Guh, if she wants a battle of strength&mdash;)

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Kamito infused the Demon Slayer with maximum divine power.

Releasing dazzling brilliance, the sword sliced through the tyrant dragon spirit's hard claws.

"What!?"

The female dragon knight faltered.

(Success&mdash;!)

Continuing the momentum from slicing the claws, Kamito chopped towards the tyrant dragon spirit's neck&mdash;

"...Kamito-kun!"

In that instant, Kamito was struck in the flank, sending his entire body tumbling to the side.

"Cough...!"

His vision began to spin. His body struck a stone wall.

"Fufu, how helpful of you to seal his movements."

"You... Bitch...!"

The massive wrecking ball pierced Kamito's abdomen deeply.

"...How shocking to think he managed to take on the Morningstar's attack."

"Kazehaya Kamito is my prey. Stop interfering!"

"Ara, the one who started making a move on other people's prey is clearly you."

Faced with the furious dragon knight, Alda Reed shrugged.

"Kamito-kun, pull yourself together, Kamito-kun...!"

...He could hear Fianna's cries. The voice was getting more and more distant and vague.

Color swiftly faded from his face. Many ribs were broken&mdash;

(...Damn it, my consciousness... is..."

Warm light enveloped Kamito's entire body.

Fianna was probably casting healing spirit magic. But its effects hardly amounted to a drop in the bucket. Kamito's body repelled holy spirit magic.

"Fianna... Hurry... Flee...!"

"I won't let you have your way&mdash;"

Alda sent Kamito flying with the wrecking ball again.

Sparks flickered. As his body was struck into the air, Kamito's consciousness suddenly dimmed.

(...D-Damn it... In this kind of place...)

Just as Kamito fainted, he reached out involuntarily.

&mdash;Hurry and awaken, Kamito.

He heard the voice of ''her'' whom he longed for.