Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume11 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 4===

"...Restia Ashdoll. Is that your true name?"

"Yes, because I was born from the Darkness Elemental Lord, Ren Ashdoll, an existence akin to an alter ego."

"...Ren Ashdoll, huh."

Kamito repeated apprehensively.

"...I don't get it. Why would that guy's power be dormant in a human like me?"

"&mdash;That goes back thousands of years."

Restia sighed&mdash;

Then as though reminiscing, she closed her dusk-colored eyes.

"After losing the war against the five elemental lords, the Darkness Elemental Lord, Ren Ashdoll, during the last instant of his life, invoked magic to reincarnate his power into a human male. This was for the sake of retrieving his power one day to exterminate the five elemental lords. That's Kamito&mdash;You."

"Why choose a human male?"

"Spirits cannot become vessels for other spirits&mdash;The same way that powerful spirits cannot make use of elemental waffen. Even an elemental lord is no exception. Ren Ashdoll predicted that the human race was going to start thriving in the future and gradually become able to command spirits. In that case, they were the most suited as a vessel for reincarnating his power."

That said, this is only my speculation&mdash;Restia added.

"Reincarnating in a male might possibly be for the sake of deceiving the eyes of the humans who obey the elemental lords. This is because it is a commonly believed rule that only pure maidens are able to commune with the elemental lords."

"...Making so much trouble for me."

An inborn power to become an elementalist.

Only because of that power, Kamito was taken to that insane facility.

That said&mdash;

"...Thanks to that, I also met you, Restia."

Casting his gaze on his left hand's spirit seal, Kamito muttered softly.

Restia smiled lightly and continued:

"As for me, I shoulder the mission of guiding those who inherit the Demon King's power, the will of the Darkness Elemental Lord, Ren Ashdoll. Over millennia of human history, quite a number of humans appeared who had inherited the Demon King's power. However, virtually all of their lives ended before they could encounter me. Or like the legendary Demon King Solomon, they would awaken in an irregular manner, devoured by the power they could not control, thereby turning into a concentrated cluster of resentment."

"Are you referring to that Nepenthes Lore monster?"

"Yes. That was a portion of the lingering Demon King's power, given form through forbidden magic."

"...I get it now, yeah."

Restia was the spirit born to guide those who inherited the Demon King's power. Hence, that was why she executed the will of the Darkness Elemental Lord, Ren Ashdoll, to use Kamito to destroy his enemies, the Five Great Elemental Lords.

Kamito could understand up to this point, however&mdash;

(...Obeying Ren Ashdoll to seek revenge on the Elemental Lords. Is that really the goal?)

...Something didn't feel right somewhere.

"That mass of darkness was&mdash;"

Kamito asked.

"What exactly was the mass of darkness that swallowed us?"

The pitch-black Wish overflowing from the throne of the Elemental Lords.

Was that the true appearance of the Elemental Lords who ruled the world&mdash;?

"&mdash;That is ''something beyond this world''."

"Rubia used the same description. Is that some kind of metaphor?"

"No. It's literally as the words say, a substance belonging neither to Astral Zero or the human realm. An existence that came from another world."

"In other words, an unknown existence?"

"...I can't deny that. However&mdash;"

Restia paused and looked into Kamito's eyes.

"Undoubtedly, it caused the Elemental Lords to go mad."

...Kamito fell silent. He recalled what Rubia had said.

She said that the Elemental Lords were mad&mdash;

"Restia, at the time, you&mdash;"

Kamito licked his parched lips.

"...were planning to save the world?"

"In terms of results&mdash;Yes, that was supposed to happen."

&mdash;Three years ago on that day, Restia mentioned saving the world.

For that, it was necessary to assassinate the Five Great Elemental Lords.

But back then, the elemental lord assassination failed and Restia was swallowed by darkness.

"On that day, I was contaminated by the darkness from another world. But more disastrously, through me as a medium, Ren Ashdoll's will was contaminated."

"...So something like that happened."

During the Blade Dance's final round, Kamito had heard a voice calling the Demon King to awaken.

That voice was not Restia's.

It was the voice of the Darkness Elemental Lord&mdash;Ren Ashdoll.

"Ren Ashdoll's will intended to completely liberate that darkness using the Demon King's power dormant in your body. The darkness that leads the world towards destruction&mdash;"

"You intended to exterminate the elemental lords, destroying that darkness at the same time?"

"No, I had no intention of exterminating the elemental lords."

Restia gripped her skirt hem tightly.

"Three years ago, what you killed was the Elemental Lord's insane personality. The Elemental Lord's original consciousness had not been completely contaminated and continued to linger in that darkness."

"...I see. That Water Elemental Lord was like that."

Piercing the elemental lord's throne with the Vorpal Sword, Kamito had seen the young girl's figure.

Iseria Seaward.

The girl spirit was sealed underground in the abandoned city.

Speculating from the current conversation, she was probably the Water Elemental Lord's consciousness that had split off&mdash;

"The plan three years ago was to use the Demon King's power to liberate the Elemental Lords' personalities that had not been contaminated yet."

"But I failed&mdash;"

In terms of results, he had successfully freed the Water Elemental Lord, but in turn, Ren Ashdoll's consciousness, sealed inside Restia, was contaminated.

"By separating from the Darkness Elemental Lord's will, I was able to escape contamination. I hoped to awaken you, Kamito, as the Demon King before Ren Ashdoll awakened inside me. And this time, it was for releasing the elemental lords from that darkness&mdash;''something beyond this world''."

For this purpose, Restia had formed an alliance with Rubia Elstein.

But even though their plans were aligned for awakening Kamito as the Demon King, their final goals were completely different. Restia's goal was to liberate the true elemental lords. On the other hand, Rubia's goal was exterminating the elemental lords.

Rubia firmly believed in exterminating the insane Elemental Lords. However, once the elemental lords were destroyed, Astral Zero would lose all order, thus bringing calamity to the human realm.

All along, Restia had advocated liberating the elemental lords but Rubia did not accept the words of Restia who carried Ren Ashdoll's will.

"&mdash;That said, it's impossible to assert that her method is wrong. The liberation of the elemental lords has already failed once. Furthermore&mdash;"

"Ren Ashdoll had awakened before I awakened as the Demon King."

"Yes. Although the Darkness Queen was there to suppress it at the time, who knows when Ren Ashdoll's contaminated will is going to reawaken again&mdash;"

"In other words..."

Kamito fell silent to organize his thoughts.

Three years ago, in order to rescue the Elemental Lords who were contaminated by the unidentified darkness, Restia made plans to assassinate the elemental lords.

However, the plan failed. Even though the consciousness of the Water Elemental Lord was successfully rescued, Restia and Ren Ashdoll's consciousness ended up contaminated.

The contaminated will of Ren Ashdoll attempted to use the Demon King's power to summon that darkness to the world on this side. Finding out about that, Restia planned to awaken Kamito first before Ren Ashdoll could fully awaken, in order to make another attempt at liberating the consciousness of the Elemental Lords&mdash;

Kamito looked up.

"...What on earth should I do now?"

He clenched his fists tightly.

Just as Restia said, the Demon King's power still existed inside Kamito.

Ren Ashdoll's contaminated will could resonate with the Demon King's power and dominate Kamito again.

"This is decided by your own will, Kamito."

Restia held Kamito's hand lightly.

"I have already told you everything. Next, all you need to do is make a decision."

"I..."

"No matter what decision you make, I will stay with you."

"Restia..."

By the time he noticed&mdash;

Her sad dusk-colored eyes were already right in front of him.

"...!?"

Her gorgeous lips breathed out softly, tickling his face lightly.

Her mischievous smile was causing his heart to race&mdash;

"&mdash;What are you doing, Kamito?"

Suddenly.

A voice was heard, as cold as a sword's blade.

"...E-Est!?"

Kamito frantically jumped up from bed.

Without him noticing, the sword spirit was on the bed, completely nude except for kneesocks.

Her cold gaze stared straight at Kamito.

"...Kamito, what were you doing with the darkness spirit over there?"

Her face was expressionless as usual.

However, Kamito knew.

...She was angry. Est was very angry.

"E-Est, calm down..."

As Kamito tried to appease her, Restia interrupted.

"Oh dear, do you have any objections, Miss Sacred Sword?"

Restia smiled tenderly.

She withstood Est's freezing gaze head on.

"Darkness spirit, please leave. Kamito is my master."

"Do know that I am the one who first contracted with Kamito. Instead, you should be the one to stop hindering Kamito and my long awaited reunion."

"Kamito's current contracted spirit is me. Leave Kamito."

"No. If you must insist no matter what, please back up your words with power."

Rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble...!

Invisible sparks were flying as the darkness spirit and the sword spirit glared at each other.

"S-Say, both of you..."

Kamito sighed helplessly.

"Can't contracted spirits just get along together?"

"No." "How rare for our opinions to coincide. I agree."

They answered immediately.

Restia stood up on the bed.

"We could settle this here and now. Let's see who is more worthy of being Kamito's contracted spirit."

"As you wish, darkness spirit."

"W-Wait up, you two&mdash;Don't damage the Divine Ritual Institute's facilities!"

Ignoring his pleas to stop&mdash;

"O black lightning, even capable of incinerating souls to oblivion&mdash;Hell Blast!"

Restia's released lighting smashed a wall in the room.

However&mdash;

"For me who possesses the strongest anti-magic properties, spirit magic has no effect."

Est remained standing amidst the sparking lightning as if nothing had happened.

"Nothing less from the legendary Demon Slayer. However&mdash;"

"...!?"

Est widened her violet eyes. The intense lightning strike was nothing but a distraction. Restia instantly circled her way to Est's back.

"What about this?"

Pinning Est's arms behind her back, Restia dragged her over to the bed at the same time.

"...What do you... intend to do?"

"Fufu, to you, this would be something very embarrassing."

Restia pushed Est down and placed her fingers on the tip of Est's kneesock.

"Wha..."

Est instantly froze.

Her expression remained blank except her face turned red.

"Miss Sacred Sword, I remember you are particularly ashamed of exposing your bare feet, yes?"

"...That... is..."

In one motion, Restia pulled down the kneesock from Est's thigh to below the knee.

"Uwah!"

"Miss Legendary Sacred Sword, who could have thought you'd make such a cute sound?"

"...Don't do this... Stop..."

Est desperately tried to lift her kneesock, however...

"I refuse♪"

Restia continued with her task and pulled the kneesock down to Est's ankle.

"...Ooh, ah... Nooo..."

Tears glimmered in Est's eyes as she tearfully looked at Kamito.

Kamito sighed.

"Restia, w-what are you doing!?"

"Oh dear, Kamito, don't you want to see this child's bare foot?"

"...U-Umm..."

Kamito was instantly speechless.

Est absolutely refused to show her bare feet.

...To be honest, he could not deny his definite curiosity.

"See, Kamito wants to look as well."

"...No... Don't..."

Just as the fingers holding onto the kneesock's tip were about to expose the heel&mdash;

(...N-No!)

Kamito recovered his senses and shook his head.

"R-Restia, that's enough!"

He pulled her away from Est.

Restia puffed her cheeks and sulked.

"Hmph, Kamito is taking sides with Miss Sacred Sword now."

"No, it's not like we have enemies and allies here..."

While scratching his head, Kamito answered, feeling troubled.

"...Fine."

Restia sighed.

"Let's continue next time, Kamito."
[[image:STnBD V11 120.PNG|thumb]]

"..."

"...!?"

Then she kissed Kamito on the cheek.

Spreading the black wings on her back, she flew out of the window.

"..."

Left behind, Kamito continued staring in a daze.

Beside him, Est swiftly pulled her kneesock up properly.

"Kamito, did you see it?"

"Huh?"

"Did you see my bare foot?"

Her mysterious violet eyes stared at Kamito.

"I-It's okay! Just a little, I didn't even see the heel!"

Kamito frantically shook his head.

"...Kamito is such a perv."

Still expressionless, Est's face went slightly red.