Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume12 Chapter9 (section)

===Part 4===

The expanding body of the militarized spirit exploded.

High-density miasma of darkness was spreading, slowly covering the roof tops in the streets.

"Self-destructed!?" "W-What, what's going on!?"

"Iriga, Tissier, do not recklessly get close to it!"

Ellis hastily shouted.

&mdash;However, she was a step too late. Contaminated by the dark miasma, their elemental waffen turned into spirits and attacked the knights, their own contractors.

"Uwahhhhh!" "No way, why&mdash;"

"...I will not allow this!"

Ellis swung Ray Hawk, flooring the berserk spirits.

The spirits turned into particles of light and dissipated in the air.

"Captain&mdash;"

"Relax. I did not kill your spirits."

"...Y-Yes. Thank goodness."

Pressing on their wounds from being bitten by their own spirits, the knights sat down where they stood.

"Are you okay? Allow me to have a look&mdash;"

Chanting healing incantations, Lurie healed all the wounds.

"Ellis, what's that?"

Seeing that, Kamito asked.

"..."

With solemn eyes, Ellis glared at the spreading darkness&mdash;

"...Could that be the darkness that is corrupting the Elemental Lords? But why&mdash;"

She murmured softly to herself.

&mdash;Just at this moment...

"Captain, it's the Imperial Knights!"

One knight pointed to the other end of the sky.

A squad of spirit knights in silver armor was hurrying towards the Academy city, driving a giant spirit.

Glasya-Labolas&mdash;A heavily-armed giant spirit tuned for use against large spirits.

They were planning to use a militarized spirit to get rid of the attackers all at once.

However&mdash;

"...Oh no!"

Ellis's scream resounded through the air in vain.

The giant spirit swung its fist at one of the militarized spirits.

Instantly the militarized spirit exploded again.

The released miasma of darkness swallowed the giant spirit and the squad of spirit knights.

"...How could this happen...!?"

Sounds of despair escaped from Ellis.

Swallowed by darkness, the giant spirit howled violently and started destroying surrounding buildings.

"Guh, damn it&mdash;"

"Hold on, Ellis!"

Seeing Ellis holding Ray Hawk, intending to rush over all on her own, Kamito frantically stopped her.

"Kamito, do not stop me. I will&mdash;"

"You won't succeed on your own."

Kamito said.

Indeed, Ellis's power far surpassed the level of students.

However, defeating a militarized spirit single-handedly was absurd.

"B-But at this rate, the town as well as our school will&mdash;"

"&mdash;I'll do it."

Kamito drew the sword from his waist.

"Since this sword is a normal weapon, even if it touches the darkness, it won't go berserk, right?"

"I-Idiot!"

Ellis roared loudly.

"Even for you, how could you do anything to a militarized spirit with nothing more than an ordinary sword!? Besides, you are currently far from peak condition&mdash;"

"&mdash;But, ''I must protect''."

&mdash;This was a feeling that even Kamito found strange himself.

Whether this town, this Academy or people's lives, for Kamito in his amnesiac state, he should not care about what happened to them. The Kamito back in the Instructional School would surely think that.

Back then, Kamito cared little even for his own life.

Wanting to protect something, wanting to protect someone, these feelings had never been felt.

Never been felt&mdash;That was supposed to be the case.

...But no, he could understand.

His current self was not the one from the time at the Instructional School.

The feelings of the pre-amnesiac Kamito were definitely lingering somewhere in the depths of his mind, resulting in this notion of wanting to protect this town, this Academy and the young ladies who were his companions.

(...Yes, to protect. I absolutely will&mdash;)

&mdash;''Because I promised'', I promised to protect them well.

"...Kamito?"

Ellis watched Kamito with a surprised look on her face.

"Eh... Huh...?"

Tears fell to his feet.

"...Me... Why am I... crying...?"

Kamito muttered in shock.

He was not feeling sad. Nevertheless, tears were inexplicably spilling out, unstoppable.

...Incomprehensible. Why exactly was he crying? For whom was he crying?

However, inexplicably, he was able to imagine his reason for crying.

(...Yes. I must&mdash;)

I must have said that before.

&mdash;Towards a certain precious person, I promised to protect you.

But I failed.

I lost a certain precious someone.

Yes, probably&mdash;

&mdash;Kamito, I am waiting here.

&mdash;Waiting for you, Kamito, to return after fulfilling ''her'' promise.

That silver-white-haired girl had said that in the dream.

The promise with her&mdash;

"I&mdash;"

Kamito gripped his sword's hilt harder.

"Kamito-kun&mdash;"

Seeing Kamito like that, Lurie spoke up.

"So long as you have the will, there is nothing precious that you can't protect."

"...Yeah. I know."

"But you should possess enough power to protect."

"Dame Lurie, could it be that&mdash;"

Ellis suddenly came to a realization.

"&mdash;Your Demon Slayer possesses the strongest magic resistance. By my guess, even sufficient to resist that rampaging darkness."

"...Yeah."

Kamito concurred, staring at the seal on his right hand.

"B-But, if you lose control, Kamito, you will&mdash;"

"Yes, the risk does exist. But is there any other method to break through the current situation?"

"Well&mdash;"

As soon as she started speaking, Ellis found herself searching for words. But she had a point.

"What are you going to do, Kamito-kun?"

"&mdash;Go get my sword back."

There was no time to hesitate. Kamito acted decisively.

The girl with silver-white-hair had appeared in his dreams.

He felt certain that once she was retrieved, he would be able to protect this town.

"Time considerations?"

"The path leading to the underground facility should be connected to the Imperial Knights' third garrison point. Walking there on foot will take some time, but ''flying'' there should be quick."

Lurie turned her gaze to Ellis.

"...Understood. I will escort you two there. Team Froza will guide the crowd to evacuate."

"You can count on us!"

The girls answered, thumping their chests.

Ellis chanted a wind spell, resulting in swirling whirlwind.

"&mdash;Kamito, we are gambling everything on you."