Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume15 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 4===

"Ahaha, ahahahahahaha!"

Leschkir Hirschkilt's broken laughter sounded across the ground.

Flying randomly, the gravity orbs destroyed the surrounding buildings indiscriminately.

"...Tsk, how unruly...!"

Carrying Fianna on her back, Ellis skillfully controlled the wind enveloped around her legs to evade the gravity orbs.

The shots were very random, which made it difficult to predict their trajectories.

Furthermore, a direct hit from such firepower would not end well.

"Ellis, over there&mdash;"

Fianna whispered lightly in Ellis ear.

At the far end of the road, the target temple could be seen.

Compared to Nefescal Palace or the Great Shrine of Areishia, it was a temple small enough to be overlooked. Without any large scale rites and festivities such as the Great Festival of the Spirits held there, it was essentially a neglected location in the imperial capital.

Was there really a royal escape passage in this kind of place?

Suddenly, a gravity orb released by Leschkir struck the bell tower overhead.

Space was twisted and ripped apart. The collapsing rubble fell down all at once&mdash;

"This is bad&mdash;!"

Ellis went pale. Her own situation aside, while carrying Fianna currently, it would be very hard to evade the rubble completely.

"Incinerate everything, scorching fireball of conflagration&mdash;!"

The incoming fireball exploded in the air.

With a deafening roar, the explosion pulverized the massive debris over Ellis, turning it into ash.

"Over here, Ellis!"

"That was a great help, Claire&mdash;"

Landing lightly in front of Ellis was Claire with Flametongue in her hand.

Although they had split up in their search, after hearing the explosion sounds on this side, she had hurried over.

"Fianna, are you okay?"

Catching sight of Fianna, Claire breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh my, I am terribly sorry... for making you two worry."

"Don't let it bother you. Before the Second Princess, you are a member of Team Scarlet, first and foremost. Helping you is only natural."

"Hmm, precisely&mdash;But we currently do not have the leisure to chat!"

Ellis swung Ray Hawk to bounce away an incoming gravity orb.

"Ah, ahahahaha, don't run awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay."

"Uwah... W-What the heck is that..."

Seeing Leschkir chasing them while laughing madly, Claire's face twitched.

"Leschkir Hirschkilt of the Numbers. Right now, she is insane from the Otherworldly Darkness."

"Otherworldly Darkness? Why is that kind of thing&mdash;"

"Save it for later. If we don't escape first..."

"R-Right..."

Claire nodded.

At this rate, the commotion was going to bring the Imperial Knights running to the scene.

"I will stop her here. Ellis, take Fianna and run now&mdash;"

"Yes, understood&mdash;"

Ellis kicked the ground. The wind concentrated at her feet erupted, accelerating her instantly.

Seeing them off, Claire readied her flaming whip to face off against the pursuing Leschkir.

Despite the state of insanity, the opponent was one of the Numbers, known as the Empire's strongest knights. Her power level vastly outstripped Claire's.

(Nice one, but it's not impossible!)

She skillfully controlled her whip to deflect an incoming gravity orb that was crashing wildly, sending it flying away&mdash;

"Huh...?"

&mdash;Something strange happened then.

Leschkir's hovering body suddenly fell to the ground.

It looked as though she fell due to her gravity control being interrupted rather than intentionally.

Thus, she suddenly lost consciousness, not moving at all.

"...W-What?"

Claire frowned in surprise.

In the next instant...

The gravity spirit hovering over Leschkir's head began to expand as though it was going to explode.

"...!?"