Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume18 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 4===

The giant bird spirit was circling in the sky while sparks flew below.

Black smoke was fuming all over the city. Collapsed buildings were falling into crevasses in the ground.

Freed, the Demon King's spirits were apparently having a blast, running amok.

"&mdash;Found them. Over there."

From behind Kamito, Restia pointed diagonally downward.

"Where?"

"Look, along the path towards the city gate."

Kamito looked down and focused his eyes.

With smoke rising nonstop, visibility was quite bad.

"They look like they're fighting spirits, locked in a difficult battle."

"Any ideas how to use the Demon King's Ring to help?"

"Unfortunately, the ring can only control one spirit at a time."

"Really..."

Ultimately, this ring only had a fraction of Demon King Solomon's power sealed in it. Thus, its power to control was far inferior to the real Demon King's.

"Roc, land in that vicinity."

Kamito poured his thoughts into the ring, commanding the giant bird spirit.

The Roc cried out and obeyed its master, gliding over while slicing through the air.

"&mdash;Kamito."

Just then, Est, who had been sleeping in her sacred sword form, spoke out.

"Your'e awake, Est!?"

"Kamito, hurry and leave this air space."

In a rare moment, Est was speaking with a nervous tone of voice.

"&mdash;''She'' is awakening."

"She?"

Kamito jumped in surprise and turned his head to look behind.

&mdash;Only to see a change in the pillar of light piercing the center of the Demon King City.

(...What the heck?)

The rainbow-colored light contracted into a point in the air, coalescing into a small sphere.

Inside the sphere was a young girl's floating figure.

A girl with blonde hair and holy armor of pure white.

She was holding a sword in her hand.

This was Millennia Sanctus' sacred sword, the one Lurie had used.

The instant he saw the girl&mdash;

Kamito's heart began to race violently.

All the divine power in his body seemed to reverse all at once, boiling up.

An uncontrollable torrent of emotion was raging within Kamito.

Instinctively, Kamito felt that this was his fated nemesis.

&mdash;Indeed, ''fated nemesis''.

The one and only being capable of annihilating the Demon King who served as a vessel for Darkness Elemental Lord Ren Ashdoll's power&mdash;

Areishia Idriss, the Sacred Queen.

Having shared Est's dreams in the past, Kamito recognized her face.

And standing in that sphere of light, that girl's appearance was identical to the Sacred Maiden he had seen in the dreams.

However, the ambiance around her was completely different.

Est's master in the dreams had displayed human expressions on her face.

In contrast, this girl's face did not show any emotion at all.

"&mdash;Kamito, that is not Areishia."

"Yeah, I agree."

Suppose what Demon King Solomon had said was true&mdash;

What had awakened after a thousand years was not the Sacred Maiden&mdash;

But the vessel containing the soul of Holy Lord Alexandros.

Just then&mdash;

The girl's sharp eyes looked at Kamito&mdash;At least, that was what he felt.

(...! We're spotted?)

Instinctively, he felt it.

In the next instant&mdash;
[[image:STnBD V18 BW02.jpg|thumb]]

The Sacred Maiden casually raised the sacred sword in her hand&mdash;

"&mdash;Roc, evade!"

Hastily, Kamito shouted.

The Roc instantly obeyed and rapidly descended.

In the next second, a flash of pure white brushed past the Roc's giant wing, firing into the desert area out in the distance.

BOOOOOOM!

Kamito's view turned white.

He felt an overwhelming shockwave weighing down on him.

"...!?"

The giant bird spirit spun in the air, dealt a heavy blow by raging winds.

The Roc flapped its wings hard several times before it finally regained stability.

An intense sandstorm blocked their view of the surroundings.

"...! W-What the heck was that just now!?"

Kamito exclaimed, outraged.

"&mdash;Deus Ira."

Restia responded.

"&mdash;Annihilation-class spirit magic used during the Spirit War era."

"Restia, you&mdash;"

Looking back, Kamito stared wide-eyed.

Half of Restia's wings had vanished without trace.

That flash of light apparently brushed past her wings.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-Yes... More importantly, we must leave as quickly as possible&mdash;"

"Yeah&mdash;"

With a flap of the Roc's wings, the sand and dust was instantly blown away.

Next, from the city gate, Kamito spotted Claire and the others lying prone on the ground.

It looked the earlier shockwave had knocked them down, but they seemed to be fine.

"Roc, pick them up!"

Gooroorooroorooroorooroo!

"W-What is this!?"

Lying on the ground, Claire looked up, unsure what was happening.

"All of you, get on now!"

Kamito shouted loudly.

"K-Kamito!? What do you mean, get on? This is so sudden!"

"W-What is with that bird...?"

Claire and Rinslet were baffled with puzzled faces.

However, the Roc glided straight towards them&mdash;

Opening its beak, it swallowed Fenrir and Georgios in one mouthful.

"Kyahhhhhhhhh!"

"W-What in the world!? Kyah&mdash;"

No sooner had Claire and Rinslet screamed than they were interrupted.

"H-Hey, what are you doing!? Hurry and spit them out!"

Seeing the unexpected manner of retrieval, Kamito frantically slapped the Roc's neck, but...

"Don't worry, the inside of the Roc is connected to a safe dimension."

"...Are you serious?"

"Serious. Let us do everything we can to escape first. We might not be so lucky as to dodge the next shot&mdash;"

Restia cast her gaze out into the distant desert.

A gigantic crater had formed where the beam of light of Deus Ira had pierced.

...A single attack contained enough firepower to annihilate a city.

"I guess you're right&mdash;"

Kamito poured powerful divine power into the ring. The Roc instantly sped up.

A howling sandstorm blocked their view of the Sacred Maiden.