Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume5 Chapter6 (section)

===Part 4===

Inside the bag that the messenger from the school had sent to Claire's room were the latest updates about their enemies.

"In conclusion, the top priority now should be to formulate a plan of attack for Kamito to take action outside the battlefront."

All alone, Claire paced the empty room while reading the material, thinking deeply about battle tactics. 

"Ellis will find it too hard to attack at the frontline by herself, should I also remain at the front or not..?"

Up until now, the plan had been for Kamito to use his overwhelming force to attack at the forefront, while the other four would assist him from the side. However, with Kamito unable to summon Est, this plan simply could not be used. 

The alternative she thought of now was to move Claire, who would originally have been in the middle orchestrating the entire assault, to the front, and have her attack alongside Ellis. While this arrangement was nowhere near as likely to penetrate an enemy's defenses as the one with Kamito attacking alone, fire and wind elements naturally complemented each other very well, which gave them much offensive potential. 

"But... If so, I'd worry about something happening to Fianna at the rear."

Fianna had received virtually no combat training, and her usual role was to provide assistance from the rear through her rituals, which would increase the power of sword spirits. In the previous plan, Claire would protect her from the center, but if Claire were to be moved to the front, she would have no way of ensuring Fianna's safety. In that case, all depended on whether Rinslet, who played the dual roles of sniper and support fire, could protect her alone. 

"... This plan must also be reconsidered."

Claire crumpled up the piece of paper she had been making notes on and threw it away. 

Scarlet helped her turn the waste paper on the floor into ashes. 

"I've thought for so long and I still haven't come up with any good ideas..."

Any plan she could think of had an obvious flaw, and none were suitable solutions. 

"... Turns out that we have always relied too much on Kamito and Est."

Claire sighed, and turned back to the documents provided to them by the Academy. 

Aside from formulating their own strategies, it was important in such a long drawn-out war to also analyze their opponents' situations, so as to take advantage of their weaknesses. 

(It goes without saying that the opponent we need to be most wary of is –)

Claire flipped open the document and looked down at its first page. 

What was written on it was – the Team Representing the Religious Country of Alphas. 

This document was regarding the strongest of the blade dancer teams – Team Inferno.

However, the forms on the document were virtually all blank, as they had no way of finding out even the names of the team members. 

The only information they had about this enemy's military capability was the elementalist girl who had attacked Claire and the others last night – Muir Alenstarl. Frankly speaking, if there were three other elementalists as skilled as she was on their team... their chances of winning were nil. 

"Overall, let's keep this in mind for later consideration."

She put the document on her lap, and began browsing the other reports. 

There were a total of twenty-four teams contesting in the Blade Dance. Generally speaking, every country could enter one team, but countries such as the Ordesia Empire, which were large and had many outstanding elementalists, could field several teams. 

The Quina Empire in the east and the Island Nation of Robica had two teams each, and the only country other than Ordesia to be represented by three teams was the Holy Kingdom of Lugia. 

Of the teams from these countries, the ones they most needed to watch out for were the "Four Gods" of Quina, the "Sacred Knights" of the Holy Kingdom of Lugia, and Milla Bassett – the most talented young elementalist in this iteration of the Blade Dance was representing the Principality of Rossvale as part of the "Rupture Division". 

And then there was – 

"– Public Enemy Number One... the Dracunia Duchy's Dragon Knights."

Dracunia had emerged victorious in many previous iterations of the Blade Dance, and was indeed a strong country with a stellar track record. 

And Claire herself had seen Leonora's power up close before. 

Her destructive Death Gaze – her Nidhogg had displayed immense overwhelming force to destroy the flying craft's militarized spirits.

The documents supplied by the Academy listed her power as being of AAA grade. 

Claire had earned an AA grade while at the Academy, and so had Ellis. Rinslet was A, while Fianna was D. However, Fianna's grade was recorded when she was not officially studying, so it was not an accurate measure. Incidentally, the one who singlehandedly took down Team Scarlet, Velsaria Eva, was graded AAA. 

Of course, because this was an overall analysis done up by lecturers at the Academy, one could not rely wholly on it to predict an elementalist's strength. For example, even though Rinslet was graded one level lower than Claire, when the two of them fought, they were often evenly-matched. 

"... In conclusion, it is just a rough guideline."

Leonora Lancaster is a very outstanding elementalist; that was the undeniable truth. 

But here in the Blade Dance, in a gathering of the best elementalists, there was actually nothing exceptional about her. 

However... Leonora's file contained something that was particularly noteworthy. 

It was information about Dragon Blood – the power she gained from her special bloodline. 

Looking at Leonora's new evaluation after the discovery of her special power, Claire could not help but stare, her eyes wide in surprise.

"– S level."

Historically, there had only been a handful of elementalists ever to earn such a grade. In recent years, the young Greyworth Ciel Mais had been ranked SS level, but that truly was an exception among exceptions. 

Leonora's power was first revealed publicly when she was fourteen. She awakened in the trial rally for the Knights of the Dragon Emperor, and in a matter of mere minutes, demolished all other competitors who had also been hoping to join the ranks of the Knights. 

According to the booklet, the Dragon Blood power could not be unleashed at will, but was an ability that was almost uncontrollably explosive – 

"If at all possible, I hope we won't have to face her."

Claire signed and placed the half-read booklet on the table. 

At that time, the door suddenly opened – it was Kamito, who had changed back into his normal uniform. 

"Kamito... Hey, why do you look like you can barely even stand!"

Turning pale, Claire bolted up from the chair and rushed to his side. 

"... The curse-breaking ritual was more exhausting than I had imagined."

Not caring that he was still dressed in his uniform, Kamito collapsed onto his bed. 

"And the Brand of Darkness?"

"Mmmm... All thanks to Fianna's princess maiden friend, the curse was successfully broken."

Kamito unbuttoned his shirt to reveal the scar on his chest – 

"Aieeeeah!"

"What's with that cute shrill scream..."

"W-Who asked you to suddenly take off your clothes!"

Blushing in embarrassment, Claire yelped. 

She sneaked a glance at Kamito's firm, muscled chest... and something started thumping wildly in her own chest. 

"But, the thing is, Est still hasn't – "

Kamito cast his gaze downwards and shook his head. 

"Oh..."

Looking at Kamito's sad hopeless expression, Claire could not help but also feel her heart aching for him. 

Kamito was powerful, so powerful that he left his same-age counterparts at the Institutional school in the dust. 

Precisely because of that, it was easy to forget one thing – 

In truth, Kamito, like his friends, was just an easily hurt sixteen-year-old. 

Claire leapt lightly onto the bed, leaned tenderly on Kamito's side and said:

"Don't worry, Est will definitely come back."

"Claire..."

Kamito suddenly lifted his head – 

"... I can see your panties."

"... Huh? Waaaahhhh! Stupid... You're so stupid! Pervert!"