Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume9 Chapter7 (section)

===Part 4===

ROOOOOOAAAAAAAR--!

The roaring caused the ground to shake.

Amidst howling flames, Valaraukar's gigantic body slowly stood upright.

"Impossible, why would this happen...!?"

Held in Kamito's arms, Muir muttered in shock.

Muir's right arm's Cursed Armament Seal did not react.

In other words, the demon flame spirit was not currently under her control.

"...Has it gone out of control?"

Ellis swiftly released defensive wind magic.

Blowing away the surrounding flames, the flame demon's appearance was fully exposed.

As jet black flames spewed out from all over its body, the demon flame spirit stood up.

The scorching flames charred the dark night, smoking the ground black.

(...Th-That's not right.)

Kamito noticed.

(Those aren't even flames at all...)

Pouring out from the demon flame spirit's gigantic body was--

Lamenting swarms of ghosts.

"...Just what is going on?"

As if answering Kamito's doubts--

"Kamito, the demon flame spirit has been possessed by Forsaken Spirits."

Est spoke up, having returned to human form without him noticing.

"...Possessed? A militarized spirit of that level?"

"Yes. That demon's body is likely possessed by thousands of spirits at least. --With so much hatred and resentment accumulated, no spirit can resist no matter how strong."

"...To have thousands of them!? Why would there be so many spirits--"

"Now that you mention it, Valaraukar did devour massive numbers of that type of spirit."

In response to Ellis' shocked exclamation, Muir replied.

"...Est, is that Valaraukar one of those spirit weapons you mentioned earlier?"

"Yes. Although it is not within my memory, based on the fact that so much resentment from the Forsaken Spirits has gathered, it is very likely true--"

Est nodded lightly.

ROAR, ROOOOAAAAR--!

Black flames swirled intensely. The one-armed demon no longer looked anything similar to its original form.

It currently resembled a seething mass of hatred.

Suddenly, Kamito recalled the image of a monster of darkness.

Nepenthes Lore -- despite the fact that the demon flame spirit standing upright before their eyes was far more massive than that monster, the impression they gave off was surprisingly similar.

"Kamito, we have to get out of this place."

"Yeah."

Hearing Ellis' sharp call, Kamito nodded in response.

Carrying Muir in his arms like this, he turned back.

"...!"

He suddenly halted in his steps.

Without them noticing, innumerable swarms of ghosts had gathered in the surroundings.

"This is terrible..."

Perhaps they had resonated with the resentment released by Valaraukar and gathered here.

"Breaking through is impossible, right..."

After all, contamination resulted from mere contact and severely depleted divine power.

Even if a break in the encirclement could be opened up for an instant, it was still quite hard to find their way when the density of spirits was so high.

In their current state with Muir incapacitated, Kamito did not dare do anything rashly.

...Come to think of it, flying in the air would be even more dangerous.

If one were to be dragged into that darkness, there would be no coming back alive.

"Ellis--"

Kamito turned towards her.

"W-What!? W-Why are you suddenly staring at me like that...!"

"I entrust Muir to you. I will go defeat that demon flame spirit."

"Wha..."

Kamito gently laid down Muir from his arms.

"...Can you stand on your own yet?"

"What does Onii-sama take Muir for?"

Tossing her ash-gray hair, Muir shyly averted her gaze.

"Furthermore, Muir does not need the protection of that busty Onee-chan over there.  Even without a spirit to command, Muir has no trouble protecting herself."

"...Ooh, th-this has nothing to do with chest size, okay!?"

"--Say, this isn't really the time for leisurely chatting."

Kamito turned towards the demon flame spirit.

The black flames spewing out from Valaraukar burned even more intensely

...Burning to this extent, it was only a matter of time now.

"--Est, I am relying on you. Please lend your power to me again."

"Yes, Kamito. But--"

Despite nodding, Est still gazed at Kamito with a worried expression.

...Kamito knew very well what Est wanted to say.

Currently, his right arm was hurting intensely. The muscles in his entire body were screaming.

The anti-spirit technique of the Absolute Blade Arts, the Bursting Blossom Spiral Blade Dance, had exploited his body to the limit.

This move was only supposed to be used roughly once a day at most.

Furthermore, it was a skill meant to be used when dual wielding.

Using it one-handed caused even greater strain on the body.

(Am I able to use it one more time...?)

Kamito clenched his right fist.

Otherwise, there is--

(--The Absolute Blade Art's secret technique, Last Strike.)

Inherited from Greyworth, the  strongest sword skill that could even defeat the Bursting Blossom Spiral Blade Dance.

However--

(...No good. That is a countering sword skill for use against an elementalist. It won't work against that demon flame spirit.)

Besides, Kamito still had not learned that secret technique completely.

Trying to use it here was far too risky.

"Do you want to use Flight magic to get close and decide the battle in one strike?"

Faced with Ellis' suggestion, Kamito shook his head.

Ellis aside, Kamito had no ability to control Flight magic.

Although rushing over in a straight line was possible, doing that will surely result in getting struck down by that flaming whip.

"But there is no way to approach the demon flame spirit from the ground."

"..."

--Indeed.

The black flames surrounding Valaraukar were burning intensely.

As soon as he touched those flames, Kamito's body would be contaminated and he would no longer be able to sustain Est.

"What should I do--"

Suddenly, at this moment.

Filled with an aura of disaster, Valaraukar's eyes focused on them.

GROOOOOOOWWWWWL...!

Accompanied by a sound of spiteful resentment that sounded like it came from underground, its mouth glowed with the color of intense scorching heat--

"--It's coming!"

Just as Kamito yelled out.

A heat beam was shot.

Mere protective magic of wind was nowhere enough to defend against the overwhelming raging torrent of flame.

"...Get down!"

In a hurry, Kamito wrapped his arms around the three girls and jumped, pushing them all to the ground. Although it was not too effective, at least it was better than being bathed in flames.

"Freezing fangs of ice, go forth and pierce -- Freezing Arrow!"

Numerous arrows of ice flew in from afar, striking the heat beam.

A massive explosion occurred before their eyes.

"...Guh!"

The violent wind swept up debris, blowing Kamito's body away.

(...Just now, could that be!?)

Steadying his shaken consciousness, Kamito turned his gaze towards where the arrow was shot from.

"Phew, what perfect timing!"

--Over there.

On top of the collapsed ruins was a lovely lady with long platinum-blonde hair fluttering in the wind.

Her hand was holding an elegant shining arrow of ice.

Her pose was the very image of a valkyrie<!--戦乙女--> from paintings.

"...Rinslet!?"

Kamito yelled with his eyes staring wide open.

"Where on earth did she appear from!?"

The surrounding area was supposed to be heavily surrounded by swarming Forsaken Spirits.

"Hmph, I was thinking I could finally leave those underground ruins, only to discover a sea of flames after getting out, and even got chased by these inexplicable spirits, I've had enough of all this!"

Rinslet snarled angrily with her hand at her waist.

"I-I see..."

...Apparently she had suffered in various ways in some place Kamito had no idea of.

--However, let's put that aside for now.

(With this, we finally have a chance for victory...)

"Kamito!" "Onii-sama!"

From amongst the rubble, Ellis and Muir crawled out.

"Seriously, w-why did you have to overextend yourself like that!?"

"...Sigh, Onii-sama is always like that."

Ellis pouted while Muir sighed.

"Now that we have converged with Rinslet, perhaps we have a chance."

"Hmm..."

Hearing that, Ellis turned her gaze over towards Rinslet.

She was currently breaking up swarms of ghosts using her bow and walking over here.

"It's just one person more. Nothing's going to change."

Muir frowned in exasperation, but--

"That's not correct."

Kamito shook his head.

"Increasing from two to three people raises our team's power to a whole different level. Our Team Scarlet, that's the kind of team we've got."

"--Indeed."

Ellis readied Ray Hawk.

"Kamito, put your hand--"

Standing beside her, Kamito held Est's hand once more.

"Let's go, Est. Once again, please lend me your power."

—The Dispassionate Queen of Steel, the sacred sword that destroys evil!

—Now form a sword of steel and be the power in my hand!

As the release of the elemental waffe was chanted, Est's figure instantly dissipated into the air as particles of light--

The Demon Slayer -- Terminus Est appeared in Kamito's right hand.

"Huff, huff... Kamito-san!"

Rinslet arrived, out of breath.

"We're going to end this in one strike, okay?"

"Yes!" "My thoughts exactly!"

Ellis and Rinslet nodded simultaneously.

Valaraukar roared and prepared to fire off another heat beam.

"--I won't let you succeed!"

Instantly, Kamito kicked the ground and sprinted.

Wielding the Demon Slayer horizontally, he charged towards the roaring black flames.

"Rinslet, we will open up a path!"

"Understood!"

Rinslet readied her bow elemental waffe and stretched the bowstring to its max.

Softly chanting a spirit language incantation, she infused the maximum amount of divine power into the arrow.


--Capable of piercing the scales of dragons, O Sword of Sagacity!

--Now turn into endless blades to vanquish mine enemy!


This was a high level magic skill for multiplying the power of Freezing Arrow at the cost of a longer activation time.

The same instant Rinslet released the arrow--

Innumerable shining blades of ice rained down upon the black flames.

At the same time, Ellis also swung Ray Hawk.


--Rampaging demonic wind, you are the one who covets severity, you are the embodiment of absolute tyranny!

--In accordance with your greed, sweep away mine enemies!


As a rumbling vortex formed, a great howling tempest rampaged.

" "O Winds of Ice, perform a dance of madness -- Ice Storm!" "

This was a combination magic skill that made use of the mutual interaction of ice and wind attributes.

Strong gales infused with cold air instantly froze the black flames, shattering them -- !

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Kamito rushed forward head on.

He poured all his divine power into the Demon Slayer, causing it to flash with silver-white radiance.

This was the only chance.

But it was enough.

The decisive opportunity created by the two girls was definitely not going to be wasted.

Kamito took a flying leap and landed on the giant body of Valaraukar that was akin to lava.

From the knee to its arm, then from its arm to its shoulder -- and finally from the shoulder to its head, Kamito leaped three dimensionally.

As he slashed apart the black flames and lamenting ghosts spewing forth from its body--

"--I'm sorry but you'll have to rest in peace this time."

Kamito whispered in midair.

Then--

"Absolute Blade Arts, Destructive Form -- Bursting Blossom Spiral Blade Dance - Twenty-One Consecutive Strikes!"

Unleashing the Absolute Blade Arts, the demon flame spirit was smashed to complete pulverization.


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