Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume6 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 5===

The sound of numerous footsteps and the intense clashing of swords could be heard from the forest.

Running through the gaps between the trees were girls wielding all sorts of elemental waffen -- dressed uniformly in knightly attire colored red against a white background, this was the uniform of the Rupture Division, the team representing the Principality of Rossvale.

Moving with well-trained coordination, the five girls were chasing after prey.

"--Esil<!--エシル--> and Yustra<!--ユステラ-->, take a detour to the right. Swiftly flank the target, encircle and exterminate."

The one leading the party was a girl with dark-brown hair and a child-like face.

Milla Bassett -- the leader of the Rupture Division, and the youngest elementalist taking part in this year's event.

Bearing an azure right eye and an amber-colored left eye.

The girl's heterochromic eyes coldly focused on the prey.

The target of their hunt was a beautiful black-haired girl dressed in a dark-colored dress.

Team Inferno's darkness spirit.

"Let all shadows be incinerated to ashes -- Evil Flame!"

The girl fluttered her dress as if she were dancing, chanting high level magic carrying the darkness attribute.

Pitch black flames of conflagration were emitted from her finger tips, assaulting the girls in pursuit--

All it took was one lick of these tongues of magical flames for the trees in the forest to vanish instantly.

However, Milla Bassett swung her sword using spirit magic, defeating the black flames.

"How foolish. Our spirits possess resistance against the attribute of darkness."

"Right. How annoying it is to face you people who employ spirits with the holy attribute."

The darkness spirit girl landed lightly on the ground.

"--Hence, you shall be defeated here."

"...!?"

In that instant, the girls in pursuit all halted.

Beneath their feet on the ground, a glowing magic circle appeared.

"--This is an Isolation Barrier!?"

The girls of the Rupture Division instantly fell to their knees like puppets whose strings have been severed.

This was a barrier for cutting off access to leylines, thereby severely weakening the divine power of elementalists.

This was no ordinary defensive barrier -- rather, it was a trap set by a top princess maiden, specifically for killing elementalists.

"How could this happen, did you plan on luring us here from the start?"

Milla Bassett looked up in shock.

The darkness spirit girl chuckled and smiled adorably.

"Rejoice -- for you have become live sacrifices for Nepenthes Lore."

An ominous roar could be heard rumbling in the depths of the forest.

This was neither a beast's howl nor a human's yell.

Simply hearing the sound was enough to feel a horrific chill along the spine as if frozen -- It was that repulsive and otherworldly of a sound.

Then--

Suddenly, numerous black chains extended from afar to entangle the limbs of the girls collapsed on the ground.

Before they even had the chance to scream, the girls instantly lost consciousness.

"...What are you doing?"

Milla Bassett gazed at the darkness spirit girl.

Only Milla had been able to detect the ominous presence and evaded the chains with the slimmest of margins.

"Oh my, you do have a most interesting ''eye''."

"...!?"

Milla reflexively covered her left eye with her hair.

By her feet were her teammates who had collapsed to the ground unconscious.

In this despairing situation, she must rack her brains to seek survival.

With only one member remaining, chances of victory were unlikely in a confrontation against a high level darkness spirit. Should she unleash the power of her ''eye'' -- No, with the Rupture Division currently in disarray, unleashing it was not possible.

...Rumble...!

The earth shook -- from the depths of the forest, that particular ominous presence was approaching.

The darkness spirit's contractor -- Nepenthes Lore.

"I -- the Rupture Division, shall not fall here."

Without time to hesitate, Milla decided to retreat.

Manifesting her sword of spirit magic, she swiftly sliced apart the magic circle of the Isolation Barrier.

"--You won't be able to escape."

The darkness spirit girl smiled lightly and released black flames--

However, Milla effortlessly dodged the incoming flames and disappeared into the depths of the forest.