Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume14 Chapter5 (section)

===Part 6===

At this moment, even Kamito was gradually getting cornered by the knights encircling him.

"S-Seal the passage!"

"The Demon King of the Night must not get away!"

(...Est, where are you? Answer me!)

While using a wall to hide himself, Kamito called out to Est mentally.

However, the spirit seal on his right hand did not react at all. She was probably sealed in sword form inside an isolation barrier. Trying to find a single sword in a vast facility was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

(...At this rate, they're going to surround me.)

Kamito placed the collapsed knight at his feet in the center of the passage as conspicuously as possible. This was a knight he had ambushed while erasing his presence. She was completely unconscious.

(...This makes five. I've already made such a big commotion, so it should be almost time&mdash;)

Kamito was attracting as much attention as possible for a purpose. Naturally, first of all, he wanted to make it easy for Claire and the others to escape. Secondly&mdash;

This was the moment. Kamito's sensitive ears picked up on multiple sets of footsteps.

Roughly four or five people. No less than three.

(Man, they finally took action huh...)

Kamito muttered in his heart and hid himself again, focusing his mind on the sound of footsteps.

Previously, the knights were acting independently, probably underestimating Kamito's power in a decision to prioritize search efficiency.

Then now, they were forming a small team to defeat Kamito with certainty&mdash;?

No, no matter how much they feared Kamito's power, deploying five knights to handle an opponent who had no elemental waffe would be too much. To search for Kamito in such a vast facility like this would be too inefficient.

This team's purpose was probably to guard something rather than to hunt down Kamito. Under such circumstances, there could only be one object that the Imperial Knights would send five of them to guard.

Precisely what must not fall into Kamito's hands&mdash;The Demon Slayer.

Indeed, this was Kamito's other purpose. To make the knights feel a sense of crisis in the face of Kamito and send people to guard Est&mdash;

Kamito focused his attention on the footsteps in the distance and began to follow them.

(...But five spirit knights huh. Engaging them head on would be a bit too tricky.)

To be honest, this was quite a gamble.

The best-case scenario would be to locate Est while the Imperial Knights were still underestimating him. Putting them on high alert so that they beef up security was definitely not the best plan. Even after taking back Est, it would be pointless if he was unable to break out of the encirclement.

However&mdash;

(...As long as I have Est in my hand, there will always be a way.)

Kamito was confident that he could escape once he retrieved the Demon Slayer, even if he had to confront all the spirit knights in the facility.

Erasing his presence, he followed cautiously. The knights were not very vigilant, probably lowering their guard after forming the team. They did not seem to notice Kamito approaching them.

Soon, the team of knights stopped in front of a certain door. A massive metal door carved with a magic circle. An isolation barrier had probably been deployed inside.

Throb&mdash;Kamito felt a stinging pain in the spirit seal on his right hand.

(...Est?)

Hiding in the shadows, Kamito instantly focused his mind on his right hand.

...No answer. But he definitely could feel Est's presence.

(...I knew it, she's here huh&mdash;)

Est is here&mdash;Just as Kamito believed with certainty...

"&mdash;There's someone over there!?"

A knight guarding the door yelled out sharply.

"...!"

Kamito reflexively left his spot in the shadows.

In the next instant, an arrow of light shot down at his hiding place, exploding in a flash of light.

&mdash;Apparently due to re-establishing his link with Est, the knights were able to sense the faint presence of divine power.

"Y-You are&mdash;"

Seeing Kamito emerge, the knight who had released the arrow of light exclaimed in shock.

"O steel, grant me thy power&mdash;Weapon Works!"

Kamito created a dagger in each hand using spirit magic and kicked the ground to accelerate.

A separation of merely nine steps. However, it was far too great a distance when confronting well-trained knights.

(Eight steps, seven steps&mdash;)

Concentrating to his very limit, Kamito felt as though time in his surroundings had slowed down.

Judging from their movements, he could tell that these five were probably an elite team carefully selected from the knights.

They were much higher in standard than the people he had defeated earlier, even though they were all knights.

An arrow of light was shot again at Kamito while he closed in. He instantly threw his dagger, slightly deflecting the arrow's trajectory. Brushing past his face, the arrow then exploded behind him.

(Six steps, five steps, four steps&mdash;)

Knights who had swords and spears ready as their elemental waffen were right in front of him. In a direct clash, daggers made using spirit magic would surely shatter on contact.

One knight swung her sword.

The moment before the blades made contact, Kamito stopped advancing.

Unable to stop her momentum in time, the knight's sword smashed into the ground. The blade's front tip flew past the tip of Kamito's nose, shaving off a few strands of hair from his bangs.

(If it's this distance&mdash;)

Kamito extended his right hand towards the door.

He poured a great amount of divine power into the spirit seal while chanting the words for releasing his contracted spirit.

"&mdash;Dispassionate Queen of Steel, the sacred sword that destroys evil!

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

The spirit seal erupted with intense lightning, turning his view white.

The feeling of connecting to Est was unmistakable.

"&mdash;W-What!?"

The knight in front of him groaned with shock in her eyes.

The Demon Slayer&mdash;Terminus Est&mdash;was the strongest sword spirit.

However, her contract with Kamito was incomplete, thus resulting in a limitation of physical distance in their link. Without Kamito to supply divine power, the Demon Slayer would be nothing more than a relatively sharper sword.

However, once they were connected&mdash;

(Destroying an isolation barrier of this level would be a piece of cake&mdash;)

The metal door, reinforced with protective magic, was instantly blown apart from inside.

What had destroyed the door were several bolts of jet-black lightning radiating out from a center.

"I-Impossible&mdash;!" "What, this ominous black lightning is&mdash;"

The knights near the door were struck by the raging black lightning, collapsing one after another.

The knights probably assumed from the Blade Dance tournament that Kamito's sword spirit was thoroughly a melee weapon. They thought that it could not show its power unless it was held in Kamito's hand.

(&mdash;This is the reason for your defeat.)

Currently, Est was not simply the Demon Slayer&mdash;

Rather, she was Terminus Est Zwei, the Demon King's Sword that had inherited Restia's power.

Kamito dashed amidst the erupting black lightning and gripped the hilt of Est who was inside the room.

"Thanks for waiting, Est&mdash;"

'Yes, Kamito.'

With the link fully restored, Est's voice sounded inside his mind.

Thus, Kamito drew out the Demon King's Sword whose blade had turned black.

Probably noticing the loud noise, a large number of footsteps were approaching from all around.

"Sorry, I'll need you to put on a show as soon as you wake up, Est&mdash;"
[[image:STnBD V14 150.jpg|thumb]]

'Yes, Kamito. I am your sword, your wish is my command.'