Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:BR SS Extra.1 (section)

===Part 8===

Suddenly ripping through space, a massive berserk spirit appeared in the middle of the plaza.

A giant beast of steel, all covered in sharp blades, commonly called the Beast of Gévaudan, it was a militarized spirit that had been deployed by the Ordesia Empire in older eras.

The spirit's sudden intrusion caused a wave of screams as the crowd entered a state of panic.

The steel beast's massive limbs swept away the open-air stalls, piercing buildings built from stone. A cloud of dust rose in the surroundings. Spirits flying in the sky flashed violently.

Having lost its rationality to Muir Alenstarl's Jester's Vise, the spirit was currently in state of rampage. Before getting broken from use, it was probably going to keep engaging in destruction at the plaza.

The spirit knights guarding the portable shrine instantly appeared. Releasing their elemental waffen, they charged at the berserk militarized spirit.

(Now is the chance&mdash;)

At the same time, Kamito took a leap in the darkness.

He swiftly moved across rooftops by leaping, approaching the portable shrine under the cover of darkness.

(Muir's militarized spirit can buy thirty seconds of time, I have to finish the job before that&mdash;"

Silently descending to the ground, he used his momentum to charge at the portable shrine.

Due to the dust cloud, his view was almost entirely blocked. However, he had already grasped the targets' locations.

Of the mini-shrines set up at the north, east, south, west corners of the portable shrine, two of them carried magic apparatus where the Demon King's spirits were sealed. All he needed to do was take the Demon King's spirits, he could ignore the other two.

Under the cover of darkness and the noisy commotion, Kamito jumped onto the edge of the giant portable shrine and ran to the north mini-shrine closest to him&mdash;

"Take that!"

The demon blade stabbed into the mini-shrine's door.

The door was easily broken, revealing the magic apparatus kept inside. The enshrined object was ancient single-edged blade. Sealed inside was the Demon King's spirit.

'&mdash;Indeed. Sealed here is the demon song spirit, Siren.'

Restia's voice sounded in his mind.

Forcibly cutting the barrier open, Kamito took the sword-shaped magic apparatus. Securing the heavy sword on his back, he immediately prepared to steal the next target&mdash;But just at that moment...

"...! You there, what are you doing here!"

An invisible slash swept lightly across Kamito's cheek from the darkness. Stepping back reflexively, he pulled away and faced off against the enemy.

(...A spirit knight huh.)

Standing before his eyes was a female knight using an elemental waffe in the form of a full moon blade.

Evidently only three of the knights had gone to suppress Muir's militarized spirit, leaving one to guard this place.

"...To think it's a child!?"

The knight could not believe her eyes for a moment, whispering&mdash;

But very soon, she noticed the sword on Kamito's back and exuded sharp killing intent.

"W-Watch this&mdash;"

Yelling, she swung the full moon blade horizontally.

The blade produced a gust of slicing wind flying towards him, scraping the roof of the portable shrine.

"...!"

Kamito used his demon blade to deflect the wind blade then hid desperately in the darkness.

The mission was ultimately about stealing the sealed spirits. There was nothing to gain from excess fighting.

(Muir's spirit will last for fifteen more seconds&mdash;)

"Don't think you can escape by jumping!"

Enveloped in fierce wind, the knight chased after him. She soon circled around in front of Kamito.

(...Gah, this sword is so heavy...!)

The sword sealing the Demon King's spirit was no small burden for Kamito's relatively small frame. Under such conditions, the assassination sword techniques of his specialty were unusable.

"Give up!"

Faced with the swinging full moon blade, Kamito hastily blocked with the Stinger.

"G-Gah...!"

A clash of blades. However, Kamito had no hopes of winning a pure contest of strength. Compared to the knight's weapon which was the elemental waffe of a contracted spirit, Kamito's demon blade was nothing more than an item transformed from Restia according to her own will. There was an overwhelming difference between the two.

'&mdash;You're hopeless, Kamito. I'll lend you a hand.'

At this moment, the demon blade spoke. Instantly, lightning erupted from the jet-black blade&mdash;!

"...Wha, ah, ahhhhhhhhhhh!"

Struck by black lightning, the knight screamed and backed away.

Seizing this opening, Kamito lunged forward&mdash;

"Hah!"

He stabbed the demon blade into the armor.

"...Guh, ah...!"

The sound of armor shattering. Eyes opened wide, the knight fell in the darkness.

"Huff, huff, huff&mdash;"

'Kamito, you didn't take a life, did you?'

Restia's voice was uncharacteristically anxious.

"I'm not gonna do something that stupid&mdash;"

While whispering, Kamito ran to the south side of the portable shrine.

As the Demon King's successor, Kamito was the only person in the Instructional School forbidden from taking human life despite being a trained assassin. This was because the old men believed that random commoners were unworthy of being the Demon King's first sacrifice. Only by personally killing the one he treasured most would the condition be fulfilled for the Demon King's awakening.

However, the treasured person who truly had value in being killed&mdash;For Kamito whose normal human emotions had been taken away, it was hard to imagine the day when he would find something like that&mdash;

'Good. After all, the one you must kill is&mdash;'

"Hold on, there's someone in front of the shrine!?"

Restia's whisper was overwhelmed by Kamito's voice.

Amidst the endless screaming&mdash;

That ''girl'' was unshaken by the surrounding chaos, standing quietly in the darkness.

She had crimson hair that resembled flames. With ruby eyes carrying unyielding determination, she glared at Kamito.

"&mdash;I know not who you are, but I shall not let you have this spirit!"

With a flutter of her ceremonial outfit's hem, the girl spoke solemnly.

(...C-Could this be the Princess Maiden of Flame!?)

Kamito silently groaned.

Her presence was completely unexpected. The instant Muir Alenstarl's militarized spirit appeared, she should have been evacuated by the bodyguard knights.

(...Did she stay back, intending to guard the sealed spirits?)

"Rubia-sama, it's very dangerous, please come back!"

Under the portable shrine, the guards wailed.

"No, guarding this place is my duty as a princess maiden. Please stand down."

Saying that, the Princess Maiden of Flame opened the door to the mini-shrine behind her.

She took out the enshrined sounding staff and silently prepared a stance.

The staff with the Demon King's spirit sealed in it had a gemstone embedded in its front end, glowing with bright red light.

'Kamito, watch out!'

"...! No way, she's planning to release that militarized spirit!?"

The princess maiden was clearly not an elementalist trained in combat. However, her divine power reserves would surpass an ordinary spirit knight's.

Suppose that was true, then controlling a large militarized spirit singlehandedly was not impossible&mdash;

(Then I have to hurry before the militarized spirit is released&mdash;)

Holding the demon blade, Kamito rushed forward all at once.

However, a magic circle appeared at the princess maiden's feet in that instant, pouring a surge of blazing flames.

Appearing out of the magic circle was a two-headed hound all covered in flames. She must have set up automatically activating magic beforehand as a precaution.

"&mdash;Time to hunt, Lava Hound!"

The flaming hound pounced at Kamito's throat.

Kamito clicked his tongue and switched the demon blade to a reverse grip&mdash;

Then he drew out another mithril dagger from his chest.

"Assassination technique—Dual Snakes!"

Two slashes flew through the darkness, chopping the two-headed hound into halves.

However, just before vanishing, the lava hound turned into magical fire, roaring in Kamito's surroundings.

(Stalling for time eh&mdash;)

Kamito brushed the flames aside with the demon blade and rushed forward.

At this time, the Princess Maiden of Flame's incantation of release was about to finish.

"One of the Demon King's servants, ruling over blazing flames of crimson, show thyself at this time and place&mdash;"

'&mdash;Kamito, this is bad. Let's retreat.'

Restia's acute voice swept across his mind.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!

The roar of a beast came from the other side of the plaza. Either the spirit knights had defeated Muir's militarized spirit or the spirit had been broken by the Jester's Vise, self-destructing.

(...But the mission's objective is to steal two spirits of the Demon King's.)

'You have already stolen one successfully. That should be enough&mdash;'

Indeed, once the three spirit knights who had gone to the plaza returned, there was no hope of winning. Obsessing over the second spirit would also endanger Muir who was hiding nearby.

(...Gah, is the opportunity lost...?)

Just as Kamito decided to retreat and was about to turn around to leave...

(...My foot!?)

By the time he noticed, faint light was glowing underfoot.

This was ''bind'' magic for immobilizing someone.

(&mdash;I can't believe she can use spirit magic while chanting a releasing incantation!?)

Kamito groaned in surprise... It was almost impossible to believe. To be able to control such high-level spirit magic at such a young age, this talent was enough to rival the most elite of the continent's princess maidens, the Queens&mdash;

Hastily, Kamito stabbed the demon blade into the ground, dispelling the magic.

&mdash;However, it was too late. The Princess Maiden of Flame had already raised the sounding staff towards the sky.

"Thou shalt display the might of berserk violence&mdash;the hell flame spirit named Ifrit."

The instant she chanted the words of releasing...

The sounding staff in her hand erupted with intense light.

Appearing forth was a scarlet archdemon whose entire body was enveloped in scorching conflagration.

"O fool, repent your sins and turn into charcoal&mdash;"

Saying that, the Princess Maiden of Flame swung the sounding staff downwards.

The archdemon inhaled deeply and spewed flaming breath at Kamito.

"...!?"

Spreading radially, the flaming breath was too wide to escape.

Just a moment before Kamito was about to be devoured by the flames&mdash;

'&mdash;Don't worry, Kamito. I shall protect you.'

Restia's calm voice sounded.

The Stinger disappeared from Kamito's hand&mdash;

Then appearing before his eyes was the darkness spirit girl, spreading her twin wings of jet black.

"...Darkness spirit!? You&mdash;"

Restia lightly extended her hand at the crimson blaze.

With a flutter of gorgeous black hair, beautiful feathers of jet black scattered and incinerated.

"...Hmm, what... amazing, heat... As expected of, Demon King's spirit, ah... However&mdash;"

Restia blocked the overwhelming flames released by Ifrit.

Exuding dark miasma from her entire body, she blew the flames away.

"Huff, huff, huff..."

"Unbelievable, a humanoid high-ranked spirit!?"

The princess maiden exclaimed in surprise.

"Darkness spirit...!"

"Hurry and go, Kamito&mdash;"

"Ahhh&mdash;"

Carrying her emaciated form in his arms, Kamito vanished into the darkness.