Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume13 Chapter8 (section)

===Part 1===

"...Kazehaya, Kami, to... Why are you here?"

Held in Kamito's arms, Luminaris panted while speaking.

"Right back at you. What are the Holy Kingdom's knights doing in Laurenfrost?"

"...That... is&mdash;"

Luminaris bit her lip hard. Kamito shrugged and put her down.

"Well whatever. I'll ask about your purpose later. Let's find a way to take care of that monster first."

Kamito glared at Zirnitra which was gradually assimilating with the Forest of Ice Blossoms.

Perhaps due to absorbing the divine power from the spirits in the forest, the giant body made from cursed ice was giving off a strange light against the darkness of the night.

"&mdash;So, what is up with that monster?"

"If you ask me, who can I ask in turn? Spirits do not mutate like that at all&mdash;"

After applying Healing magic to herself, Luminaris suppressed a groan and stood up.

"Don't force yourself. You're all covered with wounds already."

"Shut up. Do not underestimate a Holy Kingdom's knight."

Luminaris replied sharply then gripped Murgleis properly again.

Seeing that, Kamito shrugged.

"I've still got lots to talk to you about. Like all the things you did to my friends, but oh well, let's put that aside for now. How about we join forces right now?"

"...What are you scheming?"

Luminaris's eyes of sapphire showed wariness as they glared at Kamito.

"I simply want a helping hand. It'd be tough if I had to handle that monster on my own. Also, I know your abilities very well, absolutely flawless in terms of combat."

"Stop acting familiar, male elementalist."

"But we are familiar. At least we have crossed blades for real before&mdash;"

"What did you say?"

Mid-sentence, Kamito realized he had misspoken and hastily stopped himself.

(...Come to think of it, this girl doesn't know my true identity.)

"I do not remember fighting you before. During the final round, the one I engaged in combat was the user of the hellcat spirit."

The suspicions in her eyes, glaring at Kamito, became deeper and deeper.

"W-Well, let's forget about the trivial stuff for now. Judging by the situation, this isn't the time for verbal arguments&mdash;"

Zirnitra's giant body squirmed and gave off powerful light.

"...Tsk!"

Simultaneously, the two of them jumped apart.

Instantly, countless ice blades rushed out of the ground, tearing through the darkness.

The two had barely dodged it, but&mdash;

"...! Alda!"

Luminaris cried out. The rushing flow of ice blades on the ground was going to attack her subordinates that were trapped in cursed ice.

Luminaris's sword made a slight noise. A torrent of sacred flames covered the ice blades, vaporizing them.

But the ice blades where overwhelming in quantity. Quite a few of them evaded destruction.

"No good&mdash;!"

"Absolute Blade Arts, Third Form--Shadowmoon Waltz!"

Instantly with an explosive kick against the ground, Kamito performed the anti-army technique of the Absolute Blade Arts.

Slicing through darkness, the white blade's furious dance shattered the cursed ice blades completely.

"...What!?"

Luminaris was rendered speechless.

She had also reacted to the ice, but she was definitely incapable of performing the same kind of move.

(...That movement just now, what was it?)

After witnessing Kamito's sword skills for the first time in person, Luminaris could not help but find herself at a loss for words.

These were superb sword skills on par with the Ren Ashbell, the Strongest Blade Dancer three years ago.

...She was forced to admit to an overwhelming difference in strength.

Slicing through all the ice blades within the blink of an eye, Kamito stabbed the Demon Slayer into the ground and turned to face Luminaris.

"You too have reasons why you can't retreat from here, right?"

He shrugged and looked at the girls of the Sacred Spirit Knights, imprisoned in cursed ice.

"In that case, now is the time for you to throw that knight's pride or whatever it's called to the dogs."

"But..."

Luminaris bit her lip hard and glared squarely at Kamito.

Then&mdash;

"...Just once."

"Hmm?"

"&mdash;Just once, I shall ally with you!"

"Yeah. That's good enough."

Kamito nodded and poured divine power into the Demon Slayer.

"Follow me, Luminaris. Let's take care of that thing in one go by overwhelming its regeneration speed."

"Hmph, when I said I was allying with you, I never allowed you to command me&mdash;Kazehaya Kamito!"

The two of them kicked the ground at the same time.

"&mdash;We're up, Est!" "O Murgleis, grant sacred protection to thy knight!"

The two sacred swords ripped through the darkness.

Zirnitra roared, shooting cursed ice blades from the ground in a radial pattern.

"That move's not gonna work!"

Kamito kicked the ground to speed up and instantly raced past Luminaris to serve as the vanguard.

"Absolute Blade Arts, Third Form—Shadowmoon Waltz!"

A triple flash with god-like speed, slicing the ice blades and blowing them away. Using that momentum, Kamito rushed into the howling blizzard to engage Zirnitra's bloated body in melee combat.

"O sacred sword that vanquisheth evil, thou shalt turn the enemy into ash—!" 

Shouting, Luminaris rushed forward and stabbed her sword towards a mass of ice.

With the sound of shattering, a hole opened up in the ice.

But very soon, new ice rose up to fill up the pierced location.

"Damn it&mdash;"

"Ordinary attacks are useless. Coordinate your timing with me!"

"...Like I said, stop ordering me around!"

Countless pillars of ice were growing out of Zirnitra's entire body, then shot outwards.

Faced with suppressive fire from all directions shot at point blank range, it was totally impossible to evade.

(...Fine, I'll just have to retaliate an eye for an eye!)

Kamito went up decisively. Contracted to Est, Kamito possessed Steel's Protection which enhanced the body's durability. This allowed him some leeway to conduct self-sacrificing attacks.

"Absolute Blade Arts — First Form, Purple Lightning!"

Sharp pillars of ice shot at Kamito.

Blood splattered from all over his body, but Kamito continued advancing, unfazed.

Smashing ice with sword strikes of god-like speed, he pummeled the monster's body to produce a cobweb-like network of cracks.

"Not done yet&mdash;"

Maintaining a thrusting posture, Kamito infused the Demon Slayer with a large amount of divine power to cause an explosion. Suppose he destroyed the interior of the body directly rather than using slicing attacks, he should be able to slow down the regeneration speed. However&mdash;

'&mdash;No good, Kamito!'

(...Eh?)

He heard Est's voice in his mind. Suddenly, he was struck by a sense of powerlessness in his limbs.

The ice where the sword was stabbed suddenly gave off powerful light.

(...It's absorbing my divine power!?)

'...Kami... to...'

Kamito instantly tried to draw out the sword, but&mdash;

"...!"

The cursed ice had frozen the sacred sword's blade, trying to pull it in.

'&mdash;Kamito, please let go of me!'

"Like hell anyone's gonna do that!"

Using willpower alone to suppress the sense of exhaustion, Kamito yelled loudly.

(...Restia, lend me the power you left behind!)

The seal of darkness branded on Kamito's right hand gave off ominous light.

The silver-white blade with dazzling radiance gradually took on a coating of darkness.

"Go forth and pierce, all-annihilating demon lightning of punishment—Vorpal Blast!"

The Demon King's Sword&mdash;Terminus Est Zwei.

Imbued with powers of darkness, the sacred sword released jet-black lightning.

The ensnaring cursed ice was instantly vaporized. Kamito took this opportunity to withdraw the blade and distance himself all at once.

Just at this moment...

At the lower abdomen of this giant mass of magical ice, countless ice dragon heads sprouted.

These were the remains of the ice dragons absorbed by Zirnitra.

(...No way!?)

The ice dragons all widened their jaws together and spewed out an astounding amount of blizzard breath.

Kamito hastily readied the Demon King's Sword to use as a shield. But having had his divine power sucked out just now, he was unable to bring out power sufficient to melt the blizzard.

Just before he was about to be attacked by the blizzard and frozen all over&mdash;

"—O Sacred Shield of protection!"

Luminaris chanted protective magic to neutralize the blizzard.

"...Sorry, thanks for saving me."

Kamito fell to his knees, panting.

Torn by ice blades, his uniform was gradually dyed the color of blood.

"Looks like melee weapon attacks are useless."

Luminaris groaned.

"But we don't have enough firepower to burn the thing up using ranged attacks&mdash;"

Right, without overwhelming power to destroy it in one go, Zirnitra would probably become capable of infinite regeneration after merging with the Forest of Ice Blossoms.

But they did not have an attack capable to annihilating the mass of something so gigantic&mdash;

(...If Rubia's Laevateinn could be used here, it'd be a piece of cake.)

'&mdash;Kamito, please listen to me.'

"...Est?"

Hearing her, Kamito rested his gaze upon the Demon King's Sword in his hand.

'The core for maintaining that spirit weapon should be present somewhere.'

"...Core?"

'Yes, this monster absorbs divine power endlessly from the surroundings. That kind of thing will rapidly collapse on its own. But it is able to stay materialized all this time because&mdash;'

"...I see. In other words, there's a core somewhere that's enough to sustain it?"

Hearing Kamito's mutterings, Luminaris reacted.

"&mdash;Core huh? I see now. I have some idea."

"...Some idea, really?"

"Yes. A human princess maiden at the Elfim settlement. I personally saw that girl merge with Zirnitra. Most likely, that girl is the&mdash;"

"A human princess maiden..."

Kamito was struck with surprise.

...Indeed, the Elfim girl had mentioned it too.

Something about the Queen of Ice Blossoms merging with Zirnitra.

At the time, he had been skeptical about the notion of a human merging with a spirit&mdash;

"As long as the core is targeted, there's a way to stop that monster huh&mdash;"

Kamito looked towards the monster, restless in the darkness.

Zu... Zuzuzu... Zuzuzu...!

The traces of damage inflicted by Kamito and Luminaris had already started to regenerate. With ice dragon heads sprouting all over, the massive body was currently still devouring the land slowly. At this rate, it could swallow the entire forest, turning into a monster that even an army would be unable to stop.

"...Wanna try a gamble?"

Readying the Demon King's Sword that was exuding miasma of darkness, Kamito said:

"Luminaris, when I give the signal, release your strongest move as much as you can."

"Like I said, stop ordering me&mdash;"

"&mdash;I'm begging you. Most likely, this move can only be used once."

"..."

Faced with Kamito's serious voice, Luminaris fell silent.

"...Understood. You shall decide the timing."

"Yeah, just leave it to me&mdash;"

Holding the Demon King's Sword, Kamito rushed towards the howling blizzard.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Kicking the ground hard, he instantly closed in, then&mdash;

"Absolute Blade Arts — First Form, Purple Lightning!"

A strike with god-like speed left a large crack on the ice.

"&mdash;Luminaris, here you go!"

"Yes&mdash;"

Answering Kamito's cries, Luminaris raised the sacred sword high.

"Ancient guardian of the Holy Kingdom—Thou art Murgleis, the sacred sword defending the country!"

The surging sacred flames blasted the blizzard apart and pierced the crack made by Kamito.

Surpassing the cursed ice's regeneration speed, the burning sacred flames howled inside Zirnitra's body.

(...Not bad at all!)

While mentally offering praises to her, Kamito charged into the howling sacred flames without hesitation at all.

&mdash;This was a gamble. Suppose his predictions were wrong, Kamito would likely be burnt into ash. However&mdash;

(Luminaris's elemental waffe is purely of the holy attribute. In that case&mdash;)

It would be the same as for healing magic. Having inherited the Darkness Elemental Lord's power, his Demon King body was going to deflect it. 

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Covering the jet-black Demon King's Sword with lightning of darkness, Kamito charged into the flames.

He could feel overwhelming heat on his skin.

&mdash;However, the sacred flames did not touch Kamito.

Brushing away the flames in front of him&mdash;He saw ''it'', right there.

(...That's ''it''!)

The final wall of ice that even the howling sacred flames could not approach.

Inside the wall of ice was the core sustaining Zirnitra here.

Roaring, Kamito kicked the ground to accelerate further.

Then&mdash;

He released the final move from the Absolute Blade Arts.

"Absolute Blade Arts — Destructive Form, Bursting Blossom Spiral Blade Dance - Eighteen Consecutive Strikes・Lightning Flare!"

Slashing freely left and right with lightning everywhere, he instantly smashed the wall of ice standing in his way.

Twelve, thirteen, fourteen&mdash;With every slash, a layer of the ice wall was shaved off, destroying it.

Even time for regeneration was not given. Ahead of the consecutive slashes with god-like speed was&mdash;

(...That's!?)

Kamito saw the figure imprisoned securely inside the wall of cursed ice.

He saw the figure of a human girl, dressed as a princess maiden.

(...Could that be the Queen of Ice Blossoms!?)

After seeing the girl's appearance up close, Kamito could not help but shudder.

He had seen the girl's face before.

Yes, it was what Rinslet had shown him at the Water Elemental Shrine, inside a spirit crystal.

(...Judia Laurenfrost!?)

&mdash;Just at that moment...

The girl inside the cursed ice slowly opened her eyes.

She opened her emerald eyes that were identical to Rinslet's.

Za, zazaza, za&mdash;zazazaza, za, zaza, za&mdash;

Her adorable lips trembled slightly&mdash;

(...!)

In the next instant, Kamito's body was engulfed in black cursed ice.