Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume17 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 1===

The sound of hard combat boots echoed along the passage in the fortress.

"...Hey, that was a misunderstanding just now."

Rubia was walking ahead without speaking a word. Facing her back, Kamito gingerly tried to explain.

"By misunderstanding, what are you referring to?"

Rubia stopped walking and looked back. Her long hair, as crimson as her sister's, fluttered softly.

"Well, umm, what happened just now..."

Kamito wanted to explain briefly about the situation on the bed earlier. However, given how unnatural and easily construed as a perverted scene, how should he explain it&mdash;?

Possibly due to spending energy on creating panties, or perhaps acting shy in Rubia's presence, Est had returned to her sacred sword form.

Rubia's ruby-like eyes stared intently at Kamito as though penetrating him.

"I understand. There is no need for an explanation."

"I-I'm glad you understand."

Kamito breathed a sigh of relief.

"I also know that you are a Demon King in all meanings of the term. That being said, making a plaything of your partner, a contracted spirit, is certainly to be frowned upon."

"Like I said, you've got the wrong idea...!"

Kamito could not help but clutch his head... Just as he thought, there was a complete misunderstanding.

Rubia stared intently at Kamito's face.

"Ren Ashbell. You should tell me you need to use my body whenever you cannot resist the Darkness Elemental Lord's power."

"...!?"

Kamito recalled the scene at the ritual purification site a few days earlier.

Back then, she definitely said something like this. She did not mind if he used her body as he liked when the power of darkness was about to devour him.

Her entire body was marred by cursed armament seals. Recalling the sight of her beautiful naked body, Kamito could not help but turn red.

After going through the passage, the two of them got on a cargo elevator. The elevator's simple design consisted of a processed metal plate with a spirit crystal embedded inside. When Rubia poured in a small amount of divine power, a spirit mechanism could be heard activating while Kamito felt himself surrounded by an uncomfortable floating sensation.

"By the way, what's the emergency meeting about? Did something serious happen in the Ordesia Empire?"

"Clues have been found regarding Saladia Kahn's whereabouts."

Kamito raised his eyebrows slightly.

Saladia Kahn was the second princess and a former general of the Alphas Theocracy. She was also the younger sister of Sjora Kahn, who had merged with Zohar's core and the strategic-class spirit Leviathan and died.

Saladia was initially imprisoned by her older sister, and the goal of Kamito and company was to rescue her and protect her as the princess.

If Saladia were to take the throne, the chaotic situation in the Theocracy arising from Sjora Kahn's rebellion would end, thus eliminating the chance for intervention by the Ordesia Empire, which had turned into the Holy Kingdom's puppet. In addition, Legitimate Ordesia with Fianna as its empress would win the powerful Dracunia's backing.

However, when Kamito and company first entered the Theocracy's capital of Zohar, Saladia Kahn had escaped, aided by someone unknown.

&mdash;Where on earth had she disappeared to?

For the last few days, Rubia's subordinates from the Instructional School were conducting a search, but nothing had turned up yet.

"We shall discuss the specifics later. Walls have ears here."

"...Okay, understood."

Getting off the elevator, they arrived a place offering an overlooking view of the whole city at the foot of the mountain.

This place was the surveillance tower of the Mordis fortress.

Looking down, there was a bizarre sight below.

(...I can't get used to this no matter how many times I look at it.)

Frowning, Kamito muttered to himself.

The walls of the mining town Mordis built around the fortress had been invaded by another enormous city. The scene looked like a giant beast was devouring a small animal.

This had happened seventy-two hours earlier.

Aiming to crush the rebel forces gathered at Mordis in one fell swoop, Sjora Kahn, the Theocracy's witch, had activated a strategic-class spirit, Leviathan, that had been sealed and abandoned after a war in the past.

Leviathan was a spirit that would take possession of a city and absorb divine power from the residents. This militarized spirit had possessed the capital of Zohar and gone berserk according to Sjora Kahn's wishes to devastate Mordis.

Although Fianna and others had fortified the city wall's defenses, controlling losses to a minimum, there were still many casualties. From what Kamito had heard, many residents in Zohar had been drained dry of divine power by the militarized spirit, killing them.

Suddenly, Kamito raised his head and looked to the side.

He saw Rubia close her eyes and quietly bring her hands together.

Kamito had seen Fianna perform the same gesture before.

It was a requiem ritual undertaken by princess maidens of the Divine Ritual Institute.

With her long hair fluttering in the breeze like flames, dressed in a military uniform, she seemed like a noble princess maiden momentarily.

"Time to go."

"Yeah..."

Rubia turned heel and once again ascended the stairs with a determined look on her face.

Kamito hastily followed after her.