Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume15 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 2===

"Huff, huff, huff, huff&mdash;"

Fianna ran desperately along the rain splattered stone-paved road.

The intense sound of swords clashing resounded behind her. Fianna could not cast away her concern for Kamito, but she still did everything she could to believe in Kamito and suppress these thoughts. Aiming for the shrine where the escape passage was located, she ran and stumbled.

However, she was about to reach her limit.

Intense pain was circulating around her ankle as though it were burning.

Unable to maintain balance, Fianna fell into a puddle. Ripped in the process, her tattered dress of pure white became tainted by the color of mud.

"...Guh..."

She tried her best to suppress her moaning voice. If she allowed a scream to escape here, the Imperial Knights nearby would immediately discover her.

Fortunately, no residents of the nobles district were in sight, thanks to the evacuation order.

(How terrible&mdash;)

Her ankle was red and swollen.

She must have sprained it during the gravity spirit's attack. Enduring the pain, she had run here forcibly, but she could not even stand up now.

"O holy light of healing, treat this wound&mdash;"

Fianna pressed on her ankle lightly with her fingers and chanted healing spirit magic.

However, the faint light produced at her fingertips rapidly faded.

Due to her extreme depletion of holiness, it was impossible to fully utilize even magic of this level.

(...In that case, the likes of summoning Georgios would definitely be out of the question.)

She sighed lightly. The divine power that had rampaged within her like a storm just earlier was completely gone already.

(What on earth was that divine power I received from Kamito-kun...?)

While recalling Kamito's tight embrace along with the kiss, she touched her lips gently with her fingertips.

The heat from that kiss felt as though it was still lingering faintly there...

Her first kiss with the target of her affections. However, the kiss was wholly forced by circumstance. Surely Kamito himself thought nothing of it...?

(W-What am I thinking about at such a time?)

Fianna blushed and shook her head intensely.

If she listened closely, the acute noise of clashing blades could still be heard from afar.

(Kamito-kun...)

Her worried feelings were virtually tearing her chest apart.

Naturally, she knew of Kamito's great strength.

However, his opponent was that Dusk Witch.

Furthermore, through unknown means, she had recovered her peak power&mdash;

(It's also possible Kamito-kun can't win...)

Currently, it was still possible to return to his side straight away, even if all she could do was help out a little&mdash;This temptation surfaced in her thoughts countless times.

However, if she were to turn back now, it would be a betrayal of Kamito's trust.

She understood this principle.

(...Hence, right now, what I am able to do is to open a bloody path for us to escape.)

Supporting herself against a wall, Fianna slowly stood up.

Due to receiving incomplete healing magic, at least the pain could not be felt for the time being.

Dragging one leg, she started moving forward again. At that moment...

She suddenly felt a chill down her spine.

It was a princess maiden's instinct.

She used her good leg to kick the ground hard, jumping forward.

Right behind her, vmmmm&mdash;The space at her back distorted with a harsh noise.

A depression appeared on the stone-paved road, caused by an invisible force.

"...!?"

Having escaped death narrowly, Fianna suddenly looked up.

Over there&mdash;

"Ah, hahahaha... Found you... Found you..."

With a broken expression, it was the sneering visage of Leschkir Hirschkilt of the Numbers.

"Dame Leschkir!? Wasn't she supposed to have been defeated by Kamito-kun?"

Fallen on the ground, Fianna groaned. She wanted to get up immediately, but&mdash;

In the next second, her entire body was weighted down heavily, pinned against the ground.

"...Aguh... Urgh...!"

Fianna felt intense pain throughout her entire body as though all her bones were shattering. Hovering over Leschkir's head was the spherical gravity spirit, producing a strong gravitational field in its surroundings.

"Ahah, ahahahahaha...!"

Looking down at Fianna who was struggling in pain, Leschkir laughed unpleasantly. Despite losing her rational mind, her control over her contracted spirit was not severed.

&mdash;Her eyes were murky from the color of hollow darkness.

(That is what's possessing the Elemental Lords...)

The Otherworldly Darkness. Could it be that she had taken it into her body&mdash;?

"Die, die, die, diiiiiiie!"

The berserk gravity spirit was crushing the surrounding space, Fianna included.

(...Kamito... -kun...!)

Under the twisted gravity field, she emitted a malformed scream. At that moment&mdash;

Suddenly, the gravity field vanished.

(...?)

She looked up. Why had Leschkir's figure disappeared from there&mdash;?

"Your Highness, are you alright!?"

"Ellis!?"

Wielding Ray Hawk, Ellis had landed in front of Fianna.

"Thank goodness I found you... What grievous wounds."

Ellis knelt down and picked up Fianna in her arms.

"What about Kamito? Did you come here alone?"

"To enable me to escape, Kamito-kun is fighting currently..."

"I see..."

A pained expression surfaced on Ellis' face. She probably wanted to help Kamito too, but understood that the decision was a correct one. The fact that he had forced Fianna to escape alone implied how difficult an opponent he was facing.

"Your Highness, do you know how to escape from the imperial capital?"

Ellis inquired.

"Yes, at the Michaela temple ahead. There is an escape passage."

"The Michaela temple? That kind of place... Oh well, understood. Let us hurry over."

Ellis nodded, shifted Fianna to a piggyback configuration and chanted wind spirit magic.

She floated up lightly.

To avoid getting discovered by the Imperial Knights, she did not fly too high, but her movement speed would be much faster than running on the ground.

At that moment, the rubble behind them exploded.

Ellis and Fianna suddenly looked back.

"Agaga, gi... Agigigigigi..."

Blown away by Ellis, Leschkir waved her hand in a strange direction while laughing with a voice filled with insanity.

"...Impossible. The Wind Bomb should have been a direct hit."

Immediately after Ellis exclaimed in surprise...

Leschkir Hirschkilt released countless gravity orbs from her hands.