Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume18 Chapter11 (section)

===Part 2===

"...W-What is going on!?"

In front of the collapsed ruins, Claire looked around in astonishment.

Like a mist of blood, the demon realm's miasma was hanging all around, greatly decreasing visibility.

...The familiar environment of the Academy was practically a different scene.

"&mdash;Astral Shift has happened."

Restia spoke softly and calmly.

"...Astral Shift?"

Even an honors student like Claire had never heard of the term.

"It's a phenomenon when the human realm and Astral Zero temporarily overlap. Although it occasionally happens inside the Spirit Forest, I have never seen one on such a large scale."

"W-What is that..."

Claire spoke with an unsettled look.

"Isn't the point of creating the gate is to summon demon spirits?"

While Claire was in confusion, a great number of demon spirits were still pouring through. The crack slicing through the air became even larger. Large demon spirits started to show up.

"I clearly destroyed the ruins here&mdash;"

"Looks like the Astral Shift is limited to the Academy's premises. Had these ruins not been destroyed, perhaps the entire Academy town would have been superimposed with the demon realm."

"Then that means there must be a set of ruins yet to be destroyed."

"Yes&mdash;"

Restia's sunset-colored eyes stared into the distance.

Claire noticed a measure of worry in those eyes.

(The darkness spirit is worried about Kamito.)

She must want to hurry over to Kamito's side.

Claire gripped Flametongue tightly.

"Go, darkness spirit&mdash;"

"Huh?"

"Leave this place for Scarlet and me to handle. You go back to Kamito's side&mdash;"

"Claire Rouge..."

Restia thought for a while&mdash;

"Unacceptable. I promised Kamito to protect you."

She soon shook her head.

"After Scarlet's true name release, your divine power must be depleted."

"Uh..."

Claire bit her lip.

She was right, Claire had definitely consumed quite a lot of her energy.

But even so&mdash;

"I will protect myself. After all, I am Kamito's teammate."

"..."

Hearing such words from Claire&mdash;

Restia shrugged and sighed lightly.

"...Fine. Claire Rouge, I have revised my opinion of you a bit."

Saying that, she plucked a few feathers from her black wings and handed them to Claire.

"...These are?"

"Talismans of Darkness. They will surely protect you."

The feathers of darkness spirit Restia were commonly known as Blessings of Darkness.<!--actual katakana says "bless of darkness" but that's just too Engrishy-->

They were supreme talismans that could not be bought from any shop no matter how much one desired them. In the past, there was even one time when a major nation's royal family started a war because of them. Legendary artifacts indeed.

However, Claire had no idea the priceless value of the gift.

"...Th-Thank you."

She obediently accepted them.

"&mdash;I entrust Kamito to you."

"Of course&mdash;"

Restia nodded then spread her jet-black wings and flew into the night sky.