Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume19 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 3===

"Guh, ooh... Ah...!"

Shouting as hard as he could from the depths of his throat, Kamito jumped from the bed.

The bedsprings creaked intensely.

"Huff... Huff... Huff... Huff..."

He looked at the sweat on his hand then surveyed his surroundings.

Walls of pure white. Shelves of spirit crystals and medications, neatly arranged.

...A familiar place.

As part of his job at the the Sylphid Knights, Kamito often transported students who had been knocked out in training. This was the medical facility at the school building.

(...Right. After fighting the angel, I fainted&mdash;)

Instantly figuring out his situation, Kamito sighed in relief.

Was the Greyworth the one who brought me here?

Sitting up, Kamito touched his aching ribs.

The bones fractured by the angel's attacks had healed. It was all thanks to this astounding recovery ability&mdash;, or rather, regeneration&mdash;though it still hurt a bit. It was also thanks to protection from Est, a steel spirit, that his body was fine. Come to think of it, his body's recovery speed was way too fast.

"Guh...!"

Covering his left eye, Kamito groaned.

Wave after wave, the depths of his eyeball was struck by searing pain.

"Don't worry, Kamito&mdash;"

A sweet voice vibrated against Kamito's eardrum.

Pale and soft fingertips gently took Kamito's hand.

"Restia..."

He looked back to see her sunset-colored eyes smiling at him.

Clad in a dress the color of night, the beautiful darkness spirit.

The version of her he had seen in the dream just now, with the calm and piercing eyes of a dispassionate and merciless queen, contrasted with the expression of the adorable girl looking at him right now.

"You saw ''her'' in your dream just now, didn't you?"

"...Yeah."

Kamito nodded mildly to Restia's calmly spoken question.

Due to the contract between them, elementalists and their contracted spirits were capable of sharing some of their memories from dreams.

This was especially true for vivid dreams such as just now.

Ultimately, was that a dream dreamt by Kamito, or Restia?

(...Hell, it's the same thing no matter which side it is.)

He felt really repulsed. No matter what, the fact that Darkness Elemental Lord Ren Ashdoll wanted to control his soul remained unchanged.

"What happened in the dream... Was it real?"

"It was a scene from the Spirit War six thousand years ago."

Restia nodded and answered.

"At the center of Astral Zero, the final battle took place between Ren Ashdoll and the five Elemental Lords. The Elemental Lords' faction suffered heavy casualties whereas the Darkness Elemental Lord was taken down. In the end, she was sealed in the gap between the human realm and Astral Zero&mdash;"

"But the seal was imperfect...?"

"Yes. Without the Elemental Lords noticing, she used her own power and succeeded in reincarnating into the weakest race, the humans&mdash;"

A glowing fire-red emblem appeared in the depths of Restia's eyes.

An emblem of a sword and a moon. It was identical to Restia Ashdoll's spirit seal.

(...No. What's reflected in her eyes is the light coming from my eye.)

He felt another wave of pain from the depths of his left eyeball.

"...Why is your spirit seal in my eye, Restia?"

"No, that isn't my spirit seal, Kamito."

"...?"

"That is the spirit seal of Darkness Elemental Lord Ren Ashdoll. Having awakened, she wishes to form a spirit contract with you."

"What?"

Restia leaned on the bed and brought her hand gently against Kamito's eyelid.

"In response to the awakening of her nemesis, the Sacred Maiden, I suppose she too has started to awaken."

"H-Hey, Restia!?"

Her body, as light as a feather, was gently pressing down on Kamito, whose eyesight was blocked.

Her gentle arms wrapped around the back of his head, thus hugging him tightly.

Draping down, the tips of her hair brushed against his cheeks. Dark feathers gently enveloped his back.

Back at the Instructional School, she often cuddled Kamito in this manner.

"Don't worry, Kamito. I am your sword. I shan't hand you over to her."

"Restia..."

His left hand heated up faintly. The pain in the depths of his eyeball dissipated gradually.

It probably was through their contract's spirit seal that she had suppressed Ren Ashdoll's power.
[[image:STnBD V19 BW01.jpg|thumb]]

The hand blocking his eyesight moved away.

Moist black feathers gave off faint phosphorescence of darkness.

With a mischievous smile surfacing on her face, gazing downwards at Kamito, she was extremely beautiful, Kamito thought.

Next.

"Fufu, I don't mind if you come in, Miss Hell Cat."

"Hyah!?"

Kamito heard a scream from outside the room.

Then there was the sound of something tumbling to the floor.

"Claire? W-What are you doing?"

Still on the bed, sitting up, Kamito asked in surprise.

With twintails flopping, Claire frantically picked up the cans that had fallen.

"...N-Nothing. I heard you collapsed, Kamito, so I came to have a quick look at you!"

Carrying a pile of cans in her arms, Claire stepped into the room.

Her cheeks were tinged with a bit of red.

(Did she see Restia hugging me tightly...?)

Although there was nothing on his conscience, Kamito felt quite embarrassed.

"Umm, are your injuries okay now?"

Claire coughed to clear her throat and asked.

"Yeah, looks like I'm pretty much okay."

"Really? That's great."

Claire breathed a sigh of relief.

She did not say anything despite making eye contact with Kamito.

The emblem appearing on his left eye had presumably vanished.

Kamito looked at Restia to signal "Don't mention about the left eye."

...He did not want Claire to worry.

Restia nodded with a "I know" look.

"You must be hungry. Anyway, I brought many things from the Raven Class dorm."

Saying that, Claire unloaded the cans in her arms onto the bed.

Venison stew with fish added. Fruit with sweet syrup. These cans were luxury items and had spirit language on the labels because they were used as offering to spirits.

"Ah, perfect. I was just about to wonder what to eat."

Kamito picked a couple cans of fruit and stacked them on a shelf by the bed.

"Umm, darkness spirit..."

"What is it?"

Claire looked to the side while handing cans over.

"U-Umm, thanks for your aid. It was all thanks to the talismans you gave me."

"...Huh?"

"So, this is a return gift of sorts. I don't think there are spirits who hate canned food, right?"

"Oh my, a return gift&mdash;"

Shaking her head, Restia smiled.

"I should thank you instead. Because of you, I was able to hurry over to Kamito's side."

"H-Hey now, accept it!"

"Fufu, very well. Thank you."

Restia accepted the cans, somewhat pleased.

It looked like these two, who had a complicated past, had slightly improved their relationship without Kamito knowing.

"By the way, what is this can?"

"Canned mackerel. It's quite popular with the spirits in the Academy, you know?"

"Mackerel..."

"What, you don't like fish?"

"No, I will eat it. Though it's not very often that I eat fish..."

Claire looked at Kamito again.

"O-Originally, I was thinking I should be bringing something for you."

"That's okay. It's the thought that counts."

"...! M-Mmm..."

Claire's twintails jumped lightly.

"Fine, give me that spoon. I-I'll feed you."

"N-No, I said I'm fine! I can move my own hand..."

"What, you got a problem with me?"

Just as Claire pouted...

"Hey hey, is Kazehaya Kamito here~?"

"...?"

A voice was heard.

What suddenly appeared was an adorable girl, roughly ten years old, dressed in a black and white dress.

Her silver hair was reminiscent of steel. Her eyes were red like blood.

Her skin was as pale as wax. Her arms and legs were quite slender.

From head to toe, she was quite a beautiful maiden.

"...W-Who are you!?"

Claire cried out warily, summoning Flametongue to her hand.

She was probably making the right call. Although the girl looked quite cute&mdash;

(...I totally did not felt her presence.)

Kamito stared unerringly at the girl. This was no ordinary person.

However, the girl was completely unfazed by Kamito's serious gaze.

"The hag told me to come. She told me to summon Kazehaya Kamito once he's awake."

"...H-Hag?"

"Kamito, she's a spirit&mdash;"

Restia whispered in Kamito's ear.

"A spirit?"

Spirits capable of taking fully human form were top-tier beings in Astral Zero.

Even for Kamito, he could count the ones he had met on a single hand.

Why would this kind of spirit be here?

"Kiheeheehee, you are right, darkness spirit. We crossed blades at the country of dragons, right?"

"Country of dragons... Don't tell me&mdash;"

Kamito finally remembered.

At the Dragon Duchy of Dracunia, what had crossed blades with Restia was&mdash;

"You're Greyworth's contracted spirit?"

"Bingo~!"

The girl giggled, showing her fangs.

"I am Vlad Dracul the demon spirit. Nice to meet you!"