Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume16 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 5===

At the Theocracy's capital of Zohar, in a small alley where not even a single ray of moonlight shone, two figures rushed past.

"Hey, hurry up, you clumsy fool. Do you want to go back to that prison?"

"W-Watch your mouth, I will have you know that I am this country's second princess."

Saladia Kahn protested against the young man's extremely rude tone.

"Huh? Do you understand your position?"

Jio Inzagi turned his head back, glaring at her with his crimson eyes. Never threatened like this before in all her life, Saladia could not help but feel her shoulders shudder.

"Right now, you are no princess at all. Like me, you're just an escaped prisoner. Shut up and obey me if you want to leave this place alive."

"...W-Well..."

Saladia opened her mouth, trying to object&mdash;

"...I suppose, yes. What you say is right..."

But she bit her lip in chagrin.

"Hmph, glad you know what's what. Now cut the useless chatter, ''great princess''."

After saying that sarcastically, Jio Inzagi hid himself in a building's shadow.

This was roughly three districts away from the prison where Saladia had been jailed.

The reason why they had made so little progress was because Saladia's escape was quickly discovered and a large force of soldiers were sent into the city. It would have been easy for Jio Inzagi to escape alone as an Instructional School graduate, but things were not so simple seeing as he had to take Saladia with him.

After several weeks of imprisonment, she was severely weakened. Thus it was necessary to give her time to recover enough energy to walk.

"&mdash;Tsk, what a pain. A bunch of military elementalists."

Hiding in the building's shadow with his presence concealed, Jio Inzagi muttered. A group of knights carrying spirit crystals for illumination had appeared, walking along the dark alley. It was Sjora Kahn's royal guard.

"Hold your breath until they pass&mdash;"

Saladia nodded silently.

(This man, although I have no idea how strong he is&mdash;)

She quietly assessed this self-styled "Demon King's successor" in front of her.

Judging from the fact that he had singlehandedly infiltrated the prison to rescue her, he must be quite skilled. But even so, she did not expect him to be a match for military elementalists. No matter how tough their physical body, there was definitely no way for ordinary people to win against elementalists&mdash;This was the absolute truth, impossible to overturn.

Saladia prided herself as her sister's equal as an elementalist, but there was little chance of winning when surrounded by this many spirit knights.

"But with such a tight net, there's no way to move around at all. And I've got this baggage that can't even run&mdash;"

Jio Inzagi grumbled quietly.

"Once dawn breaks, escaping will get progressively harder. If my sister's royal guard were to capture us, I will be taken back to that prison, and you will be subjected to avian execution."

"Avian execution?"

"Flayed and de-boned on a rocky mountain, you will remain alive while having your organs devoured by birds. This is the Theocracy's traditional form of execution."

Saladia smiled. She expected to see fear take hold of the face of this man who had shown insolence and arrogance all this time.

However&mdash;

"...Oh, ''that''. I got tired of watching that show when I was young."

"Huh?"

"We've already seen true hell as children. By now, none of us fear death."

Jio Inzagi curled his lips in a grin and laughed mockingly.

His terrifying expression filled Saladia with bone-chilling terror.

(This man, what on earth...)

&mdash;At that moment...

"Hey, who goes there!?"

A sharp shout came from across the darkness.

"Tsk, we'll have to make a dash for it&mdash;"

Jio clicked his tongue, grabbed Saladia's wrist and ran through the alley.

"Found her, it's Saladia Kahn&mdash;!"

At the same time, fire arrows descended from above with the sound of spirit magic incantations in the surroundings.

Saladia suddenly halted and hastily chanted words of summoning to call forth her elemental waffe.

"&mdash;O spirits sealed within behind the gate to another world, make your appearance here now!"

Particles of light appeared out of thin air and a book manifested in her hand.

This was Alf Laylah Wa-Laylah, the elemental waffe of the demon spirit Scheherazade.

Light surged from the turning pages, summoning Gas Cloud, the spirit in black smoke form.

Gas Cloud expanded within the blink of an eye, swallowing all of the fire arrows.

Alf Laylah Wa-Laylah was an elemental waffe capable of summoning countless spirits residing within the book. Although high-level spirits could not be summoned, they were quite versatile.

"Hey, interesting spirit you've got there&mdash;"

Interested, Jio Inzagi muttered.

"However, this will not even achieve the goal of stalling for time against the royal guard."

"No, it's enough. This thing is ''a perfect match for my powers''."

"...Huh?"

Jio Inzagi sneered fearlessly then removed his overcoat.

This revealed his muscular body, covered by lightly tanned skin, as well as the ominous patterns carved all over him.

"What are you planning?"

"Shut up and watch&mdash;"

In the next instant, the lines carved all over his body began to glow ominously&mdash;

"...N-No way, cursed armament seals!?"

Saladia widened her eyes and cried out. The implantation of cursed armament seals ought to have been banned by an international treaty after the Ranbal War.

No, putting that aside, more surprising was&mdash;

"W-Why are you glowing with divine power when you are a man&mdash;"

"Hah, isn't it obvious? ''I am the Demon King's successor''."

With a savage grin, Jio replied.

"W-What is with that man&mdash;" "Impossible, cursed seal armaments!?" "An elementalist!?"

The royal guard readied their elemental waffen, surrounding Jio and Saladia cautiously.

"...No way to escape now."

Saladia bit her lip hard. There was no absolutely no way to win against this many opponents.

However&mdash;

"Say, great princess. Can ''that book'' of yours summon spirits without limit?"

The man before him, with glowing crimson eyes, curled his lips in a faint smile.

"Yes, so long as my divine power is not depleted. However&mdash;"

Hearing Saladia's answer, Jio Inzagi scoffed.

"Great, have those spirits possess my cursed armament seals."

"Huh?"

Saladia could not believe her own ears.

"H-How is something like that possible&mdash;"

"The principle is the same as sealing spirits into amulets. Hurry up and do it, unless you want to be taken back by these people&mdash;"

"...F-Fine!"

Indeed, it was no time to be exchanging questions and answers back and forth. Despite her puzzlement, Saladia still summoned eight spirits of different elements.

Using her hand to touch the cursed seal armament that was glowing crimson on his arm, she sealed those spirits within it.

"Yeah, nice... This feeling brings back memories&mdash;"

(...What is this man planning to do?)

Just as Saladia watched the man in surprise...

"&mdash;Lemme show you, great princess. This is but the tip of the iceberg of the Demon King's power."

With a fearless smile, Jio Inzagi&mdash;

In the next instant, he kicked the ground and rushed at the royal guard surrounding them.

(...!?)

With a flash of a blade, blood flew and splattered.

In the beginning, Saladia had no idea what had happened.

After a good many seconds, she finally realized Jio Inzagi had manifested a sword spirit in his hand, instantly cutting down one member of the royal guard.

"Hah, hurry and come at me if you wanna die!"
[[image:STnBD V16 103.jpg|thumb]]

He did not stop moving. One after another, he manifested spirits, slicing his way through the royal guard.

The sight of his fighting method, like a vicious demon<!--shura-->, caused Saladia to tremble.

(...Unthinkable, I cannot believe he is using spirits as disposable items!)

From the perspective of an elementalist like Saladia, his method of fighting was completely unacceptable. However, the man's terrifying figure in combat, swinging flashing blades while bathed in splattering blood, seemed strangely attractive.

(...Could this man truly be the Demon King's successor?)

The terrifying picture made Saladia tremble again.
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