Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume12 Chapter5 (section)

===Part 7===

Ellis kicked the church's door open.

"&mdash;Where?"

As soon as she spoke, the air shook.

The trees of the Spirit Forest extending out from the school building's surroundings were being uprooted together with a great amount of soil and dirt.

Appearing amidst the swirling dust storm was a giant all covered in rock.

"...That's an earth spirit?"

"It's Rakka's Cabracan&mdash;"

Rakka. Kamito recalled it was the girl from the Knights he had met just earlier.

"What's going on? Who is that spirit fighting?"

"No idea. However, it should not be a conflict between students. Duels on campus are prohibited by the school rules."

Ellis spoke in an urgent voice.

"Stand by here."

"...? I'll go too."

"It is dangerous. Right now, you are incapable of using your elemental waffe, right?"

"I have a sword. Plus I'm also a member of the Knights, right?"

Kamito tapped the sword at his waist.

In that instant, the giant roared.

An impact shook the atmosphere and the giant's rock-covered body was shattered.

"...Impossible, Rakka's Cabracan was!?"

Ellis exclaimed in shock. Kamito stared wide-eyed.

Earth spirits were particularly durable, to be crushed so easily&mdash;

(...Who on earth?)

Ellis still looked hesitant&mdash;

"...I understand. Please assist me."

But finally, she still nodded. Holding Kamito's hand...

"O wind, grant me protection&mdash;Fly!"

Chanting an incantation of spirit magic, a howling whirlwind began to blow.

Ellis kicked the ground lightly and the two of them flew high into the air.

"Uwah!"

"Hold on tight. Do not fall down."

She kicked a wall of air to accelerate. The two of them flew straight towards the Spirit Forest.

Arriving above the forest, she stopped nimbly and landed in one flowing motion.

"...C-Captain..."

Collapsed on the ground, Rakka could not help but moan.

"Rakka, what on earth happened...!?"

They were surrounded by fallen trees, probably the aftermath of the rock spirit's destruction.

"That bastard. That bastard did this to... me and Reishia..."

"...!?"

Rakka's gaze was directed to another collapsed girl in front.

"Reishia..."

Ellis could not help but cry out.

At this moment&mdash;

"Oh my oh my, to think that it would be this poor. The power of the Sylphid Knights guarding the Academy."

Thud&mdash;The sound of a boot striking the ground.

"...!?"

A petite hooded figure landed next to Reishia.

"...Who goes there!?"

Ellis yelled acutely.

"Trespassers in the Academy will be punished accordingly."

"Heh, who are the ones who watched helplessly as a third-rate character like Jio Inzagi invaded?"

"...How did you know&mdash;"

"Also&mdash;"

The hooded figure glared coldly at Ellis.

"What's with that getup? Have the Knights started wearing such shameless armor recently?"

"Ugh... Th-This is a misunderstanding!"

Blushing to her ears, Ellis pressed her legs together.

"I-In any case, I will make you regret hurting my companions&mdash;Come, Simorgh!"

With a yell, Ellis summoned her elemental waffe, a spear, readying herself for battle.

"Kamito, I will arrest the intruder. I will count on you to cover me."

"&mdash;Understood."

Kamito drew the sword at his waist and took a leap opposite to Ellis.

(...Although it's not a dagger like I'm used to, whatever&mdash;)

While running rapidly in a wide arc, he infused divine power into the blade.

With an eruption of blue-white lightning, the blade glowed faintly.

"Haaaah&mdash;"

Ellis swung Ray Hawk horizontally.

An invisible blade flew out, instantly slicing through the forest's trees.

"I see, a powerful elemental waffe. However&mdash;"

The attacker kicked a fallen tree into the air to locate the wind blade and evaded.

"Wha&mdash;!"

The gray overcoat fluttered.

She instantly landed in front of Ellis and released a power knee strike without any delay.

Ellis blocked the attack with her spear's shaft but losing balance severely, she slipped.

Seizing this opening, the attacker made an overarm stroke at her throat.

"That's not gonna happen!"

With explosive leg strength, Kamito jumped. Closing in instantly, he swung his sword.

&mdash;However, his actions were read. The enemy retreated nimbly and evaded the slash, then took a backstep to create distance and faced off against Kamito.

"Able to close in on such a distance in an instant, not too shabby at all&mdash;"

(...Evaded!?)

Kamito mentally clicked his tongue.

Even the Empire's top spirit knights should not be able to see through his motions.

Although this was partially due to his not being in peak condition, still...

"&mdash;Kamito, dodge!"

Ellis cried out from behind. Kamito instantly jumped sideways.

A giant wind storm gouged the ground as the impact advanced.

This massive attack was probably going to be dodged. However, the enemy only had limited space to do so&mdash;

"Do not underestimate the Sylphid Knights!"

Ellis opened her hand. Instantly, the wind storm exploded.

The attacker was blown away by the astounding gale and rolled on the ground.

Ellis instantly closed in and mercilessly attacked her opponent with a thrust.

Her attack brushed the edge of the hood.

A lock of severed black hair scattered in the wind.

"&mdash;As expected of the captain. Looks like you're different from the rest."

The attacker praised. Kamito also secretly counted his good fortune.

Evidently, Ellis had not gone all out when trying to catch Kamito yesterday.

Ellis's blade dancing skills were far beyond a typical student's level.

(But&mdash;)

Kamito's gaze turned back to the hooded attacker.

The opponent was still confident and had effort to spare. This was proven by the fact that no weapon had been drawn yet.

(...The level of the Instructional School's high rankers? No, even superior to that&mdash;?)

"Okay, just surrender obediently&mdash;"

Pulling her spear from the ground, Ellis readied it in a renewed stance.

"&mdash;Like I said, you're too inexperienced!"

The attacker swiftly turned, catching Ellis by the ankle and flooring her.

"&mdash;Ellis!"

Kamito turned his sword to a reverse grip and leaped, kicking the ground.

(Assassination technique&mdash;Snakes and Scorpions!)

Keeping a low stance, he zoomed across the ground, aiming at the enemy's feet.

The opponent jumped straight up to evade and his blade pierced the ground.

However, that first strike was bait. The key was&mdash;

(Assassination technique&mdash;Flying Snake!)

Swinging the blade, embedded in the ground, upwards all at once, he unleashed a slash with godly speed.

The slash traced out a vertical line, severing the hood and the overcoat in one cut.

"...What!?"

The overcoat covering the attacker's entire body fluttered to the ground.

Revealed was a young girl with a cute face, dressed in a magnificent battle outfit.

Her hair, cut short like a boy's, silently scattered.

Her eyes of amethyst, glinting brightly, glared sharply at Kamito.

"The unorthodox sword huh. How unsightly, Kazehaya Kamito&mdash;"

"...!?"

Instantly, Kamito found himself being pointed at by a weapon.

An unadorned weapon crafted from black iron.

(No way&mdash;)

Kamito had witnessed identical objects at the Instructional School.

Manufactured in the factories of the Kingdom of Balstan, this was the pinnacle of spirit engineering.

This was a destructive weapon that shot out spirit crystals at high speed through a reaction between pyromatter and divine power.

A handgun.

(&mdash;An Artificer huh!?)

An elementalist who used artifacts to fight instead of contracted spirits.

The muzzle flashed. Kamito hastily dodged&mdash;

However, upon striking the ground, the spirit crystal shattered. Howling, cold wind surrounded Kamito.

(...An ice spirit bullet!)

"Kamito!"

Ellis yelled. However, Kamito's figure was being covered entirely by the blizzard&mdash;

"...It's my win, Demon King Kamito!"<ref>Note: the attacker uses the ''boku'' first person pronoun despite being a girl.</ref>

The girl reloaded her gun.

This time, she loaded a bullet that was meant to defeat the enemy instead of merely immobilizing them.

However&mdash;

"...What?"

The girl frowned in surprise.

Amidst the howling blizzard, an explosive flash of light appeared.

"...A-Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"

Kamito's right hand's crest of the sword and moon was glowing.

"Stop it, Kamito! Dangerous&mdash;!"

Ellis's voice was heard beyond the blizzard.

(...I know, but... I can't control it...!)

This was not Kamito's own will.

In response to Kamito's crisis, a reverse flow of divine power was pouring back into him.

The massive divine power was expanding instantly within Kamito's body.

Then&mdash;

The rampant divine power erupted from his swinging right hand.