Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume5 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 8===

The sword, luster all lost, fell for what felt like eternity through an endless darkness.

She was not dormant, yet not conscious, only silent and still.

Whether to call this feeling peace or torture varied from person to person, but truth be told, these additional definitions were meaningless – stillness was stillness.

The sword sank in the pitch-blackness; it was a world with nothing bar darkness.

''Kamito...''

Her power almost all lost, all the sword spirit could do was to call his name.

''Kamito... I am your sword, so –''

The spirit whispered, and at that moment –

Out of the darkness suddenly shot a dazzling light.

The figure that appeared in the light was – a naked, pale-skinned, silvery-white-haired maiden.

She looked just like Est in human form.

''– Who are you?''

The sword asked the girl before her.

''I am the consciousness of the one... previously known as the Demon Slayer Sacred Sword.''

The silvery-white-haired girl answered, her expression blank.

''You... are me?''

''Yes. You are me – whereas I, am you complete.''

At her answer, Est finally understood the true identity of the girl.

''You are my 'body'... right?''

''Yes, I am your higher physical presence.''

The girl nodded, expressionless.

She was the highest-level sword spirit with overwhelming power – the real Demon Slayer Sacred Sword.

When Est had made an incomplete spirit contract with Kamito, she had split into two individuals.

Perhaps it was because Est had lost her power and was on the verge of disappearing that the loop joining the two of them could once again reconnect.

''I cannot stay for much longer.''

The girl who looked exactly like Est gently stretched out her right hand to her –

And commanded in a cold expressionless voice:

''I command you to immediately destroy the contract with Kazehaya Kamito and come back to me.''

For her, this was a request there was no denying.

After all, Est's contract with Kamito was an informal, happenstance event in the first place.

Because the Demon Slayer Sacred Sword had not originally intended to make any contracts with elementalists.

Even she herself did not know why she had let herself become the contracted spirit of that boy.

These conflicting emotions split to form Terminus Est – this was the origin of the other Est.

However, now that the contract Gate between Est and Kazehaya Kamito was closed, she could take advantage of this time to fuse back the missing piece Terminus Est.

Unexpectedly –

''... I-I refuse.''

The sword—Est—turned down the outstretched hand of the Sacred Sword maiden.

The sword cut through the surrounding darkness, and pointed its tip towards the girl's throat.

''– You refuse?''

''I do not... I do not want to break my contract with Kamito...''

''You are merely a part of me, yet you want to defy my wishes?''

''I am the sword of Kamito, not something of yours.''

Est expressed her desire to refuse clearly to the maiden.

''– I understand, it seems... that elementalist has germinated in you the seed of self-awareness.''

Again expressionless, the girl said quietly.

Her silvery white hair, which exuded a faint light in the dark, whipped up violently.

''But I do have to tell you, Est... you—or I should say, I—do not have the right to become the sword of any person.''

''... I don't understand what you mean?''

''Because my existence itself is a kind of sin.''

''– Sin?''

The sword could not understand the meaning in the girl's words because, in the moment that she contracted with Kamito, she lost most of the memories she had in common with her original body.

The present Est was left with a handful of incomplete past memory fragments.

As well as the memory of the short period of time spent with Kamito and the others.

''Recall it, the sins that you – and I – must bear.''

The silvery-white-haired girl gently touched the tip of the sword.

In an instant, memories flowed like a fierce torrent into Est's mind –

''Recall it, the events with the very first person to contract with me... Areishia Idriss.''

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