Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume9 Prologue (section)

===Part 2===
While she glared at the darkness the two ran into—

“—Those lowly assassins…”

The Theocracy’s witch Sjora Kahn intensely bit down on her molars.

Originally, Team Inferno was nothing more than mercenaries the Theocracy had hired. In spite of that, that girl claiming to be Ren Ashbell was taking action on her own accord.

Even that was annoying but—

(… That girl interfered with my plan.)

Sjora was so filled with rage that she could feel her insides boiling.

The one who released Sjora's captive, the Darkness Queen candidate—Fianna Ray Ordesia, was her without a doubt.

Had she not released the Ordesia princess at the time, Sjora would not have suffered such an unsightly defeat.

“…I’ll definitely not let this pass. That girl, those conceited brats from Instructional School, the girls in Team Scarlet, and Kazehaya Kamito—Everyone, everyone, everyone, everyone will be killed by my very hands.”

Her charming red lips quivered in hatred. Her defeat at Pandemonium was etched as an unerasable humiliation into Sjora’s memories.

<!--18-->
“Princess—”

The elder of Snake opened his mouth as he remained prostrated on the ground.

“What is it?”

“It’s regarding your request, but we are definitely in possession of it.”

“Ah, is that so?”

At that moment, Sjora smiled with satisfaction.

That’s right, that was her goal for appearing here.

“It's here now, right? Show it to me.”

“Ye—”

The elder nodded, and respectfully held up a small ring taken from the sleeves of his robe.

“Fufu, this is…”

Putting the ring on her right ring finger, the witch smiled in satisfaction.

Sealed in the ring was a spirit that would form a pair with the demon Baldanders.

“The one who takes everything by force—Bandersnatch. With this, I’ll…”

Sjora Kahn was gazing at the ring with a rapturous expression,

“—And, one more thing. There’s a message for you, princess.”

<!--19-->
The Snake elder continued with a flat tone.

“A message?”

“Yes—from our Hierarch-sama.”

“Our Hierarch-sama!?”

Rosy tones flashed across Sjora’s cheeks.

Years had passed since the Snake's Hierarch last bestowed any words upon her.

“R-Really—no, so, what did Hierarch-sama say?”

“Yes—”

The elder shortly nodded at the witch, who was hurriedly pressing on,

“''Useless puppet, I shall take over from now onwards''—he said.”

“…Eh?”

Without the time to understand the meaning of those words—

All twenty members of Snake present unsheathed their blades at the same time.

In an instant, the group of black robes rushed in. Silver flashes occurred in the darkness of the night, and twenty blades pierced the entire body of the witch.

“…Ha… You guys, what—!”

“All is within your plans. Princess, as one who has inherited royal blood, you shall now be the new vessel to incarnate the Hierarch.”

<!--20-->
“…Ha, I was deceived… ug…”

“All in accordance with Hierarch-sama's guidance.”

The group that pierced the witch’s whole body sung the incantation in spirit language.

From the edges of the blades, violent flashes of lightning gushed out and mowed down the surrounding trees.

That sight seemed to be a ritual to summon an even stronger spirit.

“…Ah… Hierarch-sa…ma…”

The witch gasped as she reached her hand out to the sky—

Her body suddenly made a shaking motion.

Then—

“Ku, ha…haha…kuhahahahaha!”

Tearing up the silent, the loud laughter resounded in the stillness of the night.

“—As expected of the descendant of the royalty, I’ve nothing to criticize about its disposition as a vessel!”

“Hierarch-sama, that body is a temporary vessel. Please do not forget that.”

“I don’t need you to tell me that. It’s a little cramped, but I’ll endure until I obtain a proper body.”

He glanced at the prostrating group with a bored-look,

“The one to have the last laugh will be me.—Hello there, ''the other Demon King''.”

The ''thing'' that had Sjora’s appearance wickedly distorted her lips.


<noinclude>{{SeireiDance Nav|prev=Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume8 Illustrations|next=Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume9 Chapter1}}</noinclude>