Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume17 Chapter10 (section)

===Part 5===

On the stage where the Demon King and the Sacred Maiden had dueled, came endless sounds of blades clashing.

Coincidentally, one of the combatants was a princess maiden whom people called a miraculous sacred maiden&mdash;

While the other was the Demon King's successor, wielding the Demon Slayer.

The blade dance being performed all over this grand hall seemed to reenact a past era of legends.

"This very day, the blue sky wails, the earth shakes with anger&mdash;"

Pure white vestments fluttered up. Lurie Lizaldia chanted spirit magic.

Countless blades of holy light flew across the floor, slicing rows of stone pillars at their base.

However, Kamito had already disappeared from the ground.

Jumping freely between the collapsing stone pillars, he charged at Lurie to engage in combat.

This was high-level three dimensional movement&mdash;Assassination skills from the Instructional School.

For someone on his level, walls and floors were no different for him.

"&mdash;Go forth and pierce, Vorpal Blast!"

Released from a dead angle, jet-black demon lightning followed an unpredictable trajectory to attack Lurie.

In response, Lurie chanted defensive magic to neutralize the demonic lightning.

"A darkness spirit's power is useless against me."

"Of course I know that!"

Craaash!

With the fall of the stone pillars came an expanding cloud of dust.

In this environment with their vision completely obscured, a silver-white blade flashed.

The Demon Slayer and Lurie's nameless sacred sword crossed, producing sparks repeatedly.

"...!"

"This is not a knight's swordsmanship, Ren Ashbell. Are you getting anxious?"

"We are dueling here, not performing a blade dance for an audience."

Crossing blades up close, Kamito shouted.

Speed, power, judgment, experience, divine power, level of contracted spirit&mdash;

In all these respects, Kamito was superior to Lurie.

However&mdash;

(But I'm the one who's getting cornered, huh?)

He groaned in his thoughts.

Lurie's vestments glowed with phosphorescence.

Her injuries would always heal in an instant. That inborn freakish power&mdash;a power that one could very well call a curse&mdash;kept protecting her automatically.

It would do the same even if she herself did not want it, right?

Defeating the miraculous sacred maiden would require delivering a fatal blow to her in one hit.

However, Kamito could not bring himself to kill her. After all, there were things he had to ask.

...No, that was not the real reason.

(I am no longer an assassin of the Instructional School.)

Restia and the friends he had met at the Academy had given him a human heart.

Hence, he would never use the power of spirits to take other's lives.

Then the only way to defeat the endlessly regenerating Lurie would be to wait until she exhausted her divine power.

However, Kamito could not do that either.

He had a troublesome time limit.

If he were to keep consuming divine power like this&mdash;

The Darkness Elemental Lord's power would devour him.

No, the power of darkness ahd already started invading Kamito's consciousness.

Time was running out.

He had to decide.

"&mdash;Your sword has slowed down, Ren Ashbell!"

Lurie's sacred sword flashed.

Instead of using orthodox knightly swordsmanship, she was using moves modified from the dance of princess maidens.

She had trained in blade dancing, originally meant to serve as offerings to spirits, and attained dizzying heights in mastery.

"&mdash;So happy."

"Are you being sarcastic?"

While blocking sword strikes, Kamito spoke.

"I feel exhilarated purely from engaging a blade dance with the Strongest Blade Dancer."

"&mdash;Really?"

Kamito felt a dull sting in his heart, as though pierced by a small barb.

What he was about to do&mdash;

In a certain way, it might be even more cruel than taking her life.

If he were to use this move from the Absolute Blade Arts, she would never be able to blade dance again.

This was a taboo Absolute Blade Art that Greyworth had forbidden him to use.

After using it once, he had sworn to never use it ever again.

Kamito kicked the ground, jumping back.

Lurie stopped where she was instead of chasing after him.

The two backed away from each other, facing off.

"Are you out of options, Ren Ashbell?"

"No."

Saying that, Kamito stabbed the Vorpal Sword into the ground.

'...Kamito?'

Restia reacted with a surprised voice.

"&mdash;Sorry, Restia. This move of the Absolute Blade Arts cannot be used with two swords."

Also, the darkness element was ineffective against Lurie.

Restia seemed to realize what Kamito was about to do and soon fell silent.

Kamito held the Demon Slayer in both hands.

"What are you planning?"

"I'm not going to say 'don't hate me.' Prepare yourself."

He concentrated the divine power circulating through his entire body into the sword's blade.

&mdash;He had not used this move for three years.

But his body still remembered this Absolute Blade Art.

Ironically, that was because he had the most misgivings about this one move.

Probably feeling Kamito's silent pressure...

Lurie poured divine power into her nameless sacred sword in return.

Then&mdash;

The two of them moved.

Both took a step forward at the same time and ran.

"&mdash;Hiver Défense!"

Lurie used a move similar to Purple Lightning.

A thrust of reckless abandon, executed by one who did not fear injury.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhh!"

As for Kamito&mdash;

He bravely and decisively took the blow with his left arm.

The blade entered his flesh. Intense pain. But Kamito endured that and&mdash;

Aiming at the heart where all circulating channels gathered, he stabbed his sacred sword right there.

"Cough&mdash;Huff&mdash;"

Instead of steel, the Demon Slayer was a sword of pure light.

Up until this point, everything happened just like the time when he had pierced Velsaria's heart&mdash;

Last time, Kamito had erased a cursed armament seal.

"Absolute Blade Arts, Void Form&mdash;Soul Extinction!"

The instant Kamito shouted, the release divine power ran amok inside her body.