Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume19 Chapter10 (section)

===Part 3===

Kiiiiiiiiiiiin&mdash;

With an ear-splitting noise&mdash;

The glowing spiral angel began to spin at high speed.

The glowing runes deployed around it gave off intense light.

"&mdash;It's coming, Claire!"

Issuing a warning, Kamito released divine power and closed in all at once.

The spiral angel stopped spinning.

From instinct, Kamito judged it to be an attacking motion.

Instantly, the deployed glowing runes gathered into a point and released a flash of light.

(...It's coming!?)

Kamito lowered his posture as though lunging at the ground.

This reaction could only have been performed by predicting an attack.

The lightning beam rushed past the top of Kamito's head from the focus point.

The air was torn apart. The heat wave from the beam scorched his skin.

Fired in a straight line, the lightning beam's trail disappeared in the sky far off in the distance behind him.

Had it touched any part of him, his entire body probably would have been turned into ash.

Crushing stone tiles underfoot, Kamito rushed forward resolutely.

"O magic lightning of darkness, crush mine enemies&mdash;Vorpal Blast!"

The jet-black lightning erupting from the demon sword's blade rained down on the spiral angel.

But&mdash;

K... iiii... iiiiiiiiiiiiii&mdash;!

The angel deployed glowing runes around it again, producing a weird noise akin to metallic friction.

The magic lightning of darkness, capable of destroying everything, was easily deflected by the angel's barrier.

This was absolute defense for nullifying the power of spirits, interfering with natural laws of the world.

(...! Sure enough, it doesn't work, huh?)

Kamito had expected the angel's defense to relax after a powerful attack.

The spiral angel floated up lightly.

Then six points of light began to contract at the same time.

(...! Carpet bombing next!?)

Discerning the lightning beams' trajectories, Kamito realized dodging was impossible.

In that case&mdash;

(&mdash;Est, can you hold up!?)

While jumping to the side, Kamito shouted in his heart.

...But all he got was silence.

(Huh, E-Est...?)

'It's useless, Kamito. Miss Sword Spirit is currently focused on analyzing the barrier.'

"...No way!"

Hearing Restia's voice, Kamito groaned in despair.

'Didn't we agree to buy a minute of time? Very well, let's go&mdash;'

"W-Wait...!"

Just then&mdash;

"Dance, a rondo of flames, O flourishing blossoms of scorching flames&mdash;Flare Rose Garden!"

Claire's stern voice was heard.

The spirit magic poured into Flametongue was released&mdash;

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

Detonation. Centered on the angel, the entire area exploded.

By striking the focus points of the lightning beams, Flametongue had detonated them.

"Claire, you saved me!"

"Scarlet and I will take out the attack's origin points."

Jumping onto a collapsed building, Claire brought back Flametongue with a swish.

"Kamito, keep moving to act as a diversion."

"...Got it. I'll try to draw its attention as much as possible."

"B-But, don't overdo it!"

Saying that, Claire hastily added.

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

Chuckling wryly, Kamito readied the Vorpal Sword.

(Time until Est completes analysis, thirty-four seconds to go. Thirty-three, thirty-two...)

While focusing on the battle at hand, Kamito also kept an accurate countdown in his mind.

...As long as he persisted, a chance would come.

...i, iii, iiiiiiiiiiiii&mdash;!

The strange noise was heard again. Burning flames were instantly erased.

This time, runes with a red glow were deployed around the spiral angel.

(&mdash;The pattern is different from just now!?)

Of course, Kamito could not understand what the runes meant.

But at least he knew that the incoming attack would be different from before.

The glowing runes reached the ground and deployed in a circle.

"It's coming, Claire. Be careful&mdash;"

"What's coming?"

"Who knows&mdash;"

"W-What... Eh, kyah!"

"Claire, hold on to me!"

Kamito hurried to Claire's side and pulled her by the arm.

Picking up her kitten-like body in his arms, he jumped on top of rubble.

"Hwa... K-Kamito!?"

Claire instantly blushed to her ears. Her eyes became moist.

Just then, the ground under Kamito's feet turned into mud. His body instantly sank down.

"...!?"

Kamito released concentrated divine power in one go, jumped again, leaping on top of a building.

Centered around the spiral angel, the surrounding buildings slowly sank into the ground.

"W-What is going on...!?"

"This area's properties has been rewritten&mdash;"

Putting Claire down on a roof, Kamito looked down.

The road paved with stone tiles had turned into pitch-black mud, devouring everything.

"T-This is so crazy..."

Stunned, Claire grumbled softly.

"This is nothing..."

Still gripping his swords tight, Kamito wiped sweat off his brow.

Soon, the glowing runes vanished and the bottomless swamp turned back into the original ground.

Glowing with rainbow colors, the spiral angel began to slowly spin in one place.

(But it seems a bit odd...)

Suddenly it occurred to Kamito.

Compared to the Dunamis angel he had fought at the Academy, this angel seemed more defensive in action.

Of course, its power was still nothing to laugh at, but&mdash;

(It's almost like it's ''waiting for something to arrive''...)

Thinking that, Kamito then noticed.

Apart from the barrier deployed around the angel&mdash;

Runes had been spinning inside the spiral this whole time.

(...What's going on? What is it doing?)

'&mdash;Kamito, angel analysis complete.'

Just then, Est's voice interjected into Kamito's mind.

Words of High Ancient flowed rapidly around the Demon Slayer's blade.

"Good job, Est!"

'Yes, Kamito. I shaved off approximately seven seconds.'

With an unemotional voice, Est declared a little proudly.

"Now we can finally counterattack."

"Yes, it's not my style to keep taking attacks."

'Sharing data with hell cat spirit.'

Resonating, the Demon Slayer and Claire's Flametongue began to glow.

"I don't know why, but this angel doesn't seem that strong in offense. It's much easier to handle than the Dunamis angel I met in the Academy."

Just as Kamito was about to counterattack...

'&mdash;Wait a moment, Kamito.'

"Whati is it?"

'The existence density inside the angel is rapidly rising.'

The silver-white blade flashed intensely.

"...Sorry, can you explain more clearly?"

'The angel seems to be summoning something inside it.'

"...What did you say!?"

The spiral angel that continued to spin gave off blinding light.

The spiral unraveled then vanished into thin air&mdash;

Something enveloped in light appeared at the same spot.

"...What!?"

Kamito could not help but gasp.

It was a human figure.

A tall human figure, dressed in a jet-black cape whose shape kept shifting like a shadow.

His entire body was shrouded in dark miasma. Behind that mask, shaped like a skull, was a pair of blood-colored eyes glowing ominously.

That image was almost like&mdash;

"...What the hell!?"

The strongest and most vicious being in the history of the continent&mdash;Demon King Solomon had appeared.