Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume14 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 5===

Taking Est and Restia, Kamito returned urgently to the Academy, only to find a commotion at the gates.

The Academy's students had set up a barricade in front of the main entrance and looked like they were having a fierce argument with the Empire's knights.

Dressed in armor, even the Sylphid Knights had their spirits summoned for some reason, restraining the Imperial Knights that were about to break the barricade.

It was like a powder keg waiting to be ignited any moment.

(...What the heck happened?)

Kamito wondered.

"Oh, it's you, Kamito."

Carrying heavy looking shopping bags, Claire ran over to him.

"Claire, what the heck is going on here?"

"It seems like part of the student body is protesting against the headmistress' arrest."

"...Huh?"

Kamito doubted his ears.

"Greyworth has been thrown in jail?"

"Read this&mdash;"

Claire took out a piece of paper from her front pocket.

It was a newspaper extra issued by the imperial capital. Reading it, Kamito's eyes widened.

"...What!?"

Fianna Ray Ordesia, the Empire's Second Princess, and Dame Greyworth Ciel Mais, formerly first ranked of the Numbers, had been arrested for an abortive assassination attempt on the emperor.

&mdash;The details were as follows.

During a session of the imperial council, the Empire's Second Princess Fianna Ray Ordesia had released a demon spirit, attempting to assassinate His Majesty the emperor. A petition signed by members of the anti-Arneus faction had also been discovered in the Second Princess' room.

Based on this, the incident was speculated to be a conflict born from the question of imperial succession.

Furthermore, the demon spirit released by the Second Princess was Dame Greyworth's contracted spirit. Thus, she was also thrown into jail as a co-conspirator.

"What the heck is going on!?"

Kamito could not help but scrunch the paper into a ball and yell.

"So you don't know anything about it either."

Claire shook her head.

"But there must be a mistake somewhere. Fianna clearly abandoned her position in the imperial family..."

"Yeah, I fear she was most likely framed."

"...Huahhhh!"

Hearing a sudden voice, Claire jumped in fright.

Out from Claire's shadow, a woman in a suit emerged silently.

"Freya-sensei!"

She was Miss Freya, the shadow elementalist and the homeroom teacher of Raven Class.

"Sensei, what on earth is going on? Who framed&mdash;"

"I am in the process of gathering information too. Claire Rouge, calm down first."

"How could I possibly calm down!? Because Fianna is now&mdash;"

At this moment, a small explosion was heard outside the barricade.

Someone on the Academy side had unleashed spirit magic.

"Stop that, idiot, don't use spirit magic!"

Surrounded by turmoil, Ellis yelled to stop the students from rioting.

"B-But Captain&mdash;"

"Throwing the headmistress into jail is unforgivable! Without even an official sentence&mdash;"

"The Imperial Knights are too tyrannical!"

(...This is a bad situation.)

Kamito pulled the frightened Restia and hid her behind his back.

As much as Kamito hated to admit, the respect and admiration the students afforded to the Dusk Witch and hero of the Ranbal War rivaled the popularity of Ren Ashbell, the Strongest Blade Dancer.

It would not come as a surprise if the students' anger exploded as a result of Greyworth's imprisonment.

However, rioting on the student side would give the Imperial Knights a pretext to suppress them.

"Claudia-sama, please authorize our use of spirit magic."

"This is legitimate defense. Let us hurry to arrest these rioters."

The woman named Claudia, clad in a high-ranked knight's armor, issued orders in a cold voice.

The spirit knights under her command released their elemental waffen at once.

The girls on the inside of the barricade began to feel afraid. There were almost no students capable of fighting professional spirit knights. Ultimately, only a small selection of honors students were able to summon contracted spirits and deploy elemental waffen with certainty.

"W-What are you doing? Do you intend to violate the Academy's right to autonomy&mdash;"

Ellis yelled as hard as she could but the Imperial Knights mercilessly destroyed the barricade.

"Dame Claudia, please ask your subordinates to withdraw&mdash;"

Ellis spoke to the leader of the opposing knights.

Engraved on the armor of the knight named Claudia was an emblem of an eagle with outspread wings.

It was the Fahrengart family crest. In other words, these knights were all inferior in position to Ellis, the daughter of the current family head.

However, the subordinate knights all ignored Ellis and forcibly arrested the resisting students. Screams were coming from girls who had their arms grabbed.

"...You&mdash;"

Reaching the end of her patience, Ellis summoned Ray Hawk. Just at that moment...

Scorching flames appeared from thin air, blocking the Imperial Knights.

"That's enough from you&mdash;"

Using Scarlet's intense flames, Claire threatened the surrounding knights.

Seeing a powerful spirit, far surpassing the level of students, the knights were taken aback.

"Claire...?"

"You are the Calamity Queen's sister."

However, Claudia stood her ground and stared coldly at Claire.

"Then the one over there must be Kazehaya Kamito."

Then she turned her gaze towards Kamito who was hiding Restia behind his back.

"...Yeah, so what?"

"Perfect. Orders from the higher-ups include your arrest."

"...What?"

"What do you mean by arrest!?"

Claudia drew her sword and swung the blade at Kamito.

"Because the friends of the Second Princess cannot be allowed to roam free after her assassination attempt on the emperor!"

"...Fianna can't possibly have attempted an assassination!"

"Irrelevant. I am merely a pawn that follows the military's orders."

Claudia brandished her sword while her subordinate knights swiftly surrounded Kamito and company.

(...There are seven spirit knights. Out of them, three are highly skilled.)

Kamito calmly assessed the enemy forces while holding Est's hand.

"Est, I'm counting on you&mdash;"

"Yes, Kamito. I am your sword, your wish is my command&mdash;"

After Kamito recited the incantation of release, Est's figure turned into particles of light that disappeared into thin air, transforming into the Demon Slayer, shining with silver-white radiance.

"What can one person do? Attack!"

As Claudia yelled, the surrounding spirit knights rushed in.

Kamito poured divine power into the Demon Slayer and kicked the ground hard.

"Absolute Blade Arts&mdash;Third Form, Shadowmoon Waltz!"

A flash of numerous slashes.

In the next second, all the attacking knights collapsed on the ground.

"Now way... In an instant... the three elites among the spirit knights...?"

"Sorry, I won't hold back if soldiers are my opponents."

Kamito adjusted his stance with the Demon Slayer and stared at the remaining knights.

"Count me in as well!"

Wielding Flametongue, Claire kept the knights pinned down.

"As expected of the victors of the Blade Dance tournament. It seems that ordinary means are not enough."

Claudia shrugged and stabbed her sword into the ground. Next&mdash;

"Which is why such a method&mdash;"

She snapped her fingers.

"Ah!"

Behind Kamito, Restia screamed.

"Restia!"

Kamito looked back to see a translucent serpentine spirit wrapped around Restia's head, choking her throat. This was a small militarized spirit used by the Imperial Knights for espionage.

"...Ack... Urgh..."

"This girl seems to be important to you, even though her identity is unknown."

"...You bitch!"

Kamito roared and glared angrily at Claudia in front of him.

"Stand down with your elemental waffe, Kazehaya Kamito."

"Damn...!"

Kamito gritted his teeth hard.

He was to blame for failing to watch over Restia properly, but did all spirit knights belonging to the imperial army stoop so low as to take hostages?

"Dame Claudia!"

Ellis yelled in reprimand.

"As a member of the Fahrengart Knights, how could you&mdash;"

"I am simply fulfilling my duties as a knight, Lady Ellis."

"...What are you talking about...?"

"...Kk... Urghhhh...!"

Strangled by the neck, Restia was wheezing painfully. In her darkness spirit days, she could easily pulverize low-ranked militarized spirits, but right now&mdash;

"...I got it. Please stop...!"

Kamito stabbed the Demon Slayer into the ground and raised his arms to surrender.

Claudia instantly ordered her subordinates:

"Seize Kazehaya Kamito and the Calamity Queen's sister."

"W-Wait, what are you doing... Kyah!"

Kamito and Claire were instantly captured by the army's binding spells.