Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume14 Chapter2

Chapter 2 - The Awakened Girl

Part 1

"Please come this way."

Led by head maid Natalia, Kamito and company arrived in front of Judia's room.

To avoid frightening her with too many people showing up at once, only Rinslet, Mireille and Kamito entered the room.

Initially, Kamito wanted to decline, thinking it would be best if the two Laurenfrost sisters entered alone, but Judia's apparent wishes were to have Kamito brought along as well.

(...Oh well, I'm hoping to ask her some things too.)

"—Judia, we're coming in."

Rinslet called out nervously then pushed the door open lightly.

Gentle sunlight was streaming into the room through the window.

Over there, lying on the bed was an endearing young girl.

Her emerald eyes and pretty platinum-blonde hair were common characteristics shared by the Laurenfrost sisters. However, she gave off a different vibe compared to her other two sisters.

She seemed like a girl of fantasy, so fragile she might break upon touch.

(So this girl is Judia Laurenfrost...)

Kamito examined the girl carefully.

Judia's imprisonment in cursed ice by the Water Elemental Lord had happened before the Calamity Queen's rebellion, on that day of the Water Elemental Festival held in Laurenfrost four years ago.

Rinslet's junior by three years, she should be thirteen right now, but her appearance was much younger than her actual age. Currently, she looked roughly as old as Mireille.

It was possible that her physical body's growth had been halted during her imprisonment in cursed ice.

While she was lying on the bed at this moment, Judia's gaze was empty and suddenly wandered.

"...Rinslet, Nee-sama?"

Kamito heard her hoarse voice. It was like calling for someone far away.

"Judia... Thank goodness... This is truly wonderful..."

"Nee-sama... Nee-sama... I..."

Judia buried her face in Rinslet's chest, crying.

"There was not a single day when I was not thinking of you."

Rinslet sounded like she was about to cry. It was truly rare to see her acting this way in front of others, given her overweening pride.

"Judia-oneesama..."

"...This voice, Mireille?"

Reacting to Mireille's voice, Judia's hollow gaze began to wander again.

This unnatural movement of her gaze filled Kamito with a sense that something was wrong.

(No way...)

"Judia, Onee-sama?"

Mireille seemed to noticed something was off and cocked her head.

"I'm over here, you know?"

Called by her younger sister, Judia's gaze looked towards the space over Judia's head.

"Judia...?"

Rinslet looked up suddenly.

Instantly, her expression froze.

...So she noticed too.

"...Your eyes, don't tell me..."

Judia's emerald eyes had lost their shine.

Due to being imprisoned in cursed ice for many years and the influence of the Otherworldly Darkness, the girl's body and mind had been corroded—

"Worry not, Nee-sama—"

Judia shook her head lightly.

"I am guilty of handing my mind over to that darkness and destroying the Forest of Ice Blossoms—"

"You are not at fault for anything, Judia!"

"I-Indeed. Onee-sama, you were only possessed by something bad!"

"No, even if my mind was controlled, the fact remains unchanged that I enabled Zirnitra to revive and destroyed the Forest Dweller's homeland."

"Judia..."

Rinslet spoke in a pained voice while she gently wrapped her arms around her younger sister's shoulders, embracing her against her bosom.

"I will arrange for the best healers. Surely, healers from the imperial capital will be able to do something for those eyes—"

"Thank you, Nee-sama, but I believe that spirit magic probably cannot heal these eyes."

Judia shook her head helplessly.

—Suddenly, she looked up as though noticing something.

"May I ask who is the person over there?"

"I'm Kazehaya Kamito, Rinslet's classmate."

Kamito approached the bed and knelt down in front of the girl.

"You are..."

Instantly, the girl's face lit up.

"It was you who liberated me and Zirnitra."

"Rinslet's the one who saved you, not me."

Kamito shook his head.

"If she hadn't hurried over that time, I would've been locked in cursed ice too."

"Yes, I still remember. Nee-sama and you rescued me together."

"...Huh?"

Kamito exclaimed in surprise and exchanged looks with Rinslet.

"You were conscious inside the cursed ice?"

"I was kept in an unconscious state, in a place that was essentially pitch black. But from time to time, I would regain consciousness like a dream. Hence, I could not help but remember that Rinslet-neesama came to visit me at the shrine countless times."

"R-Really?"

Rinslet asked in a trembling voice and Judia nodded to her.

Hence, Rinslet's voice, thinking of her sister, had—

Definitely reached the depths of her little sister's heart, imprisoned in Otherworldly Darkness.

(However, if that's the case...)

Kamito felt excited.

"Judia, I've got something to ask you."

"...You want to ask me about something?"

"Yeah. Umm, though it might be a memory you don't want to recall—"

Kamito spoke slightly hesitantly but soon made his decision.

"Do you by any chance remember what happened when that darkness devoured you?"

Instantly, Judia's expression froze.

Her fingers, clutching her knee, began to tremble uncontrollably from fear.

"Onii-sama?" "Kamito-san, that is too—"

"...Did you see something?"

Holding the girl's trembling hand, Kamito asked again.

Before long, the hand's trembling subsided—

Judia nodded slightly and began to speak gently.

"Yes, I still remember. What I saw on that day, I remember clearly."

"..."

"On that day, what I saw in the darkness, packed densely in the darkness, countless angels—"

Hearing such words from the girl's lips—

Kamito could not help but gasp.

(Angels... huh.)

Somewhere deep in his mind seemed to hurt.

(Yes, I definitely saw it too—)

On that day when he had emerged victorious from the Blade Dance tournament, earning the privilege for an audience with the Elemental Lords...

Just before he could reach the Fire Elemental Lord's throne, Kamito's entire body had been devoured by Otherworldly Darkness.

—I had seen it.

Restless in darkness that did not exist in this world, they were neither spirits nor humans.

—Thousands if not tens of thousands strong, an army of countless angels.

(Sure enough, I was not mistaken.)

Cold sweat broke out of the hand he was holding.

Winged humanoid giants glowing with silver-white light.

According to legends on the continent, angels were primordial beings that gave birth to spirits.

However, the existence of such beings had never been proven, not even once.

—I don't think there was any mistake in what we saw.

Kamito did not know if what he had seen was truly a so-called angel. But ultimately, given such an appearance, it was inevitable he would associate them with the beings he recalled from bedtime stories.

(But it looks like Judia is thinking along the same lines as me...)

Judia's dull pupils wandered emptily while she continued.

"I was simply stunned by that sight. Too afraid, I could not move at all. At the time, one of the angels arrived before me out from the darkness. The silver-white radiance swallowed me—"

(A being from the depths of the Otherworldly Darkness—an angel? And it chose Judia?)

So far, Kamito had pegged the Otherworldly Darkness as a calamity that corrupted the Elemental Lords' minds, an existence with neither thought nor free will.

However, according to what Judia recalled, the angel that had made contact with her was clearly sentient.

"Umm, what did you feel when you were swallowed by the darkness?"

Kamito asked urgently again.

However, Judia shook her head.

"...I am very sorry but that is all I can remember from that day. Afterwards, inside the darkness, all I have are fragmentary memories form the few times when I regained consciousness—"

Then she rubbed her temples painfully.

"Judia, are you alright?"

Rinslet asked with worry.

"...Do not worry. I just have, a little headache..."

"Then you'd better get some rest. Besides, you only just woke up from your coma."

"...Indeed. Yes, I'm a bit, tired."

The girl on the bed smiled briefly.

"...Sorry for making you remember unpleasant things."

"Not at all. I am very glad to be of slight assistance."

Seeing the girl shake her head to muster optimism, Kamito stood up from the bedside.

"Then I'm leaving first. Sorry for intruding on your reunion as sisters."

"You don't have to worry about that, Onii-sama. After all, we're both going to end up as your sisters in the future, Onii-sama."

"...Onii... -sama?"

Hearing Mireille, Judia cocked her head in puzzlement.

"...Uh... M-Mireille, what on earth are you talking about!?"

Rinslet instantly turned bright red and started hammering her fists on Mireille's shoulder.

Smiling wryly, Kamito exited the room.

Part 2

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Part 3

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Part 4

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