Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance

Volume 2, Chapter 5 - The One Who Will Succeed the Demon King

Part 1

"What on earth is this—"

Clad in the devastating winds of the demon wind spirit, Ellis, who appeared gallantly, was speechless.

There was an unbelievable scene spread out before her eyes.

The knights of the Sylphid Knights, which maintained the public order of the academy, were collapsed on the ground in heaps.

Only academy students with excellent results could enroll into the Sylphid Knights. That was—

(Don\'t tell me, they were defeated by just one intruder!?)

In the middle of the darkness, where there was a drizzle.

A small figure, who put on an overcoat with a hood, was standing in the middle of the collapsed girls.

"Was it you, bastard? The one that did this!"

Ellis asked a direct question. Her hand was already armed with the elemental waffe —Ray Hawk.

It was just about 30 minutes ago that she heard the report that an intruder had appeared in the academy and plundered the classified materials of the seal specification from the library. Ellis immediately put out a pursuit order to a platoon of the Knights, and while she used her wind spirit to give instructions to every platoon, she was pursuing the intruder by herself.

And then, upon travelling at high speed to the place where she lost contact with them, they were in that state.

The elementalist before her eyes kept quiet. Just a scorning presence was transmitted.

"—I see, in that case, I\'ll make you talk whether you like it or not."

The Ray Hawk, which Ellis took a stance with, filled with wind thunderously.

Just by looking, the figure of a contracted spirit could not be found in that person\'s surroundings. It seemed like that person wasn\'t holding an elemental waffe either.

However, the elementalist, before her eyes, had already defeated 5 girls from the Knights.

(Is she using a type of spirit that possesses the flesh?)

The opponent\'s identity was completely unknown. Or, far from not finding the figure of a contracted spirit, was the opponent not an elementalist?—No, that can\'t be it. For example, even if one launched a surprise attack, something like a person, who wasn\'t even an elementalist, to defeat five Knights members alone was impossible.

(In that case, I\'ll have to ascertain it with these eyes of mine—!)

Ellis took a stance with Ray Hawk and attacked like a gale.

The opponent finally reacted. A muffled voice was heard from under the hood—

"—Manifest, Wolf FangFanged Wolf Spirit."

At that moment, a pattern of lines appeared on the ground, and a spirit with the appearance of a ferocious wolf was summoned.

"That\'s your spirit, huh? However, it isn\'t a match for my demon wind spirit!"

As she ran, Ellis wielded her lance perfectly horizontal.

The lump of violent winds she released mowed down the roadside trees while rushing toward Wolf Fang.

Ellis accelerated like she was being sucked in by her self-made wind vortex, ignoring the stranded Wolf Fang, and aimed directly for the elementalist.

Tan!—She kicked the ground. Her academy skirt waved about and Ellis had jumped.

She was about to do her specialty, a nose-dive attack from the sky. It was a technique that had defeated all the upperclassmen during the practice matches.

With the contracted spirit stranded, the elementalist, who became defenseless, looked up.

And then, the person faced Ellis and turned her palm towards her.

"What!?"

"—Manifest, Blast GearRipping Thunder Spirit!"

At that moment, a bluish-white lightning, released from her palm, was fired at Ellis.

Ellis, who had not been expecting anything like an attack coming towards her, received a direct attack and was blown away without even being able to dodge in mid-air.

Without delay, Wolf Fang rushed in and attacked. It pushed down on Ellis, who was thrown onto the ground, and tried to bite down on her windpipe. On the verge of that—

Hyuu! She thought she heard a sound that ripped apart the air, then, Wolf Fang\'s body was severed into four parts in an instant, burning up into ashes.

"...!?"

Ellis raised her face and traced the crimson remains that ripped apart the night sky with her eyes—

"You owe me one, Ellis Fahrengart."

Raven Class\'s Claire Rouge descended with her Flametounge in her hand.

And then—

"Ellis, are you alright?!"

Armed with a silver sword, Kazehaya Kamito came running.

Part 2

Kamito rushed over to Ellis\'s side, who had already fallen.

Armed with the elemental waffe—Terminus Est, he stood with his arms apart as if protecting her.

Claire was a short distance away and Fianna also came running later, out of breath.

"Ellis, are you alright?"

"...I-It isn\'t a big deal."

Kamito lifted Ellis up by her shoulder and she turned red and shifted her face away.

"What on earth happened? Who is that person?"

"It is nothing concerning you guys. This has been entrusted to the Knights, so step back."

"That won\'t do. We are elementalists. And even if there weren\'t the Knights, we have the obligation to fight to protect the academy."

"It\'s like that. Besides—"

Staring directly at Ellis\'s face, Kamito said.

"Our precious comrade was hurt; do you think we could stay silent?"

"Kamito..."

Ellis\'s face turned bright red and she tightly pressed down on her chest.

—At that moment.

"Hey, I can\'t believe you came. Kazehaya Kamito."

The elementalist before his eyes raised his voice. For some reason, it was an irritating voice.

"...Who are you? Why do you know my name?"

"Your name is famous, you know. You\'re the same as me, a male elementalist."

"What!?"

The elementalist before his eyes slowly took off his overcoat with a hood.

At that moment, all of them at that place gulped.

Coming to sight from under the overcoat was—

His dark brown skin, which had tattoos applied all over his body; with glaring and shining red eyes, it was – a boy.

"Such a thing... don\'t tell me, there are male elementalists other than Kamito!?"

Claire raised a surprised voice.

It wasn\'t— a girl disguised as a boy.

Not just his voice and face, no matter how one looked at that physique, it was that of a male.

(This guy, who on earth... No, leaving that aside now –)

Before Kamito\'s eyes, the injured Knight girls had collapsed.

"—Was this done by you?"

"Yeah. However, I didn\'t kill them. That lot was raised in a lenient miniature garden and isn\'t worth killing."

"What did you say!?"

"Calm down, Ellis, it\'s just a cheap provocation."

Ellis grinded her teeth and whispered near Kamito\'s ear.

"Be careful, Kazehaya Kamito. He has a double contract with spirits."

"A double contract?"

A double contract was, in other words, contracts with two spirits at the same time.

By using several spirits, one could compensate for the weakness of his battle style.

However, exchanging contracts with several spirits would only have demerits in most cases.

The fellow contracted spirits caused interference, thus it became impossible to manifest their original powers.

Kamito was certainly in that situation right now. As the contract with the darkness spirit was not broken, it ended up shutting out Est\'s power, who was originally an even more powerful spirit.

"...A male elementalist. In addition, a double contractor?"

"Yeah, the spirits he\'s using are close-combat type Wolf Fang and far-range attack Blast Gear."

Ellis nodded.

"Hey, could you overlook this for today? I don\'t have the mood to fight you now."

"What was that?"

Kamito frowned at the boy, who waved his hand flutteringly like he was making fun of him.

"As long as I obtain this, that\'s fine."

The boy took out a small black lithograph from his chest pocket to show them.

"What is that?"

"The classified materials of the seal specification that I stole from the academy library. By using a special spirit device, it is filled with high density information that can be deciphered."

While arming herself with her demon lance of wind, Ellis muttered.

"The classified materials of the seal specification? Why did you steal such –"

At that moment, a leather whip flew aimed at the boy\'s hand.

It was Claire\'s surprise attack. Had it been foreseen? The boy easily dodged the whip—

"—Kamito, Ellis!"

"Ahh!"

Before Claire shouted, the both of them were moving.

"Tch, every one of them are one stupid lot—"

"You bastard—"

Feeling that her comrades of the Knights were insulted, Ellis was enraged.

She swung her Ray Hawk perfectly horizontally – the wind blades, dancing boisterously, severed the roadside trees.

"Huh, another charge? You have no ingenuity!"

As he dodged the raging wind blades, the boy jumped.

He had a superhuman jumping power. In a manner of passing each other with movements like those of a shadow, he drove a counter punch into Ellis\'s stomach, who came charging.

"Guu—"

"Ellis!"

Kamito shouted.

(With just one strike to that Ellis...)

The boy, who made Ellis faint, had already jumped into the darkness.

"Don\'t escape!"

Claire immediately let loose her Flametounge. Beautifully drawing an arc, the red hot killing brandish stood out vividly in the black night.

A sculpture, modeled after the appearance of the spirit lord, was severed in an instant and was blasted with a flashy sound.

Kamito took a stance with Terminus Est and jumped into the rising cloud of dust.

The attack just now shouldn\'t have made a direct hit. He searched for the enemy\'s figure by his presence—

At that moment, bloodlust was felt from behind.

Kamito immediately jumped sideways. The killing flash of a dagger mowed down at the place where his head was a moment ago.

The boy stepped in without a sound. He didn\'t give him a chance to get some distance between them.

There were no wasted movements— It was like those movements from Silent Killing.

(This guy – he\'s a professional assassin!?)

Kamito barely stopped the blow of the drawn sword, flashing in the darkness, with his sword.

At that moment, there was a strong impact to his stomach. A strong punch was thrown and Kamito\'s stance crumbled. An assassin\'s dagger swooped over – but Kamito knocked off the dagger with the bottom of his fist and rolled on the ground with the force, getting some distance.

"Hey, aren\'t you pretty good, as expected of the strongest blade dancer."

"What!?"

Kamito\'s eyes widened in surprise.

(This guy, does he know my true identity!?)

In that moment\'s opening, when his consciousness went astray, the boy smiled and came jumping once again.

There were no weapons in his hands. Kamito was armed with Terminus Est—

"—Manifest, FalchionSword Spirit!"

"Wha!?"

A violent firework exploded. Terminus Est, which was horizontally mowed down on, was repelled.

What the boy was holding in his hand was a large blue shining sword.

It wasn\'t an ordinary sword— It was an elemental waffe of a sword spirit.

"His third contracted spirit!?"

He had crossed swords several times with elementalists that used two spirits at the same time.

However, he had not heard of anything like an elementalist using a third or more spirits.

"This isn\'t something to be that surprised about. The Demon King Solomon was said to have used seventy-two spirits, you know."

"Don\'t mess around... that\'s just a legend—"

"What if the existence of that legend was now right before your eyes?"

The boy warped his lips into a smile.

"I am Jio Inzagi – The one who will succeed the Demon King."

"Kamito, get away!"

At that moment, countless fireballs were released from behind. It was Claire\'s spirit magic.

Kamito immediately reacted and jumped.

It was a downpour of fireballs. However, the boy –Jio Inzagi held out his hand with a calm composure.

"—Manifest, AerialWind Spirit!"

A lump of compressed wind was released radically.

The violent whirling wind erased the fireballs and blew away the surrounding rubble together with Kamito.

(Aerial...His fourth spirit!?)

Jio\'s shadow appeared right above Kamito, who looked surprised.

At the same time as releasing Aerial, he had used that force and jumped.

The edge of the sword spirit in his hand shone silver.

"Die—Ren AshbellStrongest Blade Dancer."

"...!?"

Towards Kamito\'s heart, the tip of a shining sword approached—

At that moment, a pebble came flying from the side.

"Tch—"

Jio repelled that off reflexively, and at that moment—

A flash like broad daylight filled his field of vision.

Jio, whose eyes were disoriented, lost his sword and it pierced the ground.

Kamito quickly regained his stance—

Katsun! –There was a dry sound. A smashed transparent stone fell at Kamito\'s feet.

(...This is a spirit crystal?)

Kamito was taken aback and turned around.

Over there—

"Hey, I wonder, could you please not forget about me?"

Fianna was standing with her hands at her waist.

Part 3

He might have noticed that her voice was trembling.

And yet, Fianna stoutheartedly glared at the enemy before her – Jio Inzagi.

There were 3 spirit crystals held in her hand. Every piece had a flash spirit sealed in it.

The appearance definitely looked flashy, but its attack power was almost nonexistent; it was only usable as a distraction at best.

It was possible to take him by surprise just now, but he was probably not an opponent who would fall for such a childish trick again.

Jio Inzagi slowly turned towards Fianna.

Being watched by his glaring and shining red eyes, Fianna\'s shoulders trembled.

"Hey, were you the one who hindered me?"

"He is mine. Get your hands off him."

"I see—"

Jio faced her directly and held out his hand.

"—Manifest, Shining RayDemon Light Spirit"

A spear of ominous light was born from that hand – he had decided to aim at Fianna\'s heart.

"Ah—"

Fianna – couldn\'t even move.

Like a prey glared at by a predator.

The spirit crystals held in her palms fell out. Her fingertips were trembling due to the fear.

"No, it\'s the same as that day—"

She had a flashback.

Four years ago, when she stood before her, that day.

That day when she tasted the fear of hopelessness, when Fianna\'s heart had broken.

She had planned on firmly opposing him and drawing out her courage, but her body\'s trembling wouldn\'t stop.

"Then, die—"

Jio threw the light spear.

"Fianna!"

Claire launched her Flametounge, but it wouldn\'t make it in time with that distance.

Fianna closed her eyes. A moment later, she resigned herself to her coming death.

However—

"...Eh?"

The pain of her heart being pierced that should have been there wasn\'t there.

When she opened her eyes—

"Kamito-kun?"

Kamito was before her eyes with his arms opened, and he had stopped the light spear with his left hand.

Red blood trickled down from his pierced palm.

"Whoa, I\'ve misjudged you. You covered for such a useless person."

"Shut up... Fianna is our comrade."

Kamito groaned in order to suppress the pain, and genuflected on that spot.

"That\'s fine, if you want to die so much, then I\'ll immediately kill—"

"I won\'t let you, that guy is my slave!"

At that moment, the Flametounge released by Claire attacked Jio.

The crimson flames licked the ground. Jio clicked his tongue and jumped.

—At that moment, the sound of clattering armors and helmets was heard in the distance.

It seemed that having heard the sound of a battle, a reinforcement of a large group of Knights had come.

"Tch, in this situation, I\'ll pardon you. I\'ve already obtained the target materials."

"You won\'t escape!"

"Claire, don\'t chase him too far!"

Kamito stopped Claire, who was about to pursue him.

"...Kamito, is your injury alright?"

"Ahh, it isn\'t a big... Ouch!"

"Id-Idiot, don\'t overdo it!"

Claire supported Kamito, who was struggling with the pain, by his back.

"A male elementalist the same as you... that guy, who on earth is he?"

"Yeah...Fianna?"

Kamito noticed something and turned around.

The backlash of the tension being resolved had caused Fianna to collapse at that spot suddenly like a thread snapping.