Welcome to a brand new fanfic! It appears that Dragon Emperor of the Heavenly Storm won't be my only non-crossover story after all!
This idea came to me as I was rereading the eleventh volume of the light novel series. I was thinking, why didn't Restia just teach the teleportation spell to Kamito before they attacked the Elemental Lords? So this AU was born.
Be prepared for an overpowered Kamito!
Enjoy!
*CLANG* *CLANG*
The sound of metal clashing against metal reverberated throughout the arena as two swords, one an elegant estoc coated in radiant white light, the other an ominous jet black bastard sword coated in black miasma, grinded against each other as their wielders attempted to find an opening in the other's stance.
Holding the estoc was a beautiful, taller than average teenage woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, dressed in a form fitting military uniform. Her name was Luminaris Saint Leisched, a sixteen year old Elementalist who had been selected by her country, the Holy Kingdom of Lugia, to participate in the prestigious Seirei Blade Dance Festival, commonly shortened to Blade Dance, which was taking place this year.
Elementalists were humans who formed contracts with otherworldly beings called Seireis, who resided in another realm known as Astral Zero. There was a large variety of Seireis, those that controlled fire, those that could start typhoons, those that could poison anything with a mere touch, and those like Luminaris's that could control the power of Holy.
No one was really sure why, but only young girls who had not yet lost their purity could form contracts with Seireis. Men, and older woman above the age of 20 could not do the same. Despite that, there was no prejudice towards one gender. Those who had enough talent to form contracts with Seireis were quite rare, and even Elementalists, while powerful, could still be killed by ordinary humans. Thus, there was not an overwhelming prejudice against men, who could not contract with Seireis. At the same time, the military potential of even just one Elementalist could not be ignored, and there wasn't an overwhelming prejudice against women either.
Luminaris was the most talented amongst all of the Elementalists from her country, having manifested her Elemental Waffe, the weapon form of her contracted Seirei, at the young age of 13. It was a rarity for most Elementalists to ever manifest their contracted Seirei's true appearance, let alone the Elemental Waffe. Doing it at the age of 13, when most Elementalists were still considered developing and not having reached the peak of their power yet, spoke volumes of Luminaris's talent.
Her talent was why she had been selected above all others from her country to participate in the Blade Dance this year.
The Blade Dance was a prestigious festival that took place in a selected venue in Astral Zero. Representatives from participating countries sent their best Elementalists to compete in battles in order to please their Gods, the Five Elemental Lords, the first and strongest Seireis that stood above all others. The Blade Dance took place over a period of seven days, during which Elementalists would battle each other in order to claim victory. The victor of the Blade Dance would be granted an audience with the Five Elemental Lords and granted one wish, while the county they represented would enjoy prosperity until the next Blade Dance.
This year's battle format was a knockout tournament, where all Elementalists would fight one on one in at least one fixture per round. The victor would advance to the next round while the loser would be eliminated from the Blade Dance. Thankfully, this year, there were 128 participants, so no Elementalists would have to participate in more than one fixture per round.
Luminaris had performed exceeding well, making it all the way to the finals after effortlessly crushing her opponents. Currently, she was in the final round, fighting her last opponent to decide the victor of the Blade Dance. Her elegant beauty and grace in battle was such that all of the men in the audience stands would have been bewitched…
…If it hadn't been for her opponent. Her opponent was shorter than she was. Not surprising since she was reportedly only 13 years old, 3 years younger than Luminaris. Despite her young age, she possessed an incredible beauty.
Long, straight glossy black hair that reached all the way to her hips, mysterious dark eyes that anyone could lose themselves in, a delicate, dignified alabaster figure, she possessed an ethereal beauty that bewitched all of the members of the audience, male and female alike. Her clothes, an odd, foreign looking garb that consisted of a white jacket-like cloth with long flowing sleeves and long black pants that looked like a skirt, with a high slit in the side, served to further enhance her image. Luminaris herself thought that if she weren't focused on fighting her at the moment, she would be blushing all the way up to the roots of her hair in the face of her beauty too.
Her name was Ren Ashbell, a 13 year old independent Elementalist that appeared out of nowhere to compete in the Blade Dance. No one believed she had a chance, but with a rare Darkness Seirei, she swept through the competition with just her Elemental Waffe. No spells, no techniques, simply a single blow that crushed every single one of her opponents. Not a single one of her opponents lasted even a minute against her. She went from being a nobody to the favorite to win the Blade Dance.
Luminaris normally would have taken offense to that, but after watching her fight, she had to admit that her opponent's talent exceeded even her own. She wielded her Elemental Waffe with grace and technique that spoke of long practice. Luminaris wondered how young she was when she had started her training.
The match had been going on for almost 5 minutes, the longest anyone has lasted against either combatant in the entire tournament. And Luminaris was losing. The battle had started out fairly even, since their respective Seireis were the elemental weakness of the other. Then Luminaris started to overpower Ren Ashbell with sword techniques and spells. It seemed that she would win, until Ren Ashbell revealed her real power. With a sword style she had never seen before, Ren Ashbell defeated each of her spells and techniques. Luminaris had nothing left in her arsenal that would allow her to win. Nothing, except one more technique.
"O Holy Knight Ganelon, infuse my sword with your glory! Magical Armament Release – Thy name is Murgleis!"
The estoc in her hands shine brightly and a storm of divine power surrounded Luminaris as she pushed her opponent back. This was Magical Armament Release, a technique that temporarily allowed a Seirei to manifest its full power, which was normally restrained by the contract.
"…" Her opponent's eyes had narrowed, obviously knowing what technique she had used and was thinking of a way to counter. Luminaris could not allow that. This was her final trump card and if it was defeated, she would be defeated as well. She needed to end this quickly.
Luminaris charged at her opponent and thrust her tip of Murgleis at her. Ren Ashbell raised her own Elemental Waffe, the Vorpal Sword, and blocked the thrust, knocking it to the side before being pushed away by the storm of divine power around Luminaris.
Ren Ashbell stood as Luminaris charged at her once more. This time, before Luminaris could reach her, Ren Ashbell swung the Vorpal Sword.
"Go forth and pierce, all-annihilating demonic lightning of punishment—«Vorpal Blast»." Ren Ashbell spoke in a quiet voice. A giant black bolt of lightning shot forth from the Vorpal Sword and made its way towards Luminaris.
"This technique…!" Luminaris's eyes widened as she analyzed the nature of her opponent's attack. If that lightning touched her, she was finished.
"Lightning be vanquished - «Sacred Shield»!" Luminaris immediately cast a barrier in front of her, hoping to stop the attack. Her hope was dashed when the black lightning, though diminished, smashed through the barrier and slammed into her. It didn't kill her like it would have at its full power, but it knocked her back and scorched her skin.
Luminaris recovered and looked up to find Ren Ashbell in front of her, the Vorpal Sword held in a sword stance. It was then that Luminaris realized that her concentration had broken from being hit by the attack. Magical Armament Release had been interrupted, and there was no longer a storm of divine power protecting her.
"I lost-"
"Absolute Blade Arts Destructive Form – Bursting Blossom Spiral Blade Dance: 21 Consecutive Strikes." Ren Ashbell spoke quietly and swung the Vorpal Sword with incredible speed.
Luminaris felt tremendous pain blossom from all over her body as the Vorpal Sword cut into her again and again. Then, she knew nothing as she slumped to the ground, rendered unconscious by the pain.
Ren Ashbell sighed to herself…or rather, himself, as he watched his opponent slip into unconsciousness.
"The Elemental Lords have spoken. The victor of this year's Blade Dance is Ren Ashbell-sama!" The five…well, four right now, Queens, the priestesses who served the Elemental Lords, announced him the victor.
The audience broke out into cheers and applause for who they believed to be a 13 year old girl with prodigious talent as an Elementalist. Shock wouldn't even begin to describe how they would feel if they knew that the bewitching 13 year old girl was in fact a crossdressing boy. Rather than shock, full blown panic and mayhem would be the more likely response, since the only other known male Elementalist was Demon King Solomon, who had brought strife and ruin to the world a thousand years ago, only stopping when the Sacred Maiden, Areishia Idriss, defeated and slew him in battle.
Not to mention, it hadn't even been a full year since the last great calamity, when the previous Fire Queen, the priestess who served the Elemental Lord of Fire, Rubia Elstein, heiress of the Elstein Dukedom, betrayed her duties and stole the strongest Fire Seirei, Laevateinn, from the Elemental Lords' Shrine before fleeing, destroying a good part of Divine Ritual Institute, the training institution for young maidens in preparation for servitude to the Elemental Lords, in the process.
The Fire Elemental Lord, Volcanicus, had been furious at the betrayal and turned the Elstein Dukedom's territory to ashes, while also destroying a good part of the Ordesia Empire, the biggest nation in the continent and the one that produced the most number of Elementalists. Not only that, but even now, almost a year after Rubia Elstein's betrayal, fire could not be lit in the Ordesia Empire, something now only possible through the power of Fire Seireis.
The Ordesia Empire immediately arrested Duke and Duchess Elstein and seized all of their property and assets for their heiress's, now dubbed the Calamity Queen, crime, though he had heard rumors that the younger daughter was still around, under a new name. Her successor as Fire Queen had not been decided yet, thus currently, there were only four Queens.
If a male Elementalist appeared so soon right after the Calamity Queen, the entire continent would probably fall into chaos, thinking the apocalypse had begun or something.
That's why, only a handful of people knew about the existence of the male Elementalist, Kazehaya Kamito, and most of them were dead.
He wasn't even sure that Kazehaya Kamito was his real name. After all, he had been raised in the Instructional School since the age of 6, an illegal institution dedicated to reviving Demon King Solomon. He heard that at first, the Instructional School had been created to gather young girls from orphanages or relief institutions who had talent as Elementalists to train them into top-class assassins for the nobles who had established the school in the first place. But soon after, they became independent and committed themselves to bringing about the second coming of Demon King Solomon. To that end, they started gathering boys with even the slightest compatibility with Seireis and experimented on them to try and get them to contract with Seireis. But, they failed every time.
That is, until Kamito was picked up. Even without the experiments, Kamito had an incredible compatibility with Seireis and the ability to form contracts with them and could even use their Elemental Waffe form. That was why the Instructional School focused all of their efforts into cultivating him as an assassin.
And it worked. Kamito quickly became the strongest assassin in the Instructional School, his emotions and memories stripped from him and replaced with assassination techniques.
But, a few months ago, the Instructional School was attacked by an incredibly powerful Fire Seirei and was completely destroyed, exposing their existence to the continent. As far as Kamito knew, he was the only one who had survived the attack. All of his comrades, if he could call them that, and his teachers were all killed by the demonic-looking Fire Seirei.
Even fewer knew that Ren Ashbell was in fact Kazehaya Kamito, only three in fact.
The first was Greyworth Ciel Mais, the Dusk Witch, the strongest Elementalist in the continent and a war hero. He had attempted to assassinate her a few months ago, but failed and was defeated quite soundly. Instead of killing him, Greyworth decided to keep him around, finding him interesting. He had been forced to crossdress as a maid and serve her for almost a full month. Still, it wasn't like that was all she did. She was the one who had sharpened his already impressive combat skills and taught him the Absolute Blade Arts, the sword style he had just used to defeat Luminaris. She was also the one who had told him about the Blade Dance and helped to disguise him so that he could participate without revealing his true identity, though her motive was to appease the Elemental Lords' anger and release the Ordesia Empire from the curse Volcanicus had placed on them.
The second was a girl he met a few nights ago. She was being attacked by a Dryad, a wild Seirei, and Kamito happened to be nearby and saved her. But he had forgotten he wasn't wearing his female clothes and forgot to disguise his voice, which ended up in her figuring out his real gender. She agreed to keep his secret in exchange for his real name, and he hadn't seen her since that night.
The third was the most precious person to him in the world. His partner, his contracted Seirei, whose Elemental Waffe form he was holding in his left hand right now. Her name was Restia, a Darkness Seirei of the highest level, taking the form of a young girl with black angel wings. He had met her in the Instructional School when he was very young. Even then, the harsh training of the Instructional School had stripped him of his emotions. Everything that his human teachers did not have the ability to impart to him, Restia taught him. But, she did more than just that. She returned his human heart to him. She was everything to him, mother, sister, teacher, companion, friend, and so much more.
However, the Instructional School had not been happy that his emotions had returned because of her influence and sealed her into the Ring of Solomon after she finished training him. But, Kamito never forgot her. Even as the harsh training took his emotions away again, his longing for Restia was the one thing that never faded.
That's why, when the Fire Seirei attacked and destroyed the Instructional School, he took the opportunity to take the Ring of Solomon that Restia had been sealed in before making his escape. Unfortunately, the Instructional School had taught him little else than assassination techniques, and the basic spells he learned from Restia would do nothing to break a powerful seal like the one on the Ring of Solomon. That's why he needed the Key of Solomon, a legendary text that had been sealed by the Divine Ritual Institution because it contained hundreds of forbidden spells created by Demon King Solomon himself.
A certain underground organization, Murders, offered the book as a reward for a mission, assassinating the Dusk Witch. Without thinking twice about it, Kamito accepted…and failed. But, Greyworth herself procured a copy of the Key of Solomon and unsealed Restia from the Ring, in exchange for participating and winning in the Blade Dance. Kamito agreed, Restia also had a wish that she wanted granted, so it was a win-win situation, provided he was the victor of the Blade Dance.
With the Vorpal Sword in hand, he crushed every last opponent he went up against, without even needing to use any spells or techniques, until the final round. Luminaris was easily the strongest Elementalist aside from him in this Blade Dance, and she had proved her power, giving him much more trouble than any other opponent, forcing him to use Vorpal Blast and the Absolute Blade Arts.
But, in the end, he had won and had kept his word to Greyworth. Restia's wish would be granted tomorrow. The only thing he needed to do now was wait.
"Ren Ashbell-sama, there will be a celebration party later this evening. As the victor of this year's Blade Dance, you are the guest of honor, so please arrive on time." One of the Queens, the Water Queen if Kamito remembered correctly, approached him and said. Kamito simply nodded in response.
Frankly, he found balls and parties extremely irritating, mostly because during the ball held on the before the preliminaries, male nobles and royalty kept inviting him to dance. Even thinking about it now gave him goosebumps.
But, he couldn't risk the audience with the Elemental Lords over something as trivial as this, so he, unfortunately, would have to attend the party.
Kamito began to think of escape plans to get out of the party after making his appearance as he walked out of the arena. But, the moment he got to the exit…
"Kyaaaaaaaaa! Ren Ashbell-sama!"
"Ren Ashbell-sama, may we please conduct an interview!?"
"Move it, we were here first!"
…He was mobbed by fans, journalists and reporters. Thus, he was forced to stay behind to answer questions and sign autographs. By the time he was finished, there was only an hour left before the party.
Kamito cursed silently and quickly returned to his room for a quick shower and a change of clothes.
Night fell over Astral Zero and with it, came peace and quiet at last. Kamito had fallen asleep shortly after returning to his room.
The celebration party had taken up a good part of the evening, and unfortunately, being the guest of honor, there was no way for Kamito to escape. The real cause of his exhaustion was having to dance the entire time with male dignitaries, nobles and royalty. They were persistent, Kamito gave them that. He couldn't keep refusing them, or else they would get too touchy feely trying to convince him, so he just had a quick dance with them. The feeling of elation Kamito felt when the party finally ended could be outmatched by his joy when Restia was unsealed from the Ring of Solomon.
He quickly escaped from the ballroom before anyone would take it to the next level and invite him back to their room.
After getting back to his room, carefully making sure no one had somehow managed to follow him, he changed out of the formal dress that Greyworth had forced on him and fell straight to sleep.
Even if he was asleep, his instinct and reflexes, honed through years of harsh training, were such that if anyone got into his room, he would sense their presence and wake up.
Which was why it was strange that he didn't even so much as twitch when the window silently opened, and a beautiful girl with long luscious dark blue, almost black hair with a purple ribbon tied in it at the side of her head and deep purple eyes, dressed in a frilly dark purple dress with a large ribbon of the same color adorned right below the bustline, black feathered angelic wings sprouting from her back, flew into the room and landed elegantly on the floor. She folded her wings, and quietly made her way towards the bed where Kamito was sleeping soundly. She brushed stray strands of hair away from his face and smiled softly as she looked at his peaceful expression.
This beautiful girl was Restia Ashdoll, a Darkness Seirei of the highest level and Kamito's contracted Seirei, though their relationship was so much deeper than that, though she hadn't told Kamito her last name. She was an existence personally created by the sixth and fallen Elemental Lord, Ren Ashdoll, the Elemental Lord of Darkness.
Thousands of years ago, when the Elemental Lords still numbered six and were much more active in the mortal realm than they were now, something had occurred one day. Right in the throne room where the Elemental Lords resided, something appeared. To this day, Restia, who had inherited Ren Ashdoll's knowledge, still had no idea what it was. The best way she could describe it was…an otherworldly Darkness, not of the human world or of Astral Zero. It was not the gentle Darkness that blanketed the world at night that Ren Ashdoll ruled over. Instead, it was a malicious Darkness that sought to devour and destroy everything. That Darkness proceeded to corrupt and drive the Five Elemental Lords insane. Volcanicus, Elemental Lord of Fire, Iseria Shivod, Elemental Lord of Water, Belphal, Elemental Lord of Wind, Lode Gear, Elemental Lord of Earth and Alexandros, the Elemental Lord of Holy, not a single one of them was able to fight back the encroachment on their sanity.
Ren Ashdoll, who had not been in the throne room at the time, immediately sensed that something had gone wrong with her siblings. She returned to the throne room, only to be attacked by her maddened siblings and the otherworldly Darkness. She had barely escaped and raised an army of Darkness Seireis to attack her corrupted siblings, restore their sanity and destroy the otherworldly Darkness.
But, it was not to be. While Ren Ashdoll was the strongest among the Six Elemental Lords and therefore the leader, she was still outnumbered five to one, not to mention her siblings' powers had been forcibly enhanced by the otherworldly Darkness. Ren Ashdoll's physical form was completely destroyed, but not before she had managed to finish a ritual that would ensure that her power would be inherited by a human male, the Demon King, as well as the creation of Restia, an existence akin to an alter ego and the one to guide said male to awaken her power and slay her insane siblings as well as the otherworldly Darkness. To Restia, she passed her knowledge, memories and most importantly, her will.
A human male had been chosen because Seireis could not become vessels for other Seireis, not even godly Seirei like the Elemental Lords were exempt from this absolute rule.
At that time, humans had not yet found a way to contract with Seireis, but Ren Ashdoll had predicted that they eventually would, and thus chose a human.
She had also predicted that only young maidens would be able to contract with Seireis, so in order to hide her power, she chose a human male instead.
Over the thousands of years that followed, many males who had inherited Ren Ashdoll's power appeared, but almost all of them died before they even met Restia. Or even worse, they would awaken Ren Ashdoll's power in the wrong manner and were devoured by the immense power, losing their minds and turning into nothing more than concentrated clusters of negativity. Such was the nature of Darkness, even the gentle one that Ren Ashdoll ruled over. If humans were overwhelmed by it, they would be destroyed. The most famous example of the latter case was Demon King Solomon. Solomon had also been a human male who had inherited Ren Ashdoll's power, but he lost control of it and became the tyrant he was known as today. Restia had met him sometime after, and attempted to guide him back to the right path, but it was to no avail and Solomon continued wreaking havoc on the world. Just as Restia planned to kill him so that Ren Ashdoll's power would pass on to another, another existence was created.
The Sacred Maiden, Areishia Idriss, a human who possessed incredible power, not at the level of an Elemental Lord, but close enough to that of a Demon King, a human who possessed Ren Ashdoll's power, but were unable to fully manifest it due to the limitations of the human body. With the strongest Sword Seirei, Terminus Est, in hand, she slew Solomon in combat. After Solomon's death, Rstia left and waited for the appearance of the next Demon King.
Restia, as well as the rest of the world, wasn't sure what had happened to Areishia Idriss and Terminus Est after that, but she assumed that with Demon King Solomon, the cause of the era's strife, dead, Areishia Idriss retired from her Elementalist duties and lived a quiet life until her death years later, upon which Terminus Est left.
It had been a thousand years since then, and still, no Demon King ever awakened correctly or even at all.
Then, a few years ago, she had heard rumors of an underground organization dedicated to the revival of Solomon had been founded and was gathering boys who had even the slightest compatibility with Seireis. She had no desire to see the rise of another Solomon, but there was a possibility that the next Demon King would be among the boys they had picked up. It was a long shot, but Restia had no other means of finding the next Demon King, something Ren Ashdoll apparently hadn't thought of when she created Restia.
That gamble of hers paid off and she met Kamito, the current successor of Ren Ashdoll's power.
The moment she saw Kamito, her heart skipped a beat, partly because she sensed Ren Ashdoll's power within him, and partly because she found him so adorable.
Restia wasn't familiar with love. She knew of love thanks to the knowledge of Ren Ashdoll she had inherited, but she had never actually experienced it herself. But when she saw that cute little boy with long hair that hadn't been cut in years, she had to admit, that was probably when she had begun to fall in love with him.
Restia frowned slightly when she thought of how emotionless Kamito had been when she first met him and cursed the now destroyed Instructional School. She was glad they had trained him, his physical capabilities were far above average for a human and his mental fortitude, critical in controlling Ren Ashdoll's power, was fairly strong, but she hated that they saw the need to remove his emotions for it.
She had done everything she could to guide on the correct path to awakening Ren Ashdoll's power, but the Instructional School apparently didn't like that and sealed her into one of Solomon's artifacts that had survived after a thousand years, though not before she formed a contract with Kamito and stole his first kiss.
Restia smiled and licked her lips as she thought about that kiss. That had been her first kiss as well, and it had been much more pleasant than she had imagined.
She got another pleasant surprise when she was suddenly released from the Ring of Solomon, and was touched when she found out that the first thing Kamito did when the Instructional School was being attacked was to find and take the Ring of Solomon, forgoing his own safety in the process, and then tried to assassinate the Dusk Witch, the strongest Elementalist in the continent and the current contractor of Void, who had been a Seirei in the service of Solomon, to acquire the Key of Solomon that held the release spell of the seal of the Ring.
Now, Kamito had participated in the Seirei Blade Dance Festival the Five Elemental Lords had started for reasons unknown to her, but she didn't care about that, or anything else about it when she learned that the victor's prize was an audience with the Five Elemental Lords. She couldn't have asked for a better opportunity, which was why when the Dusk Witch asked Kamito to participate in the Blade Dance, she had encouraged him.
And he performed exceedingly well. Restia knew that Kamito was far above the average Elementalist, but even she had not expected him to sweep through the continent's top Elementalists with such ease, only encountering difficulty in the final round. She couldn't blame him, Holy Seireis and Darkness Seireis had terrible compatibility with each other. But Kamito had still crushed his opponent in the end, even when she had unexpectedly used Magical Armament Release.
She hadn't attended the celebration party with Kamito as she didn't have any interest in mingling with humans other than Kamito, and had instead spent her time flying around Astral Zero, thinking of the next day, when her wish would finally be granted. The maddened Five Elemental Lords would be slain tomorrow, by Kamito's hands.
Restia's frown began to deepen as she thought about it, and carefully lay down on the bed next to Kamito, looking at his sleeping face. And as she did, dread began to creep into her heart.
What if they failed? Kamito was powerful, but the opponents were the Five Elemental Lords controlled by the otherworldly Darkness after all. And Kamito had not yet awakened Ren Ashdoll's power. Honestly, now that she thought about it, the chances of Kamito succeeding in slaying all five of them were exceedingly low. Both of them would surely be killed if they failed. Restia didn't care much about her own life, but Kamito was a precious existence to her. She had to ensure that they would be able to get out of there alive whether they failed or not. She needed a contingency plan.
…Yes, a teleportation spell. If the situation deteriorated, they could escape and try again another time. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was the best she could do with so little time left. Still, the holes in the plan only served to increase the fear growing in her heart.
"Kamito…" Restia softly whispered her beloved contractor's name as she slowly fell into a deep, disturbed slumber, haunted by nightmares of the consequences of the possible failure tomorrow.
Kamito stared impassively at his surroundings as he followed the four Queens ahead of him.
The four Queens had approached him before the sun had even risen and brought him to the Great Shrine, where they performed a basic purification ritual on him to cleanse his body before meeting the Five Elemental Lords.
He changed into the outfit he had worn during the Blade Dance and was led by the four Queens into the deepest part of the Great Shrine, where the entrance to the True Sanctuary, the residence of the Elemental Lords, was.
They stopped before a great door that made a great deal of noise as it opened, revealing a corridor with no end in sight.
"Ren Ashbell-sama, have you decided upon the wish you will ask of the Elemental Lords?" One of the Queens, looking slightly older than Kamito was, wearing a necklace weaved from silver threads that Kamito recalled was the symbol of the Queen that served the Holy Elemental Lord, asked him.
"…Yes." Kamito answered simply. If he kept his sentences short and didn't speak too often, there was no way to differentiate his voice from a girl's.
"Is that so? Very well." The Holy Queen smiled and nodded.
Some of the stiffness left Kamito's body when she did not ask any further. He had been expecting her to ask him what his wish was and had prepared a false answer accordingly, but it appeared to be unnecessary worrying after all.
He couldn't tell them what his real wish was because…he didn't have one. The only reasons he had entered the Blade Dance was to firstly repay his debt to Greyworth by appeasing the Fire Elemental Lord and secondly grant Restia's wish.
The former appeared to have been fulfilled, since Greyworth had approached him during the celebration party last night and told him that fires could now be lit normally within the borders of the Ordesia Empire.
And now, he was on his way to fulfill the latter. But the problem was, Restia had not yet told him what her wish was, only saying that she would tell him at the right time.
They had already made it to the entrance to the Endless Corridor that led to the True Sanctuary where even Queens were forbidden to enter, and still she had not said anything. The Vorpal Sword he held in his left hand remained completely silent during the whole trip.
Greyworth had told Kamito about the wish. He had already repaid her debt, so she did not say anything about his wish, but she had left him with a warning.
A wish beyond his means would lead to his demise. The power that the Elemental Lords used to grant the wishes of the victors of the Blade Dance was not of this world. Thus, the greater the wish, the higher the price he would have to pay for it.
There were many rumors about the miracle the Elemental Lords used to grant wishes, but nothing was ever said about a price. However, Greyworth, like him, had been victorious at a Blade Dance and had her wish granted by the Elemental Lords. Her words naturally carried much more weight.
"Well then, please enter the Endless Corridor and continue straight forward."
The Holy Queen gestured to the corridor beyond the door.
"The path from here onwards is an isolated place that is cut off from even Astral Zero. Along the straight path, there will be many side passages leading away from the main path, but you must not go down any of them. In the past, there have been many Blade Dance victors who ignored these warnings and were lost forever within the Endless Corridor."
Kamito took a deep breath as he processed the warning.
"…Understood."
After replying quietly, he walked through the doorway and down the main path of the Endless Corridor. The door shut behind him, cutting off a good deal of light. The passageway was now dimly lit only by the torches hanging on the walls. Kamito continued walking. As he did, he noticed many side passages, just like the Holy Queen had said, but ignored them and continued down the main path.
He walked and walked, and still, the end of the passage was nowhere in sight. He wondered if this corridor really was as endless as its name suggested.
"What a mysterious place…"
"Your hands are shaking, Kamito." Restia's voice projected into his mind.
Kamito paused and stared down at the Vorpal Sword in his left hand with a hint of displeasure.
"Why didn't you speak up earlier?"
"Sorry, but I didn't know if were being monitored in the Shrine, so I couldn't speak to you. You're already being investigated by the Ordesia Empire's intelligence agency after all."
Kamito nodded to himself. It was only natural. After all, he was an unknown Elementalist who had popped out of nowhere and swept through the Blade Dance with his incredible power and skill. It was natural that the various countries who had participated would be trying to find out who he really was.
"But, couldn't you just speak to me through telepathy like always?"
"There are those among the maidens in the Shrine who can hear mental speech. Don't be careless. Though, this place is an isolated space, cut off from the outside world and is suited to secret conversations."
The weight of the Vorpal Sword vanished from his hands as it dissipated into particles of light. Black feathers drifted down from above as Restia appeared in her Seirei form.
"Do not sulk, Kamito. It doesn't suit you. I will tell you my wish."
Restia leaned forward, her breath tickling Kamito's ear as she spoke.
"I wish for you to assassinate them. The Five Elemental Lords."
Kamito paused as he finally arrived at a set of giant ornate gates. This was the entrance to the True Sanctuary where the Elemental Lords awaited.
"…Is it even possible?" He asked the Vorpal Sword in his hand. Before they had reached the gates, Restia had returned to her Elemental Waffe form.
He could not fathom why Restia, a Seirei, would want to kill the Five Elemental Lords that were Gods to her species.
She had said it was the sake of saving the world, but did not go any further than that.
But honestly, he didn't care. This was her wish, therefore he would ensure that it was granted, because Restia was everything to him.
"Kamito."
Kamito looked down at the Vorpal Sword as Restia spoke up.
"I have absolute confidence in your power, but in the end, the opponents are the Five Elemental Lords, who are akin to Gods. Honestly speaking, the chances of successfully killing all five of them are infinitely close to none."
Kamito nodded, ignoring the small joy in his heart when Restia spoke of her confidence in him.
Kamito wasn't arrogant enough to believe he could defeat the Five Elemental Lords by himself. Were it a normal high-ranking Seirei, even one of the Archdemon-Class, he was certain he would be able to destroy them, but the targets were the legendary Elemental Lords, who possessed powers far beyond human imagination. He didn't believe for a second he could defeat all five of them, let alone outright killing them.
"When you enter the True Sanctuary, the Elemental Lords will ask what your wish is. You must say that your wish is the death of the Elemental Lords. The miracle the Elemental Lords use to grant wishes is not their own. Hence, once the wish is spoken, the miracle will fulfill the wish regardless of the Elemental Lords' intentions. A sort of system, if you will. The power that even the Elemental Lords cannot control will bind them, the executors. That is your opportunity to strike."
Kamito nodded as he listened to Restia.
"However, the window of opportunity is very short. The death of the Elemental Lords is an unprecedented wish, and the miracle will not destroy its own executors. It will judge your wish to be invalid. When that happens, the Elemental Lords will no longer be bound and will attack you. If that happens, Kamito, you must retreat. You cannot afford to fight them."
"But, if I retreat, your wish won't be granted…"
"It's fine. I was too hasty, making you compete in the Blade Dance before you had enough power to fight the Five Elemental Lords. At this point, killing even just one of them will be enough."
Kamito reluctantly nodded and silently cursed himself for not having enough power.
"It'll be very difficult for us to retreat, since this entire isolated space is their territory and the Endless Corridor is hard to traverse when we're in a hurry. That's why I will teach you a teleportation spell."
As Restia said that, the image of a magic circle appeared and carved itself into Kamito's mind. All he needed to do was trace its pattern with the Vorpal Sword, and the spell would activate.
"Will a simple teleportation spell be enough to leave this isolated plane? It is the Elemental Lord's territory after all."
"Don't worry. This is a powerful original spell that I created myself. The Elemental Lords will not be able to interfere with it, having never seen it before. Use it when I tell you to. You must not hesitate for even a moment, or both of us will be killed."
Kamito nodded one last time.
"Alright. Let's proceed. Be careful, Kamito."
The conversation ended. Kamito took a deep breath and pressed his free hand on the gate. The gates slowly opened, revealing a massive stone staircase leading upwards. And at the top of the stairs were five dazzling lights.
Kamito felt a bead of cold sweat running down his face as he felt an immense pressure pressing down on his shoulders. Shakily, he made his way up the stairs, the pressure growing steadily stronger and almost causing his knees to buckle by the time he reached an intermediate landing.
Kamito paused as he stared at the five thrones at the top of the stairs, each so massive he could clearly see them even though he hadn't reached the top yet. A dazzling light was seated upon each throne, undistinguishable from each other. Kamito was unable to see anything past the light, not even a silhouette that indicated the Elemental Lords' physical presence.
"The target is…the Holy Elemental Lord Alexandros who has the most influence on humans."
Kamito thought as his eyes fell on the center throne where Alexandros was reportedly seated.
"Your blade dance was truly splendid."
As Kamito made to continue up the stairs, he froze as a powerful voice echoed throughout the True Sanctuary, causing a small, almost unperceivable tremor.
"Dammit!"
Kamito silently cursed. He was still too far away. There was no way he would have enough time to strike down all five of them if he had to take the time to get the rest of the steps. But, if he tried to go any further, the Elemental Lords would smite him before he could get close.
Seeing no other choice, he placed the Vorpal Sword on the ground and knelt down on one knee.
"Through a miracle, we can grant one wish as a reward for your victory."
"You, what is your wish?"
This was it, his tiny window of opportunity was approaching.
But, Kamito couldn't move. A great fear had gripped his heart, binding him to the spot.
Would he succeed in killing even one of them? If he missed the tiny window of opportunity, both he and Restia would be killed.
"…Can I do it?"
He asked the Vorpal Sword as he lightly touched its hilt.
Restia did not reply, but Kamito sensed that she was just as terrified as he was.
That's what steeled his resolve.
Restia was everything to him. Anything that caused her harm or distress, he would cut them down.
"…I am a weapon born solely for destruction."
Kamito thought to himself and felt all of his emotions, including his fear fade away. They were still there, but he was now able to ignore them. This was a technique he had learned in the Instructional School: self-suggestion. Using certain words or phrases as mental triggers, Kamito's mind and body reacted through memory and enable themselves to perform special feats. It had weaknesses though, the main one being that someone who had not mastered self-suggestion would react when someone else other than themselves said the word or phrase. Of course, Kamito had long surpassed that level. His body and mind would only react to the triggers when spoken in his voice. That meant that anyone skilled in mimicking would still be able to trigger self-suggestion, but even without self-suggestion, Kamito was already strong enough to crush virtually any mortal enemy.
The phrase he had just thought to himself was meant to crush down all of his emotion and turn him into a cold-blooded assassin.
"Release."
Kamito thought a single word to himself. Immediately, his body became lighter, almost weightless. Typically, a human body, even one as trained as Kamito's, could only make use of 30% of its full power. However, the word release was a powerful self-suggestion that removed the limiters the mind had placed on the body, allowing it to use its full power. Its downside was that once it wore off, Kamito would experience a lot of pain, not that he wasn't already used to it.
"My wish is…" Kamito started as he slowly gripped the handle of the Vorpal Sword, preparing to make his move.
"…The death of the Five Elemental Lords."
Kamito was quickly moved as he finished stating his wish, reaching the top of the stairs in an instant.
The Elemental Lords did not react, just as Restia said, bound by the external power they used to grant wishes as it processed Kamito's wish. Or else, he would have been killed the moment he left the landing.
"O lost Darkness, residing in my hand, become my strength!"
Following the incantation, he infused the Vorpal Sword with an immense amount of divine power. The blade crackled with black lightning and was coated in black miasma.
There were now only a few steps left before he reached Alexandros's throne, but to him, it might as well have been the distance between heaven and earth. Death dogged him every step he took, waiting to seize him the moment the window of opportunity passed.
"Two more steps…!" Kamito visually judged the distance between him and his target.
He leapt off of the ground on the next step, ascending the great vertical distance between the floor and the seat of the throne in an instant, his forward momentum carrying him closer to the throne as he moved through the air.
As he approached the throne, dread crept into his heart as he realized something was wrong.
Now that he was this close, he could see past the dazzling light that obscured the Elemental Lords' bodies.
However, past the light that obscured Alexandros, seated atop his throne…
…There was nothing. The throne was empty.
"Why…!?"
Kamito couldn't understand. How could the throne where Alexandros was supposed to be seated be empty!?
"Kamito, this situation is abnormal!" Restia's panicked voice sounded into his head. Evidently, the abnormality of this situation exceeded her expectations.
But, there was still time, the Elemental Lords had not reacted yet. He had to take out at least one of them.
Kicking off of Alexandros's empty throne, Kamito moved through the air towards the throne next to it. If he remembered correctly, this was the throne of the Water Elemental Lord, Iseria Shivod.
Without even visually confirming Iseria Shivod's presence, Kamito thrust the tip of the Vorpal Sword towards the dazzling light atop her throne.
*STAB*
His thrust stopped abruptly as the Vorpal Sword stabbed into something.
The dazzling light faded a bit, revealing a nude girl about his age, with hair and eyes the color of the ocean.
"This is…Iseria Shivod?" Kamito wondered aloud as he stared at the girl. The tip of the Vorpal Sword was stabbed into her chest.
"Thank you…With this, I am finally free…"
An unfamiliar voice projected into his mind as Iseria Shivod stared straight at him, before vanishing in a flash of light.
Kamito trembled as he had a terrible premonition. At the same time…
"Kamito, fall back!"
Restia shouted into his mind. Without wasting a moment, Kamito kicked off of Iseria Shivod's throne, wrenching the Vorpal Sword out of the dazzling light that hadn't faded even after Iseria Shivod faded, just in time to avoid being caught by a black mass surging out of the spot the Vorpal Sword had just pierced.
"What…is that!?"
Kamito thought as the black mass started chasing him through the air. It was gaining on him, and Kamito didn't want to imagine what would happen if it caught him.
"Kamito, use the spell, quickly!"
Restia urged him. He didn't need to be told twice. He quickly traced the pattern of the magic circle Restia had shown him, and as he did, he looked at the growing black mass and almost dropped the Vorpal Sword in shock as he caught sight of the abyss within it. As it were, he paused in the tracing of the magic circle for an instant before continuing.
In the dark abyss in the black mass, something was trying to crawl out, writhing within the vortex in the center of the abyss.
An endless instinctive fear gripped his heart, breaking the self-suggestion he had used on himself to crush his emotions.
"I'm scared…I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm scared! I'm scared! I'M SCARED!"
Kamito was overwhelmed by the tremendous fear that had taken hold of him, but even then, he did not stop tracing the magic circle.
The air beneath him glowed as the magic circle appeared after he had finished tracing its pattern. As he moved backwards through the air, the black mass almost caught up to him. But, he disappeared in the next instant, just as the black mass would have caught him.
As Kamito moved through the dimensions, bound for an unknown destination, he could have sworn he heard an inhuman screech of outrage before his vision blackened and he lost consciousness.
Kamito's eyes shot open as he finally regained consciousness. He pushed himself up and looked around to find himself in a forested area. He definitely wasn't in the True Sanctuary anymore. He didn't appear to be in Ragna Ys, the location in Astral Zero where the Great Shrine was located. The air here was thin, in terms of concentration of divine power, unlike in Astral Zero, where divine power saturated the area. He appeared to be somewhere in the human world.
Kamito began to panic when he realized his left hand was empty. Restia was missing. He frantically looked around, searching for signs of either the Vorpal Sword or Restia's Seirei form.
His heart sank when his search turned up nothing. Then, he took a deep breath and analyzed the situation. The contract seal was still on the back of his left hand, so Restia was at the very least, still alive.
He paled when he thought of the possibility that Restia had remained in the True Sanctuary while he had escaped. Restia never said whether the spell could teleport more than one target at a time, or he might have screwed up the spell in his panic and accidently left Restia behind.
"Restia! RESTIA!" Kamito called out frantically, hoping with all of his heart that Restia had simply regained consciousness first and was simply surveying the surroundings to determine where they were.
"Ara, Kamito, what are you shouting for? I'm right here."
Kamito almost sank to his knees in relief when Restia landed in front of him, folding her wings as her feet lightly touched the ground. Instead, he settled for rushing up to her and hugging her.
"Restia!"
"Kya!"
The unexpected action caused Restia to let out a cute cry of surprise, before she calmed down and realized that Kamito was trembling, as though on the verge of tears. The fabric of her dress, crafted from her power, was beginning to dampen. She smiled softly and gently patted his head.
"Don't cry, Kamito. It doesn't suit you. I'm fine, I'm right here."
"…I'm not crying." Kamito proclaimed rather childishly as he wiped his tears with his hand.
"Of course you aren't." Restia smiled patronizingly at him.
After a few moments, Kamito recomposed himself.
"Where are we?"
"We appear to be in a forest at the edge of the Ordesia Empire's borders. Now hold still, Kamito. I need to perform a diagnostics spell on you." Restia answered and pressed a glowing hand against his chest.
"…Aside from a few scratches, you seem to be fine. That's good, I thought that thing had managed to catch you before the spell activated."
Restia sighed in relief as she removed her hand from Kamito's chest. Kamito froze as he recalled the black mass that had struck fear unlike any other into his heart. His heart rate increased and breathing increased to an almost erratic as even the very thought of that thing reignited the terror he had felt.
"Restia…what was that thing!?" Kamito asked his contracted Seirei after taking a deep breath to calm himself.
"…That was an otherworldly being, not of the human world or of Astral Zero. And…it has taken hold of the Elemental Lords and driven them into insanity."
"Driven them into insanity…then, the reason you wished to slay the Elemental Lords is…"
"Yes, slaying them in their current state will return their sanity to them, as you saw with Iseria Shivod. This is the task that was given to me."
"Task…" Kamito whispered to himself as he processed what Restia had just told him.
"Restia…who are you, really?" Kamito finally asked.
"…My full name is Restia Ashdoll, I am the guide created by the Elemental Lord of Darkness, Ren Ashdoll, to awaken you, who holds her power." The beautiful Seirei of Darkness answered after a moment of silence.
Kamito listened carefully to Restia's every word as she explained everything to him. How the otherworldly Darkness had appeared thousands of years ago in the True Sanctuary and corrupted the Five Elemental Lords. How Ren Ashdoll, the Elemental Lord of Darkness, had waged a full blown war against her insane siblings to return them to normal, but ultimately and had her physical form destroyed. How she had performed a ritual to transfer her power to a human male, and created Restia, who was akin to an alter ego, who inherited her memories, knowledge and will, to guide that human male to awakening her power in order to slay her siblings to free them from the otherworldly Darkness. And how he was the current host of Ren Ashdoll's power, like many others, including Demon King Solomon.
"When the Dusk Witch suggested that you participate in the Blade Dance, I leapt at the opportunity to get close to the Elemental Lords to liberate them, but…"
"…In the end, we failed." Kamito finished grimly.
Technically, it wasn't a complete failure since they had managed to liberate Iseria Shivod, but four Elemental Lords remained, and one of them wasn't even in the True Sanctuary. Worse, they wouldn't be able to try again in a while because there was basically no way to get close to them without being killed, other than binding them with the otherworldly Darkness as it processed the Blade Dance victor's wish. In other words, their next opportunity would only be in the next Blade Dance, which had no set date. This was possibly the greatest failure that Kamito had experienced in his life. And worst of all, he had failed Restia.
"I theorize that the reason the Blade Dances have no set interval between them is because the otherworldly Darkness requires a certain amount of time to recharge its power that it uses to grant the wishes of the Blade Dance victors. The greater the wish, the more power expended, and thus the more time needed to recover its power. However, this time, the Darkness did not fulfill a wish this time, therefore, it has retained all of its power other than it expended to attack us. Therefore, the next Blade Dance will most likely occur much sooner."
Unlike Kamito, Restia was undaunted by their failure and started planning their next move. Kamito crushed down his frustration and listened to her.
"Kamito, when we get to the nearest town, find a messenger bird and send a message to the Dusk Witch. Ask that she inform us when the next Blade Dance starts and register you as one of Ordesia's representatives. Oh, but I'll have to put an illusion around you to hide your real appearance."
"Why?"
"It's only been a day, but Ren Ashbell is already quite famous throughout the continent, being the 'Strongest Blade Dancer' that swept through the recent Blade Dance with unprecedented skill." Restia smiled in amusement at the title her beloved contractor's alter ego had gained.
Kamito grimaced. He had been hearing that title ever since the celebration party and he was getting sick of it.
"Anyway, until the next Blade Dance, we will need to train. At our current power, we will only suffer a repeat of what just happened in the next Blade Dance."
"…As expected, I'm still too weak after all." Kamito looked down with a pained expression, but switched to surprise when Restia gently placed her hands on his cheeks and raised his head.
"No, Kamito. You are strong. In terms of raw potential, you exceed even Solomon. It's just that the opponents are Gods being enhanced by an unknown entity. Up until now, you have been fighting with your own power that you have acquired through harsh training. It's a splendid power. No other Elementalist, except perhaps the Dusk Witch, can compare to you. However, even that power will not be enough to defeat the remaining Elemental Lords at once in the next Blade Dance."
Restia looked into Kamito's eyes with a very serious expression.
"In order to fight the Elemental Lords, the power of another Elemental Lord is required. Kamito, before the next Blade Dance, you must awaken and master the power of Ren Ashdoll."
Normally, one would freak out at hearing that they would need to learn how to draw on a God's power, but Kamito wasn't an ordinary human. If Restia told him that this had to be done, he would do it.
"Understood." Kamito said.
Restia gently pulled Kamito into a hug.
"I'm sorry that you had to be dragged into something so dangerous." Restia said with a sorrowful expression.
Kamito shook his head.
"Don't be. It's thanks to that that I was able to meet you. As long as you're by my side, I don't need anything else."
"Kamito…"
"Restia…"
Kamito and Restia tightly embraced each other, taking comfort in their most beloved person's presence.
It would be a good long while before they moved.
(Three years later)
*BOOM*
At the northern borders of the Ordesia Empire, in a cold mountainous region, the area shook as an explosion rang out.
Kamito stared impassively at the giant smoking spherical crater, easily a kilometer in radius, in front of him, the result of a new spell he had been testing out.
"So it's about this level when I do it with my own power, huh?" Kamito muttered to himself, not quite satisfied with the result of his spell, even though it easily rivalled some of the most powerful spells known to Elementalists.
For the past three years, Kamito and Restia had been on the move while they trained, though they had eventually settled in a cottage they built in this isolated mountainous region, far enough from civilization so that they wouldn't be disturbed nor would humans become curious at the frequent explosions they made while training.
Kamito's own skill as an Elementalist only continued to grow, and currently, he didn't think that even Greyworth could defeat him without using all of her power.
It hadn't been easy, but Kamito successfully awakened Ren Ashdoll's power after he had been cornered by several Archdemon-Class Seireis while training in Astral Zero. Taken by surprise, Restia was knocked out before the fight started, and Kamito found himself hard pressed to fight Archdemon-Class Seireis without the Vorpal Sword while protecting the unconscious Ren Ashdoll's power sensed the danger its host was in, it immediately manifested itself and Kamito effortlessly destroyed his opponents with a wave of his hand.
It had gotten dangerous as Kamito wasn't able to control the sudden gargantuan flux of Dark power, and almost lost himself to it, like Solomon had, if it hadn't been for Restia's presence.
Since then, his training had been focused on mastering the use of Ren Ashdoll's power. It hadn't gone well at first, because Kamito couldn't control the gigantic power and ended up wasting too much power in a single attack and wearing himself out.
Then, Restia had created limiters in the form of silver cross earrings with tetrahedral edges, allowing him to start off with small amounts of Ren Ashdolls's power and mastering it before moving on to bigger amounts, and also preventing Ren Ashdoll's power from leaking out from his body and alerting to his presence before he even got close.
With both limiters on, Kamito could only draw on a maximum of 5% of Ren Ashdoll's full power, though at the level, he could already ravage a good part of a small country with a spell. Restia hadn't been exaggerating when she said Ren Ashdoll had been the strongest among the Elemental Lords.
Kamito had changed physically in the past three years, as expected of someone who had not yet hit the peak of their physical maturity. Three years ago, he had only been as tall as Restia, now he was taller than her by almost a full foot, which made kissing rather awkward as he would have to bend down and Restia would have to tiptoe or fly up.
His straight black hair, previously at waist length since he had not cut it since he had taken by the Instructional School, was now shorter at shoulder length and had become just a bit more wavy.
His facial features had not changed much. They were still elegant and aristocratic, but now it was in a more masculine way rather than the androgynous way it had been three years ago. An effect of using Ren Ashdoll's power was that he would begin to resemble her was what Restia had said.
His muscles had not been visible three years ago, which helped his female disguise, but now it was visibly toned. Not outrageously toned like some men in the world were obsessed with, but enough for people to see that he was muscular and yet allow him to retain his elegant, aristocratic appearance.
His silver cross earring hung from his ears, connected to his ear lobes by short silver chains, enhancing the aristocratic image he was giving off.
"Now then, let's try with 1%." Kamito muttered before taking a deep breath. A black miasmic aura appeared around him and he raised his hand, this time towards a faraway mountain. His eyes, changing color from their usual dark blue to ominous blood red, regarded the target momentarily before he started the incantation.
"Great hand that holds Darkness, smite my enemies."
It was an incredibly simple incantation, but its effects were incredible, especially when boosted by even a small portion of Ren Ashdoll's power.
An orb of darkness formed in Kamito's hands as he recited the incantation and shot at the mountain as he finished it, growing bigger as it moved.
By the time it reached its target, it was already the same size as the mountain it was aimed at and consumed said mountain, leaving nothing but a massive crater, even bigger than the one from before, behind.
Kamito stared at the crater before, looking at the horizon, where the sun was already beginning to set.
"Time to go then. I have to prepare dinner." Kamito thought to himself and turned around, walking back to the cottage he and Restia were staying in, just right next to where he currently was.
"I'm home." Kamito announced as he pushed open the wooden door of the cottage, stepping into the warm, cozy living room.
"Welcome home, Kamito." Restia greeted him from her seat on a chair in the living room, where she sipped a cup of hot tea. She set it down on the table as Kamito walked over and pressed his lips against hers.
As Restia returned the kiss, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself closer to him. Kamito in turn pressed his hands against her back, holding his most beloved person close.
As they separated, a thin trail of saliva hung between them connected to each other's lips.
Restia snuggled into Kamito's chest, an expression of bliss on her face as she basked in the presence of the man who was her everything. Kamito smiled as he pressed his face into her hair, taking in the sweet scent of lavender.
They eventually pulled away, reluctant as they may have been.
"Give me a moment to get cleaned up, then I'll start with dinner." Kamito said.
"Mm. I want sirloin steak tonight."
"Of course. Your wish is my command, mistress." Kamito said with a teasing smile and Restia lightly smacked his arm.
"Stop being a smart aleck and get on with it."
"Sure, sure…hm?" Kamito paused in his step as the faint cry of a bird entered his ears.
From the window, a white owl flew in, a letter attached to its leg. It landed on the windowsill, trembling slightly.
"Poor thing, did it fly through the cold just to bring a message to us?" Restia commented.
"In the first place, there isn't supposed to be anyone else other than us who know about this place…did it fly off course?" Kamito asked as he walked up to the owl and detached the latter from its leg. He frowned as he read the name on it.
"…It's from Greyworth."
"As expected from the Dusk Witch, she was able to find us even though we're this far away from civilization."
Kamito opened the letter and read it, his expression growing more serious as he took each word.
"…Greyworth is summoning us to Areishia Spirit Academy. She wants to talk about the Blade Dance."
Restia's expression changed as well.
"…So, it's finally time."
"Looks like it. Let's go, Restia. This time, I'll definitely make your wish come true."
"Mm. this time for sure…" Restia said as she hugged her contractor.
Kamito wrote a quick reply on a small slip of paper and tied it to the owl, which took off immediately after.
The two stepped outside of the cottage. Kamito held up his hand towards the small building.
"Open, Burial Chamber of the Demon King."
The space around the cottage rippled and tore open, revealing a crystalline chamber within, filled with an assortment of weapons, armors and scrolls.
The cottage creaked and groaned as it was lifted off the ground and drawn into the spatial distortion.
The rift closed when the cottage was pulled inside, leaving no evidence that there had once been a building there.
Kamito stared at the ground the cottage had been just a few moments ago.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I was just thinking how absurd it is that the legendary armory of Demon King Solomon is being used as a mundane storage space."
Restia giggled as she thought about it.
"If Solomon was alive and knew about this, he would have an aneurysm." Restia said with a highly amused tone.
"Hmph. Let's go then. It's a long trip to Areishia Spirit Academy from here."
"Yes. I'd like to reach a town before nightfall."
The two turned and began the long journey to Areishia Spirit Academy.
The day they had been preparing for for the past 3 threes years had finally arrived.
This time, they would definitely succeed.
And the prologue is finished. Wow, this chapter flowed out fast!
As you may have noticed, Kamito's appearance is not his canon one. Instead, he looks like Cadis Etrama di Raizel from Noblesse, down to the sealing earrings, except that his eyes are still the same color as in canon, only turning red when he actively channels Ren Ashdoll's power.
Kamito is extremely powerful, just how I want him to be, and currently, only Greyworth at her full power can hold her own against him, and that's only if he doesn't use Ren Ashdoll's power.
The backstory behind Ren Ashdoll was never made clear in canon, so I made it up myself.
The pairing for this fic is KamitoxRestiaxEst, since I'm not sure about adding anyone else.
Next chapter, I'll be writing the events of Volume 1, with some changes, obviously.
The next update is the Kokabiel chapter for Dragon Emperor, followed by the starting chapters for the war arcs in Dragonberry Chronicles and Black Joker, then Summer Cloud, and finally back to this.
That's all. As always, please read and review.