Demon Sword Master of the Holy Sword Academy - Volume 5 - Chapter Pr

PROLOGUE

It happened six months ago.

The countless red lights flickering in the darkness were despair given form.

“What’s going on?! Why are they hatching all of a sudden?!”

“Elfiné, we need a status report—”

“Thirteen, seventeen, nineteen, twenty-one, twenty-eight… This can’t be, how…?!”

Elfiné focused on getting a handle on the situation, despite the chaotic state of her squad. As an elite unit that represented the academy, they had been tasked with investigating a Void Hive. It should have been no different from past missions.

It wasn’t that they were careless. The seventh platoon, led by Liat Guinness the Blazing Lion, would never act recklessly in the heart of the Void’s territory.

No, they had simply been unlucky.

Everything had happened so swiftly. Elfiné’s Eye of the Witch hadn’t even detected signs. The first to hatch was a specimen that resembled a cross between a gigantic insect and a lizard. And by the time the platoon was aware of it, their vanguard, Zack, was decapitated.

It was only the group’s rigorous training that kept them from screaming when they saw Zack’s head fly off. The platoon captain, Liat, reacted promptly and appropriately, ordering a swift retreat. They attempted to escape via a route they’d set up ahead of time. While they made their departure, Elfiné received a request for aid from an allied platoon. That’s when—

“■■■■■■■■■■■!”

—the Void specimen that slew Zack let out a dissonant screech, which acted as an intense EMP, rendering the platoon’s magical apparatuses inoperable.

Crack… Crack… Crack…!

The sound of something crystalline fracturing echoed. It was the reverberating noise of despair.

“Lesca and I will make a way forward. Elfiné, cover us!”

Liat’s Holy Sword incinerated a newly hatched small Void. Unfortunately, there was no preventing more of the monstrous things from emerging. Thirty-four of them, thirty-seven, forty-one, forty-two, forty-three, forty-four… It was a nightmare. A small-scale Void Stampede.

“…Eye of the Witch, Mode Shift…!” Elfiné tried to switch her Holy Sword over to its offensive mode.

“Finé!”

Before she had the chance, however, Lesca tugged on her arm and pulled her down to the floor. No sooner had Elfiné hit the ground than a Void’s scything arm cleaved Lesca through.

“Lesca… No… Lesca… Aaaaaaah…!”

Watching another of her companions fall right before her eyes caused Elfiné’s mind to go blank. Her Holy Sword’s orbs, which had been deployed around her, faded away.

“Elfiné, get up! Elfiné—”

Liat tugged on Elfiné’s arm and led her away. She couldn’t remember what happened next.

Two Holy Swordsmen died during an investigation on a newly excavated Void Hive. And on that same day, Elfiné Phillet lost part of her Holy Sword’s power.