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Thinking for a moment, she probably isn’t asking me to sing any ordinary song, but the spirit song instead.
Come to think of it, the last time I sang that song, the surrounding spirits lent me their power without me asking.

『I need only to sing that song, is it?』

I asked to be sure, and she nodded, so I’ll leave it to her.

『Ain, what’s going on?』
『It appears that Liessyl will do something about the captured people. With this, we can escape as we like.』
『In other words, it’s alright to use Fyralia Elicinary, then?』
『Liessyl, will flames be alright? Since there’s a high chance that the fires might spread out, too…』

Asking her, Liessyl replied with a firm and reliable nod.
Liessyl should be a forest spirit, so will she be alright? Well, I know that live trees are actually difficult to burn, but it’s going to be a flame conjured through Dance Princess and boosted by Song Princess. Won’t it spread out and burn?

Or will she perhaps protect them without the use of plants?
Since she’s a spirit, maybe I’m mistaken in evaluating her by our common sense to begin with, so I’ll just leave that issue to her.

『It seems to be alright. However, I’m going to sing the spirit’s song this time, which might not be adequate for the use of flames.』
『Well, wouldn’t it be interesting to try it out?』
『That’s true. Let’s try it.』

There actually aren’t hard rules dictating that conjuring flame requires a song with an affinity for it.
At the very least, this wouldn’t cause the flame’s power to diminish. A song with good affinity does occasionally lead to a power increase, though.
And so I began singing the song the forest spirit sang. Like the forest it portrays, it’s gentle and warm yet also unrelenting.

As I started, Liessyl took action.
She twirls around me while occasionally looking my way.
Something seems to be happening to the spider and the webs outside, but I unfortunately can’t see it.
From what I can perceive with detection, trees and shrubbery appear to be protecting people. These seem to be no ordinary greenery.

With a slight delay, Ciel began to take action as well.
Da-dun. She tapped her feet twice and brandished a staff that appeared out of nowhere.
A red-hot flame was then conjured from one end of the staff, completing her preparations.

This staff didn’t actually appear out of nowhere but was simply something stored inside our magic pouch.

For the duration of five years until she reached the age of 10, I have told Ciel about fire dancing. However, I couldn’t speak well back then, and I only had surface-level knowledge about fire dancing, so it resulted in something different from what I imagined.
The fire dance, from what I know, is an expression of masculine prowess, which is a bit unfeasible for Ciel to begin with.

So for Ciel’s style of fire dance, it’s somewhat a combination of dancing and rhythmic gymnastics.
It makes full use of the body’s flexibility, with large, powerful movements that lead Ciel into her next motion.
Originally, the staff was supposed to be thrown in the air at the start, but due to the lack of space, Ciel only spun it around.

It’s different from rhythmic gymnastics in that… It’s mainly performed with slow and deliberate movements?
Thanks to that, calling it a dance doesn’t feel out of place.

In truth, burning embers and occasionally small fireballs fly through the air, creating a fantastical scene.
As the flying fireballs hit the ground, they exploded into pillars of fire, leaving behind burning flames. Each of them may be small, but they gradually transformed the surroundings into a sea of flame.

When the fiery stage was completed, the webs imprisoning us caught fire and burned instantly.
We were fine thanks to my barrier’s protection, but the intensity of it caused me a bit of fear.
As the webs burned off, the outside scenery revealed to us was quite hellish.

For regular flames, only those on the ground remain burning. However, because of the spider webs strewn all around, there are even flames across the walls and ceiling.
Moreover, due to the dangling webs, there are even flames in the air.

And completely out of place in this environment, there were green trees and shrubbery obstructing the flames.
These plants don’t burn even when bathed in Ciel’s flames; not even their leaves catch fire.
Considering that regular trees should be burned to ash by now, it’s a telltale sign of Liessyl’s strength.

I already knew that spirits are powerful, and they even helped us the last time we went into the den, but seeing our powers actually clash like this makes it easier to understand their strength.
This isn’t something we can defeat. Not that we plan on having hostilities with spirits to begin with.

As the golden spider’s nest was burned away, the golden spider fell to the ground and stared right at us. I think.
Emitting a creaky shriek, it charged towards Ciel. The way its eight legs writhed as it ran is sure to evoke disgust from anyone.

Ciel holds the staff by its non-burning end and starts making large, circular swings.
Following the trail of flames, fireballs manifested as if formed by flaming after images and rained down upon the golden spider.
The first stunned it on impact.
The second left a burn mark as it hit the golden spider’s body.
And from the third one onwards, it used its large legs to disperse the fireballs.

As a result, fire spread to its two front appendages.

The shrill, creaky noise it emitted grew louder. Its red eyes, filled with anger, locked onto Ciel.

It seems that she has caused it damage, but not significantly, only enraging the golden spider.
Although two of its legs are gone, its movement speed wasn’t affected.

As the golden spider continued charging at her, Ciel blew air onto the staff.
The red flame turned blue, and, as if blown away, blue embers rode the wind. As these made contact with the flames burning across the ceiling and floor, everything was painted in a blue hue.

After one last twirl, Ciel slammed the staff vertically on the ground.
And as she did, the blue flames scattered across the area gathered as one, enveloping the golden spider at the center of it.
In no time, the golden spider turned to ash, leaving only a fang behind.

And that ends our spider battle! It’s always fun when Ciel starts dancing.

So, what I like most about Ciel’s fire dance in particular is how unique it is compared to the previous dances. First, it’s the only one that seemingly requires a prop. And second, with how complicated describing a fire dance is (combined with the fact that the one in Ain’s mind is a masculine one, when there’s a wide variety of fire dances), it’s a bit more detailed compared to the previous dances. And the backstory of them brainstorming about it is honestly cool. Just my opinion though.

Each dance has it’s own theme and setpiece, which is quite fitting since all of Ciel’s really big dances require “Stage Setting” spells. Ciel’s first elicinary was the ice skating themed ice stage, then there’s the air stage which is pretty much exclusively for flight use. After that is the storm one, when she fried some wyverns, and lastly before this was the thorn one. (Might have missed some *sweats*) And with this new addition, it’s clear why despite fire being basically the most offensively strong spell type, they haven’t been using it. There’s already large collateral damage just from activating it, lol.

Also, spirits are OP, lol.

Now then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please feel free to comment. Stay healthy, stay safe, and have a nice day~!