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Chapter 37. Gabriel

A speeding spear aims for my limbs, but dealing with all of them is a hassle. So, I aimed for her neck with a karate chop, but she dodged it instantly.

Hilalda Miesis, with her sea-colored hair flying around, doesn’t seem to have clear murderous intent towards me... or does she?

"Hey, wait a minute. Why are you attacking me?"

"Why... because you are you."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

I'd appreciate it if she communicated a bit more. I sense hostility, but no real intent to kill. Yet, she’s clearly targeting my body with her attacks, making it hard to tell if she wants to kill me or not.

"Could you talk a bit more seriously?"

"......"

"Eh, Jeremiah?"

"Eh? Even if you ask me... I haven't really talked much with Hilalda."

"Useless."

"Aren't you being a bit harsh on me?"

Of course. You’re always acting creepy towards me.

"Well... it seems she won't take me seriously. There's no choice then... here goes."

"Here goes?"

"[Gabriel]"

Damn, this woman. She casually pulled out a grimoire.

With those words, six water orbs floated around Hilalda, spinning and gradually narrowing into spear shapes.

"Here I come."

With that declaration, the six spears floating around attacked me, moving freely. The spears were quite fast. Moreover, Hilalda herself continued to attack, making it seem like there were seven of her.

"This grimoire overwhelms with speed and numbers... no, that’s not it. The spears have different lengths, so they probably can change shape freely."

"!"

As I fended off the spears with my sword and deduced the nature of her grimoire, it seemed I was correct as [Gabriel] changed form. The six thin spears merged into a large mass and then rained down on me.

"Ouch!?"

Just when I thought it turned into rain, the tiny spears attacked like needles.

Can a person walk and avoid rain? No, that's impossible. The needles didn't pierce deeply, but they stung when they struck my shoulder. Moreover, the needles reabsorbed into the water orb above and rained down again.

I tried to defend with a makeshift spell, but Hilalda charged at me unaffected by the spear rain. When she got close, the spears turned back into water.

"This grimoire has a nasty personality!"

"Not nasty!"

Why does she react like that... does she care about being called nasty? Well, whatever... if she turns the spears to water when close to herself, then I just need to stay close to her.

"Knowing that, I'll fight you up close."

"!"

If she attacks when I’m distant, I'll fight her up close.

"Then I'll just do this."

I thought I neutralized her rain attack with close combat, but then realized she could still form and attack with the grimoire in other ways. If she attacks from afar, she'll use the rain?

[Gabriel] turned back into six spears, circling me to complement Hilalda's movements.

"Damn, no choice... [Yaldabaoth]"

"What is this!?"

"That's... Theodore's grimoire!"

I cut through the attacking [Gabriel] with [Yaldabaoth].

"You cut through my spears so easily?"

"What a sharp cut... no, it's more than that."

Jeremiah and Hilalda noticed something strange about the sharpness of my fake grimoire. It’s indeed sharp due to fine vibrations, but it has another special ability, making it easy to cut through water spears.

Hilalda, desperate to understand this, kept throwing spears, but as I cut them all, she seemed to realize.

"Can't control them?"

"My grimoire [Yaldabaoth] cuts and absorbs magic. The water you control with magic becomes uncontrollable when I absorb its magic."

"A weapon specialized against magic... so this is Theodore Anthem's grimoire."

I didn’t want Jeremiah to see it, but I disliked dealing with Hilalda more. Besides, Hilalda’s grimoire was stronger than I expected, so I had no choice but to use mine.

Ignoring the rule against student battles, Hilalda started this, so she better deal with it.

"Absorbs magic... but if I re-activate the grimoire—"

"Don't you get it? No matter how much you manipulate it, making it rain again is pointless. You can't win like this."

"That’s only if I keep fighting this way. I have other methods."

Well... she hasn’t run out of ways to fight. Disabling her grimoire doesn’t mean she can’t use magic or spears. But thinking she can fight me without using her grimoire is underestimating me.

She charged with a spear while casting a spell with one hand, but I could nullify magic with my fake grimoire, rendering her spells ineffective. Does she think she can beat me with just a spear?

"Annoying... I'm going all out."

"Bring it on!"

"Stop! What are you doing!?"

"…Elixira?"

As our fight was about to get serious, Elixira stepped in between us. It’s almost suicidal, but she has guts.

I thought Hilalda would still attack, but she stopped and released her grip on the spear.

"Sigh..."

Is it over already?