Chapter 37

The sudden yelling drew Grace's attention towards Xain and Jakel, and upon witnessing the unfolding events, her eyes widened. *Shit, this is bad,* she thought, her senses heightened. As she felt a slash coming from behind her, Grace swiftly elbowed her attacker in the chest, causing him to gasp in pain as his bones fractured. With a quick spin, she delivered a powerful backfist, knocking the mercenary out cold. At the same time, Zee incapacitated another mercenary with a high kick to the face.

"We need to hurry, they need help," Grace urgently informed Zee, who also observed the situation and nodded in agreement. Before Zee could engage the remaining mercenaries, they dropped their weapons and pleaded for mercy. "Please, no more!" one exclaimed, while the other surrendered, "We give up!" They raised their hands in surrender.

"Then get your friends to safety. Let's go," Zee commanded as she and Grace swiftly began running towards Xain and the angel to help them. Meanwhile, the two surrendering mercenaries tended to their fallen comrades, ushering them away from the impending conflict.

"You go help Xain, I'll help birdbrain," Grace instructed, surprising Zee, who had expected Grace to join Xain instead. "Okay," Zee responded quickly, pushing aside her thoughts for later. Grace and Zee split up, with Zee making her way towards Xain and Grace heading towards the angel.

Speaking of which, the angel landed back on the ground, favoring his injured foot, he locked eyes with Jakel, who had fully healed his nose. "Water and earth affinity, huh? That means you're a caster," the angel remarked, to which Jakel responded with a nonchalant shrug. "You're a smart bird, aren't you? Want a reward?" Jakel taunted mockingly. Irritated, the angel retorted, "I'm not a damn bird!" before flapping his wings and charging towards Jakel.

As the angel approached, Jakel tapped his foot on the ground, causing a wall of earth to rise up and strike the angel in the mid-section mid-flight. "Ugh!" the angel grunted in pain as he was knocked off course. Taking advantage of the opening, Jakel swung the butt of his rifle like a bat, striking the angel in the temple and sending him crashing to the ground.

Jakel, ready to finish the job, raised his hand to summon a stone spike to impale the angel with a stone spike, but before he could act, a beam of light struck his hand, burning and melting it down to the bone. "Ugh, fuck!" Jakel exclaimed as he began to turn around to see who had attacked him. Before he could fully pivot, he heard a snap, and suddenly, Grace was in front of him. Without giving him a chance to react, she delivered a swift dropkick to his chest, sending him flying into a nearby tree.

"Are you okay, feathers?" Grace asked, earning an annoyed look from the angel as he slowly rose to his feet, his leg gradually healing, though it would still take some time to fully mend. "I was managing just fine. And please, stop with the nicknames," the angel retorted before shifting his attention to Jakel. Grace did the same, but not before marking the angel with a touch. *Now, how to deal with you?* she pondered as she and the angel observed Jakel's body emitting a faint blue glow, witnessing his rapid healing process in real time as his hand regenerated muscles, tendons, and veins before his skin seamlessly grew back.

"You're the other one I haven't seen before," Jakel remarked as he slowly rose to his feet. "Let me guess, you're a spirit or something," he continued, flexing his healed hand. "What gave you that idea?" Grace asked, though she already knew the answer. "Well, considering the village has a demon and an angel protecting it, I thought it made sense for a spirit to be guarding it as well. So, am I right?" Jakel replied, prompting Grace to sigh and shake her head. "Nah, I'm just a human, albeit a tiny bit more loved than most," she explained.

As they talked, the angel put Heaven's Inventory on his wrists, preparing to fight Jakel seriously. Jakel scratched the back of his head before responding, "I'm kinda disappointed by that, but whatever. It's time for both of you to die."

Grace, having read Jakel's thoughts, swiftly dodged out of harm's way, with the angel following suit. As Jakel stomped on the ground, conjuring six stone spikes around them, both Grace and the angel managed to evade them unscathed. The angel hit his bracelets together, producing a sound of electricity followed by black lightning that vanished instantly. In the angel's hand materialized a golden whip with a white handle adorned with a black cross.

"Let's see how you handle this!" the angel exclaimed, cracking the whip with an intention to strike Jakel. In response, Jakel conjured an earthy shield that surrounded him. However, as the whip made contact, the shield shattered with a thunderous crack matching the power of thunder. Jakel clicked his tongue in frustration, but before he could react, another snap echoed, and Grace reappeared in front of him. She unleashed a powerful punch that Jakel blocked with his forearm, which snapped under the force, sending him skidding across the ground.

Despite actively attacking, Grace knew that they couldn't truly kill Jakel with his high water affinity; he was practically immortal as long as he had mana. There were only three ways to defeat Jakel: first, destroying his entire body in one attack; second, immobilizing him, which would be nearly impossible with his earth affinity; and third, the most viable method, depleting his mana entirely.

As Jakel began to rise again, his body glowing faintly blue as his arm snapped back into place and his wounds healed, the angel couldn't help but express both annoyance and admiration. "How much mana do you have? This is ridiculous," he remarked. Healing minor cuts and bruises with water magic didn't consume much mana, but healing severe wounds was a different story.

"Ha, ha, more than enough to keep this up for hours," Jakel declared with a confident grin, stretching his healed arm. *He's being serious,* Grace acknowledged as she read his thoughts. "Come on, let's keep going. I can't kill you by talking now, can I?" Jakel challenged, ready for the next round.