Chapter 23: Fatal Weakness

“Get everything ready,” Pelle whispers to me as she steps forward to face Gabriel. “As soon as I give the signal, you activate the rune, okay?”

“Got it.” I let out a slight nod in return. “What’s our timing window?”

“One second. And that’s accounting for error. Are you up for it?”

“Do I have a choice?” With a nervous grin, I ask through my breath.

“Ready?”

“Go!”

As I shout, both Pelle and I dash out of our positions. With sword in hand, I make my way towards the mob of people, giving out the order for the rest of our army while channeling my energy for an earth spell:

“Infantry, stop the civilians! Snipers, take care of the angels above you!”

With a swing of my sword, giant slabs of earth erect from the ground again, similar to my battle with Petra two years ago. The key difference this time, however, is that these slabs are also tilted towards our side, doubling themselves as shields for aerial attacks from the angels as well as blocking us from any harm on the ground. Of course, this limits our melee combat potential, but we never planned on just suicide ourselves in the first place.

“Use the terrain to your advantage! Guns and arrows only! Take care of the angels first! The civilians lack combat experience!”

With layers and layers of defenses getting created after each of my swings, the mob on the ground is slowly but surely pushed into a corner – a natural result considering our advantages in a real fight. However, the battlefield in the air is an entirely different thing, as even with the protection from the earth slabs and the ranged weaponry we have, our forces are still no match for the angels born to rule the sky. With each hit we get onto one of them, another three or four of us are injured as a result. And even if their number is low, ours also isn’t anything to write home about, so in a war of attrition, it’s hard to say which of us have the upper hand.

Our trump card in the air, Pelle, is also not doing any better, as her target from the start has been clear – Gabriel. However, as her attacks decorate the sky with blue flashes and thundering noises, the opposing leader isn’t so much as breaking a sweat. Standing nonchalantly in the air, Gabriel lets out a loud yawn as he absorbs Pelle’s lightning with only his hand as if the magus isn’t even worth his notice.

However, this means that our plan is working.

“Curses! Fight me like a man, Gabriel!” Pelle, clad in her blue armor, shouts in anger as she throws her hammer towards the angel. However, even her strongest attack flying towards Gabriel in what could only be described as a flash of lightning dissipates immediately as soon as it comes into contact with his touch.

“Is this all you have, girl? It’s getting boring already.” Gabriel lets out a boastful sneer and, to even his subordinates’ surprise, attempts to sit in mid-air, as if he’s just a casual witness to a spectacle completely unrelated to himself instead of fighting in a war for his people. But both Pelle and I know, this is the perfect chance for us to set up a counterattack.

“Everyone! Pull back!” I give the order to the rest of the army, gesturing them to return to our base while taking out a small piece of paper with a strange symbol on it, placing it onto the ground. At the same time, Pelle’s body lights up in a radiant blue and crackles with lightning, as she lets out an electrifying shout:

“Now! Tordens Verden!”

As soon as the words leave her mouth, I stab the piece of paper with Excalibur and unleash its power, resulting in a dazzling red glow. With the added magical energy, the symbol on the paper expands itself onto the ground, just enough to cover the small space where I’m standing, and coat it in a crimson light. At the same time, Pelle disappears from Gabriel’s sight, then immediately reappears behind him as fast as a lightning strike. With another piece of paper in her hand, she then grabs Gabriel’s shoulder and activates the spell, engulfing the two of them in a flash of light. Without another word, all three of us disappear from the battlefield, leaving everyone else behind.

As we land onto our next destination, the first thing we notice is the soft feeling of sand and soil along with the salty feel of the sea breeze, and in front of me right now is a large steel cage enough for a single adult human, currently being occupied by none other than Gabriel himself. As I dispel my armor and sheathe my sword while Pelle also flashes towards me, our main target is still taking his sweet time to process the events that have just transpired, wearing a dumbfounded look in the process. In the end, as if he has given up on finding out the reason altogether, the angel turns to us and raises his voice:

“What’s the meaning of this? Do you honestly think that this cage is enough to hold me?”

“Who says anything about a cage?” With a slight smirk on my face, I clad myself in armor once more and raises my hand. In a flash of light, the earth around the cage rises up and combines into one perfect dome, sans a small slate enough for whoever inside to see through.

“You see, Gabriel, the basis of your power is simple,” before Gabriel could open his mouth from inside the dome, I’ve already started my explanation. “You have the ability to nullify any attack, and the stronger the attack, the more powerful your ability is.”

“A keen observation,” states the angel. “And?”

“A power that negates any attack aimed towards you… It sounds powerful, and it is powerful, but it isn’t unbeatable. Nothing is. And your power is surprisingly easy to figure out.”

“Let’s rephrase what I said just now,” I continue to circle around the earth dome, taking my sweet time to celebrate my victory. “Your power makes it that none of the attacks targeting you would work. However, we can understand it like this: if there’s an attack that’s not aimed at you, or if we can harm you without making an attack, then your power is useless.”

“I see. So, naturally, you came to the conclusion of a trap…” Gabriel exclaims with a bitter laugh. “I must commend you, Petey, you’ve beaten me completely.”

“But let me ask you this,” continues the angel. “How do you plan to finish me off? As you can see, I’m still perfectly fine inside this makeshift prison of yours.”

“Oh, I have an answer right here, Gabby.”

I point my sword towards the dome. Immediately, the small slate on the side is filled up completely with additional rocks, and the dome is now fully sealed, so much that not even a fly could go through.

“There you have it. Soon enough, you’re going to run out of air in there, so your death is only a matter of slow, excruciating time.”

After a moment, the voice inside the earth dome finally opens up to me, but in words that I do not expect to hear.

“… I have to thank you, Petey, for giving me a slow and painful death like this… because now, I know I can live to see another day.”

“What do you mean? Are you suggesting that you have a way of breaking out of this prison?” As soon as the words leave his mouth, I immediately retract into a battle stance, taking a cautious glance at the dome I created.

“Of course not,” I can feel Gabriel shaking his head behind the stone wall. “Surely you must also know that my combat prowess is pathetically weak. Even the part about the cage was already me trying to bluff my way out.”

“Yes, I am aware,” I lower my sword as I hear his reasoning. “Then what’s your goal?”

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“I said that because I know you’re going to let me live. Or at least, your allies will.”

“Me?” Pelle, who has been standing next to me, finally speaks. “What do you mean?”

“First of all, you’re unable to kill me.” Gabriel sounds, the news of which sends both of us to disarray.

“What? You said it yourself that you can’t escape that dome!” I shout in anger and disbelief.

“Yes, that is what I said. And that is still true. However, what you would succeed to kill today would be the former Knight of the Round, Tristan, not the Archangel Gabriel.”

“Not the Archangel Gabriel?” I ask in a doubtful tone. Is he lying to me? Does he want to live that badly, that he has to result in this kind of baseless lie? Or is there truth to his information? Should I take my chance and believe what he said?

“Hey… it’s getting kind of hard to breathe in here. Can you at least make me a hole?” Gabriel’s voice sounds from within the dome to drag me back to reality.

“Finish your excuse. Then we’ll see.”

“I’ll get to the point, then. An Archangel isn’t born. They’re made by combining the body of a living human with a Gift from God – a power He bestows upon his most devoted followers. These gifts can’t be destroyed by regular means, so even if I die here, ‘Gabriel’ would still remain, waiting for the right time for another host to appear. And if that happens, all of your work to rid this continent of me would be for naught. And I’m sure you don’t want that to happen, right… magus girl?”

Tch. So that’s what he’s going for. I was just wondering what he said had anything to do with me. To be frank, I’m already willing to sacrifice the people in this country just now, so their fate isn’t too much of my concern, but Pelle is a different story. She’s a true and true hero of justice, and she wouldn’t stand to see the people she’d sworn to free brought back under control. And this is not mentioning the fact that, as much as I hate to admit it, Gabriel is quite lax under his rule. What if the new Gabriel is not so pleasant to deal with? Will Pelle and the rest of the resistance just stand there and watch as the fruits of their hard work turn to nothing? I don’t think so.

“So, how do we destroy ‘Gabriel’, then?”

“Heh,” a surprising laugh comes out of the angel’s mouth, “if I knew how to do it, would I be stuck serving God for how many years?”

“I thought you said God would only give these powers to his most devoted followers? Why do you sound like you hate his gut?” With a sarcastic smirk, I ask.

“Because there’s only one out of the current four Archangels that willingly joined God,” Gabriel answers with shocking news as if lightning just struck our ears. “The rest? We either were forced into the role or had our own agenda that we needed to fulfill.”

“… I’ll take your words for now. And? What’s your second bargaining chip?”

“I might not know how to do it, but I believe I have an idea,” Gabriel continues as soon as he sees an interest arising in me. “But, make a hole for me first.”

“Do you think I’m that…” I don’t even get to finish my sarcastic remark, as Pelle has already placed her hand on my shoulder and give a nod:

“Do it, Peter.”

“Are you sure?”

“His first point is already enough to convince me already. I don’t want us to immediately go to another war when we’d just finished this one.”

“… Okay then. I respect your decision.” I reluctantly nod in agreement, pointing my sword forward. With a quick stab onto the earth dome, a tiny hole, only about half the size of the slate earlier, is revealed as I sheathe my sword again.

“There you go.” I glance towards the dome. “Now talk.”

From the light coming through the hole, I can vaguely make out Gabriel pointing his finger towards… me? Is he pointing at me? Or is it…

“Excalibur?” I ask.

“Something like that,” Gabriel answers with a nod. “There used to be twelve Archangels, not four. Uriel, or should I say, Mordred, successfully killed off eight of them before he became one himself. When we asked him about it, however, he said that he didn’t remember. Either he’s still keeping secrets even though we’re stuck in the same position, or his memories were honestly affected in his transformation. But either way, there’s only one explanation I could think of, and that’s Clarent.”

“I see. Then, the reason you’re pointing to Excalibur is…”

“The swords are said to be equal in power, yes,” Gabriel continues. “And, I’ll throw in another prize for you as well. The remaining member of the trio, Galatine, is still kept in my office at the top of our headquarters. Without me, I’m sure you people will have no trouble taking it.”

“… What’s your deal?” I ask. The information is too good to be true. There has to be another motive behind his actions. With the hole on the dome, his life is no longer in danger, then why is he basically giving us one of the most powerful weapons here?

“Of course, I’m not giving it away for free,” As if already knowing what’s in my mind, Gabriel lets out a nod of confirmation. “And this is also the reason why I was desperately clinging to my life, even if I might not show it… I need you to kill someone.”

“An Archangel, asking me to kill a person?” I let out a smirk at the proposal.

“Not a person. He’s an Archangel like me,” The angel answers. “And I can’t kill him. Part of the reason is that I don’t want God to notice my doings, but the main part is… I can’t beat him in a fight.”

“Go on. Who is he?”

“The famed Silver Blade, King Arthur’s right-hand man, and now the leader of the Archangels… Michael of the East, or rather, Sir Bedivere of the Round Table.”

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