My plan had worked, it wasn't hard to see that Gabriel prided herself on her intelligence. Her actions showed how much she thought of herself. From the very moment that we had met up till now, there were many instances where her intelligence both shone and cost her.
The elaborate maneuvers that she performed while fighting yesterday which while they did get her out of trouble left Naomi on her own, even the methodical use of aether in how she manipulated her attacks into chains even after firing them off.
The one that sticks out to me the most though would be how she started the fire. The way that Gabriel had used her control over ice to change the temperature of the wood allowing it to spark much easier. It was a show of masterful control, I didn't even know if I could do that but if I could it would be a useful power.
That was why I had started to insult her intelligence, if she really was this smart then there was no doubt some arrogance, a smile unwittingly pulled at my face, and I would love to pull that out.
I hadn't confirmed it yet but the grit teeth that I saw when I subtly insulted her intelligence gave me all the results I needed to know my theory was right.
Looking at her right now, the immense focus despite how much she was bleeding, how much pain must she be in.
Then it happened, scales grew on her as her tail straightened out as if making room for something. Looking deeper at her soul I could tell that she had broken through to tier 6 only one away from my power.
She truly was a genius, to be able to complete the technique in only a handful of tries.
Both Darwin and I had mastered it so completely that it was subconscious for us but we had evolved together, something of a cheat with how easy it was to develop in that evolutionary plane.
"Naomi, heal her"
While Gabriel was learning to reinforce herself I was holding Naomi back, she was a little teary eyed. I couldn't blame her though, with all the blood that had come out of Gabriel while she was learning, anyone else would have died from that much blood loss.
I knew she could take that much blood loss, even if she couldn't I would have just knocked her out and have Naomi heal her.
…
I rushed over to Gabriel, Aoif had finally let go of me and allowed me to go and heal her.
Immediately I knelt down near her body, my hands were on her immediately. Aether wildly flew from my pathways where they were circulating out of my hands and into Gabriel's body.
A white glow appeared on her body as the numerous cuts from her trying to reinforce her whole body were healed, however I still felt that there were wounds.
The only wounds that were possible with all the outside injuries being healed were internal.
My panic grew as I realized that Gabriel was dying, her internal organs must have been ruptured. The flow of aether started to get chaotic as my emotions fluctuated.
"Focus" Breaking me from my panic was Aoif, she had put a hand over my shoulder bringing me out of my panic. The chaotic aether once again calmed down as I was able to keep a lid over my emotions.
I don't know why Aoif comforted me so much that I could control my aether again but I was thankful for it.
…
It was weird, despite the things that Naomi had no doubt seen, the sight of Gabriel bleeding out internally was enough to put her into a panic.
Sighing I stepped over to her and put my hand on her shoulder.
Subtly I sent feelings of calm through my soul and into Naomi's masked by my hand on her shoulder, I calmed her down.
The panic that she was feeling was unnecessary, however it seemed as though Naomi was going to spiral into a panic of self doubt.
I had to intervene, if I did not then Gabriel might actually bleed out with no one to heal her.
That would be no good, a woman of her talents would do good being at Darwin's feet, a subordinate for us.
…
Eventually the white glow enveloping Gabriel stopped as her eyes fluttered open. The transformation that she had gone through slowly dissolved into nothingness.
"Congratulations, you've reinforced your whole body." There was no change in my tone, I purposefully kept it monotone to make sure that her competitiveness was not extinguished.
"Oh, and good job healing her too, Naomi"
I turned and glanced at Naomi, saying this as almost an afterthought.
…
"Now that you've done that you may actually pose a challenge for me to defeat on my own." It was after a second of thought that I heard Aoif say that.
Just like last time, I was ready. I knew that Aoif would charge me immediately after I had healed, thuggish this time I was more prepared.
My reinforcement had not let off yet allowing me to focus less on keeping it and more on the fight. That didn't mean that I could just ignore my reinforcement, no I had to keep a constant flow of aether circulating into the holes of my body's cells.
It was worth it however when I could actually see Aoif coming. Instead of her speed being something that I could not see, now I could actually see and react to Aoif charging at me.
Bringing up the saber that Aoif had created for me I crouch down to avoid the stab and stab at where I predict Aoif would stop.
It didn't go that way though, it seemed like Aoif had seen me crouch down and had reversed her grip.
Two hands on the grip of her dagger she pushed down.
I grit my teeth expecting the pain of my skin being stabbed through but I didn't feel much, it felt as if I was only nicked.
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