Giana was looking by worriedly as I poured more mana into the magic circle. It would be enough to fulfill the mana requirements and open it up to accepting 3 or 4 more skills before it would need more.

  [X-1], [Azure Mist], [Hattrick] were crossed off the offensive skill list and Protia from the utility.

  [Wind Rope] would be included in the next skills I will have [Foxfire Lunacy] accept, but my progress on it was slowing down. The others would be a reaction to our situation.

  I felt weak, so I went to lay down.

  “Deca, this worries me…was that the last time?”

  For now, yeah…

  My lungs felt as if they were burning as inhaling and exhaling had become more difficult while pouring mana into the circle, as if attempting to inflate a steel balloon. Probably one of the reasons Giana was worried.

  “Gregory still hasn’t returned, has he. Do we just leave him behind?” She said as she laid down next to me.

  There is no way we can do that. Let’s just hope he doesn’t pull strange shit when he returns.

  “Do you think the team will fall apart?”

  I’m afraid it might. We don’t need to be in the same team to be together, but it certainly would be the most convenient. I just don’t know how it will pan out if the split happens.

  “Wouldn’t it just be us 5 then?”

  Raishin might have problems with it. It would probably be you, Yv and me as a team and Raishin, Noelle and Gregory. Or back to how it was before and the 3 of us and the 3 of you, as before the merge. Gregory…he sucks at making friends. He might truly change into a villain if we leave him alone.

  “I admire your friendship, but how will you progress in life if one chooses to stay behind?”

  I don’t know…

  Silence fell, and Giana and I gazed at the stars. A shadow approached us an hour later.

  How fortunate, you’re out of mana. How about this?

  A potion crashed on the ground and a strange vapor filled the area.

  Seriously Gregory? Ugh…I feel strange…

  Now come to me Giana, that should have erased your attraction for Agnis.

  Giana, are you ok?

  Giana was giving off a dangerous vibe mixed with some charm magic. I got instantly hit by it, and feelings I seemed to have forgotten came back to me.

  “You sure have guts, trying to erase his feelings for me.”

  Wait, Deca, that’s probably not his goal.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “I know, Deca.” She blasted me again with charm magic. “Let me educate you, Gregory, as you seem so interested in me. That stupid potion of yours doesn’t work on charm users. The attack on me was upsetting, but to erase years of effort, trying to have him fall for me due to your hubris is too much for me.”

  Giana went 9t mode and exuded blood thirst. “Just sit back and watch Deca. You’re out of mana. He can’t hurt me, but he can hurt you. Let me protect you for once.”

  Gregory went 3t mode to counter Giana’s 9t mode.

  Guys, if you destroy my home, both of you are in trouble.

  Giana started to sing and used [Ayla Aurelia]. It floated over to me and a tentacle placed me on its icy core. Her hair turned silver, and she started throwing frost magic around.

  Neither of them were doing damage, but Gregory’s mana was decreasing at a rapid rate while Giana’s mana was swelling. She reversed time on every of Gregory’s defensive skills to hit her frost attacks.

  Her charm magic was also welling up.

  The [Edgecat] went out and Giana slipped it and froze its butt to the floor. She turned to me and gave me a charming wink.`

  I couldn’t hear what was going on as Giana’s skill seemed to block sound. Gregory’s edgecat must have started its purring, but I’m unsure how it would fare against Giana as sound-based attacks don’t seem to work well against here and on top of that, she’s a healer adept at dealing with curses.

  Gregory got pushed into using his palette swap skill. I never got to ask what it was about but… if he swaps attributes on Giana, he’s screwed. Giana’s speed, physical offense and magical offense are garbage tier, while her defenses and vitality are god tier. He will make Giana extremely fast or give her insane offense if he swaps something.

  Surely, he knows that, right? Does he actually know that? I exaggerate quite often, so he might think that her defenses are not as strong as I had made it out to be.

  Something changed about Giana. She warped and obliterated all Gregory’s defenses with a tail slams. And raw spirit energy.

  I facepalmed. He must have boosted her physical attack in exchange for something else. Her tales kept smacking and breaking [Shadow Walls], [Shadow Domes], [Earth Walls] every defensive skill Gregory relied on got smashed through. The waves of shadows didn’t seem to help much because Giana’s physical attack was overwhelming.

  So, it seems that this ability of his is useless against those that only specialize in defense. He will be forced to swap a defensive value with either an attack value or speed. Now Giana is a master in defense even if all her defense gets nullified, she can still avoid damage.

  [Great Sacrifice] is something many skilled Golden Angels know, and I assume they get taught how to still be functional under that.

  The best thing would be to not use it, but Gregory’s hubris didn’t allow for this. Giana became blindingly fast.

  Gregory had created a monster, attempting to deal damage to Giana. Who would have thought that a slow no damage healer like Giana hard counters Gregory’s stupidly overpowered skill.

  All he would need to do is take away my speed against me, and I’m toast. Probably. I can still teleport, so I might not be completely hopeless. He would have to make me tanky in exchange, though.

  Giana was enjoying being fast. She was currently even faster than me. Gregory got forced to cancel his overpowered skill and Giana turned back to normal and she hit him with an enormous mass of charm magic.

  Well, I guess that’s Giana’s win. Giana seemed to have told Gregory something, who took his distance and sat down.

  She canceled her 9t mode and her jellyfish, locked on to me and dove at me. “I won! I need a reward.”

  What about Gregory?

  “I charmed him and ordered him to lift the curse of himself. I’m sorry, but we might have to stay here a bit longer. He told me that it might take a week for him to succeed.”

  So, we’re finally released from his bullshit? Thank goodness. You were amazing there, Deca. You will get your reward. And with no peeping this time it seems.

  The week went by fast. It was repetitive but enjoyable.