As soon as Gabriel arrived at Taki's place, he immediately realized that this location was a place-type Spell. A Spell that could alter the environment according to the creator's will.

Walking forward, Gabriel saw himself lying down.

Quickly, Gabriel noticed something strange, something only he would know: his sword was missing from his back.

Gabriel knew that his swords wouldn't detach without his permission or request.

Without a doubt that this was Taki's trick, Gabriel swiftly hurled Shubarashi-sa towards the fake Taki in front of him.

Realizing that Gabriel wasn't easily fooled, Taki blocked the sword with her saw, which emerged from below and shifted into its true form.

The sword struck directly against Taki's saw. "Heh... your sword got stuck in my saw."

"No problem..." Gabriel teleported to his sword and immediately punched Taki in the face, hard.

Gabriel faded like a dimming light, yanked his sword out of Taki's saw, and threw it again at Taki, who had been flung out of the church by Gabriel's powerful blow.

The sword pierced through Taki's chest, pinning her to the ground.

The sound of a bell echoed loudly from within the church, and Gabriel struggled to cover his ears and keep his eyes open.

From experience, Gabriel understood some of Reverend Taki's tricks.

"Come on... are you the real one, or just another fake?"

The ringing of the church bell attempted to force Gabriel to close his eyes, but he resisted, determined to confirm whether the Taki he was facing was real or fake.

Gabriel's guess was that this was a fake Taki, as the real one wouldn't be so weak, not weak enough to be thrown aside by a single punch.

Despite the incessant bell, Gabriel kept his eyes wide open, refusing to be fooled by Taki again.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

After some time, Gabriel's suspicion was proven right. The Taki, Gabriel had been fighting was a fake.

Taki stood, passing through Gabriel's sword like a ghost passing through a wall.

"Haha... I knew it! This will be an easy mission then."

The bell stopped ringing, indicating that Taki had given up trying to deceive Gabriel with her physical illusions.

"Now I believe you're not just any ordinary warrior. Seems I need to get a little serious fighting you." Taki said, her smile fading.

Taki summoned his saw back, flying from behind Gabriel.

But Gabriel swiftly grabbed his other sword, Masayoshi, slicing the saw in two like a cake being cut.

To Gabriel's surprise, after the saw, now in two pieces, landed in front of Taki, it instantly rejoined itself as if nothing had ever happened.

The saw reformed without a trace of damage.

Taki retrieved her saw, preparing to fight Gabriel with a bit more seriousness.

Gabriel called Shubarashi-sa back, flying through Taki's body like a ghost untouchable, and it returned to Gabriel's left hand.

Taki charged towards Gabriel, holding the saw above her hands.

Gabriel quickly blocked the attack with Shubarashi-sa, realizing that simply cutting Taki's saw wasn't effective.

As Gabriel held off Taki's saw, he made his sword glow brightly, blinding Taki's vision momentarily.

While Taki was blinded by the sword's intense light, Gabriel swiftly swung Masayoshi at Taki's neck.

However, when the sword struck Taki's neck, it passed through as if no one was standing there.

Surprised by this, Gabriel didn't notice that Taki suddenly pushed her saw harder than before.

Not wanting to be impaled by his own sword, Gabriel released Shubarashi-sa from his grip, avoiding his weapon.

As a result, Taki managed to land an attack on Gabriel's golden chest armor. The saw's chain spun rapidly, destroying Gabriel's armor quickly.

Gabriel had an idea: what if it was Shubarashi-sa that slashed, instead of Masayoshi?

He swiftly summoned Shubarashi-sa with his mind. It flew up from below into Gabriel's left hand.

Without hesitation, Gabriel slashed at Taki's arms, which were pushing the saw into his chest armor.

To Gabriel's surprise, it worked, cutting Taki's arms, causing the saw to fall to the ground.

Wasting no more time, Gabriel stabbed Shubarashi-sa into Taki's belly, allowing the sword to purge all the evil within Taki's body.

The fake Taki screamed in pain as Gabriel's sword absorbed the dark energy from within her.

Though Taki was in agony, she hadn't given up. With the strength he had left, Taki regenerated her arms and summoned her saw back into her hands.

Gabriel drove his sword deeper, while Taki pulled the lever of her saw three times, creating a powerful wind surge from its tip.

The attack hit Gabriel's chest again with immense wind force.

The strike was strong enough to destroy half of Gabriel's golden armor and send him flying away from Taki.

Meanwhile, Taki collapsed, weakened from the effects of Gabriel's sword.

Gabriel looked ahead, seeing Taki kneeling as though lifeless.

"Heh... Even though I was only fighting a fake, that was troublesome enough. Seems I underestimated her."

Gabriel stood up and walked forward to retrieve his sword from Taki's body.

After pulling his sword free, Gabriel felt an extraordinary cold, and snow began to fall from the sky, forcing Gabriel to close his eyes.

When he reopened them, he realized he was back in the snowy mountains.

Hearing a conversation, Gabriel slowly walked forward. Peeking from behind a large rock, he saw Taki carrying an unconscious Eve.

"Eve... she's fighting the real Taki..." Gabriel whispered softly.

Gabriel saw Taki carrying Eve away. He wanted to help her, but after seeing how powerful the fake Taki was and with his armor destroyed, he chose to save himself first and the chosen hero later.

After seeing this incident, without thinking Gabriel tried to find Kaizoku's rest.

Gabriel is sure that Kaizoku won't just lose, he will still find where Kaizoku is.

In the end, Gabriel saw Kaizoku and Sylphy lying limp and asleep in front of a tree. Gabriel intends to help them,as well as telling the news about what happened to Eve, Taki, and the talking strange flying katana.