No way?
He actually managed to pull it off?
Ishtar was filled with shock and puzzlement, staring closely at the hundreds of artificial circuits constructed by Alchemy on Grimm’s body.
She could perceive that a massive amount of considerable magical energy was slowly circulating and intersecting.
Although it looked like it was refined for the first time, it circulated as smoothly as innate magic circuits, as if naturally formed.
Is this right?
Are you sure you are still a beginner?
Are you sure that just now was truly your first time listening to an Alchemy lesson?
“Naive! Hidden inside here is actually a little ingenuity of mine.”
Grimm shook his finger.
Unconcerned, he scratched his nails to peel open the wound that was almost fully healed, revealing a set of crystal-clear, flowing abnormal blood vessels.
The crimson tissue structure that should have been part of the human circulatory system had at this moment transformed into a channel for transporting energy torrents.
“So that’s how it is.”
Ishtar suddenly understood.
I see.
Starting from the capillaries and refining the circulatory system from the extremities, using it as an artificial quasi-circuit?
That’s right.
Natural magic circuits are already extremely similar to the human body’s blood vessels and nervous system.
Then when artificially implanting them, modifying them directly from this aspect wouldn’t it yield twice the result with half the effort?
Coincidentally, the Einzbern family also had similar research program records on file.
Whether Grimm’s operational technique was normal or not, let’s not evaluate it first; at least there was no problem with the direction.
Could he really be a genius?
“Pfft!”
Grimm suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.
At the same time, the blood vessels that were just elegantly transmitting magical energy also burst from the inside out one after another, and the scarlet colors penetrated the epidermis along the muscle gaps, spraying out outside the body.
In an instant, his entire person was like a deeply soaked blood man, emitting a fishy, sweet fragrance all over his body that made vampire species salivate, and the ground was also covered with a thick layer of blood.
Ah!
My blood is flowing all over the ground!
“It seems that the alchemical structure on the blood vessels still needs to be optimized, and the matrix parameters and detailed architecture need to be adjusted.”
“Just let me rest and meditate for three minutes.”
“I’ll be right back as soon as my injuries heal.”
He would circulate his energy to heal his wounds while sorting out the insights and gains from his newly completed Alchemy, which would definitely be put to use in the next encounter.
Ishtar: “…”
To be honest, she was already getting a bit numb to the description of “three minutes”.
Because back when they were escaping from Odin, Grimm had also said a bunch of things about three minutes and whatnot.
But in reality, he had stepped on the gas pedal all the way while driving wildly and talking trash, and his damn injuries had seemed completely nonexistent.
And now, she saw that the moment Grimm sat down cross-legged, the wounds on his skin had basically healed completely and stopped bleeding…
Could he just be a bit more straightforward and tell her how many minutes it actually took to recover?
However, Ishtar failed to get an answer from Grimm, destined to have her curiosity unfulfilled.
Instead, she waited for her mortal enemy—
Bang!
The door of this temporary small classroom was heavily shoved open, and Ereshkigal, catching a whiff of a fishy, strange odor, forced her way in.
The base used as a safe house wasn’t large to begin with, and even with Terrain Creation set up, fancy features like air freshening and deodorizing didn’t exist, making it extremely easy for Ereshkigal to quickly sense the abnormality.
Therefore, upon entering, the Goddess of the Underworld witnessed with her own eyes the shocking scene of Grimm heavily injured and unconscious (resting his eyes) alongside Ishtar gazing indifferently at Grimm (doubting her life choices).
This simply made her vision go dark and her head spin.
“Ishtar! You wretch, what on earth did you do to Lu Mingahhh!”
Ereshkigal lost her composure for a moment, growing anxious.
Associating this with Ishtar’s stereotyped image of always causing trouble and being the only suspect present, her blood pressure instantly spiked and her fists hardened.
“Ishtar! You’ve gone way too far this time. I let it slide before for Grimm’s sake, but I can’t bear it anymore. Let’s settle our accounts properly, you and I!”
“What nonsense are you spouting? You shut-in, did river water from the Underworld flood your brain?!”
Ishtar simply felt that Ereshkigal was picking a fight as usual, and with her arrogance, she disdained even explaining.
Rumble!
An extremely terrifying might suddenly rippled through the air.
The fierce conflict between the two goddesses finally erupted; one could only say this day would come sooner or later, with Grimm acting as the fuse that detonated it.
And the resumption of this mythical war was destined to plunge the heaven and earth into darkness and eclipse the sun and moon for a time—
…Not really.
Because after entering Niflheim, the two of them had been reduced to mortals by Odin.
The “great battle” between the two sides was at most on the level of female magicians beating each other with fists and feet. This story is hosted at g.com.
It could completely be seen as an alternative clash between the home-loving Philia and an oversized, adult Tohsaka Rin.
Thud!
Magical energy condensed in their limbs to complete reinforcement, and the two figures instantly collided—immediately, the floor cracked, the door panels shattered, and howling fist-winds swept out from the narrow temporary classroom, even sending the jars, cans, and debris piled outside flying through the air.
Swish!
After a few moves, Ereshkigal maneuvered to dodge Ishtar’s whip kick, exhaled, retracted her fist, and stood tall with a slight hint of surprise in her eyes.
Originally she should have had the advantage; Tohsaka Rin, whom she possessed, was a master of self-defense proficient in Bajiquan among contemporary young magicians, on par with a certain famous Finnish wrestling expert, the “Lady Crane”.
But to her surprise, she had actually fought to a standstill with Ishtar!
“Hmph! What are you daydreaming about, gloomy girl? Scared by me already? Looks like you’re only to this extent.”
Ishtar patted her skirt hem, the corner of her clothes slightly soiled.
The Philia Einzbern she possessed was not some ordinary mass-produced home-use item, but a combat-specialized type capable of fighting against Clock Tower’s Sealing Designation Enforcers.
Want to beat her?
Practice for another hundred years!
“Who’s afraid of you!”
Just as both sides were about to restart the battle, a strong wind pressure blew fiercely from nearby.
Realizing that the magical energy impact attached to the wind pressure was somewhat tricky, Ishtar and Ereshkigal subconsciously and tacitly chose to retreat together!
Rumble!
It turned out that the bloody figure who had been “unconscious” in the corner of the classroom suddenly straightened his body—Grimm, who had kept his eyes closed and his gaze lowered all along, opened his eyes at this moment, his complexion light and his limbs relaxed.
Scabs on the surface of his body peeled off layer by layer, and one by one, artificially simulated magic circuits with energy fluctuations far more intense than the previous version were alchemized within his body.
A massive amount of magical energy expanded violently and overflowed radially, instantly making the air in the narrow classroom heavy and stagnant.
Grimm then casually waved his hand, and the scattered, fluctuating magical energy whipped up a violent trend.
The swirling airflow crushed layers of walls, and rumbling crashes echoed endlessly.
It was precisely because they sensed this state that the two goddesses chose to retreat three hundred paces.
Ishtar wanted to exclaim in amazement, but thinking of the various abnormalities on this man, she immediately felt relieved.
“He succeeded after all!”
“Eh?”
Ereshkigal’s reaction was even greater, clearly not yet knowing what kind of trick Grimm had pulled during his lecture earlier.
She lowered her voice, muttering in surprise and incomprehension:
“That is… Magical Energy Burst!?”
Weren’t you supposed to be teaching the basics of Alchemy?
What kind of shady stuff did the two of you do behind my back?