This seems like the right place to bring up the problem I had
with this story, because I had a different problem. Skipping
the fight worked fine for me; what didn't work was the lead-in. Why
does Gryphon let Reimu pick this fight with him? Why isn't his
response to "the way you've come up with to get around that
is... foul. Unnatural. And the work of a man, to boot" along the lines
of "OK, I'm going to need you to show me exactly what you found in the
Zauberschulbuch to give you that impression, because foul and
unnatural is the opposite of my understanding of the Force, and
if I didn't get that across clearly enough, there need to be some
revisions"?

Given her character, she would probably continue trying to pick a
fight, but he could continue not picking up the gauntlet, and trying
to get her to talk it out instead. If she busts out the offensive
magic anyway, then I suppose he gets to demonstrate his ability to
shield—thus proving that he isn't a complete fraud, at least—and that
might make a smoother segue into a fight sequence, if you still want
to write one.