Walburga was being increasingly pressured; a single attack from Valerie's magic would cause significant damage to her body.
Walburga could only widen her eyes as Valerie's magic orbs surrounded her and were about to hit.
"Enough!" shouted Walburga as she activated her Longinus.
Purple flames emerged from her entire body, burning everything in their path, including Valerie's magic, which was completely suppressed by the purple flames.
The flames danced around Walburga as they burned everything in their path and melted the ground.
An immense cross made of purple flames appeared behind Walburga, who was smiling.
This was Walburga's Sacred Gear, the [Incinerate Anthem], one of the holy relics and also one of the thirteen Longinus with the potential to kill Gods and Buddhas, as well as Satans and Devils.
Valerie quickly distanced herself from Walburga.
Walburga smiled.
"Let's go to the second round, girl," said Walburga, smiling.
Valerie knew this was now complicated.
Even from a distance, Valerie could feel the heat emanating from the flames.
Valerie knew this was now difficult; her magics would be useless against these flames that could incinerate them, and even the smallest attack from these flames could cause severe injuries.
After all, it was one of the Holy Relics and could easily kill beings related to darkness.
Seeing that she had only one option, Valerie summoned her Longinus.
Her Longinus, the [Sephiroth Graal], manifested in the appearance of a golden chalice in Valerie's hand. Naturally, Valerie could summon three of them since her Longinus was a subspecies, but she only summoned one.
Walburga laughed.
"What can you do with that? Your Longinus has no attack power," said Walburga, laughing.
She wasn't entirely wrong.
The [Sephiroth Graal], although a Longinus, does not have attack power as great as the [Incinerate Anthem] or other Longinus.
It allows its user to connect to the principle of life and learn about souls, but it has no significant attack power.
However, this Longinus, like the others, is a weapon.
And therefore, everything depends on its wielder knowing how to use it.
After all, even a knife can kill a god if used by a master.
A white, slightly silvery liquid emerged from the chalice as Valerie's eyes glowed when she connected to the principle of life.
Then it happened.
The entire ground shook as three gigantic beings emerged from it, breaking the earth.
From the ground emerged three great dragons: one with red scales, another with yellow scales, and the last with blue scales.
The three rose and roared as they positioned themselves beside Valerie, who smiled at Walburga's astonishment.
Her Longinus, the [Sephiroth Graal], allows Valerie to connect to the principle of life and also revive the dead, and that's what Valerie did.
Valerie searched the principle of life for some souls and found them.
Valerie could revive any being as long as their souls were intact, and she did so with the dragons.
These dragons no longer had consciousness; they were empty shells of pure power, and with her Longinus, Valerie created a connection to make the dragons obey her.
Valerie could revive any being as long as their souls were intact, but she much preferred summoning dragon souls.
She summoned them without consciousness, making them easy to control.
Valerie could also summon the souls of people and dead Heroes, but the Heroes would have less power than when alive, and it would also be different from the Servants that Gilgamesh summoned.
But the dragons were different; they were naturally beings of pure power and easy to manipulate with her Longinus because they only responded to their instincts.
The dragons roared, releasing their power, making the entire ground tremble.
Walburga was not intimidated and waved her left hand, launching a pillar of purple flames against the dragons.
The dragons inflated their lungs and unleashed a breath attack against the flames.
The red dragon released a vortex of flames, while the blue dragon released a great torrent of ice, and the yellow dragon released a torrent of lightning.
All the elements collided in the air, causing an explosion that filled the sky, and slowly they canceled each other out.
No matter how strong the flames of the [Incinerate Anthem] were, the dragons were also beings of power, and even in death, their power was still overwhelming.
Walburga quickly prepared to fire her magic and use the flames of her Longinus as the dragons began to advance.
Two dragons, the red and the blue, advanced against Walburga, spreading their wings and flying toward her, while the yellow one stayed protectively by Valerie's side, guarding her.
Flames and elements flew in all directions as Walburga unleashed her power against the dragons, who countered with their own, and there was still Valerie, who attacked from a distance with her magic, making it even more dangerous for Walburga.
Walburga's flames advanced against the dragons, who continued without fear, even as the flames consumed their skin and scales, burning and charring entire parts of their bodies.
But no matter the attack from Walburga, the dragons regenerated from any damage instantly.
All this was thanks to Valerie and her Longinus.
The [Sephiroth Graal] could even grant immortality to someone through instant regeneration, unless the entire body was destroyed, it would be useless.
Thus, the dragons, which received this characteristic thanks to Valerie, advanced fearlessly against Walburga.
In addition to the immense power the dragons possessed, they were stronger than High-class demons and inferior to Ultimate-class demons.
Walburga was getting increasingly irritated that her attacks were being neutralized by the dragons and by Valerie.
That girl was nothing more than an experiment! She shouldn't have this power!
Feeling her wielder's emotions, the flames grew stronger, and the Longinus [Incinerate Anthem] increased the heat of the flames even more.
The flames grew to the point that everything around began to melt.
The flames advanced and completely suppressed the dragons' power while burning them.
The flames burned the dragons entirely, to Valerie's surprise, reducing them to less than ashes, so they could not regenerate.
"Not even if it's the last thing I do, I will end you," shouted Walburga angrily.
The sacred purple flames increased to a completely different level than before, and Valerie leaped back to distance herself while creating protective magical circles.
"Balance Breaker," shouted Walburga angrily.
The gigantic flames increased even more in intensity and began to change shape.
The flames took the form of an immense Western dragon with eight heads, measuring two hundred meters in length, with crosses around its body, and it was entirely made of sacred purple flames.
Valerie had to retreat because she couldn't get too close due to the heat of the flames.
"Balance Breaker: Incinerate Antiphona Calvario," said Walburga, smiling with her power as the dragon stood protectively by her side.
"A Balance Breaker," said Valerie, smiling nervously at the sight of such power.
"Exactly. Let me tell you a curiosity about my Longinus: the Balance Breaker of this Longinus takes the form of any creature its user desires, made of sacred flames. Mine is a subspecies that manifests different forms depending on the souls it uses. They are capable of moving independently of it and act as a kind of independent avatar," explained Walburga about her Longinus.
Walburga smiled even more.
"And the soul I placed here was a fragment of the soul of the Evil Dragon Yamata no Orochi," said Walburga, to Valerie's surprise.
Yamata no Orochi was the dragon killed by the Shinto Storm God Susanoo.
Although created from a piece of the Evil Dragon's soul, it has none of the original Yamata no Orochi's abilities.
It had all the physical strength of the Legendary Dragon; it had its strength but not its abilities, such as its venom, and it also gained the ability to manipulate sacred flames.
Valerie could only widen her eyes and try to distance herself from the purple flame dragon that emanated immense power.
The yellow dragon still by Valerie's side charged against the immense flame dragon.
Valerie's dragon quickly fired waves of lightning from its mouth, but the purple flame dragon easily nullified them while sending a gigantic torrent of flames that completely canceled the lightning.
In a single blow, Valerie's dragon was completely crushed by the purple flame dragon and then incinerated entirely, leaving no trace of its existence.
Valerie smiled when she realized she had only one option left to win this battle.
"It seems I only have one way out," said Valerie as she activated a bit of her pocket magic and summoned an item.
"Hoho, are you giving up?" said Walburga, smiling as she caressed one of the dragon's heads.
"Not yet," said Valerie, holding an item.
It was a short, entirely red dagger with golden and blue details, and at the end of the hilt was a jewel that emitted various auras of different colors, eclipsing in red, gold, blue, and green, along with other draconic auras.
Valerie only said two words that left Walburga perplexed.
"Balance Breaker."
And an explosion of energy occurred.
With Gilgamesh and Arthur.
On the other side of the battlefield, waves of holy and demonic energy caused impacts all around.
Wave after wave of power was unleashed throughout the area.
In the middle of the battlefield, away from Walburga's fight with Valerie, Gilgamesh and Arthur were fighting.
The descendant of King Arthur swung his holy sword with holy and light power against Gilgamesh, who swung Gram, releasing torrents of demonic energy that nullified Arthur's power.
Both advanced against each other, clashing their swords, releasing great waves of their auras.
Arthur was being cornered.
Arthur had been fighting Gilgamesh for a considerable amount of time, and no matter what he did, Gilgamesh nullified it.
Arthur swung Caliburn, generating great waves of holy energy that easily surpassed all the holy swords existing in the *DxD* world.
But no matter how much holy energy Arthur released, Gilgamesh nullified everything with a single swing of his swords, generating great waves of energy and shock.
Waves of holy energy were released from Gilgamesh's Excalibur, while with Gram, he released waves of demonic energy that corrupted and destroyed everything they touched.
Any of these blows could be fatal to Arthur, or at least severely injure him, as no matter how much power Arthur possessed, he was still human, and his endurance was limited. A single blow from either of the Noble Phantasms, Gram or Excalibur, could kill Arthur.
Gilgamesh advanced against Arthur, who defended with all his accumulated holy energy but was repelled by Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh had an advantage due to wielding two swords with skill far superior to Arthur's; it was only a matter of time before Arthur fell.
Arthur swung Caliburn, cutting through space and creating rifts from which he fired holy waves, surrounding Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh simply spun and launched two torrents of energy—one holy, the other demonic—against Arthur's, which were destroyed.
In an instant, Gilgamesh charged at Arthur and swung Excalibur downward against him.
Arthur quickly raised Caliburn and defended against Gilgamesh's blow, but the pressure was so great that the ground cracked, and Arthur made a discomforted expression.
Gigantic waves of holy energy emerged from the clash of the two swords.
Gilgamesh quickly swung Gram, covered in aura, upward at Arthur, who managed to dodge and open a rift in space, making his sword pass through it to try to pierce Gilgamesh from behind.
In a swift movement, Gilgamesh swung Excalibur, parrying Caliburn, and with a blow from Gram covered in aura, Gilgamesh sent Arthur flying until he repositioned himself.
Gilgamesh prepared to advance but stopped when he felt a powerful magical energy coming from where Valerie was.
Gilgamesh turned his gaze there and saw an immense dragon of purple flames with tremendous power.
Gilgamesh also felt Valerie's power increase and decided to end this quickly.
Gilgamesh turned his gaze back to Arthur and increased his power, charging at Arthur, who increased Caliburn's aura and did the same.
With Valerie and Walburga.
The moment Valerie uttered those two words, a pillar of energy emerged from the dagger and enveloped her entire body.
Walburga could only stare in astonishment; the Balance Breaker is the final activation state of a Sacred Gear.
But that was impossible! Valerie's Sacred Gear was the [Sephiroth Graal], not that dagger.
The aura that emerged from the dagger was pure draconic power with a portion of divine power, completely covering Valerie's body.
Valerie's body was engulfed in a shower of crimson energy, which, when it dissipated, revealed her body.
Valerie was wearing draconic armor, a perfect blend of red, blue, and gold, with a pair of biomechanical draconic wings projecting from her shoulder blades. She had numerous jewels that eclipsed in gold, red, blue, and green embedded in her armor, glowing in those tones, giving a ghostly and powerful appearance.
Valerie's power had skyrocketed; previously at mid-tier Ultimate class, it now reached low-tier God class.
"Impossible, a Sacred Gear," said Walburga, perplexed.
Valerie was smiling from within her armor.
"Yes, this is the artificial Sacred Gear that Gil created for me, Dragonar Extinct," said Valerie as her aura increased.
This was an artificial Sacred Gear that Gilgamesh had created.
The jewel that served as a catalyst for its power was one Gilgamesh had obtained in a dungeon, containing the auras and power of dozens of different dragons. Gilgamesh had also sealed within it the aura and power of Ddraig, synchronizing it with Valerie's. This artificial Sacred Gear also had the auras of Tiamat, which Gilgamesh requested to include, and Gilgamesh's own divine aura.
This was Valerie's trump card, allowing her to hold her own even against Satan-class or God-class beings temporarily.
Walburga's purple flame dragon moved and fired a wave of sacred flames that shot toward Valerie.
Valerie's wings extended, and in a swift movement, she shot into the air, dodging the flames.
Raising her right hand, black flames appeared in it, and with a movement, Valerie launched them against the dragon's flames, causing massive explosions and fires across the battlefield, canceling each other out.
These were the black flames of Gilgamesh's [Hellblaze].
Gilgamesh hadn't only sealed his divine aura and Ddraig's aura but also small fragments of his power in this Sacred Gear, allowing Valerie, to some extent, to use some of his abilities.
Among them were [Hellblaze], [Lightning Devil Slayer Magic], [White God Slayer Magic], and [Purgatory Dragon Slayer Magic].
All of this further expanded Valerie's range of abilities.
Walburga was not intimidated and created dozens of magical circles in the sky, firing dozens of elemental bursts at Valerie.
Valerie also extended her hand and created her magical circles, which released magical bursts.
The magical power of both was at a stalemate; neither was winning nor losing.
Valerie decided to change that when her right gauntlet began to emit a glow.
And then came something that surprised Walburga.
[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]
Ddraig's voice came from the gauntlet, to Walburga's astonishment, as she saw and felt Valerie's power multiply with each [Boost!].
This shouldn't be possible; this power belonged to the [Boosted Gear], and she shouldn't have it.
Due to having Ddraig's aura and power synchronized in the artificial Sacred Gear, the armor not only enhanced Valerie's physical parameters and abilities but also gave her the ability to use Ddraig's [Boost!], [Transfer!], and [Penetrate!] up to her physical limit.
And this put Valerie on a completely new level.
[Transfer!]
After the voice sounded, all the aura Valerie had accumulated was transferred to the magical circles by Ddraig's power.
The magical circles cracked as they were overloaded with power far beyond normal and acceptable limits.
From the magical circles, abysmal amounts of magical powers, never used before, were fired at Walburga, who was defenseless.
When Valerie's powers collided with Walburga's, the witch's powers were completely nullified.
Valerie's magical powers advanced against Walburga, who had no protection and could only widen her eyes as she saw all the magical energy coming toward her.
In an instant, the purple flame dragon advanced against Valerie's power, protecting its mistress.
Its eight heads opened their mouths and spat eight gigantic waves of purple flames that collided with Valerie's power.
Both clashed with their powers, generating massive shockwaves and canceling each other out.
The purple flame dragon quickly advanced against Valerie, who skillfully maneuvered in the air, dodging all the attacks.
Even those that hit Valerie were quickly nullified, and Valerie healed instantly.
While Ddraig's aura was responsible for increasing Valerie's power, Tiamat's aura acted as a defensive second barrier, and even if an attack injured Valerie, Gilgamesh's divine aura would heal her.
Valerie quickly flew over the entire battlefield, avoiding all of Walburga's and her dragon's attacks.
Valerie quickly extended her right hand and created a red energy sphere.
[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]
Valerie's entire aura increased at an accelerated pace as she multiplied her power sixteen times in this short two-second period.
The energy sphere in Valerie's hand grew larger with each [Boost!] she performed.
[Penetrate!]
Enchanting Ddraig's power into the energy sphere, Valerie punched it, sending it flying toward Walburga's dragon.
The sphere advanced even through the purple flames, destroying everything in its path. When it was about to collide with the dragon, the sphere simply passed through it and headed toward the perplexed Walburga.
The sphere had passed through the dragon because it was imbued with [Penetrate!], which allows it to nullify any magical or even physical defense, so the dragon was not hit.
Walburga created a magical protective circle to defend herself, but the energy sphere destroyed the barrier and continued advancing, causing Walburga to crash into a house before exploding.
The dragon quickly advanced against Valerie, spitting waves upon waves of flames with its eight heads to burn Valerie and erase her existence.
Valerie skillfully dodged all the attacks, responding to those that would hit her by releasing waves of flames from [Purgatory Dragon Slayer Magic] to nullify and evade the attacks.
Walburga emerged from the house she had been thrown into, only to fall to the ground, spitting blood. Her right arm and several ribs were broken, and she had multiple bruises on her body.
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