She was only alive and conscious because she used her magic to heal herself, but she wouldn't last long.
After all, although a powerful magician, Walburga was still human and had limits.
But she ignored all the pain due to the rage she felt for an insignificant insect like Valerie defeating her.
"I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll kill you!" shouted Walburga with immense rage as she released her remaining magical power and began firing at Valerie.
Valerie skillfully dodged, but she knew she had to end this quickly because she wouldn't last.
No matter Valerie's current power, she had a limit to how long she could maintain the Balance Breaker, and she had also used Ddraig's power, which was tiring her.
Valerie quickly extended her hand and created a giant sealing magical circle beneath the dragon to contain it.
To win, Valerie needed to defeat Walburga directly, as the dragon could regenerate from any attack since it was made of flames.
Her barrier wouldn't hold the dragon for long, so she decided to reinforce it.
[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]
Valerie's aura increased exponentially as it became extremely more powerful and raw, but this had an effect on Valerie.
Doubling her power so many times brought her very close to her limit; Valerie got carried away with her power and overdid it.
[Transfer!]
All the energy was transferred to the magical circle, which had all its power boosted and became stronger while containing the dragon.
Valerie charged at Walburga, who created dozens of magical circles in the air behind her and fired at Valerie.
All the shots and magical waves hit Valerie's armor and were rendered useless, only scratching it.
Valerie appeared in front of Walburga, who could only widen her eyes as Valerie struck her stomach, sending her crashing to the ground.
When the dust settled, it revealed Walburga on the ground, unconscious and severely injured.
Valerie turned around and saw Walburga's Balance Breaker disappear, smiling.
But when Valerie smiled in victory, her armor shattered as the dagger appeared in her hand.
"I… reached… my limit," said Valerie weakly before beginning to fall, without strength to activate any magic.
Valerie closed her eyes, preparing for the impact that never came.
She felt her body grow warm as it was enveloped in an embrace.
When she opened her eyes, she saw she was on the ground with Gilgamesh holding her in his arms.
"I guess I arrived late," said Gilgamesh, seeing Walburga unconscious on the ground.
"You arrived just in time," said Valerie, smiling.
"And your fight?" asked Valerie, and Gilgamesh pointed a few meters away.
There she saw Arthur unconscious, lying on the ground, with Caliburn embedded in the ground in front of him.
"You outdid yourself this time, Valerie. I'm proud," said Gilgamesh as he began using his healing magic to help Valerie recover.
Valerie smiled, only to then widen her eyes.
"Gil, is that normal?" asked Valerie, pointing forward.
Gilgamesh turned his gaze to where Valerie was pointing and saw something above Walburga's unconscious body.
There was an orb of purple flames floating in the air.
Gilgamesh quickly placed Valerie on the ground, who stood up, and positioned himself in front of Valerie to prevent any attack.
The orb floated in the air for a few moments before moving.
It began to float toward Gilgamesh, who prepared for a possible attack, but at the moment it would have hit Gilgamesh, it veered around him and entered Valerie's chest.
Gilgamesh turned his gaze to Valerie, who was looking at her chest, waiting for something.
"So, Gil, what happened?" asked Valerie, unsure of what was happening.
Valerie suddenly let out a scream of pain, causing Gilgamesh to approach her quickly.
Valerie fell to the ground, unconscious. Gilgamesh quickly tried to help her, but when he touched her, he had to pull his hand away quickly.
"She's burning," said Gilgamesh, perplexed.
Valerie's skin was scorching. Gilgamesh quickly summoned his ice magic and created a small icy aura to cool Valerie, who had a pained expression on her face.
Gilgamesh began to panic as he used his healing magic on Valerie, but it seemed to have no effect.
"Calm down, young master," said Arashi in Gilgamesh's mind.
"Calm down?! Valerie is being hurt," shouted Gilgamesh at Arashi, who was surprised by the anger in Gilgamesh's tone.
"She'll be fine," said Arashi to him.
"What's happening?" asked Gilgamesh quickly.
"The [Incinerate Anthem] is trying to assimilate with Valerie's soul," said Arashi.
Gilgamesh widened his eyes as he realized what was happening.
Even among the Longinus, the [Incinerate Anthem] is special. It is an independent avatar-type Sacred Gear, so it can move independently of its wielder, like the [Regulus Nemea] and the [Canis Lykaon], but even among them, this Holy Relic is special.
The [Incinerate Anthem], unlike other Sacred Gears, can transfer to another user of its own will, even if the current user is still alive.
A good example was that the original wielder of this Longinus was Augusta, a powerful witch and Walburga's master. When Augusta was defeated by Tobio Ikuse four years ago, in the events of the *SlashDog* novel, her Longinus left her body and entered Walburga's, who became its wielder.
And it seemed that the Longinus had left Walburga and was trying to make Valerie its wielder.
"Don't worry, young master. The Longinus will adapt to Valerie's soul, though there's a problem," said Arashi, worrying Gilgamesh.
"What?" asked Gilgamesh, concerned.
"Because Valerie is part vampire, a being of darkness, she wouldn't be able to harbor the [Incinerate Anthem] since it's a Holy Relic, but because she's the wielder of the [Sephiroth Graal], it might be possible," explained Arashi to Gilgamesh, who sighed in relief.
Gilgamesh observed Valerie, whose breathing calmed, and her expression returned to normal.
Gilgamesh sighed in relief seeing that Valerie was okay.
[Partner, behind you!] shouted Ddraig in warning.
Gilgamesh quickly embraced Valerie and positioned his body protectively in front of her before someone kicked him, sending him flying into a house.
Gilgamesh crashed into a house, passing through it.
Gilgamesh rose from the rubble while protectively holding Valerie.
Gilgamesh placed Valerie on the ground and spat some blood. Looking at his stomach, he saw a piece of iron piercing him.
Gilgamesh grunted as he pulled out the piece of iron while blue flames instantly healed the wound.
Gilgamesh turned his gaze outside and saw who had kicked him.
The one who had kicked him was a tall man covered in a black cloak, preventing him from being seen.
Through his vision, Gilgamesh discovered that he was Walburga's leader and the man who had kidnapped Arthur.
"You," growled Gilgamesh angrily.
The man almost seemed to smile.
"Pleasure to meet you, King of Heroes. It's great to finally meet you," said the man cheerfully.
"What are you doing here?" asked Gilgamesh as he stood up.
"Well, I came to retrieve my ally who acted here without my orders, though it's sad that she lost her Longinus, she's still very useful," said the man.
Gilgamesh was surprised.
"You didn't order her?" asked Gilgamesh, confused.
The man shook his head.
"Well, the first attack, yes. Because you would have been distracted by the Greek Goddess that Zeus sent through my letter, though the letter was anonymous. But today's attack, no. I think Walburga was very angry for returning empty-handed and did this today. She was an idiot and greatly underestimated you," said the man without hesitation.
Gilgamesh narrowed his eyes at this.
"Well, I'll ask you a question: do you want to join me?" asked the man, surprising Gilgamesh, who stared at him in disbelief.
"Do you really think that after attacking someone important to me, I'd join you?" asked Gilgamesh incredulously.
"Well… yes," said the man as if it were something simple.
Gilgamesh stared at him as if he were a clown.
"I refuse," said Gilgamesh quickly.
The man let out a sigh.
"Well, that's a shame. I really wanted you in my group, especially after seeing that display of power two years ago," said the man, confusing Gilgamesh.
"Two years ago? What are you talking about?" asked Gilgamesh.
"Obviously your battle against Regulus Nemea and Sairaorg Bael. That display of power when you were so young was incredible," said the man with pure admiration, surprising Gilgamesh.
"You were there that day," said Gilgamesh, surprised by this.
"Yes, honestly, I would have recruited you that day or perhaps done what I did with Arthur, but you were well protected," said the man to Gilgamesh, who narrowed his eyes.
"And you were also there when you took the Graal," said the man.
"Why?" asked Gilgamesh, doubtful.
"I was going to take the Graal for myself. Although I'm allied with Rizevim, our interests are different, but they're related to Trihexa. But you got there first," said the man while calmly explaining everything without caring.
Gilgamesh listened to everything calmly, though he was doubtful about why this man was telling him all this.
"Now, our conversation is nice, but I have to go," said the man as he walked toward Walburga.
"What makes you think I'll let you go?" asked Gilgamesh dangerously.
The man laughed.
"If you want to fight, I don't mind," said the man as his power increased.
Gilgamesh flexed his fingers and, in an explosion of speed, disappeared.
The man widened his eyes upon seeing Gilgamesh disappear.
In an instant, Gilgamesh appeared in front of the man with a clenched fist and punched him with such force that it generated a shockwave.
The man could only cross his arms in front of him and take the impact.
The impact sent him flying far away. He quickly maneuvered in the air and landed on the ground, skidding a bit.
When he landed, his right arm went limp, and he could only move his left.
The man gave an impressed look.
"Incredible, you broke my right arm with one blow," said the man, visibly surprised.
He took a vial from his pocket, removed its cap, and poured the contents onto his arm, which gained an aura before healing completely.
The man quickly moved his arm, to Gilgamesh's surprise.
"Phoenix Tears are very useful, you know," said the man as an aura enveloped his body.
It was an extremely dense aura that even surprised Gilgamesh, not only for its density but also for being extremely black and dark.
Gilgamesh quickly placed his aura over his body, and it shone in gold.
If Gilgamesh's aura was divine and shone like the light of a God amidst any darkness, the man's aura was the opposite.
His aura was very dense and sinister, as if it were darkness itself.
Gilgamesh's aura shone and purified the darkness that was the man's aura, while his darkness tried to devour Gilgamesh's light.
Gilgamesh was surprised by his aura; the man's aura wasn't just about power. The man had power between Satan-class and God-class, but his natural aura was very obscure.
It was as if it were the exact opposite of Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh simply extended his hand toward Arthur's sword and used [Snatch].
Caliburn came flying toward Gilgamesh, who grabbed the sword, causing a gigantic holy aura to be released from the sword, which shone with a completely new light.
It was as if it were happy to be wielded by Gilgamesh.
Calling Caliburn intelligent would have been inaccurate, but calling it sentient, no. It is a sword made by God Himself, and therefore it does not allow just anyone to wield it.
Like high-level holy swords such as Durandal, it only allows a select few to wield it.
Gilgamesh never had trouble wielding holy swords, whether Durandal, Ascalon, or even the Excalibur Fragments. In fact, it seemed that these swords were more than willing to grant their power to him and happy to be wielded by him.
Gilgamesh even considered that it was because of his divinity, which, according to Gabriel and Michael, greatly resembled that of the God of the Bible.
Gilgamesh couldn't see the man's face but knew he was making a complicated expression.
"Well, now things got complicated," said the man upon seeing the holy energy aura that the sword was releasing, which was greater than anything Arthur had ever done.
Gilgamesh charged at the man, swinging Caliburn, which was covered in holy aura.
The man quickly launched his aura against Gilgamesh, who cut through any that approached with Caliburn's holy aura.
Both began exchanging blows at high speed.
The man could only defend with his aura and dodge, as the amount of holy aura Gilgamesh was releasing from Caliburn was no joke; it could even injure a god.
Gilgamesh quickly cut through the space in front of him and released a torrent of holy aura.
Several rifts in space appeared around the man, releasing multiple waves of holy energy.
The man quickly released torrents of aura in all directions to dodge Gilgamesh's power.
The man quickly leaped and dodged the holy auras, but the moment he landed on the ground, his instincts screamed in terror.
He looked back and saw Gilgamesh with Caliburn in hand and an extremely dense and sharp holy aura that was highly concentrated.
The man could only widen his eyes as he felt the deepest sense of terror when Gilgamesh looked into his eyes.
"Sword Magic: Flash of Origin."
A single slash of light was released as Gilgamesh swung Caliburn at the man.
The man, at the last second, managed to dodge the attack and retreat, unable to help but widen his eyes when he saw the destruction caused by the technique.
Everything in a horizontal line had been cut—buildings, houses, and everything in front had been sliced by the gigantic, high-potency holy aura.
The man sweated at the sheer power of the sword Gilgamesh used.
The man quickly leaped toward Walburga, and Gilgamesh charged, but a massive aura was launched against the King of Heroes.
Gilgamesh gripped Caliburn and channeled a great wave of holy energy, cutting the man's power in half.
When the wave disappeared, it revealed the man standing with Walburga on his shoulders.
"Well, I think I'll take Arthur too," said the man, who seemed to be smiling.
Gilgamesh narrowed his eyes.
"What makes you think I'll let you do that and escape from here?" asked Gilgamesh as he increased Caliburn's aura.
The man almost seemed to smile.
"Because you'll only be able to save one of the two, him or your friend. Which will it be?" asked the man.
Gilgamesh widened his eyes and prepared to charge.
The man quickly summoned a gigantic amount of his aura to fire, but it wasn't at Gilgamesh…
It was at Valerie.
Gilgamesh widened his eyes upon seeing the energy heading toward the unconscious Valerie.
"So, which one will you save?" asked the man as he headed toward Arthur, who was lying unconscious on the ground.
Gilgamesh gritted his teeth and made his decision.
The man quickly went to Arthur, and when he was about to reach the descendant of King Arthur, he was stopped.
In front of him was Gilgamesh with Caliburn in hand and an extremely irritated look.
The man quickly looked to where Valerie was and widened his eyes upon seeing a rift in space absorbing his aura.
He quickly understood what was happening.
Gilgamesh had used Caliburn's power to tear the space where Valerie was, creating a hole that absorbed his aura and redirected it elsewhere, saving the dhampir.
The man could only widen his eyes and say one word before Caliburn was swung at him.
"Damn," said the man.
Caliburn descended, cutting, and blood flew.
An explosion of energy occurred, blinding everyone for a moment before dissipating.
Standing in front of Arthur was Gilgamesh, protecting him with Caliburn releasing its holy aura.
Far from Gilgamesh was the man with a vertical cut across his body, leaking blood, and his right arm lay a few meters away, severed.
The man spat blood, though his face still couldn't be seen.
"D-damn," said the man with a mix of anger and amusement.
Gilgamesh pointed Caliburn at him.
"Don't worry, you'll stay alive. I have some questions," said Gilgamesh seriously as Caliburn increased its holy aura.
"I don't think so," said the man, realizing that if he took another attack, it could mean his death.
In a swift movement, he fired a large wave of his energy aura at Gilgamesh, who, in a quick motion, cut it in half.
When the aura dissipated, Gilgamesh saw the man about to disappear in a magical circle and charged.
But the moment Gilgamesh swung Caliburn, it was too late, and the man had disappeared, but before that, he smiled at Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh narrowed his eyes at where the man had been and clicked his tongue at his escape.
"Damn," said Gilgamesh, looking at the spot.
Gilgamesh couldn't help but be very surprised by this man.
He clearly wasn't an amateur and had a lot of power.
Gilgamesh felt that he had much more power than he had used before, but it seemed he couldn't use or access it.
Gilgamesh sighed before turning his gaze to Arthur and Valerie and, using his [Darkness Magic], created two beds made of darkness, making them levitate and approach him.
Gilgamesh sighed at what had happened.
Well, he would always have another chance to find this man and kill him in the most brutal way possible.
Even if he had to search the entire world to find this man.
And when he found him, that man would regret attacking him.
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