Almost at the exact moment Kotomine Kirei died, Gilgamesh, who was still flying backward through the air and spitting blood, suddenly felt an enormous surge of magical energy flowing into him.
Not only did it instantly heal the terrifying internal injuries Leon had inflicted with his sword moments earlier, it also pushed all of his parameters to the absolute peak they had reached since his summoning.
A Servant's combat power was heavily dependent on the magical energy supplied by their Master.
This was fundamentally different from certain Servants possessing special abilities that allowed them to generate their own magical energy and sustain themselves.
As a result, the level of combat power Gilgamesh could now unleash was completely incomparable to what it had been before.
"That man…"
"Hmph. Is this enough to satisfy him?"
Gilgamesh halted himself in midair.
Although his injuries had recovered, the golden armor that had been crushed inward by Leon's previous attack was unable to repair itself.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Just like the Reality Marble—Shadow Domain that Gilgamesh had shattered with Ea only a dozen seconds earlier, his golden armor had finally reached its limit.
Belatedly, it began breaking apart under the strain.
Piece after piece of golden armor fell from Gilgamesh's body.
Before any of it could even reach the ground, however, the fragments dispersed into golden light and vanished.
With the golden armor on his upper body forcibly shed, Gilgamesh's lean, powerful physique—reinforced by five Command Seals—was exposed to the open air.
Every muscle was sharply defined, complemented by mysterious and noble crimson tattoos.
He looked as though he had returned to the end of the Age of Gods—to the peak of his prime.
"Now then—come!"
"The warm-up is over."
"It's time for the main course!"
Even after losing his Master, Gilgamesh, who possessed Independent Action (Rank A+), could continue existing for a considerable amount of time.
And that did not even take into account the parting gift he had just received from Kotomine Kirei—
nor the fact that Gilgamesh was now directly competing with the planet, Gaia, for its magical energy.
Then—
A black arrow shot across the sky from the opposite direction.
Its appearance and aura were strikingly similar to Matou Kariya, whom Gilgamesh had killed only moments earlier.
But there was a fundamental difference between them.
Kariya's power had originated from Leon.
Even his ability to fly had depended upon a flying shadow familiar disguised with the exterior of an aircraft.
Leon himself, however, could fly.
In the blink of an eye—
Ultimate Kuuga Leon had already crossed to within ten meters of Gilgamesh.
His ordinary straight kick, reinforced with sealing energy, came flying directly toward Gilgamesh's face.
"Hmph!"
Having learned his lesson, Gilgamesh had no intention of allowing Ultimate Kuuga Leon—whose close-combat abilities clearly overwhelmed his own—to approach him so easily again.
Several extraordinarily thick shields emerged from the golden ripples of the Gate of Babylon, layered one behind another to form a barrier directly in front of him.
BOOOOM!!!!!!!
As expected—
Gilgamesh's caution paid off.
The moment the two sides collided, the first shield exploded.
Then the second.
Then the third.
Until Leon's seemingly ordinary straight kick shattered all seven of Gilgamesh's Noble Phantasm shields, ranging from Rank C to Rank A.
Only then did the force of the kick finally come to a halt.
Leon remained suspended in midair, facing Gilgamesh from a distance.
"…"
What kind of monster is this?!
After being beaten speechless by Ultimate Kuuga Leon's utterly unreasonable physical performance, Gilgamesh could not help roaring the question internally.
The Spiritual Foundation of a Servant was supposed to be subject to considerable limitations!
Unable to suppress his intense curiosity any longer, Gilgamesh secretly activated a small "cheat"—his clairvoyant ability—and examined Ultimate Kuuga Leon's current parameters.
Then he saw—
Strength: EX
Agility: EX
Endurance: EX
Mana: EX
Luck: E−
Noble Phantasm: EX
Every single parameter was EX—
except Luck, which was at least an E.
Gilgamesh found it difficult to imagine just how powerful Leon's true body must be for his Servant manifestation to possess such absurd parameters.
After all, a genuine Divine Spirit should never have been able to answer a summoning of this level!
That lone E− in Luck was probably the final stubborn resistance of this world itself.
And precisely because of that—
the being standing before Gilgamesh was worthy of being called the master of this world's treasury.
"You bastard!"
"Even now, you still refuse to reveal your True Name?!"
Gilgamesh roared.
The Gate of Babylon opened to full capacity, unleashing a simultaneous barrage toward Ultimate Kuuga Leon.
This greatest of secrets had to be spoken by Leon himself!
Ultimate Kuuga Leon stood upon the void, the completely black God-Slaying Sword in his hand.
Behind him, silver ripples formed from the Divine Treasury likewise opened to full capacity, launching a barrage of weapons in direct retaliation.
The inventory of the Divine Treasury was determined by Leon's stockpile before he became a Servant—back when he had been a Vibranium Miner.
Compared with Gilgamesh's practically infinite treasury, whose treasures could even be automatically recalled after being launched, Leon's limited supply of disposable "kidney tonics" was indeed pitifully small.
That was why Leon had never treated the Divine Treasury as a conventional combat method.
He only deployed it occasionally when he needed to make an impressive show of force.
But now—
This was the final radiance of the Divine Treasury.
The golden ripples behind Gilgamesh continued firing without pause.
Under the relentless bombardment, the silver ripples behind Leon began extinguishing one by one from the outermost edge inward.
Until, finally, they converged upon the dark core of Ultimate Kuuga Leon, which resembled a black hole.
Countless Noble Phantasms fired from the Gate of Babylon.
But an unexpected pillar of rainbow-colored light suddenly erupted and blocked them all.
Ultimate Kuuga Leon stood within the rainbow pillar.
His voice was calm, yet carried an absolute and majestic authority.
"Since you've asked so sincerely, I'll show you the courtesy of answering."
"I am the son of the All-Father Odin, the God of War of Asgard, the Eternal Guardian of the Nine Realms in both the present and the future—"
"Leon Stark Odinson!"
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
"Excellent!"
"Very good!"
"That's exactly how it should be!"
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