Chapter 360: The Magical Girl Stands Upon the Earth Once More!
Ig-Alima—The Verdant Horizon That Splits a Thousand Peaks.
Just as its name implied, the colossal, boneless giant blade could slice through mountain after mountain without pause.
Much like Ea embodied the concept of "world-cleaving," Ig-Alima embodied the concept of mountain-cleaving itself.
Gilgamesh brandishing it against Illya and the others made his intent clear:
He wasn't aiming only at the "mosquitoes"—he intended to destroy the entire landscape along with them.
Can't kill the bug? Fine—blow up the entire room it's in.
Reasonable. Perfectly reasonable.
And since this wasn't his room anyway, Gilgamesh had no problem demolishing everything in sight.
The black giant's vast arm swept the blade sideways. Wherever it passed, the ground was not simply barren—it became nothing.
A blank white absence, as if reality had been erased.
"There's nowhere left to run."
Bazett's face stiffened as she watched the giant sword sweep toward them.
Real life wasn't a video game—there was no way to Mario-jump over a horizontal map-wide slash!
But Illya wasn't giving up.
"Sapphire! Lend me your strength!"
Illya knew she couldn't fight the black giant alone. So she chose the final-battle tactic that every Japanese story adored:
Throw every possible power-up onto the table at once!
No need to question how the wands could fuse together.
No need to ask how Illya suddenly knew how to use it.
At this point, just roll with it!
A pillar of light speared upward, illuminating the land swallowed by darkness.
Ig-Alima's massive sweep struck the light—and stopped.
CRACK!
A sound Gilgamesh could not comprehend rang out.
The Mountain-Cleaving Sword… had split in two against the light.
"You… what are you?"
His pupils shrank sharply.
A weak little girl had broken a Divine Sword?!
But Illya didn't answer him.
Instead, she declared—loud enough for Miyu inside the giant to hear her heart if not her voice:
"Miyu… I'm furious, you know!"
"All that 'destroy me along with it' talk! All that 'sorry for dragging you into this' nonsense!"
Breaking the sword wasn't enough to vent her anger. Illya continued to shout, voice blazing:
"How could you say something like that to a friend!?"
With her new form shining brilliantly, Illya glared into the giant and swore:
"I'm going to drag you out of there—and beat some sense into you!"
Stellar Magical Warrior—Dual-Core Fusion Form, debut!!!
A magical girl once again stood proudly upon the earth!
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
"Damn, that design is gorgeous…"
Aoko's eyes sharpened in front of the screen.
"If only they'd make a figure of this!"
Illya's dual-fusion outfit was breathtaking—especially the flowing ribbons and the radiant, rainbow-colored wings of light.
For the first time, she truly possessed the overwhelming aura of a magical girl protagonist.
Even in the manga's third season, where Illya gained a whole wardrobe of Servant-themed outfits, none were as stunning as this one.
No wonder FGO ended up using this very form as her final ascension model—and even released an even more dangerous-looking dark recolor.
"It's beautiful, yes… but impossible to turn into a physical figure, isn't it?"
Alice agreed the design was amazing, but she also understood the problem.
Those wings of light were way too hard to reproduce.
No material could capture the shimmering brilliance shown in the animation.
That was why, in Shinji's previous life, no figure manufacturer ever touched this design.
The wings were the core feature of the outfit.
And no matter how much money you threw at it, achieving the same dazzling effect was nearly impossible.
Rather than pouring in huge effort only to end up scolded by fans for a subpar result, they might as well release Illya's cute little swimsuit version.
As long as the face is on point, fans will only demand less and less fabric anyway. Even if it never appeared in the original work—it's fine. A little fan-service color is enough.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
"Hahahahahaha!!"
As a total battle maniac, the slap Illya had landed earlier meant nothing to Gilgamesh. What excited him—truly excited him—was Illya's brand-new form.
Reassuming his Count-like posture, Black Gil's laughter shook the heavens once more.
"Magnificent—absolutely magnificent!!"
Gilgamesh shouted in wild exhilaration.
"To be honest, this king was worried."
"Was there truly anyone capable of facing this king head-on?"
"One-sided slaughter is meaningless."
Under Gilgamesh's control, the black giant raised the broken Mountain-Cleaving Sword in one hand and lifted the Shield of the Gods in the other, charging straight toward Illya with her radiant wings spread wide.
"Come! Let you and I fight for the Grail!!"
The light bullets fired by the magical girl slammed heavily onto the giant's shield.
The shockwaves from their clash rattled even Mount Enzou—their battle had long since reached the realm of gods.
Ordinary people had no place in a fight like this.
Realizing they weren't even in the same dimension as the combatants, Bazett and Chloe could only watch the fierce struggle unfold from afar.
"Chloe! Bazett!"
After being disconnected for nearly half an hour, Rin and Luvia finally came back online. Arriving embarrassingly late, the first thing they did was interrogate Chloe about what exactly had happened.
The moment they learned the girl soaring through the sky like some kind of Moonlight Butterfly mecha was Illya, Rin and Luvia were both dumbstruck.
Just like how the Fire Cloud Evil God never knew the Lion's Roar had a "megaphone mode," Rin and Luvia likewise had no idea their two magical staves could combine into one.
What kind of hidden cheat code was this!?
Bazett was just as shocked as the two young magi.
As someone from a traditional hand-to-hand combat magecraft lineage, she understood better than anyone what it meant to wield magic power on this scale during battle.
"This amount of mana… it's absurd. Can a single person really channel that much energy?"
"..."
Chloe didn't answer. Instead, she pressed a hand lightly over her own body.
A sharp, inexplicable pain prickled across her skin—telling her exactly what price Illya was paying in order to unleash the near-limitless mana supplied by the staff.
Chloe understood why Illya was willing to go this far.
Illya knew the consequences.
She chose it anyway.
Because Miyu was their comrade.
And for that reason alone, Illya was willing to stake her life.
But there was one thing that terrified Chloe—
From the start of the battle until now, the blackened Heroic Spirit who'd been laughing "hahahaha" nonstop… just how much strength had he actually used?
Through their shared sensation, Chloe could feel Illya burning through her life like fuel. But their opponent still fought as if the whole battle were nothing more than a warm-up.
"How strong… is this monster really…?"
Her question was answered by Gilgamesh's wild, unrestrained laughter.
"Hahahahaha!! HAHAHAHAHA! Delight me! Let this king enjoy himself to the fullest!!"
At that moment, Gilgamesh felt a surge of intoxicating excitement.
He didn't care where his enemy had obtained such power. As long as they were strong enough to stand against him—he welcomed them.
How did he and Enkidu become friends in the first place?
By beating each other to a pulp.
Gilgamesh only acknowledged Enkidu after the fight thrilled him to his core.
As for the part where the two of them ruled Uruk together? That all came after they beat the hell out of each other.
If Enkidu hadn't been such a good fight, Gilgamesh wouldn't have bothered speaking to him politely.
…From this perspective, becoming friends through battle wasn't exactly an invention of modern shounen manga.
"Come then, little girl! I—"
Gilgamesh's laughter abruptly cut off.
Because the Aegis of the Gods, the shield he used for defense, had been pierced—completely—by Illya.
A pillar of white light burned straight through the indestructible shield and slammed directly into Gilgamesh's body.
For a single moment, the world itself felt frozen.
<+>
If you want to see more chapter of this story and don't mind paying $5 each month to read till the latest posted chapter, please go to my Patreon[1]
Current Chapter In Patreon: Chapter 396: This Is the Gap in Strength[2]
Link to the latest chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/151274457?collection=31097[3]
https://www.patreon.com/collection/31097?view=expanded[4]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/collection/31097?view=expanded
[2] https://www.patreon.com/posts/151274457?collection=31097
[3] https://www.patreon.com/posts/151274457?collection=31097
[4] https://www.patreon.com/collection/31097?view=expanded