A creature of red.
It had crimson wings, as well as scarlet armor that covered its entire body.
It somehow resembled a woman who could pass as a battle-hardened warrior at any time; with long hair made from hardened blood, and an irresistible face dyed in red.
It stood at about fifteen meters—a colossal entity by all means.
The blood construct had a blade on both hands, appearing pristine and battle-ready at the same time.
This was Phobio's ultimate technique—Crimson Valkyrie!
The very reason why he was granted the nickname 'The Crimson Angel' was precisely due to this form of his
The Valkyrie was not a living construct, but merely a golem-like entity that responded to Phobio's whims and commands.
The thing looked at the target, just as Phobio did from within its thick armor
There was a mirror similar to the one he had in his room so he was able to perfectly observe what was going on without exposing himself.
He was simply going to be content watching his foe turn into nothing but flesh paste right in front of his eyes.
There would be nothing more satisfying.
"I see. So we're going with an epic final boss CGI battle, huh?" He heard the Dragon say from his distance.
Phobio didn't understand what CGI meant. He just wanted his enemy out of his sight.
"I guess I'll show you my true form…."
Phobio's tense body quivered a little, but he stood his ground.
'Relax, Phobio. So what if transforms! It's not like you haven't faced a Dragon before.
With so much blood at his disposal, he was currently at an advantage.
There was no possibility of failure.
Then—
~VWUUUUUMMM!~
—Once the Dragon's true form emerged, Phobio wasn't so sure anymore.
The being was massive—perhaps more massive than the Crimson Valkyrie—and its monstrous form sent terror flowing through even Phobio's body.
It had three twisted horns, and its scaly body gleamed with ominous power.
Its bluish purple eyes glowed with horror, and misty breath proceeded from its dragon-like jaw.
Of course, it had wings to keep it afloat, and its tail danced as if floated.
As both colossal entities stared each other down, Phobio didn't know when he took a huge gulp of saliva.
He could feel a part of his body shaking.
'No… No!'
He didn't want to accept it.
'That thing isn't stronger than me! It's not stronger than my Trump card!'
He could never accept it.
'I'll destroy it right here and now!'
And so Phobio gave his bloody construct one simple instruction.
"Crimson Valkyrie… KILL THAT DRAGON!"
******
'I see. So that's his trump card?'
As Rey's Dragon Eyes took in the opponent he had to face, he nearly gave a sigh.
'It's pretty strong and durable, but… not a threat.
Rey also had the same thoughts about Phobio.
'I can't believe he is also one of the leaders of the Mercenary Gang.'
His Stats were even lesser than Ogun's, but it seemed he made up for it when it came to Skill.
'Blood Magic, huh? This is the first time I've seen something like this.
Of course, he copied all the guy's abilities, and he was partially curious about whether or not he could control Phobio's construct.
'But now isn't the time. I've messed around for too long, so I should probably wrap things up.'
After all, there was no point playing around again.
'The original plan was to scare everyone away by pretending to be a Dragon and helping Rebal recover the warehouse.'
It was supposed to be that simple.
'But this idiot went and killed everyone I was trying to save.'
It pissed Rey off, but he managed to swallow his dissatisfaction.
'Now that the original plan has been compromised, there's no witness to tell the superiors what I want them to think happened.'
If the survivors had fled, the Mercenary Gang would be able to confirm that this was the work of a Dragon—not in any way connected to KariBlanc and the other Groups..
That way, no war would start.
'In fact, the opposite might happen. They might become very wary and be on the defensive for a while.'
Doing that would give the KariBlanc Group more room to breathe and time to figure things out.
'The issue now is that they're all dead. Which means…'
Yup, there was no other choice.
'… I'll have to make him my sole survivor somehow.'
To Rey, that meant aiming for non-lethal spots and incapacitating the Crimson Valkyrie
'Shouldn't be too hard.'
He could see the enemy already brandishing their blade, getting ready to attack, so Rey prepared himself as well.
He was already much faster than Phobio, but he couldn't be certain about the Crimson Valkyrie.
~WHOOSH!~
The thing rushed to Rey to deal the first strike, but he easily evaded it.
'It seems I'm still just as fast and agile as I am in my normal form.'
The issue was his size. He still wasn't completely used to it, but that didn't mean he couldn't avoid the entire strikes completely.
~SWISH!~
~FWISH!~
~WHISH!~
The crimson blades of the Crimson Valkyrie danced in the air as Rey dodged everything.
After a few more strikes, he was finally able to detect where his opponent was.
'The chest region, huh?'
With it already figured out, as well as his enemy being much weaker than he was, Rey figured it was the best time to finish things.
'[Dragon Breath: Dark].'
With this single thought echoing in his mind, Rey opened his dragon mouth and released the pent-up energy locked within.
~BOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!~
The instant the dark breath touched the hardened blood, the latter could not stand it and instantly vaporized.
Rey aimed for the head, so the Crimson Valkyrie was now headless,
However, since that was only for decoration, the thing attacked again; this time trying to use its two blades to slice her down.
This time, Rey held both of the Valkyrie's hands with his large dragon-like ones, easily stopping them in their tracks.
And then…
~SQUELCH!~