Although Rem had lost consciousness, the duration was not long—at most about half an hour.
When she woke up, the first person to enter her field of vision was none other than her elder sister.
"Are you awake, Rem?"
At this moment, Ram was sitting under a tree, while Rem lay on the grass with her head resting on Ram's lap. The sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, shining down on the twin sisters and creating an exceptionally beautiful scenery.
"——Sister?"
Rem's mind was still a bit foggy. She looked up blankly at Ram, who was looking down at her. It took a moment before her expression changed to one of alarm. She tried to sit up, but Ram held her down.
"Don't move. Although you didn't suffer any serious injuries, the physical and mental burden of the Demonification was too great. You need proper rest to recover."
Rem listened to Ram's persuasion. She felt the exhaustion and pain in her body; she was weary to the bone and lacked any strength.
However, as Rem understood what had happened, there was no relief in her heart, only dejection.
"Rem lost control again, didn't she?"
Rem looked guilty, her expression dim and her voice weakened significantly. One could faintly hear the self-reproach and inferiority in her tone.
"It wasn't Rem's fault." Ram stroked her younger sister's hair and said, "Rem worked very hard. Ram saw it—you were desperately trying to maintain control even when the horn manifested, weren't you?"
The moment the single horn on her forehead was triggered, Rem knew things were going poorly. She had desperately tried to control herself, struggling not to let the surging power cloud her mind. This was the reason for the scene of her bitter endurance earlier.
"But Rem still failed." Rem continued dejectedly, "Compared to Sister, Rem is truly useless."
In front of Ram, Rem had always felt a deep sense of inferiority.
Even though they were twin sisters, her elder sister had been gifted from a young age. At a tender age, she became the strongest in the Oni Village and was hailed as a prodigy by the clansmen, shining brilliantly.
In contrast, as an Oni, Rem's physical strength was inferior to her peers. When she tried to follow her sister in studying magic, she lacked the talent and ended up with a half-baked result. Not only could she not compare to her radiant sister, but she was even inferior to the most mediocre of her peers. She didn't know how much gossip she had invited because of this, being labeled a failure of the Oni race.
If it were only that, it would have been fine. But as if playing a joke, the Heavens granted her the only ability that could help her catch up to her sister—the Demonification—at the cost of losing her sanity and going on a rampage. Not only did this fail to allow Rem to help her sister, but her sister had to clean up the mess and help her regain her reason every time. This made Rem feel both sad and embarrassed.
Her ability as an Oni was inferior to her sister's, her ability as a mage was inferior to her sister's, and even when she wanted to possess power comparable to her sister's, she needed her sister to clean up after her. All of this made Rem feel inferior and self-reproachful, unable to lift her head in front of her sister.
Ten years ago, after her sister lost her horn while saving her, Rem made a firm resolution. To protect her sister, she would make her sister her goal and train constantly. But in those ten years, no matter how hard Rem worked, her rate of progress was minuscule. Even now, she was only comparable to a Middle-class Devil, unable to be mentioned in the same breath as her sister from a thousand years ago.
Now, she had finally met a master who could reincarnate her as a Devil. She thought she would gain the power of a Devil and experience a massive surge in strength, only to lose control and rampage again. This caused the self-reproach and inferiority in Rem's heart to explode all at once.
"As expected, a useless person like Rem shouldn't have been born into this wor—"
Before she could finish the sentence, Ram interrupted her.
"If you continue, Ram will get angry."
A rare trace of anger appeared on Ram's usually expressionless face, leaving Rem stunned.
She respected her sister the most and understood her best; she knew what kind of person her sister was.
Her sister had an arrogant and sharp-tongued personality, usually maintaining a calm demeanor as if nothing could rattle her. In reality, she was "hard on the outside, soft on the inside"—stubborn but kind-hearted and very considerate.
Unlike Rem, who was always filled with inferiority, even after her sister lost her horn and her power plummeted to the point where she was weaker than Rem, she always maintained a composed manner. She was confident when she needed to be and strong when she needed to be, appearing quite remarkable.
Such a person rarely truly got angry. At least, Rem had rarely seen Ram angry; even if she was, it was usually just a silent sulk, rarely showing such visible fury.
But now, Ram was visibly angry.
"Didn't Rem make a promise to Ram? That we would stay together forever." Ram stared at her sister resting on her lap and said aggressively, "Did Rem lie to Ram?"
"O-Of course not!" Rem said hurriedly. "Rem could never lie to Sister!"
"Then don't say such things." The anger on Ram's face finally faded, and her voice softened significantly. "Rem is Ram's sister. It is only natural for an elder sister to be more remarkable than her younger sister, so Rem doesn't need to compare herself to Ram."
"Rem is Rem. There's no need to care about others' opinions; just be yourself."
"Ram is an Oni, and Rem is an Oni too. Not a prodigy, and certainly not a failure. Just being Oni is enough."
"In the future, you are not allowed to say such things again. Do you understand?"
Hearing this, Rem's eyes moistened.
"—Yes, Sister."
Under the shade of the tree, the two sisters, who were the only ones left for each other, finally broke free from the ten years of stagnation. Their hearts drew infinitely closer.
Watching the two sisters, both Tiamat and Leon nearby couldn't help but show faint smiles.
"It seems they are fine now." Tiamat said with relief, "Now I can rest easy."
Beside her, Leon and Ravel looked at each other and both smiled slightly.
"Remember to say a proper goodbye to them later." Leon said to Tiamat, "I'm taking them with me."
"I know that without you telling me." Tiamat didn't look at Leon but said solemnly, "I'll leave those sisters to you."
"Rest assured." Leon said calmly, "Since I am their master, I naturally won't let anything happen to them."
"I'm not worried about that." Tiamat smiled and said, "Whether it's you, or Ram and Rem, you aren't the type of people things just 'happen' to."
Ram had regrown her horn, and her power had returned to its peak. Even now, she possessed strength at the level of an Ultimate-class Devil. With her potential, she would surely grow stronger in the future, perhaps even catching up to Tiamat herself.
Rem was admittedly much weaker, being inferior to even a High-class Devil in her normal state. However, once she encountered a crisis and ignored the risk of losing control, she could enter the Demonification state on her own. At that point, her power would be enough to rival Ram; ordinary people would be unable to do anything to her.
As for Leon, even Tiamat couldn't see through just how strong he was now.
Previously, she could see clearly. Being able to defeat Luffy Trix, who had consumed "Ouroboros," Leon's strength was at least at the Ultimate-class Devil level—and not just at the eight-wing level, but the ten-wing level.
But now, this little fellow had ten-wing level demonic power alone, and he possessed ten devil wings. In his normal state, he was a genuine ten-winged Devil. If one added "Zenith Tempest," the second strongest Longinus in the world, then even compared to Maou-class existences, he shouldn't be far off, right?
According to news from Ajuka's side, this little fellow seemed to have mastered Balance Breaker, reaching the ultimate domain of Sacred Gears.
So, if he activated Balance Breaker, what level would he be?
Maou-class?
Or—
Thinking of this, Tiamat looked at Leon, a burning battle intent appearing in her eyes.
"What's with that look?" Leon naturally noticed Tiamat's gaze. Or rather, she didn't intend to hide it. He raised an eyebrow and said, "Why do I get the feeling you want to pick a fight with me?"
"It's not a feeling; I truly want to fight you." Tiamat looked Leon up and down blatantly. While realizing once again that a massive change had occurred in Leon, she said eagerly, "I feel that if it's the current you, you should have enough ability to exchange blows with me."
"How about it? Do you want to try challenging me?"
Again, all dragons were bellicose. Even Tiamat, a female dragon who looked like a cold beauty, had a warlike side in her bones.
Ordinary opponents were naturally beneath Tiamat's notice. However, if an expert appeared who was strong enough to make her get serious, Tiamat didn't mind stepping forward to ask for advice and have a good fight.
That would require an existence at the Maou-class at the very least. If one didn't even have Maou-class strength, Tiamat would lack interest.
The previous Leon fell into the range of those Tiamat lacked interest in. If he hadn't been the host of "Zenith Tempest," possessed strange mutation characteristics, and had the potential to help her retrieve her treasures, Tiamat's personality would have led her to ignore him entirely.
So what if he had ten-wing level strength?
To Tiamat, who was suspected of having Super Maou-class strength, an existence of that level was just a matter of a single claw swipe.
Now it was different. This little fellow had grown to a point where she was interested, which piqued Tiamat's battle intent. A dragon's intuition told her that the current Leon should be able to satisfy her.
However, faced with Tiamat's provocation, Leon refused without hesitation.
"I have no desire to fight the strongest Dragon King."
Are you kidding? He was still a new-generation Devil. His daily opponents should be High-class Devils like Rias or Sona Sitri. Why on earth should he go up against a Dragon King?
As the strongest Dragon King, even if Tiamat didn't have Super Maou-class strength, she was definitely a High Maou-class existence—the kind who was a standout even among Maou-classes. She might even be only one step away from Super Maou-class. She wasn't someone a normal Devil could deal with.
Even for the current Maou Leviathan and Maou Asmodeus, who were Super Maou-class existences, taking down Tiamat would likely not be easy. If Tiamat were also Super Maou-class, then unless "Transcendent" beings like Sirzechs and Ajuka acted, there would be no one in the entire Devil world who could take her down.
He was not the same as before, but why pick a fight with a Dragon King for no reason?
"Are you afraid?"
Tiamat was somewhat dissatisfied and continued to provoke him.
"Yeah, I'm afraid you'll get caught up in the heat of the moment and won't know the meaning of showing mercy. By then, I'll have to fight for my life. If I happen to die at your hands, the pair of lovely twin sisters you just handed over will have to be returned to their original owner."
Leon spoke with annoyance.
This wasn't Leon talking nonsense; he was truly worried things would turn out that way.
Dragons were like that as a species. Once they were enjoying a fight, they easily got carried away and became reckless, leading to huge disasters.
Historically, most legendary dragons with names were like that. They were willful and unscrupulous, paying no attention to their surroundings. They would follow their own battle intent and go on a rampage anytime, anywhere, strolling away after destroying a city or two without caring about the consequences. Thus, every single one of them was eventually hunted down, giving rise to countless Dragon Slayer legends and heroes.
Even the famous Heavenly Dragons were like that, fighting among themselves without regard for others during the Great War between Devils, Angels, and Fallen Angels. They made the entire battlefield a mess, causing countless people to suffer. The result was that they incurred public wrath and were flayed alive by the combined forces of the three factions. Their bodies were torn apart, and their souls were taken by the God of the Bible to create Sacred Gears. Since then, the two Heavenly Dragons became titles for successive Sacred Gear hosts.
As it happened, the hosts they chose were all the same—clashing generation after generation, fighting regardless of the occasion and causing immense destruction. Saying they "fought until their brains were knocked out" would be an understatement. It was clear that almost no fight related to dragons could end well.
As the strongest Dragon King second only to the two Heavenly Dragons, Tiamat was still alive and well today because she was relatively well-behaved compared to other legendary dragons. But however well-behaved she was, she was still a bellicose dragon. Leon really didn't want to exchange blows with an existence that might get carried away and invite massive trouble.
If he couldn't satisfy her, that would be fine. The fear was that if he did satisfy her, it would pique her competitive spirit—that was when the real trouble would start.
And the current Leon already had the qualification to invite this massive trouble.
Therefore, he didn't dare fight Tiamat at all.
"Fine."
Tiamat frowned. Seeing that Leon was truly resistant, she didn't push further and dropped the idea with a face full of regret.
"Get ready, Ravel." Leon stopped talking to Tiamat and spoke to his servant beside him. "It's time for us to go back."
"Yes."
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