The Cerberus King.
As the name implied, it was the king of the Cerberus race—the King of the Hellhounds. It was said that it dwelled deep within the furthest reaches of Hell and would rarely appear unless the Gates of the Underworld were destroyed.
However, at this very moment, in a town in the Human World where Cerberus should never have appeared, this King of the Hellhounds had manifested silently and without warning, bringing its entire pack with it.
"Awoo—"
Accompanied by a distant howl that seemed to echo from deep underground, the atmosphere began to vibrate.
"Gao!"
"Gao-ooo!"
One by one, the Cerberus responded to their king's call, letting out roars that made all of Kuoh Town feel like a city of the damned. A bone-chilling aura materialized out of thin air.
Kuoh Town was not empty at this time. On the contrary, the people living here continued their daily routines, noticing nothing out of the ordinary. They had no idea that a nuclear bomb was about to explode beneath their feet, let alone that this town had completely transformed into a battlefield.
Those distant, echoing howls reached their ears, causing many to look toward the source of the sound in surprise, sparking lively discussions and curiosity.
Under these circumstances, the battle between Eligos's peerage and the Cerberus pack broke out without warning.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
On the ground, one Cerberus after another spat out scorching fireballs. The projectiles soared into the sky, streaking toward the air and exploding in front of Leon and the others. Blazing explosions and waves of fire continuously bloomed beneath the night sky—more brilliant than fireworks, yet infinitely more dangerous—causing the temperature to skyrocket.
"Dangerous!"
The members of Eligos's peerage each deployed their own methods to defend against this sudden onslaught.
Yukino Yukinoshita created thick walls of ice to block the incoming fireballs. Asuna Yuuki manifested two water-attribute Holy Swords and crossed them in front of her, letting currents of water wash away the incoming blasts and heat waves. Utaha Kasumigaoka had already expanded a barrier around herself; fireballs bombarded it, creating bursts of explosions, but they could not breach the transparent wall to reach the girl within. Mahiru Shiina released purple flames in the shape of a cross, clashing directly with the hellfire spat by the Cerberus.
As for Ravel, Ram, and Rem, one simply ignored the attacks and let the fireballs explode against her body; one whipped up a violent gale to blow the fireballs away; and the third, wielding a morning star, dodged rapidly, leaving the incoming projectiles far behind her.
Leon was even more direct. Before the fireballs could reach him, he fired off several magic bullets, intercepting and dispersing them in advance.
His performance was neither the most stunning nor the most flamboyant, yet on the ground, the Cerberus King—the only one that had not joined the opening salvo—fixed its gaze upon him. It was as if the creature sensed he was the most difficult opponent to deal with; a cold, bloody light filled the six eyes across its three heads.
Leon could feel a vicious hostility locking onto him, and he knew the Cerberus King had likely singled him out. But he didn't care.
"There's no time to waste here," Leon thought quickly. He called out to his peerage, "I'll leave this to you. I—"
Before he could finish his sentence, a chill ran through his heart. Without hesitation, he flapped the five pairs of devil wings on his back and flicked away like a blurred afterimage.
Swish!
At that exact moment, a massive dark shadow lunged up from below with incredible speed. Three heads snapped open, revealing razor-sharp fangs glinting with a cold light as they bit down on the exact spot where Leon had been a second ago.
"Awoo!!!"
The Cerberus King appeared in mid-air—a pair of wings had actually sprouted from its back—and let out a terrifying roar. The roar whipped up a violent soundwave that slammed into the rapidly retreating Leon like a gale. As his clothes fluttered wildly, his brow furrowed deeply.
"It seems it won't be that easy to shake these beasts off."
Even as this thought crossed Leon's mind, the Cerberus King transformed into a massive dark blur once again and charged straight at him.
"部長!"
"Lord Leon!"
"Master!"
Seeing this, the girls wanted to move in to help, but they were immediately tied down by the pack of Cerberus on the ground. These hounds could not fly like their king, but they functioned like fixed artillery batteries, continuously spitting fireballs. They sent a literal rain of flaming meteors soaring into the sky toward the girls, forcing them to halt their advance.
"Let's deal with these Cerberus first! Lord Leon should be fine on his own!"
Ravel, relying on her immortality, didn't bother dodging at all. She let the fireballs explode against her, her entire body wreathed in flames as fire wings spread from her back. She observed the battlefield and quickly made a judgment.
The girls looked at one another and finally adopted Ravel's suggestion to focus on the pack of fire-spitting hellhounds on the ground first.
"Asuna-san and Mahiru-san will be the main attackers. Utaha-san, use your barriers to defend them from the fireballs. Yukino-san, release your freezing aura to restrict the pack's movement. Ram-san and Rem-san, drive the enemies from the perimeter toward the center—don't let them escape!"
Ravel's voice carried a hint of childishness, yet it was unnervingly calm. It was as if she had suddenly transformed from a noble young lady into an authoritative commander. Her tactics were simple, clear, and easy to understand. The girls all nodded silently.
Leon had instructed them beforehand that Ravel was to take command if he wasn't present. Since he had a tactician under his command who was no less capable than Sona Sitri, it would be foolish not to use her. Even though the current Ravel was still a commander who leaned toward a domineering style, Leon didn't mind giving her the chance to showcase her talents, as long as she didn't overdo it.
Therefore, the girls followed Ravel's instructions, even the proud Yukino Yukinoshita. She saw nothing wrong with Ravel's orders.
Cerberus were magical beasts. As such, just like devils, they were suppressed by Holy Swords and Holy Relics. Thus, Asuna Yuuki and Mahiru Shiina were undoubtedly the best choices for the main offensive. The overwhelming barrage of fireballs could be countered by Utaha Kasumigaoka's barriers. As for Yukino's freezing aura, while it might not be a natural nemesis like holy power to fire-wielding hellhounds, it was certainly something they instinctively loathed and feared. It could effectively pin them down and prevent them from attacking recklessly. Combined with Ram and Rem providing guerrilla support on the flanks, it was indeed the optimal way to respond.
And so, following Ravel's lead, the girls began their assault on the Cerberus pack.
Asuna Yuuki gripped a water-attribute Holy Sword in one hand and dived down alongside Mahiru Shiina, whose hand burned with the cross-shaped purple flames of the Holy Crucifix. They closed the distance with the Cerberus pack.
The Cerberus seemed to sense the fluctuations of holy power. Growling restlessly, they unleashed fireballs at the two girls, but the projectiles were blocked by barriers that suddenly materialized in front of them. The fireballs exploded harmlessly, unable to slow their pace.
"Come forth! Ice Princess!"
Yukino Yukinoshita summoned her humanoid Ice Princess. Together, they exhaled a freezing mist powerful enough to kick up an ice storm, causing the ground below to frost over. Frost and layers of ice immediately appeared on the Cerberus. The plunging temperature was extremely uncomfortable for them, causing them to shake their bodies and howl in rage.
Then, disaster struck them.
"First, one!"
Asuna Yuuki had already activated her "Knight" traits, unleashing god-like speed. She blurred like a flash of light to the front of a Cerberus, her Holy Sword swinging down like a ripple of water.
Puchit!
A crisp, clean cutting sound rang out. The Cerberus's thick hide offered no resistance to the Holy Sword's edge; instead, it was sliced open as easily as a snowflake touching molten iron. All three heads were severed from the neck simultaneously.
That Cerberus didn't even have time to let out a whimper. The three severed heads crumbled into dust and scattered. Smoke rose from the stump of its neck, and the blood spraying from within simply vanished. This was the power of a Holy Sword—whether it was a devil or a magical beast, any demonic creature would have the part of its body that touched the blade instantly erased.
It was an undeniably fatal wound. Consequently, the rest of the Cerberus's body soon crumbled into dust and drifted into the air, completely dead.
Boom!
At the same time, Mahiru Shiina arrived from the air. The purple flame cross in her hand slammed down, striking a Cerberus directly and incinerating it amidst agonized wails. In reality, the incineration was just the outward appearance; the truth was that the Cerberus was being purified by the holy power within the purple flames. It disappeared even faster than the one Asuna had decapitated.
As one of the three Great Holy Relics, the power of the Holy Crucifix was far beyond that of a Holy Sword. Such a performance was only natural.
"Gao!"
"Gao-ooo!"
The rest of the Cerberus realized the danger posed by Asuna and Mahiru. Some were driven into a frenzy and lunged toward the two girls, while others retreated in fear, attempting to flee the battlefield.
Unfortunately, those that attacked were either slowed by Yukino's freezing mist and countered before they could land a blow, or they were blocked by Utaha's barriers even if they reached the girls. As for those trying to flee, they were met with fierce blows from Ram and Rem. Some were blown back by surging storms, others were forced back by a hail of ice spikes. Even those that slipped through the gaps were blasted back into the fray by Ravel's Phoenix flames. They were completely unable to maintain an effective distance from Asuna and Mahiru.
Just like that, the pack of Cerberus was beaten into a retreat by the group of girls, their numbers steadily dwindling. If anyone else were to witness this scene, they would certainly be shocked.
Cerberus were no ordinary magical beasts. As the guardians of the Gates of the Underworld, unless they were juveniles, every single Cerberus possessed strength at least comparable to a High-class Devil, if not higher. If one were to judge by raw strength alone, perhaps only Yukino and Ram within Eligos's peerage could surpass a single Cerberus. The others might be stronger than one, but not by much—especially Rem, who could not defeat a Cerberus at all without her demon transformation.
Yet, through effective tactical placement, the girls were routing a pack that outnumbered them. The strength they displayed would surely cause the high-ranking officials of the Devil world to significantly raise their evaluation of the peerage if word reached the Underworld.
"I don't need to worry about that side."
Leon, who had spared a moment to check on his peerage, felt relieved when he saw the situation.
"Awoo!!!"
The massive figure of the Cerberus King was still closing in on him. A surging pressure reached him first, messing up his hair.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The Cerberus King's front limbs had transformed into razor-sharp claw blades. Leaving long trails of claw-light, it swung repeatedly at Leon, slicing through the air again and again.
Leon moved like the wind. Using his magic perception to capture every one of the Cerberus King's movements, he evaded all the incoming strikes and maintained his distance.
"Awoo!"
Seeing that its attacks were failing, the Cerberus King opened its three heads in succession and spat out three different attacks.
The middle head spat a fireball, but it was several times larger than those of the ordinary Cerberus—large enough to cover an entire hilltop. The left head exhaled a toxic gas; wherever it passed, the air sizzled as if being corroded. It was lethal. The right head spat a windstorm. Once the storm swallowed the fireball and the poison gas, it transformed into a massive Flaming Poison Tornado.
The Flaming Poison Tornado soared like a cyclone connecting heaven and earth, sweeping toward Leon. He felt a stinging sensation on his skin. Even before contact, the threat was palpable; one could only imagine how dangerous that tornado truly was.
Watching the incoming vortex, the fire of magic power ignited in Leon's eyes.
"I can't afford to fall behind either."
Purple magic aura flooded into his body, awakening the Sacred Gear slumbering within. The white ripple of a Sacred Gear fluctuated, making the sky roar.
"Come on!"
Enveloped in a white aura, Leon charged straight into the Flaming Poison Tornado.
BOOM!!!
Not long after, an ear-splitting explosion echoed through Kuoh Town, lingering for a long time.