It had to be said that as the king of the Cerberus race, King Cerberus's strength was indeed impressive.
Ordinary Cerberus possessed strength at least at the level of a High-class Devil, so King Cerberus naturally far exceeded that.
After the previous engagement, Leon had already gauged King Cerberus's strength—the level of an Ultimate-class Devil!
Furthermore, he was at a ten-wing standard. Rather than calling him an Ultimate-class Devil, it would be more accurate to call him a Special-class Devil!
Therefore, without using a Divine Instrument, even Leon could only fight him to a draw.
However, once Leon used a Divine Instrument, it was an entirely different story.
"BOOM!!!"
Accompanied by an earth-shattering roar, the flaming poison tornado was first blasted apart by a terrifying thunderstorm. Immediately following that, a figure burning with white aura crashed directly into King Cerberus, who was positioned behind the storm. Like a meteor striking the earth, the impact sent out a staggering shockwave.
"Awooo!"
The once invincible King Cerberus was suddenly struck as if by a meteorite. His massive body was sent flying backward, slamming into a mountain and causing the entire peak to shake violently.
Boulders tumbled down from the mountain like a collapse, completely burying King Cerberus's enormous frame.
"Bang!"
A moment later, the small mound of rubble exploded. King Cerberus streaked out from within, his six eyes filled with murderous, berserk fury as he prepared to fly toward Leon's position.
But before he could act, Leon intercepted him, flying in at high speed.
"Bang bang bang bang—!"
In the next instant, bolts of lightning shot out from Leon's body like laser cannons, repeatedly striking King Cerberus. The explosions sent blood spraying everywhere, and the beast tumbled away with a piteous cry.
Covered in wounds and blood, King Cerberus raised his three heads before he could even stand up, once again spitting out fireballs, storms, and toxic gas. This time, they did not merge to form a flaming poison tornado; instead, they remained separate, hurtling toward Leon one after another with menacing momentum and staggering power.
Facing this triple attack, Leon also raised his hand, releasing fireballs, a storm, and freezing air to meet them.
Swiftly, the fireballs collided and exploded, sending up towering walls of flame and heat that ignited the entire mountain. When the storms clashed, they whipped up a hurricane-force wind that blew away countless trees and rocks. Finally, the freezing air silently froze the highly corrosive toxic gas into a glacier, rendering it completely useless.
Then, Leon raised his other hand, successively unleashing a deluge of water and a massive bolt of thunder toward the fallen King Cerberus. The beast, just struggling to rise, was first engulfed by the flood and washed down the mountain, struggling painfully in the whirlpool at the base. The following thunderbolt hit the water and diffused through it, turning the whirlpool into a pool of lightning. King Cerberus howled wildly, the agony in his voice impossible to hide.
With five pairs of devil wings on his back, Leon hung high in the sky, subjecting King Cerberus to an inhumane lashing.
"Awooo!!!"
Riddled with wounds, King Cerberus could no longer endure it. After letting out a roar, he actually charged out of the lightning pool and sprinted toward a pitch-black gate that had suddenly opened in the sky.
"Is that—the Gate to the Underworld?"
Watching this, Leon was somewhat surprised.
King Cerberus could actually open a Gate to the Underworld from the Human World?
Was this the reason he appeared in the Human World?
Had someone lured him here? Or had someone brought him out of the Underworld?
Regardless of which it was, King Cerberus was clearly terrified of Leon now. He had lost his will to fight and was preparing to flee.
But—
"Since you're already here, don't leave."
Leon manipulated the power of the "Zenith Tempest," channeling the fluctuations of the Divine Instrument into the earth.
"Rumble—"
Instantly, the earth seemed to come alive, rising and falling violently.
Sand, soil, and stone broke free from the earth's constraints at this moment, transforming into ferocious-looking earth dragons. Roaring as they kicked up dust and debris, they surged toward King Cerberus.
Just before he could leap into the Gate to the Underworld, King Cerberus was snared by the earth dragons pursuing him from all directions. Like being constricted by pythons, his entire body was bound by the coiling earthen dragons.
"Awooo!!!"
Anxious and enraged, King Cerberus struggled frantically. His three heads spat out flames, gales, and toxic barriers, blasting apart the dragons winding around him and turning them back into sand and stone.
However, under Leon's control, the sand and stone quickly reformed into new earth dragons. Together with those following behind, they gathered into an army, scrambling up King Cerberus's body and constantly entangling him, preventing him from breaking free to escape through the gate.
"Swish!"
Leon's figure blurred into a series of afterimages, instantly soaring in front of the Gate to the Underworld and blocking King Cerberus's final path of retreat.
"Still trying to run?"
Seeing King Cerberus open his three hideous maws—within which fire, cyclones, and poison were gathering—Leon's gaze turned cold. Without a word, he released freezing air, condensing massive, sharp ice blades that slashed toward King Cerberus.
"Puchi! Puchi! Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!"
The sharp, giant ice blades hacked into King Cerberus one by one, slicing through fur and flesh alike. Great sprays of blood erupted from the wounds, drenching the sky and staining the earth red.
"Awooo!!!"
The roar from King Cerberus was filled with a much more intense agony than before, and the strength of his struggling and counterattacks weakened.
The sensation of the ice blades hacking into his body was exactly like the "death by a thousand cuts" or slow slicing.
If King Cerberus hadn't been the King of the Cerberus race with vitality far superior to ordinary creatures, this wave of attacks would have definitely left him with only half a life at most.
"Thud!"
Leon had no intention of showing mercy. Seeing King Cerberus's resistance fade, he closed in directly and slammed a fist into the beast's back.
Although he wasn't specialized in close combat, his physical attributes had strengthened considerably after transforming into a Perfect Devil. Furthermore, he poured a massive amount of demonic power into this strike, hitting King Cerberus's weakest point on the back. The result was no less than a heavy blow that sent King Cerberus flying, crashing his entire frame heavily into the ground.
As the ground shook again, a thick cloud of dust rose, and rubble flew out from the center—much of it stained with blood.
"That felt great. No wonder so many people like the feeling of 'fist to flesh.' With that one punch, my entire mind is clear and smooth."
Suspended in mid-air, Leon let out a long breath, a grin spreading across his face.
When the dust on the ground cleared and the rubble stopped flying, King Cerberus's massive form was revealed once more. However, it was clear he could no longer stand. His giant body lay in a blood-stained crater. Two of his three heads had passed out, tongues lolling out, leaving only the middle one still groaning.
Leon's figure then descended, landing in front of King Cerberus.
"Now then, how should I deal with you?"
Leon looked at the three-headed hound, whose eyes were each as big as himself. He retracted the five pairs of wings on his back, but raised one hand. Violent lightning flickered atop it, looking as though it might shoot out at any second toward King Cerberus's head.
"Awooo—"
King Cerberus's remaining head let out a whimper.
That sound lacked even a hint of the previous viciousness or rage; it was nothing but a weak desire to survive.
Leon heard it—this was a plea for mercy.
"I didn't expect that a grand King of Cerberus like you would be so afraid of death."
Leon said this, but he didn't find it strange at all.
After all, it could be seen from the fact that the beast tried to open a Gate to the Underworld to escape as soon as things looked bad; it really didn't want to die.
"Then submit," Leon thought for a moment and said. "Become my familiar and serve me, and you shall live."
That's right, Leon had the idea of taming him.
In any case, this was a magical beast whose strength could rival a Special-class Devil. Since the opponent had shown a desire to plead for mercy, it was better to take him in and add a significant force to his own combat strength.
If the opponent's appearance hadn't been so far from his preferred type, Leon wouldn't have even minded granting him a "Pawn" piece to take him in as a peer.
Unfortunately, the three-headed dog was too ugly, and Leon only favored beautiful girls. This fellow could only be downgraded to a familiar for him to command.
"Awooo—"
King Cerberus hesitated slightly, but seeing Leon raise his hand—still crackling with lightning—a bit higher, he hurriedly let out a cry and lowered his head.
"Very good."
Leon naturally knew the opponent had yielded and nodded with satisfaction.
However, now was not the time to form a contract.
Leon was still more concerned about the situation with Rias and Sona. Therefore, the matter of the contract would have to wait until this incident was over.
"Stay here obediently, otherwise—I'll finish you!"
Leon retracted the lightning in his hand and instead outputted demonic power, pressing it against King Cerberus's body to leave a magic mark.
With this mark, Leon could know King Cerberus's location at any time and use a magic circle to warp directly to him through the mark's guidance.
To remove this mark, one would need demonic power stronger than Leon's, which was absolutely impossible otherwise.
Clearly, King Cerberus was one of those who couldn't do it.
So, unless someone intervened to help him, Leon didn't need to worry at all about this bird in the hand flying away.
Having finished this, Leon was about to go find his peers when their figures flew in from the horizon.
"Buchou!"
"Leon-sama!"
"Master!"
Yukino Yukinoshita, Asuna Yuuki, Utaha Kasumigaoka, Mahiru Shiina, Ravel, Ram, and Rem—all seven peers appeared without a single one missing. Each of them looked completely unharmed as they flew toward Leon.
"Are you all okay?"
Seeing this, Leon was somewhat relieved and spoke first to ask.
"We are fine," Ravel shook her head and said. "It has been settled."
The other girls all nodded.
Under Ravel's planning, they had practically entered an uninhabited land, quickly and efficiently slaying those Cerberus one by one.
It could only be said that the power of Holy Swords and Holy Relics was truly extraordinary. Their effectiveness against demonic creatures was simply too great. Coupled with the fact that the girls themselves were quite strong, winning was as easy as turning over a hand when they cooperated with the correct tactics.
"I've settled things on my end too."
Leon patted the head of King Cerberus, who lay bloodied and scarred in the crater, and spoke to the girls.
"Do you not intend to finish it off?"
Yukino Yukinoshita looked at King Cerberus, who still had a breath left, and asked.
"No need. Keeping him to guard our home is a decent choice." Leon didn't explain much and quickly changed the subject, saying, "Since we've dealt with these obstacles that crawled out from who-knows-where, let's continue on our way immediately."
"..."
"I'm afraid Rias and Sona have really run into a trouble that's difficult to solve this time."
Hearing this, the girls nodded with solemn expressions.
Though they didn't know the specifics of what had happened, the fact that even Cerberus were running into the Human World and attacking them in packs meant that no one would believe nothing major was happening.
"These Cerberus were likely used by the mastermind to cut off any possible reinforcements. They probably weren't guarding against us, but against people sent from the Underworld."
Ravel made a logical deduction.
Someone had attacked Kuoh Town, or rather, attacked the Gremory and Sitri peers located in Kuoh Town, and had laid out destruction magic circles beneath the town. This was already a very clear situation.
Anyone with eyes could see that this was a planned operation. Since that was the case, it wasn't hard to understand why the opponent would station hidden troops here to intercept reinforcements.
The only question left was one.
Namely, who exactly was the person who planned this operation?
"Let's go."
Leon didn't say much more, unfolding his five pairs of devil wings again and flying into the air.
His peers followed one by one, and they soon left King Cerberus and the uncleaned battlefield behind them.
The battle between Leon and King Cerberus, as well as the battle between the Eligos peers and the Cerberus pack, would likely cause considerable panic and trouble in Kuoh Town.
But they couldn't worry about that anymore. They could only wait for the incident to end and let the people from the Underworld come to clean up.
The group increased their speed, turning into dark blurs as they flew toward the direction of Kuoh Academy.
"We're here!"
Asuna Yuuki suddenly spoke, causing everyone's spirits to lift as they looked forward.
A moment later, everyone saw their destination: Kuoh Academy.
However, at this very moment, the situation at the academy was clearly wrong.