"Buzz—"
As endless thunderous light burst forth from Kuoh Academy, the barrier enveloping the campus began to vibrate as if struck by a heavy impact.
This tremor was transmitted to each of the devils maintaining the barrier, making them feel as if the magic power they were outputting had backfired. The shock turned their faces pale, and they nearly severed their connection to the barrier.
"Wh-what on earth is happening in there?"
Sona Sitri and the others could only struggle to hold on. Even Asuna Yuuki, Utaha Kasumigaoka, Ram, and Rem had solemn expressions, their eyes flickering with hints of worry.
Although they hadn't entered Kuoh Academy, they could tell from the barrier's reaction that the battle inside must be incredibly fierce.
It wasn't just this once; moments ago, a massive spear of light had shot toward the sky, colliding with the barrier above the academy. The resulting shockwave had almost shattered the barrier and severely jolted everyone present.
One could say that if Leon hadn't left Asuna and the three others here—including Utaha Kasumigaoka, who possessed the strongest barrier-type Sacred Gear below the Longinus level, and Ram, whose strength rivaled that of a Special-class Devil—to maintain the barrier alongside the Sitri peerage, the shell covering Kuoh Academy would have been shattered the moment that spear of light ascended, let alone now.
Thus, the group could only imagine how intense the fighting inside was, silently praying in their hearts, hoping Leon could save Rias and help her through this crisis.
As they thought this, they did not know that while the battle inside was fierce, it was not the deadlock they imagined.
Quite the opposite; facing Kokabiel, a cadre of the Fallen Angels who had survived since the age of myth, the new-generation devil Leon had displayed an overwhelming advantage. In just a single exchange, he had given Kokabiel and everyone present a massive surprise.
"Ha... ha..."
When the blinding lightning dissipated, the sight of a panting Kokabiel appeared before everyone's eyes.
By now, his exquisite black robes had been reduced to rags. His entire body was charred and smoking, showing obvious patches of severe burns. Blood flowed from various parts of his body, staining his skin and his distorted face.
Looking at the heavily wounded Kokabiel, Rias and the others, who had just recovered from the aftershocks and lowered their hands from their faces with lingering fear, could not help but gasp.
They could not believe that Kokabiel, who just moments ago had acted as if he were the supreme ruler of heaven and earth and had pushed everyone to the brink of despair, had now fallen into such a state.
And the person who had inflicted such damage was Leon, someone fairly familiar to most of them.
Especially Rias; she had seen Leon's strength before.
Over a month ago, Leon had displayed his power in front of her and Sona Sitri, almost effortlessly crushing and killing Luffy Trix, who had consumed "Ouroboros." From that moment on, they knew Leon's strength was far above theirs.
However, even the Leon of that time definitely did not possess the dominance and power he showed at this very moment.
Back then, Leon was at most capable of competing with a ten-winged level existence.
But now, Leon was able to steadily suppress such an existence. Moreover, the opponent was not just any ten-winged being, but an ancient powerhouse who dared to challenge Maous and had fought them in the past.
"He... has become stronger again."
Rias had no choice but to recognize this fact.
Furthermore, she was forced to realize that Leon hadn't just become slightly stronger. The greatest proof was the wings on his back, which had changed from eight wings in the past to ten wings, just like Kokabiel.
This point alone was enough to illustrate just how much growth he had achieved in a single month.
Shock, bewilderment, and disbelief appeared in succession on the faces of those on the ground, their gazes trembling as they looked at Leon in mid-air.
Leon, however, merely looked at the scarred, blood-drenched, and gasping Kokabiel across from him and tossed out a casual sentence.
"How about it? Are you finally sober now?"
Leon's rather playful words caused veins to bulge on Kokabiel's forehead.
Infinite rage, accompanied by thick humiliation, surged into Kokabiel's heart and onto his face.
"Don't get too full of yourself! You brat!"
Kokabiel unleashed his inner rage, ignoring his injuries as he released a dense surge of light energy. He reached out toward Leon, and the massive light energy instantly transformed into countless sharp swords of light around him, which then shot out toward Leon.
The light swords were like flashes of light, slicing through the air as they flew. Looking up from the ground, one could only see countless streaks of light flying out, enveloping Leon in a blanket of projectiles, as if intending to turn him into a pincushion.
However, although Kokabiel's movements were fast, Leon, who had been monitoring him with magic perception, was not slow at all.
As Kokabiel fired the countless light swords, Leon's body once again burst with lightning. He condensed countless swords of thunder to meet the incoming rain of light.
Clang—Clang—Clang—
Instantly, countless swords of light and thunder collided in the air above Kuoh Academy. Tip against edge, they triggered countless explosions, causing shockwaves to scatter alongside flowers of light and sparks of lightning.
While firing the light swords, Kokabiel raised both hands, once again condensing a massive spear of light above his head, which he hurled at Leon with all his might, causing the atmosphere to burst.
Leon followed suit, as if replicating Kokabiel's actions, and condensed a massive spear of thunder, hurling it back. The two gargantuan spears of light and thunder collided violently.
"BOOM!!!"
In the instant the roar erupted, whether it was the clashing swords or Leon and Kokabiel themselves, everyone was blown back by the expanding shockwave, their figures flying dozens of meters away.
Light bursts, thunderous explosions, shockwaves—various phenomena appeared between the two, shaking the entirety of Kuoh Academy.
Immediately afterward, the two figures flying backward simultaneously flapped their wings, turning into blurred afterimages as they charged toward each other.
Kokabiel condensed a sword of light in each hand. With a distorted face, he rushed at Leon and slashed. His close-combat skills were incredibly formidable; the light swords in his hands pulled out dozens of sword-shadows in an instant, swinging dozens of times per second. The dense network of blade-light enveloped Leon, leaving him no room to dodge.
Facing this unavoidable storm of slashes, Leon actually moved forward instead of retreating. Violent hurricanes whipped up around him, and he charged straight into the storm of slashes, encased in armor of wind.
Clang clang clang clang clang clang—!
Kokabiel's dozens of slashes per second all fell upon the wind armor surrounding Leon, only to be entirely deflected by the surging gale.
After deflecting the strikes, Leon suddenly moved. A swirling vortex of fire appeared in his hand at some point, which he pressed against Kokabiel.
"Bang!!!"
The fire vortex exploded in front of Kokabiel, and the resulting waves of flame completely swallowed him. The terrifying high temperature roasted him relentlessly, drawing a roar of anger from the fallen angel.
"This level is—!"
Upon closer inspection, the swallowed Kokabiel had actually spread the wings behind his back wide and folded them together, wrapping himself entirely and using them as a shield.
The next second, the pitch-black wings snapped open, blowing away the waves of flame. At the moment the wings spread, the light sword in Kokabiel's hand had somehow transformed into a light spear, which he threw forcefully toward Leon's chest.
"Bang!"
Leon didn't waste any motion. With a casual wave of his hand, his palm, burning with surging magic power, directly slapped the light spear away into fragments, causing Kokabiel's eyes to twitch.
"How on earth did you do it? How?!"
Kokabiel truly could not understand this scene.
It wasn't that he couldn't understand why Leon's strength was so great. Although Leon was very young, he was, after all, a possessor of a Longinus. None of these wielders were normal; as long as they could fully utilize the power of a Longinus, they were entirely capable of breaking the balance of power. Thus, Kokabiel wasn't surprised that Leon possessed such strength.
Mainly, there were also two Longinus wielders among the cadres of Grigori whose ages were comparable to Leon's, and their strength was likewise incredibly vast, being no lower than any cadre of the Fallen Angels—perhaps even slightly exceeding them.
Leon was not only a Longinus wielder like them, but the one he held was "Zenith Tempest," the second strongest Sacred Gear in the world and one of only four high-tier Longinus. Its power far exceeded the two wielders in Grigori. Therefore, Kokabiel could accept him having this level of strength.
But no matter how strong one was, one had to follow basic laws, right?
Since he was a devil, no matter how strong he became, the inherent weaknesses of his race would always exist; they could not disappear or be overcome. Even "Transcendents" like Sirzechs and Ajuka, who were said to have surpassed the devil race, actually still retained the weaknesses of the race they were born from—they would fear light and holy attribute power.
But this rule seemed nonexistent for Leon, which was utterly baffling to Kokabiel.
Unfortunately, Leon had no need to explain it to him.
Crackle—
Countless bolts of lightning began to flicker and roar on Leon's raised arm.
"Hah—!"
Kokabiel's expression changed. Just as he tried to move, he found he couldn't.
A layer of frost had slowly condensed on his body at some unknown time, freezing his joints and his wings. Only now did Kokabiel realize with a shock that the temperature around him had dropped below freezing. An imperceptible freezing aura had spread over him, causing a freezing phenomenon across his entire body.
"Boom!"
Just as Kokabiel tried to shatter the ice on his body, the lightning on Leon's arm shot out, slamming into him and blowing him away.
"Boom boom boom boom—"
Bolt after bolt of lightning shot out in succession, landing one by one on Kokabiel. A series of roars and explosions erupted. Amidst agonized howls, Kokabiel was drenched in blood and blasted beyond recognition.
"A cadre of the Fallen Angels..."
Leon laughed, holding up his lightning-sparked arm.
"Is only this much."
That calm and indifferent voice brought Kokabiel a humiliation that ranked as the greatest of his life.
"Leon Eligos!!!"
Shimmering with light power, Kokabiel charged toward Leon like a madman, braving the continuous strikes of lightning. His appearance was as if he intended to perish together with Leon, looking very much like he was about to self-detonate.
Facing the maddened Kokabiel, Leon merely waved his free hand with a calm expression.
"Bang!"
A massive boulder suddenly shot up from the ground, flying into the air at startling speed and slamming into the charging Kokabiel.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!—
Following closely were countless massive rocks flying in from all directions, colliding with Kokabiel one after another and burying him within.
Leon held up his waving hand and clenched his palm. The countless rocks burying Kokabiel seemed to fuse together, gradually filling the gaps between them until a massive spherical stone, at least ten meters in diameter, appeared in mid-air.
"This move could be considered an alternative version of Chibaku Tensei, couldn't it?"
Leon's figure hovered before the giant spherical rock, chuckling softly.
"Too bad you aren't Kaguya Otsutsuki, and you don't have the class to ascend to the night sky and become a moon, Kokabiel."
Kokabiel could no longer respond to Leon's words. The massive light power on his body was gradually weakening, and by the time it vanished completely, there wasn't even the slightest movement.
Even Leon could only use his superior magic perception to peer into a faint trace of aura, proving that he was at least still alive. But this was his limit.
Completely sealed by the earth-attribute power of "Zenith Tempest," there was no difference between his state and being sealed by Chibaku Tensei.
At the same time, Leon funneled more earth-attribute power directly into the ground beneath them, causing a massive magic circle to reveal itself. This was the destruction ritual carved into the earth of Kuoh Town.
This ritual was actually within Kuoh Academy—at least its core was. Leon had discovered its existence after entering the academy; now he was simply forcing it out.
Then, Leon released a bolt of lightning directly at the magic circle, letting it strike the pattern.
Crash!
The magic circle shattered like a mirror under the strike of the lightning.
With this, the crisis of Kuoh Town was finally resolved.