"Hmm?"
Vali, who had just made his decision to leave, suddenly noticed something and came to a halt. Then, a smile played across his lips as he spoke.
"So, you've already found me?"
As soon as he spoke, a voice immediately rang out from behind him.
"After all, one of the skills my Eligos family is best at is magic perception. When a target as conspicuous as a star suddenly appears in the sky above Kuoh Academy, it's impossible for me not to notice."
Behind Vali, leaning against the doorway of the rooftop entrance with his arms crossed, a youth of similar age smiled back at him. If Vali was a beautiful youth as graceful as the moon, then this person was a bright young man as radiant as the sun.
It was Leon.
"I thought you would charge straight in and snatch Kokabiel away."
Leon watched Vali's back as he spoke. He had been paying attention to his surroundings for a while because, in the original story, Kokabiel was ultimately taken away by Vali's sudden intrusion. If Vali hadn't intervened and defeated Kokabiel, the Gremory peerage and Xenovia wouldn't have stood much of a chance at resolving the crisis given their current strength—at least, not without the protagonist's "power-up."
In the original timeline, Issei Hyoudou had sacrificed an arm to force a ten-second Balance Breaker to defeat Riser Phenex. This was a method only usable by those possessing Sacred Gears inhabited by the souls of monsters. Issei had made a deal with the Welsh Dragon's soul within the "Boosted Gear." Therefore, if pushed to the brink against Kokabiel, he likely could have traded a larger portion of his body for enough power to win. At worst, if he lost control completely, he might have tapped into deeper, more terrifying depths of the Boosted Gear's power.
However, if that happened, not only Kokabiel but Rias and the others would likely have been caught in the crossfire of an out-of-control Issei. Thus, Vali's intervention in the original story truly saved the Gremory peerage.
This time, since Leon had intervened in the Kokabiel incident himself, he couldn't ignore the high probability of Vali showing up. Throughout the battle with Kokabiel, Leon had kept his magic perception expanded to its maximum, successfully detecting Vali's arrival. At the time, he was prepared for a sudden intrusion, but to his surprise, seeing that Leon had handled Kokabiel, Vali had simply prepared to leave.
Vali's departure didn't put Leon at ease. So, after delegating the situation and leaving Kokabiel to Rias and the others, he followed him up alone. He had overheard a fair bit of the conversation between Vali and Azazel just now.
"It seems it's not that you didn't want to break in, but rather that you were given prior instructions not to be too reckless," Leon said with a shrug. "The Governor-General of the Fallen Angels is quite cautious. It's hard to believe that slacker from before is actually him."
"You seem to know a lot about us." Vali turned around, hands in his pockets, looking at Leon with a smile. "Whether it's Azazel or me, you speak as if we aren't strangers at all."
"Did you think you were the only ones who could watch from the shadows and gather intel?" Leon met Vali's gaze with a matching smile. "The Devil Kings of my house have reminded me more than once to be wary of the Governor-General and Grigori. They suspected you all would be very interested in me."
"We are indeed very interested in you." Vali stated bluntly, his eyes burning with intensity. "After all, you are the wielder of 'Zenith Tempest.' As for how powerful the second-ranked Longinus in the world truly is, it's not just Azazel who's curious—I am too."
At this point, Vali's intentions were clear.
"A rare opportunity has presented itself. Since we are both Longinus wielders, why don't we trade a few blows?"
Vali no longer hid his battle intent. He had thought today would be boring, but an opponent he was interested in had delivered himself to his doorstep. This was a godsend. This wasn't a case of him randomly attacking a genius of the Devil faction; the opponent had sought him out, and he was merely engaging in "self-defense."
Leon naturally saw the desire for combat in Vali's eyes. That pure battle intent and fighting spirit was something he had seen in Tiamat and Miyamoto Musashi—the hallmark of a true battle maniac.
But—
"Is it just because we are both Longinus wielders?" Leon asked pointedly. "There should be more to it, right?"
"Beyond being Longinus wielders, we are both half-human, half-devil hybrids, aren't we?"
"..."
The wind swept in from the distance, whipping their coats and making their clothes rustle loudly. Leon and Vali stared at each other, the atmosphere shifting subtly because of those words.
"Hmph—"
Vali suddenly laughed, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, four pairs of bat-like pitch-black wings unfurled behind him.
"My name is Vali Lucifer."
Vali's tone changed. It became deep and cold.
No one was unaware of what the name "Lucifer" represented. Sirzechs currently held that surname, but only because he had ascended to the position of Devil King and took the name of the original Lucifer as a title. In the current Underworld, "Lucifer" represented a post—the seat of the strongest Devil King.
Vali's "Lucifer" was not a title; it was blood.
"As you said, I am a hybrid of human and devil, a descendant of the original Devil King Lucifer."
The son of the original Lucifer, recorded in the Bible as "Rizevim"—a figure who, like Sirzechs and Ajuka, was a Super Devil—was Vali's grandfather. He was a blood descendant of the original Devil King. Because of his hybrid status, he had suffered systematic abuse at the hands of his grandfather during childhood until Azazel intervened, rescued him, and brought him into the Grigori as a Longinus wielder.
The four pairs of devil wings behind him perfectly demonstrated the meaning of "bloodline superiority." While pure-blooded devils of the same generation like Rias and Sona Sitri were High-class Devils with only one pair of wings, Vali possessing four pairs proved that even without being a Longinus wielder, he would still be one of the most transcendent existences among the new generation of devils.
Leon instinctively unfurled five pairs of devil wings as he slowly rose into the sky with Vali.
"Even though we are both human-devil hybrids, in your base state, you seem even more extraordinary than me," Vali praised without any sign of discouragement as he looked at Leon's five pairs of wings. "The Eligos bloodline and the Lucifer bloodline—logically, the latter should be superior, yet I find myself unable to match you."
"Is it because your potential has already surpassed the advantages of your bloodline?"
"Or is it because you are hiding secrets we don't know about?"
"It truly makes one curious."
As he spoke, another pair of wings suddenly erupted from Vali's back. They were light-wings with a pure white bone structure and blue light membranes, inlaid with blue gems.
"'Divine Dividing'—is it?"
Leon whispered the name of those light-wings.
"Divine Dividing," the Sacred Gear that sealed the soul of one of the Two Heavenly Dragons, the Vanishing Dragon. It ranked sixth among the thirteen Longinus and was the rival of the "Boosted Gear." Although its ranking was one lower than the Boosted Gear, the power and status of these two rival Sacred Gears were equal; their rankings could be swapped without issue. Therefore, like the Boosted Gear, it was one of the Sacred Gears closest to the top tier.
With these wings spread, Vali now had five pairs of wings, just like Leon.
Except—
"Your power and status as a devil are higher, and the Longinus you obtained through your human half also seems to be of a higher caliber and rank."
Finding himself at a disadvantage on both fronts actually made Vali happier.
"That's better. I have no interest in defeating the weak. If I'm going to fight, it's only interesting if I'm fighting someone stronger than myself, right?"
Upon hearing this, Leon moved. He flapped his five pairs of devil wings, his body turning into a streak of light as he sped toward the outskirts of Kuoh Town.
Boom!
A sonic boom echoed as Vali saw Leon fly off. He immediately vibrated his light-wings and devil wings, chasing after him with a gust of wind. Two streaks of light streaked across the sky of Kuoh Town one after the other, one chasing the other until they left the town and reached the uninhabited wilderness.
Voom!
The moment they reached the empty area, Vali's entire body erupted in pure white aura.
"Balance Breaker!"
The blue gems on the light-wings behind him released a blinding light.
"Vanishing Dragon Balance Breaker!"
A deep voice rang out from the blue gems, causing the white flames to surge like a volcanic eruption. Then, within the white light, Vali was clad in a suit of shimmering white full-body armor. A dragon-shaped helmet, dragon-shaped plating, a link-like dragon tail swaying behind him, and blue gems across the suit flashing with luster—it was divine and stainless.
This was the Balance Breaker of "Divine Dividing"—"Divine Dividing Scale Mail."
"Going straight into Balance Breaker?"
Leon stopped his flight and looked at the draconic figure, a wry smile appearing on his face.
"With an opponent like you, I wouldn't even have the right to exchange blows without this level of power, would I?"
Vali's voice, full of laughter and battle intent, came from within the helmet, slightly distorted.
"Come, let me see your true strength."
As his voice fell, Vali raised a gauntleted palm and released his magic. Amplified by the dragon's power, the magic transformed into a mana blast as brilliant as a star, which Vali hurled toward Leon.
As the mana blast flew toward Leon, it suddenly split apart, turning into countless smaller mana bolts that rained down like a blanket. With this single strike, Leon confirmed that the attack Vali had just released was more than a level higher than the light-sword barrage Kokabiel had used earlier.
In other words, Leon could not hold back. If he didn't use his true abilities, facing this wave of attacks would be suicidal.
ROAR!
Without any hesitation, Leon decisively unleashed the power of "Zenith Tempest," causing surging flames to ignite before him. From within the fire, countless fireballs flew out like meteors, colliding with the incoming mana bolts.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
In the next second, a continuous series of explosions erupted. The fireballs and mana bolts clashed repeatedly in mid-air, bursting into blooms of light that illuminated the desolate outskirts in the dark of night.
As if intentionally competing, Leon and Vali both chose to continuously release attacks. Fireballs and mana bolts were fired incessantly and collided without pause, creating a relentless storm of violent explosions.
The intensity of their attacks increased, and their magic was output as if it cost nothing, causing the fired projectiles to grow larger and larger. Initially, the fireballs and mana bolts were only the size of a palm, but as time passed, their scale expanded until they were huge spheres a meter tall, making the explosions upon impact increasingly violent and terrifying.
This resulted in shockwaves that grew increasingly fierce, sweeping across the wilderness like a category-ten hurricane, stripping trees and rocks from several nearby mountains.
"Excellent! This is getting interesting!"
Vali had entered a state of total excitement. His body turned into a white meteor, trailing a long streak of light behind him as he tore through the layers of shockwaves at incredible speed, charging straight for Leon.
Swish!
Leon still didn't hesitate. With a flap of his wings, he retreated rapidly.
The ability of "Divine Dividing" was the polar opposite of the "Boosted Gear." The Boosted Gear's ability was to double the user's power every ten seconds and could transfer that power to others. The ability of "Divine Dividing" was to halve the opponent's power every ten seconds and absorb that halved power for the user's own use.
The condition for activating this ability was that he had to make physical contact with the opponent. Therefore, Leon had to maintain his distance from Vali.
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