The Manor, Living Room—
At the call of Ravel, Ram, and Rem, the entire Eligos Peerage had gathered here.
The moment Yukino Yukinoshita, Asuna Yuuki, Utaha Kasumigaoka, and Mahiru Shiina heard that Leon had returned, they all left their rooms and rushed over. There, they found Leon standing with Kanna and Stella behind him.
"President!"
"You guy, you're finally back."
"Where on earth did you go?"
"We were so worried about you."
Seeing Leon, Asuna's face was filled with joy, while Utaha voiced a complaint. Yukino demanded answers, and Mahiru's eyes were full of lingering worry. Each emotion was different, yet they all perfectly showcased their individual personalities and their current states of mind.
Ravel, Ram, and Rem understood them well, so they remained silent, watching quietly from the side.
As for Kanna and Stella, the former was looking at the group of young girls with wide-eyed curiosity, constantly sizing them up as if observing something. The latter's eyes flickered slightly, appearing surprised that there were so many strikingly beautiful girls here.
Are these all his peerage?
Stella glanced at the smiling Leon, thinking this to herself while maintaining a taciturn exterior.
Under the circumstances, Leon stood up, a look of relieved yet helpless amusement appearing on his face.
"It's a long story. I'll explain it to you later," Leon said, looking at the four girls. "How are your injuries?"
Leon took a general look and noticed that while there were no obvious physical wounds—at least none visible on the surface—he couldn't be sure about internal injuries. Their complexions weren't great, possessing a sense of weakness and paleness as if they were just recovering from a serious illness. They were all wearing pajamas with coats draped over them, radiating a delicate air of convalescence.
Leon wanted to perform an inspection himself, but he wasn't skilled in restoration magic. Even if he checked, he likely wouldn't find much. So, he simply asked them directly.
"We're fine, just a bit weak," Yukino replied. Seeing that Leon's first concern was their health, her expression softened considerably. Although she was curious about the two girls standing behind him, she answered his question first.
"On that day, after escaping the pocket dimension, we received preliminary treatment. While we didn't recover as instantly as Ram and Rem did—since they had the Phoenix Tears—our injuries are mostly healed by now."
Asuna spoke in detail, her approachable and gentle voice causing Kanna and Stella to turn their heads and look at her twice.
"It was mainly because the 'Bishop' of the Gremory Peerage has truly powerful abilities. Her Sacred Gear seems to be able to heal any injury instantly. That's why we recovered so quickly."
Utaha mentioned Asia. Clearly, the one who treated them that day was the former Holy Maiden of the Church, the Gremory Bishop who possessed the Sacred Gear Twilight Healing.
"Miss Asia's healing ability is indeed incredible. My recovery skills and Asuna-senpai's can't compare to hers at all."
Mahiru felt a bit of self-reproach. It seemed she had already tried to use her own abilities to treat her companions, but the effects were far inferior to Asia's Twilight Healing.
"Actually, the physical wounds weren't a major issue; they were mostly healed that same day," Ravel interjected smoothly. "The real trouble was everything other than the physical trauma. You all fought far too recklessly that day. If you hadn't pushed yourselves so hard, you wouldn't have needed to stay bedridden for so long."
At those words, many of the girls lowered their heads, including Ram and Rem.
Seeing this, Leon raised an eyebrow and called Ravel over to him.
"What exactly happened during the battle that day? Tell me in detail!"
Ravel was the strategist of the team. Her understanding of the battle situation was bound to be more comprehensive than anyone else's. Asking her was the right move.
The young girl wasn't at all surprised by her master's inquiry. It was as if she had been prepared for this, and she began to explain.
Under Ravel's vivid narration, Leon gradually came to understand the process of the great battle between his peerage and the Hero Faction.
According to Ravel, while Leon and Cao Cao were engaged in their massive battle and shifting the battlefield, the Eligos Peerage and the Hero Faction entered a state of full-scale individual combat.
Yukino Yukinoshita was targeted by Sharon, who had been hounding her persistently, and they immediately engaged in combat.
Asuna Yuuki was sought out by Jeanne, who inherited the soul of the Holy Maiden of France and possessed the Sacred Gear Holy Sword Creation, leading to a duel between female holy swordswomen.
Utaha Kasumigaoka was pitted against Heracles, who inherited the soul of the great hero Heracles and possessed the Sacred Gear Variant Detonation. One excelled in attack while the other excelled in defense; it was a battle of the strongest spear against the strongest shield.
Mahiru Shiina was chosen as an opponent by Siegfried, a top-tier former Church warrior who carried multiple demonic swords and inherited the factor of the dragon-slaying hero Sigurd. She was forced into a life-and-death struggle with this powerful magic swordsman.
As for Ravel, Ram, and Rem, they faced off against the remaining two Longinus holders.
Georg—a descendant of Georg Faust—was a powerful mage proficient in Norse formulas, demonic formulas, fallen angel formulas, black magic, white magic, elemental magic, and various other fields. He also possessed the Longinus Dimension Lost.
Leonardo—a descendant of the genius artist Leonardo da Vinci—was the youngest member of the Hero Faction and possessed the Longinus Annihilation Maker. Though young and perhaps lacking sophisticated control over his Sacred Gear, he still possessed extremely dangerous battlefield suppression capabilities.
Facing these two, Ravel, Ram, and Rem had to work together. Otherwise, the chances of winning in a one-on-one fight were slim. This was Ravel's judgment, for which she had even prepared for interference from the remaining members of the Hero Faction and devised related tactics. She was nothing if not meticulous.
Naturally, the Hero Faction consisted of more than just the aforementioned members. There were many peripheral members as well. They were either Sacred Gear users or descendants of historical heroes; their strength was respectable, just not as exceptional as the core members.
On that day, the Hero Faction had come out in full force, far outnumbering the Eligos Peerage. Therefore, not only Ravel, but all the girls, including Yukino, were prepared to fight one-against-many and face an encirclement.
However, to everyone's surprise, the other members of the Hero Faction had no intention of intervening in the battles. Or rather, they had the intention but were stopped.
"Although the members of the Hero Faction are all human, they each harbor ideals that are far too heavy for humanity. I could tell that they genuinely did not want to rely on the strength of others to defeat us. They preferred one-on-one duels, wanting to crush their opponents with their own power," Ravel analyzed calmly.
"Of course, that was just the situation at the time. Based on their style, if necessary, they probably wouldn't mind swarming an enemy. As long as they achieve their goals, they don't care about the means."
"The reason they didn't do so that day wasn't so much because they had the moral compass of heroes, but rather because they were so overconfident in their own strength that they inadvertently became arrogant."
"They likely didn't believe they needed help to defeat us. Even if they didn't say it aloud, I could see that they were looking down on us."
Ravel's words caused Yukino and the others to offer cold or bitter smiles. Leon knew this was a natural phenomenon. Within the entire Eligos Peerage, everyone except for him was a young girl no older than eighteen. They were all delicate and beautiful, so how could they not be underestimated?
Specifically regarding Yukino, Asuna, Utaha, and Mahiru—Yukino, who had been his first peerage member, had only been reincarnated as a devil for half a year. Even as the host of the Longinus Absolute Demise, how strong could she have become?
The members of the Hero Faction were all human and primarily Sacred Gear users. Their understanding of Sacred Gears far exceeded that of ordinary people. They knew that in just half a year, even a Longinus holder who could break the balance of power couldn't possibly become that strong, especially since Yukino and the others had been ordinary humans before their reincarnation.
While the Hero Faction members were also human, most of them had inherited the power of legendary heroes. Their potential and abilities were far beyond those of ordinary humans. Therefore, in their eyes, someone like Yukino, who came from an ordinary background, could not possibly surpass them in just six months.
This was the arrogance of the Hero Faction. Though they called themselves heroes, they hadn't inherited the virtues of heroes; they had, however, inherited their flaws in full.
This was also what Leon despised most about the Hero Faction. They constantly claimed to be weak humans, yet the people who looked down most on the weak, the ordinary, and the inconspicuous were exactly these so-called descendants of heroes born with inherited power.
Just like in the original story, Issei Hyoudou—the "weakest Red Dragon Emperor" from an ordinary human background—was initially belittled by Cao Cao, only for Cao Cao to later have an eye blinded by him. Of course, after that, the Hero Faction never dared to underestimate Issei again and even treated him as a major threat. That was perhaps the Hero Faction's one redeeming quality: once they recognized a problem, they immediately looked for ways to rectify it.
Unfortunately, that only happened after they suffered a loss. At the very least, during their first confrontation with the Eligos Peerage and Yukino's group, they remained arrogant.
Their overconfidence in their own strength led to a massive failure this time.
The first to stumble was Sharon, who had rushed straight at Yukino without a second thought. She had only wanted revenge, wanting to reclaim her lost honor from her previous failure. She had made many preparations and dared not be as careless as before, lest she fall for Yukino's tricks again.
However, she never imagined that compared to their last encounter, Yukino had become much, much stronger.
After the incident involving Luffy Trix, Yukino had undergone multiple special training sessions and intense exercises. Her strength was no longer on the same level as when she first fought Sharon. At that time, Yukino was a rookie whose demonic power hadn't even reached the High-class Devil level and who hadn't fully explored her Sacred Gear's abilities. Today, not only had her demonic power reached High-class level, but she had also completely mastered the abilities of Absolute Demise and even achieved Balance Breaker. She had completely transformed.
Sharon, on the other hand, hadn't changed much. At the very least, she hadn't undergone a metamorphosis like Yukino. She believed her previous loss was due to carelessness, falling for Yukino's scheme. This time, as long as she was extra careful not to fall for any tricks, she could take her down. After all, she had held an absolute advantage last time; she only lost because she was outmaneuvered.
She never expected that this time, Yukino no longer needed tricks to defeat her.
Without even activating Balance Breaker, Yukino displayed overwhelming power, crushing Sharon's forces in a single clash. Yukino had no intention of showing mercy, going all out from the start and suppressing Sharon so thoroughly that she had no chance to fight back. Sharon could not believe this was Yukino's true strength.
Before Sharon could even process her shock or react, she was turned into an ice sculpture, just like last time. The difference was that last time, she had fallen because of a specific formula Yukino had practiced; this time, she was frozen directly by the frost breath of the Ice Princess following Yukino's command, completely losing her ability to fight.
"—My destiny with that woman ends here."
When mentioning this, Yukino spoke with a complex expression. In her view, after this battle, Sharon was no longer her opponent. She could no longer pose a threat, and thus, she could no longer continue to haunt her. Without even being able to force out her Balance Breaker, Sharon had been one-sidedly suppressed and easily defeated. How could Sharon possibly compete with her in the future?
"That might not be certain. Who knows what that crazy woman might do later?"
Leon felt that given Sharon's madness, even if she obtained some forbidden power to grow stronger quickly, it wouldn't be surprising. For example, Ophis's "Snakes." While the members of the Hero Faction might be too proud to consume them directly, Sharon might not feel the same repulsion. If that woman swallowed one of Ophis's "Snakes," she might once again pose a threat to Yukino.
However, that was a matter for the future.
Yukino's victory was the first highlight of the Eligos Peerage that day. Following that, however, came the highlights of the Hero Faction.
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