"Hm?"
In the darkness, Leo had just stepped out of the unfinished entertainment facility and was about to leave when he suddenly paused, as if sensing something. He lifted his gaze.
"What's wrong?"
Yukino, who had hurried after him with her schoolbag, stopped when she saw him halt, confusion coloring her voice.
"It's nothing." Leo kept his eyes fixed in one direction. He smiled lightly. "Just some annoying people coming this way."
Annoying people?
Yukino blinked, bewildered. But before she could ask, several figures came racing toward them from the direction Leo was staring at.
They clearly weren't normal humans. Ordinary people didn't move at that speed, nor could they leap from wall to lamppost like they were ghosting across rooftops—silent, swift, and deadly.
"Those are…?!"
Yukino's expression shifted sharply once she got a clear look.
Since becoming a devil, she naturally possessed night vision. Even from a distance, she could make out their appearance.
They were dressed either in priest's robes or nun habits.
"People from the Church?"
The answer came to Yukino instantly, and her body tensed.
Leo, however, wasn't looking at all of them. His attention was fixed on the woman at the front.
A nun dressed in the most traditional habit.
Long golden hair spilled out from beneath her veil, shining even in the dark. Her features were those of a classic Western beauty. Even the modest nun's garb couldn't hide her curves. Her blue eyes glinted coldly in the night, bold and piercing.
The nun led several priests straight onto the property. All of them stopped abruptly when they spotted Leo and Yukino.
"Devils!"
The priests immediately moved into attack stance.
But the nun raised a hand.
"Don't. You're no match for him."
Her voice was unfit for a holy woman—sweet and sugary to the point that anyone who heard it felt a shiver down their spine.
Leo watched her stop her subordinates and chuckled.
"So it really is you."
His tone wasn't one of seeing an old enemy. It was more like running into a familiar nuisance.
"My my, I didn't expect to meet you in a place like this."
The nun smiled back at him—sweet voice, sweet face, sweet expression, yet her eyes carried a chill that contradicted everything else.
"You know her?" Yukino frowned. The nun's overly sweet demeanor irritated her.
Leo gave a brief nod, then spoke.
"Her name is Sharon Holygrail. She's one of the strongest exorcists in the Church in Chiba Prefecture—known as Sharon the Pure. She was transferred here from the main headquarters three years ago, and she's been pestering me ever since. Looks gentle on the outside, but she's a cold, ruthless devil hunter."
Yukino stared at him in shock.
"One of the strongest exorcists… and she chased you for three whole years?"
Just hearing that was enough to measure how dangerous this woman was.
Any exorcist capable of cornering a High-Class Devil for years was definitely no ordinary small fry.
"Three years ago, I wasn't a High-Class Devil yet," Leo said, immediately catching Yukino's thoughts. "I was close, though. She really does have some skill, so be careful around her."
Before Yukino could reply, Sharon spoke first.
"Hearing that from you feels a little insulting." Sharon smiled without missing a beat. "If I couldn't do anything to you after three whole years, how would I ever deserve to be called one of the strongest?"
She glanced briefly at Yukino.
"That must be the servant you took in a month ago, right? Congratulations on becoming a High-Class Devil, by the way."
The last time Sharon met Leo, he hadn't reached that level yet.
So this was their first reunion since his promotion—but Sharon had clearly been watching him closely. She had investigated everything he'd done recently with meticulous detail.
"Hearing that from you is what's really insulting, don't you think?" Leo's smile sharpened. "What's wrong? Since you can't get to me, were you planning to go after my servant?"
Yukino's expression tightened instantly.
"How could I?" Sharon continued smiling. "If I laid a hand on the daughter of a major family in Chiba Prefecture, things would get far too troublesome, even with a good excuse. So even if I saw the Yukinoshita family's second daughter outside, I'd pretend I didn't."
That didn't reassure Yukino at all. Instead, it felt like being looked down on. Annoyance flickered across her tense features.
"You think I'll believe that nonsense?" Leo scoffed. "I know exactly how cruel and underhanded you are when dealing with devils. Drop the act before I send you to hell right here."
Sharon's smile vanished instantly.
A split second later—boom!—a burst of air exploded beneath her feet as her figure disappeared, kicking up a gust.
"—!"
Yukino's head snapped upward.
Sharon had leapt high into the air without warning. With her long leg raised, she came crashing down from above.
"Bang!"
Like a massive iron weight dropping from the sky, her heel slammed into the ground, shattering concrete and sending debris and gusts flying in every direction.
Fortunately, both Leo and Yukino leapt back at the last instant, avoiding the devastating blow.
"You—!"
Yukino regained her footing, ready to explode, but was immediately surrounded by several priests.
They drew sword hilts from inside their robes—hilts that extended into glowing blades of light. Yukino stiffened.
Light is poison.
Leo's warning echoed immediately in her mind.
These priests were exorcists of the Church, blessed by angels and wielding Light Weapons designed specifically to kill devils.
The blades they held were Light Swords—lethal to devils on contact. Yukino's instincts screamed that being struck once would be disastrous… maybe even worse than the injury she'd suffered when the fallen angel Varden pierced her stomach.
"…Move. I don't want to fight you."
She tried to warn them.
They didn't listen.
With no hesitation, they rushed her, swinging their Light Swords in lethal arcs.
"Tch…!"
Yukino clicked her tongue, releasing demonic power. Cold air burst around her, clashing against the exorcists closing in.
While Yukino was tangled with the priests, Sharon rushed Leo.
The beautiful foreign nun held two Light Swords—dagger-sized extensions of blazing light—and moved like a gust of wind. She lunged at Leo, launching a flurry of relentless attacks.
"Swish—swish—swish—swish—swish—"
Blades of light cleaved through the air in rapid succession, creating brilliant arcs that cut toward Leo's body.
These strikes were far faster and sharper than the Stray Devil's earlier wild charges—deadly and precise.
Yukino absolutely couldn't have handled such an assault right now.
But Leo had fought Sharon for three years. He knew her style inside and out.
"As merciless as ever. Smiling one second, then killing without blinking the next. Truly worthy of your title as a devil killer."
Leo still carried the unconscious girl in his arms, yet his movements were light and fluid. He slipped between the streaks of light like a dancing butterfly, dodging every attack.
"You're the one who said I'm cold and ruthless. Why would I hold back now?"
Sharon didn't expect to finish him quickly. She suddenly hurled her Light Swords forward—two brilliant streaks flying straight toward Leo's face.
He tilted his head aside, dodging cleanly.
But then he saw Sharon pull a handgun from beneath her nun's habit.
She aimed at his chest and pulled the trigger repeatedly.
Instead of gunshots, streaks of light erupted from the barrel—Light Bullets.
The gun was also a Light Weapon. No normal ammunition, no sound. Completely silent and deadly.
Leo moved to dodge, but a wave of Light Bullets came at him too quickly and too densely to evade entirely.
"Whm!"
He instantly released demonic power, forming a barrier around himself.
"Bang bang bang bang bang—!"
Light Bullets struck the barrier in rapid succession, scattering glowing particles like sparks.
Sharon narrowed her eyes, preparing to rush him again—when several magic circles suddenly appeared around her.
"Boom!"
A barrage of force exploded outward from the circles, blasting the ground where she stood and shaking the entire area.