Just like Zenith Tempest and Absolute Demise, Blade Blacksmith was a Sacred Gear with an established wielder in the original story.
The difference was that Leo's Zenith Tempest and Yukino's Absolute Demise were both Longinus—unique, one-of-a-kind Sacred Gears. Asuna's Blade Blacksmith, while extremely rare, was not a Longinus, and therefore had the possibility of existing in multiple copies.
Under those circumstances, Asuna possessing Blade Blacksmith shouldn't have been surprising at all. Leo already knew during her reincarnation that she had potential rivaling Yukino's—her Sacred Gear was bound to be powerful and rare.
But when Asuna awakened her Sacred Gear and revealed the power of Blade Blacksmith, Leo still couldn't help being stunned.
The reason was simple:
He never expected one of HIS reincarnated devils to wield a Sacred Gear infamous for being the natural enemy of devils.
A devil… with a devil-slaying Sacred Gear?
And not just any anti-devil power—a Holy attribute, far more lethal than the light power of angels or fallen angels?
What was this supposed to be? A traitor among our ranks?
Still… it really was a perfect match for her Knight piece.
"It's obvious. Your future role is that of a swordswoman."
Leo smiled at Asuna, who had opened her eyes and stared blankly at the Holy Swords floating around her.
"With the speed trait granted by the Knight piece, and with the proper use of these Holy Swords, you might become an even greater threat to devils than me and Yukino."
Even if her Sacred Gear was anti-devil, that didn't make her useless.
Devils fought among themselves constantly. In fact, when devils fought, it was often more brutal than any other faction. The Underworld had once been torn apart by a civil war between the Old Maou Faction and the Reform Faction, countless devils dying in the conflict. Even now, many unresolved issues remained, and incidents still flared up from time to time.
And in the future, the Old Maou Faction would become a major enemy of the current Underworld. When that time came, Asuna would shine—one of the most promising new devils.
And even if internal conflict wasn't considered, Asuna's power had another battlefield waiting.
The Underworld's greatest craze—
the Rating Game.
It was the most popular competitive event across devil society. From the Maou to the common people—every devil was a devoted fan.
Many pureblood families of the Seventy-Two Pillars had died off. After the current Maou Beelzebub created Evil Pieces to save the declining devil population, the Rating Game became widespread.
The participants were devils who held the King piece, leading their team of servants against other Kings' teams in matches governed by various rules. Through these battles, they showcased their strength, their servants' capabilities, and their ability to strategize.
Today, Rating Games were one of the most important ways to determine a devil's status. Good performance could lead to recognition from the high-ranking devils—rank promotion, even the granting of noble titles.
Countless devils in history had risen to prominence through Rating Games. Many clawed their way from Low-Class Devil to Mid-Class Devil, then to High-Class Devil, eventually gaining the right to recruit their own servants and debut as a King.
For new-generation devils, Rating Games were a dream. Even High-Class Devils who already held King pieces viewed them as a ladder toward greater heights—a path to becoming an Ultimate-Class Devil, just one step below the Maou.
Sona Sitri intended to enter the Rating Games. She wanted to use them to achieve her dream. Her childhood friend from the Gremory House shared that ambition—she wanted to dominate the Games.
To enter a Rating Game, there were only two requirements:
A team led by a King piece, and adulthood.
This year, Leo, Sona Sitri, and Rias Gremory had all reached eighteen. Soon they would debut as new-generation devils and begin preparing for the Games.
Of course Leo planned to participate. Even though, according to the original timeline, the world would soon fall into chaos—making the Games uncertain—the debut match for the new-generation heirs of several pureblood families would still occur. He would almost certainly be required to participate.
And in both the Games and the debut match, Asuna—wielder of a devil-slaying sacred weapon—would be Leo's strongest hidden trump card.
For his opponents, Asuna's threat would be no lower than the two Longinus wielders, Leo and Yukino.
However…
"I really need to think about how to train you."
Leo's sudden comment made both Yukino and Asuna blink in surprise.
"Is something wrong?"
Yukino asked on Asuna's behalf.
"A small but annoying problem," Leo admitted. "The Eligos House is an extremely traditional devil family. Our bloodline always specialized in demonic power. Almost no one developed close-combat skills."
"You and I are both traditional devils—we rely on demonic power. So the family library has everything we need. Knowledge on magic. Magic theory. Demonic power control."
"Even regarding Sacred Gears, there are records. Our ancestors encountered many Sacred Gear users."
"But swordsmanship? Sword arts?" Leo sighed. "The family library has almost nothing."
In other words:
Asuna could learn to use demonic power here.
She could learn to use her Sacred Gear here.
But her weapon was the sword. And beyond Sacred Gear activation, real swordsmanship required training the library couldn't provide.
The library could teach her how to create different Holy Swords.
But not how to swing one.
Not how to fight with finesse.
Not how to hold her ground in close combat.
And neither Leo nor Yukino could help much.
Yukino at least practiced some aikido.
Leo had basically no close-combat ability at all.
His performance against Sharon had been thanks to demonic power—not actual martial skill. The Eligos family's demonic power was excellent for detection; he had read all of Sharon's movements and dodged by predicting them.
But that was temporary. If Sharon had attacked unpredictably, his body wouldn't have been able to react.
That was why, eventually, Leo had to switch to magic—using barriers and raw demonic power bombardment to win.
So yes—Leo was terrible at close combat, devil physique or not.
"Learning swordsmanship shouldn't be that hard, right?"
Yukino frowned, already considering tapping into the Yukinoshita family's connections to find a swordsman to train Asuna.
"Human swordsmanship isn't useless," Leo admitted. "But human techniques aren't always suitable for devils." He saw her intention and continued, "We should ask for outside help. There's no need to force ourselves to solve everything internally."
"Outside help?" Yukino realized something. "Sona-senpai?"
"Mm." Leo nodded. "The Sitri House has always supported me. Their bloodline never died out. They should be able to help."
The Eligos House had died off before the invention of Evil Pieces—there had never been a King in their lineage, so they never needed to prepare for training servants.
But the Sitri House was different. Since the invention of Evil Pieces, they had produced many Kings. Their teams included Rook pieces, Knight pieces, and Pawn pieces—all types requiring close-combat skills. They must have collected extensive knowledge.
And the high-ranking devils of the Underworld were surely paying close attention to Leo now—after Sona Sitri's last report.
If he requested support, he would almost certainly get it.
Close-combat knowledge was not a family secret like unique demonic power techniques. There was no reason to hoard it.
Devils valued demonic power above all else. Most considered physical combat crude—something only uncultured devils relied on. "Proper" devils fought with magic.
"So, no point waiting. I'll contact Sona now." Leo rose to his feet. "Yukino, take Asuna around the estate for a bit."
Yukino nodded and accepted the task.
====
You can read up to chapter 60 on patreon.com/NiaXD.