"It's you…?!"
The moment the raging cold wind stopped and the temperature around them no longer felt lethal, Yukinoshita Haruno spun around—and her expression froze.
Yukinoshita's mother also recognized the newcomer.
After all, this was the devil her eldest daughter had reported—the one who had taken her youngest daughter as a servant. There was no way she wouldn't investigate him.
Haruno had even prepared a full dossier on him beforehand and handed it to her mother, complete with Leo's ID-style photo.
"Long time no see, senpai."
Leo greeted Haruno like he had just happened to pass by, unfazed by the apocalyptic battlefield behind them.
He nodded at her mother as well.
"You must be Yukino's mother, right? I've heard a lot about you, ma'am."
Despite facing an adult with overwhelming presence and far higher social status than any high schooler, Leo showed not the slightest discomfort. If anything, he was relaxed—almost casual.
Under normal circumstances, Yukinoshita's mother would have been surprised by a teenager showing such ease in front of her. But after learning his true identity, nothing he did seemed strange anymore.
Sure, he looked like an ordinary boy.
But he was a devil.
And in front of a devil, what intimidation could an ordinary human like her possibly have?
"…You're Mr. Leo Eligos, correct?"
She took a deep breath, forced her emotions down, and bowed deeply.
"It's our first meeting. There's a lot I want to say, but before anything else—please stop those two. They need to stop immediately."
Neither she nor Haruno could intervene in this fight. Only Leo—Yukino's nominal master and a devil of noble status under the Church's surveillance—had the power to stop them.
"Don't worry." Leo clearly saw their anxiety and fear. He smiled lightly. "Judging from the situation, neither of them can overpower the other yet. Watching for a bit won't hurt."
To be honest, he was quite interested.
He had wanted to test Yukino's strength, but that Stray Devil from last time had been too weak—it couldn't even force out her Sacred Gear. It was useless as a benchmark.
He'd been planning to find her a stronger opponent. He just hadn't gotten around to it.
Now, Sharon had jumped out herself to target his servant. Letting her serve as the test wasn't a bad idea at all.
After clashing with that woman for years, Leo understood better than anyone how terrifyingly strong she was for an exorcist. She was far from ordinary. Using her to gauge Yukino's combat level was actually perfect.
So Leo raised a demonic power barrier around the two women and began watching the battle with interest.
"Is Yukino really going to be okay?" Haruno had nothing of Leo's calm. Her usual keen insight was gone, replaced by panic. "The opponent is an exorcist from the Church."
Haruno didn't understand supernatural power levels and couldn't judge who was stronger. But by common logic, exorcists from the Church were professionals who specialized in hunting devils. Could a devil like Yukino really come out on top?
"It's fine." Leo waved a hand, unconcerned. "If Yukino were just a normal devil, it would definitely be dangerous. But she's not."
A Longinus was a power strong enough to break the balance of the world. With that kind of force, fighting above one's rank was easy.
And judging by Yukino's current display, Leo could confidently say that even a High-Class Devil wouldn't dare take her head-on right now.
The endless avalanches of ice she was calling down were simply overwhelming. No ordinary devil could produce destruction of this magnitude.
So while he couldn't yet determine Yukino's overall combat rank, that freezing aura alone was already powerful enough to threaten a High-Class Devil.
Under that terrifying force, Sharon could only evade—darting between falling ice mountains, her small figure overshadowed by the catastrophic attacks. Anyone watching her would clench their fists in nervous sweat.
Yet despite the danger, Sharon's face remained focused—serious, but calm.
Every exorcist learned the same rule before ever stepping into battle:
Never fight a devil through brute force.
Devils had physical abilities far beyond humans—but that wasn't the real problem. What humans could never match was demonic power.
A Mid-Class Devil's magic attack could rival bombs or artillery. A High-Class Devil could casually wipe out a mountain. If they went all out, destroying an entire city block in seconds wasn't impossible.
Humans simply could not face that directly.
Unless they possessed a Sacred Gear created by God or a supernatural ability surpassing human limits, they would be crushed instantly.
As someone capable of matching a High-Class Devil, Sharon had long mastered fighting strategies—avoid strengths, exploit weaknesses, strike from the shadows.
So she remained calm, weaving through danger while searching for a counterattack opportunity.
She was waiting.
Waiting for Yukino to run out of stamina.
A Longinus was powerful, but its consumption was enormous. Even though Yukino had respectable demonic power for a Mid-Class Devil, maintaining High-Class Devil-level output continuously—how long could she last?
A veteran devil would never waste power so recklessly. But Yukino was a newborn devil barely one month old. Sharon had long identified her weakness: lack of combat experience.
She just had to wait for Yukino to collapse.
"BOOM!"
The world continued to shake. The ice storm ravaged the ground, making everyone feel as if they had been thrown into an arctic wasteland.
Yukino noticed Sharon's persistence and lack of serious injury. She switched tactics, no longer forming ice mountains. Instead, the Ice Princess unleashed a blizzard, sweeping across the frozen battlefield to trap Sharon.
But Sharon wasn't a pushover—she immediately recognized Yukino's intention. She changed her own strategy, keeping distance while shooting Light Bullets upward, forcing Yukino to slow her assault and giving herself room to dodge the massive AOE.
The two entered a grueling stalemate.
"Haa… haa…"
Eventually—Yukino began to pant.
Her first sign of exhaustion.
"Not good!"
Realization struck her at the same time. Her expression tightened.
She had forgotten—endurance had always been her weakness. Even when she was human and excelled in sports, her stamina always held her back, limiting her performance to short bursts.
Now as a devil, that flaw still existed.
No—compared to the massive output required by her Longinus, her Mid-Class Devil-level demonic power was guaranteed to burn out first. Running out of stamina was inevitable.
And that inevitable weakness was exactly the opportunity Sharon had been waiting for.
"Now!"
Sharon didn't hesitate. She flipped her luminous blades and stabbed them into the ground.
"Buzz—!"
A magic circle formed from pure light appeared beneath her feet.
"What?!"
Yukino's face paled.
In an instant, she understood.
Sharon hadn't been merely dodging. She had been setting this up—secretly inscribing a Magic Formula of exorcism across the frozen battlefield.
"God, Please Punish The Sinner—"
Sharon activated the spell, and dense luminous power overflowed from the magic circle.
"BOOM!"
In the next moment, a brilliant pillar of light shot skyward.
Yukino beat her wings, trying to evade—but the range was too wide, the activation too fast. There was no escape.
The pillar reached toward the sky, swallowing Yukino whole.
"...!"
She felt death.
For the first time since her reincarnation a month ago, she felt the cold grip of death closing in.
Just as she instinctively squeezed her eyes shut—
A figure appeared in front of her.
"BOOM!"
The deafening roar of the light pillar continued to shake the sky.