The Cerberus King.
As the name implied, it was the ruler of the Cerberus clan, the King of the Hellhound.
Legend said it dwelled deep within the lowest depths of hell, and unless the gate to the Underworld was destroyed, it would never appear lightly.
Yet now, in a town where Cerberus should never exist, the human world no less, the King of the Hellhound had appeared without a sound.
And it hadn't come alone.
"Grrrr!"
A distant, ancient roar echoed as if rising from beneath the earth itself, sending ripples through the air.
"Graaah!"
"Graaahhh!"
One Cerberus after another answered their king's call, their roars overlapping as Kuoh Town seemed to transform into a city of hell, an icy, ominous aura spreading out of nowhere.
At this moment, Kuoh Town wasn't empty.
On the contrary, people were going about their daily lives as usual, completely unaware of anything amiss. They had no idea that a ticking nuclear bomb lay beneath their feet, or that their town had already become a battlefield.
The distant roars reached their ears, making them look toward the source in confusion. Conversations sparked up everywhere, the streets lively as ever.
And in the midst of all that...
The battle between Leo's servants and the Cerberus clan erupted without warning.
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom boom boom!"
On the ground, Cerberus after Cerberus spat out blazing fireballs, sending them soaring into the sky before detonating in front of Leo and the others.
Explosions and waves of flame blossomed endlessly beneath the night sky, more dazzling than fireworks, and countless times more deadly. The temperature spiked rapidly.
An ambush.
"Watch out!"
Leo's servants reacted instantly, each using their own means to withstand the sudden assault.
Yukino formed a thick wall of ice, stopping the incoming fireballs head-on.
Asuna created two water-attribute Holy Swords, crossing them in front of her as torrents of water washed away the oncoming flames and shockwaves.
A barrier had already unfolded around Utaha. Fireballs slammed into it, explosions blooming one after another, yet none could breach the transparent wall or reach the girl inside.
Mahiru released purple flames shaped like a cross, the violet fire clashing violently with the hellfire spewed by the Cerberus.
As for Ravel, Ram, and Rem...
One didn't bother defending at all, letting fireballs explode directly against her body.
Another whipped up raging air currents that blew every fireball away.
The last one wielded a morningstar, dodging swiftly and knocking incoming fireballs aside, flinging them behind her as she moved.
Leo kept things simple. Before the fireballs could reach him, he fired off bursts of demonic power, blasting them apart midair.
His performance wasn't the flashiest, nor the most eye-catching.
Yet on the ground, the only Cerberus that hadn't joined the fireball barrage, the Cerberus King, had locked onto him.
As if sensing that Leo was the most dangerous opponent.
Six eyes across three heads glowed with icy blood-red light.
Leo felt the savage hostility fix on him. He knew the Cerberus King had chosen him as its target.
He didn't care.
No time to waste here.
"Leave this place to you," Leo said quickly to his servants. "I..."
Before he could finish, danger screamed through his instincts.
Without hesitation, he snapped open the five pairs of devil wings on his back and vanished in a blur.
"Whoosh!"
At the same instant, a massive black shadow surged up from below at terrifying speed. Three jaws snapped open, sharp fangs gleaming coldly as they bit down on the spot where Leo had been a second earlier.
"GROOOOOWL!!!"
The Cerberus King appeared in midair, wings spread wide from its back, letting out a terrifying roar.
The soundwave crashed outward like a gale, slamming into Leo as he retreated at high speed. His clothes whipped violently, and his brow furrowed.
"Looks like shaking this beast won't be easy."
As that thought crossed his mind, the Cerberus King turned into a massive blur once more, charging straight at him.
"President!"
"Leo-sama!"
"Master!"
The servants cried out, trying to rush to his aid, only to be intercepted by the Cerberus pack on the ground.
Unlike their king, they couldn't fly. Instead, they planted themselves like living turrets, endlessly spewing fireballs.
The fireballs rose like meteors, blanketing the sky as they rained down on the girls, forcing them to halt.
"Let's deal with these Cerberus first! Leo-sama should be fine on his own!"
Ravel spoke calmly despite the chaos. Relying on her Immortal Body, she didn't dodge at all, letting fireballs bombard her as flames engulfed her form. Fiery wings spread from her back as she observed the battlefield and made her call.
The girls exchanged glances, then all nodded.
They accepted Ravel's plan and turned their focus to the Cerberus pack.
"Asuna-san and Mahiru-san will be the main attackers. Utaha-san, use your barrier to block the fireballs. Yukino-san, freeze the area and limit their movement. Ram-san and Rem-san, push them in from the edges. Don't let them escape!"
Ravel's voice still carried a hint of youth, yet it was frighteningly composed. In that moment, she felt less like a noble young lady and more like a commanding tyrant.
The strategy was simple, clear, and effective. Every servant nodded in agreement.
Leo had already told them: if he wasn't present, Ravel was to take command.
With a tactician nearly on par with Sona Sitri under him, not using her would've been foolish. Even if Ravel's style leaned toward dominance, Leo didn't mind letting her show her worth, as long as she didn't go too far.
So the girls followed her orders.
Even someone as proud as Yukino.
Because she couldn't find a single flaw in Ravel's plan.
Cerberus were magical beasts. Like devils, they were restrained by Holy Swords and Holy Relics.
That made Asuna and Mahiru the perfect main attackers.
The overwhelming fireball assault could be blocked by Utaha's barriers.
Yukino's freezing aura might not be as lethal as a Holy Sword or Holy Relic, but for fire-based hellhounds, it was something they instinctively feared. More than enough to restrict their movements.
With Ram and Rem harassing from the sides, it was the optimal formation.
And so, the girls launched their counterattack.
Asuna gripped a water-attribute Holy Sword in each hand, diving down alongside Mahiru, whose hands burned with cross-shaped purple flames, closing the distance to the Cerberus pack.
"Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom!"
Sensing the surge of Holy Power, the Cerberus grew restless, firing off more fireballs at the two girls.
A barrier snapped open in front of them, stopping every blast. The explosions flared harmlessly ahead, unable to slow their advance.
"Come forth, Ice Princess!"
Yukino summoned the humanoid ice princess. Together, they unleashed freezing winds strong enough to form an ice storm, frost spreading rapidly across the ground.
Ice and frost crept over the Cerberus, the cold clearly unbearable for them. They shook violently, roaring in fury.
Then came annihilation.
"First one down!"
Asuna activated the trait of the Knight piece, bursting forward at godlike speed. She flashed in front of a Cerberus, her Holy Sword cutting down like a ripple of water.
Slash!
The sound was clean and final.
The Cerberus's thick fur offered no resistance at all. Like snow touching molten iron, it parted instantly.
All three heads were severed at once.
The beast didn't even have time to scream. Its heads turned to dust the moment they were cut, smoke rising from the necks as even the blood vanished on contact.
That was the power of a Holy Sword.
Devil or magical beast, any creature of demonic nature lost whatever part touched it.
A fatal blow, without exception.
Moments later, the Cerberus's body also crumbled into dust, utterly erased.
"Boom!"
At the same time, Mahiru descended from above, slamming the purple cross of flames directly into another Cerberus.
The beast let out a tortured howl as it was reduced to nothing.
No, burning was just the surface effect.
In truth, the Holy Power within the purple flames purified the Cerberus completely, erasing it even faster than the one Asuna had beheaded.
As one of the Three Holy Relics, the Holy Cross far surpassed even a Holy Sword. Such power was only natural.
"Graaah!"
"Graaahhh!"
The remaining Cerberus finally realized the danger posed by Asuna and Mahiru.
Some were driven mad with ferocity and lunged at them.
Others panicked, retreating in an attempt to flee the battlefield.
It was pointless.
Those that charged were slowed by Yukino's freezing aura, struck down mid-attack, cleaved apart by Holy Swords or consumed by purple flames.
Any that reached the girls were stopped cold by Utaha's barriers, unable to land so much as a scratch.
Those that tried to escape were smashed back by Ram and Rem. Some blown away by raging storms, others forced back by showers of ice spikes.
Any stragglers were blasted away by Ravel's phoenix flames, hurled straight back into the fray.
No one could create distance from Asuna and Mahiru.
Piece by piece, the Cerberus pack was driven into retreat, their numbers steadily dwindling.
Anyone witnessing this would have been shocked.
Cerberus weren't ordinary magical beasts.
As guardians of the Underworld's gate, any Cerberus beyond its juvenile stage possessed power rivaling a High-Class Devil, sometimes even more.
By raw strength alone, only Yukino and Ram truly surpassed a single Cerberus. The others weren't much stronger individually, especially Rem, who couldn't match even one Cerberus without entering her berserk state.
Yet under precise tactics, the girls forced back a numerically superior Cerberus pack.
If word of this reached the Underworld, their evaluation among the devil elite would rise significantly.
"Looks like I don't need to worry over there."
Leo spared a glance at his servants' battle and relaxed.
"GROOOOWL!!!"
The massive form of the Cerberus King closed in again, violent winds reaching Leo first and whipping his hair into chaos.
"Slash!" "Slash!" "Slash!"
Its forelimbs transformed into razor-sharp claw blades, carving glowing arcs through the air as it slashed repeatedly at Leo.
Leo moved like the wind. Using Magic Detection, he read every motion, dodging each claw strike and pulling away to widen the gap.
"Grrr!"
Frustrated, the Cerberus King opened all three mouths at once.
The center head spat out a fireball far larger than any before, large enough to engulf an entire hill.
The left head unleashed toxic gas, the air hissing and corroding wherever it passed.
The right head roared, releasing a violent storm that swallowed both fire and poison, merging them into a colossal flaming, poisonous tornado.
The inferno twisted toward Leo like a world-ending cyclone, pain prickling across his skin before it even touched him.
Just looking at it told him how deadly it was.
Demonic flames burned in Leo's eyes.
"I can't fall behind either."
Purple demonic energy surged into his body, awakening the Sacred Gear slumbering within.
White pulses of power rippled outward, making the sky thunder.
"Come on!"
White flames engulfed Leo as he charged straight into the flaming poison tornado.
"BOOOOM!!!"
Moments later, a deafening explosion shook Kuoh Town. Its echo lingered, refusing to fade.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
You can read up to chapter 208 on patreon.com/NiaXD.