In the vast underground training room, mighty magic power steamed amidst the rumbling and crashing, activating the barrier set up in the arena, causing a transparent shield to rise.
With a roar, the space of the training room was sometimes bombarded by countless magical projectiles, sometimes crisscrossed by magical light beams, sometimes saw irregular lumps of magic power violently running out of control, and sometimes witnessed a dense rain of arrows formed by magic flying around, a truly dazzling array of moves.
Leon concentrated on controlling his magic power, imagining various destructive scenarios in his mind, transforming the power into cannonballs, arrows, light beams, and huge lumps, releasing them one by one.
The power of a High-Class Devil is extremely astonishing. A casual magic attack can destroy high-rise buildings and leave craters in the ground that look like meteor impacts. A full-power strike can even wipe out an entire hilltop. Few modern weapons can compare to this destructive force. Even if it cannot yet rival a nuclear weapon, it belongs to the first echelon of destructive power below nuclear weapons.
If the training ground wasn't surrounded by a very powerful barrier and every brick and tile wasn't made of special, exceptionally durable materials, Leon's reckless destruction would likely turn the entire estate into scorched earth in less than ten seconds.
However, despite such horrifying destructive power, Leon appeared somewhat dissatisfied.
"After all, I've only just reached the level of a High-Class Devil. The promotion to the next rank seems incredibly distant."
Feeling the drastic consumption of the magic power within him, Leon sighed softly.
The current ranks of Devils are divided into five: Low-Class Devil, Mid-Class Devil, High-Class Devil, Ultimate-Class Devil, and Devil King.
Low-Class Devils typically have two wings, corresponding to Angels and Fallen Angels of the same two-wing rank.
Mid-Class Devils typically have four wings, corresponding to Angels and Fallen Angels of the same four-wing rank.
Following this pattern, High-Class Devils have six wings, Ultimate-Class Devils have eight and ten wings, and Devil Kings occupy the highest rank with twelve wings. The situation is the same for Angels and Fallen Angels.
Generally speaking, the more wings one possesses, the higher their rank, and the stronger their power, but this is not absolute.
For example, Leon currently only has two wings, but his strength has reached the High-Class Devil level, making his power far exceed his rank. This is a common problem for Devils whose progress speed is too fast.
The rapid speed of power growth leads to the Devil's rank failing to keep up. This is a prevalent phenomenon among the new generation of Devils; it's not just Leon—Sona is the same.
Yet, in reality, Leon's growth speed isn't necessarily fast.
Thanks to the half pure-blood Devil lineage within him, Leon was born with magic power far surpassing that of a Low-Class Devil. When he officially began training at the age of three, he was already considered an outstanding Mid-Class Devil, but it still took him a full fifteen years to be promoted to a High-Class Devil. One can imagine the pace of this progress.
Sona, however, had comforted him about this...
"Devils possess extremely long lifespans. Even the lowest-ranked Devils can survive for thousands, or even tens of thousands of years, yet the majority of Devils in the Underworld never manage to become High-Class Devils before they die. Individuals like you and me, who are born with powerful magic due to our pure-blood Devil origins and only need a decade or so to become High-Class Devils, are already subjects of envy for many."
Indeed, compared to the Devil's lifespan of tens of thousands of years, a decade or so is brief enough to be considered mere infancy.
Reaching the High-Class Devil rank at this age is essentially a privilege of pure-blood Devils. Most mixed-blood, hybrid-blood, or Devils reincarnated from other species rarely reach this realm in their entire lives, showing that Leon is quite fortunate.
But he was simply not satisfied.
He knew how terrifying the top powerhouses of this world were and understood the level of strength required to resolve the crises that would appear in the future.
High-Class Devil: this was merely the most basic ticket of admission for the series of events that would unfold in the future, and sometimes didn't even meet the requirement for admission.
In the eyes of those truly powerful beings, the so-called High-Class Devil was actually no different from an ant.
For instance, an eight-winged Ultimate-Class Devil only needs one hand to eliminate a High-Class Devil, let alone those at the Devil King level and above the Devil King level.
The Devil ranks are distinct and strict, with a vast gap between each level.
Take one of the future Two Heavenly Dragons, the one known as the Red Dragon Emperor, for example: when he was still a Low-Class Devil, using the Red Dragon Emperor's power allowed him to double his strength every ten seconds. After accumulating this doubled power for two minutes, his strength reached 8,190 times its original. Yet, this nearly ten-thousand-fold amplification only allowed him to unleash an attack comparable to the High-Class Devil level. This sufficiently proves that the power disparity between a Low-Class Devil and a High-Class Devil is like an ant compared to an elephant—a chasm spanning two ranks.
By the same logic, an eight-winged Ultimate-Class Devil, even a newly promoted one, is at least a hundred times stronger than the newly promoted High-Class Devil, Leon. If the opponent has ten wings, that's a difference of two ranks, also a chasm.
At Leon's current pace, reaching the Ultimate-Class Devil level might not happen even if he spends hundreds or thousands of years.
But in the next few years, the entire inner world will face turmoil, where even the power of the Ultimate-Class Devil level might be insufficient for entry. How could Leon be satisfied with his current performance?
"Phew..."
Gathering the utterly depleted magic power back into his body, Leon exhaled and muttered to himself.
"There's no way. Continuing to get stronger in the old way absolutely won't work."
Indeed, he had to rely on the Evil Pieces, by taking highly potential subordinates, to achieve the goal of rapidly increasing his strength.
At least, this was true for Leon.
"Let's put the training aside for now."
Leon retracted his Devil wings, landed on the ground, turned, and walked away.
The most important thing right now was still that cold-faced junior schoolmate.
...
Sobu High School, Class 3-C.
Just before the class bell rang, Leon strolled into the classroom, greeted by many people.
"Good afternoon, Leon."
"Good afternoon, Eligos."
"Good afternoon, Eligos-kun."
The girls, who were chatting in small groups, instantly brightened up when they saw Leon appear, eagerly greeting him with great enthusiasm.
"Good afternoon, everyone~~~"
Leon responded with a cheerful smile. His brilliant smile made many girls blush with excitement, but it also caused the boys present to grumble internally.
"He's a grown man, why does he have such a good-looking smile?"
That overly sunny smile made the faint, hidden aura of pheromones around Leon uncontrollably emanate. Not only the girls but even the boys couldn't handle it, feeling as if their own dark thoughts were being exposed, leaving many feeling complicated.
Unfortunately, they didn't know that such a sunny person, who made others feel ashamed of themselves, was actually the ugly and dark Devil in the eyes of countless people.
But even as a Devil, Leon in this life was the descendant of a pure-blood Devil noble family. Although the Eligos family was nearly extinct, that long-inherited nobility still existed within Leon, making his appearance in this life impeccable.
Of course, there were also people who were completely unaffected by Leon's charm.
That was the girl sitting by the window corner, reading a book as if no one else was around.
The girl possessed beauty no less than Yukinoshita Yukino, with long, straight black hair and a white hairband. Her figure was very tall and voluptuous, with ample curves, yet her every movement was remarkably demure. She was a beautiful girl who could make the boys present unconsciously turn their admiring gazes towards her even when she was just sitting quietly.
Looking at this beautiful girl whose looks and temperament were completely on par with Yukinoshita Yukino, a smile appeared in Leon's eyes. He actually walked over and sat down beside her.
"Good afternoon, still full of literary flair today, Kasumigaoka Utaha-san."
Leon cheerfully greeted her.
"Good afternoon, and you're still that narcissistic self, with charm nowhere to be contained, Leon Eligos-kun."
Kasumigaoka Utaha opened her pair of dark red eyes, not even glancing at Leon, and immediately spoke such sharp words that were completely inconsistent with her demure demeanor and bore a remarkable similarity to those of Yukinoshita Yukino.