"Bang!"
With a sound like shattering glass, the crowd-dispersing barrier set up around them was lifted.
As the barrier's creator, as soon as Valden died, the barrier immediately lost its effect and naturally dissolved at once.
Leon slowly lowered his hand, which he had raised sometime during the fight, and the rotating magic circle on it vanished.
As stated before, the gap between an Upper-Class Devil and a Low-Class Devil is like that between an elephant and an ant. Even though Leon had only recently been promoted to an Upper-Class Devil, dealing with a Two-Winged Fallen Angel, who was on the same level as a Low-Class Devil, was a matter of moments.
The opponent was not someone whose rank lagged behind their strength's progress, like Leon; their strength perfectly matched their rank.
Therefore, Leon admired the opponent.
"With this level of strength, where did he get the audacity to call people 'vile' and look down on them?"
It could only be said that in any faction, there would be such utterly foolish morons.
Leon quickly cast the fool out of his mind and instead crouched down in front of Yukinoshita Yukino.
Pressing his finger onto Yukinoshita Yukino's pale neck, Leon confirmed after a moment.
Yukinoshita Yukino had stopped breathing and her heart had stopped beating.
She was dead.
Leon's expression didn't change at all.
"I had planned to wait a bit longer, but since things have turned out like this, you really have no other choice, Yukinoshita..."
After murmuring this, Leon took out a transparent chess piece, blood-red in color.
At this moment, the piece was glowing.
A Devil Piece (Evil Piece) can only be possessed by an Upper-Class Devil who has been bestowed a rank and title. It is an item capable of reincarnating life from other races into Devils, taking them as servants (Peerage Members).
By using it, one can form a master-servant contract and reincarnate the other party as a Devil.
In her current state of death, only by accepting the reincarnation ritual and completely abandoning her identity as a human could Yukinoshita Yukino continue to live.
"Well then, let's begin."
Leon placed the blood-red Queen piece on Yukinoshita Yukino's chest and began to chant the spell.
"I command in the name of Leon Eligos—"
"You—Yukinoshita Yukino, your soul returns to this place again to become my servant—"
"Be happy to be reborn as a Devil—"
When the solemn incantation ended, the crimson piece on Yukinoshita Yukino's chest immediately emitted a strong light. Then, as if shattering, it turned into light particles and melted into the girl's body.
The reincarnation ritual officially began. The blood that had spread into a pool beneath Yukinoshita Yukino also flowed back into her body, as if time were reversing.
This was the process for Devils to recruit their peerage members.
For others, the matter would generally be concluded here.
However, the moment after Yukinoshita Yukino was recruited into Leon's peerage, an astonishing change also began to occur on Leon's body.
"Thump, thump—"
As if a power generated out of thin air had suddenly surged into his body, Leon felt a strong heartbeat.
His magic power was burning.
His blood was boiling.
His strength was increasing at a visible speed, causing his eyes to become bright and radiant.
Then, as if an epiphany, Leon received a piece of information.
[Trait: Peerage Assimilation, is taking effect...]
—"Trait."
In the world of Devils, this term usually refers to two types of existence.
The first refers to the different features possessed by the different Devil Pieces. The target granted a Devil Piece will gain the special ability inherent to that piece upon reincarnation as a Devil, which can be called a Peerage Trait.
The second refers to special powers passed down through generations only within pure-blooded Upper-Class Devil families. It is an ability that only members of that family can awaken and master.
The Seventy-Two Pillars of Devil families each possess their own unique special abilities, and these special abilities are the Family Traits associated with that bloodline.
For example, the Bael family, ranked first among the Seventy-Two Pillars, has a chance for its members to awaken a Trait called "Destruction," allowing them to unleash magic power imbued with the attribute of destruction, with astonishing destructive force.
Sona Sitri has a childhood friend, Rias Gremory, the young princess of the Gremory family, whose mother hails from the Bael family. She was also lucky enough to awaken the "Destruction" Trait, possessing the Magic of Destruction, making her strength paramount even among Upper-Class Devils, far stronger than both Leon and Sona, who are also Upper-Class Devils.
As a member of the Seventy-Two Pillars of Devil families, the Eligos family naturally possesses its own unique Family Trait.
According to ancient texts, the first Eligos possessed the special ability to sense hidden things and influence the will of warriors, thus being dubbed the War Manipulator, able to affect battlefield situations and stimulate the decision-making will of commanders.
The Eligos family's Family Trait is related to this. Even those who fail to awaken the Trait will possess talents in the area of sensing.
Leon is the same. Other Devils find it difficult to execute magic imbued with sensing effects, but it is easy for him.
And when he was recently promoted to an Upper-Class Devil and received the Devil Pieces, his Family Trait suddenly and unexpectedly awakened.
Furthermore, perhaps because his soul originated from another world, his Family Trait underwent a mysterious mutation.
"Peerage Assimilation" is the Trait Leon awakened.
As the name implies, this is a Trait, similar to the Devil Pieces, that can be used to recruit peerage members.
The Eligos family's original Trait was the ability to influence a warrior's will, but in Leon's case, this Trait mutated into the ability to conquer a warrior's soul, and to digitize that information, allowing him to understand and use it through sheer will.
To use this Trait, one must first connect to a contract and use that contract to achieve the goal of recruiting peerage members.
Therefore, when Leon received the Devil Pieces, this Trait awakened and automatically made the connection.
In this situation, when Leon uses the Devil Pieces to recruit a peerage member, his own "Peerage Assimilation" Trait will also take effect.
Once the "Peerage Assimilation" Trait takes effect, Leon will receive a certain degree of feedback, based on the strength and potential of the recruited peerage member, thereby enhancing his own strength.
Now, Leon had recruited his first peerage member and successfully triggered the "Peerage Assimilation" Trait, receiving a power feedback.
[Gained basic feedback—Magic Power (Large Quantity).]
[Gained advanced feedback—Rank (Six Wings).]
[Gained extra feedback—Sacred Gear (Awakened).]
The change was manifested in the next moment.
As his internal magic power violently surged, three pairs of wings unfolded behind Leon.
His rank as a Devil finally increased, no longer the Two Wings corresponding to a Low-Class Devil, but the Six Wings that fully matched his own strength.
At the same time, Leon's body involuntarily lifted into the air, and various supernatural phenomena began to appear around him.
Flames, ice and snow, storms, floods, flying sand, and rolling stones... all sorts of nature-related powers suddenly manifested on his body, even affecting the atmosphere and the weather, causing the sky to rumble and thick dark clouds to gather.
"This is...?!"
Leon, who had initially been happy about the increase in his magic power and rank, felt his body shake upon seeing this phenomenon.
He understood this phenomenon and what was happening to him.
"A Sacred Gear is... actually lodged within my body?"
This was something Leon found utterly unexpected.
Sacred Gear: Created by the God of the Bible, it is an off-spec power lodged within specific humans. It is a special ability that can turn decay into magic, allowing ordinary humans to rival Devils, Angels, and Fallen Angels.
Leon had never expected that such a thing would be lodged within him, and if he wasn't mistaken, it was an extremely powerful Sacred Gear.
It was a Sacred Gear of the highest rank, one of the thirteen legendary Longinus Sacred Gears, which are believed to be capable of destroying Gods and Demon Lords.
"The Sacred Gear capable of manipulating the weather and dominating any natural attribute, ranked second among the Longinus Sacred Gears—'Zenith Tempest'!"
It was one of the High-Tier Longinus, of which there are only four, capable of completely devastating a country and causing immense impact on the world, depending on how it's used...
"I... am actually the wielder of Zenith Tempest?"
Leon felt unbelievable.
Zenith Tempest... wasn't this the Sacred Gear belonging to the Church's strongest exorcist in the original work, Dulio Gesualdo?
How did it end up in his body?
"Wait, I haven't heard of any person named Dulio Gesualdo existing in this current lifetime!"
He had had quite a bit of contact with the Church. If there was a strongest exorcist who could be called the Church's ace, it would be impossible for him not to have heard the person's name.
So...
"Does Dulio Gesualdo simply not exist in this current timeline?"
Leon was filled with mixed emotions.
"Or, do I actually have some connection to Dulio Gesualdo?"
But he hadn't heard of the original Dulio Gesualdo having any connection to the Devil faction...
Thinking of this, Leon couldn't help but look at Yukinoshita Yukino, who had recovered her breathing and heartbeat.
If he thought about it carefully, this world was already different from the original work.
Someone who shouldn't have appeared in this world had appeared here, and the Sacred Gear lodged within him, if his guess was correct, should have originally been someone else's possession.
"Then there's no need to overthink it."
Leon calmed down and retracted his magic power and wings, causing the surrounding supernatural phenomena of earth, water, wind, and fire to quietly vanish.
The rumbling sky also settled down, allowing the dark clouds to dissipate.
When the flow of people reappeared near the station, Leon and Yukinoshita Yukino were no longer there.
It was as if they had never appeared at all.