There was no denying it—Leo's three servants were each more impressive than the last.
Yukino hardly needed explanation. She'd awakened demonic power on par with a pureblood devil the moment she reincarnated, and she'd been diligently training ever since. Even without using her Sacred Gear, she could fight at a remarkable level. And once she did use it, she could trade blows with a High-Class Devil. Her potential was downright terrifying.
Asuna didn't have Yukino's overwhelming talent for demonic power, but her swordsmanship had been personally acknowledged by Miyamoto Musashi, a servant of a Maou. In barely a month, she'd gone from someone who didn't even know how to hold a sword to a girl who could charge into a swarm of monsters and fight. Her technique was still rough in places, but she already qualified as a genuine swordswoman. It was hard to believe she'd been an absolute beginner not long ago.
And as for Utaha—she hadn't been part of Leo's peerage for long, yet he'd already noticed her strengths.
She didn't have Yukino's monstrous talent, nor Asuna's brilliance with a blade. But she was unusually gifted at using her Sacred Gear.
Once she learned she had a Sacred Gear slumbering inside her, Utaha's curiosity had exploded. After resolving worries like losing control, becoming Leo's servant, and stabilizing her condition, the first thing she studied wasn't her new devil powers.
It was her Sacred Gear—Create World.
And in less than two days, she'd become competent in using it. The speed stunned even Leo.
Earlier, when the ghouls attacked, Utaha had been the first to react. Even in panic, she'd instinctively created a barrier—fast and clean, nothing like someone who'd just awakened a Sacred Gear. She looked like someone who'd trained in barrier techniques for years.
Now, as the battle progressed, she was growing even more proficient. She'd started using Create World to set up the battlefield itself.
At first, she'd simply used barriers to block the ghouls or forcibly pull them inside to bombard them with conjured attacks. But now she was creating multiple barriers at once, pulling in separate batches of ghouls, isolating and spreading them out to ease the pressure on Asuna at the front.
She created obstacles to hinder the ghouls' movement. When Yukino unleashed cold air, Utaha used her barriers to contain the frost, compressing it into a smaller zone so the freezing effect was maximized.
Seeing all this, Leo couldn't help feeling delighted.
"Utaha… so she's a genius with Sacred Gears too. I really didn't expect that."
Realizing this, Leo understood something else—her fear of losing control, of being labeled dangerous and hunted down by various factions, had been completely unnecessary.
Judging from her talent, Leo suspected that even without reincarnating as a devil—even if she had stayed an ordinary human—she would eventually have awakened her Sacred Gear on her own.
And with proper guidance, she would be fully capable of controlling it purely as a human. She never needed to fear losing control.
In fact, for Utaha, reincarnating as a devil might have been entirely unnecessary. Even without it, she could still have stepped into the supernatural world on her own power.
"Being able to take her under my wing before she fully awakened… I really am lucky, huh?"
The thought warmed Leo's mood.
It also strengthened his belief that any girl who could become the heroine of her own story must have some kind of hidden potential.
That reminded him of Mahiru, whom he'd temporarily put aside.
Did she also have some unseen talent he had underestimated?
She was technically a heroine. It'd be strange if her potential as a servant was truly that low.
While he pondered this, the three girls continued their brutal suppression of the ghoul pack.
"Shhk!"
Minutes later, Asuna delivered the finishing blow—her rapier flashing as she severed the last ghoul cleanly at the waist. It screamed, burned to ash, and vanished. The slaughter finally came to an end.
"I-It's… over?"
Utaha still looked spaced out, unaware of how impressive she'd been. Several more barriers materialized around her almost reflexively.
"It looks like the remaining ghouls ran away."
Yukino used demonic power to sense the surroundings. The ground before her was covered in the ice sculptures she'd created.
"They're definitely gone." Leo scanned the area and nodded. "No monsters nearby. You can relax for now."
The girls all exhaled in relief, their shoulders slumping.
"So this is what it feels like to fight using supernatural power…?"
Utaha stared blankly at the pile of bodies trapped and slaughtered inside her barriers.
Asuna's Holy Sword had already vanished. She touched her hand—still remembering the feeling of cutting through flesh. Her eyes were unfocused.
"…It feels completely different from fighting that woman."
Yukino murmured softly, committing the sensation to memory.
"This was a very valuable experience." Leo didn't interrupt their thoughts—he simply spoke calmly. "Right now, devils, angels, and fallen angels aren't at war. But the three factions still clash. It's impossible to avoid conflict forever."
"And if you ever face angels or fallen angels, you won't be able to strike as cleanly as you did just now."
"In the future, if we participate in a Rating Game, you'll also be fighting other devils."
"So remember how this feels. There will be plenty of battles waiting for you. And enemies won't give you time to think."
Leo placed a hand on Asuna's shoulder, quietly encouraging her.
"Of course, I'm not telling you to get used to killing. You were all normal human girls. Peaceful days suit you more than violence. But once you enter the supernatural world, you have to be ready to walk alongside that power."
"The future is long. When we don't need to fight, we'll live more comfortably than anyone."
"But when we do need to fight, we can't hesitate. Battle isn't just for proving strength—it's for protecting the people and things important to you."
Leaving those words behind, Leo stepped forward and unleashed demonic power.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!—"
All the frozen ghouls shattered into glittering fragments, and the remaining corpses evaporated instantly. The thick stench of blood faded, most traces of battle erased.
With this, nearby monsters shouldn't be drawn to the area.
"Let's go."
Once he finished cleaning up, Leo turned back and called to them.
Yukino, Asuna, and Utaha nodded, steadied their emotions, and followed.
"…Huh?"
Suddenly, Leo stopped again, surprise slipping into his voice.
The girls tensed immediately.
"More enemies?"
Their reactions were almost comically dramatic—like jumpy birds after a storm. One summoned cold air, one began forming a Holy Sword, and one raised her hand to conjure a barrier again.
"Relax. Not an enemy." Leo quickly reassured them and pointed. "Look over there."
The girls turned in unison.
For a moment they froze—then their eyes lit up.
At the edge of the sandy area they were leaving, a small cat had appeared.
It was tiny, no bigger than a palm, shaped like a fluffy little ragdoll cat—but its entire body was crystal-clear.
The little creature sat atop a patch of ice, its icy-blue eyes sparkling with intelligence. Its translucent tail swayed lazily as it stared quietly at them.
"Where did that cat come from?"
"It's adorable…"
Utaha and Asuna were immediately captivated, all their earlier stress vanishing in an instant.
"…What is that? Is it a monster too?"
Yukino stared unblinkingly at the cat, asking Leo without looking away.
"That should be an Ice Spirit—a fairly rare type of Spirit." Leo examined it and nodded. "You can call it a monster, but Spirits aren't demonic creatures. It only looks like a cat. It's not actually a cat."
"It was probably drawn here by the cold. Spirits naturally gather around things related to their own element. Ice Spirits love cold environments. So its appearance here isn't strange."
Hearing that, all eyes turned toward Yukino.
But Yukino didn't look back at them. She kept staring straight at the tiny cat, her eyes shining with rare excitement.
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Another extra chapter!!
Same powerstone goal for more!
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