"—!"
The sudden sound made Leo and the other three snap their heads up, all of their pupils tightening at the same time.
Even Leo's expression changed instantly, a burst of demonic power leaking out of him before he could stop it, whipping the air into a violent gust.
Because his constantly active Magic Detection… hadn't sensed anyone approaching at all.
Reflexively, Leo flung a demonic power shot toward the direction of the voice, firing it straight at a figure that had appeared without any warning.
"Bang!"
The dull impact wasn't from the shot hitting its target—
It was the sound of the newcomer casually slapping it aside, sending the shot flying into the air where it detonated harmlessly.
That's right.
Leo's rushed, instinctive attack had been turned away with nothing but a single palm strike.
"That's a pretty unusual way to say hello."
The newcomer spoke with a tone that was somewhere between amused and sarcastic.
"But I don't really dislike it. If it had been a little stronger, I might've enjoyed it even more."
The one speaking was a woman in a sharp dark-blue pantsuit, long steel-blue hair falling straight down her back.
Cold air seemed to cling to her entire body, her eyes just as icy and deep—a kind of blue that didn't belong to a devil, angel, or fallen angel. She felt like something entirely separate.
"Who are you?!"
Yukino, Asuna, and Utaha all tensed up at once, questioning her while staying on guard.
But the one who answered wasn't the mysterious woman—it was Leo, who was still recovering from his own overreaction.
"…I didn't expect to meet you here."
Leo narrowed his eyes, recognizing her immediately.
"Incorrect," the woman replied calmly. "You should be saying that it would be stranger not to meet me here."
"After all, this is my home."
And she was right.
Leo had already mentioned this back when they arrived at the Familiar Forest.
"It's an honor to meet you here for the first time, Miss Tiamat."
Leo gave her a rare, proper noble's bow—something he almost never bothered using. His words left the girls around him visibly stunned.
Tiamat?
One of the Five Great Dragon Kings—known as the Chaos Karma Dragon?
"S-She's the legendary strongest Dragon King?"
Yukino stared at the cold, expressionless woman, shock filling her eyes.
"That's right." Leo straightened after his bow, answering Yukino without looking away from Tiamat. "That overwhelming aura… the unmistakable presence of a dragon so powerful it's instantly recognizable even in human form. In this forest, there's no one else it could belong to except the Chaos Karma Dragon, Tiamat."
Even though she had taken on a human shape, she wasn't concealing her presence at all. Leo had recognized her instantly—she was a dragon.
"Your detection ability isn't bad, kid from the Eligos family."
Tiamat's deep blue eyes focused on Leo as though peering straight through him.
Leo resisted the urge to grimace. If his Magic Detection were really that good, he wouldn't have been caught completely off guard just now.
She hadn't concealed her presence at all, yet he'd only noticed her after she spoke. There was only one explanation:
Her power dwarfed his so completely that it simply surpassed what he was capable of detecting.
This icy beauty standing before him… was far stronger than Miyamoto Musashi, who had dominated him in training for so long he'd never won a single match.
Musashi was only near Maou-Class.
Even the weakest of the Five Great Dragon Kings were already Maou-Class.
And Tiamat—known as the strongest among them—was said to rival the Heavenly Dragons, even if she hadn't fully reached that level.
To be honest, running into such a terrifying existence deep in a forest, in the middle of the night, made Leo more than a little uneasy.
If she had been a wild Dragon King, Leo would've already grabbed his servants and run for his life.
But this was Tiamat—the Chaos Karma Dragon. She wasn't the type to attack them without reason.
"Miss Tiamat… you actually know about me?"
Leo kept his tone cautious as he spoke.
"You think you're some nobody?" Tiamat's faint smile didn't reach her eyes. "Your name has been mentioned quite often in the Underworld's upper circles lately. Even my own ally brought you up in front of me. So yes—knowing who you are is perfectly normal from my position."
There was a reason she put it that way.
Tiamat had a hidden identity.
She was one of the underground referees of the Rating Game—one of the true administrators behind the scenes.
For roughly the past one hundred fifty years, she had been responsible for stepping in when official or special Rating Games encountered unexpected situations, acting as a special judge to correct irregularities and restore proper operation.
Her "ally" was Ajuka Beelzebub, the developer of the Evil Pieces and the founder of the Rating Game.
And by "position," she meant her role in maintaining the balance and fairness of the Rating Game system.
Because Leo's Servant Conversion trait had resonated with the Evil Pieces, causing mysterious changes, Ajuka Beelzebub had been keeping an eye on Leo. As a result, even Tiamat had learned about him.
That was why Leo felt relatively safe in front of her.
She might be a terrifying dragon, but she had deep ties to the devils. There had to be reasons she lived peacefully in the Familiar Forest.
Besides, the other Dragon Kings were either dead or sealed. Even the Heavenly Dragons were reduced to being the cores of two Longinus. Only Tiamat lived freely.
If she didn't have strong backing, that would be the strange thing.
So she wasn't likely to trouble a rising young devil with growing influence.
"Then… your reason for appearing here is…?"
Leo kept his thoughts to himself, maintaining a look of confusion.
"What? You think I shouldn't show up?" Tiamat glanced around meaningfully. "This entire place is a mess. If I didn't react at all, people might start wondering if some dragon-slaying hero finally took me out."
Leo forced an awkward smile.
He admitted he might have gone a little overboard. The sheer noise he'd caused was bound to draw the attention of the forest's ruler.
But he had been hunting a Hydra.
Without that level of force, how else would he kill such a creature?
And then Leo realized something important.
With all the chaos he'd caused… how could she not have noticed the power he used?
The power he'd unleashed to kill the Hydra—
"If I'm not mistaken, that earlier attack… came from Zenith Tempest, didn't it?"
As expected, Tiamat's gaze grew sharper, a hint of amusement—almost interest—lifting her cold expression.
"I really didn't expect it. The second-strongest Longinus in the world, Zenith Tempest, making its appearance in the hands of a devil. And the wielder is you—the kid who's been causing quite a stir among the higher-ups. Seems Ajuka underestimated you."
Why had she come?
Because of Zenith Tempest.
Nothing else would have drawn the strongest Dragon King out personally.
A bit of noise?
Slaying a Hydra?
Those things wouldn't make her show up for some rookie devil who hadn't even debuted yet.
But Zenith Tempest being revealed right in her territory?
There was no way she would ignore that.
"The three beside you—they're your servants, right?"
As if she hadn't given Leo enough pressure already, Tiamat shifted her gaze to the three girls, clicking her tongue lightly.
"Absolute Demise, Blade Blacksmith, Create World… One of them is a Longinus user like you, and the other two are hosts of extremely rare Sacred Gears. You're awfully lucky, kid."
Even Tiamat couldn't hide her amazement.
A newly rising High-Class Devil, not only possessing a rare trait and being the host of the world's second-strongest Longinus, but also having three absurdly talented servants—all with rare Sacred Gears?
How many High-Class Devils, even pureblood devils, would kill for that kind of roster?
Most devils struggled to recruit even one exceptional Sacred Gear user.
But this kid not only had Zenith Tempest—
All three of his servants were rare talents too.
And each Sacred Gear was more impressive than the last.
Even a Maou would envy that lineup.
He really was…
An especially lucky kid.
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