"Why are you two looking at me like that?"
Leo obviously noticed the way Rias and Sona Sitri were staring at him. He also knew exactly why they would react that way, yet he put on an innocent expression.
"The exit's already appeared. Aren't you going?"
His act only made Rias and Sona's eyes turn more thoughtful.
Was he hiding his strength? Or changing the subject on purpose?
"Of course we're going." Rias gave Leo a long, deep look. "I was just thinking."
Her gaze drifted to the burned corpse of the Crimson Flame Dragon behind Leo. It had been killed so fast it probably didn't even realize what happened.
Maybe she really had underestimated this man.
No—she had already adjusted her view of him after witnessing his rapid growth. She no longer saw him as the same devil who had only just reached the level of a High-Class Devil.
But even so… his current strength might be far beyond what she'd predicted.
He had finished his opponent faster than she had, and apparently by burning it to death. At minimum, that meant his attack power wasn't weaker than hers—and could very well surpass it.
And the Crimson Flame Dragon was a fire dragon.
A fire dragon, burned to death?
Even if it wasn't burned by actual flames but scorched directly by demonic power, it still sounded absurd. Not to mention that his attack seemed even stronger than her own Power of Destruction.
It was a shame she hadn't seen the fight. She might have caught a glimpse of his true capabilities.
Rias's thoughts churned rapidly.
Sona, who was naturally sharper, was thinking even more.
"So he's already become that strong?"
She watched Leo quietly.
She understood Leo better than Rias did—after all, he had shown her his six-winged form. Since then, she had viewed him as on par with her… or even stronger.
But thinking back, that was when he only had one servant—Yukino.
Now he had added Yuuki Asuna, Kasumigaoka Utaha, and Shiina Mahiru one after another.
That meant his Servant Conversion trait had triggered three more times since then, strengthening him each time. He had definitely grown far beyond the six-winged Leo of the past.
So how strong was he now?
Yukinoshita Yukino alone had boosted him from two wings to six—raising him from a newly advanced High-Class Devil to one of the stronger High-Class Devils. After gaining three more servants, even if each increase wasn't as dramatic as Yukino's, it should still have transformed him again.
Was he still a High-Class Devil?
Or… had he stepped into an even higher realm?
Sona pushed up her glasses, letting the glare hide her eyes.
"Let's go. Next room."
Forcing down the whirlwind of thoughts in her chest, she continued, "We need to find the owner of this maze space, or regroup with our servants as soon as possible."
Hearing her, Rias also set aside her guesses about Leo's power and nodded.
They already knew they were being targeted by the Old Maou Faction. They needed to escape this alternate dimension. Fast.
"I don't know how many people the Old Maou Faction sent after us," Rias said calmly, "but if they're confident they can wipe us out, we should assume their overall strength is above ours."
"Which means this is a dangerous situation for us. We need to contact the Underworld immediately and let them know we were ambushed."
The enemy belonged to the Old Maou Faction—defeated long ago, yes, but still far from something three young devils could handle alone.
Sona agreed with Rias—but then added, "It's likely they're stronger than us, but probably not by too much. Otherwise they wouldn't need all this trouble to drag us into a maze. They could've attacked directly at Kuoh Academy."
If they truly outclassed them overwhelmingly… why bother?
Just descend on Kuoh Academy and erase them. Done.
If they didn't do that, then only two explanations made sense:
Either their actual combat power wasn't much higher—or even lower—and they needed a trap…
Or their true goal wasn't Rias, Sona, or Leo…
…but someone else.
Someone important.
Such as… the Maou behind them.
"So we're bait?" Leo spoke casually as he walked toward the exit.
"Not necessarily." Sona followed him. "If their goal was to lure the Maou, they could simply capture us."
"Exactly." Rias caught up as well. "If they wanted hostages, this isn't how they'd do it. Creating a maze to wear us down? That's not a hostage strategy—it's an elimination strategy."
Which meant the enemy wasn't overwhelmingly stronger.
And that led to even more speculation.
"The Old Maou Faction lost before, but after hundreds of years, they shouldn't be so weak they can't handle three High-Class Devils," Leo said without turning back.
"And we all know their bloodlines were never wiped out."
Both Rias and Sona stiffened.
They had studied Underworld history. They knew what happened during the great civil war centuries ago.
Back then, the leaders of the Old Maou Faction were the children of the Four Great Maou—Lucifer, Leviathan, Beelzebub, and Asmodeus—the first-generation inheritors of their bloodlines. They ruled the Underworld before the reformists overthrew them.
In the final battles, the son of the original Beelzebub and the son of the original Asmodeus were slain by the current Lucifer, Sirzechs. The current Beelzebub, Ajuka, killed the original Leviathan's daughter.
The original Maou bloodlines were nearly wiped out.
But not entirely.
Their descendants survived. And those bloodlines were far stronger than those of the Seventy-Two Pillars, including houses like Gremory, Sitri, or Astaroth.
After hundreds of years, even without spreading widely, any inheritor of those bloodlines should be monstrously strong—likely the leaders of the current Old Maou Faction.
They might not reach the level of the original Maou or their children, but they would definitely surpass normal High-Class Devils.
Conservatively, they should be Ultimate-Class Devils—or even stronger.
For people like that, defeating three young High-Class Devils and their servants would be trivial.
The fact that such monsters didn't appear meant only one thing.
"This attack must've been orchestrated by only a portion of the Old Maou Faction," Leo concluded. "Whoever planned it might hold some authority, but they're definitely not among the Maou-bloodline heirs."
"If they succeed or fail, the Underworld will retaliate. Unless the Old Maou Faction is ready to face that backlash, they wouldn't expose themselves like this."
"So it's probably an unauthorized operation," Sona said solemnly.
Leo agreed.
And he had another reason: in the original timeline, this event never happened.
Right now, the Old Maou Faction was still dormant—and aligned with an enormous hidden organization made of multiple factions. They were waiting for the perfect moment to strike the Underworld and other major powers all at once.
Sending minor operatives to bother three young devils made no sense.
This attack felt like a test—a warm-up. Or perhaps just a few radicals who joined the alliance group and couldn't hold back their hatred.
"Whatever the case, we need to deal with them quickly." Leo stepped into the corridor. "And I'm worried about Yukino and the others. Hurry."
Demonic power surged around him as he transformed into a streak of black shadow, flashing down the passage.
Rias and Sona unfolded their devil wings, gathered their demonic power, and pushed the air aside to accelerate, chasing after him at full speed.
They raced through the tunnel and soon reached the next room.
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Extra chapter at 500 p.s
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You can read up to chapter 143 on patreon.com/NiaXD.