Eligos Territory, Ancient Battlefield camp, inside Leo's tent.
After inviting Sirzechs and Grayfia inside, Leo had originally planned to brew some tea for them. But just as he was about to move, Grayfia—who had been standing quietly behind Sirzechs the whole time—somehow produced a tea cart from nowhere and smoothly poured two cups of steaming black tea.
"Please enjoy."
Grayfia placed the cups in front of Leo and Sirzechs respectively. A faint fragrance spread through the tent, dispelling some of the oppressive atmosphere unique to the Ancient Battlefield.
"Thanks, Grayfia-san."
Since Sirzechs's Queen had already prepared everything, Leo didn't stand on ceremony. He sat down with Sirzechs and enjoyed the tea.
"Are your servants training right now?" Sirzechs asked casually as he took a sip. "Just looking at you, I can tell the special training must be going well. But how are things really? Can you tell me about it?"
"Things are pretty good. The special training has been very smooth," Leo replied. He knew his servants were already under close scrutiny by the Maou, and since he trusted Sirzechs, he didn't bother hiding anything. "They're all exceptionally talented girls. Even without Sacred Gear, they were destined to be extraordinary. With Sacred Gear, they're bound to soar in this world."
"If you give them enough time, I don't doubt they'll be able to catch up to Grayfia-san and Serafall-sama."
At those words, Grayfia's eyebrow twitched slightly. For once, a hint of interest appeared on her otherwise expressionless face.
"Catch up to Grayfia and Serafall?" Sirzechs smiled faintly. "It seems you're truly satisfied with their performance."
"They're servants I chose with my own hands. No one understands how exceptional they are better than I do," Leo shrugged. "It's just a shame they still lack time."
"Even so, they've already shown potential greater than many pureblood devil."
"In just half a month of special training, they've undergone changes that could be called a complete rebirth. Even I have trouble dealing with any one of them if I don't use my real strength."
This was something Leo had personally verified, so he stated it plainly, without any hint of bragging.
"That really is astonishing growth," Sirzechs said, both surprised and impressed. "No wonder the Eligos servants have already become something of a legend in the devil world. Even Rias's servants would probably have a hard time matching yours in terms of sheer potential, wouldn't they?"
As Rias's older brother, Sirzechs naturally understood her servants very well.
They might not seem especially outstanding at first glance, but that was only because each of them was hiding power or potential not yet revealed.
Not to mention the Bishop piece that was still sealed away—just Akeno Himejima, Yuuto Kiba, and Koneko Toujou alone all had astonishing backgrounds. Their uniqueness was no less remarkable than Sharon Holygrail, who had been created as an experimental subject meant to rival a Super Devil—perhaps even more so.
If all of them fully unleashed their uniqueness, resolved their inner issues, and drew out their hidden potential, their futures would be limitless. Even if they didn't reach Maou-Class, they wouldn't fall far behind an Ultimate-Class Devil.
Because of this, among the upper echelons of the devil world, the current generation of Gremory servants was highly anticipated, with many placing great hopes in them.
Yet now, the attention and importance placed on the Eligos servants had already surpassed that of the Gremory servants, leaving even Sirzechs feeling a bit emotional about it.
"Potential is just potential," Leo said calmly. "Before it's turned into real strength, it's nothing more than a target that attracts trouble."
He never thought his servants would lose to the Gremory servants, so even when Sirzechs praised them, Leo didn't show much joy. Instead, he looked a little helpless.
"If possible, I'd rather keep things hidden a bit longer. Let me or them grow enough first, gain a certain level of strength, and only then make the Eligos servants known to the outside world."
"Unfortunately, Lafei Trix's attack exposed all of us."
"Otherwise, we wouldn't have had to rush to the Underworld and throw ourselves into this intense training, just to quickly build strength to deal with outside hostility."
Leo's words made Sirzechs's expression turn serious.
"As for the Hero Faction you mentioned, we're already aware of it," Sirzechs said, setting down his teacup and looking at Leo. "First the Old Maou Faction, then this Hero Faction we'd never heard of before, and now the Stray Magicians who appeared in the last attack…"
"There's no doubt about it. A mysterious, unknown, and massive force has emerged without any of us realizing it. And these criminals have gathered around that force."
"We've already begun investigating in secret. Although it's only been a short time and we haven't uncovered much yet, we've noticed several things that don't add up."
Sirzechs recalled the intelligence gathered during their covert investigation.
According to their findings, it wasn't just the Old Maou Faction within the devil world that had begun acting strangely. In the heavens and among the fallen angels as well, certain individuals had started abnormal movements against the current order.
The Church was the same. Aside from Sharon Holygrail being involved in the Old Maou Faction's attack, there were others who seemed to be secretly colluding with someone. Some had defected from the Church and vanished, while others had taken actions that were clearly suspicious.
Add to that the human-centered Hero Faction and the Stray Magicians. In nearly every faction, terrorists had begun to surface. And they weren't acting alone—they were connected to one another.
All of this pointed to one thing: dissatisfied criminals from various factions had begun cooperating to achieve their hidden goals, even joining the same organization.
That should have been impossible.
Not even the famed God of the Bible had managed to unite all factions under one banner. What right did this mysterious force have?
Yet, after Leo's deliberate reminder during the last incident, Sirzechs had already begun to suspect that if anyone could accomplish such a thing, there was only one possible existence…
"Ouroboros…"
The thought cast a shadow over Sirzechs's eyes.
If that being was truly involved, then the situation was dire.
Still, these were secrets of the highest order, and Sirzechs had no intention of sharing them lightly.
For now, only the Four Great Maou and a handful of key figures in the devil world knew of this. Outsiders had no idea what was happening.
After some thought, Sirzechs ultimately decided not to tell Leo any of this.
Even though Leo was an extremely important party involved, and much of their intelligence had come thanks to him, knowing too much might not do him any good.
What Sirzechs didn't know was that Leo actually knew no less than he did—only more.
He knew that the ones who had discovered the existence of that mysterious force, and of Ouroboros, weren't just himself. The fallen angel governor had also noticed the abnormalities and uncovered a substantial amount of intelligence.
That information was currently known only to the upper leadership of the Grigori and hadn't leaked out at all.
If not for Leo, the devil world wouldn't have noticed anything yet. Only the fallen angels would have taken action.
For that reason, Leo had no intention of telling Sirzechs any of this either—to avoid suspicion.
"In any case, we're already taking precautions," Sirzechs said. "You shouldn't face any more sudden attacks for the time being. You can focus on your training—we'll be keeping watch around here."
Leo wasn't surprised by that at all.
He'd already noticed that there were occasional gazes lingering around the camp and the Ancient Battlefield.
Those gazes carried no hostility, so he'd long guessed that Sirzechs and the others had stationed people nearby to watch over them and prevent another malicious attack.
"Then I'll thank you, Sirzechs-sama."
Leo expressed his gratitude.
"That's simply my duty as a Maou. There's no need to thank me," Sirzechs said with a smile. "As long as you all grow stronger, you'll be able to share our burdens in the future. For the sake of that day, no matter how hard things are now, it's worth it."
"Yes," Leo nodded. "We'll get strong as soon as possible."
"I believe you," Sirzechs said gently, then changed the subject. "To help you grow faster, we've also prepared a few strategies on our end. We're planning to provide you with some assistance."
"Grayfia."
At Sirzechs's call, his Queen stepped forward and took out a thick stack of documents.
"Please take a look."
Grayfia placed the pile of papers in front of Leo, leaving him momentarily stunned.
"What's this?"
Leo picked them up with some confusion and flipped through them.
As he did, his eyes widened in surprise.
They were dossiers—detailed profiles on devils.
Not only did they record each individual's origins, background, abilities, and even daily life in meticulous detail, they also included photographs, allowing Leo to clearly see what each of them looked like.
And then he noticed something else.
Every one of these devils had an impressive pedigree. They were either descendants of high-ranking devils, members of the bloodlines of the Seventy-Two Pillars, or disciples, students, or close associates of famous figures.
That was when Sirzechs said:
"These are the servant candidates we've selected for you."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
You can read up to chapter 178 on patreon.com/NiaXD.