According to Leo's original plan, he had intended to give Ravel the Rook piece.
The Rook and Bishop pieces were the most suitable for Ravel, but Leo had already used both of his Bishop pieces. That left the single remaining Rook as the obvious choice.
But now the Queen piece had also reacted—and that made him hesitate.
After all, his Queen position had never been filled. This was a very unstable situation.
The Queen was different from other servants. Not only was it the strongest Evil Piece, but the Queen also served as the King's most trusted aide. Every King brought their Queen along to any occasion, which was why High-Class Devils who received their Evil Pieces typically used the Queen piece first, bestowing it upon someone they trusted most.
Take Rias, for example—her first servant was her Queen, Himejima Akeno. Sona Sitri's first servant was likewise her Queen, Shinra Tsubaki. They might attend various occasions without their other servants, but the Queen was always by their side. That alone showed the Queen's importance.
Leo now had quite a few servants of his own. If he could finally settle the Queen position, it would greatly benefit both his team management and his servants as a whole.
Unfortunately, he had never found a suitable candidate. Even a Longinus wielder like Yukinoshita Yukino had only caused the Queen piece to react weakly, proving she wasn't particularly compatible with it. As a result, Leo's Queen position had remained vacant.
The same was true of everyone else—either no reaction at all, or only a faint one. The sole exception was Tiamat, the Chaos Karma Dragon. But she was the strongest Dragon King. Even Ajuka Beelzebub, a Super Devil himself, could only become her ally. What qualifications did Leo have to make her his servant?
Now, while Ravel's reaction from the Queen piece didn't quite match Tiamat's, it was second only to hers in intensity. Leo couldn't help but hesitate.
In terms of power, Ravel might not seem particularly outstanding in Leo's current eyes, but she was genuinely a pureblood High-Class Devil. Even Himejima Akeno and Shinra Tsubaki were only at this level as servant devils. For a new-generation devil, having a High-Class Devil-level servant as Queen was already quite good.
In terms of abilities, Ravel could produce Phoenix Tears and possessed the Immortal Body. Even against opponents far stronger than herself, she could stall them—potentially even wear them down completely. There was nothing to fault there.
In terms of intellect, Ravel was a strategist type. Based on her performance in the original story, while her strategies sometimes had flaws, her calculating ability might not be far behind Sona Sitri's. She could absolutely become a core member of the team.
Though Yukinoshita Yukino was also intelligent, her strengths lay more in learning ability and application. In terms of pure strategic planning, she still fell short of Ravel.
Thinking it through, Leo suddenly understood why the Queen piece had reacted so strongly to Ravel.
Because she truly was suited to become a Queen—someone who could assist him in overseeing the bigger picture.
And yet...
Just giving away the Queen like this... I'm not entirely willing.
Leo thought to himself.
The Queen wasn't just the strongest Evil Piece—it was also the only one of its kind, making it extraordinarily valuable.
The Rook, Bishop, and Knight pieces each came in pairs. The Pawn pieces numbered eight. Only the Queen piece existed as a single piece, with a value equivalent to nine Pawn pieces. Except when using both Rook pieces simultaneously, no other piece's value could surpass it.
It could grant a servant the traits of all Evil Pieces, giving them attack power, defense, speed, and demonic power—a comprehensive enhancement across all attributes, designed to create the most perfect and powerful servant.
If Leo hadn't awakened the Servant Conversion trait, hadn't awakened Zenith Tempest—the world's second-strongest Longinus—then he would definitely have chosen to give Ravel the Queen piece.
But now, as an eight-winged devil whose demonic power alone had reached Ultimate-Class Devil level, with combat strength capable of matching a ten-winged devil, Ravel's High-Class Devil strength—which wasn't even outstanding among his current servants—simply wasn't enough.
Under these circumstances, Leo really wasn't willing to use his most precious Evil Piece.
If the Queen piece had the strongest reaction, then maybe I could steel myself and go for it...
But the piece with the strongest reaction was still the Rook.
"Hah..."
In the heavy silence that seemed to thicken the air itself, Leo let out a quiet breath.
The next second, an Evil Piece appeared in his hand.
It was the Rook piece.
In the end, he decided to follow the Evil Pieces' own reactions and give Ravel the piece most suited to her.
"By the name of Leo Eligos, I command—thou, Ravel Phenex, be reborn as my servant."
Leo presented the Evil Piece to Ravel.
Seeing this, Ravel reached out without hesitation and touched the Evil Piece.
"I swear by the name of Phenex—I shall follow my master unto death."
As her words fell, the Evil Piece she touched shattered into countless particles of light that merged into Ravel's body.
Scorching flames immediately swirled around Ravel, releasing a crimson aura.
Because she was already a devil—a pureblood devil, at that—Ravel naturally didn't need to be reincarnated as a devil. She wouldn't involuntarily spread her wings like Yukinoshita Yukino and the others had, nor would she need to adapt to daylight or adjust to her own power.
However, the Rook piece's traits had indeed taken effect within Ravel. Her attack power and defense had undoubtedly been enhanced, making the phoenix flames capable of scorching dragon scales burn even hotter, and her Immortal Body even stronger.
Watching Ravel, Sirzechs and Lady Phenex immediately turned their gazes toward Leo, their eyes filled with curiosity.
Under their observation, Leo himself was undergoing significant changes.
[Trait: Servant Conversion is now active...]
[Acquired basic feedback—demonic power (medium quantity).]
[Acquired advanced feedback—Sacred Gear (enhancement).]
An enormous wave of demonic power emerged from Leo, like an invisible storm that forced everyone around him to step back.
"This demonic power...?!"
Lady Phenex was somewhat shocked. Riser nearly popped his eyes out of his head, his face filled with terror.
"Ultimate-Class Devil!"
And not just any Ultimate-Class Devil.
Under the feedback from Ravel becoming his servant, Leo's demonic power—which had already advanced to Ultimate-Class Devil level—surged again. While it didn't break through to an even higher tier, he had taken a significant step forward within the eight-winged rank.
At the same time, Leo felt the Zenith Tempest within him being filled by a mysterious power, causing the fluctuations it emitted to grow increasingly powerful.
Unlike the Sacred Gear feedback he'd received when recruiting servants before, this time the feedback wasn't about memories or techniques for using the Sacred Gear—it was an enhancement to the Sacred Gear itself.
Sacred Gears used their wielders' thoughts and convictions as nourishment, constantly changing and evolving, growing ever stronger. But through the Servant Conversion trait's feedback, Leo had skipped the conditions normally required to strengthen a Sacred Gear, allowing it to power up directly.
This power...
Leo silently sensed the Sacred Gear within him, feeling earth, water, wind, fire, lightning, ice, and all manner of natural forces.
During this time, Leo had been constantly deepening his understanding of Zenith Tempest, venturing into various dangerous terrains and harsh environments for that purpose. Now, that accumulated understanding erupted alongside the Sacred Gear's enhancement, making him feel as though he had touched another realm entirely.
And so, Leo instinctively stepped into that realm.
BOOM!
The demonic power fluctuations erupting from Leo suddenly transformed into Sacred Gear fluctuations. Pure white aura became a tangible storm that swept through the entire reception hall.
"Danger!"
Sirzechs and Grayfia reacted fastest. Almost the instant something changed in Leo, they simultaneously deployed magic circles, creating a barrier before everyone that blocked the incoming storm.
"What?!"
Only then did the others react, every single one of them staring at Leo with shock written across their faces.
Under everyone's gaze, the Sacred Gear fluctuations emanating from Leo disrupted the world's very flow, causing astonishing changes to manifest in him.
Whoosh!
Bat-like devil wings spread from Leo's back.
There were eight wings in total—and under everyone's stunned gazes, they gradually became ten, causing Leo's demonic power to suddenly cross into ten-winged devil territory!
At the same time, Leo extended his hand. From his palm, bubbles began to float upward.
Inside these bubbles, terrifying phenomena appeared. Some contained raging fire dragons, others whipped up violent winds capable of tearing flesh apart. Some held frost that could freeze everything, others crackled with lightning as mighty as the wrath of gods. And there were other natural phenomena too—each bubble brewing a natural disaster, manufacturing divine punishment.
Looking at this scene, everyone present had the same feeling: if they were thrown into those bubbles and subjected to those countless natural disasters and divine punishments, they would be reduced to ash in an instant, without even bones remaining.
"Wh-What kind of power is this?!"
Riser had completely lost his earlier arrogance. Looking as if he'd been scared senseless, he stumbled backward while crying out involuntarily.
"Sirzechs-sama."
Though Grayfia was also somewhat surprised, she seemed to have guessed something and called out to her master.
"I know, Grayfia."
Sirzechs knew what Grayfia wanted to say. His eyes as he watched Leo were filled with delight and satisfaction.
"That is Balance Breaker."
Yes.
The power Leo was using at this very moment was the Balance Breaker of Zenith Tempest—and also the sub-species Balance Breaker developed by the Church's strongest exorcist in the original story, the ten-winged reincarnated angel, Dulio Gesualdo—Flagello di Colori del Arcobaleno, Speranza di Briscola (Inevitable Punishment of the Holy Angel's Rainbow, Shining Star of the End).
This was a Balance Breaker that could turn the halo of Dulio Gesualdo, a ten-winged reincarnated angel, into four layers, and transform his angel wings from five pairs to six pairs.
After activating this Balance Breaker, Dulio Gesualdo would not only transform from a ten-winged angel to a twelve-winged angel, but could also release countless bubbles to envelop his opponents, subjecting them to various divine punishments and utterly destroying them.
Leo had actually completed this Balance Breaker after recruiting Mahiru as his servant.
At that time, the extra feedback he'd obtained from Mahiru was reaching the realm of the Sacred Gear's Balance Breaker—experiencing what Zenith Tempest's previous wielders had gone through when achieving Balance Breaker, undergoing a spiritual transformation, and ultimately defying the flow that permeated this world to bring the Sacred Gear to Balance Breaker.
However, perhaps because he had taken a shortcut, the Balance Breaker Leo had ultimately achieved was very unstable. Not only was it difficult to activate and extremely draining, but it also had other limitations. It couldn't really be considered a completed Balance Breaker.
In other words, what Leo had before was merely an incomplete Balance Breaker—still one step away from the true Balance Breaker realm.
Until this very moment, when the Sacred Gear itself was enhanced and all the insights he'd accumulated while striving for true Balance Breaker erupted at once, Leo finally truly completed his Balance Breaker, recreating the Balance Breaker of Zenith Tempest's wielder from the original story.
Though this wasn't a Balance Breaker unique to Leo, created according to his own needs, being able to reach Balance Breaker had still greatly increased his strength.
After activating this Balance Breaker, Leo's devil wings would increase by one pair, his demonic power would rise by one level, and he could deploy bubbles of varying sizes to imprison his opponents, recreating various natural disasters and divine punishments within them. The power was so great that even an entire nation could be destroyed by it.
Right now, Leo was only letting the bubbles drift within the confines of this reception hall, making each one appear no larger than a palm. But if he wished, he could expand the bubbles to the point where they could envelop the entire Gremory mansion—or even larger.
If he sent countless bubbles throughout Gremory territory, engulfing entire cities or towns wouldn't be impossible either.
At that point, this territory—roughly the size of Honshu—would face devastating destruction, ultimately falling to a state worse than even Eligos territory.
"This is the true power of Zenith Tempest."
Leo, now bearing ten devil wings, smiled.
At last, he truly possessed the qualifications to become a powerhouse.
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You can read up to chapter 185 on patreon.com/NiaXD.