Underworld, Familiar Forest.
When a magic circle glowing with red light appeared at the forest's entrance, Leo and Ravel stepped out of it.
Both of them came from pureblood devil families, so the Familiar Forest wasn't unfamiliar territory. This time, they weren't here to look for familiars either. Unlike the last time Leo had brought his servants along and carefully explored the area, they didn't bother taking it slow. They spread their devil wings and flame wings and flew straight in, heading directly for the deepest part of the forest.
Flying so openly through the Familiar Forest was bound to draw attention from the monsters living there. But the moment Leo released the demonic power of an Ultimate-Class Devil without any restraint, most of the creatures immediately scattered and hid, not daring to show themselves. This allowed the two of them to pass through smoothly, reaching the forest's core and arriving before a lake.
This lake was even larger than the one Leo had stumbled into last time with Yukinoshita Yukino and the others, when they encountered the Hydra. Standing on the shore, it was impossible to see the opposite bank. All that stretched out before them was a horizon line merging into the night sky. Someone unfamiliar with the area might have mistaken it for the sea rather than a lake.
"Tiamat-sama! Leo Eligos seeks an audience!"
"Tiamat-sama! Leo Eligos seeks an audience!"
As soon as he landed by the lake, Leo called out loudly. His voice echoed over the water, reverberating like a rolling echo.
Splash.
The very next second, a thunderous sound came from the lake.
The previously calm surface was violently disturbed as a massive figure emerged from beneath the water, sending huge waves crashing outward and filling Leo and Ravel's vision.
It was a giant dragon covered in sky-blue scales, like the heavens themselves.
The dragon radiated an overwhelming presence. The dragon aura surging from her body was strikingly clear and terrifyingly powerful, enough to make Ravel—standing behind Leo—grow tense without realizing it.
"T-That's the legendary Dragon Queen… the strongest among the Five Great Dragon Kings, the one known as the 'Chaos Karma Dragon,' Tiamat… right?"
Overwhelmed by that colossal body and oppressive presence, Ravel began to tremble.
"Relax. Nothing's going to happen."
Leo patted her shoulder to reassure her, his eyes never leaving the enormous figure before them.
The sky-blue dragon slowly opened her eyes, as if awakened from a nap. Her massive vertical pupils shifted, locking onto Leo.
"So it's you, kid."
A familiar voice came from the dragon's mouth.
The next moment, the sky dragon spread her wings and flew toward the shore. As she moved, her body began to change.
By the time she landed in front of Leo, the dragon was gone, replaced by a mature woman with beautiful, long sky-blue hair.
"Aren't you training in your own territory right now? What brings you to my place?" Tiamat asked.
Her aura was cold, but her tone toward Leo was casual and familiar, as if they had known each other for a long time.
"You even know I came to the Underworld to train?" Leo blinked, genuinely surprised.
"Ajuka told me," Tiamat replied, looking him over as if checking whether he had changed in any obvious way. "He thought you might come ask me for help with training, so he gave me a heads-up and asked me to help you within my means."
Leo nodded in understanding.
Still, why would a Maou think he might come to Tiamat for training?
Was it because he assumed Leo would look for a powerful existence to spar with and improve his combat ability?
That wasn't impossible. Among everyone Leo knew, aside from the Maou themselves, Tiamat was probably the strongest. If he really wanted a powerful opponent to train against, she would naturally come to mind.
"The one behind you should be from House Phenex, right?" Tiamat said, having noticed Ravel. "That familiar scent of flames… aside from phoenixes, I don't think any other devils give off that kind of presence."
"Greetings, honored Dragon King, Tiamat-sama," Ravel said immediately, bowing respectfully. "I am Ravel Phenex, eldest daughter of House Phenex. I currently serve as Leo-sama's Rook piece. I look forward to your guidance."
"Oh?" Tiamat looked surprised at first, then laughed. "The eldest daughter of House Phenex becoming this kid's servant, huh? That's quite the investment."
Living long in the Underworld and being closely connected with devils, Tiamat immediately saw through House Phenex's intentions.
"The Eligos servants really are worth that kind of investment," she said calmly. "Even I think their future growth will be extraordinary. You'd do well to cherish this relationship and opportunity."
Ravel nodded deeply in agreement.
Even though she hadn't been with them for long, she had already seen how much potential the Eligos servants possessed—especially Leo himself, the King piece.
So even without Tiamat saying it, Ravel intended to support Leo with everything she had, helping the Eligos servants rise to prominence in the devil world.
For her, this wasn't just her duty as a servant. It was also an opportunity to add a significant chapter to her own life experience.
"If you want me to train you, I don't mind stepping in," Tiamat said, turning back to Leo. "But I should warn you—I'm not good at holding back. If you want my training, you'd better be prepared for the possibility of being burned to ashes."
A chill ran down Ravel's spine when she heard that.
She could tell Tiamat wasn't joking. She was completely serious.
Dragons were beings known as incarnations of power—naturally strong and revering strength above all else. Expecting one to hold back was an incredibly difficult thing.
Once dragons entered battle, they rarely restrained themselves. Most of the time, they fought with everything they had, without any concept of mercy.
To them, whether human or devil, other races were fragile. Asking them not to crush ants beneath their feet was asking too much.
Of course, Tiamat was the strongest Dragon King, even revered in Mesopotamian mythology as a primordial sea god of creation. She wasn't as crude or battle-crazed as ordinary dragons.
But in the end, she was still a dragon. If she became too absorbed in a fight, it wasn't impossible for her to go too far.
That was why she warned Leo in advance.
Unfortunately for her, that warning was completely unnecessary.
"Don't worry, Tiamat-sama. I didn't come here for training this time," Leo said with a shrug. "I'm here to complete the commission you gave me last time."
The moment he said that, Tiamat's eyes lit up.
"You found the Tablet of Destiny?"
She stared at Leo intensely, clear joy appearing on her frost-like face.
Without a word, Leo unfolded a magic circle in his hand and summoned the stone tablet he had obtained from Kaguya Shinomiya.
Tiamat's gaze locked onto the tablet and never moved again.
"Is this the Tablet of Destiny you've been searching for?" Leo asked, handing it to her.
Tiamat took it and gently traced the patterns carved into its surface.
"How many years has it been…" she murmured, her voice filled with emotion and delight. "It's been thousands of years since I lent you to that damned Red Dragon Emperor, hasn't it?"
"After all these millennia, you're finally back in my hands."
Leo and Ravel both smiled at those words.
Tiamat's reaction confirmed it—this tablet was indeed the Tablet of Destiny she had been searching for.
"It really is my lost Tablet of Destiny," Tiamat said with a smile, confirming it outright. "Although its power has been exhausted over time, once it absorbs energy from the stars again, it will shine anew someday."
As a powerful artifact capable of foreseeing the future, one of the conditions for using the Tablet of Destiny was that it needed to draw in enough stellar power, converting the strength of the constellations into energy to activate it.
That required a special ritual as assistance, which was why no one else could awaken or use it.
Of course, that wasn't a problem for Tiamat.
She was the tablet's original owner. What others didn't know how to do, she knew perfectly well.
"You really managed to find it this quickly," Tiamat said, putting the tablet away, her eyes filled with amazement as she looked at Leo.
She hadn't held out much hope in the first place. Because the Tablet of Destiny had once fallen into the hands of a previous wielder of Zenith Tempest, she had acted out of desperation and asked Leo to help recover it.
It had been a long-shot investment at best.
Yet in just a month or two, Leo had actually succeeded. The result genuinely surprised and delighted her.
"That's thanks to the Maou," Leo said with a smile. "If Sirzechs-sama hadn't mobilized the power of the devil world to help me track down clues, I wouldn't have found the Tablet of Destiny so quickly."
"I see," Tiamat nodded. "If you used the entire devil world to search, then it makes sense."
As she thought about it, a new idea began to form in her mind.
If this kid could use the power of devils to recover her lost treasure, then could she also borrow the strength of other major factions to reclaim the artifacts she had lost across the world?
The Tablet of Destiny was only one of many treasures she had lost. Countless others were scattered across the world, with many even being stored in the vaults of various major powers.
If there were a way to make those factions owe her a favor—or force them to grant her a wish—wouldn't it be possible to recover those treasures as well?
But how to do it would require careful planning…
While these thoughts ran through her mind, Tiamat spoke to Leo.
"Since you've recovered the Tablet of Destiny for me, I'll naturally honor my promise and hand over the two children I once saved," she said seriously. "However, I must warn you—if you can't reincarnate them as devils, you won't be allowed to take them away."
Tiamat had mentioned this before. It wasn't that no one had ever tried to take those two in as servants—but every attempt had ended in failure.
Their potential and abilities far exceeded the value of ordinary Evil Pieces. Either they required Mutation Pieces for reincarnation, or the devil King piece himself needed overwhelming power and had to expend multiple Evil Pieces to succeed.
As a result, everyone who tried had failed.
Tiamat didn't mind introducing the two girls to Leo. She would even help persuade them to willingly become his servants.
But if Leo couldn't reincarnate them, she wouldn't let him take them away.
"Among the devils who tried before, wasn't there anyone with Mutation Pieces? Or anyone powerful enough to use multiple Evil Pieces to reincarnate them?" Leo asked.
"Of course there were," Tiamat replied, shaking her head. "But those two are a very special pair of twin sisters. Even if they were willing to become someone's servants, they absolutely refused to be separated."
"So they set a condition themselves—they would only go with someone who could take both of them at the same time."
"And unfortunately, both of them have their own unique qualities. Neither can be reincarnated with ordinary Evil Pieces."
"To take them away, you'd need either two Mutation Pieces, or you'd have to be a Maou-Class existence or higher, capable of using multiple pieces to claim them."
Hearing that, Leo immediately understood how harsh those conditions were.
If only one Mutation Piece were required, it wouldn't be too difficult. Roughly one out of every ten High-Class Devils possessed one.
But High-Class Devils who owned two Mutation Pieces at the same time were extremely rare—possibly nonexistent.
At least in the original story, no one possessed more than two. Even Rias only had a single Bishop piece that was a Mutation Piece. Later, she used eight Pawn pieces to reincarnate the original protagonist, and only after his unique transformation did those Pawn pieces gradually turn into Mutation Pieces.
In other words, Rias was the only devil in the original story to ever possess multiple Mutation Pieces—and even that was something that happened later. At the beginning, she had only one.
Under those circumstances, it was no surprise no one had been able to take the twins away—unless they were Maou-Class or above.
And how many such existences were there in the devil world?
Even if there were, their servant slots were probably already nearly full.
"Go ahead and take him to meet them," Tiamat said calmly.
Leo nodded.
A quiet sense of anticipation stirred in his chest.
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