Not long after, the person claiming to be a magical girl finally left, albeit reluctantly.
Serafall's arrival in the human world was primarily to prepare for the summit taking place in a few days. She wasn't just idling around; if it hadn't been for her desire to see her beloved younger sister, she wouldn't have carved out the time to come here.
Now that she had seen her sister—and although she hadn't been able to properly discipline the "bad brat" who planned to snatch her sister away—Serafall had accepted her fate and could only depart with tears in her eyes.
However, before leaving, Serafall pulled Leon aside and gave him a warning.
"Listen up, bad boy. You're a mature young man now, so you should know exactly what things can be done and what things cannot. If I find out you've laid a hand on my Sona-chan before marriage, I'll freeze your lower half solid. Do you understand?"
When she said this, Serafall tried to put on a fierce, menacing expression. But because she was so sweet and cute, the look she gave him ended up looking more like she was acting adorable.
Nonetheless, Leon took it to heart.
There was no helping it. This woman had a sweet voice, a sweet face, and called herself a magical girl, yet she casually threatened to freeze a man's lower half. How could that not send a chill down one's spine?
But while he listened, Leon had no intention of compromising—or rather, he had no intention of being intimidated.
"I will relay Serafall-sama's words to Sona."
Leon spoke with utmost respect, but the underlying meaning caused Serafall's expression to change instantly.
"You really are a bad boy! I hate you!"
Serafall was so angry her eyes welled up with tears. She wanted to hit him, but she truly didn't dare to make a move in front of Sona Sitri. Instead, she stomped hard on Leon's foot in spite before departing with a heart full of indignation and grievance.
"She's an adult, and she's still stomping on feet?"
Leon rubbed his foot, feeling that this stomp was even more ruthless than Kokabiel's Light Spears or Vali's magic bullets.
At the very least, he could neutralize those attacks with a wave of his hand or catch them easily. Serafall's stomp, however, genuinely hurt.
"Don't mind my sister." Sona Sitri stepped forward then, watching him for a moment with a gaze Leon couldn't quite decipher. "She'll learn her boundaries in the future; she won't target you like she used to."
"Hopefully." Leon didn't know the inner details, and he ignored the mention of "marriage" that Serafall had just brought up. He curled his lip and said, "Even if she wants to target me, she probably won't have many chances in the future."
Meeting this Demon King girl again—someone who used to make him keep a respectful distance—Leon felt significantly less pressure.
He was different from before, after all. His strength provided a massive sense of confidence, ensuring he was no longer so intimidated by a Demon King like Serafall.
Perhaps he wasn't yet a match for this veteran, Super Devil-class existence, but he believed he now possessed some measure of self-preservation.
Given a bit more time to grow stronger, he would likely catch up to someone of Serafall's level. By then, he wouldn't need to fear her at all.
Leon believed that whether through his own cultivation or by finding new servants, it wouldn't take long to reach that goal.
As a Perfect Devil, his potential was incomparably higher than before. Even without relying on the "servant transformation" trait, his strength would skyrocket through cultivation alone. The days of spending over a decade just to barely promote to the next rank were gone forever.
Therefore, Leon wasn't in a desperate rush to find new servants. Cultivating on his own yielded growth and progress just the same.
Of course, the best method was still finding new servants. Even someone with moderate potential would significantly boost Leon's current strength.
Night descended silently and gracefully.
The members of the Eligos, Gremory, and Sitri peerages had mostly left the pocket dimension by this time to attend to their own affairs.
Over the past month or so, not everyone in the three peerages had spent every night cooped up training. After all, they still had to fulfill their devil duties at night, accepting summons and requests.
Thus, the three peerages weren't always fully present. Sometimes individuals were missing, and sometimes an entire peerage might be absent, leaving the pocket dimension feeling quite lonely at times.
Recently, with the summit approaching, everyone had begun to gradually scale back their training intensity.
They couldn't afford to break their bodies right as the summit was about to take place, could they?
To avoid such a situation, the pocket dimension was relatively crowded right after school, but as night fell, the numbers dwindled. By the middle of the night, it was highly likely not a single person remained.
That evening, Leon left the pocket dimension early and returned to the manor.
Just as he returned to his room, preparing to take a shower and head to bed, there was a knock at the door.
"Come in."
Leon didn't look up, speaking naturally as if he were used to someone coming by at this time.
He was indeed used to it.
There were many women in the house, several of whom were quite considerate. If he was in the manor or his room, someone would inevitably bring him a cup of hot black tea.
Asuna Yuuki, Mahiru Shiina, Ram, or Rem—barring any surprises, it would be one of those four who had noticed his return and brought tea.
Sure enough, the person who pushed the door open with a tray in hand was Asuna Yuuki.
"This is new tea that Ravel asked her family to send over yesterday. Would you like to try some?"
The girl spoke softly, a gentle smile on her face, making the air in the room feel somewhat sweet.
"I'll give it a try then."
At this point, Leon had already removed his shirt and was walking around the room bare-chested.
To this, Asuna's cheeks flushed slightly, but she didn't look away.
If it had been before, she certainly wouldn't have been so composed. But considering they had even soaked in hot springs together, this level of exposure was nothing.
"You've been back for a while, haven't you?" Leon asked casually as he sipped the tea, looking at Asuna who had already changed into her loungewear. "Where is everyone else?"
"Only Ram and Rem are home handling chores; everyone else is still working," Asuna replied honestly. "The request I took today was quite simple, so I finished early."
"The summit is in two days. Tell everyone they can ease up on their workload," Leon said, setting down his teacup. "During such an extraordinary time, it's important to focus on resting and keeping oneself in one-hundred-percent condition."
"...Is it because something is likely to happen during the summit?" Asuna was silent for a moment before suddenly asking, "Will that underground organization Sirzechs-sama mentioned show up then?"
"Oh?" Leon's movements paused slightly. He looked up at Asuna and said, "You've all realized it?"
"Yukino and Ravel mentioned it," Asuna lowered her eyes and said softly. "They've been discussing it lately, believing that it's impossible for a meeting between the three major powers to proceed without a hitch."
"That is indeed true." Leon nodded, confirming her suspicion. "At the very least, the Old Maou Faction will never sit idly by and watch the Underworld negotiate peacefully with their former mortal enemies. The Hero Faction, who views the supernatural as a challenge and other races as enemies that must be conquered, might also make a move."
In the original story, only the Old Maou Faction had attacked during the summit. However, because of his presence, the Hero Faction had already made contact with them and expressed a deep interest in Leon and his group.
Specifically Cao Cao. He had already come to gather intelligence on Leon, and Leon didn't believe he would just file that information away.
Information had a shelf life, and since Leon was currently in a period of rapid growth, Cao Cao wouldn't want his hard-earned intel to become obsolete or his countermeasures to become useless. He would definitely act.
According to Leon's estimation, the summit was the most likely final opportunity for Cao Cao and his group to take action. Once missed, his information would lose most of its value and become useless.
Cao Cao wouldn't want that.
Of course, what Cao Cao didn't know was that his information was already long out of date.
Compared to their last encounter, Leon had grown more than just a little bit.
Back then, Leon was only an eight-winged Ultimate-class Devil. Only by fully activating "Zenith Tempest" did he possess power comparable to a ten-winged High-tier Devil. His Sacred Gear's ranking was lower than Cao Cao's, and his Balance Breaker wasn't even fully completed—it was very unstable. If Cao Cao hadn't been countered by his fighting style and had been holding back to gather intel, Leon certainly wouldn't have been his match.
But now, Leon was already at the level of a ten-winged High-tier Devil. His "Zenith Tempest" had been strengthened several times, its power increasing to the point it no longer paled in comparison to the "True Longinus," the strongest Longinus. Furthermore, his Balance Breaker was fully mastered, and he had evolved into a Perfect Devil. He was no longer the same person as before.
If it were now, Leon wasn't worried at all about being countered by Cao Cao's outdated information. Even if Cao Cao went all out this time, Leon had the confidence to face him.
As for whether he could win, that remained to be seen.
After all, if Cao Cao went all out, he was capable of forcing Vali into Juggernaut Drive. Without a real, tooth-and-nail fight, Leon couldn't say for sure he had the advantage.
He could only be fully prepared to meet whatever "surprises" might appear.
"Is there no way to avoid it? The fighting..."
Asuna still looked worried.
"Since ancient times, whenever an event large enough to shift the course of history occurs, there hasn't been a single time that didn't involve fighting." Seeing her expression, Leon gave a faint smile and said, "All we can do is strengthen ourselves, be prepared, and deal with whatever comes our way."
"I understand." Asuna was no longer the naive person she once was. She took a deep breath, her eyes turning determined. "If it's unavoidable, I will fight to the end."
Watching the resolute Asuna, Leon felt a brief flash of the impression he had of "Flash" Asuna from his past life.
"Do you regret it?"
When he snapped out of it, Leon realized he had already asked the question.
"Being pulled into a death game like this... do you regret picking up the sword?"
What Leon really wanted to ask was whether Asuna regretted becoming a devil. If she hadn't become a devil, she wouldn't have been dragged into these situations where life and death were constantly on the line.
Although Leon didn't say it explicitly, Asuna understood his meaning.
"No," Asuna said with a soft smile. Her tone was gentle, but her words carried weight. "I've never regretted reincarnating as a devil, and I've certainly never regretted picking up the sword."
"In fact, if you hadn't given me the chance to reincarnate, I would have died in that dark corner that night."
"I'm also very grateful to you for giving me the chance to pick up the sword. If I hadn't, I might still be that 'elite' daughter of a wealthy family who only listened to her mother and lived a life where the future was entirely predictable."
"I believe it's not just me; everyone feels this way."
Asuna knew better than anyone that even if her companions didn't say it, every one of them was grateful to Leon in their hearts.
Yukino Yukinoshita, that tsundere, was a given. She had always been the ignored one in her family. Now she had the power to make them take notice and could see the truth and essence of the world instead of being blinded by a superficial peaceful life. She was more than satisfied.
The same went for Mahiru Shiina. She had long ago cut ties with her family and no longer expected her parents to look her in the eye. What she valued now was life in this manor and this "family" known as the Eligos Peerage.
As for Utaha Kasumigaoka, she had chosen to become a devil out of a moment of impulse, but she was clearly enjoying it now. A literary girl and light novel author whose head was filled with various fantasies—how could she not be willing to enter such a bizarre and wondrous world?
Ravel, Ram, and Rem went without saying; they were original residents of this world to begin with.
Therefore, despite facing several crises, not a single person in the Eligos Peerage regretted becoming Leon's servant.
Rather than regret, they preferred having the power to resist various injustices.
And Leon was the one who had given them that power.
"Is that so?"
Leon looked at the smiling Asuna. After a soft murmur, he picked up his teacup again.
The two of them stopped talking and simply sipped their tea in silence. The atmosphere was incredibly pleasant and warm.
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