After listening to Leon's explanation, Yukinoshita Yukino finally confirmed that someone had once again taken a step ahead of her.
Not only had Yuuki Asuna been favored by this scummy master before her, but she hadn't expected even Kasumigaoka Utaha to have touched the realm of Balance Breaker first. This left Yukinoshita with extremely complex emotions for a time.
"Don't always compare your weaknesses to others' strengths," Leon said immediately, seeing her troubled expression and sensing her thoughts. "Your greatest talent lies in magic power. In that regard, haven't you broken through faster than anyone else?"
Hearing Leon's words, Yukinoshita's mood stabilized slightly.
Indeed, her magic power was the first to break through among the entire Eligos peerage. Currently, even Ram and Ravel were a step behind her. One could say her magic reserves were second only to Leon's within the group.
This was her true field of expertise; there was no need to compare her weaknesses against others' strengths.
Furthermore, even in the realm of Balance Breaker, she wasn't necessarily behind Kasumigaoka Utaha.
"Although Kasumigaoka-senpai touched this realm before me, I seem to have overtaken her from behind and completed it faster."
As she spoke, Yukinoshita looked at the heteromorphic princess beside the bed. The magic power within her body flowed toward the other through invisible channels, causing a formless surge of power to ripple from the princess's form.
That surge of power was sufficient to influence the flow of the entire world, and the heteromorphic princess's aura skyrocketed at a rate visible to the naked eye.
Seeing this, how could Leon not understand?
"You've already achieved Balance Breaker?"
He was astonished.
Yukinoshita nodded. Her cold features softened considerably, and her mood visibly improved.
In truth, she hadn't expected this at all. Just last night, she was agonizing over how to make her Sacred Gear take that final step toward true Balance Breaker. Yet, upon waking up this morning, that final step had suddenly been completed.
Why had this happened?
After her initial bewilderment, Yukinoshita immediately understood what was going on.
Leon likewise grasped the situation quickly.
"I see. Our famous 'Winter Flower' was completely devoured by a 'smelly man' she usually despises—how could there not be some emotional upheaval?"
Leon teased her with a look of realization, causing Yukinoshita's fair face to turn slightly red as she shot him a sharp glare.
However, she did not deny it.
Last night, her emotions had indeed fluctuated violently.
How could they not?
First, she discovered someone had beaten her to the punch. Despite being Leon's first retainer, Yuuki Asuna had overtaken her. She could only listen to the exaggerated sounds from inside the bathroom while her heart raced. Then, she was held fast by a certain scummy master, thrown onto the bed, and devoured on the spot. Later, this scummy master even dragged out the girl who had been eavesdropping in the bathroom for a group slumber. How could Yukinoshita, who was a sheltered young lady until recently, accept all of this calmly?
One could say that last night's experience was the one Yukinoshita felt most reluctant to look back on in her entire life. It was even more impactful than the time she discovered she was in a world full of supernatural forces, that she had been killed once, and that she had been reincarnated as a devil.
Even now, thinking about what happened last night made Yukinoshita want to bury herself. Her heart couldn't settle down at all, let alone how she felt while it was happening.
Thus, Yukinoshita believed that during the intense emotional fluctuations of last night, she had unknowingly completed the final step of the Sacred Gear's Balance Breaker, officially stepping into this ultimate realm.
"Should I congratulate you then?"
After understanding the sequence of events, Leon was delighted and began to poke fun at her.
While it sounded a bit absurd—reaching Balance Breaker through "intimate activities"—it was truly the definition of ridiculous.
But thinking carefully, compared to the original story's Hyoudou Issei, it didn't seem like much.
After all, if that guy could reach Balance Breaker by poking breasts, why couldn't Yukinoshita reach it through this "delightful" method?
Don't worry about whether it's absurd or not; just ask if it caused a strong psychological shift in Yukinoshita and if it satisfied the conditions for reaching Balance Breaker.
As long as it provided the Sacred Gear with a violent mental shift, that shift acted as the catalyst to reach the Balance Breaker realm.
As for how that mental shift came about—it wasn't important.
What mattered was that Yukinoshita was now the second person, after himself, to reach the Balance Breaker realm. That was enough.
"This is only the beginning," Yukinoshita said coldly, ignoring Leon's teasing—or perhaps realizing that reacting would only make him more smug. "I have indeed reached the realm of Balance Breaker, but I feel I still need to properly organize it."
"That's true." Leon, being a Balance Breaker user himself, could understand Yukinoshita's current feeling. He nodded and asked, "You should be able to communicate with Bing Ji now. Did she tell you how long you can maintain the Balance Breaker state?"
Hearing this, Yukinoshita closed her eyes and communicated with Bing Ji.
Soon, Yukinoshita gave Leon the answer.
"At this stage, with my magic and physical strength, I can roughly maintain the Balance Breaker state for about three hours of combat."
Yukinoshita felt this was quite good.
She had asked Kiba Yuuto before, and he told her that after activating Balance Breaker, he could fight for about one hour.
Compared to him, being able to maintain it for three hours was already decent.
However, Leon frowned and spoke bluntly.
"No, three hours is still too short. At the very least, you need to be able to maintain the Balance Breaker state for three days to be considered qualified."
These words caused Yukinoshita to startle.
"Does it need to be maintained for that long?"
Yukinoshita didn't quite agree.
In her view, three hours was enough to resolve many battles.
But Leon continued.
"Think about it carefully. If you encounter a situation like the Old Maou Faction attack again, where you're teleported into a maze-like alternate dimension and need to break through one obstacle after another before reaching the final room to face the Boss—is three hours really enough?"
Leon's reminder left Yukinoshita speechless on the spot.
If she truly fell into that kind of situation, how could three hours possibly be sufficient?
Even if she could break through the preceding stages to reach the final Master's Chamber and face the true mastermind, her remaining strength would likely be insufficient to defeat the opponent.
And that was just maintaining the Balance Breaker state for combat. If she used the special abilities of the transformed Sacred Gear, that would be an additional drain, inevitably reducing her magic and stamina further and shortening the duration.
Thinking about it this way, three hours really wasn't enough.
In the original story, when Hyoudou Issei first reached Balance Breaker, he could only maintain it for thirty minutes. If he used the Boosted Gear's abilities for reinforcement, he could only fight for about fifteen minutes. As a result, he always had to calculate his stamina when using Balance Breaker in early battles. While Yukinoshita wasn't in such a dire state, she couldn't afford to be too optimistic.
"By the way, the current White Dragon Emperor can maintain his Balance Breaker state for an entire month. Yet, when he fought me last time, he almost collapsed from exhaustion because he used his abilities too many times."
Leon cited this example, giving Yukinoshita a real sense of the stakes.
Regarding the current White Dragon Emperor, Leon had already taken the time to tell his retainers about him, so Yukinoshita knew exactly what that fierce battle outside Kuoh Town was like.
If even the current White Dragon Emperor, who could maintain Balance Breaker for a month, almost ran out of strength from overusing his abilities, one could imagine that when facing a powerful enemy, both magic and stamina would be consumed violently. No one could afford to hold back in that situation.
In a battle where one must go all out, everyone has to consider how long they can fight regardless of the cost.
Yukinoshita did a rough calculation and found that if she used her Balance Breaker and abilities without regard for consumption, she might not even be able to maintain the fight for half an hour.
That indeed wouldn't do.
"What about you?" Yukinoshita looked at Leon and asked, "How long can you maintain Balance Breaker?"
"Me?" Leon cocked an eyebrow and smiled. "A conservative estimate? I should be able to maintain it for about three months."
Yukinoshita fell silent.
Three months——
This was better than her three hours, and even better than the current White Dragon Emperor's one month, by an unknown margin. But this was also normal; current Leon was a ten-winged class Special-rank Devil, one rank higher than the eight-winged Vali.
Even though Vali was a descendant of Lucifer with naturally massive magic power—to the point where he could briefly use Juggernaut Drive by consuming vast amounts of magic—Leon was already a Perfect Devil. His bloodline was not inferior to Vali's and might even be stronger. Naturally, he wouldn't be weaker.
A three-month duration for Balance Breaker was truly a conservative estimate for Leon.
If he really pushed it, Leon could certainly maintain it for longer. But just as Vali had to leave a margin for using his abilities, Leon made this conservative estimate considering his own consumption when using abilities, ensuring he left himself some breathing room.
"You already have magic power on the level of a High-class Devil. Most of the consumption during Balance Breaker can be offset by magic. If your physical stamina can increase further, you should be able to maintain it for even longer."
Leon offered his suggestion to Yukinoshita.
Like Hyoudou Issei, who was born with extremely weak magic—not even comparable to a Low-class Devil—he could only increase his Balance Breaker duration by training his physical fitness, using stamina as fuel for the Sacred Gear. Yukinoshita's situation was the exact opposite; she relied on magic power as fuel.
If Hyoudou Issei's magic power could be stronger, his Balance Breaker duration would definitely be longer. Unfortunately, he had zero talent in that area and could only honestly train his body.
As for Yukinoshita——it seemed to be the same.
"——My stamina has always been a weakness. Even after reincarnating as a devil, this weakness still exists."
Yukinoshita was quite annoyed by this.
Back when she was human, Yukinoshita's stamina wasn't very good. As a result, even though she was skilled in many sports, it was difficult for her to persist because of her lack of physical endurance. She was like two different people before and after starting a match.
Before the match, Yukinoshita was the most brilliant star on the sports field. Whether it was tennis or even horse riding, she was second to none.
But after starting, this brilliant star could usually only hold out for a few minutes before she was done——
This situation hadn't improved much even after reincarnating as a devil.
After becoming a devil, Yukinoshita's constitution became much stronger, and her stamina was certainly better than an average human's, but compared to other devils, she was quite far behind.
How far behind?
Well——roughly the bottom of the entire Eligos peerage.
Not to mention the close-combat specialist Yuuki Asuna, even compared to the literary girl Kasumigaoka Utaha, Yukinoshita was quite a bit worse.
As for Shiina Mahiru——the "Angel-sama" was actually very good at sports; before reincarnating as a devil, she was a top-tier athlete in her class.
Needless to say for Ram and Rem; those two were Oni who possessed naturally powerful bodies. Even Ram, whose talent tree was skewed, had better physical stamina than Yukinoshita. Ravel was about the same—at least more durable than Yukinoshita.
It wasn't that Yukinoshita was bad at sports; it was just that her stamina truly failed her, and her endurance was concerning.
Unlike Leon—after evolving into a Perfect Devil, his physical fitness had increased tremendously. Presumably, even without relying on magic power, he could maintain a Sacred Gear's Balance Breaker for a long time using just his stamina.
"Try your best to overcome it," Leon said, knowing her situation well. "If it really doesn't work, then specialize in magic training. Since it's all used as fuel, there's no difference between stamina or magic anyway."
Yukinoshita nodded, but in her heart, she secretly decided to spend some time properly training her physical fitness.
"It's getting late. I'm going to go test my new power."
Having made up her mind, Yukinoshita didn't delay. she stood up nimbly, picked up her clothes from the floor, dressed quickly, and left.
"Wait——is there such a hurry?"
Leon, who had wanted to linger with the girl for a bit longer, was left dazed. But he immediately turned his head toward the other side, his eyes shining as he focused on the soundly sleeping Yuuki Asuna.
"Mm——!"
The chestnut-haired girl was suddenly startled awake, her eyes wide.
The atmosphere in the room, once again, became ambiguous——
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