Absolute Demise

"Clang—"

Waves of red light rose like a barrier from the magic circle inscribed on the ground, enveloping Leo and Yukino Yukinoshita as they stood within it.

Yukino felt her view gradually swallowed by the red glow. But soon, the light dimmed, and her vision cleared again.

When her sight returned, she and Leo were no longer in the Service Club's meeting room at Sobu High School. They had arrived in a vast underground training room.

It was the training room beneath Leo's manor.

"So we really did get transported in an instant..."

Yukino murmured as she looked down at the magic circle beneath her feet, identical to the one in the Service Club's meeting room.

"We still have some time before class. Until then, I'll help you get familiar with your powers and current condition." Leo had long since grown used to this sort of thing. He snapped his fingers to draw Yukino's attention. "Do you remember what I explained on the way to school about Devil servants?"

"Of course." As the top student in her year, Yukino had an excellent memory. And with something so closely connected to her, her mind was especially alert. She answered carefully, "All Devil servants who are reincarnated as Devils, myself included, are brought back using items that resemble chess pieces, right?"

"Right. They're called Evil Pieces. The current Devil King, Beelzebub, created them as reincarnation tools to save the Devil population from dwindling. Only High-Class Devils with a peerage are granted them." Leo nodded. "The pieces follow the roles in chess. I'm the 'King.' After registering at a stone tablet in a Lord's Castle or Maou's Castle—both found only in the Underworld's various territories—I received a total of fifteen Evil Pieces."

"Those fifteen pieces are one 'Queen,' two 'Rooks,' two 'Bishops,' two 'Knights,' and eight 'Pawns.'"

"Once these pieces are given to someone and used to reincarnate them as a Devil, the servant gains different traits depending on the piece they receive."

Leo raised his hand, and a magic circle appeared above it. One by one, red chess pieces flew out and lined up in front of Yukino.

"'Rooks' have incredible attack power and sturdy defenses. They can use an ability called 'Castling,' and are worth five Pawns."

"'Bishops' are suited to servants who excel at using Demonic Power. They're worth three Pawns."

"'Knights' are suited to servants who excel at high-speed combat. They're also worth three Pawns."

"The 'Queen' is worth the most, at nine Pawns. It has the powers of all the other pieces, and its attack power, defense, Demonic Power, and speed are all the strongest among servants."

As Leo introduced each piece, it flew over to Yukino. Finally, all eight Pawns flew over together. They were identical in appearance.

"These are the last of them: the 'Pawns.' They're worth the least, but there are more of them than any other piece. Their special trait is promotion. On a field the 'King' has designated as enemy territory, they can promote to any of the pieces I mentioned and gain its abilities, switching between them as they please. They may be easy to overlook, but they're an unpredictable factor you can't afford to ignore."

After Leo finished explaining all the Evil Pieces, Yukino understood at once.

"So... I'm one of your 'Bishops,' right?"

Yukino had noticed that only one type of piece was missing from the ones Leo had shown her: the 'Bishops.'

The single 'Queen' was still there, as were all eight 'Pawns.' Both 'Rooks' and 'Knights' were also still accounted for. Only one 'Bishop' remained. The meaning was obvious.

"That's right." Leo put away all the Evil Pieces and smiled. "You're one of my 'Bishops.' Your trait is Demonic Power. After being reincarnated as a Devil, your Demonic Power has grown quite a bit stronger—far beyond that of an ordinary Low-Class Devil."

As he spoke, Leo regarded Yukino with a satisfied look.

After someone was reincarnated using an Evil Piece, their qualities weren't fixed. They were determined by that person's potential.

Take Demonic Power, for example. All Devils possessed it, including reincarnated Devil servants. But some servants gained a great deal of Demonic Power after reincarnation, while others gained very little. It mainly depended on whether the person had a talent for it after becoming a Devil.

One of the future Heavenly Dragons, the one known as the Red Dragon Emperor, had next to no Demonic Power when he was reincarnated as a Devil. He couldn't even use magic-circle teleportation. Instead, every night he had to pedal off on his bicycle to the humans who'd activated his flyers. Talk about a lackluster entrance.

But Yukino had awakened a considerable amount of Demonic Power after her reincarnation. She was already close to Leo's level at ten years old.

At just three, his Demonic Power had already been among the strongest of the Middle-Class Devils. After seven years of training, it had grown even stronger, and he was close to reaching the limits of a Middle-Class Devil.

Yukino's Demonic Power was already this formidable. The 'Bishop' piece had certainly helped enhance it, but her own talent for Demonic Power was exceptional—no less impressive than that of some Pure-blood Devils. She was a bona fide rising star.

No wonder she'd been the leading heroine in her original world. Whether as a human or a Devil, she was an exemplary student.

With proper training, Yukino would soon become a capable Middle-Class Devil combatant—one of the best among them.

And that was only considering her abilities as a Devil.

Compared with the power truly slumbering within Yukino, her Devil abilities were insignificant.

"Now, close your eyes and imagine what you think is the most powerful thing in the world."

Leo's purpose here was to guide Yukino into awakening the power that lay dormant inside her.

Yukino closed her eyes, almost instinctively obeying her "Master."

"The most powerful thing...?"

Yukino almost immediately thought of one person: Haruno Yukinoshita.

Her older sister was also the person she had always looked up to and wanted to surpass.

Yukino was confident in her own abilities, but that depended on who she was comparing herself to.

Compared to her older sister, who was said to be a Perfect Superman, Yukino fell far short.

For years, Yukino had lived in the shadow of her outstanding sister, and it hadn't been a happy life.

At home, just as at school, she'd had similar experiences of being isolated. She wasn't like her sister, who was always doted on and could meet everyone's expectations. Those around her considered her a well-behaved, sensible child, but that was just another way of saying she was distant and unlikeable. Yukino had felt constrained for as long as she could remember.

So even though Yukino was confident, she was also insecure. She thought she was merely a substitute for her sister, a doll without a self of her own. She longed to change, yet felt lost about the future.

In those circumstances, even though Yukino knew perfectly well that Leo and the Fallen Angel from the day before were stronger than Haruno in any practical sense, she still couldn't help thinking of her sister when asked to picture the most powerful thing in the world.

That was the result of a deeply ingrained subconscious, regardless of the facts.

In that instant, Yukino's emotions surged beyond her control, stirring the power hidden deep within her.

"Now. Draw out that power."

At Leo's sudden words, Yukino nearly stopped breathing. She obeyed on reflex.

"Boom!"

A rumble rang through the air.

The temperature in the training room plunged. Frigid winds swept through, whipping up waves of snow.

Yukino's clothes whipped violently around her. Her eyes were shut tight, yet a figure had appeared behind her out of nowhere.

It was a humanoid monster about three meters tall, its body made entirely of Ice. It wore what looked like a formal gown and had four slender arms. It had no mouth or nose. Six eyes grew on the left side of its face, while thorn-like protrusions jutted from the right.

"W-What is that?"

Yukino opened her eyes and saw the Ice Princess standing behind her. She couldn't help flinching in fright.

Leo's voice reached her at just the right moment.

"This is the true form of the Sacred Gear dwelling within you."

Leo came to Yukino's side and gazed at the three-meter-tall Ice Princess, the corners of his mouth slowly lifting.

"Sacred Gears vary in strength. The powerful ones can let their hosts wield power on par with a god or Devil King; the weak ones can only cause minor changes to their lives."

"Most Sacred Gears fall into the latter category. At most, they can affect human society; they can't affect supernatural beings like us."

"But a small number of Sacred Gears can threaten beings like us. And an extremely rare few possess the power to destroy gods and Devil Kings."

Leo's gaze gleamed as he looked at the Ice Princess.

"Those are the highest-ranking Sacred Gears. Their power is so great and dangerous that Heaven and Grigori track their movements closely."

"At present, only thirteen such terrifying powers exist. Each one could upset the balance between factions."

"We call them—Longinus."

The Sacred Gear Yukino possessed was, like Zenith Tempest, one of the Sacred Gears known as Longinus.

"Absolute Demise"—the eleventh-ranked Longinus. It was a legendary Independent Manifestation Type Sacred Gear said to be capable of freezing everything and creating a world of ice crystals.

In the original work, this Longinus belonged to a mage named Lavinia Reni.

But in this world, Yukino had become its master.