Small Is Also Cute

"A Longinus... capable of destroying gods and demon lords?"

In the basement training room, which had gradually transformed into a frozen land, Yukino Yukinoshita stared blankly at the grotesque entity standing behind her, her head spinning.

She couldn't fully grasp just how terrifying this Sacred Gear was, but seeing the spacious basement—large enough to fit several football fields—instantly turn into an ice sheet, she finally understood why the fallen angels considered her a dangerous element.

If such power were unleashed in the human world, it was impossible to imagine the consequences.

The moment she realized this, Yukino Yukinoshita finally felt a surge of lingering fear.

If this kind of power had appeared on the day school started, then Mother and Sister...

They would have surely ended up like the tires on that car, frozen solid into ice blocks, right?

And everyone on that street would have been turned into ice sculptures, losing their lives in an instant.

Just imagine: if someone around you possessed this kind of power, and you were completely oblivious to it, with the risk of them losing control at any moment—wouldn't you also view them as a dangerous element?

While she wouldn't go so far as to wish for the person to be killed, if she were honest with herself, Yukino Yukinoshita knew she would definitely want such a dangerous existence to stay far away from her, preferably never to return.

"Understand now?" Leo patted Yukino Yukinoshita on the shoulder and said, "If this kind of power is left unchecked, no one would ever want to see it."

"Therefore, even if you weren't willing to become a devil, you would have been taken away by the angels or the fallen angels, making it impossible to return to a peaceful daily life."

"In a sense, many people should be relieved that I took you into my peerage. It means there is someone capable of watching over you and keeping you in check, minimizing the risk of you losing control in the future."

"How about it? Do you still have any grievances?"

Hearing this, Yukino Yukinoshita was silent for a moment before sighing.

"I am a bit unwilling, but that doesn't mean I have grievances." Yukino Yukinoshita finally spoke her true feelings. "I know that in that situation, if you hadn't reincarnated me as a devil, I would have certainly died."

"So, I have never resented you; in fact, I even feel some gratitude toward you."

"I'm just not used to it yet—suddenly seeing such a world and becoming a non-human existence..."

If that weren't the case, given Yukino Yukinoshita's personality, how could she possibly have followed Leo around so obediently?

Although she didn't particularly want to be a devil, it was a fact that Leo had saved her, and it was a fact that she had survived because of it. Thus, Yukino Yukinoshita had long accepted the outcome; she was simply struggling to adapt and still harbored some lingering reluctance.

Now, having truly realized how terrifying her power was, Yukino Yukinoshita adjusted her mindset.

"Setting other things aside for a moment, can you first teach me how to use this power?" Yukino Yukinoshita turned to Leo, her expression extremely serious. "I don't want this power to appear uncontrollably ever again."

"Rest assured, that is exactly what I intend to do next." Leo said quite readily, "Whether it's the power of a devil or the power of a Sacred Gear, I will teach you how to use them all."

This was his first peerage member, a stock with infinite potential. If he didn't train her well, it would be a complete waste of talent.

He had many things to do in the future. Whether it was restoring the Eligos clan or making his debut as a new pure-blooded high-class devil, he would need powerful peerage members to assist him and help him go further.

It wasn't just Yukino Yukinoshita; he had to put in a serious effort himself as well.

After all, he was also a wielder of a Longinus, and the second-ranked top-tier Longinus at that.

Having decided on his next course of action, Leo did not begin the instruction immediately. Instead, he brought Yukino Yukinoshita to the fourth floor of the manor and into a study.

The room was packed with dozens of dense bookshelves, and these were not books from the mundane world, but rather texts related to the arcane.

These were the former collections of the Eligos clan. After Leo inherited the Eligos surname, these books had been gradually returned to his possession by the Underworld, among which were many exceptionally precious ancestral volumes.

Over the years, Leo had slowly learned the knowledge of devils from these books. They contained secret arts passed down through generations of the Eligos family, the most suitable methods for family members to train and utilize demonic power as explored and refined by his ancestors, techniques for utilizing their specialty in sensory abilities, and precious magic books handed down from ancient times—they were truly priceless.

Unfortunately, due to the severed lineage of the past, many of the Eligos family's treasures had been lost. The ones before them had already been perused by the various devil clans in the Underworld, so they were no longer as rare as they once were. However, for Leo and Yukino Yukinoshita, who were in need of such knowledge, they were undoubtedly still invaluable. For ordinary beings without a background, their value remained undiminished; if they were ever leaked to the outside world, they would certainly be snatched up in a frenzy.

Leo handed the book containing the demonic power training methods to Yukino Yukinoshita, telling her to memorize the contents and learn to utilize her own demonic power first. Meanwhile, he searched the shelves for books related to Sacred Gears and began to study the knowledge of how to wield them.

Sacred Gears had existed in the world for a very long time. Over the long years, all major factions had come into contact with Sacred Gear users. Even if their understanding of Sacred Gears did not reach the level of the Grigori, who specialized in the field, they were far from ignorant.

Both Leo and Yukino Yukinoshita needed this knowledge and guidance to slowly learn how to use their own Sacred Gears.

And so, the two simply took leave from school and stayed in the manor to study diligently.

This caused quite a stir among the many people at Sobu High School who had seen the two arrive at school.

A man and a woman both came to school, yet they weren't in the classroom all day and had taken leave instead?

Who would believe there wasn't something fishy going on?

Especially after someone confirmed that Leo and Yukino Yukinoshita had entered the Service Club room together and hadn't come out since, it was impossible not to suspect what they were doing in there.

Thanks to this, rumors about Leo and Yukino Yukinoshita spread smoothly throughout Sobu High School, eventually causing quite a significant impact.

However, none of this mattered to Leo and Yukino Yukinoshita at the moment. The two were completely unaware that rumors about them had spread through the school, and they remained hidden in the manor, studying hard.

When evening arrived, Leo wouldn't let Yukino Yukinoshita go home.

"You're my peerage now; there's no reason you can't just stay here."

This sentence made Yukino Yukinoshita reveal a guarded expression.

"I feel that my chastity might be under threat, so I refuse."

Yukino Yukinoshita said those words without the slightest hesitation.

Who would have thought that Leo would raise an eyebrow, let his gaze linger on Yukino Yukinoshita's chest for a moment, and then immediately show an expression of extreme disdain.

He didn't say a word, yet it felt as if he had said everything, causing Yukino Yukinoshita to clench her small, pink fists.

"Say whatever it is you want to say!"

"No, I don't want to say anything."

"But your malicious and incredibly lewd gaze has already betrayed you."

"Fine, that is, assuming I actually had malicious intent."

"Are you trying to make excuses for yourself?"

"I just wanted to tell you that one should value self-awareness."

"Are you implying that I'm not cute? That no one would harbor ill intentions toward me?"

"Don't say that; there are still people like that out there. Perhaps some might even find 'small' to be quite cute?"

"!!!"

After this brief exchange, Yukino Yukinoshita lost her composure once again, causing the absolute demise to appear behind her, silently releasing an astonishing freezing aura.

Yet, just as Yukino Yukinoshita began to feel that things were taking a turn for the worse, Leo casually raised his hand and snapped his fingers, causing the terrifying frost to vanish in an instant.

It was only at this moment that Yukino Yukinoshita realized just how strong Leo truly was.

In her eyes, the power she had unleashed was already formidable; she could easily cause large-scale freezing phenomena with devastating destructive power. Yet, this very power was dealt with by Leo with a mere flick of his hand.

"Is this the power of a high-class devil?"

For the first time, Yukino Yukinoshita gained a true understanding of Leo's strength.

"It's just that you still haven't learned how to properly utilize your sacred gear."

That was all Leo said.

The ability to make that astonishing freezing aura disappear didn't come from the power of a high-class devil, but from the power of the zenith tempest.

The zenith tempest could manipulate weather and natural elements at will, and ice-attribute power was among them. The absolute demise was only ranked eleventh among the longinus, placing it on the lower end of the spectrum. Naturally, Leo was able to interfere with it by using the power of a top-tier longinus.

Of course, this was also because Yukino Yukinoshita was currently too weak; she could neither use her sacred gear well nor wield her demonic power effectively, which was why she was suppressed by Leo. Otherwise, since both were longinus, even if Leo could control the other's power, it wouldn't have been so effortless.

"Keep working hard."

Leo gave his peerage a timely bit of discipline, leaving Yukino Yukinoshita with a look of frustration.

In the end, Yukino Yukinoshita stayed the night at Leo's manor.

There was no helping it; her apartment simply couldn't support her as she trained her powers.

Moreover, Leo had told her one more thing.

"Get ready. The meeting we discussed earlier is about to begin."

The high-class devil, who represents the underworld in providing aid to Leo and is responsible for coordinating with him, is about to arrive here.

Night fell quietly.

When the sun had completely set and the sky was blanketed in darkness, Yukino Yukinoshita finally understood the situation Leo had described during the day.

As soon as night arrived, Yukino Yukinoshita immediately felt her body, which had felt somewhat sluggish during the day, suddenly begin to operate smoothly, like a clockwork machine being wound up.

Power began to surge within her, and her spirit became invigorated. It was as if a fish had returned to the water; the night, which humans instinctively fear, actually felt incredibly welcoming to Yukino Yukinoshita. She even seemed to have gained night vision, to the point where she could see very far into the distance even without any light.

Under these circumstances, the two of them went down to the basement together.

There, the magic circle carved into the floor was growing brighter and brighter.