Mutation Piece

The manor, first floor, reception room.

Leo and his group of four arrived in this rather luxurious reception room and took their respective seats.

The room was furnished with finely crafted coffee tables and sofas. The interior decor was opulent, with every piece of furniture being a luxury item. Even the carpet spread across the floor looked expensive at a glance; it was the kind of place that left no room for concern about lacking prestige when hosting guests.

However, Leo and Sona Shitori chose not to sit there. Instead, they moved to the adjacent open-air balcony, sitting across from each other at a small white table, making the distance between them feel less formal.

Tsubaki Shinra pushed a tea cart, taking the place of a familiar, and began brewing tea for Leo and Sona Shitori.

Yukino Yukinoshita stood behind Leo, silent and motionless, truly looking the part of a loyal and dutiful servant of a peerage.

Served by Tsubaki Shinra, Leo and Sona Shitori chatted like old friends, eventually circling back to the topic they had just been discussing.

"Are you saying that your evil pieces choose their reincarnation candidates autonomously?"

Sona Shitori sipped her tea, looking at Leo with surprise.

"That's right." Leo held an evil piece in his hand, fiddling with it as he spoke. "The moment I first tried to approach Yukino, the evil piece in my hand had a strange reaction."

Hearing Leo address her by her first name, Yukino Yukinoshita looked a bit uncomfortable.

Leo ignored this and continued.

"They seem to resonate with the reincarnation candidate most suited to them. For instance, when I approached Yukino, the bishop piece in my hand kept glowing."

This was a phenomenon not seen with other evil pieces.

"Although all the evil pieces reacted to Yukino at the time, the bishop piece had the strongest reaction. That's why I believe the first change that occurred after my evil pieces connected with my own traits is that they can provide me with hints, letting me know who is suitable to be my peerage member, and which role they are best suited for."

Leo brought the evil piece in his hand closer to Sona Shitori, and the piece immediately began to emit a red light.

"Look, this piece is reacting to you right now, suggesting that you are suitable for it, and suitable to become a member of my peerage." Leo said jokingly, "How about it? Would you consider coming over to my side?"

"I wouldn't mind." Sona replied with a straight face. "As long as you can withstand the wrath of the Sitri clan and my sister, I wouldn't rule it out."

"I'll pass on that." Leo immediately put the piece away, raising his hands in surrender. "The Sitri clan is one thing, but I don't want to be targeted by your sister with that sister complex."

Just kidding. That was the current Leviathan, one of the strongest devils in the Underworld. Her strength had already surpassed the strict definition of a devil class, reaching a level that would later be called super devil class. His fragile frame couldn't handle being toyed with by someone like that.

"So, you chose to give the bishop piece to Yukinoshita?"

Sona Shitori didn't take it to heart and continued to inquire.

"I had considered giving her the queen piece. After all, she is a holder of a longinus; she has the qualifications and deserves that level of importance." Leo glanced at the silent Yukino Yukinoshita behind him and said, "But after much deliberation, I decided to follow the choice of the piece itself."

In practical terms, Yukino Yukinoshita was indeed very well-suited for the bishop piece, a fact that could be glimpsed from the talent for demonic power she displayed after her reincarnation.

Her sacred gear was not a close-quarters type, but rather leaned toward long-range, wide-area strikes. Therefore, the rook and knight pieces did not have high compatibility with her, which was also evident from the reactions of the evil pieces at the time.

When Leo made contact with Yukino Yukinoshita, all fifteen of his pieces reacted, but the bishop piece showed the strongest response. The rook, knight, and pawn pieces showed only mediocre reactions, while the queen piece had the weakest response of all, indicating that the queen piece was not particularly well-suited for Yukino Yukinoshita.

"This is the first change brought about by my evil pieces: they produce varying degrees of reaction toward potential candidates for reincarnation. The stronger the reaction, the more suitable the individual should be for that specific piece."

Leo reached this conclusion easily; it wasn't hard to guess.

"And the second change?" Sona Shitori caught the blind spot. "Since there is a first change, it implies there are others, right?"

"Exactly." Leo snapped his fingers and smiled. "The second change is still just a hypothesis, but once Yukino successfully reincarnates using a single bishop, this theory should be all but confirmed."

Yukino Yukinoshita and Tsubaki Shinra didn't quite catch the meaning behind those words, but Sona Shitori understood instantly.

"You mean... mutation pieces?"

The eyes behind Sona Shitori's glasses glinted slightly.

"As expected of you, you caught onto what I was saying immediately."

Leo smiled and confirmed Sona Shitori's assessment.

"What are mutation pieces?"

Yukino Yukinoshita knew she shouldn't be asking questions in this setting to avoid appearing ignorant, but she couldn't help herself.

It was Tsubaki Shinra, not Leo or Sona Shitori, who provided the explanation.

"Mutation pieces refer to a special type of piece that differs from standard evil pieces. I've heard they are an anomaly that occurred during the creation of the evil piece system. They appear randomly among manufactured pieces; roughly one in every ten high-class devils possesses one. When a candidate requires multiple pieces to complete a successful reincarnation, using just one of these mutation pieces can achieve the same result."

Listening to Tsubaki Shinra's explanation, Yukino Yukinoshita gradually began to understand.

It is said that the number of evil pieces required to reincarnate a human into a devil is not fixed; it is determined by the candidate's own ability and potential. If an individual's ability and potential are exceptionally high, it sometimes requires multiple pieces of the same type to successfully complete the reincarnation.

For example, the future red dragon emperor required eight pawn pieces for his reincarnation. In terms of value, that far exceeded the bishop and knight pieces—which are each worth three pawns—and even surpassed the rook piece, which is worth five pawns, falling just short of the queen piece, which is worth nine.

"Yukino is a wielder of a longinus. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't be surprising if it took both of my bishop pieces to successfully reincarnate her. Yet, I only used one. Furthermore, I verified this when I first received my evil pieces: none of them were mutation pieces."

Leo spoke eloquently to Sona Shitori.

"This gives me sufficient reason to believe that, under the influence of my mutation trait, my evil pieces may all possess the same properties as mutation pieces. They can successfully reincarnate high-ability, high-potential candidates using only a single piece."

This was undoubtedly a good thing.

High-class devils serving as kings often struggle with the dilemma of whether to prioritize the quantity of their peerage—aiming to collect all fifteen members—or to prioritize quality, sparing no effort to recruit servants with high potential.

For Leo, this dilemma was even more significant, as both the quantity and quality of his peerage would affect how much feedback and improvement he could gain through his peerage transformation trait.

Now, however, he likely wouldn't have to worry about that anymore.

If all his evil pieces possessed the same properties as mutation pieces due to his peerage transformation trait, he wouldn't have to worry about his gains diminishing due to a smaller number of subordinates. From now on, he only needed to consider the potential of his peerage, recruiting as many high-ability, high-potential servants as possible.

"This is truly an incredible change." Sona Shitori exhaled in amazement, saying, "All fifteen pieces are mutation pieces; such a thing is simply unheard of. I can't even imagine how much of an advantage this will bring you."

"For now, the changes have only been beneficial, but whether there are any drawbacks remains to be explored." Leo was uncharacteristically rational this time; instead of being smug, he said calmly, "I have only discovered these two changes so far. As for whether there are others, I am not yet sure."

"I will submit a report to Lord Beelzebub. I believe he will be very interested in this." Sona Shitori's gaze toward Leo turned serious. "So, that covers the changes to the pieces for now. What about the changes to yourself?"

"According to what you told me, once you successfully recruit your peerage, your traits should take effect and provide you with corresponding feedback, right?"

"Have you already received this feedback?"

Under Sona Shitori's gaze, which felt almost tangible as if she were trying to see right through him, Leo smiled slightly.

Swish!

Three pairs of devil wings unfurled behind Leo. At the same time, his body seemed to ignite with flames, erupting with an astonishing fluctuation of demonic power.

"This is...?!"

Sona Shitori's eyes narrowed.

"Six-wing?" Tsubaki Shinra was even more shocked, saying in utter astonishment, "And this demonic power..."

This demonic power was already stronger than that of her own master, Sona Shitori.

How was this possible?

Tsubaki Shinra remembered clearly that Leo had only recently been promoted to a high-class devil, and his demonic power was actually quite a bit weaker than her master's.

Yet now, not only did he possess demonic power exceeding her master's, but his very status as a devil had also been elevated?

"This is what I gained this time." Leo retracted his demonic power and wings, smiling. "How about it? Not bad, right?"

As for Zenith Tempest, Leo did not mention it.

It wasn't that he was unwilling to talk about it, but rather that he felt it was too early.

As a top-tier longinus ranked second among all longinus, if this item were exposed, it would surely cause a sensation throughout the entire underworld.

Leo was not yet familiar with how to utilize Zenith Tempest, so he felt it was better to keep his cards close to his chest for now. It wouldn't be too late to reveal it once his strength was sufficient.