A Rare Thing: An Excellent Servant

Leo's estate, underground training room...

As the day brightened and daylight began to replace the darkness, illuminating the whole world, Leo was training in the basement.

It was Saturday, so he didn't have to go to school. Instead of getting up and preparing breakfast before heading to school as he usually did, he'd come straight down to the basement after waking.

"Rumble—"

Amid a series of thunderous booms, thick clouds swirled across the basement ceiling, streaked with flashes of lightning. The air throughout the room grew oppressive, as if a storm were about to break.

Leo stood beneath the clouds, his three pairs of Devil Wings spread wide. Terrifying energy blazed around him as Demonic Power poured into the sky like a torrent, sending bolts of lightning crashing down like a torrential rain.

But the lightning didn't strike the ground. As if guided by an invisible force, it all converged around Leo, forming brilliant balls of lightning.

The spherical bolts danced around him, dazzling to behold. As if obeying Lord of Thunder's command, they zipped back and forth through the basement with astonishing agility.

"Again!"

Feeling he still had energy to spare, Leo immediately activated Zenith Tempest and triggered a second attribute: fire.

In an instant, endless flames appeared out of thin air and burst outward like an explosion. Under Leo's control, however, they gathered around him just like the lightning, forming balls of fire.

The balls of lightning and fire weaved around each other, turning blue-white and crimson into the dominant colors of the basement.

"Boom!"

The next moment, a ball of lightning suddenly collided with a ball of fire, setting off a thunderous blast.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"...

Like a chain reaction, the balls of lightning and fire flying through the air suddenly went berserk, crashing into each other one after another and unleashing a continuous series of thunderous booms.

Flashes of fire and lightning erupted in every direction. The space around Leo became a spectacular explosion, filled with thunderous blasts, fire, and lightning.

"Phew..."

Only after all the balls of lightning and fire had collided and vanished from the air did Leo let out a breath and break into a smile.

"Zenith Tempest really does have limitless potential. I've only gained the memories of its past wielders, which made my use of it more varied and more adept, yet its power has already risen by several levels. It's incredible."

As he grew more practiced at wielding Zenith Tempest, Leo gradually developed an entirely new understanding of the power of this world's second-ranked Longinus.

In his view, Zenith Tempest hadn't even reached the Balance Breaker stage yet, and he still hadn't mastered it to anything close to perfection. Even so, its power was enough to threaten beings one or two levels above him. It was so powerful that it was hard to believe a human could wield it.

"No wonder so many people wonder why God created something like this. Ordinary Sacred Gears aside, Longinus really do have the power to upset the balance of the world. It's no exaggeration to say they can destroy gods and Maou. It's hard to believe God would create a power capable of threatening Him."

Compared to Zenith Tempest, Leo's demonic abilities—the ones that had left Sona Shitori and Sharon wide-eyed—were nothing. They were like a candle beside the sun.

Of course, if Leo didn't have the Demonic Power he did now, he probably wouldn't be able to wield Zenith Tempest so freely.

After all, the basic cost of using a Sacred Gear was stamina, which was why humans could use them. But once someone had transcendent power, they could use that instead to pay the cost.

That was exactly what Leo did. His Demonic Power was so strong that it could completely replace stamina when he used his Sacred Gear. The more Demonic Power he poured in, the greater its power became and the longer he could wield it. He wasn't like the Red Dragon Emperor, who possessed the power to strengthen himself without limit but could barely use it because of his own limitations. What a waste.

Therefore, Leo's strength, which was nearing the limit of a High-Class Devil, was also one of the main reasons Zenith Tempest could display its current power. It was the foundation of Sacred Gear use, so naturally, the stronger the wielder, the better.

"If I keep getting feedback on my Sacred Gear proficiency whenever I take on new servants, then two more with medium potential should let me bring Zenith Tempest's power to its peak."

"If they have high potential, then one might be enough."

"After that, I can move on to the next stage and start figuring out how to reach Balance Breaker."

Balance Breaker was the ultimate realm of a Sacred Gear, a power truly capable of upsetting the balance of the world.

Sacred Gear Users who had reached Balance Breaker and those who hadn't were on completely different levels. Even without using their Balance Breaker abilities, the former could probably suppress the latter—and even beat them effortlessly.

Once Zenith Tempest reached Balance Breaker, Leo would be strong enough to contend with beings of Maou-Class, at the very least.

"Too bad excellent servants are rare."

Leo folded away his wings, landed on the ground, and sighed.

He didn't even know many servants with medium potential, let alone high potential. At present, he knew of just one more.

Sona Shitori had been right. Sobu High School had a lot of potential. Besides Yukino Yukinoshita, there were probably one or two other Sacred Gear wielders hidden there, none of whom had awakened yet.

Sacred Gear wielders were rare, so it was incredible that Sobu High School had several hidden talents like that.

That was also why Leo still insisted on attending Sobu High School. Otherwise, he'd already be thinking about returning to the Underworld and developing the Eligos Clan's territory, which had been neglected for who knew how many years.

"Maybe I should pick up the pace."

Thinking of the promising prospect he'd been spending time with, Leo felt a growing impatience.

"Are you done?"

Yukino Yukinoshita had come into the basement while Leo was lost in thought and walked over to him.

"More or less." Leo came back to himself and nodded at Yukino. "Are you here to train too?"

"I'll come back after lunch." Yukino told him what she had planned, then added, "I came to tell you that the servant you just took in has woken up."

"Want to go see her?"

At that, Leo raised an eyebrow and turned around.

"Let's go welcome our new companion."

On the third floor of the estate, in a room as luxurious as the one Yukino had used before, though furnished in a different style, a girl sat on the bed, staring out the window. For a long time, she didn't react.

Leo brought Yukino with him. When they saw the scene, they instinctively softened their steps and movements.

But the girl seemed to notice their arrival anyway. She turned her head and looked toward the door.

Her chestnut hair moved with her, and then Leo saw her hazel eyes. They weren't especially bright, but they held a distinctive gleam.

"Who are you...?"

The girl, too, paused at Leo's striking appearance. Then she asked in confusion, her voice clear and gentle.

Leo didn't answer her question. He entered the room with the silent Yukino, walked to the bedside, and sat down after bringing over a chair.

"How are you feeling?" Leo met the girl's beautiful, wide eyes and smiled. "Does anything hurt?"

"Um..." The girl hesitated, then seemed to decide to answer honestly. "Nothing hurts, but I feel really sleepy. And being in the sunlight doesn't feel very good."

Hearing that, Yukino couldn't help showing her agreement.

Thinking back to when she'd first been reincarnated as a Devil, she'd been the same. She hadn't felt any pain, but her body had felt strange. During the day, she'd had hardly any energy, and she'd been averse to sunlight.

Now she'd made it through that stage, and it was the newcomer's turn to follow in her footsteps. Yukino found herself feeling a little nostalgic.

She was practically a senior now, wasn't she?

She could talk with the young lady from the Yuki Family later and tell her that she'd gone through the same thing.

"That's normal. You don't need to worry." Leo didn't reveal everything right away. He continued with a smile, "Once you get used to it, you'll find that you haven't just gotten better—you've gotten stronger too."

The slightly chuuni declaration made Yukino purse her lips.

The girl, on the other hand, couldn't wait to ask him about it.

"Did you save me?" The girl looked eager to find out what was going on. "This doesn't look like a hospital. Is it some kind of private rehabilitation facility?"

"Neither." Leo still didn't answer the question she most wanted answered. Smiling, he said, "This is my house. You're in one of the rooms here, not at some private rehabilitation facility."

"Your, your house?" The girl looked surprised, then grew a little wary. "Then who are you...?"

"My name's Leo Eligos. I'm a third-year student at Sobu High School." Leo stopped keeping her in suspense. "You can just call me Leo."

"Mr. Leo." The girl didn't do as he suggested. With impeccable manners, she greeted him before introducing herself. "I'm Asuna Yuuki. I live in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, and I'm currently a second-year student at a private school for the aristocracy there."

She didn't reveal the school's name because she didn't think it was necessary.

After all, she lived in Tokyo, while they were in Chiba. Even if she told him the name of her school, he might not know it.

Still, she had revealed her name and address. Though wary, she'd chosen to trust that Leo meant her no harm.

Even if he did have bad intentions, hearing her surname ought to make him hesitate a little, right?

"Yuuki?"

Leo looked at the girl before him, who seemed both familiar and unfamiliar, and sighed.

"You really are famous."