How Should I Arrange It?

Sword Birth, Zenith Tempest, and Absolute Demise are all Sacred Gears that had wielders in the original work.

The difference is that Leo's Zenith Tempest and Yukino Yukinoshita's Absolute Demise are both Longinus—unique, one-of-a-kind existences. While Asuna Yuuki's Sword Birth is an extremely rare Sacred Gear, it is not a Longinus, meaning the possibility exists for multiple copies to appear.

Under these circumstances, it should not have been surprising that Asuna Yuuki's Sacred Gear was Sword Birth. After all, when Leo reincarnated her as a devil, he already knew her potential was not far behind Yukino Yukinoshita's; the Sacred Gear within her was bound to be a powerful and rare type.

However, when Asuna Yuuki awakened her Sacred Gear and displayed the power of Sword Birth, Leo was still astonished.

The reason was simple: he had never expected one of his own reincarnated devils to be the wielder of a Sacred Gear known as the natural enemy of devils.

A devil, wielding a Sacred Gear with a special attack trait against devils?

Furthermore, it possessed a holy attribute—a terrifying power that restrained devils even more effectively than the light power of angels and fallen angels.

What do you call this? A traitor in our midst?

But it had to be said, this was a Sacred Gear perfectly suited for the Knight rank.

"It's clear that your future role will be that of a swordsman."

Leo smiled at Asuna Yuuki, who had opened her eyes and was staring in a daze at the holy swords manifesting around her.

"With the speed characteristic granted by your Knight rank, as long as you can properly unleash the power of these holy swords, the threat you pose to our own kind might even surpass that of myself and Yukino."

Although it was a Sacred Gear with a special attack trait against devils, that did not mean Asuna Yuuki would be useless.

Devils engage in internal strife, and when they do, it is often more brutal than any other race. The Underworld was once divided into the Old Satan Faction and the Reformist Faction, leading to a horrific civil war where many devils perished. Even now, many historical issues remain, causing incidents to erupt in the Underworld from time to time.

In the future, the Old Satan Faction would become a major enemy of the current Underworld. When that time came, Asuna Yuuki would surely be able to shine and become a rising star among devils.

Even without considering civil war, Asuna Yuuki's power would still have its uses.

One must know that the most popular competitive sport in the Underworld today is the Rating Game.

It is the most highly regarded competitive event, and all devils—from the Satans down to the common citizens—are loyal fans of the sport.

After many pure-blooded families among the 72 pillars went extinct, the current Satan Beelzebub developed Evil Pieces to save the dwindling devil population, and this competitive sport began to gain popularity.

The main participants are devils who serve as Kings, leading their own peerage to battle against teams led by other Kings. Under various match rules, they compete for victory, demonstrating their own strength and that of their peerage to the higher-ups and the general public, as well as their ability to utilize the rules to achieve victory.

Today, the Rating Game has become one of the most important ways to determine a devil's status. A devil's performance in the Rating Game directly influences how the higher-ups evaluate them and their peerage. If they perform well and receive high marks, it is not uncommon for them to receive promotions in rank or be granted titles afterward.

Throughout history, countless devils have made a name for themselves and risen to prominence through the Rating Game. Many have used it to advance from low-class devils to middle-class devils, and then to ultimate-class devils, eventually gaining the opportunity to recruit their own peerage and debut as a King, just like their masters.

Therefore, participating in the Rating Game has become a future that the new generation of devils yearns for. Even upper-class devils who have already become Kings wish to use this opportunity to continue climbing the ranks and become ultimate-class devils, the highest rank below the Satans.

Sona Shitori, for instance, has the intention to participate in the Rating Game, hoping to use it to achieve a certain dream of hers. Sona Shitori's childhood friend from the Gremory clan also shares the desire to dominate the Rating Game.

There are only two requirements for participating in the Rating Game: one must be a peerage team led by a King, and one must be of age.

Leo, Sona Shitori, and Rias Gremory would all reach the age of eighteen this year. Before long, they would be able to debut as the new generation of devils, at which point they could begin preparations for participating in Rating Games.

Leo certainly had thoughts of participating in the Rating Games himself. Even though he knew that if things followed the original plot, the world would likely descend into chaos before long—making it uncertain whether the Rating Games could even proceed smoothly—many scions of pure-blood devil families among this new generation were about to debut. A debut match for the new generation of devils would be held, and he would likely be required to participate.

Whether it was for the Rating Games or the debut match, Asuna Yuuki, who possessed a Sacred Gear with the holy attribute that countered devils, would become a powerful trump card.

When the time came, for Leo's opponents, the threat posed by Asuna Yuuki might not necessarily be lower than that of Leo and Yukino Yukinoshita, the two Longinus possessors.

However...

"I'm also having a bit of a headache trying to figure out how to arrange things for you."

Leo's words caused both Yukino Yukinoshita and Asuna Yuuki to pause slightly.

"Is there a problem?"

Yukino Yukinoshita asked on behalf of Asuna Yuuki.

"A problem that's neither too big nor too small." Leo didn't hide anything. "The Eligos clan is a very traditional devil family. The abilities of our family members are developed almost exclusively in the direction of demonic power; practically no one focuses on melee combat."

"You and I are traditional devils based on demonic power, so we can easily find the knowledge we need in the family archives to learn and utilize our demonic power."

"Even regarding Sacred Gears, the family archives contain some relevant records, as our family members have encountered quite a few Sacred Gear users throughout history."

"But when it comes to swordsmanship and sword techniques, I suspect there is almost no relevant knowledge in the family archives at all."

In other words, Asuna Yuuki could learn to utilize demonic power here, and she could learn to utilize her Sacred Gear here, but her weapon was a sword. Beyond the techniques for using her Sacred Gear, she absolutely needed skills for wielding a sword.

The family archives could teach her how to stimulate the power of her Sacred Gear to create holy swords with different attributes and abilities, but they couldn't teach her how to swing a sword or how to execute brilliant melee techniques in battle against an enemy. That was something that required separate study.

Neither Leo nor Yukino Yukinoshita had much experience in melee combat, let alone sword techniques.

Yukino Yukinoshita was slightly better off, as she had at least mastered some aikido techniques. As for Leo, he truly hadn't mastered much in the way of melee combat abilities.

Don't be fooled by his effortless performance in his battle against Sharon. Even when she unleashed a continuous barrage of attacks, he had been able to dodge them easily by relying on his footwork. However, that wasn't due to pure melee aptitude, but rather the aid of his demonic power.

The Eligos clan's demonic power was exceptionally adept at perception. Leo had spread his demonic power out at the time, allowing him to see through Sharon's movements, which was why he could dodge with such ease.

But that was only temporary. If Sharon had employed surprise attacks, even if he could perceive her movements, his body's reaction time wouldn't have been able to keep up.

That was the reason why Leo had later been forced to use his demonic power to construct barriers to block Sharon's attacks, and then shift from defense to offense by bombarding her with violent bursts of demonic power.

In summary, Leo was truly not skilled at melee combat, even though a devil's physical capabilities far exceeded those of an ordinary human.

"If it's just a matter of needing to learn swordsmanship, it shouldn't be that difficult, right?"

Yukino Yukinoshita frowned. For a moment, she even considered using the influence of the Yukinoshita family to find some kendo masters to train Asuna Yuuki.

"Indeed, human kendo isn't entirely useless, but it is ultimately something suited for humans, and it may not necessarily be suitable for devils." Leo saw through Yukino Yukinoshita's thoughts. After some consideration, he finally said, "In this case, it's better to seek help from the outside. There's no need to be fixated on solving it ourselves."

"Seek help from the outside?" Yukino Yukinoshita thought of something and said, "President Sona?"

"Correct." Leo nodded and said, "The Sitri clan has always been my supporters and backers, and their lineage has never been broken. They should be able to solve this problem."

The Eligos clan had died out before the creation of the evil pieces, so no one had ever become a king to lead a peerage, meaning there was no need to consider the development of subordinates.

The Sitri clan was different. Since the birth of the evil pieces, countless kings had led teams, and they had rooks, knights, and pawns under their command who required melee combat abilities. They must have collected a great deal of relevant knowledge.

And then there were the high-ranking devils of the Underworld. By now, they should be paying even more attention to him because of the report Sona Shitori brought back last time, right?

If he were to make a request to them for support in this area, he would likely get his wish.

It was just some knowledge regarding melee techniques, not some family secret like a special method of using demonic power; there was no need to hoard it or be stingy.

What devils valued most was demonic power; they truly didn't hold other types of knowledge in high regard. Many self-important devils even believed that melee combat was something only crude servants needed, and that true devils should fight using demonic power.

"No time to lose, I'll contact Sona right away." Leo stood up and said, "Yukino, why don't you take Asuna for a tour of the manor?"

Yukino Yukinoshita nodded, accepting the task.