Unsatisfiable Growth Rate

Inside the vast underground training chamber, immense magic power surged with roars and thunderous booms, triggering the barriers set up within the arena and causing transparent shields to rise.

As the roaring continued, the space within the training room was filled with a chaotic variety of attacks: countless magic bullets rained down, magic beams crisscrossed the air, irregular magic masses spiraled out of control, and dense showers of magic arrows danced through the room.

Leo focused his mind, manipulating his own magic power. He visualized various scenes of destruction, transmuting his magic into cannonballs, arrows, beams, and massive lumps, releasing them one after another.

The power of an upper-class devil is truly astonishing. A casual magic attack can destroy high-rise buildings and leave craters in the ground as if a meteorite had struck. A full-power strike could even reduce an entire hilltop to dust. Few modern weapons can compare to such destructive force; even if it doesn't quite rival nuclear weapons, it is certainly in the top tier of destruction just below them.

If not for the incredibly powerful barriers surrounding the training ground and the fact that every brick and tile was made of special, exceptionally sturdy materials, Leo's reckless destruction would likely have reduced the entire manor to scorched earth in less than ten seconds.

However, despite such terrifying destructive power, Leo seemed somewhat dissatisfied.

In the end, I've only just reached the level of an upper-class devil. The distance to the next rank is likely incredibly far.

Feeling the rapid depletion of magic power within his body, Leo sighed softly.

The current hierarchy of devils is divided into five ranks: low-class devil, middle-class devil, upper-class devil, ultimate-class devil, and Maou.

Low-class devils typically have two wings, corresponding to two-winged angels and fallen angels.

Middle-class devils typically have four wings, corresponding to four-winged angels and fallen angels.

Following this logic, upper-class devils have six wings, ultimate-class devils have eight or ten wings, and the Maou are the highest-ranking twelve-wing beings. The situation is the same for angels and fallen angels.

Generally speaking, the more wings one has, the higher the rank and the greater the strength, though this is not absolute.

Take Leo, for example. He is currently only a two-wing, yet his strength has reached the upper-class devil level. His power far exceeds his rank—a common issue for devils whose progress is too rapid.

The speed of strength growth outpacing the devil rank is a common phenomenon among the new generation of devils. It is not just Leo; Sona Sitri is the same.

But in reality, Leo's growth speed is not fast at all.

Thanks to the pure-blood devil lineage on one side of his family, Leo possessed magic power far exceeding that of a low-class devil from birth. By the time he officially began training at age three, he was already considered a standout among middle-class devils. Yet, it took him a full fifteen years to promote to an upper-class devil. One can imagine how slow that progress was.

Regarding this, Sona Sitri had once comforted him...

"Devils possess incredibly long lifespans. Even the lowest-class devils can live for thousands or even tens of thousands of years. Yet, the vast majority of devils in the Underworld never become upper-class devils until the day they die. Those of us like you and me, who are born with powerful magic due to our pure-blood devil heritage and can become upper-class devils in just over a decade, are already objects of envy for many."

Indeed, compared to the tens of thousands of years a devil can live, a dozen years is so brief it could be called infancy.

Being able to become an upper-class devil at this age is basically a privilege of pure-blood devils. Most others—half-bloods, mixed-bloods, or even those reincarnated from other races—can spend their entire lives without ever touching this realm. In that sense, Leo is quite lucky.

But he simply isn't satisfied.

He knows how terrifying the top-tier powerhouses of this world are, and he is deeply aware of the strength required to resolve the crises that will emerge in the future.

An upper-class devil is merely the most basic entry ticket for the events to come; sometimes, it doesn't even meet the requirements for that ticket.

In the eyes of those truly powerful beings, a so-called upper-class devil is really no different from an ant.

To say nothing else, for an ultimate-class devil with eight wings, dealing with a high-class devil requires only one hand, let alone those at the maou-class or even higher.

The devil hierarchy is distinct and rigid; the gap between each rank is immense.

Take one of the future heavenly dragons, the one known as the red dragon emperor, for example. When he was still a low-class devil, he could use the power of the red dragon emperor to double his strength every ten seconds. After accumulating this doubled power for two minutes, his strength reached 8,192 times its original level. Yet, this nearly ten-thousand-fold increase only allowed him to unleash a single strike comparable to the high-class devil level. This is sufficient proof that the power gap between a low-class devil and a high-class devil is like an ant compared to an elephant; a difference of two ranks is a chasm.

By the same logic, an eight-winged ultimate-class devil, even one who has just promoted, is at least a hundred times stronger than Leo, who has just promoted to a high-class devil. If the opponent were ten-winged, that would be a two-rank difference—also a chasm.

At Leo's current rate of progress, it might take him hundreds or even thousands of years to break through to the ultimate-class devil level.

However, in the coming years, the entire underworld society will face turmoil. By then, even power at the ultimate-class devil level might not be enough to enter the fray. How could Leo be satisfied with his current performance?

"Hoo..."

Retracting his exhausted demonic power back into his body, Leo exhaled and muttered to himself.

"There's no helping it. Continuing to grow stronger the way I have been is absolutely not going to work."

As expected, he had to rely on evil pieces and recruit peerage members with great potential to achieve the goal of rapid growth.

At the very least, that was the case for Leo.

"I'll put the training aside for now."

Leo retracted his devil wings, landed on the ground, and turned to leave.

The most important thing right now was still that cold underclassman.

Sobu High School, Class 3-C.

Before the bell for class rang, Leo walked into the classroom with a leisurely pace, greeted by many.

"Good afternoon, Leo."

"Good afternoon, Eligos."

"Good afternoon, classmate Eligos."

The girls who had been chatting in small groups around the classroom lit up the moment Leo appeared. They couldn't help but greet him one after another, their attitudes incredibly enthusiastic.

"Hello, everyone~~~"

Leo responded with a beaming smile. His radiant face made many of the girls blush with excitement, but it also made the boys present grumble inwardly.

He's a grown man, why does he have to smile so handsomely?

That overly sunny smile caused the faint, lingering pheromones on Leo to radiate uncontrollably. It wasn't just the girls; even the boys found it hard to handle, feeling as if their own dark thoughts were being forced into the light, leaving many of them with complicated feelings.

It was a pity, however, that they did not know that a person so radiant as to make others feel inferior was, in the eyes of many, a hideous and dark devil.

But even as a devil, Leo possessed the bloodline of a pure-blood devil in this life as a descendant of nobility. Even though the eligos clan was all but extinct, that long-inherited nobility still remained within him, making Leo's appearance in this life nothing short of impeccable.

Of course, there were those who remained indifferent to such a Leo.

That was a young girl sitting in the corner by the window, reading a book as if no one else existed.

The girl possessed beauty no less than yukino yukinoshita. She had long, jet-black straight hair held back by a white headband. Her figure was tall and curvaceous, full of soft, feminine lines, yet every movement she made appeared exceptionally quiet and refined. She was the kind of beautiful girl who, even just sitting there silently, would draw the admiring gazes of the boys present.

Watching this girl, whose beauty and temperament were in no way inferior to yukino yukinoshita, a smile appeared in Leo's eyes. He actually walked over and sat down beside her.

"Good afternoon. You're as full of literary flair as ever, utaha kasumigaoka."

Leo greeted her cheerfully.

"Good afternoon. And you are still that same narcissist with charm to spare, Leo Eligos."

utaha kasumigaoka opened her dark red eyes. Without even glancing at Leo, she spoke words that were completely at odds with her quiet temperament—words that possessed a biting sharpness much like those of yukino yukinoshita.