Carrier of the Devil Factor

Yukinoshita family, guest room.

Because the living room had become a complete mess, and with an outsider present, the three Yukinoshita women did not return there, opting instead to move to the guest room.

It was just as luxurious as the living room, ensuring no one felt slighted, yet the atmosphere inside was strange, making it difficult for anyone to take the initiative to speak.

Looking closely, Mrs. Yukinoshita and Haruno Yukinoshita, the mistresses of the house, were sitting properly and rigidly, looking more like guests than Leo himself.

In contrast, Leo sat there quite casually, sipping a cup of black tea to himself, looking so at ease that he seemed more like the master of the house than the three Yukinoshita women.

Only Yukino Yukinoshita sat beside Leo, her expression downcast.

Watching Yukino Yukinoshita like this, Leo set down his teacup.

"Still thinking about that fight just now?"

Leo saw through Yukino Yukinoshita's concerns at a glance.

"...I should have been able to win."

Yukino Yukinoshita did not stubbornly deny it as she usually would; instead, she spoke with a sense of dejection.

In her view, she had held the upper hand throughout the entire fight, having nearly driven Sharon into a corner, and she was certain she would have won in the end.

And yet?

She had been caught in a fleeting moment of vulnerability, turning a sure victory into defeat, and had nearly died at Sharon's hands.

It shouldn't have happened.

Yukino Yukinoshita felt dejected because of this.

However, Leo bluntly pointed out the truth.

"That was just an illusion on your part," Leo said calmly, ignoring Yukino Yukinoshita's stunned expression. "I tangled with that woman for three years and never managed to beat her once. Did you really think you could?"

"Admittedly, if you were to use your full strength now, you might be stronger than I was before I awakened the peerage transformation trait. But she has already proven to you with facts that this great power cannot be used just as you please."

"You thought you could win because she played the part so well, making you believe victory was yours so that you would squander your power recklessly until you revealed a flaw."

"I can tell you with certainty that you cannot beat her right now. Even if your raw strength exceeds hers, she can still defeat you by relying on her superior combat experience, countermeasures, and strategic calculations, leading you to defeat time and time again."

Yukino Yukinoshita bit her lip and fell silent.

She was naturally unconvinced, but the fact remained that she had lost and nearly died. Saying anything more would just be stubbornness, making her seem narrow-minded and incapable of admitting defeat gracefully.

With her sister and mother right in front of her, Yukino Yukinoshita did not want to appear that pathetic.

And so, while swallowing the bitter fruit of failure, she couldn't help but remark.

"That girl... is Sharon Holygrail really a human?"

It was no wonder she said that.

Even setting aside combat experience, countermeasures, and strategic planning, Sharon's performance truly didn't resemble that of a human; she was more like a superhuman.

Could a human casually shatter icicles and ice boulders?

Could a human sprint at speeds invisible to the naked eye?

Could a human leap around and scale walls like a monkey?

Could a human kick the ground to smithereens and jump ten meters high in a single bound?

Sharon could do all of these things with ease, which was completely different from the priests Yukino Yukinoshita had encountered at the unfinished entertainment facility last time.

In Yukino Yukinoshita's view, the performance of those priests was still within the strength that a normal human could achieve through training, but Sharon had completely exceeded that limit.

After all, being able to rival a high-class devil single-handedly was, in itself, an abnormal feat.

Hadn't Leo also said that to deal with a high-class devil, one must assemble a team of exorcists just to attempt it?

Therefore, Sharon's performance was truly inhuman; she didn't seem like an ordinary human at all.

Leo glanced at Yukino Yukinoshita, who was thinking this, and said, "There are some extraordinary individuals among humans. They are absolutely not as weak as you imagine."

"Take sacred gear users, for example. Ordinary sacred gear users might not have such immense power and are just people who know how to use special abilities. But if someone like you or Asuna could wield your sacred gears with complete proficiency, do you think such a sacred gear user would be weaker than a devil?"

"Besides sacred gear users, there are also mages and senjutsu users among humans who have mastered supernatural powers. They are equally capable of posing a threat to devils."

This world also possesses what is known as magic and sorcery.

Magic and sorcery are powers that manipulate and generate supernatural phenomena by constructing spell formulas and ritual patterns.

Ancient mages or magicians believed that all phenomena in the world follow certain laws. As long as one could monitor, calculate, and guide these laws, even humans could achieve the extraordinary.

Thus, they created spell formulas capable of achieving this goal, successfully triggering and manipulating supernatural phenomena. This is what is known as magic or sorcery.

In places like Northern Europe, magic or sorcery is even considered a power created by gods and bestowed upon humans. Therefore, magic and sorcery have developed into a very complete and powerful system to this day, even capable of reproducing a portion of the miracles of gods or the supernatural phenomena caused by the demonic power of devils. The prospects are quite promising.

As for senjutsu, it is a technique that manipulates the flow of life, capable of disrupting and blocking opponents, and causing damage to life itself. It is another power system, the origins of which can be traced back to before the primordial era. It is said that this power was originally only mastered by immortals, so one can imagine its potency.

In summary, humans are not all ants in the eyes of devils. Those who have mastered magic or senjutsu will certainly not be powerless when facing a devil.

The exorcism spell formula Sharon just used was precisely such a power. One could tell from the commotion it caused that it was absolutely a power capable of threatening a devil.

Of course, Sharon is not a mage or a senjutsu user; she is actually even more special.

"The church has a special institution used to cultivate a specific type of warrior."

Leo suddenly revealed a secret to Yukino Yukinoshita.

"The purpose of that institution is to cultivate individuals who possess the bloodline of the hero, Sigurd."

Sigurd... Yukino Yukinoshita had naturally heard of this name.

He was a renowned dragon slayer hero in legends, having once killed the evil dragon Fafnir and bathed in its dragon blood, thereby gaining an invincible, immortal body.

To ordinary people, this was merely a legend, but from Leo's tone, it was clear that this was a hero who had truly existed.

"That warrior cultivation institution uses genetic modification to combine Sigurd's genes with several other different genetic structures to artificially create descendants of that dragon slayer hero. The warriors born from this process possess physical capabilities far exceeding those of ordinary humans from birth; it would be no exaggeration to call them supermen among humans."

Leo explained calmly while sipping his tea.

"There are quite a few humans in this world who possess the genes of legendary heroes or powerhouses like this. Although they are human, they are stronger than the average person, which is why they are able to stand against external enemies like devils and fallen angels."

Including the half-human exorcist bloodline within his own body, he could be considered one of these beings.

Leo thought this silently to himself, and then he heard Yukino Yukinoshita speak.

"So, that woman came from that warrior cultivation institution?"

Yukino Yukinoshita finally understood where that superhuman physique came from.

However, Leo denied her claim.

"No, Sharon Holygrail did not come from that warrior cultivation institution. The warriors who come out of that institution all have white hair, which is a clear distinction from her." Leo pointed out calmly. "She came from another of the church's cultivation institutions... or rather, an experimental institution."

"An experimental institution?" Yukino Yukinoshita was stunned.

Leo glanced at her before speaking.

"There is never a shortage of madmen in this world, especially among humans. The more they catch a glimpse of the mysteries and the supernatural of this world, the more frantically they want to unravel the principles behind these mysteries and the supernatural, so that they too can touch this realm."

"Since ancient times, every era of the church has inevitably given birth to many heretics and fanatics. They believe that even if it violates the doctrine, as long as the results contribute to heaven and to god, then it doesn't matter."

"When they collude with high-ranking officials blinded by greed, the result is that they will try to touch even the forbidden zones of life."

"There was a group of people like that. They thought that since it was possible to artificially cultivate descendants of heroes and let humans possess the power of legendary powerhouses, could they also artificially implant a devil factor to let humans possess the power of a devil?"

As soon as these words were spoken, let alone Yukino Yukinoshita, even Haruno Yukinoshita and Mrs. Yukinoshita, who had been listening silently on the side, changed their expressions.

They were all intelligent people and immediately understood what Leo was trying to convey.

"It seems you have already figured it out," Leo said indifferently. "That's right, Sharon Holygrail is the result of that experiment."

"That experimental institution has now been closed, because the test subjects either died on the spot or turned directly into half-human, half-devil monsters, and were secretly purged by the church."

"Sharon Holy Grail might just be the only successful case born from that experiment."

This is the reason why Sharon is so strong.

Simply because, flowing within her body is the devil bloodline factor, granting her physical capabilities comparable to a devil.

"The reason she is so cold toward devils, so unscrupulous, perhaps has something to do with this as well," Leo smiled and said, "I don't know what she encountered in the past, but it certainly wouldn't be a pleasant memory."

"Don't you think it's perfectly normal for someone like her to loathe the devil factor within her, and to loathe the very existence of devils?"