"Buzz!"
As Leo hovered in midair, a series of enormous magic circles appeared around him, rotating with a low hum. Like cannon muzzles, they aimed down at Miyamoto Musashi.
Vast amounts of Demonic Power gathered within the magic circles. In an instant, it formed into Magic Bullets potent enough to make the air evaporate, and they rained down on Musashi.
Each Magic Bullet was enormous, nothing like the ones Leo had casually fired before. Even the smallest was at least two meters across—larger than Leo himself.
Any one of them could blast apart a mountain or demolish a building. Seeing such terrifying power for the first time, Asuna Yuuki's eyes widened in shock.
"Remarkable Demonic Power."
Yet Miyamoto Musashi, the target locked onto by those astonishingly powerful Magic Bullets, merely voiced her admiration.
Then the sword resting on her shoulder moved.
"Boom!"
The instant a flash of sword light appeared, the air itself let out a thunderous roar.
The sword in Miyamoto Musashi's hand seemed to become a strike that cleaved through time. A streak of white light flashed forth, slashing directly at the incoming Magic Bullets.
The Magic Bullets poured down, only to be swallowed by that simple slash. The fleeting flash of sword light erased them all.
That was right—erased.
The instant the sword light touched the Magic Bullets, the projectiles, each powerful enough to blast apart a mountain or demolish a building, melted away like winter snow touching flame.
"That's...?!"
Leo's expression shifted, his gaze turning grave.
He had activated Magic Detection the moment he started fighting, bringing the entire area within his perception so he wouldn't miss a single detail of the battle and could react in time.
And according to his detection, when Miyamoto Musashi had swung her sword, it was as if space itself had been split open. The Magic Bullets he had released were sucked into the gaps in the rift, banished in an instant to another world.
But how could something like that be possible?
"Nothing is impossible, Master Leo!"
As if she knew what Leo was thinking, Miyamoto Musashi spoke.
"I'm actually a very stubborn person. Once I decide to accomplish something, I throw myself into it completely and make sure I achieve my goal."
"In the past, when facing an opponent, I've pretended to be dead so I wouldn't lose. I've also deceived people with honeyed words. After making an ugly escape, I'd wait until I'd fully recovered, then come running back to challenge them again."
"Pretty despicable, right? But that's just how I am. Once I have a goal, I devote my entire being to it. It's all I can see."
"So, after I reincarnated as a Devil and gained the power to turn imagination into reality, my sword became something special."
Miyamoto Musashi raised the sword in her hand and pointed it at Leo in midair.
"For example, if I wanted to cut off your right arm and was willing to use any means necessary to do it, then my next slash would become the most reasonable slash for achieving that."
"I reduce every means I might use to achieve my goal until only one remains: swinging my sword. I limit what should be an infinite future to a single outcome."
"Once that happens, whatever defensive measures you take become useless. Dodging is out of the question, too. All you can do is take the blow head-on. There's no other way to respond."
It was the Buddha's Sword, capable of cutting through all Non-Karma, karmic burdens, curses, and misfortune with a single stroke. In other words, as Miyamoto Musashi put it, it was a slash without a single wasted motion, one that mastered time and space.
"Just now, too, when faced with your all-out Magic attack, Master, I had only one thought: to swing a sword that could erase it. The result was that I cut it away along with the space around it."
Miyamoto Musashi smiled with childlike innocence, as if introducing a child she was proud of.
"This is the sword I gained after becoming a Devil. My blade."
Her swordsmanship was about reducing existence to its ultimate essence, breaking through Infinity until it reached zero.
"Master, you'd better show me what you can really do. Otherwise, with my next slash, I might just cut off your head."
Miyamoto Musashi spoke as if she were joking, but no one who heard her could take it as one. They could clearly see the seriousness beneath her smile.
Leo was no different.
So, without hesitation, he showed her what he could really do, just as she had asked.
"Rumble—"
Thunderous roars rang out overhead, and thick, dark clouds appeared from nowhere.
The clouds rolled in, taking less than a second to replace the basement ceiling and transform it into a sky under Leo's control.
"Boom!"
Countless bolts of Lightning churned through the dark clouds, then crashed down and gathered in Leo's slowly raised palm. He clenched his hand around them.
At that moment, not only Miyamoto Musashi but even Asuna Yuuki sensed a familiar fluctuation of power coming from Leo.
This was...
"A Sacred Gear?"
Asuna Yuuki was astonished.
"That Sacred Gear's aura... Could it be a Longinus?"
Miyamoto Musashi was just as surprised. She hadn't expected Leo to have a Sacred Gear, let alone one on the level of a Longinus.
Just the fact that Leo possessed a Sacred Gear was enough to astonish anyone.
That was because Sacred Gears were special powers created by God for humans to use. Only humans could be chosen by a Sacred Gear.
Yukino Yukinoshita and Asuna Yuuki, for example, had both been Sacred Gear holders before reincarnating as Devils. That was why they could be chosen by their Sacred Gears and become Sacred Gear Users.
But Leo was a Devil by birth, a member of another race who had inherited the bloodline of a Pure-blood Devil. By all rights, he shouldn't have been able to be chosen by a Sacred Gear.
"No, Master Leo only has half the bloodline of a Pure-blood Devil. The other half comes from a human exorcist!"
Miyamoto Musashi finally realized the truth.
Since Leo had half human blood, it was possible for him to be chosen by a Sacred Gear. It made sense that he could become a Sacred Gear User.
The only question was...
"A Longinus capable of controlling the sky and the forces of nature... Could that Sacred Gear be...?"
Miyamoto Musashi was no ordinary Devil. Having lived for several centuries and served a Devil King, she had far greater knowledge and experience than most.
But by the time she realized what Leo's Sacred Gear was, he had already swung the Thunder Hammer in his hand.
"Rumble!"
Amid the violent roar of thunder, countless bolts of Lightning entwined, forming the furious Hammer of God. Trailing a dazzling flash of Lightning, it crashed toward Miyamoto Musashi.
"Bring it on!"
Far from being alarmed, Miyamoto Musashi was delighted. Her eyes shone with a startling brilliance, and she shot forward like a bursting storm, charging straight at the incoming Thunder.
"Slash!"
She unleashed an astonishingly brilliant strike. The sword light blazed like a myriad of bolts of Lightning, severing the incoming Thunder in an instant and scattering the intertwined bolts in every direction.
"Boom—boom—boom—"
Leo clearly hadn't expected to defeat Miyamoto Musashi with one attack. As soon as he saw her sever the Thunder he had unleashed, he mercilessly called down bolt after bolt of Lightning from the sky, hurling them at her without pause.
Miyamoto Musashi had drawn the other sword at her waist. Wielding both swords, she swung them at astonishing speed, sending out one brilliant slash after another as she continuously split the Lightning and broke through its radiance.
Seeing this, Leo continued to call down Lightning with one hand while raising the other. He unleashed the power of Zenith Tempest, making the ground tremble.
The next second, the earth and rocks swelled upward. Dust filled the air as countless clods of soil and rocks gathered into an Earth Dragon with a fearsome pair of horns. It roared as it charged at Miyamoto Musashi.
This sight further confirmed Miyamoto Musashi's suspicions.
"As expected! It's the second-ranked Longinus—Zenith Tempest!"
Miyamoto Musashi finally understood why she had felt such a strong urge to fight this young Devil.
"One of only thirteen Longinus, and the second-ranked Top-tier Longinus. That's more than enough for an opponent!"
Miyamoto Musashi's fighting spirit was now fully roused. Laughing uproariously without the least concern for appearances, she suddenly turned and brought down a swift, forceful slash on the incoming Earth Dragon.
Her sword flashed. The plain, unadorned slash severed the Earth Dragon's head, and the earth and rocks crumbled as dust fell to the ground.
But immediately afterward, the roar of an explosion and the howl of a gale rang out.
Rolling flames swept toward Miyamoto Musashi from her left, while a violent tornado burst forth from her right like a drill capable of piercing the heavens. The two forces attacked from either side, roaring as they swallowed her whole.
"Bang!"
Miyamoto Musashi broke through the flames and gale, her clothes now showing a few signs of damage. Yet the swords in her hands moved even more rapidly, filling the air with flashes of sword light. She split the pursuing flames and gale in two with a flurry of slashes.
"This isn't over!"
Leo pressed his advantage, unleashing his Demonic Power without restraint. He pushed Zenith Tempest to the greatest level he could currently control, bringing a blizzard and a massive flood into the basement.
At that moment, the vast basement became a scene of utter natural disaster. Thunderbolts blazed down from the sky; an Earth Dragon of dust and soil roared across the ground; flames rolled like a sea of fire blotting out the heavens; gales swept through, threatening to overturn everything; and blizzards and floods raged all around. The spectacle was so magnificent it was like a glimpse of the apocalypse.
"Th-this is Mr. Leo's power?"
Outside the barrier, Asuna Yuuki was dumbfounded. She gazed at the man standing amid the natural disasters, her eyes filled with shock—and with a hint of reverence that was hard to discern.
Leo noticed none of it. He had thrown himself completely into the battle, displaying everything he had learned.
Before you continue