"Rumble—"
In the manor's basement, a sky heavy with dark clouds conventionally replaced the ceiling, transforming the space into a domain controlled by Leon.
Leon's magical power blazed like a raging inferno, constantly rising and distorting the surrounding atmosphere.
The immense magical power caused Miyamoto Musashi, who had drawn her sword below, to look serious, yet the fighting spirit in her eyes only intensified.
The next second, a shiver ran through Musashi, and without any warning, she abruptly darted to the side.
"Boom!"
At that exact moment, a flash of light suddenly sliced through the air and struck the spot where Miyamoto Musashi had been standing an instant before with astonishing speed, shattering the ground.
"This is...?!"
Musashi looked at the ground that had exploded beside her, a look of seriousness finally appearing in her eyes.
"Be careful, Miss Musashi."
Leon, suspended in mid-air, grinned upon seeing the scene and spoke these words.
"The me of today is different from the me before."
Saying this, Leon raised his hand. The magical power in his body surged out wildly like a flood from an opened dam, pouring into the Zenith Tempest as if it were worthless. The dark clouds in the sky grew denser, and within them, intense lightning bolts erupted and violently flickered.
Then, streaks of light pierced the clouds, tore through the space, and plummeted downward with incredible speed.
Seeing this, how could Miyamoto Musashi not understand?
The incredibly fast flashes of light were, in fact, lightning.
However, they weren't ordinary lightning; they were highly compressed into thin lines, like laser beams, or rather, threads of lightning.
Due to the extreme compression, the lightning threads possessed terrifying power and a drastically increased speed, moving almost like rays of light, making it difficult even for Musashi to track their trajectory with her eyes.
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"...
Immediately, accompanied by a series of explosive roars, the lightning threads, transformed into flashes of light, continuously struck the ground, shattering it and creating deep craters.
"Pfft!"
Miyamoto Musashi dodged purely by relying on her extraordinary instincts and swordsman's intuition, continuously evading the incoming lightning threads. Only when she had no room left to maneuver did she abruptly swing her sword, striking one lightning thread and instantly severing it.
"As expected of you; you can even cut that." Leon exclaimed in admiration, but quickly changed his tone, chuckling, "Then how about this move?"
As his voice fell, Leon once again activated the power of the Zenith Tempest, raising a scorching stream of flames around him.
The flame stream resembled both a dragon and a python, constantly circling Leon as if possessing a life of its own.
"Go."
With a wave of his hand, the flame stream roared as it charged downward, carrying scorching heat waves toward Miyamoto Musashi.
The speed of this attack was nowhere near that of the previous lightning threads, but Musashi dared not let down her guard in the slightest.
Her feet stamped continuously on the ground, and her figure rushed into the distance like a gust of wind, attempting to shake off the incoming flame stream. However, the stream seemed truly alive, relentlessly pursuing her. Even when Musashi changed direction, the flame stream quickly adjusted its trajectory and continued its assault, forcing her to turn back and deliver a fierce strike, cleaving the dragon-like, python-like flame stream in two.
"Bang!"
The severed flame stream immediately exploded. Unexpectedly, several smaller flame streams shot out from within, striking Musashi as her expression slightly changed.
"Bang bang bang bang bang—!"
The flame streams consecutively triggered explosions on Musashi's body, blasting her backward. She flew for more than ten meters before finally stopping and landing on the ground.
"Hiding flames within flames?"
Musashi was somewhat astonished, her clothes showing scorched and torn damage.
"Let's try this move next."
Leon didn't stop, mercilessly continuing to utilize his Sacred Gear ability, employing a method of power control entirely different from the past.
It was as if he had suddenly gained some enlightenment. This time, Leon no longer sought sheer power, turning the battlefield into a scene of natural disaster or a corner of the apocalypse, as he had in the past. Instead, he demonstrated exceptional control techniques.
The lightning threads and flame streams were merely appetizers. Leon also summoned fierce winds, turning them into invisible spheres of air that densely covered the entire area, restricting Miyamoto Musashi's movement.
The ground beneath Musashi's feet constantly trembled, sometimes cracking, sometimes rising, sometimes shattering, and sometimes even turning into swamps or quicksand, preventing Musashi from finding any stable footing. She had no choice but to leap into the air, spread her two pairs of devil wings, and fly.
Next, Leon summoned water currents, which he compressed while spinning, transforming them into high-pressure water jets fired out. Then, he summoned cold currents, allowing them to spread out like a white mist, instantly freezing anything they touched.
In this manner, Leon continuously compressed Miyamoto Musashi's fighting space, making her feel restricted while forcing her to deal with the astonishingly fast lightning threads, flame streams, air spheres, and high-pressure water jets. For a time, she was cornered and looked slightly ragged.
"Sword Roar Draw!"
Finally, Musashi could not hold back any longer and went all out.
"Three Bows, Breakthrough Infinite to Reach Zero!"
A figure of Divine Warrior, condensed from sword pressure, appeared behind the beautiful swordswoman, who was as lovely as a delicate flower. It raised its massive sharp blade and fiercely slashed down.
"Boom!!!"
A deafening roar instantly erupted in the basement, causing the entire barrier to shake as usual.
The world began to shift out of alignment. All the lightning threads, flame streams, air spheres, high-pressure water jets, and freezing mist were severed along with the displaced world, vanishing without a trace.
The heavy black sky was also split in two. The clouds were violently cleaved open, and the countless lightning bolts surging within them violently erupted as if being dispersed.
"Stop!"
Seeing the Divine Warrior figure raise its blade again in sync with Miyamoto Musashi's movement, Leon quickly called out to her.
"Let's stop here! I can't take your second strike!"
Hearing this, Musashi raised an eyebrow, a hint of dissatisfaction lingering as she put away her sword, allowing the Divine Warrior figure behind her to dissipate.
"I think we could have continued, Young Master Leon. You still have reserves of power left."
Musashi was uncharacteristically showing her displeasure.
"This isn't a life-and-death battle, how could I go all out without holding back?" Leon flew down in front of Musashi, retracted his wings, rolled his eyes, and said grumpily, "I don't want to seriously spar with the full-powered you; my manor would definitely be blown sky-high, right?"
Leon glanced at the surrounding barrier, spotting several cracks on it.
This wasn't the first time this had happened.
As Leon grew stronger, Musashi also had to increase the power she used during practice. Every time they fought now, it put a severe strain on the basement barrier, making one seriously wonder when it might shatter.
"The barrier here needs to be strengthened," Musashi had to suggest. "If this continues, the barrier will eventually break due to the battles between Young Master Leon and me."
In recent practice sessions, the two essentially held back, not daring to be too reckless, lest they shatter the barrier.
Once the barrier breaks, with the power of Leon and Musashi, blowing the manor sky-high would take mere moments, and the destruction would even spread to the surrounding area.
"The barrier here is already very strong," Leon scratched his head, saying with some helplessness. "It was originally set up to withstand a full-power battle between Ultimate-Class Devils. Sona even returned to the Underworld to invite several experts specializing in barrier deployment to finalize the construction of this basement."
The barrier in the basement was also linked to terrain recovery magic. As long as the barrier remained, no matter how much destruction occurred inside, the area would return to its original state overnight. This was why Leon usually fought without restraint. Even if the ground was overturned several times and the internal terrain was unrecognizable, he didn't care.
But once the barrier was destroyed, the terrain recovery magic would also be destroyed, and they would need to hire someone specifically for repairs.
"Should I talk to Lady Serafall about it?"
Musashi also scratched her head and continued to offer suggestions.
"Forget it." Leon thought about it and finally refused, saying, "The Student Council President is the wielder of a Barrier-type Sacred Gear anyway. Let's make this her assignment and have her be responsible for the setup and strengthening of the barrier here."
He just wondered how long it would take Utaha Kasumigaoka to create a barrier stronger than this one with her abilities.
Seeing that Leon had made up his mind, Musashi didn't object. After putting away her sword, she changed the subject.
"Young Master Leon can already utilize the Zenith Tempest freely. The next step should be to move toward the domain of Balance Breaker, right?"
After the fight just now, Musashi confirmed this point, believing that Leon now had the capability to advance toward the ultimate domain of the Sacred Gear.
"How do you think my current strength is? Can I defeat an existence at the Ten-Winged level yet?"
Leon did not answer Musashi's question, but asked another one in return.
"It should still be a bit difficult, right?" Musashi recalled Leon's performance and then said, "Young Master Leon has indeed become much stronger, but it's still a bit unrealistic to defeat opponents two ranks above you before mastering Balance Breaker."
"Of course, Young Master Leon is already very close to the Ten-Winged level; it's a completely different situation compared to before."
The previous Leon was rated by Musashi as being able to defeat an Eight-Winged level opponent, but still far off compared to the Ten-Winged level.
Now, Leon's magical power was close to breaking into the Ultimate-Class Devil rank, and the power of his Sacred Gear could be utilized freely. His strength had increased significantly, and in Musashi's eyes, he was already not far from the Ten-Winged level.
"As long as you master Balance Breaker, ordinary Ten-Winged level opponents will hardly be a match for you, Young Master Leon. Only the exceptional ones among them will be able to fight you once you've mastered Balance Breaker, and it might even require the Devil Kings themselves to step in to contend with you."
Musashi looked at Leon, speaking with great anticipation.
"So, please try to master Balance Breaker as soon as possible, Young Master Leon."
Hearing Musashi's words, Leon nodded.
He truly needed to advance to the next stage.
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