"Why are you both looking at me like that?"
Leon certainly didn't miss the gazes from Rias and Sona. He knew exactly why they were reacting this way, yet he maintained an air of innocence. "The exit has appeared; don't you two plan on leaving?"
Leon's blatantly feigned innocence caused the eyes of Rias and Sona to turn thoughtful.
Was he trying to hide his true abilities? Or was he intentionally changing the subject?
"Of course we're leaving," Rias said, giving Leon a deep, lingering look. "I was just... lost in thought for a moment."
Looking at the Vermilion Flame Dragon lying behind Leon—which seemed to have been burned to death on the spot before it could even react—Rias felt that she might have underestimated this man.
No, rather, she had already tried to view him differently than before. She recognized that his strength was growing rapidly and was no longer at the level of a newly promoted High-Class Devil. But even so, his current power likely exceeded her previous estimates.
To be able to dispatch an enemy faster than she could, and apparently through incineration, proved that his offensive power was at least equal to hers, if not superior. One had to remember that the Vermilion Flame Dragon was a dragon species that controlled fire!
For a fire dragon to be burned to death?
Even if it wasn't killed by fire but by sheer magical incineration, it was still incredible—not to mention the implication that the potency of his attack surpassed her own "Power of Destruction."
It's a pity I didn't see the fight just now; otherwise, I might have been able to discern his true depths, Rias thought, her mind racing with a thousand possibilities.
While she was deep in thought, the ever-intelligent Sona Sitri was analyzing even more.
Has he truly become this strong already? Sona stared at Leon silently.
She understood Leon better than Rias did. Leon had once revealed his six-winged form in front of her, so since then, she had regarded him as a High-Class Devil who was as strong as, if not stronger than, herself.
But on second thought, back then Leon only had one peer, Yukino Yukinoshita. Now, he had successively taken Asuna Yuuki, Utaha Kasumigaoka, and Mahiru Shiina. This meant that his "Peerage Formation" trait had triggered three more times since then, making him stronger three more times in succession. He was definitely far more powerful than when he first showed those six wings.
If that was the case, just how strong was the current Leon?
If one Yukino Yukinoshita could jump him from two wings to six—from a fledgling High-Class Devil to a powerhouse among them—then even if the subsequent power boosts from Asuna, Utaha, and Mahiru weren't as massive as the first, they were surely enough to transform him once again and bring him to a new level.
Was he even still a High-Class Devil? Or had he already stepped into a higher realm?
Sona pushed up her glasses, the reflection on the lenses masking her gaze.
"Let's go. On to the next room," Sona said, suppressing the myriad of thoughts in her mind. "We must find the master of this labyrinth space as quickly as possible, or reunite with our peers."
Hearing Sona's words, Rias also temporarily set aside her speculations about Leon's strength and nodded immediately.
Knowing they were currently being targeted and attacked by the Old Satan Faction, they had to escape this isolated dimension and get to the outside world as fast as possible.
"We don't know exactly how many people the Old Satan Faction sent to deal with us, but since they're confident enough to try and wipe us all out, we should assume their total strength exceeds ours," Rias analyzed calmly. "This is far too dangerous for us. We must find a way to contact the outside world and let the Underworld know we are under attack."
The opponent was the Old Satan Faction, which had once been defeated by the Reformists. Even if their power had diminished significantly after their defeat, they were not enemies that three new-generation Devils could handle alone. They needed reinforcements from the Underworld for any chance of a counterattack.
"Indeed," Sona agreed with Rias's analysis, but then pivoted. "It is highly likely their total strength is superior, but probably not by an overwhelming margin. Otherwise, they wouldn't need to go through all this trouble to forcibly transfer us to this labyrinth; they could have simply attacked us directly at Kuoh Academy."
If their strength vastly outstripped Leon and the others, why go to such lengths? They could have just descended upon Kuoh Academy and wiped them out in minutes.
There were only two possible reasons for not doing so: either their strength wasn't significantly higher—perhaps even inferior, necessitating such elaborate schemes—or their true targets weren't Leon and the others, but more important figures.
For instance, the Satans standing behind them.
"In other words, it's very likely we're just bait being used to fish?" Leon took the lead toward the exit, speaking with an air of casual indifference.
"Not necessarily," Sona said, following behind Leon. "If they intended to use us as bait to draw out the Satans, wouldn't it be more effective to simply capture us?"
"She's right," Rias added, following close behind. "Taking us as hostages and sending word back to the Underworld would be the correct way to lure out the Satans. They didn't do that. Instead, they created this isolated dimension to trap us and used these 'trials' against us. This doesn't look like a hostage situation; it looks more like they want to exhaust our power before moving in for the kill."
If that was the case, viewing the enemy's strength as not significantly exceeding their own might be the more accurate assessment. And from there, more guesses arose.
"The Old Satan Faction may have lost to the current rulers of the Devil world, but hundreds of years have passed. Even if they haven't regained their peak power, surely they wouldn't be unable to deal with three new-generation High-Class Devils?" Leon spoke these meaningful words without looking back. "And we all know that while the Old Satan Faction was defeated, the bloodlines of the original Satans haven't been extinguished."
At those words, both Rias and Sona stiffened.
They had both studied the history of the Devil world and knew the general state of the Civil War hundreds of years ago. At that time, the leaders of the Old Satan Faction were the children of the original Four Satans—Lucifer, Leviathan, Beelzebub, and Asmodeus. They were the first generation to inherit the Satanic bloodlines.
Before the Civil War, those four were the actual rulers of the Devils. Particularly the son of Beelzebub, who was the practical controller of the Underworld at the time, wielding immense power.
By the end of the Civil War, the son of the original Beelzebub and the son of the original Asmodeus were killed by the current Sirzechs Lucifer. The current Ajuka Beelzebub killed the daughter of the original Leviathan. With the original Satans' children almost entirely wiped out, the victory of the Reformists was secured.
However, although the children of the original Satans died, they each left behind bloodlines, allowing their descendants to persist in the world.
Those bloodlines were even more powerful than the lineages of the Seventy-Two Pillars, such as the Eligos, Gremory, and Sitri families. If these bloodlines still existed after hundreds of years, even if they hadn't multiplied extensively, their descendants should have become incredibly powerful by now.
They should be the current leaders of the Old Satan Faction. Even if their strength didn't reach the level of the original Satans or their children, they would certainly not be inferior to mere new-generation High-Class Devils.
At a conservative estimate, these individuals should be at the Ultimate-Class Devil level, or even higher!
If such people had made a move, dealing with three new-generation Devils and their peers would have been a trivial matter. The fact that things were playing out this way suggested only one scenario.
"The ones attacking us this time are likely only a fraction of the Old Satan Faction. Even if the mastermind holds a decent rank, they aren't the true heirs of those Satanic bloodlines," Leon concluded directly.
"Whether they succeed or fail in attacking us, it will trigger a retaliation from the Devil world. Unless the Old Satan Faction no longer fears the current administration, this is likely an unauthorized, rogue action. Otherwise, they would have sent someone much stronger."
The reason Leon reached this conclusion was also because no such attack occurred in the original story. Leon knew very well that the current Old Satan Faction was still in hiding and had already joined a massive organization. That organization contained not only the Old Satan Faction but other factions as well. They hadn't fully exposed themselves yet because they were waiting for the perfect timing to strike a massive blow against all major powers.
Under such circumstances, the possibility of the Old Satan Faction suddenly sending some "small fry" to target three new-generation Devils—thereby alerting the enemy—was almost zero.
Leon had reason to believe that this attack was merely a "test" by a splinter group of the Old Satan Faction to warm up for their future return, or simply a group of people who, after joining that larger organization, couldn't suppress their hatred for the current Underworld and acted on their own.
"In any case, taking them out quickly is our top priority," Leon said as he entered the passageway, his voice low and eerie. "Furthermore, I'm worried about Yukino and the others. Let's hurry."
As he spoke, magic power surged around Leon, and his entire body transformed into a black blur, streaking toward the other end of the tunnel.
Rias and Sona silently unfurled their Devil wings and mobilized their magic, cutting through atmospheric resistance to keep pace with Leon at their maximum speed.
The three raced through the passageway and quickly reached the next room. A new trial was already waiting for them.