Inside the cabin of the luxury limousine, the atmosphere did not soften in the slightest despite Leon's opening words.
Kaguya Shinomiya seemed truly like a block of unmelting ice; her gaze toward Leon was devoid of any emotion. She knew this visitor did not come with good intentions, and she knew that anyone capable of slipping into this car past Ai Hayasaka's vigilance was certainly no simple figure. Her life might already be in his hands, potentially lost in the next second, leaving this world forever.
Yet, there wasn't much fear in her heart. She knew that since the opponent hadn't acted against her immediately, he must want something from her. No matter what that object was, she clearly possessed value to him, so Kaguya wasn't overly worried about her safety just yet.
"Eligos. I have heard of that surname," Kaguya said expressionlessly, her crimson lips parting slightly. "One of the legendary families of the Seventy-Two Pillars of the Ars Goetia. Ranked fifteenth among the seventy-two and holding the noble title of Duke, they are an ancient devil lineage that once commanded sixty legions of spirits."
"However, I heard that this family's bloodline had been severed."
Leon smiled nonchalantly at Kaguya's words.
"Perhaps Miss Shinomiya should pay a little more attention to the recent events of the Underworld. If you did, you would know that the Eligos family, once thought extinct, has welcomed a new life. I am the last scion of that family, left behind in the world."
As he spoke, Leon flipped his hand. A cup of steaming black tea appeared in his palm out of nowhere, which he placed before Kaguya.
Of course, currently, I have merely inherited a family that was once severed. The Eligos family has not yet officially made its comeback. If Miss Shinomiya is interested, you can keep an eye on the Underworld's Rating Games in the future. I will attend as the current Head of the Eligos house.
Hearing this, Kaguya glanced at the tea placed before her but did not reach for it.
"I am not interested in the affairs of devils," Kaguya said very directly. "And you didn't come here to market yourself, did you, Head Eligos?"
"That remains to be seen." Leon blinked. "Perhaps I came here to market myself to you specifically to gain the support of the Shinomiya family, which is known as the heart of the nation?"
"Then you should go to the main family residence, not to me," Kaguya said coldly. "I am merely an unloved child. I do not have what you want."
"You're wrong about that." Leon shrugged. "You certainly have something I want in your hands. Otherwise, why would I go through the trouble of coming all the way to Tokyo to intercept your car?"
"Who knows? Perhaps you've simply lost your mind?" Kaguya's level of coldness and sharp tongue seemed to be even higher than Yukinoshita Yukino's as she continued: "I can tell you with full responsibility that I do not have what you want. If you intend to use me to pressure the Shinomiya family to obtain something, you have made a grave mistake."
"Though I am the eldest daughter of the Shinomiya family, I am not as important as you imagine."
"Abducting me will not help your objective in the least."
Kaguya spoke these words with absolute calmness. Her tone told others that she had long since given up on that family; she recognized her position in the house and no longer harbored any expectations. Her father was indifferent to her, and none of her so-called siblings liked her—some even wished to cast her out to fend for herself. It was easy to imagine the treatment Kaguya had received in the Shinomiya household over the years.
She had seen the Shinomiya family for what they were and had given up on them. In her view, even if Leon kidnapped her, he wouldn't achieve his goal because she simply wasn't important. Neither her father nor her siblings would sacrifice the family's interests to save her.
Leon understood Kaguya's thoughts to some extent, so he suddenly changed the subject.
"Do you know what I did before entering this cabin?"
This abrupt, seemingly random question made Kaguya knit her brows.
"I went to clear the obstacles," Leon said, as if ignoring Kaguya's reaction. "On the path this car was destined to take, there were a total of twelve highly skilled exorcists lying in wait."
"Some were hidden in nearby buildings, some on both sides of the road, and others were following this car to provide protection."
"Who do you think sent them?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Kaguya's hands, which were crossed in front of her, tightened suddenly, gripping the fabric of her sleeves.
"Don't worry, I didn't do anything to them; I just knocked them unconscious," Leon said with a sudden smile. "It was quite a chore. After all, those people clearly hadn't just recently been hidden around you. To remain hidden near you without being noticed by your maid, who has a quarter exorcist blood, proves their capabilities."
"If anyone else had come, they truly wouldn't have been able to handle them all while showing mercy."
"An elite exorcist team like that would have at least a 20% success rate even in a hunt for an Ultimate-class Devil. Yet they were hidden near you, and it seems neither you nor your maid had any idea of their presence from start to finish."
"Who do you think would send such an elite exorcist team?"
"Who would care so much about your safety—your life and death?"
Hearing Leon's words, Kaguya's grip on her arms grew tighter and tighter, and the detached mask on her face nearly crumbled.
"—What exactly are you trying to say?"
For the first time, Kaguya's cold voice faltered, showing uncontrollable wavering and obvious emotional fluctuation.
"It's simple. I just wanted to tell you that you are far from being as neglected as you think you are," Leon said with a squinting smile. "Furthermore, the purpose of me saying this isn't to tell you that you were wrong, nor is it to demand something from the Shinomiya family through you. What I want isn't in the Shinomiya household, but in your hands."
"—What is it?"
Kaguya was silent for a long time before she finally asked.
"A stone tablet," Leon said forthrightly. "A tablet that is said to possess the power of precognition, capable of recording the rising and setting of the stars."
"Precognition?" Kaguya frowned. "Regrettably, I do not have such a thi—"
Before she could finish her sentence, Kaguya froze. She looked as though she had suddenly remembered something significant, falling into a state of paralysis on the spot.
"It seems you have an idea now, Milady."
Leon naturally saw this reaction and spoke with a smile. However, after another long silence, Kaguya replied:
"I do not have such a thing. You've come to the wrong place."
She actually denied it.
"Your reaction just now didn't look like that," Leon said, momentarily stunned, before looking deeply at Kaguya.
"Regardless, I do not have the object you speak of," Kaguya said, forcing herself to remain calm. "If I truly possessed such a treasure, I wouldn't be merely an unloved eldest daughter of the Shinomiya family."
That did have some persuasiveness. Throughout history, abilities like prophecy and precognition have been extremely mysterious, powerful, and rare. Even gods do not necessarily possess such power, let alone an item. A treasure with such an ability would generally be a gem that even gods would covet—especially those famous in myths and legends. It wouldn't be strange for several factions to fight and kill each other over such a thing.
Of course, treasures have grades. Even among prophetic items, some have strong effects and others weak. The former could draw gods into the fray, while the latter's attraction was lower, not enough to make those high-and-mighty beings intervene.
The Tablet of Destinies was considered a very powerful treasure; otherwise, even Tiamat, the "Chaos Karma Dragon," wouldn't be so obsessed with it. If Kaguya really possessed such a treasure, using it to change her fate would certainly not be difficult.
The premise was that Kaguya knew how to use it.
"Generally speaking, the more powerful a treasure is, the more impossible it is to be used casually. Even if someone possesses the Tablet of Destinies, they might not be able to use it at all, or they might not know the method, causing it to gather dust."
Leon watched Kaguya and spoke slowly.
"From your reaction just now, you should be aware of a stone tablet in your possession. Perhaps you didn't make the connection at first, or perhaps you didn't know it possessed such power, which is why you were so certain initially but then froze."
"But why did you suddenly change your attitude and so firmly claim you don't have it?"
"Is it because you realized the tablet has such miraculous power and are unwilling to part with it?"
"Or is it... because that tablet is something extremely important to you?"
By the end of his sentence, Leon noticed Kaguya had begun to bite her lip. This reaction already gave him the answer.
"It seems that object is very important to you, even if you don't know its true face or its true power."
Leon sighed, sounding a bit troubled. "This is a bit problematic. I really don't want to go back empty-handed."
"—So?" Kaguya calmed down. "Are you going to take it by force?"
"I am a devil, not a bandit," Leon said calmly. "If it's not necessary, I would prefer to obtain what I want through a fair trade."
Meaning, if it is necessary, you will still steal it?
Kaguya didn't say the words aloud, as there was no point. If Leon truly wanted to steal it, she had no way to stop him. Setting aside whether the hidden exorcist groups he mentioned truly existed, the fact that he could slip in past Ai Hayasaka silently already meant that their strength was insufficient to stop him.
Therefore, Kaguya wisely chose to negotiate.
"Let me hear how you plan to conduct a 'fair trade,' then."
She didn't think the opponent could convince her. Because that stone tablet was, in a sense, very important to her. She indeed didn't know it was some Tablet of Destinies, nor did she know it held such strange power, but it was the only thing her father had ever given her.
Just as Sirzechs had said, the Tablet of Destinies should have originally been part of the Shinomiya family's collection, kept in the main house. Ganan Shinomiya had once studied the tablet for a time and even took it to the heads of the Five Great Clans, but no one could figure out how to use it. They could only judge from its material that it was an extremely precious treasure, but they knew nothing else.
After all, this was something Tiamat had lent to the previous Red Dragon Emperor, and it had been at least several thousand years since that emperor was defeated. Since then, the Tablet of Destinies had been lost in the world, passing through many hands. Its long history meant its true identity and usage had long been forgotten.
It was only because the Devil Kings decided to help Leon and mobilized the power of the entire Underworld to investigate that they found its trace. Otherwise, who knows how long this tablet would have remained gathering dust in the world.
Ganan Shinomiya naturally lacked the ability to research anything from it, so he had tossed it into the family's collection. It wasn't until Kaguya accidentally stumbled upon it and brought it out that Ganan gave it to her.
No, to be more precise, Ganan simply hadn't taken the Tablet of Destinies back from Kaguya's hands. He acted as if the event didn't exist—perhaps he really did think he might as well just give it to her. Kaguya didn't know the details, but since her father hadn't taken the tablet back, she treated it as a gift from him. Her father had always been indifferent; having finally received such a gift from his hand, Kaguya wouldn't say it was her most precious treasure, but she didn't want to give it away to someone else either.
Until Leon spoke a sentence that made her lose her composure.
"I can let you see your mother one last time, or have a conversation with her," Leon said softly. "How does that condition sound?"
Kaguya snapped her head up, staring intensely at Leon.
"—Are you joking with me?"
For once, anger appeared in Kaguya's tone.
"You think I'm joking?" Leon said calmly. "Is there any need for that?"
"But my mother..."
Kaguya wanted to say something in her fury, but she was interrupted by Leon.
"I know. Your mother passed away after giving birth to you," Leon said bluntly. "But don't forget, I am a devil. A devil who lives in the Underworld."
"As long as the souls of the dead have not gone to Heaven or the deepest pits, and are still lingering in the Underworld, I have a chance to find them."
"In that case, wouldn't you have a chance to talk?"
Kaguya was stunned by Leon's statement; her very breathing seemed to stop. Her heart was completely thrown into turmoil by his words.
-----------------------------------------------
I handpick only the finest and most captivating novels for you. Don't forget to check out my other novels!
p@treon HongMengZi