As the leaders of the Three Factions began to earnestly discuss the peace treaty, and while everyone else was still reeling from this sudden development, Leon's mind and body grew increasingly alert.
Just as he had said before, the sight of the Three Factions sitting down together in harmony was something certain people absolutely could not tolerate. Therefore, the enemy was bound to jump out and cause trouble at this moment.
Now that the factions had begun their peace talks, Leon didn't believe for a second that those lurking in the shadows, waiting for their chance, could sit still any longer.
Sure enough, an anomaly appeared soon after.
"Buzz—"
Without any warning, a bank of mist appeared within Kuoh Academy. Like a rising tide, it spread through the interior of the school at an incredible speed, swallowing everything in an instant. The mist rapidly invaded the buildings and schoolhouses, surging through corridors and seeping into every room until they were completely filled.
"What is this—?!"
The room where the Three Factions were holding their summit was quickly breached by the mist, causing everyone to bolt to their feet.
"Watch out!"
Azazel was the first to shout a warning. "This is the mist produced by the ability of 'Dimension Lost'!"
Upon hearing those words, everyone present who knew what "Dimension Lost" was felt a jolt of shock. At the very moment the mist appeared, Leon lunged forward, grabbing the two peerage members closest to him, drawing yelps of surprise from the girls.
Immediately, the mist swallowed the entire room, making everyone vanish within it.
"Boom!"
Amidst a sudden atmospheric burst, purple demonic energy flared toward the sky, blowing away the thick fog and revealing Leon's figure.
"Lord Leon!"
The two girls in Leon's grasp finally spoke up, their voices filled with alarm and confusion.
Leon focused his gaze and only then realized exactly who he had grabbed. One was Ravel, with her golden ringlets and petite yet exceptionally curvaceous figure. The other was Rem, sporting short blue hair, a similar height and build, and dressed in her provocative maid outfit.
Leon was slightly surprised. He hadn't expected that his split-second grab would catch the two girls in the Eligos Peerage who possessed the greatest contrast between their height and their figures—despite their doll-like faces, both possessed an impressive physical presence.
As for the others—
"As I thought, they're gone?" Leon scanned his surroundings, his heart sinking slightly.
He and the two girls had appeared inside a large building, standing in a long hallway. The mist was still swirling beneath their feet, but the scenery was entirely different from the previous conference room. Only a shaken Ravel and Rem were by his side; everyone else had disappeared, their whereabouts unknown.
"—Where are we?" Rem forced herself to calm down, her hand already gripping the iron chain connected to her morning star.
"We should be in some kind of isolated space." Ravel also quickly regained her composure, swiftly assessing the situation. Gritting her teeth, she said, "We were forcibly teleported to an unknown dimension by 'Dimension Lost'."
"Dimension Lost," one of the four Top-tier Longinus and ranked fourth among the thirteen Longinus. As the strongest barrier-type Sacred Gear, its ability allows it to transport anything covered by its mist to other locations, including isolated dimensions or alternate universes.
Last time, Leon had fallen victim to this Sacred Gear, having been forcibly transferred to an isolated space by its wielder to engage in a massive battle with Cao Cao, who had been waiting there. Now, he had been played by the same trick again. He had only managed to grab two of his peerage members in time; the rest had been scattered to unknown locations.
What did this imply?
"So, those guys from the Hero Faction really have stuck their noses into this after all?"
This was an event that had not occurred in the original story. However, Leon hadn't ruled out this possibility. After all, he had long known that in order to prevent his intelligence from becoming obsolete, Cao Cao would inevitably move against him soon.
Therefore—
"Just like with Luffy Trix, you claim you aren't on the same side, yet you still choose to cooperate, don't you?"
Leon's voice was unexpectedly calm as he projected it toward the far end of the hallway. Several figures slowly approached from the shadows, entering the trio's line of sight.
However, to Leon's surprise, the beings walking toward them were not the members of the Hero Faction he had expected, but a pack of monsters. They were bipedal, jet-black creatures with thick, sturdy builds, sharp claws, and ferocious eyes—monsters that bared their teeth and snarled.
"Chirp!"
"Gah!"
"Roar!"
The monsters let out inhuman cries, causing Ravel and Rem to shudder slightly.
"W-what are these things? Monsters?!" Ravel cried out in shock.
"They have a very repulsive scent—" Rem made no effort to hide her disgust for the creatures.
Both girls felt an extremely unpleasant aura from these monsters, akin to encountering a mortal enemy that caused physiological discomfort, or perhaps a natural predator that their instincts compelled them to reject.
They were actually quite familiar with this feeling. Whether it was the Holy Swords created by Asuna Yuuki's Sacred Gear or the Purple Flame Crosses released by Mahiru Shiina, both could trigger this instinctive rejection and loathing in them as devils.
While these monsters were not yet at the level of Holy Swords or Holy Relics, they still made Ravel and Rem feel as though they were facing their natural enemies.
In fact, their intuition was correct.
"Clang—"
One black monster let out a howl and opened its mouth, suddenly releasing a brilliant beam of light toward the three.
"Boom!"
The light beam struck the floor of the hallway, blasting it to pieces and kicking up a cloud of dust. Leon, Ravel, and Rem had all leapt away simultaneously before the impact, evading the brilliant beam.
"It's Light power!" Ravel spread her wings of fire and shouted from mid-air. "Those monsters can use the power of Light!"
The power of Light, which only Angels and Fallen Angels should be able to use, was now appearing from a group of monsters—this situation left both Ravel and Rem stunned and bewildered.
Only Leon understood what was happening.
"I see. Are these products of 'Annihilation Maker'?"
"Annihilation Maker," one of the four Top-tier Longinus, ranked third among the thirteen, sitting just behind Leon's "Zenith Tempest." Its ability is to create all sorts of monsters through the user's imagination; the stronger the imagination, the more diverse the created monsters.
This Sacred Gear had shown a glimpse of its power during the attack by the Old Satan Faction. In that labyrinthine dimension, after Sirzechs' personal investigation and analysis, they had determined that the monsters appearing in the maze were all man-made creations—creatures produced by "Annihilation Maker."
Since this Sacred Gear, like "Dimension Lost," was held by a member of the Hero Faction, it further confirmed that the Hero Faction was involved in this incident.
Leon vaguely remembered seeing these black monsters in the original story. They were anti-devil monsters specifically prepared by the host of "Annihilation Maker," each capable of using the Light power that suppressed devils.
"Boom!"
Brilliant beams of light were released from the monsters' mouths once more, blowing apart the walls of the hallway and allowing smoke to billow out from the gaps.
Leon's group flew out from the building, escaping the structure and reaching a deserted street, only to be met with an even more fierce assault.
"Chirp!"
"Gah!"
"Roar!"
Black monsters emerged one after another from every corner of the street and the shadows of buildings, appearing as if they were growing out of the shadows themselves. Howling, they all fired light beams toward Leon and his companions in the air.
"Swish!"
Leon had already unfurled his ten devil wings, his figure darting like an afterimage to evade the incoming beams. One of his hands still gripped Rem's shoulder, pulling her along to dodge the dense barrage of light.
As for Ravel, instead of retreating, she charged straight into the thick of the light beams.
"Puff puff puff puff—!"
One beam after another pierced through Ravel's body, yet they caused her no harm. Her riddled body emitted flames; what gushed from her wounds was not blood, but fire. She transformed into a burning phoenix, crashing into the group of monsters nearest to her.
"Bang!!!"
Moments later, the burning phoenix struck the monsters' location, triggering a violent storm of fire that incinerated everything. The temperature soared as the deserted street transformed into a crimson hell. The flames continued to expand, swallowing the black monsters one by one. Ultimately, the monsters couldn't even let out a scream before they were burned to ash in the intense heat.
"Lord Leon! Please throw Rem over there!"
Seeing this, Rem—who was still being held by Leon—spoke up quickly. She didn't want to be outshone by her fellow peerage sister, and even less did she want to be seen as a useless burden who could only be protected by her master.
Leon didn't waste any breath. He threw Rem directly into the middle of a pack of monsters. Rem plummeted like a cannonball, landing with a crash that shattered the ground beneath her feet.
"Bang!"
The black monster closest to Rem had just turned around and opened its mouth, gathering the power of Light, but before the beam could be fired, a morning star tore through the air and smashed into its face, pulverizing its head.
"Haaaaaaaaaa—!"
Rem seemed to enter a demonized state. Roaring, she swung her morning star like a whirlwind. The spiked ball struck the black monsters at incredible speed, crushing and smashing them one by one.
Seeing the two girls slaughtering their way through the monsters, Leon gave a sudden smile. The ten wings on his back spread out, wrapping around himself.
"Bang bang bang bang—!"
Beams of light fired from all directions, striking his wings and exploding into splashes of light, but they failed to touch Leon himself in the slightest.
Normally, as a devil who is weak to light, Leon's wings should have been shredded instantly by such an attack, rather than blocking them so firmly. Unfortunately for the enemies, as a Perfect Devil, Leon no longer possessed a weakness to Light. Therefore, these monsters specifically created to hunt devils were useless against him.
Thus, Leon calmly blocked all the light attacks and manifested magic circles around himself. The magic circles rotated like cannon muzzles, firing countless mana bullets that struck the black monsters and blasted them into oblivion.
The three of them continued to clear out the sudden influx of monsters with high efficiency, showing no signs of being devils who were supposedly suppressed by Light.
Ravel ignored the light attacks entirely, her body wreathed in flames as she incinerated the creatures to ash. Rem was even more brutal, smashing them one by one with her morning star. Compared to them, Leon—who used mana bullets to kill the monsters—actually seemed quite merciful, at least granting them a painless death.
This scene continued for some time before finally settling down.
"Are they all destroyed?" Rem gripped the handle of her morning star, her gaze still filled with vigilance.
"There are no more monsters visible in the immediate area." Ravel flapped her wings of fire and landed beside Rem.
Leon also descended from the sky, retracting the conspicuous ten wings on his back.
"It seems we've passed the first stage without any major issues." Leon looked at the street, which had been turned into a battered battlefield, his brow furrowing slightly as he spoke to himself. "I wonder how the others are doing."
If the others had been attacked by these monsters designed specifically to hunt devils, the situation might not be optimistic. Beings on the level of Sirzechs or Serafall were fine—at their level, let alone Light, even the highest-grade Holy Relics might not pose a significant threat. But the other devils were a different story.
At the very least, if the Gremory or Sitri peerages encountered a group of these monsters, the situation would be severe. Even for the other members of the Eligos Peerage, it remained an unknown whether they could pass through such a situation unscathed. Even for Azazel or Michael, safety was not guaranteed; perhaps they had also encountered natural enemies prepared specifically for them by the host of "Annihilation Maker."
"How troublesome—" Leon couldn't help but feel concerned. The interference of the Hero Faction had completely altered the course of the summit from the original story.
"Lord Leon."
"Lord Leon."
Ravel and Rem looked at Leon simultaneously, seemingly waiting for him to make a decision.
"—Let's go." Leon narrowed his eyes. He didn't hesitate for long before speaking calmly. "We'll find the others first and regroup with our companions."
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