Devils Don't Fall in Love, Ch 186-187

Chapter 186 - Rias's Resolve

This time, it wasn’t just the Eligos servants and the Gremory servants sparring with each other. The Sitri servants would be joining in as well, instead of being sidelined as spectators like last time.

Since this was purely for sparring and exchange, there were no rules about order or priority. Teams would be formed freely.

If you wanted to fight someone, you just went up and invited them.

There was plenty of time. This definitely wasn’t going to be a one-match-and-done affair for everyone today. Some people might fight several times, maybe even ten or twenty bouts in total.

After finishing one match, you could immediately challenge someone else, or pause to rest, reflect on your performance, and think about what needed improvement.

As for getting injured and being unable to fight again?

That wasn’t a concern at all.

“I’ll be in charge of healing everyone, so please don’t worry about injuries.”

Asia said this with a smile as gentle as an angel’s, instantly captivating everyone who saw it.

Honestly, the former saint of the Church really was so kind and warm that she felt angelic in the truest sense of the word, making even Shiina Mahiru sigh in admiration.

“This is what a real angel is like.”

Compared to Asia, even someone publicly acknowledged as an angel like herself had to admit she fell short.

Of course, Mahiru could heal as well. And with Yuuki Asuna, Akeno Himejima, Shinra Tsubaki, and others who had some recovery abilities, everyone could fight freely without worrying about holding back.

With that settled, the newcomer Xenovia was the first to step forward.

“I hear you’re also a Holy Sword user?”

She directed the question at Yuuki Asuna.

“To be precise, I’m a Sacred Gear user,” Asuna replied calmly. “It’s just that my Sacred Gear is related to Holy Swords.”

She had no intention of labeling herself strictly as a Holy Sword wielder.

“Then let’s exchange techniques as fellow Holy Sword users,” Xenovia said seriously. “President Rias has told us more than once that every member of the Eligos servants is exceptional. I want to test myself against you, as a fellow swordsman.”

“All right.” Seeing Xenovia’s earnestness, Asuna smiled gently. “It would be an honor to cross blades with the wielder of Durandal.”

The two of them headed down the hill together to find a place to fight.

"Then I'll challenge Yuuto-kun," Yukino said as she stepped forward, inviting Kiba. “Facing a Sacred Gear user who’s mastered Balance Breaker should be very enlightening.”

Among the Eligos servants, Yukino had been the first to join and had followed Leo the longest.

Now that Leo had already reached the realm of Balance Breaker, she felt that, as his earliest follower, she should strive toward that level as well. At the very least, she couldn’t let herself be overtaken by others.

That was why she chose to challenge Kiba, someone Leo held in high regard, to see his Sword of Betrayer for herself.

“I’d be happy to fight a Longinus holder,” Kiba replied readily.

Back when the Eligos servants and the Gremory servants had clashed as full teams, Yukino’s performance had been outstanding.

Even though she wasn’t the Eligos Queen, she had fought evenly with the Gremory Queen. At the time, Kiba had already thought she was incredibly strong, stronger than himself.

And that was when she had only been Leo’s servant for a few months, without undergoing especially harsh training. After special training, she was clearly even stronger now. She might have already surpassed the Gremory servants' former number two, Queen Akeno.

Because of that, Kiba also wanted to fight her, to test his own strength and reclaim some pride for the Gremory servants.

At the same time, Koneko seemed eager to make up for her previous loss and actually challenged Kasumigaoka Utaha.

“Is it a Rook showdown again?” Tsubasa Yura stepped up, full of energy. “Then count me in too!”

The three of them had once fought side by side during the Old Maou Faction incident. Back then, they’d survived thanks to Utaha’s barrier.

After sharing that experience, their relationship had improved quite a bit. As another Rook, Tsubasa didn’t want to be left behind.

Similarly, Reya Kusaka and Momo Hanakai, two Sitri Bishops, challenged Shiina Mahiru together, teaming up against her alone.

There was no helping it. Mahiru was a Longinus holder, the host of the Holy Cross, one of the Three Holy Relics. A casual strike from her could deal fatal damage to a High-Class Devil. Even the highest-ranking devils wouldn’t necessarily dare to take that violet-flamed cross head-on.

If Reya and Momo didn’t team up, they had no confidence they could even last three exchanges against her.

Mahiru didn’t refuse. She smiled and nodded in agreement.

The remaining people quickly formed their own matches as well.

Ravel wanted guidance from Shinra Tsubaki, who was both a Queen and a friend of her master, so the two decided to spar.

Rem was reminded by Leo not to use her Oni transformation in this setting, so she teamed up with Tomoe Meguri and Ruruko Nimura, who were close to her in strength, rotating through matches.

As for Ram, she had been standing there the whole time with no intention of fighting anyone, until Akeno set her sights on her.

“I’ve heard a bit about the divine child of the Oni clan,” Akeno said with a cheerful smile, her eyes unusually serious. “I’d like to see what you can do.”

It was clear she wanted to push her own limits. She’d chosen someone whose presence was understated, yet who was actually the strongest person there besides Leo.

Just how strong was Ram?

Aside from the Eligos servants, probably no one truly knew.

But Akeno had heard rumors of the “One-Horned Oni God.” Given her own extraordinary background, and the fact that Ram had risen to prominence ten years ago, during Akeno’s most turbulent period. That was why she'd taken interest.

“…Sure.”

Ram had originally planned to throw out a few sharp remarks, but seeing the smile on Akeno’s face paired with such seriousness, she nodded instead.

With that, only Hyoudou Issei and Saji Genshirou were left without partners.

The two seemed to realize what was coming. They looked at each other, then immediately frowned.

“Why do I have to fight you, Saji?!” Issei practically cracked.

He wanted to team up with a cute girl too!

“That’s my line, you idiot!” Saji snapped, veins bulging on his forehead.

He was the student council secretary, law-abiding and proper. And now he was being paired with one of Kuoh Academy’s infamous perverts. If anything, he should be the one protesting.

Besides, he’d been unhappy with Issei for a long time.

His own Sacred Gear was only formed from part of a Dragon King’s power, while Issei’s was one of the Two Heavenly Dragons. The fact that a rule-breaking pervert outranked him, and constantly monopolized the president’s time for "corrections", made it impossible for Saji to look at him kindly.

He really didn’t want to believe that the Red Dragon Emperor was a guy whose brain was full of nothing but boobs.

And to top it off, the Heavenly Dragon ranked above a Dragon King.

That part hurt the most.

They glared at each other until the irritation boiled over.

“Let’s settle this, Saji!”

“Prepare to die, Hyoudou!”

“Oooooooooh!!!”

Without any warning, both summoned their Sacred Gears and charged straight at each other, startling Rias and Sona Sitri, who had been talking with Leo.

“…What are those two doing?” Rias muttered.

“…Ignore them,” Sona replied flatly.

Black lines fell over both of their foreheads as they sighed and rubbed their temples, then turned to Leo, who was watching with amusement.

Just moments ago, both of them had been inviting Leo to spar.

That’s right. Rias and Sona intended to challenge Leo.

“Are you sure?” Leo asked, not refusing, just confirming.

It wasn’t that he looked down on them. The gap in strength between them was simply too large.

Even without using a Sacred Gear, Leo was a genuine ten-winged devil. Rias and Sona were only High-Class Devils, two full levels below him.

That kind of gap was like a natural barrier. Even if Leo held back, it wouldn’t be a great experience.

Originally, he’d thought they would team up against him, which might have been interesting.

But Rias refused.

“I want to try on my own first.”

Her eyes were filled with determination as she looked at him.

She already had an unfinished match with Leo. And having always regarded him as a rival, it only made sense for her to challenge him here.

She knew full well how far behind she was.

After all, she’d seen Kokabiel’s fate with her own eyes.

That fallen angel executive had looked like a child in front of Leo, defeated with ease. Meanwhile, even with her servants and the Church’s Holy Sword users, she hadn’t been able to defeat Kokabiel and had been completely overwhelmed.

Anyone could guess what would happen if she challenged the man who had effortlessly crushed Kokabiel.

Even so, she wanted to try, to see how long she could last against him.

“…All right.” Seeing she wasn’t joking, Leo thought for a moment, then nodded. “Let’s do it.”

It was just sparring. What was there to lose?

Besides, he’d been curious about the famous trait, Power of Destruction, for quite some time now.

“Then I’ll go after you’re done,” Sona said with her eyes closed.

Clearly, she also wanted to challenge Leo alone and see how far she could go.

Ever rational and calm, Sona treated this as an opportunity, to understand herself, and to understand Leo. Even if she lost, it wouldn’t matter. As long as she gathered enough information to formulate strategies, it wouldn’t be a waste.

To her, temporary victory or defeat had never been the most important thing.

What mattered was the final outcome, and what she gained from the process.

Later, the two of them could even team up to challenge Leo for real. After all, this was just sparring. It certainly wouldn’t end after a single match.

If possible, Sona even wanted to test various tactics on Leo that she’d never had the chance to use before, adjusting her approach based on the battle itself.

Once everything was decided, the three of them spread their wings and flew toward another area.

Issei and Saji, who were still brawling, saw this scene. For some reason, it made their chests feel tight, like watching the girl you like get taken away right in front of you.

“It’s all your fault, Saji! Take this punch!”

“How is this my fault, damn it?!”

They quickly flew into another rage, venting their frustration on each other and rolling back into a fight.

Unfortunately, no one was watching anymore.

“Then… I’m coming.”

Above a desolate stretch of land, Leo and Rias faced each other at a distance.

Sona had already moved far away, adjusting her glasses as she stared intently at the two of them, clearly preparing to gather data.

After making her declaration, Rias’s eyes filled with crimson demonic power, burning bright.

“Whenever you’re ready.”

Leo’s posture was relaxed, his expression easy, looking completely unguarded. Yet the five pairs of devil wings behind him constantly reminded his opponent just how vast the difference was.

With only a single pair of devil wings, Rias looked solemn.

The man before her was her friend, a rival she acknowledged, and someone on the same level as Kokabiel, if not far above him.

She couldn’t afford to be careless.

Even seeing how relaxed Leo was didn’t change her resolve.

This has to be full power from the start.

Red demonic energy flared around her body, shaking the air.

“Be reduced to ashes!”

As she spread her hands, a magic circle spun open before her, gathering an immense amount of demonic power.

“Boom!”

In the next instant, the red energy condensed into a massive sphere and roared out of the magic circle toward Leo, making the air howl and thunder.

“Impressive demonic power,” Leo said, praising her even as he raised one hand.

A magic circle spun into existence, releasing an equally massive sphere of energy to meet it.

“Bang!!!”

The two spheres collided in midair, erupting with a terrifying explosion as shockwaves swept across the sky and land alike.

Chapter 187 - "Nature's Hope"

In this battle, Rias truly went all out. She even pushed past her limits.

She knew exactly what kind of opponent she was facing. There was no way she could afford to hold back. The moment the fight began, she unleashed everything. Her demonic power exploded outward, and the Power of Destruction surged like a dam bursting open, transforming into a relentless barrage of demonic bullets that shot toward Leo.

The scene looked a lot like when Vali Lucifer had overwhelmed Leo with his own barrage. The difference was scale. Vali’s blasts were like artillery shells, raining down densely enough to level a city. Rias’s, on the other hand, were only softball-sized, but there were countless of them, fired like a machine gun.

Each bullet carried the Power of Destruction. In sheer presence, her assault was even more overwhelming than Vali’s. Every single shot contained terrifyingly concentrated demonic power. One alone would be enough to put an ordinary High-Class Devil on the defensive. With this many concentrated into a single attack, anything below High-Class Devil level would be wiped out in an instant.

Unfortunately for her, Leo was her opponent.

“Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom!!!”

Explosions tore through the sky above the wasteland.

Leo’s response was simple. Several magic circles unfolded before him like the muzzles of cannons, firing demonic bullets of their own. His shots collided with Rias’s midair.

Each impact triggered another explosion. The sky filled with continuous blasts like a string of firecrackers. The atmosphere trembled, shockwaves and fierce winds whipping across the battlefield.

The turbulence didn’t stay in the air. It crashed down to the ground, stirring up thick sandstorms. For a moment, the entire wasteland looked like it had been swallowed by a natural disaster.

“Haah!”

Rias cried out, spreading her hands. Several magic circles spun into existence, stacking atop one another. A staggering amount of demonic power gathered within them before erupting into a roaring torrent. It devoured the incoming bullets and blasted straight at Leo.

Even he raised a brow.

“Well, damn. The Power of Destruction really is something.”

Wherever the torrent passed, everything vanished. The demonic bullets it swallowed were erased. Even the air, the sand, the debris, everything in its path was obliterated without a trace, as if it had never existed.

That was the tyranny of the Power of Destruction. It didn’t matter what the target was. Without sufficient strength to resist, it would be destroyed instantly, leaving nothing behind.

It was because of this trait that Sirzechs had risen to the position of the strongest Maou. His very being was a manifestation of Destruction. In his true “Destruction Form,” the quality of his demonic power surpassed that of the former Maou Lucifer tenfold, enough to intimidate even chief gods.

Rias wasn’t at that level. But she had inherited the same trait. Even a tiny demonic bullet from her could completely annihilate a powerful opponent in an instant. Among High-Class Devils, she was almost unmatched.

Sona Sitri was no match for her.

And before awakening Zenith Tempest, the second-strongest Longinus in the world, Leo himself would have been crushed if he had faced her.

In the original story, anyone on Rias’s level could hardly defeat her in a one-on-one battle. Even Riser only survived by relying on his Immortal Body to ignore the effects of Destruction. Without cheating abilities or a higher rank, no one stood a chance.

Sirzechs had even said that purely in terms of destructive power, Rias might surpass him in the future. He was a technique-oriented devil. She was pure power.

Her future ultimate technique, Extinguished Star, was something even Maou-Class beings would avoid. If it weren’t so difficult to control, she would’ve already risen beyond High-Class Devil.

She hadn’t reached that level yet, but Leo could already tell.

If he didn’t increase his output, didn’t raise his demonic bullets to a level that threatened an Ultimate-Class Devil, he wouldn’t be able to stop hers. That alone proved how overwhelming Destruction was against opponents of the same tier.

But if your level surpassed hers?

Blocking it became much easier.

Take Kokabiel, for example. He had blocked Rias’s full-powered attack with one hand, even when she had been boosted by Issei’s Boosted Gear.

Leo’s strength far exceeded Kokabiel’s. Even without using a Sacred Gear, he stood on the same level. Facing Rias without Boosted Gear enhancement, there was no way he would perform worse.

So he simply raised a hand toward the incoming torrent.

“Boom!”

The massive stream of demonic power slammed into his palm, its force raging like it meant to burn him to ashes.

The scarlet energy lashed wildly, like a ferocious beast trying to devour him whole.

To withstand it, Leo’s output rose fully to the level of an Ultimate-Class Devil.

Then he clenched his fist.

“Bang!”

The enormous torrent shattered in his grasp, as if a dragon made of demonic power had been crushed effortlessly.

“What?!”

Rias’s expression shifted.

Leo gave her no time to react. The magic circles before him rotated and overlapped just as hers had. A massive torrent of demonic power roared toward her.

In that instant, the gap between them became painfully obvious.

Watching from the sidelines, Sona immediately noticed the difference. Leo stacked multiple magic circles with casual ease. Rias had needed to shout and charge up. He did it like lifting something light.

That made sense.

Before awakening the trait of Servant Conversion, Leo had known his talent wasn’t on the level of prodigies like Rias. He had only barely become a High-Class Devil at eighteen. So he had poured his efforts into refining his control.

If Rias was power-oriented, Sirzechs technique-oriented, and Cao Cao ultra technique-oriented,

Then before awakening Servant Conversion, Leo had also been technique-focused. Now, he possessed both power and technique in equal measure.

Especially after repeatedly receiving reinforcement and technique feedback from Zenith Tempest, his control over his own strength had reached a level of effortless mastery.

This exchange wasn’t just power domination.

It was technical domination, too.

“Boom!!!”

The torrent smashed into the magic circles Rias hastily raised in defense. One layer after another shattered before the blast struck her directly.

She was flung backward from the explosion, smoke rising from her body. Her skin was scorched gray-black, and she coughed up blood.

Her clothes fared no better. Burned and torn apart in an instant, they left far more exposed than they should have.

“It’s not over yet!”

Rias ignored her appearance entirely. Scarlet demonic power burned in her eyes as red aura erupted around her. With a sweeping motion, she hurled two massive demonic bullets, one after the other, twisting together as they spiraled toward Leo.

He moved to catch them the same way.

But just before reaching him, the two bullets collided midair and exploded right in front of his face.

“Trying that, huh?”

He spread one of his devil wings in front of himself, shielding against the blast and the chaotic shockwave of demonic power. Then he reached toward the heart of the explosion.

“Whoosh!”

A tiny demonic bullet shot out from within, aimed straight at his head, subtle and almost impossible to detect.

If he hadn’t activated Magic Detection beforehand, he might have missed it.

But since he had noticed it,

He caught it in one hand and crushed it without harm.

“Even that doesn’t work...?!”

Rias bit her lip.

Before she could rally herself for another attack, Leo moved.

He stepped forward as if walking on air.

The next instant, he vanished, like he had dissolved into the atmosphere itself.

Rias’s heart lurched.

Before she could even react, he stepped out from the air behind her, as though emerging from nowhere.

“All right. Let’s call it here for now.”

Leo patted her shoulder lightly, smiling.

She went completely silent.

Sona was just as stunned.

“What... was that just now?”

As an observer, Sona could say with certainty. It wasn’t speed. It wasn’t teleportation through a magic circle.

He had truly merged with the air. His demonic power blended into the atmosphere, as if his entire body had dispersed and fused with it, only to re-form behind Rias.

It wasn’t a Magic Formula. It wasn’t some unknown technique.

And it definitely wasn’t something Leo had possessed before.

Even Sona, who knew quite a bit about him, was shaken.

Rias fell silent for a moment, then gave a bitter smile.

“As I thought. Beating you right now is nothing but a pipe dream.”

“You already knew that, didn’t you?” Leo replied bluntly. “You were prepared for this. No need to sigh.”

“That’s true.”

She steadied herself and turned to face him.

“So that was...?”

“More or less.” Leo didn’t go into too much detail. “Zenith Tempest has two fundamental abilities: control over weather, and control over natural attributes.”

“In the past, I mostly used it to manipulate earth, water, wind, and fire. But that wasn’t Zenith Tempest’s limit. It was mine.”

“Its ability is to dominate natural attributes, not just release natural power. So as long as my mastery is high enough, merging myself with the wind attribute like I just did is possible.”

That was how he had blended into the atmosphere and appeared behind her.

Sona’s instincts had been right. He had dispersed into the air itself, more precisely, into the wind.

Wind was part of the atmosphere. The two were inseparable.

If he wanted to, he could now merge with fire, sink into water, or disappear into the earth.

He had developed this technique while training alone in the harsh environments of the Ancient Battlefield at the border of the Eligos Territory, fully experiencing the ever-changing nature of the elements.

The original host of Zenith Tempest, Dulio Gesualdo, had created a technique called Speranza Bolla di Sapone, which evoked precious memories in others. Leo hadn’t managed to replicate that.

So he created something new instead.

He named it:

“Nature’s Hope.”

When activated, he could transform into natural energy itself.

In simple terms, it was elementalization.

“That’s seriously impressive.”

Rias let out a breath of admiration after hearing his explanation.

Leo cleared his throat. His gaze flicked over her once before he spoke.

“You might want to change your clothes first.”