"————!"
The sudden voice caused the group of four to snap their heads up, their pupils shrinking in unison.
Leon's expression changed instantly. His internal mana leaked out uncontrollably, whipping up a violent, surging gale.
This was because his Mana Detection, which he kept active at all times, had failed to sense anyone approaching them.
Almost as a reflex, Leon swung his hand and fired a Mana Bolt toward the source of the voice, the projectile streaking toward a figure that had appeared out of nowhere.
Thump!
A dull impact rang out, but it wasn't the sound of the Mana Bolt hitting its target. Instead, the figure had casually swatted the incoming bolt aside with a palm, sending it spiraling into the sky where it dissipated.
Yes.
The Mana Bolt Leon had released in haste had been slapped away with a single hand.
"Quite the unique way of saying hello."
The newcomer spoke, though it was unclear if it was an observation or sarcasm.
"Though, I don't exactly hate this. It would be better if it were a bit stronger, though."
The person speaking was a beauty dressed in a sharp, deep-blue pantsuit, with long, straight, azure-blue hair.
A cold aura radiated from her, and her eyes were a deep, icy blue. She looked neither like a devil, an angel, nor a fallen angel, but something else entirely.
"Who are you?!"
Yukino Yukinoshita stood on guard alongside Asuna Yuuki and Utaha Kasumigaoka, hurling the question forward.
However, the person who answered was not the newcomer, but Leon, whose reaction had been so visceral just moments ago.
"...I never expected to meet you here."
Leon narrowed his eyes, having recognized her identity.
"Your statement is incorrect," she replied. "It would be more accurate to say that seeing me here is the only natural thing, wouldn't it?"
"After all, this is my residence."
It was indeed her residence.
Furthermore, Leon had already mentioned this fact when they first arrived at the Familiar Forest.
"First time meeting you. It is an honor to see you here, Miss Tiamat."
Leon performed a formal aristocratic bow, something he rarely did with such sincerity. His words left the girls beside him stunned.
Tiamat?
One of the Five Dragon Kings, known as the "Chaos Karma Dragon," Tiamat?
"She... she is the legendary strongest Dragon King?"
Yukino looked at the cold woman, her eyes filled with shock.
"Indeed," Leon replied without looking back, finishing his bow. "This draconic aura, so intense that one immediately realizes it belongs to a powerful dragon transformed into human shape... in this Familiar Forest, who else could it be but the 'Chaos Karma Dragon,' Tiamat?"
Even though she was in human form, she hadn't bothered to mask her presence since appearing. Leon had realized instantly that she was a dragon.
"Your detection skills aren't bad, little fellow of the Eligos family," Tiamat remarked, her deep blue eyes fixed on Leon as if trying to see through him.
Leon wanted to retort that if his detection were truly good, he wouldn't have had such a violent reaction to her undetected approach.
Despite her not masking her aura, he had only noticed her presence after she spoke. This situation meant only one thing:
Her strength far exceeded his own, towering over his detection capabilities.
The cold beauty before him was even stronger than Miyamoto Musashi—the woman who had suppressed Leon and never let him win a single sparring match. In fact, she was significantly stronger.
Miyamoto Musashi was merely a being approaching the Satan-class, whereas even the weakest of the Five Dragon Kings was at the Satan-class. The "Chaos Karma Dragon" before him was hailed as the strongest of the Dragon Kings; even if she hadn't reached the level of a Heavenly Dragon, she was likely vastly more powerful than an ordinary Satan-class being.
To be honest, encountering such a terrifying powerhouse in the middle of a forest deep at night made Leon a bit apprehensive.
If she were some wild Dragon King, Leon would have already fled with his peerage.
But since she was the "Chaos Karma Dragon" Tiamat, things shouldn't end in disaster.
"Does Miss Tiamat actually know me?" Leon asked, conversing while testing the waters.
"Do you think you are some nameless nobody?" Tiamat said with a faint, knowing smile. "Recently, your name has been mentioned quite often among the high-ranking circles of the Devil World. Even my ally has brought you up to me. Therefore, from my standpoint, knowing of your existence is only normal."
The reason Tiamat said this was because she possessed a hidden identity.
She was actually an underground arbiter for the Devil World's Rating Games—one of the true managers of the game.
During official or special Rating Game matches, if something happened beyond the expectations of the organizers and required emergency intervention, Tiamat would step in as a special arbiter to handle the mutation and bring the game back on track.
She had held this position for about one hundred and fifty years. In other words, she had maintained an inseparable, deep relationship with the Devil World for over a century and a half.
The "ally" she mentioned was the developer of the Evil Pieces and the initiator of the Rating Games, the current Satan Beelzebub—Ajuka Beelzebub.
The "standpoint" she referred to was her role in correcting the flaws and abuses within the Rating Games.
Because Leon's "Peerage-forming" trait had connected with the Evil Pieces developed by Ajuka, causing a mysterious change in them, Ajuka Beelzebub had been paying close attention to Leon. Consequently, Tiamat also knew quite a bit about him.
This was why Leon felt that facing the strongest Dragon King wouldn't necessarily result in his demise.
Though she was a ferocious Dragon King, she was closely linked to the Devils. The fact that she could live peacefully in the Underworld's Familiar Forest was likely due to this relationship.
One had to remember that other Dragon Kings were either dead or subservient. Even the Two Heavenly Dragons, who stood above the Dragon Kings, had been reduced to the cores of two Longinus, their physical bodies destroyed and only their souls remaining. Only the "Chaos Karma Dragon" continued to live a comfortable life. It would be strange if there weren't someone supporting her behind the scenes.
Therefore, she likely wouldn't make things difficult for a rising star of the new generation like himself.
"Then, your appearance here is because...?"
Leon's mind was clear as a mirror, but he maintained a look of appropriate confusion.
"What? You think I shouldn't have come?" Tiamat scanned the surroundings, her words pointed. "The place has been turned into this state. If I didn't react at all, people would start wondering if I had been slain by some Dragon Slayer hero, wouldn't they?"
Leon let out an embarrassed smile.
He admitted he had gone a bit overboard. The commotion was indeed quite large. As the Dragon King living in the Familiar Forest, Tiamat was essentially the overlord and landlord here; it would be weirder if she didn't react.
But wasn't it all to slay the Hydra?
Without a large commotion, how could one slay a monster like that?
Thinking this, Leon suddenly realized something significant.
With such a massive disturbance, was it even possible to hide anything from the strongest Dragon King?
For instance, the power he had just used to slay the Hydra...
"That power just now... if I'm not mistaken, it should be the power possessed by the Longinus, 'Zenith Tempest,' shouldn't it?"
As expected, Tiamat's gaze became increasingly meaningful, and a hint of a smile appeared on her cold face.
"I truly didn't expect it. The second-ranked among the four High-tier Longinus, 'Zenith Tempest,' has actually appeared in the hands of a Devil. And the possessor is you—the little fellow whose fame has been growing among the higher-ups. It seems Ajuka and the others still underestimated you."
Why did Tiamat show herself?
Unquestionably, it was because of the appearance of "Zenith Tempest," the second strongest Longinus in the world.
Otherwise, just for making a bit of noise or slaying a Hydra, she—as the strongest Dragon King—wouldn't have bothered to personally come and meet a new-generation Devil who hadn't even made his debut yet.
The secret Leon had been hiding was now glaringly exposed before Tiamat. If she didn't come out to see him, it would be a lack of respect for the world's second-strongest Longinus.
"The three beside you are your peerage, I presume?"
Tiamat seemingly felt she hadn't applied enough pressure yet, so she turned her gaze toward Yukino and the other two, sounding amazed.
"'Absolute Demise,' 'Sword Birth,' 'Create World'... One is a Longinus possessor like you, and the other two are hosts of extremely rare Sacred Gears. Your luck is truly something, little fellow."
In this regard, Tiamat was genuinely astonished.
A new-generation High-class Devil who was just preparing for his debut was not only a possessor of a mutated trait but also the host of the world's second-strongest Longinus. That was one thing. But his three newly recruited peerage members were all rare, high-potential individuals of a caliber seldom seen. How many High-class or even Pure-blood Devils would turn green with envy over this?
Ordinary Devils struggled to find even one excellent Sacred Gear user for their peerage. This kid not only was one himself, but his three subordinates were as well, each possessing a Sacred Gear more rare and powerful than the last. Even she, a Dragon King, found it a bit startling.
With this quality of peerage, even a Satan might not necessarily be able to compete, right?
Truly... a particularly lucky little fellow.