Eligos Territory, Ancient Battlefield Camp, Leon's tent.
Having invited Sirzechs and Grayfia inside, Leon had originally intended to prepare tea for them. However, just as he was about to move, Grayfia, who had been standing silently behind Sirzechs, had already appeared from nowhere with a tea cart and was pouring out steaming hot black tea.
"Please enjoy."
Grayfia placed two cups of black tea respectively before Leon and Sirzechs. The faint aroma filled the entire tent, dispelling some of the oppressive air inherent to the ancient battlefield.
"Thanks, Miss Grayfia."
Seeing that the other party's "Queen" had already prepared the refreshments, Leon did not stand on ceremony. He sat down with Sirzechs and began to enjoy the delicious tea.
"Is your Peerage training right now?" Sirzechs asked, showing concern for the current state of the Eligos Peerage. "Though I can tell from your expression that the special training is likely going well, what is the actual situation? Can you tell me about it?"
"Things are going quite well; the special training is indeed proceeding smoothly." Leon naturally knew that his Peerage members had become a primary focus of the Satans. Since he trusted Sirzechs enough, he didn't hide anything and spoke directly: "They are all girls of extraordinary talent. Even without Sacred Gears, they were destined to become remarkable people; with Sacred Gears, they are destined to soar in this world.
"If given enough time, I have no doubt they can catch up to Miss Grayfia and Lady Serafall."
Hearing this, Grayfia's brow twitched slightly, and a rare look of interest appeared on her expressionless face.
"Catch up to Grayfia and Serafall?" Sirzechs smiled warmly. "It seems you are truly satisfied with their performance."
"They are members I personally selected, after all. No one understands their brilliance better than I do," Leon shrugged. "Unfortunately, they still lack time.
"Of course, even now, they have displayed potential far greater than many pure-blood Devils.
"Though the special training has only been going for half a month, they have undergone a transformation akin to being reborn. Even for me, without using my true abilities, it would be difficult to take down any one of them."
This was a result he had personally verified, so Leon spoke in an expository tone without any hint of self-boasting.
"That is indeed startling growth." Sirzechs was somewhat surprised and spoke with a hint of admiration: "As expected of the Eligos Peerage, who have already become a legend in the Devil world. Even compared to Rias's Peerage, solely in terms of potential, it must be difficult for them to be mentioned in the same breath as yours, right?"
As Rias's older brother, Sirzechs naturally understood his sister's Peerage very well.
Though they might not seem exceptionally prominent individually at the moment, it was because Rias's Peerage members still harbored unknown powers or hidden potential.
Setting aside the "Bishop" who remained sealed for now, characters like Akeno Himejima, Yuuto Kiba, and Koneko Toujou all had startling backgrounds. Their uniqueness was not inferior to Sharon Holy-Grail, who had been developed as an experimental subject for an Extra-Demon, and in some ways, they were even more special.
If these individuals fully utilized their unique traits, resolved their respective inner traumas, and brought out their hidden potential, their futures would certainly be limitless. Even if they did not reach Satan-class, they would not be much inferior to Ultimate-class Devils.
Therefore, among the upper echelons of the Devil world, this generation of the Gremory Peerage was highly scrutinized and held great expectations by many.
However, the current Eligos Peerage had surpassed the Gremory Peerage in terms of attention and importance within the Devil world, which forced Sirzechs to feel a sense of profound sentiment.
"Potential is just potential. Until it is realized as actual strength, it is nothing more than a target that attracts unwanted attention."
Leon naturally did not believe his Peerage would lose to the Gremory Peerage. Thus, even when praised by Sirzechs, he did not show much joy, but rather felt a bit of helplessness.
"If possible, I hoped to keep them hidden for a while longer. I wanted to wait until either I or they grew sufficiently and possessed a certain level of strength before letting the Eligos Peerage make its voice heard in the outside world.
"Unfortunately, Luffy Trix's attack exposed us all.
"Otherwise, we wouldn't have had to rush to the Underworld for this frantic special training, intending to increase our strength as quickly as possible to deal with the malice from the outside world."
Leon's words caused Sirzechs's expression to turn more serious.
"Regarding the Hero Faction you mentioned, we are already aware of them." Sirzechs set down his tea cup, looked at Leon, and said: "First the Old Satan Faction, then this Hero Faction we had never heard of before, and then the group of Stray Magicians that appeared in the last attack—
"There is no doubt that a mysterious and unknown massive power has emerged without any of us realizing it, and these criminals have colluded around this central power.
"We have been conducting a covert investigation. Although we haven't gathered much useful intelligence due to the short timeframe, we have discovered several things that don't seem right."
Sirzechs recalled the contents of the secret intelligence they had gathered.
According to the reports, during this period, not only had the Old Satan Faction in the Devil world shown abnormal activity, but there were also entities in Heaven and the Fallen Angel territory who had initiated abnormal actions against their current regimes.
The same applied to the Church. Besides Sharon Holy-Grail getting involved in the Old Satan Faction's attack, several other individuals seemed to have secretly allied with someone, either defecting from the Church to parts unknown or engaging in clearly suspicious activities.
Combined with the human-centric Hero Faction and the Stray Magician groups, terrorists had begun to emerge in almost every major power. They were colluding with each other rather than acting alone.
Everything pointed to the fact that dissatisfied criminals within various factions had begun to join forces, or even joined the same organization, to realize their unknown goals.
This should have been impossible.
Even the famous God of the Bible had not managed to gain the following of all major factions. How could this mysterious organization manage to unify individuals from all these groups?
However, under Leon's deliberate reminder from before, Sirzechs had already made the connection. If there was truly one person capable of such a feat, that person could only be—
"Ouroboros—"
Thinking of that existence, a shadow couldn't help but flicker in Sirzechs's eyes.
If that entity had truly made a move, then trouble was brewing.
However, Sirzechs would not casually speak of these extremely important secrets. Currently, this matter was restricted to the four Great Satans and several crucial high-ranking Devils; others had no idea what was happening.
Sirzechs thought it over and finally decided not to tell Leon these things. Although Leon was a very important party involved and much of their current intelligence was thanks to him, knowing too much might not be beneficial for him.
Thinking this way, Sirzechs had no idea that Leon knew just as much as he did, if not more.
Leon also knew that it wasn't just the Devils who had discovered the existence of that mysterious organization and "Ouroboros." The Governor General of the Fallen Angels had also noticed the abnormalities and investigated enough intelligence.
That information was currently restricted to the high-ranking cadres of Grigori and had not yet leaked out.
If not for him, the Devil world would have discovered nothing, and only the Fallen Angel side would have been prepared.
Therefore, Leon likewise had no intention of telling Sirzechs these things, to avoid arousing suspicion.
"In short, we are already on guard. You shouldn't be easily ambushed again in the future," Sirzechs said. "Just focus on your special training; we are watching over the surrounding area."
Leon did not find this strange. He had already noticed that from time to time, there was a sense of being watched around the camp and the ancient battlefield. There was no malice in those gazes, so he had guessed that Sirzechs and the others had sent people to watch over them and prevent them from being attacked again.
"Then I thank you, Lord Sirzechs."
Leon thanked Sirzechs.
"This is something I should do as a Satan; there is no need for thanks," Sirzechs smiled. "As long as you can grow, you will be able to share our burdens in the future. To see that day come, no matter how much hardship you face now, it is worth it."
"Yes," Leon nodded. "We will become stronger as quickly as possible."
"I believe in you." Sirzechs gave a gentle smile, then changed the subject: "To help you grow stronger quickly, we have also formulated some strategies and are prepared to offer you some assistance.
"Grayfia."
Sirzechs called out to the "Queen" behind him, and Grayfia produced a thick stack of papers.
"Please have a look."
Grayfia placed the large stack of papers in front of Leon, leaving him momentarily stunned.
"What is this?"
Leon picked them up with some confusion and flipped through them. As he did, he discovered with some astonishment that these were dossiers on various Devils.
Not only did these records detail their births, origins, backgrounds, abilities, and even their daily lives, but they also included photographs of the individuals, allowing Leon to clearly see what they looked like.
Then, Leon noticed that these Devils were all of significant standing. They were either descendants of high-ranking Devils, members of the current Seventy-Two Pillars of the Devil lineages, or disciples, students, and associates of famous prominent figures.
Sirzechs then spoke these words:
"These are the candidates we have selected for your Peerage."
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