Ultimate Skills.
The Ultimate Skill known as "King of Greed" could be described as an ability that had achieved the pinnacle of taking things away.
The worst person had been given the worst ability.
As things stood, Yuuki was overwhelmingly disadvantaged. He could turn the tables if he brought Chloe into the fight, but that was something he genuinely wanted to avoid.
The number of times he could issue orders to Chloe was three. However, he had already consumed one of those on the order: "Do not directly interfere with Yuuki."
This had been the most extreme demand he could place on Chloe's ability. An order to obey absolutely everything was impossible to enforce even if he used up all three charges.
The best he could do was pin her down so she wouldn't turn against him. That said, he also considered it a necessary precaution when factoring in the possibility that his domination curse might be undone now that Chloe had awakened.
The contract with Chloe was based on a Soul Contract, yet even so, Yuuki had needed to pour every last ounce of his soul's power into it just to maintain it.
And now that Yuuki himself had awakened to an Ultimate Skill, he realized with certainty that his thinking hadn't been wrong.
Chloe was specialized for combat. That was probably why the contract hadn't been easily severed, but given enough time, even a Soul Contract could be dissolved—that much Yuuki now understood.
He had come within a hair's breadth of losing Chloe entirely.
"So that's it… You've been awfully well-behaved, but you were actually trying to undo our contract, weren't you?"
Yuuki shrugged as he spoke.
Chloe maintained her silence with a bitter expression on her face.
Whether that attempt had succeeded or not was beside the point—she had definitely been testing the waters.
Well, that was only natural, Yuuki thought. If she wasn't stupid, it would have been far stranger to simply roll over and obey.
"Whatever. That was a close call, though. Now then, Leon—shall we continue?"
Yuuki nodded at Chloe's reaction and squared up to face Leon.
His expression was one of composure, while Leon wore a look of clear displeasure.
Both of them now possessed Ultimate Skills. Leon's superiority had been erased.
And yet, the situation still favored Leon.
Yuuki had awakened to an Ultimate Skill, but his energy hadn't recovered. It was all being spent on maintaining control over Chloe.
His other trump card was one he would rather not use if he could help it, so he wanted to fight with what he had on hand.
Thanks to this thinking on Yuuki's part, the situation remained unfavorable.
The Silver Knight Commander, Arlos, and Kagari were engaged in a one-on-one fight. Their battle was evenly matched.
In that opening, a separate battle was being waged between the strongest of Leon's subordinates—the Black Knight Commander,
The battle was overwhelmingly in favor of Claude and the others.
The ten-plus subordinates Yuuki had started with had been reduced to just five. Even now, another one crumpled to the ground from a single strike by Claude.
That left four remaining. The plan was to mop up the stragglers and then move to reinforce Arlos in his fight against Kagari.
"Hey, Yuuki-sama! At this rate, I'm going to be killed!"
Kagari dodged Arlos's attacks with an increasingly desperate look on her face.
Glancing over, Yuuki replied with an exasperated tone:
"You really are weak, you know that?"
"Well, I'm not about to just sit here and take it. Time for a little counterattack, I think."
With that, he swiftly moved behind the Red Knight.
Dodging the sword slash that came at him—
"Life-Stealing Palm."
He placed his hand on the Red Knight's chest with a soft tap.
The moment Yuuki withdrew his hand, the Red Knight collapsed to the ground.
"Red Knight?"
"Sister!"
In response to the Black Knight Commander Claude and the Blue Knight's cries, the Red Knight gave no answer.
More precisely, she couldn't answer.
Because the Red Knight was already dead.
"Calling out to her won't do any good, you know. I already took her life."
Yuuki delivered the fact with cold indifference, even commenting that his energy seemed to have recovered somewhat.
This was no longer a battle.
One who takes, and one who is taken from.
Between the two of them, the gap had grown to a point of absolute despair.
After finishing off all of Yuuki's subordinates, the Blue Knight rushed to the Red Knight's side and confirmed the truth of Yuuki's words.
His sister had died without being allowed even a moment of resistance.
"You—!"
The Blue Knight seethed with fury.
"Oh, hold on. You're the ones who picked a fight here, remember?
You killed my subordinates, so don't act surprised when the same thing happens to you. That's a bit hypocritical, don't you think?"
Yuuki's words only sharpened the Blue Knight's killing intent.
And then, upon witnessing Yuuki's ability, Leon realized just how badly the situation had deteriorated.
Despite having only just awakened, Yuuki had already completely mastered his ability. The fact that he had reached the same level as Leon himself was entirely outside the original plan.
Leon hadn't underestimated Yuuki. It was precisely because of how suspicious and dangerous Yuuki was that Leon had concluded he needed to be eliminated before he could grow any further.
There had been a genuine desire to rescue Chloe as quickly as possible, but that alone hadn't been enough to cloud his judgment into acting rashly.
That was precisely why, now that things had reached this point, Leon recognized the need to regroup.
All of Yuuki's subordinates had been dealt with. The only one left was a woman named Kagari. Her resentful glare was mildly irritating, but her strength didn't seem particularly noteworthy.
Against an ability that could steal a person's life with a single touch—an ability against which resistance was impossible—Leon judged that his subordinates were simply outmatched.
"We're pulling back."
Leon made his decision and issued the order immediately.
"Leon-sama, allow me to cover the retreat!"
Black Knight Commander Claude shouted and stepped forward, placing himself between Leon and Yuuki's group.
"Oh my? The great Leon, running away?
Surely you can't be allowed to do that?"
Kagari smiled seductively and manipulated the surrounding trees, blocking off Leon's escape route.
But something of that caliber could never hope to contain Leon.
The light of his Ultimate Skill, "King of Purity," blazed in his palm. He forcibly obliterated the trees, carving out a path.
Leon and his forces were about to activate teleportation magic when looks of confusion crossed their faces.
"Haha, teleportation doesn't work here, you know. Surprised?
One of the reasons I chose this location is that it's sealed off against teleportation escapes."
Yuuki spoke cheerfully.
And seizing the opening created by their failed teleportation—
"Heart-Stealing Palm."
Yuuki's hand touched the shoulder of Black Knight Commander Claude.
Despite the sudden lapse in attention, Claude managed to dodge—partially. Unlike the Red Knight, he didn't collapse on the spot.
But something was off. The moment Leon noticed—
"Yuuki-sama, my name is Claude. Please, give me any command you wish!"
Black Knight Commander Claude knelt before Yuuki.
The worst possible outcome.
Yuuki's power wasn't limited to taking lives alone.
Lives, abilities, and even hearts.
Even the loyalty carved into a soul could be overwritten, allowing him to implant loyalty to himself instead.
That was the true power of Yuuki's Ultimate Skill: "King of Greed."
"Ahaha! Now, excluding Chloe, it's three on three! Finally an even match, huh?"
Yuuki laughed with delight.
"You really do have a wonderful personality, Yuuki-sama…
But Leon, seeing that expression on your face—that makes me happy too."
Kagari, also known as Kazareem, beamed with joy as well.
"What did you do to Claude?"
At Leon's question, Yuuki replied politely:
"I just took your subordinate. It doesn't work on just anyone, though.
If the target's heart has no loyalty to anyone, the ability fails. Heart-Stealing Palm basically rewrites the name of whoever the target's heart is loyal to—replacing it with mine."
Yuuki examined Claude with a look of someone testing out a new toy's feel for themselves, then answered in meticulous detail.
Confirming the success of his ability from Claude's demeanor, he smiled with satisfaction:
"But this ability seems surprisingly useful, doesn't it?"
An ability that could only be described as a lump of pure malice.
The higher someone's loyalty, the easier they fell into Yuuki's hands.
Kagari was ecstatic at Leon's desperate situation, and the freshly turned Black Knight Commander Claude—showing no disturbance whatsoever at the change in his own heart—naturally turned his sword toward Leon.
Just as Yuuki said, excluding Chloe, the battle was three on three.
But the situation was overwhelmingly disadvantageous for Leon.
And yet, within that disadvantage—
Leon's heart held no trace of agitation.
Reading Yuuki's personality, he had anticipated that some kind of trap was being set.
It hadn't been activated yet, but he had a rough inkling of its true nature.
A magnetic field disturbance strong enough to block teleportation magic, lingering miasma, a secluded area in the mountains just outside of dragon territory where no human would tread. From these clues, an old tale came to mind. If his suspicion was correct, then, at this very place…
But even if his guess was right and the trap was triggered, it wouldn't pose any real inconvenience for Leon.
"(Certainly, if it were Rimuru or Luminas—if it were those two with demonic attributes—dealing with that would be a real pain, wouldn't it?)"
He murmured to himself.
He glanced briefly at Chloe. Her eyes glinted with a fierce light.
They were the eyes of someone who had not given up hope on the situation—eyes brimming with powerful resolve.
He looked once at Claude, who had once been his loyal retainer, then turned his gaze back to Chloe. She gave a slight nod.
"(So she's saying she can handle it?
The Red Knight might be beyond saving, but…)"
The situation was unfavorable, or so Yuuki believed. But for Leon, what happened to his subordinates was of little consequence. He only used them because they were useful, and he bore no obligation to protect them.
If you asked any of Leon's subordinates whether they wanted to be protected by Leon, not a single one would say yes.
Rather, they would say that if they could become Leon's shield and die for him, there would be no greater joy.
"(That said, I'm not exactly happy about them dying, either.)"
The reason Leon had considered retreat was that his subordinates would get in his way.
When Leon got serious, he inevitably dragged those around him into the fray. That was the very reason he had come alone, without coordinating with Rimuru or Luminas.
He had been about to pull back, but now Claude—his subordinate—had been stolen from under his nose.
This was no longer forgivable.
Leon looked at the Red Knight and quietly suppressed the anger welling inside him. Leon was a king, and it simply wouldn't do to be shaken by a subordinate's death.
His enemies were Yuuki and Kagari.
Claude was the strongest of Leon's subordinates, but Leon knew all his capabilities inside and out. He was no threat to Leon.
Kagari was a female magic demon who used familiar-looking techniques. She seemed to bear some grudge against Leon, but he had no memory of her. Even if there was one, his heart wasn't wide enough to remember the grievances of every small fry he'd ever encountered. From the looks of it, she specialized in manipulation or curse-based arts, but they were laughably inferior and posed no threat.
Leon concluded that this woman, too, could be ignored.
Which left Yuuki as his sole enemy.
And troublingly, Yuuki had awakened to an Ultimate Skill right here on the battlefield. He truly was a man whose bad luck seemed limitless.
But then—
A thin smile crossed Leon's face.
"Did you know?
There's a world of difference between Ultimate Skills—between the heavens and the earth!"
"What did you say?"
"I've changed my mind. No retreat. I'll bury you right here."
The Ultimate Skill that Leon possessed was the highest order of light. It was nothing short of a natural nemesis against those with demonic abilities.
Moreover, Leon knew of others who possessed Ultimate Skills.
He had once faced one—so overwhelmingly defeated that it could hardly even be called a battle.
—The "Dark Emperor,"
The strongest of all Demon Lords.
Leon had fought him with everything his Ultimate Skill had to offer, at full power. The result was total defeat.
After defeating Kazareem, Guy Crimson had appeared and challenged Leon to a duel. Win, and Leon could do as he pleased. Lose, and as a Demon Lord, he would join Guy's ranks. Those were the terms.
Leon had fought Guy with every intention of killing him, but Guy had deflected all of Leon's attacks as if amusing himself.
That experience had made Leon stronger.
In the end, when absolute beings possessing Ultimate Skills clashed, the one who understood the other's ability first would win.
Against an overwhelmingly superior opponent whose abilities couldn't even be comprehended, no amount of effort could prevent defeat. For Leon, Guy had been that kind of absolute being.
And it was impossible for someone without an Ultimate Skill to defeat someone who had one—at least, not without bringing overwhelming numbers to bear.
Yuuki awakening to the same caliber of Ultimate Skill here and now had been outside Leon's calculations, but that didn't mean Leon believed he would lose.
Leon had spent centuries thoroughly mastering his own ability. Someone who had only just awakened couldn't possibly have a perfect grasp of theirs.
And in truth, Leon was glad it had happened here. If Yuuki had awakened in the shadows and fully mastered his power before being confronted, things would have become far more troublesome.
"(I should nip this threat in the bud, right here and now.)"
Leon had finally acknowledged the malicious youth standing before him—Kagurazaka Yuuki—as an enemy that had to die.
Yuuki sensed the shift in the aura of the golden-haired beautiful man standing before him—
What was that? Something felt different—
Before the thought could even form—
A flash of light—
He recognized it only after it had already sent Black Knight Commander Claude flying.
A devastating bare-handed strike had shattered the upper half of Claude's jet-black armor, rendering him combat-incapable.
Watching Claude land near Chloe, Leon clicked his tongue.
"Chloe, can you at least patch him up? Since I've gone to the trouble of making him an ally, I'd rather not have a dead subordinate."
He called out to Chloe.
"Sure, fine."
There was a clear rule for what counted as an order and what didn't.
Without the use of a curse mark, it was processed as Chloe's own will rather than an order.
Having familiarized himself with this through several days of interaction, he could make requests freely.
However, the speed of that attack had been at the very edge of what Yuuki could barely react to.
It seemed he had truly angered a Demon Lord.
"(This bad?! My physical abilities are abnormally high, but if he goes all out, it's genuinely dangerous.
I tried to make him angry on purpose, but maybe that was a mistake…?)"
Even now, Yuuki's mind drifted to flippant thoughts.
"You two, return immediately. Report the situation to Rimuru and Luminas."
At Leon's order, the Silver Knight Commander Arlos and the Blue Knight could only nod.
They were well aware that if their lord Leon was fighting at full power, they would be nothing but dead weight. Worse still, they might even be used by the enemy to hinder Leon.
Even the Blue Knight, who had every reason to be enraged after his sister's murder, was not so incompetent that he couldn't read the battle. Without a word of protest, the two activated flight magic and began a high-speed withdrawal.
Having confirmed that both had safely disengaged—
"I won't let you!"
Kagari attempted to impede their escape by manipulating the trees—
"You people really don't know your place, do you?"
Leon's light obliterated every last tree, reducing them to nothing.
"G-Grace?!"
Sensing Leon's attack was about to be directed at her, Kagari quickly darted behind Chloe.
"Hey, wait, Chloe-chan. You'll protect me too, right?"
Shamelessly, she tried to blend into Chloe's defensive barrier.
With an exasperated look, Chloe replied:
"I mean, I don't particularly mind…"
"Oh! See, I knew Chloe-chan was kind. Truly befitting of a Hero!"
Kagari happily nuzzled against Chloe's cheek, and Chloe pushed her away with visible disgust.
"It makes no difference. It's just a matter of timing."
At Leon's words—
"H-Hey, Yuuki-sama! Did you hear what he just said?!
You can actually beat that Demon Lord, right?!"
Kagari screamed in genuine terror, the memory of her past defeat with Leon surfacing once more.
She had completely abandoned any pretense of composure.
After all, this was Leon as she hadn't seen him in centuries.
It was still an unhealed wound in Kazareem's heart.
"You really are… something else, you know that…
Whatever. Just watch quietly. I'm going to win."
In truth, Yuuki wasn't nearly as confident as he made himself out to be.
When Leon's subordinates had fled, he had considered giving chase. But taking one look at Leon's demeanor, he thought better of it.
Leon was clearly composed, and acting without regard for him would have been suicide. The blunder Kagari had gotten away with earlier only went unpunished because Yuuki hadn't moved either—if he had, Leon would have targeted him directly.
No, Leon probably could have targeted him regardless, but he had let them go as a return gesture for Yuuki sparing his subordinates.
And more likely than not, judging from Leon's light-based ability, Yuuki suspected the attack would endanger everyone in the vicinity.
Leon had only let his subordinates go because he couldn't fight seriously with them present. That was probably the correct interpretation.
"(Well, this is a mess. I feel like I just stepped on a tiger's tail.)"
Even thinking that, the smile never left Yuuki's face.
If he had truly begged Rimuru and Luminas for help, then he had no chance of winning.
He would have to play his trump card and then resort to the worst possible measures.
Even if he won against Leon that way, it would still count as a defeat in Yuuki's eyes.
So, what to do?
Using Chloe would settle things easily. But using her just to defeat a single Demon Lord seemed like a waste.
Besides, against a single Demon Lord, his trump card alone might just be enough.
Then first, a test of arms.
He'd gone to the trouble of acquiring this ability—wouldn't do to let it go unused.
"Now then, Leon. You really are more dangerous than I expected.
But don't worry—I'm still the one who's going to win."
"Spout all the nonsense you like. You're underestimating a Demon Lord. Allow me to show you reality."
Between them, the will to fight erupted, and pale lightning crackled between heaven and earth.
The time for talking was over.
And so, the battle began.