Grand Return System

Two Armor’s!!!

Rias took the dagger with trembling hands.

For a moment, she simply stared at it.

The weapon was small enough to fit comfortably within her palm, yet the moment her fingers closed around its hilt, a terrifying killing intent seemed to seep through her skin.

It was cold.

Not the ordinary cold of winter.

It was the kind of cold that came from something that had witnessed countless deaths.

A faint crimson sheen seemed to linger along the edge of the blade, disappearing and reappearing whenever the light shifted.

Rias swallowed quietly.

Her fingers tightened around the dagger.

She had never expected Leon to give something like this to her.

More importantly, she had never expected to feel this way.

For so long, there had always been a small part of her that wondered whether her Teacher cared more about Selena.

After all, Selena had been his first student.

She was stronger.

She had accompanied Leon for longer.

She had also obtained the Red Abyss Sword from the Martial Emperor Tomb.

Compared to that, Rias had nothing worthy of mentioning.

But now...

The thought quietly disappeared from her heart.

It turned out that her Teacher had never ignored her.

Nor had he ever been biased against her.

He simply expressed his care in his own way.

Rias lowered her eyes.

A faint warmth spread through her chest.

Her long red hair slipped over her shoulders as she looked down at the dagger in her hand.

She gently turned it from one side to the other, carefully examining every detail.

The weapon was exquisite.

Its surface was smooth and dark, with strange patterns carved along the edge. Those patterns were so fine that they looked almost like natural cracks in the metal.

Yet beneath that beauty was something terrifying.

Killing intent.

Even without activating its power, the dagger seemed to possess a hidden ferocity.

Rias could instinctively tell that this weapon was not ordinary.

Leon watched her quietly for a moment.

Then he continued to explain.

"This weapon is called the Heaven Cleaver dagger. It’s extremely powerful. You still don’t know how to use it. When we return to the sect, I’ll teach you a secret technique. Your strength will definitely increase greatly by using the Heaven Cleaver dagger to unleash the Inferno Lotus Art in your body."

Rias’s eyes immediately lit up.

She raised her head.

There was a flash of excitement in those large red eyes.

"Okay."

Her answer came quickly.

Almost too quickly.

Leon couldn’t help but smile.

Rias herself seemed to realize that she had reacted too eagerly.

She lowered her gaze again and lightly stroked the dagger with her thumb.

As she came into contact with more and more powerful cultivators, she had gradually understood one thing.

Strength alone was not enough.

A cultivator also needed a weapon suited to their own abilities.

Without one, there were times when even a powerful technique could not display its full potential.

She had suffered from this before.

Whenever a battle became dangerous, Selena would naturally move in front of her.

Her senior sister would block the enemy.

She would protect Rias.

And Rias would have no choice but to remain behind her.

She had never complained about it.

She respected Selena deeply.

But deep down, she also wanted to stand beside her.

Not behind her.

She wanted to fight shoulder to shoulder with her senior sister.

She wanted to become strong enough that Selena would no longer have to worry about protecting her every time danger appeared.

Now, with the Heaven Cleaver dagger in her hand, that possibility suddenly felt much closer.

Rias slowly closed her fingers around the hilt.

Her grip became firmer.

She would definitely learn how to use it properly.

She would not waste her Teacher’s kindness.

"Thank you, Teacher."

Rias smiled sweetly.

It was not the polite smile she sometimes used when speaking to others.

There was no hesitation in it.

No pretense.

It was a simple, genuine smile that came from the bottom of her heart.

For a moment, the sternness that usually surrounded Leon’s expression softened.

He looked at Rias and smiled gently.

"There’s no need to thank me."

The words almost slipped out.

But Leon swallowed them.

He had more important things to do.

His eyes quietly shifted toward the storage jade at his waist.

The trap was not over yet.

If he wanted the Grand Return System to activate properly, giving one treasure would never be enough.

Besides, Leon had plenty of treasures.

What he lacked was a reason to give them away.

Fortunately, these two students made things rather easy.

Leon reached into his storage jade.

Two objects appeared in his hands.

The moment they emerged, the surrounding air changed.

One inner armor radiated an intense chill.

A thin layer of frost immediately formed along its surface.

The other was completely different.

It radiated a warm, almost fiery heat.

Even the air around it seemed to distort slightly.

Selena and Rias both stared at the two inner armors.

Leon had obtained these two treasures from Whitedesire Mountain Patriarch’s belongings.

Judging from their appearance and the traces left behind on them, they had probably been taken from someone else long ago.

Leon didn’t particularly care about their origins.

What mattered was that they were now in his hands.

And since they were useless to him, there was no reason to leave them gathering dust inside his storage jade.

Their defensive power could not compare with the Eternal Moon Sovereign Robe.

They were only mid-grade spirit artifacts.

But for students at Selena and Rias’s current cultivation, they were more than sufficient.

They could protect vital areas.

They could also help them survive sudden attacks.

Most importantly, they were practical.

Leon raised both inner armors.

"Come on! One for each..."

His tone was so casual that it almost sounded as though he were handing them ordinary clothes.

Selena and Rias froze.

Both looked at him.

Then at the inner armors.

Then back at Leon.

"Ah, again?"