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"C'mon, Rias." The blonde man said, pulling an arm over the King's shoulders, possessively. "Why wait anymore? We can get married as soon as possible and you'll see that it will be in your best interest."
The redhead picked his hand with the tips of her fingers, moving his arm out of her shoulders as if she was removing a piece of garbage that had fallen on her. "Riser, go back home and read the letter I already sent Lady Phenex again. I'll not marry you, or anyone that isn't one I decide to. Now, please, leave."
The man raised his hand. "I'll not be insulted by my own future wife before we are even married." He was about to struck down on the redhead who looked at him without any hint of fear. His arm didn't even move from its position, where a small hand held it by the wrist.
A soft voice came from behind the man. "As you yourself has said, you're not her husband yet. Please, do not think that you can attack my King without her servants doing anything." He widened his eyes and whirled around. "Or Grayfia-sama, for that matter."
"Indeed." The Ultimate Queen was beside the blonde even before the voice had finished. "Now, please, Riser-sama, don't do anything foolish."
He looked at the Maid with fire in his eyes, and then at Rias and leered. "Very well, let's make a bet, Rias. A Rating Game. Your Peerage against my lovely servants." He said, motioning for all the girls in the room.
The Gremory Heir only sighed. "Sure, whatever you say. When?"
"In ten days." He said, already laughing to himself. She could use that time to train herself into a better wife for him. It was what he thought, but her next words made him scowl instead.
"Do you need so much time to train to fight against me?" She said, with a bored but curious tone. "Well, can't say that I blame you." She looked with the corner of her eyes at her Queen that resumed the position behind herself.
The blonde's face flared red in rage. "What?! Then right now. Let's go!"
"That would be impossible, Riser-sama. We still prepare the stage and inform the two Clans." Grayfia interposed. "Please, ten days is a reasonable amount of time."
"Sure, whatever." He said calming himself down. Even he couldn't go against a Maou's Queen. "Be prepared to become my bride then, Rias." He said eyeing the girl, who had already dismissed the discussion completely and had her reading glasses on, looking at some documents on her table.
Around the room, Ise and Asia were gaping at the reactions from their King at the obvious killing intent all the Devils from Riser's Peerage were throwing at her. "Oh, right. Sorry. These documents won't read themselves and I have to make some adjustments to the budget yet again. Koneko?" She turned to the white haired girl that was sitting impassively while munching on a bag of chips. "Can you take these to Sona? It's the budget for the Athletics Meet next month. Tell her to revise it before sending back, please."
The white haired girl got up, got the documents and nodded, before moving out of the room through the middle of the horde of girls and women who kept staring daggers at both her and Rias. One of them even tried to trip the Nekomata, but she sidestepped easily and without as much looking down, before closing the door as she exited.
Rias then looked back at Riser. "Oh? You still here? Haven't we already agreed that we'll decide this in ten days? Or was there something else?"
The blonde was about to flare up again when the Ultimate Queen moved from behind the King and began ushering everyone out. Grayfia looked at the scene and sighed. Where had they've gone wrong when raising her niece? She couldn't really tell what was wrong. She was being dismissive, but this was a request by Lady Gremory herself, her own mother. Grayfia knew that Rias had already called off this engagement several times in the past but Lady Gremory continued to try and force the girl to go through with it.
Well, at least now it would end, one way or another.
As Grayfia managed to herd Riser and his Peerage out of the door, Rias sighed and sat back on her chair. "Hmm... Buchou... Is it really alright to talk like that to that grilled chicken?" Ise asked. He was puzzled. He didn't like the way the bastard was touching Rias, but he never saw her be so dismissive about anyone. She was warm and caring and had big oppai. Okay, that last part didn't really matter, but the point stands. He never saw Rias do something like that to anyone.
"Hmm?" Her smile came back full force and Ise blushed. Yes, he was a pervert. Yes, he liked oppai. Yes, Buchou had ginormous ones. But her smile was so pure and beautiful that he couldn't actually look at anything else below her neckline. Her smile was captivating like that. "Ah, don't worry, Ise. Once this is done, I'll not have to worry about the Phenex Clan anymore, so it's a good thing."
He was confused. Even he, with the Boosted Gear, had been downed in one strike by a bokutou of all things. How could his Buchou be so certain of her victory? He knew he wasn't strong yet, and he also knew that there was fifteen on that Peerage against the six of them. So he voiced his question. "How are we going to win?" He looked down at his hands. "I'm still too weak to help."
The girl cocked her head. "Hmm... You do bring a good point." She smiled again. "Since they gave us these ten days, then let's use them." She got up and reached for her phone. After dialing on it and waiting for it to complete the call, she turned to her Queen who was still in the same place smiling back at her. "Hi, it's me. Listen, Riser made a deal with me and wants to put the marriage as a wager in a Rating Game." She paused then chuckled. "Yeah. I know. Anyway, since I have new Pieces, I was wondering if you could book the island for me to use during these ten days?" Another chuckle. "Well, not everyone can be so skilled from the beginning, right? Ise will be a good Frontliner and Asia still needs to work on her demonic energy." Another pause. "There's no need. I have an instructor right here... Yes. Okay, bye. Thank you, Nii-sama."
Ise was completely befuddled by the reaction. Were Devils supposed to be like this? He thought that Riser himself was more of a Devil in the way he remembered reading about them than what the people he was around acted. Granted, he only read about Devils in eroge and porn mags, but he heard the stories. Everyone heard stories about Devils.
But everyone on this group was completely at ease. Kiba, the damn handsome, had been leaning against the wall during the whole thing and hadn't moved from his spot or stopped scowling since the beginning of the confrontation, but now that they were alone he at least wasn't distorting his face anymore, which was a blessing, since the look was wrong on him, and a curse as well, exactly because now he looked like the prince charming that had all the girls in the school drooling over him.
Koneko too hadn't even registered that a group of people had entered the room and continued to munch on her snacks like there was nothing wrong with the scene. The only who acted somewhat like him was Asia, but the former Sister was a newer Devil than him, so maybe that had something to do with it.
Rias turned after finishing the call. "Prepare for departure in thirty. We'll meet up at the school gate." Then she turned to her Queen. "Call Koneko, would you?" Before she had even finished talking the Higher Piece had already moved out of the door, followed closely by Kiba.
"Hummm... Buchou-san... What departure?" Asia asked. Ise wanted to applaud her for thinking about it. He was still trying to process everything that was happening to even register that his King had said anything.
"We'll be leaving for a ten-day training camp to help you two train the way Devils do." Then she cocked her head from side to side two times while looking up. "No, that's not entirely accurate. We'll train you two in the manner a Demon would."
That made him gulp a lump of air. Why had he decided to accept be a Pawn in Rias Peerage again? Oh, right. It was either that, or he would be dead. The glint in her eyes was even worse. "S-S-So... We'll train for the Rating Game for ten days?" He tried to get that out.
"Rating Game?" Rias looked at him puzzled for a moment, then chuckled on her hand one more time. "Oh, right. No, you two don't have to worry about the Rating Game. You'll spend this time to train with the best instructor we have, but not for the Rating Game." She turned a fierce grin at them both, which made he latch onto Asia, who too yelped at the visage of their Buchou and returned the same vice grip on him. "We'll train you for War. This Rating Game is just a pissing contest. Don't worry about it."
Ten days later he understood exactly what those words meant. He felt in his bones, his muscles and even in his brain matter. There had been a lot of close calls during the time, and he would never look at his King and Queen again with the same eyes, or Koneko and Kiba for that matter. How in the name of anything that's... no. Forget it. Better to forget that these ten days ever happened altogether.
At the moment they were all in front of a duplicate of the school, with the grilled chicken trying to grandstand and he could swear he saw his Buchou stifle a yawn during his speech. Not that he was looking at her. No, he was drilled into not taking his eyes from the enemy the moment he stepped onto the battlefield. It was hard not to stare at all the oppai on the other side though.
That Yubelluna woman had some great ones. He'd be leering at the girls for so long that before he realized the face off between the two Kings had already ended and they were going back to where their territory would be. He still couldn't understand how they would win and how could her Buchou be so confident. Even with all the training, especially the ones he and Asia got, they still didn't know how they would be able to win. He could boost up to seventeen times now and could transfer the boosts to other people, thanks to the training, but that was still limited by the ten-second wait between boosts.
Asia could use her Twilight Healing in reverse to cause injury instead of healing. The blonde didn't like it but was drilled into using it when necessary, since she wasn't that good with offensive spells.
When they got to the copy of the clubroom, instead of going inside, they all flew to the rooftop and Rias sighed. "Still, a shame that we had to wait until today for me to able to be free from this farce."
"Yeah." Her Queen answered. "So, how are we going to end this? Fast or slow?"
"Fast. I don't want to waste time with the Phenex anymore." The redhead said. "Can you do it from here, or...?"
"Yeah. No problem. I have a line of sight to the building." Ise took one look and, sure enough, he could see the school building as well.
Grayfia's voice came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. "The Rating Game between Rias Gremory-sama and Riser Phenex-sama will begin in 5..." Their Queen moved in front of the group and Rias took a step back. Ise looked puzzled at the movement, but since Kiba and Koneko followed after her he too took a step back. "4... 3... 2... 1... Begin."
A bow appeared out of nowhere on the Queen's hand and a thing that looked more like an oversized drill appeared on the other. Then it changed and became smaller and more streamlined as if it was an arrow... Which the Queen put on the bow.
All of a sudden an explosion of energy flared from the Queen, or better saying from the arrow the Queen was notching to the bow. "My core is twisted in madness." He heard the voice as clear as a bell, even from all the sound coming from the power being gathered on the arrow. "Caladbolg."
When the Queen declared that, the arrow shot in the direction of the building and the bow disappeared after that.
It wasn't the only thing that disappeared though. The building along with that side of the mountain disappeared in a flash of light. Ise only gaped at the display of power.
"R-Riser Phenex-sama's eight Pawns, two Rooks, two Bishops, two Knights and Queen have retired." Grayfia's voice came again, but it was stuttered as if she couldn't believe what she just witnessed. Issei couldn't blame her. He too couldn't.
"Well, it seems Riser was able to survive." The Queen said. "Shall I finish him off, or do you want to do it, Rias-sama?"
Before she could answer though, the announcement came. "This Rating Game is over. Winner by resignation, Gremory Rias-sama. Time of combat: Five seconds."
"Humm... Seems like he thought that his Bomb Queen was better than mine." Rias said, and smiled at her Queen.
"I told you I prefer my other nickname, didn't I?" The Queen said to the King.
"Oh, the Priestess of Thunder is so... wrong. You're much more than that, Akeno." The redhead said admonishing her Queen while pulling her into a hug.
"Yeah, but you know that I can only do this because..." She looked ashamed for some reason that Issei couldn't exactly understand.
"Don't worry about that. No one can say anything about it, right? It's yours, you should be proud." The redhead pulled out of the hug and looked at the other girl.
"Hmmm... are all the Devils so strong as Akeno-san?" Issei had to ask. If Akeno was just a Queen and was so powerful, his dream of being a Harem King was far, far off.
"Oh, don't worry Ise. Akeno is just... special. That's all." The redhead said, pulling the pervert into the embrace.
"Special?" He asked, trying hard to concentrate on the words and not on the breasts of his Buchou two inches from his face.
"Huhum... Akeno, show him."
"As you wish, Rias-sama." Akeno said with a quick bow then looked over her shoulder. "Faker, materialize, please?"
In a flash, a man with red hair streaked white in places, and brown eyes appeared towering over the girl while bowing to her. "Master."
Issei jumped back when he looked at his eyes. He had the same eyes as Akeno. The same ones as Rias when she was training as well. "Wh-Wh-"
"Faker is my Servant." Akeno said, lifting a hand to caress the redhead's face. "He's the reason why I can't have any familiars."
Issei's eyes bugged out again. He knew Rias, Koneko and Kiba had familiars, and Asia had just gotten hers. He still couldn't take off his mind the Undines from the Familiar Forest, so he too didn't have one. Now that he thought about it, he had never seen Akeno's familiar.
"A Servant?" He asked puzzled. "I thought we were all servants of the Gremory family now?"
"Oh, it's confusing at first, but don't worry." Rias waved it off. "The Servant she's referring to is a different type of servant. He only serves her, not the Gremory Clan. Actually, if she decides to turn against everyone on the Gremory Clan, he'll follow her not defend us." She said that as if it was nothing to worry about.
"Bu-Bu-"
"Rias-sama saved me when I was young and I'll never betray that trust." Akeno said with conviction. "She owns my life and whatever is mine, is hers."
"She's like that, so you don't have to worry." The redhead concluded. "Now do you understand why our training is so hard? If it wasn't for Faker, we would probably have been far weaker than we actually are nowadays." Then she whispered in his ear. "Don't worry, Ise. You'll be strong enough to stand with us in no time at all."
He could only nod.
A/N: I know. The story isn't all that original, but it refused to leave me until I put it down, but I decided to simply do this instead. To be honest, I'm not very well versed on Highschool DxD verse, and the Nasuverse is a three headed beast that few know in its entirety. Compound on the fact that the last time I read the Visual Novel was well over eight years ago, my recent interest on this particular setting came about a challenge someone had posted on the forums and I thought. Why not try my hand at it?
Anyway, this was an oneshot, not to be mistaken with something that will be continued. One reason is that I never got to read the Light Novels for the DxD verse and my contact with it came entirely through other fics. Another is that I don't want to start something again that I know I won't finish.
The title is a play on words on the Butterfly Effect, at least that was the intention with the story.
And that's it. See y'all some other time.
