AN: Thank you so much for the encouraging reviews and as I appreciate it, it is with a heavy heart that I wrote this chapter this way.
There's less humour in this chapter, only because I want to get the darker stuff out and gone with whilst setting up some dynamics. Also, warning for Re:Zero spoilers, as in WN spoilers. Since there's Re:Zero powers used, I will warn you, this will be dark. But I promise it won't get darker than this chapter. After all, it's within the genre for things to get happier… well, kinda. Oh, and Jojo references! I apologise for making this chapter dark as fuck, but I promise things will get a lot happier.
Well, once this is done the meta-ness and munchkining can begin to spread, I suppose.
The Little Sister is not Slothful at all!
What are the differences between a devil and a human?
Well, there are certainly the physiological differences like stronger cells (except to certain elements…), night vision and bat wings (except for us Phenex's! Flame wings FTW!), so on and so forth…
But let's ignore that for the moment and think about the mental differences.
I, Ravel Phenex, can honestly say that there are huge differences in the mind-set of humans and devils for a great many topics.
Granted, many of these can be attributed to cultural, social and biological differences that have shaped the devil mind-set over the millennia's.
Let's take… lifespan as an example. Devils could easily live thousands of years old, not that most do due to certain circumstances *Hint*Fighting*Hint*… Now, compared to humans who have at the very most of 120 years to live, with most dying around their 80's (developed countries), it can be said that humans have a much greater sense of urgency in their everyday lives.
I can easily attest to the fact that some devils, as a generalisation, are indulgent to the point where humans will easily call us lazy. Now, this is not the case for all devils, but those with non-urgent financial needs can be very lazy… by human standards.
In my case, as the youngest daughter most of my education had fallen to tutors until the age of 12, along with tutelage by my mother. Other than those days where I learnt things, I had mainly read books, took up a few hobbies (Baking!) and sat in the family estate gardens drinking tea as a refined lady should.
I did not really 'train' my abilities a single day of her life, other than some instruction from my family on my natural abilities and the procedures to produce the tears (Best rated healing item in the Underworld, 10/10 would buy if I personally had the money for it!).
If it was a human who 'discovered' the kind of power I had then they would have min-maxed it to the extreme if they had the temperament and knowledge to do so. On the other hand, whilst as ambitious as devils are, they do have more 'time' in comparison to humans, hence, they progress and evolve much slower in all aspects.
Too long didn't read? Meh, devils are filthy scrubs but humans can't afford to not 'git gud!'
I, Ravel Phenex, was one of the more unique cases due to my situation. I was drinking my favourite blend of tea in one moment before I was suddenly 'enlightened'. That is to say, I suddenly had a working human adult's knowledge and memories downloaded into my head.
However, it would be incorrect to assume that my identity had not been at risk. Whilst the knowledge was assimilated peacefully the memories and feelings of the human male was a whole different matter.
Thankfully for me, whilst the man's ego, memories, ambitions and aims could have affected me without any consent- The man had liked me a lot and was fine with 'dying' despite the situation. (Apparently there was this Highschool DXD Mobage game and he spent all his votes on me in a popularity poll, too bad I only got 6th place… to be fair, the voting system was weird and Grayfia was in the top 5 so it was probably more to do with artwork and all…)
Now, this was another difference between devils and humans. Devils are hard-wired in their genetic code to essentially do everything to achieve their aims, or for power, or for love, etc… Humans were different in that sense, but in a flexible way.
In this case, the human was from another dimension with substantial knowledge of my universe (fictional) that so happened to consider me as his favourite character. I was rather flattered by the sentiment, only to be rather sad when those were the last sentiment he conveyed during the five minute conversation in the centre of the mind.
Ooh, that was a trope right there!
Ah, I digress. Actually it was a depressing thought, I actually cried back then.
It was just so foreign. It was through the man's knowledge that I knew that it was likely some act of R.O.B. creating a premise for a self-insert Mary sue character.
And in the end was derailed simply because the man chosen was selfless enough to just let himself die instead of going for a second chance in life! (Died by truck, apparently Japan exports their killer trucks overseas…)
Looking back at that moment, it was perhaps the biggest indication that I was more than just a devil and more than human.
If I had to be completely honest with herself I will admit that before this incident I could have watched my brother and his peerage kill, no, even torture a stray devil in front of me without blinking.
No, it was more accurate to say I would have admired his power.
After all, Issei Hyoudou did the exact same thing when Koneko and Kiba attacked the stray devil in the first season. For a normal high school boy that was kind hearted, he thought it was cool that they were strong and fast. He wasn't repulsed by the fact that Akeno tortured the stray by electrocution. He didn't care that Rias executed/murdered/erased the stray.
He could only think of their power and his own. Such is the nature of devils.
And if I was still of a devil mind-set then I would have just plundered the man's knowledge and memories without remorse, and perhaps, make a small token of remembrance of the man.
I found that realisation to be disturbing.
Devils lack many of the restraints that humans have, if possible, I want to continue to surpass devils because frankly, if I looked at Diodora Astaroth for example, it can lead to terrible things.
That's not to say I would reject being a devil, far from it! Devils have no known limits as far as I knew! There's no way I would constrain myself, but it would also be the height of foolishness to stick to the mind-set of a devil considering that it only works well for main characters! (Yes, you Issei…)
But…humans are limited in what they can do, right? If I have learnt anything in this short life… It's that the more you plan (devils have a lot of time to do that), the easier it is for those plans to crumble from some unforeseen circumstance! The harder you try, the faster you reach your limits and lament your weakness! Unless you surpass 'being human'-
And so, I reject my Humanity!
Well, just some parts of humanity. I'll keep the useful bits. I didn't have much in the first place, on a genetic standpoint.
Wait a minute! Did I just rip off that speech of DIO?
Ah, that is unimportant, I suppose. (Hmm, I have blonde drills so maybe I should rip-off Beatrice's verbal tic, I suppose.)
In summary, devils have the talent and occasionally the drive to excel, but tend to fuck things up due to overdoing things or not doing anything at all. Humans, have limits and no 'talents' (in the field of overwhelming power), but with the right mentality, can get things done.
Mix and match, viola! Path to HAX mode activated!
Well, that's a story for another time, I suppose.
I ended my musings as I waited for the right time to barge into the Kuoh Academy Occult Research Clubroom.
It's been another year and around ten months since I started to bug my brother to send Rias Gremory anime and manga as gifts.
I have also occasionally visited the school to bring Valerie along to Gasper.
It's always good to let the two childhood friends catch up in real life. It helps a lot in getting Gasper out of his stupid cardboard box.
Ah, yes. Valerie Tepes, whilst she awoke the Sephiroth Graal before I, um, found her – She hadn't yet been force to use it yet so the insanity from having concepts crammed in her head hadn't set in yet. She was mostly apathetic and cold mainly due to being imprisoned and treated as insane by her own family.
Oh, and discriminated against as well. Vampires are really racist!
It's a good thing Elmenhilde Karnstein had her prejudices broken down! She had seen some vampires from her own faction (Carmilla faction) and the Tepes faction colluding to loot the treasury whilst I was, um, pre-occupied with over-zealous vampires that didn't seem to know they were outmatched. Those traitors tried to beat her down and use her as a vampire shield to the monster (me) attacking them (I was actually leaving, but went the wrong direction! Honest!)
That sure broke her world view down. Also, being saved by some Dhampir servants that she mistreated tends to do that to you.
Thankfully her trauma is almost all gone now and we made peace with the fact that I had destroyed their ancestral home.
The three of us became best of friends and training buddies! Well, I mainly trained them using a few of my methods.
I could afford all the life threatening training methods and abuse it to maximise improvements. It also allowed me to experiment with thousands of magics without getting hurt (permanently)!
Right now my base form (as in only physically) had far surpassed my buffed up form at full power back then.
I can't always rely on special powers since Cao Cao had that really sexist Balance Breaker ability that negates the special powers of women, and while I do have a counter for that (and for all other hax abilities), I would prefer being strong enough to lay the beat down on at their weakest, massively hypersonic opponents without any 'buffs'!
I had to stop sleeping to maximise my time since I studied and trained in equal measure. Oh, I had to be social as well, that too! And there's a few counterfeit Noble Phantasms that I managed to make using the Ainsworth's Flash Air magecraft and some other enchanting skills!
Good thing I reached my target, if I didn't, then I wouldn't be so sure about making my 'debut' in the next few days.
Back to the Occult Research Clubroom
Today, was the day that Raiser Phenex learnt that you couldn't buy love with anime, manga and games.
As according to canon, they were at an impasse where Raiser and Rias had accepted the rating game, or rather, just before that.
"Just as you know, Ojou-sama, only mature aged Devils can participate in official [Rating Game]. But if it's an unofficial match between pure-blood Devils, even immature Devils can participate. However, in this case—" Grayfia Lucifuge, the strongest queen explains, only to have Rias continue for her as she displays that she's following the flow of the conversation.
"-When it involves the family and household problems." Rias completes while sighing.
"In other words Otou-sama and the others decided to have a game as a last resort if I was to decline, right? …Just how far are they intending to interfere with my life to feel satisfied...!" Rias angrily says out loud, allowing her peerage, Grayfia and Raiser to hear.
"Then Ojou-sama, you are saying you would also decline to participate in the game?" Grayfia inquires, already knowing her answer.
"No, I won't, since this is a chance. Alright then. Let's settle this with a game, Raiser."
Raiser smirks after her provocative words, although, with a bit of disappointment that it had to come to this after all his efforts. Well, at least he managed to read and watch lots of interesting human entertainment, not that he will admit to it to anyone other than his little sister.
"Hee, so you're accepting it. I don't mind. But I'm already a matured Devil and I have already participated in the official game. Right now I have won most of the games. Even so, you still want to play, Rias?" Raiser provokes her.
"I will. I will blow you away, Raiser!"
"Fine. If you win, do whatever you like. But if I win, you will marry me immediately."
"Understood. I, Grayfia, have confirmed both sides opinion. I will be in charge of the game between the two household. Is that okay?"
"Yes."
"Yeah."
And then the door was busted open with a strong kick.
"Brother! How could you agree to this? Since when did you become a bully! Do I have to give you mother's lecture on not picking weaker opponents again?" Ravel Phenex, his sister intrudes into the room with adorable anger.
Issei Hyoudou found it adorable, while also feeling extreme anger at the Phenex male for having such a cute and busty sister. 'Damn Yakitori Riajuu!', he thought as he seethed.
"But Ravel- she started it by being an ungrateful little-"
"And that makes it okay to put up with a farce of a Rating Game?! No matter what angle you look at it your victory is already assured! What will the spectators think of you bullying your pitifully weak fiancé?" Ravel says while deliberately provoking Rias's peerage and reminding Raiser that the match would have been pathetic.
Now, Ravel had been planning this for quite a while. Whilst she didn't even reveal a fraction of her true strength to her brother she HAD shown that she could handily defeat her brother's Queen, Yubelluna. Along with that, she had emphasised that she researched his fiancé's peerage and found that wanting in every way possible. Highlighting the fact that they barely seriously trained and used Raiser's racism against reincarnated humans (Yuuto Kiba, Issei Hyoudou, Asia Argento and to an extent, Akeno Himejima(she's a half)).
By this point she had her brother entirely convinced that Yubelluna could just fly and bomb all of them easily. Ravel had even highlighted that Rias had not even inherited a semblance of strong control over her inherited power from the Bael family.
So yes, Raiser's opinion of their peerage was essentially that they were so trash to the point that if he raised more than a fist against them then it would be of the uttermost humiliation to him.
"Ravel! Thank you my adorable sister for reminding me of such a fact. It would seem that my competitive spirit almost made me take a lose-lose scenario!"
"Ehee! It's my duty as a little sister to help my big brother! I've been training daily to support you whenever I need to as well! Eh? That should have scored pretty high in Ravel points!" The little sister says, clearly ripping off Oregairu.
Raiser agrees completely, finds it cute and allows the practice to go on while he was completely oblivious to everyone else's blank stares at their shameless sibling relationship.
Issei Hyoudou clicks his tongue in disgust and jealousy as their happy sibling aura, which he titled, 'The Zone', seemed to be expanding.
"Wait! So you're not accepting the match?!" Rias shouted.
"Of course not! What do you think I'm stupid?! Ravel can fight you instead! It's much fairer considering that she only has two other servants who are worth more than your entire peerage anyways." Raiser says while Ravel nods with agreement.
'Keikaku Doori!' Ravel thought as she smiled deviously in her mind while playing the song 'Low of Solipsism', aka, Death Note killing montage music.
Grayfia shakes her head and decided to just agree with it. If anything this would increase her sister-in-law's chances of winning, was what she thought.
Little did she know she was so very, very wrong about that.
Raiser, according to Canon, still summoned his peerage because he wanted to make Issei even madder. Issei didn't attack Raiser, however, due to Ravel standing in between him and the Yakitori. He was a nice guy, after all.
The date was set for ten days later…
"Pardon me. But could you repeat what you just said?" Elmenhilde asked with annoyance.
"Why of course! When the match starts I need you and Valerie to retire and let me curbstomp them myself using my 'Authorities'." Ravel haughtily says to her light blonde friend.
"… Only if you agree to letting me drink the blood of the Mayan Gods when we raid their secret temple." Elmenhilde negotiates to sate her high class vampiric diet.
"-And me too." Valerie interjects as she starts playing Pokemon SoulSilver on her DS.
Her emotions had dulled a bit due to her experience, but video games seem to be the secret activity that excites her.
Even though she's complete shit at gaming, Ravel noted in her mind.
"Why of course! What kind of friend would I be to deny them of the spoils of war! Although, I hate choosing targets so I'm leaving you girls to schedule which of the secluded and 'lost' Gods we want to take dispose of first. But make sure Angra Mainyu is on the top of the list!" Ravel says while reminding herself that what she does will be for the good of mankind (and her own)!
She may be a devil but that doesn't mean she didn't respect humans considering her situation.
They waited in the designated room modelled after Kuoh Academy half an hour before the Rating Game started.
"…I think I have neglected to ask you two this question for quite a while but… any suggestions on whom to recruit?" Ravel inquired of her friends.
"I think we need more women." Elmenhilde Karnstein, (former) noble of the Carmilla Faction (Matriarchal) suggested.
"Any actual specifics other than gender?"
"No."
"…" Ravel stayed silent as she calmed her annoyance at the lack of suggestions. Being a Tsundere she's much more vulnerable to being angered, hence, she often has to hasten her internal time through time magic so that she can cool off without anyone noticing.
"We should recruit some elves!" Valerie suggested.
"For the fifth and last time- Elves are Extinct! As in, if you want one then I urge you to get a Tinker rating in Genetics, scry for leftover DNA and clone them yourself. Wait, why do you keep asking for elves?"
"They have pointy ears just like us!" Valerie said, noting the vampire's and dhampir's ear characteristics being similar to elves.
"I immediately regret my decision." Ravel quickly said in response for the unfunny answer. "Hm, there's still some time… I'll go make us some cake."
"We have less than 20 minutes, how are you supposed to do that?" Elmenhilde asked with a raised eyebrow despite wanting some of that cake. After all, Ravel is a professional baker.
"Ohohoh-*Cough* A-Alright, I still can't pull off that laugh. I mean, who's the residential master of Time magic here?" The blonde ojou (who can't pull off the stereotypical laugh) asked rhetorically.
The two bloodsuckers groaned. "You are…" They said at the same time and in monotone.
"Exactly. I'll just set up a time bounded field after I do some last minute shopping."
She did just that and came back within 3 minutes. 2 of those minutes were spent shopping, and she accelerated the last one minute within her private kitchen after she kicked out all of the cooks.
"Red velvet again!? This is discrimination! Just because I am a proud vamp-former vampire does not mean you should assume I want it by default!" Elmenhilde complained even as she gracefully ate the cake at supernatural speeds.
"Hmph! It's not as if I made the cake for you anyways! I just wanted to pass the time and it just so happens that we all could waste some time eating." Ravel replied in full tsun mode.
"Eh? It's fine. It's fine everyone." Valerie plays peacemaker while eating the cake slowly like the princess she is. "Ah! Thank you very much for the cake! It's wonderful, as expected!"
"W-Well, I already said that I didn't make it for you! It was just to pass the time… and I didn't ask whether the both of you wanted it or not so you don't have to thank me for it."
"You didn't have to ask since you already knew it was our favourite." Valerie replies Ravel.
"It's rude to answer for someone else!" Elmenhilde protested.
"Ah, but you didn't deny that you weren't going to answer the very same way." The dhampir smiled as she replied the vampire.
"U-Uguu. Curses…"
Ravel couldn't help but note the light blush on the pale vampire's face. She mentally sighed as she recognised it as embarrassment. This wasn't new to Ravel considering that she was often embarrassed whenever she was praised by her two friends and her family. It still wasn't something she could get used to despite receiving a lot of it.
The Phenex supposed that it was simply the genuine thankfulness of close friends that always manages to touch her slightly more human heart.
"… Girls, while I do want to dominate them utterly and completely- I'm rather unsure how I want to do it… I could go the crazy route and imitate the Archbishops I based the abilities from, or I could go full bitch mode, or I could do this Saitama style…" Ravel asked her two servants, although, the term is rather incorrect considering they barely do any serving at all. Most reincarnated devils will at least address their 'King' highly, but in Ravel's case, everyone's rather casual and friendly on an equal level.
"You should go full 'HAM' instead, I mean, be bombastic and confident." Valerie suggested simply.
"Ravel Phenex, I would not wish you to even attempt to be cruel to your enemies. Considering that I still shiver whenever you would fight 'casually' I believe that is a fate that should not be granted to anyone. That said, focus on theatrics and weaken your abilities as much as possible while maintaining the façade of 'impressiveness'. That should tide you over for this battle, it would not do for you to show your 'Authorities' true powers. Use them, but mislead the spectators. Make it unforgettable, but don't show them the truth. After all, there are spies everywhere…" Elmenhilde elegantly explains using her centuries worth of experience in politics, which Ravel has neglected slightly in favour of power, spells, versatility, tools and backup plans that are mainly combat related.
"I see… I'll take the advice and I think that throwing a few quotes from DIO could work. I mean, confident smirk, menacing aura and the occasional monologues that I will never do in actual fights should do just fine. Besides… I need to play the villain, I need them to be stronger." Ravel said even as Valerie and Elmenhilde did not understand why she said those words.
Ravel needed the peerage to be stronger, because due to her change, many other things would have changed. It would also mean Rias's peerage will be short of some support and healing in the future… so she needed them to be stronger and finish up their character development.
Also, she would rather hurt them badly in order to destroy her chances of being a harem member.
Well, soon the fight started and they were shifted into the pocket dimension some devils had set up.
Valerie and Elmenhilde immediately retired.
[Ravel Phenex-sama's Queen has retired.]
[Ravel Phenex-sama's Bishop …has also retired.]
Grayfia Lucifuge announced with surprise right after beginning the match.
The spectators included Grayfia (she's the announcer of course she's fucking watching the match), Sirzechs Lucifer (As if Rias's brocon of a brother would miss this match), Zeoticus Gremory, Venelana Gremory, Sona Sitri (who acted as an extra judge) and the entire Phenex family (although Raiser's peerage was the only ones to join the family watching, they mostly piled on their 'King' to save space. It was at this moment, Raiser knew, there was such a thing as too much tits).
Most of the Phenex family was watching because their little princess was fighting her first Rating Game. Raiser, unfortunately for him, had borne the brunt of his mother's nuclear fallout from letting Ravel fight. For the ten days until the match he was suffering from severe fear from blonde haired women with dark blue eyes, hence, he couldn't even bear to look at his sister without seeing his mother in her considering their similar appearances.
All the spectators were utterly gobsmacked by the retirements, the Phenex patriarch had face palmed and wondered if Ravel was actually the more arrogant one instead of Raiser.
"Uh, Buchou. What just happened?" Issei asked his 'King' Rias Gremory.
"I-I don't know. I just don't know." Rias, the Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess of Destruction (a nickname she came up with during her chuuni days, which her mother decided was rather nice and went with it), was completely taken aback by the recent development.
However, Rias couldn't help but feel they had a better chance of victory.
"Hey, Buchou…" Issei asked while looking outside the window.
"Yes Ise-kun?"
"Is everything meant to be on fire?" Issei slowly asked while shaking in fear.
"W-What do you mean?" Rias replied in shock.
"B-Buchou, everything is destroyed. I mean, everything other than this room is burnt black and on fire." Yuuto Kiba said after spending five seconds surveying the outside.
Less than a minute into the Rating Game, Ravel Phenex had engulfed the entire pocket dimension that spanned a small town with a flick of her finger and a miniscule amount of her demonic power.
After a few seconds of processing what has happened, the Gremory group had their copy of the Occult Research Club blown apart from Ravel's minor use of Aerokinesis.
Granted, that minor use had broken their building apart as if it was made of paper mache.
After evacuating the broken clubhouse they truly realised that the fight was not one of tactics and strategy.
No, the entire field was now burnt black with fires still burning across the entire landscape. Black smoke had clouded the sky, it was only the night vision of their devil physiology and the fires that allowed them to see anything at all.
And what they found was Ravel Phenex, standing comfortably in the middle of the former copy of their high school. She was wearing a scarlet red dress that was unmarred by the soot and smog covering the land. She had her eyes closed, her hands folded with a confident smirk on her cute face.
"Ohoho! Well, my arms are folded and my eyes are closed, this is a victory laugh, weaklings. You lost today because you were slothful for 15 years." Ravel said with a magically amplified voice and a generalisation of a reasonable number of years to mean, 'You lazed around your entire life!'.
Also, she didn't fail the Ojou laugh because she kept it to 3 syllables and less.
Rias felt the words she said were familiar somehow, but got too angry to care.
"Oi! We haven't even started fighting yet! Don't think you've won!" Issei yelled.
"You are correct. I may not have won yet, however, you have already lost the moment." Ravel retorted calmly, still not deigning to open her eyes.
"Dafuq?! How does that make any sense?" Issei shouted back, only to be held back from attacking recklessly by Rias.
"Ohoh! As if I would lose to the likes of such slothful devils! The moment I began using my Authority of Sloth, you had already lost!"
The next five minutes involved attempted sword stabs, slices, magic sword attacks, hand-to-hand combat, object tossing, lightning bolts, blasts of power of destruction and a dragon shot.
She didn't even open her eyes as she just stood there while all attacks were deflected and blocked.
How was she doing this? The spectators and the fighters wondered while the more powerful spectators managed to note some form of autonomous defence.
In Ravel's case, it was mostly some fanaticism over the Re:Zero series that pushed her to learn the related magics in order to form the Archbishops and Witches's authorities. After pushing through with imagination, she then dissected the magics using the human magician calculation methods to alter and modify those magics whilst deriving new magics from them. The harder part was linking the authorities to her 'HP' (As Authorities use up Odo, which is Re:Zero's version of life force) in a way that would not decrease her lifespan. Hence, the authorities internally damage parts of her body in a way that she could easily regenerate with her innate ability (which she has also enhanced through training and magic).
To sum it up, the Authority of Sloth was basically Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti's 'Unseen Hand', which was originally used by the Witch of Sloth and was taken by the Witch of Envy.
The arms were based on her own physical and magical strength, both in offence and defence.
'Invisible Providence', Natsuki Subaru's version of only one hand was used as the base spell. With only one hand the Authority would boast a use of 1000% of her arm strength, or rather 10X normal strength.
Her 'Unseen Hand' version uses a thousand hands (variable) at most, which degrades the power to 1% in each hand.
That 1% was obviously enough for scrubs like the Gremory group who only got 'gud' after training in the Underworld during Volume 5.
Hence, all the attacks were being batted away and blocked by invisible hands. To the many onlookers, the Gremory group looked as if they were flailing around and having their attacks disappear as they attacked without visible effect.
"Oh my! Are you people actually trying to kill me? I like you all. All this time you tried to kill me you weren't sweating, and your breathing was even, well, outside of exhaustion. You all are absolutely calm, as I expect from fellow devils." Ravel said to the group after five minutes of blocking their attacks without moving an inch.
"D-Don't joke around! As if you wouldn't be able to take these attacks as a Phenex!" Yuuto snarled as he lost his cool.
"Oh? And the newly reincarnated devils actually feel the same?" Ravel questioned with amusement.
"Oi! What's that supposed to mean?" Issei asked while Asia looked on with confusion.
"You don't see it. It's the thought that counts, you know. Here you all are, trying to mutiliate, hurt and kill a single teenage girl. So what if I could regenerate? It's clear you would do the same to any other devil. I was just stating a fact. Hyoudou Issei, your parents must be so proud of the son they raised!" Ravel said mockingly.
"W-What?"
"You don't see it. Of course you don't. Do you remember when your 'King' executes your enemies in front of you? I've researched all of you. Do you recall your enemies suffering in front of you as Rias's 'Queen' unleashes her sadistic needs on your foes? Of course you do. But it's not as if you care anymore, after all, the moment you become a devil you discard these sentiments for the lust of power. Your parents would love to see you now, wouldn't they?" The single enemy on the battlefield continued.
"T-they were all monsters-"
"You're missing the point. Are you saying that if you had the option in Dragon Quest to torture slime then you'll do it without seeing that it's cruel? Are you saying that if you could kill every single monster NPC in a video game you would if you could? Well, devils then to do that after extracting every single resource they can from them. Ah, yes, it's no wonder the church has no problem teaching it's exorcists to slaughter every devil if this is what they are like."
Ravel watches as Asia is shaken by those words.
"Y-you're screwing with us. Shut up!" Issei shouts.
"As if I will ever screw you, Red Lizard Emperor." She quickly retorts coldly as the rest of the peerage watches on, clearly having given up on their current attacks.
"G-Gah!" Ravel looks at him with sadness as those words actually hurt him more than her previous words.
"I should have expected that… truly the difference between humans and devils are vast considering that you wouldn't even consider the viewpoint." Ravel says while revising her plan of mentally training them.
"Ah, I'm bored. And a little hungry too… I think I'll help myself to some of your memories." Ravel said as she swapped her Authorities mentally. "Authority of Gluttony-" With supersonic speeds she reappeared behind Koneko Toujou, mentally noting her name as Shirone, and slapped her left palm lightly on the Nekoshou's back.
The light slap sent her crashing into the ground.
"-Itadakimasu." She licked her left hand, which was mainly theatrics.
She hadn't actually made the much hated Authority (Who's Rem?), after all, erasing someone's existence to that level would require access to the universe's laws. Hence, she simply recreated the effect of 'copying' the target's memories on touch with her left palm while inflicting a suspended animation effect on the target via time magic (casted with Hit Points).
And honestly, she wasn't that cruel.
The group had yelled Koneko's name and ran to her defence as Rias engaged Ravel in combat. Ravel easily dodged around Rias while taunting her with the copied memories.
"Waah, why did Kuroka-oneechan leave me? Oh, I don't want to use Senjutsu because I'm scared of going mad like Kuroka-oneechan. Even if Buchou will be forced to marry Raiser if we lose I still won't go all out." Ravel mockingly cried while running circles around Rias, enraging her further.
"H-How are you doing this! Don't think you know Koneko! What did you do to her?" Rias continued to yell out question after question while attempting to blast Ravel into smithereens.
"If you can lay a single hand on me then perhaps I'll tell you." Ravel calmly said.
Well, she was still a bit cruel. This was, admittedly, her way of forcing them to face their issues quicker since there were so many ways things could have gone to shit in the light novels. And with her being vastly different it would be prudent to strengthen them as soon as possible while hastening their character development.
"B-Buchou! K-K-Koneko-chan isn't waking up!" Asia shouts as she attempts to heal her.
"Oh? That? I'll let her wake up then." And with that, Ravel ended the suspended animation effect which was largely conceptual, because 'Concept' attacks equals win. And she had a lot of practice using conceptual effects as she mastered Displacement (Flash Air).
As Koneko woke up and hope rose among the group, the Phenex crushed that in an instant.
"Authority of Lust." She used the authority of transformation to turn her left hand into a metal spike, reappeared by running past Rias and the other defenders, stabbing Koneko through her front.
Severing her spine.
Not that it would be particularly difficult to heal but-
[Rias Gremory-sama's Rook has retired.]
-It was more than enough to force a retirement as she also cut through her right side.
"…..K-Koneko-chan!" Issei shouts.
"No….No, why couldn't I do anything why Koneko-chan!" Asia begins to cry.
Kiba begins to speed at the lone attacker.
"Authority of Sloth." Ravel begins to repel attacks once again whilst continuing to monologue. "You know, there's a story about a knight, a self-proclaimed one. He would do things, heroic things, but no one asked for him to take up their fight. He was weak, and he failed and failed again. He would try to avenge his loved ones and his friends again and again. But he always failed…" Ravel then used 'Unseen Hand' to separate the peerage and pin them to the ground.
She went and stood above Yuuto Kiba before continuing.
"The boy, the self-proclaimed knight, almost gave up. In the end, he realised that he was doing everything for his own selfishness, because he felt that he himself… was worthless. You know what I'm talking about, don't you, Knight-kun? Why do you do what you do?" She asked pointedly and rhetorically, and before Kiba could answer, she continued.
"-He became a real hero in the end. He named this ability, you know… I will allow you the satisfaction of being defeated by the self-proclaimed knight, Natsuki Subaru. Now stay down, Invisible Providence."
She released the other fighters as she combined the 'Unseen Hands' into one invisible shadow hand.
With one attack, she pierced through the knight's torso, leaving a gaping hole.
[Rias Gremory-sama's Knight has retired.]
"You know, there are times when pain should be shared, and sometimes, they shouldn't be. In the end, you can't run away from the pain forever. If you want to be stronger for your 'King' then you will have to face your past and the pain that accompanies it. Authority of Wrath." Ravel said to Akeno.
She had reduced the empathy related parts of the authority and refocused it into injury sharing.
Focusing it on Akeno Himejima, Ravel reinforced a single attack, punching herself through the chest.
The attack was displaced onto the 'Queen'.
[Rias Gremory-sama's Queen has retired.]
"Do unto others as you would have them done unto you. Ouch, that hurts a little. Doesn't it Asia-chan? Such a beautiful and well-meaning verse hurting every devil indiscriminately." Ravel mused out loud.
At this point Issei and Rias were swearing bloody vengeance.
"Bitch! How many tricks do you have!?" Issei snarled.
"I don't know. How many times have you masturbated in your life?" Ravel retorted.
"!" Issei looked at her in shock. "Shit, we're fucked." He muttered.
"You masturbated that many times!?" Rias all but shouted.
Suddenly the tension broke as Asia hid her face in embarrassment.
The spectators who were confused, in awe and were astounded by Ravel's strength and brutality were in utter shock with Issei's and Rias's interaction.
Many of them were keeping their laughter to themselves.
"Authority of Sloth." She once again grabbed the three remaining members.
"You know Rias? You are so very fortunate to have all this wealth, prestige, talent, comrades… all of which fell into your lap. We're oh so similar… the only difference is that I haven't been so slothful."
And with that said, she begun by breaking all of Issei's four limbs, allowing Rias and Asia to watch in horror as the boy's boosted body was twisted and broken.
Of course, it wasn't to Rem's level. She mainly just broke them at the elbow and knee.
Part of Ravel was hoping that this would definitely prevent any flags to prevent her conversion into a harem member if she managed to hurt Rias's peerage enough.
Rias, who was exhausted could barely muster enough energy to fight back even as she begged for Ravel to stop. Asia was crying and yelling as well.
Ravel soon dropped Issei on the ground and was almost tempted to use Nasu projection magic to make a twister mat, but that would have been horrible taste to have done so.
It was bad enough that it was done to Rem.
"See how your slothfulness has hurt your dear, dear 'Pawn'. If only you were stronger…"
"I'll kill you….I'll KILL YOU! I'LL ANNIHALATE! ERADICATE! ERASE YOU FROM THIS EARTH YOU SICK BITCH!"
"Really? Aren't you overreacting? Oh wait, you're a Gremory, silly me. To be fair, I would react the same, but let this be a lesson to you. This is what the life of a devil is about. It's unfortunate, but the strong trample on the weak. I realised this and decided that I will never be trampled on. Now then…" She released Asia, who immediately ran and began healing Issei.
Ravel began to walk towards them, and stopped in front of Issei's body and Asia.
"I shall give you a chance. Go down two steps and I will not hurt you the remainder of this battle. But if you rather die, then continue what you're doing. After all, the more you heal the boy… the more I can hurt him." She said to Asia.
"I won't abandon Issei! Never! Not ever! Even if you were to hurt and kill me! I know I can't fight so this is the only thing I can do for Issei… and for Buchou. I-I believe that Issei ca-WILL win!" Asia says with determination even as Ravel could see her obvious terror. And that moved Ravel's heart even as she had earlier resolved to play the villain.
"… *Sigh*, that's a shame." Ravel scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "Darn, I really should collapse your lung or something, but you two are just too perfect for each other. Rejoice, young girl! Your love has spared the both of you for now! I expect you to heal him to fighting condition as soon as possible." The twin-drilled princess said as she walked away from the two of them.
"…Thank you." She heard Asia say silently.
Ravel really wished she worked on self-hypnosis more often so that she could turn off her emotions back then.
"You… on the other hand, will be educated on why you shouldn't resist the decisions of your betters." Ravel said to Rias, referring to their parents.
"MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA!" Ravel shouted as she weakened the attack power of her 'Unseen Hands' further and punched Rias in non-vital locations rapidly.
After letting Rias off her assault, she retrieved a vial from her dress, a vial of Phoenix Tears and poured it into Rias's mouth.
"Buchou!" The healed Issei shouted as Rias's breathed heavily once she recovered from her wounds.
"Oh? The Boosted Gear has taken another form? Interesting, show me what it can do." The princess smirked provokingly.
She had to wait as Issei charged up his boosted gear to the max before 'Transfering' the boosted power to Rias, who had charged up her stronger Power of Destruction attack.
Most of the spectators were amazed at the Ultimate-Class attack, especially so since it was the power of destruction.
The Phenex family were hoping desperately for their baby girl to be okay whilst the Gremory's at this point, wouldn't want her dead, but some come-uppance would make them a little happier.
The adults (everyone sans Raiser and his peerage, Sona is smart enough) have already surmised that Ravel was deliberately antagonising them for their own good as they connected the dots that she seemed to be pointing out weak points from their pasts that she perceives to hold them back.
Ravel faced the incoming attack without any fear whatsoever.
"Authority of Greed."
The Authority of Regulus Corneas, Archbishop of Greed. 'Stillness of an Object's Time'. The power to stop the time of themselves or anything they're wearing, touched, or even their breath … It prevents outside interference while allows interference from the user outwards. For the cost of stopping the user's heart, which was easily negated with regeneration.
With it, the large orb of power of destruction had split harmless as it went pass Ravel, dissipating as it was negated.
Despair crept up to the faces of the two remaining combatants and their exhausted healer.
Ravel smirked and pointed at Rias's midsection.
"Have you ever faced an overwhelming opponent before? Guess not… Your first Rating game wasn't with some lazy High-Class devil! It was I, Ravel!" Ravel exclaimed before applying the Authority's power to her finger.
She swiped her finger across the mid-section of Rias and Issei who were standing close together as if she was swiping across an iPhone.
"You are truly slothful."
The atmosphere focused from her finger that was stilled had cut through everything in it's trajectory. Slicing the two devils in half and quickly destroying the pocket dimension as it reached the edge. Ravel cancelled the effect quickly before it destroyed anything further.
And with that, the battle was won.
And Raiser, who had read many of the manga he had bought for Rias over the years, finally realised how much his sister was using DIO's quotes.