Act. 7 Vermouth & Tequila: Himejima Inverse & The Rating Games

5th August, Gremory Residence, Tuesday 08:35 am

35 min passed since the Gremory peerage arrived early in the morning at a summer residence owned by the Gremory house. It was often used as a recreational facility away from the noise of the city, surrounded by a vast mass of trees surrounding it's was one of the places left untouched by the advances of modern civilization, all of the forest and the land surrounding it was property of the House of Gremory. As well as a well built battlefield where each Gremory had trained to wield their powers, Sirzechs Lucifer even had his first Rating Games match with it as a field of combat against the current lady Leviathan, Serafall Sitri - the friendly rivalry was spanning a period of over 300 years but still both families had warm relations with each other.

Rias wanted to get back at Riser and her family for trying to get her into a political marriage without even asking for her consent. Her pride, her very freedom was at stakes for this bet as she agreed to go through this but not alone. Issei had it worse - if he lost he would be hunted down all over the globe just because of her arrogant behavior but still he chose to do it. She was rather confident in her ability and power to beat Riser Phenex in this game but deep down honestly - she knew she was totally lacking aside of her natural abilities and her family signature magic, the Bael's Power of Destruction that she,her brother and mother had as she was originally from the House of Bael. The odds were pointing towards the Phenex peerage accounting their numerical advantage and experience, she didn't even think there was any chance of persevering over a full peerage with just 5 people, including her. She was unexperienced, her peerage was as well so if she had to train alongside them to justify her speech against Riser's remarks.

She wasn't strong enough to support Issei, neither emotionally nor physically - she was good at magic but only that was her benefit. She didn't want to confess her weaknesses but she had to overcome her pride and start from scratch, the basics to be a more competent fighter...

Issei started explaining the training schedule - " We'll train 4 times a day for a few hours with breaks between each session. So let's start with where you're lacking in. I've grasped the basis of your roles and field of power. " he sat down on a wooden chair next to the table on the veranda.

"Rias..." he started slowly, trying to get her attention into what he was about to say, " Your strong points are massive energy reserves and magical prowess but in the case of close quarter combat you're lacking a lot. You take a stance with no mobility in it and just hail magic at your opponents while leaving your back vulnerable. You should grind your physical abilities for this training camp while building up stamina and speed for close quarter combat. It's to surprise them as they wouldn't expect you to kick and punch. You lack adequate knowledge of your surroundings. "

"Ise," Rias spoke up. " How are we to do this? " she raised a question on how to proceed - whether to fight him head on or spar with Kiba.

" Spar with Kiba. He's your natural counter with his speed and melee skills. Try to shape your Power of Destruction in something to parry his attacks. You lack versatility so it should be a good change of pace. " he moved his hand on the table with a paper coffee cup in his palms. He gave her precise instructions on what to do as he moved towards the next.

He turned to Yuuto with a stern voice,
" Your main points are located into speed and swordplay which is good for the attacker role. But..." he paused for a second to gain his bearings, " You lack a solid defense and you have a lag in your movement when you switch to dual wield and that gap could be fatal if exploited. And you should grind some medium or long distance combat as a shooter could strike you down from afar. So for starters, train with Akeno and then with Koneko."

"Got it" he made a serious face while gripping his legs under the table. "* He's right. I lack in long range and defense. He gives good assessment on each of our parameters. He mentioned being trained by an army man, I'll ask just in case... *"

" You mentioned you were trained in warfare and stratagem by a soldier, right? How did you get so good at it?" he lifted his arm in a gesture of curiosity. His eyes twitched in something like anticipation or so it was.

"By getting trashed around every day and by fighting all sorts of things "Issei, once again coldly explained with the aura of a seasoned fighter. They all tensed up, not knowing what he might say or do." From daily sparring and to blowing up drug cartels,monsters and other weird stuff. The more i trained my mind and body,the more the efficient the Boosted Gear became as it adds up your base stats and builds upon them. Lots of death and life situations do the trick. And you'd get faster if someone shot at you with a machine gun or a rocket launcher." he shivered in anxiety as he remembered the sight of a wild Castor shooting from a mounted machine gun on a armed vehicle, chasing him all around the island. The rpg shooter still gave him the chills...

"Ara, ara," Akeno mused with her scary smile while she took a glance at him, " i didn't expect you to be such a masochist, it ain't bad at all. I'd hit that back of yours every day", she smiled mirthfully. Rias knew what she meant and wanted to do- let out her frustration and repressed feelings on him while masking it as training.

Issei remained silent for a moment only to bite back. "If only you could catch me. You'll be training with me personally so buckle up. I might fulfill your request but only if you work hard for it." he gave a cold, creepy stare that startled her. He even made a weird gesture with his hands, he wouldn't have minded her as she was his type much more than Rias was but still she was too hateful of him so he never pinned his hopes up high. The memory of their first meeting rose up from the back of his mind- her wink back there was sweet but not it was nothing more than a facade.

At times there was a singular moment of desire for such a girl to be with him only to find it rather jarring. He kept reminding himself that they didn't like him much and were just doing it out of obligation to their King.

"I've went through various scenarios depending on the circumstances of the battlefield with Sona. We trained a few months ago in a forest located in Argentina. "he responded more so robotic than usual. He felt it was necessary to show the results of his training. Both him and Sona subconsciously influenced each other in a beneficial way in both of their respective fields.

"I have an idea," Rias spoke up and gathered the attention of her servants. "Why don't we all charge at Issei to speed up the process. That way we'd see where he said we lacked in."

"* What the hell man? Ganging up on a lone boy- you're learning fast. You're rather forward to it,aren't you? *"

Akeno smiled gleefully, Koneko stood up the chair and prepared her gloves while Asia sunk in meekly. Kiba nodded in agreement to this proposal as he projected a pair of swords and Rias. She just pointed towards the nearby track field.

"When do we start? " Asia hesitantly spoke up.

Issei stood up slowly, " How about now?" and kicked off the chair in a flash to the track field. Twisting his body only to stretch his arms out he took a charging stance towards the veranda, aiming for the fazed Rias.

" The King should set of the examples to her subjects" in a dry tone he sarcastically retorted at her.

"I will, of course," Rias stepped forward with a proud smile on her face. Oh, she knew she didn't stand a chance against Issei. But why not hurt him a little.

"As a King, it's only right I make the first move."

They responded accordingly - Kiba rushed to the left flank with a pair of swords, Koneko went for the high ground as she jumped straight over him with her stretched out leg aiming for his jaws. Issei closed his eyes for a second to visualize the trajectory and angle of her kick with the intention of using her momentum as a shield. He dodged her kick by a hair's length as he rapidly grabbed her leg in midair, only to throw her at the advancing Knight. Kiba dodged it as he ducked but wasn't fast enough to envision Issei's steel plated punch to the face. Blood dripped from his nose at the moment he brought down his leg onto his head with a roundhouse kick, grabbed him by the neck and slammed him at Koneko's stomach.

Rias didn't wait for a second as she prepared a hail of black orbs to throw at the standing tall dragon with Akeno charging up a bolt of lightning. Both threw their attacks simultaneously in a fraction of the second, hitting his front and back as the field was engulfed in smoke and dust.

"Did we get him? "

"Not quite " Issei was behind her back as he grabbed her neck and threw a straight punch to her spine. Rias was momentary downed by the strength of his punch..

He ran towards Akeno only for her to fly up and ignite a fire spell in her hands. Her sadistic smile stretched out by the thought of punishing this traitorous muck. Calmly assessing the situation, she brought up a few pentagram shields to cover her blind spots while calmly waiting for him to strike. A present was prepared for him - only she knew what it was.

"* Not a bad idea, but a elemental affinity shield won't do you much. Plus it's a obvious trap. This chick wears her feelings on a sleeve when she fights.*"

He made a backflip before he managed to reach her and fell to the ground by making it look like he suffered from her prepared in advance trap. He was lying motionless on the ground with his arms stretched outwards, it seemed like she had pierced through his guts but he didn't give her the pleasure of seeing his pained face.

"* This trick won't work at all.I thought you were smarter than a pity - I'd would have enjoyed hitting that perfect ass of yours with a whip or two.*" Akeno wasn't happy to this as her smile faded.

Rias had regained her senses and ran towards the motionless Issei, ready to pounce at him but it looked like he was really hurt. She didn't cross out the possibility of it being a trap so she charged up her Power of Destruction in her hands to hit back if he tried to startle her. Only that he didn't move...

"Seriously? " she raised a brow as her displeased voice blurted out a remark of confusion. She crossed her arms behind her back and lightly kicked at his legs to see if he was conscious.

"Asia, please come here and heal this cheater. He's unconscious right now it seems." A sweet plea struck in Asia's ears, gentle but sour as an apple. It's what she could think of this.

Asia came closer, she hadn't participated in the mock battle as she was more of a back up to support from the sidelines. She still had her jersey in pristine condition compared to Kiba or Koneko. Placing her hands on the cold as ice body,she noticed something weird with it. It didn't show any signs of being organic as she hadn't tested if her powers could possibly work on inorganic matter.

"Nice catch. You have quite the reflexes there. You'd be a great surprise if we trained that." Issei was holding a pack of chips, munching on them fast as he watched the former nun threw back the knife he aimed at her, only to pierce his pack of Chio's. He still had somewhat of a hangover from last night.

"Oh,thanks. It's probably due to my training to outrun and restrain possessed individuals during the rites of exorcism. I've accompanied a few exorcists in my training. " she responded meekly.

"What the hell?" Akeno exclaimed in surprise. Their jaws dropped to the ground by the fact of Asia having accompanied exorcists,she was trained and dangerous if you underestimated her judging by her appearance.

"Oh,that..." he removed the knife and placed it his case," You just fought a 1 min illusionary construct. Look.." he pointed at it rather bored," It's already past it's expiration date."

It was just as he said - the simulacra melted down like pudding, the smell of amonia terrorized their senses as they ran up towards the veranda to get away from it.

"So who's up for some curbst... Training? " he stuttered on purpose just for the kicks with his eyes in a barely surprised look of sleepiness. He had partied till 3 am with his fellow perverts as the memories of last night were still vivid clear to him as daylight.

" Fuckin nasty " Koneko spewed a simple one liner at him from the veranda and soon the real training started.

XXX

It was around noon when all training ceased to an end with everyone dropping off like flies on the tables. Dead beat they barely had any energy to budge a finger - it was a total mystery how they even managed to reach the table in front of residence. It was lunch time already - each one fought against their counter and then got trashed around by Issei for the finishing touch but he was tired as well - he didn't rely on his draconian nature to beat them up real good and get a sense of danger in it to give his all in limited conditions just like 7 months ago in the jungle. He just fought with Magic and his combat skills to beat them.

"Food is ready " Asia brought a plate of swine steaks she had prepared as she wasn't trashed around so much as she was under his wing for their common goal. But he still beat the shit out of her just to make sure she could hold her own against others. She placed the sizzling with sauce stakes and brought some salad to go with it. And everyone started munching down with whatever energy was left in their bodies.

"This is so good. Thank you for this gracious meal " Koneko ended her thanks and started eating with such speed that brought a smile to the cook Asia.

" I tried to use my Twilight Healing on the food to regain your stamina. I hope it works" Asia blurted out hesitantly and embarrassed to the praise of her food.

Yuuto slammed his head before he could take a bite and Rias just drifted away in her slumber. Both had given their best against each other with Issei's sparring finished them off for good. Sadly they had planned out another session for today and it was just the beginning of this long grinding session.

"By the way, where's Issei? I didn't see him at the table. "Asia belched at the lack of his presence. She wanted to eat with him and talk but he had left before she had a chance to talk with her. But was kind enough to help her with the preparations for the food.

"No idea, sweet Asia. You can see how he is" Akeno looked at the curious nun spitefully while saying appeared more interested in eating her meal than to worry where he went. It was none of her concern so she answered shortly but full of disinterest.

"I'll go look for him. He should be around here somewhere. "

"Save your breath. You'd just get shot down by him just as he did with us from the start. " unapologetically Akeno answered statement, chugging down the hot stake like a cobra.,

" I don't like him, he's dangerous. "

"But aren't you treating him rather cold as well. You're avoiding him and badmouth at every occasion possible. Rather two folded if you ask me." the blonde nun bluntly stated the truth. She fixed her butterfly pin as she turned around ready to find him.

A bit pissed off at getting slack from the blonde girl,it made her look away as though she tried to hide her frustration at meeting the truth. She didn't answer as she couldn't put it up to words.

"You know what- forget it. Just bring President and the rest inside. I'll be back in a few minutes. " uncaring of the tired as hell Queen, she shrugged her off subtly as she went to look for the young Pawn just to talk with him. "* We'd be alone...no one else besides the two of us. I'll try to ask him whether he would agree to my proposal. *"

A few minutes later...

"Why didn't you come to eat with us?"

"Honestly, I'd just spoil the food if I were there. As you can see they don't like me" Issei halfheartedly dropped his hands, " well the feeling is mutual so i didn't want to ruin their meal with my presence. Also if you came here to persuade me into joining, it won't do you anything. I don't need your pity nor gratitude if that's why you came here. Save it for someone that matters" he gave a cold response without turning back. He was holding his phone out of habit.

"* No connection, huh? I can't reach out to the outside world. Just perfect... "*

Issei was calmly sitting on a nearby rock by the river while holding a can of coffee, slowly taking a sip from it's dusted off his dirtied tracksuit until she came closer, her green eyes locked with his brown in a single moment of silence.

"I didn't intend for you to take it that way. I was just worried about you. "

"If you're nice because you're worried, save your breath. We didn't come here to make friends so let's stop at it and have a proper training "

On Issei's face was nothing but a look of in it's place like a marble statue with no warmth.

" Forget about it. I just wanted to ask something - she took a step backwards and readied to go away until his voice reached out to her," Then let's hear it then. I've heard almost everything possible so i doubt it would hurt so much. "

"You live alone,right?" Asia started boldly, " Maybe it wouldn't be bad if a lone boy and a lone girl lived together. Since we're basically the outcasts of the group we should stick together. Yeah,i know it's sudden but i just want to know you better. I don't think you're like what the others are making you out to be."

"* You saved me a lot of headaches by asking this. I won't have to go through a grinder of questions by Rias or the others. It wasn't included into the equation of her becoming a Devil but it was the only way to save her. Azazel would understand. Sadly i can't reach him now due to this shitty out of order place. I'll fly by the next day to check things out in Kuoh.*"

"Really nice of you to say that but I'm afraid you'll be disappointed so don't pin your expectations high. After all the first impression always sticks to you as glue."

Asia felt a bit disheartened by his cold attitude - she didn't know how to predispose him at all as he was hard to read with those creepy eyes of his. "Sorry for asking something so meaningless "

"But i didn't say that we couldn't try to live together, did i?" he stretched out his hand towards her direction in an attempt to shake hands,expecting nothing but disgust from her side as he suddenly started to lower his palm down in his usual manner.

"If you're ok with it I'll gladly accept it. " to his surprise she cupped his hands with her own two palms tightly - her hands seeped of warmth and motherly affection when she brought them to her chest. " I never even managed to thank you for everything you've done so far."

"Don't... Do you know what others would think if you associated with someone like me? It's nothing good if you do. So don't do it..." his tone changed to a defeated one, full of questions and concerns.

"I don't care about what others think of you. To me you're a honest person, true to your nature and beliefs. You know what you want and you always help from the shadows. You could have easily killed us under the guise of training but you didn't . " her innocent gaze made him feel flustered. " Don't think i didn't see it when you helped that old granny when she was attacked by delinquents.I want to help you, to change your life as we're not so different from each other . So just why are you always putting yourself down, underestimating your efforts and using such awful methods that hurt yourself to help people? "

"Why do you people always get the wrong impression of this, like it's some incurable obsession? A compulsion of sorts as if it were an irresistible impulse to act. I never regretted this choice of mine, I chose this life. I know what I'm doing might not seem right to others. And on any given day of the week, any time I could stop doing it without a , however, isn't that day. And tomorrow won't be either."

"There's no meaning to it,huh? I don't think you're treating yourself as you should. " she gritted her teeth in sorrow. She felt like it was something she couldn't possibly hope to understand - too far away from her comfort zone. But even so she wanted to know.

"Right or wrong, what meaning is there to it? It's only our moral compass that guides it as it's just our attempt to decide which is bad or good when there's no such 're trying to find some meaning in a meaningless world...

"But why shouldn't a lone girl search for something more in this hellhole life of sorts for a better future. And why shouldn't a reject deserve anything good for all of his suffering. It's stupid yet we can't change that part of ourselves even if we became Devils because deep down we want something. And that desire for something caused us nothing but suffering but we still want it..."

"Wow. I'm kinda surprised to see that you're rotten to the 're harder to make out than the have my praise for that. Maybe living together won't be so bad after all. " It's was what he thought.

"Right back at ya. The rest should be inside now so let's go. We've got training to do." Asia answered with conviction and grabbed his hand fast as in a "let's go" and pulled him over.

"* Maybe she knows. I could ask her if she has any idea on who those people in the picture were but it's dangerous to drag her in this and tell her the whole story. But let's just try it*"

"By the way " he gulped down in hesitation of what might be her reaction," Could i show you something, it's something you might be of help to me. " he lowered his hand to his pocket and brought out the black Xperia E1 with his new bumper case, went through the gallery and found the picture. He showed her it's contents.

She was frightened by the looming shadow over his shoulders, it made her feel dizzy all of a sudden. " That girl... It couldn't be, could it?" a puzzled look went towards the phone.

"What's wrong... " concern grew into his soul, filling him up like a vast ocean in the depths of his mind. He tried to remember yet again but couldn't get out anything from his memories. As if they were erased...

"That girl is Irina Shidou- she started like she knew her personally, " she's an Executor back at home. She works with my sister... "

" You had a sister?"

"She's not my sister related by blood. We were adopted by a high ranking cardinal in secret when we were young from that orphanage in Rome. We have different surnames now to hide our connection."
Taking a deep breath for a second she continued her explanation - "She went overseas when she was in 5th grade to Italy with her father ",pointing at the gentleman next to his parents, " Touji Shidou,a high ranking Paladin of the church but is currently missing. I don't know anything else except for that..." she responded like she was dissatisfied with her own lack of knowledge. She felt like she wasn't much of use to him as she didn't know anything else as she was excommunicated not so long ago." And for this man,i don't know anything. "

"Thanks. It's a lot of help to me. Let's get back and rest a bit and we'll train some more. "

"Sure... " she nodded in agreement.

"Issei... Run. Don't let it catch you,I'll hold them off"

Grabbing his chest with both hands, he sighed in confusion and fingers traced back the silver cross memento of his mother shakily. He didn't know what got into him as his nervousness alarmed Asia.

"* What the fuck was that...That voice... It was the man she told me about, Shidou. Why can't i remember anything else... Unless my memories of what happened exactly that night were wiped. I remember everything except for a 5 minute gap in my brain. This white spot in my memory, i need to know more about and how my parents were connected to this. There's something more I'm missing out...i need find out fast...*"

XXX

8th August, Gremory Residence bath,Friday, 21:38 pm

"Are you worried, Akeno? Something's on your mind, i can see it. Please tell me what the matter as i can't bear to see you miserable." the clueless expression of Rias met that of her Queen, Akeno Himejima.

Both were sitting, submerged in the hot waters of the Roman styled bath of the Gremory Residence. Kiba and Koneko were deadbeat from the 3rd session for this day and couldn't lift themselves off the bed for the 4th one as Rias had to cary them despite her tired body to their beds or they would've slept on the cold ground before the house for the whole night.

"Not really, I'm just feeling a bit tired by 4 days non stop training. That's all." a half asleep Akeno rebuked the worries of Rias as she placed her head slowly on the edge of the bath to rest. Her stare was locked to the peach colored ceiling of the bath with her mind somewhere else at that moment. What was on her mind, what did she worry about that it plagued her consciousness so much that she would drift away in her thoughts. That Rias couldn't exactly guess right.

"You always make that look when you're thinking about something. We've been together since long,7 years as i could remember but it feels like a lot more to me. So just tell me what's wrong or i won't feel ok." Rias pleaded to her consciousness with puppy eyes and raised her hands above the steaming water.

"Fine! I'll tell you so stop pestering me already. You always do that when you want something and can't get it right away. " she became vocal towards the cheeky attempts of Rias to get through her sighed deeply and removed the wrapped cloth around her head, only to start with what was on her mind.

"It's him... I can't stop thinking about it - those creepy eyes of his always reminded me of that someone i wish to never see. The way he acts,the way he goes around everything - i hate it! I just can't shake off this pounding feeling in my chest. He's so awful and cold but yet so much reminds me of Him. That hidden feeling of caring beneath the surface of a loser - it just hurts, it reminds me of so many things i don't want to remember. With him around it feels like home, He reminds me of myself... I can't bear to watch it anymore... " the pained face of Akeno sighed heavily as a tear formed on her cheeks. It was harder to see as they were in the bath but it was obvious to Rias what she meant actually.

There was also the strong feeling of contempt in her chest that wasn't there before a second ago. A feeling of bitter pain that hurt more than anything she had felt. Similar but not so much as the feelings she felt when her mother was killed right in front of her eyes.

Rias's eyes went to the surface of white tiles that constituted the floor of the bath with her hiding her face from view.

"* I was so wrong! I never even considered the feelings of others in this matter - i just caused pain and suffering to the others because of my own desperation and hopelessness regarding my situation. I wanted to be a good King, to be liked and respected but... I'm just like them... Like the rest of the other Devils,i always try to meet up to everyone's expectations of me... I wonder if there is even a real me in all of those standards...I'm not a Human even if i tried so much... *"

Her thoughts were racing like crazy,starting from one sentence to the other before even finishing. She hid her face under the water to hide her disheartened expression. Itwas growing, this feeling of despair over the thoughts of her being a real identity or just a expectation meeting doll for others to place their hopes on.

"...You're not the only one who feels awful. Tell me,how do you even manage to put up with all of these situations " Rias brought her face up with a weary expression. Curiosity,hesitation.

" I don't know... I don't think i could answer adequately that question of yours. "

"Try. Just try it,who knows maybe it could help me. "

"Conviction. Something to drive you, to make you push yourself with everything you've got no matter what. In a pursuit of something... " the black haired Queen answered shortly as if it was a dictum of the sorts. A single mindend pursuit of what she wanted.

But what was it that Akeno Himejima really wanted?

"*she had no definite answer or was it a lie? What lurked in the head of Akeno Himejima was beyond a doubt an enigma to me. I've known her since we were 11 from that day when i took her in. But sometimes, till this day I'd wonder what she really thought and felt about this.*"

"Do you still hate him so much?"

Akeno mused a bit by the intent of this dreadful question of her King,she leaned back on the edge and splashed her face with water to get it over her head.

"Does it really matter to you if i did? Is it really adequate of you to bring this up when you brought another one in our lives? Hhm, i wonder " her twisted smile was back but it was full of sadness and misery. She attempted to look angry but it was far from the truth - she was hurting, the sight of her father at the church reawakened her deep hate for him and by extension it led to her cold treatment of Issei. She never batted an eye for him in the first place,now she still didn't do it. Only things were different...

"I just can't understand why you did it with him. Phenex isn't a remotely likeable character but neither is he. Atleast the burning chicken has some good qualities. "

"Have you ever felt like your life is nothing but a preplanned routine by some higher force that wants you to follow it till the end? The ability to choose... It's what humans have so why shouldn't i be entitled to have it as well? That's why- because i wanted to choose for myself. " Rias frowned at her. Despite knowing her situation, her Queen was rather insensitive towards this matter.

"Because he was convenient? Or because he was useful and strong for you to take advantage of a deviant, someone that nobody would even want to be with. It must have hurt him bad..."

"It's not of importance. So don't ask for the reasons as you know why. So why don't you just try to place yourself in his shoes and see what it's like. " Rias raised her tone again, her brows creased downwards in a unsightly manner of anger as she was overtaken by emotion.

"Don't give advice that you can't follow yourself. As a matter of fact i will. He should be around the other bath by this time of the night. " the Queen rose up from the steaming hot waters and wrapped herself in a big blue towel, gently placing her feet into a pair of blue bath slippers and shut the door.

XXX

"* I'm a bit tired. That sparr with Asia was tiring. That girl has tenacity, she's a fighter. I can't help but wonder what the girls are doing at the other bath. *"

Issei was walking down a spacious corridor leading towards the end of the corner and at such specific detour were the baths. He just wanted to get a good soak and clear his head of everything painful. The waters of the bath were a place of solace for the ever so moody boy, a spot where he could be alone with his thoughts and fantasies of girls he knew would never even notice him.

"*I hope there's no one around. It would be tragic if that prince blondy was already cooped up in there. How the hell would i even take a bath with another man in the tub... That's just creepy *" and the last thought reminded him of Sayaka's joke about him pitching for the other team. They had decided that when he won they'd go out to the movies and spend a whole day together.

He reached the corner and was straight at the entrance of the male bath section. It was a bit smaller than the other one due to the number of females in the Gremory and Bael households vastly outnumbering the male populace of these two clans by a lot. Before him opened the scene of blue tiles all over the place,a medium sized pool and a changing room to the right. Everything was covered in steam so he had a bit difficulty moving through. He was tired so he didn't push his luck by using his draconian eyes to pierce through the thick steam.

"*Please there be no naked dude with a there be no naked dude with a sword. Are you gonna fuck with me again, Fate?*"

Already in the changing room but not before having checked the perimeter for any danger that may befall him, he proceeded to switch from his tracksuit to a cyan bath robe and some black slacks. He removed the socks not to get distracted by the sight of Matsuda's fashion taste or else drown in the bath.

"* I should remove this too. But what if there are cameras placed around here? I don't want anyone to see this disgusting, scarred body of mine. Oh wait, i don't appear on camera's and other audio-video materials unless I want to*"

"Seal Release" was the command he uttered to remove the black fabric off his upper body with a pair of blue colored pentagrams swirling and making the sound of a unlocked was specifically designed to somewhat contain his raging powers but not enough to prevent a mental pollution from a past user of the Boosted Gear.

"Whew, a few productive days have passed away. They're not my type of people to converse with but they show promise " having donned the bath robe he went towards the pool edge removing his slippers,dipped his legs in the water and removed the robe off his back.

It was peaceful at time of the night with the peerage either asleep from severe exhaustion or probably eating dinner or something of the sorts. Not a single soul would try to disturb his peaceful solitude or so he hoped for. And to the Lords of Eros and every possible god of erotica he prayed to be under their protection from a naked dude with a sword.

"*It's like one of those cheesy LN anime adaptations moments right now. But I'm not the one to stumble on some naked tsundere bitch and get kicked because of her own issues and lack of ability to deal with her problem. Thank goodness it's just a annoying cliché that you see in every 2nd anime possible. Maybe i should become a LN writer? That wouldn't sound bad...*"

Under the lights of the bath was Issei submerged into the scorching hot water,humming to himself the favorite song and pride of a peeping Tom- "A Girl Like You " by Edwyn Collins. "Cause i never met a girl like you before..." he was singing to himself in a low voice as someone might hear him and it would be embarrassing.

"* Finally some peace and quiet. Back in the day i would usually get home and spend my time doing what i wanted to shake off this awful feeling. But now i couldn't anymore - i had to put up with a cheeky redhead's demands and dabble into annoying things of the sorts. She's still useful to me,i need something to proceed with the plan of getting a harem but would i be happy. I doubt so- it would be just girls with some obligation and nothing real. But what is real or fake? A good question to ponder on...*"

The screeching sound of the door trying to be open startled him to no ends. He squinted his eyes, preparing for the worst he could think of. He could easily kill anyone of them if he wanted to but it was better to have them alive and well as being chased around by devils would be really annoying and boring.

"* This is it! The fabled scene of the pervert entering through the door. Just why the hell wasn't there a lock for God's sake, damn it!*" a headache struck him as he swore with God's name in it."* Never mind thing i locked the door with some Nordic Runes i learned from Arthur. *"

Relaxing over avoiding such a brutal mistake, he submerged even more into the water as it reached his neck, slightly touching the tips of his ears. And he really hated those clichés in anime - it wasn't in the style of a true pervert to rely on them or even the gravity defying fall of Ritto Yuki which led to nothing but misery and pain.

Something in the back of his head warned him of one simple mistake- there might be an additional entrance in cases where the door was busted and wouldn't open. And sadly this was it. A mistake he swore to never make again for it was his scars that told him of this chaotic setting.

Coming from the other side was the sour Queen of Gremory - wrapped in a towel was the fine skin of the foul mouthed Akeno Himejima with all of her magnanimous exuberance. She was sour from her conversation with Rias a few minutes ago and out of spite snuck in the mens bathroom to show her that she could do just as she pleased as well.

"* This is going to end up in something nightmarish, i swear. Of all the people it had to be her- seriously, is this your answer Fate? If i find you I'll beat the shit out of your sorry ass for making us suffer for no reason. *"

For his misfortune he was spotted even among all of this unnatural steam - both of their eyes were caught in a deadlock. Issei had this weird expression as he rose up and covered his back and front with the bath robe next to his slippers. Walking away suddenly to gain distance. That was his intention but just to make sure prepared a elemental shield to react in time for an expected assault of lightning.

"I'm not going to do something bad to you. No need to run away. Stay." she asked in such a low tone that would make anyone question the credibility of her words.

"I'd rather go now. I don't wish to spoil your bath... " in his usual manner of speech he referred to her in his attempt to get out. Scales appeared on his face and legs, ready to go through the wall then to talk with her wasn't a bad idea but having to shave off a bit of his payment for such a trivial matter was totally unnecessary. He had to deal with things like this before so it shouldn't be a problem now.

"Is there any problem with me being here?" With her brows raised in a obnoxious fashion and annoyance she jumped in the water without a care.

He remained silent, his memories of her made him squirm in his place. Just like that weird wink he received from her on that strange day a while ago was what you'd call a nasty situation.

"Are you gonna stay out in the cold all night long? Or is it because of me that you won't enter? " her nasty smirk of a predator was like thorns in his spine,he knew she was trying to rile him up to enjoy his lack of social skills for the sole reason of her enjoyment.

"Does it matter? I know what you want so i don't have time for this nonsense. If you're going to tease me just find someone else. " raising his hand in a bye bye sign he drifted off further to the exit.

"That's what i hate in you..." Her words were with something else mixed in them from her usual nastiness, flowing through the air like the steam in the room. "The way you act and talk... It reminds me of something i hate... "

"I don't want people to like me. I don't need to be liked to finish the job as it's impossible to expect everyone would like you. And i can't do anything if you hate me as it's not my concern. I'm sorry that my personality isn't what you expected it to be"

The pain did not quell down,it just magnified. "What's the deal with those Fallen Angels, huh?"

"Oh, so is that the reason you're so sour all of a sudden? Or rather you felt jaded by my relations with a Azazel and Barakiel? " snarkily reacting to her question he turned towards her with his eyes straight at her's.

"You're really an ass,aren't you? I don't know why President even went through such lengths with you when we had Kiba. Such a waste " she waved her arm to her chest, " i feel bad for her having pitied such a person as you. "

"Yeah,so what? Does it really matter if I'm pitiful or not to you. And just so you know, you fare quite well in that category as well, miss Sadist. " He was calmly biting back at her emotionally fueled drivel.

"What do you know about me exactly, huh? Nothing. It was all peaceful before those Fallen killed you that Sunday and you showed up in our lives. And you just had to bring Azazel in this... "

" It wasn't my choice to be like this. As much as i regret it, it's what happened and that's all. I hate Fallen Angels... " squeezing his fist in a tight grip he shot back at her," Just what the hell is it with you? Or was it because you saw your father a week ago in Saint Peter's Church? Just be grateful you have parents, someone to be waiting for you at the front door and be happy that you're there. Don't talk like you're miserable when you don't even know what it's like for me."

Her eyes widened with shock from hearing the truth - he had found out who she really was. " I hate it...i can't stand it anymore. I hate him... He never came back when i needed someone. He didn't save my mother despite everything he said and promised. I hate you as well - you showing up with him back then brought out my deepest emotions out of the dark. I hate you for reminding me of myself so much, for... Reminding me of my miserable life..." she gave into her emotions, she snapped.

" Isn't it conceited to blame everything on him and use me as a scapegoat for your frustration. I never wanted to be like this- i never wanted to lose someone. You're popular and beautiful, there's a myriad of chances and opportunities ahead of you while there is none for me. Your father loves you so much that he couldn't ever forgive himself for not having arrived on time till today. He tried everything in his power to save you... Can't you see it that he's hurting as well. I don't have anything like that,I'm alone in this world. There's probably no one that really cares for me so don't think like it's just you that's hurt." a bit ticked off and bitter he told her what he had for her.

She crossed over to him and slammed him on the wall." Shut up, shut up" she yelled with tears streaming down her cheeks, "You hate Fallen Angels, don't you? " Ripping through her back a pair of shining feathered black wings circled him." Why don't you just end it already and kill me! I'm a disgusting monster who blamed her father for everything just to cope with everything. Why don't you just end my pitiful existence, this tainted abomination called me!" she started punching him in the face with him remaining silent and motionless.

He just smiled in his own way when she released his neck and he dropped on the tiles with his back leaning over the wall.

"I hate it... I don't want to be like this... I just wanted to be loved... I don't want to be alone..." she cried out in anguish, her hands went over to her face as she crouched on the ground with nothing but her wings covering her naked body...

"If it would make you feel better by hitting me,do it. I'm used to being hurt so much... "

For a moment she was sobbing uncontrollably, unable to voice the thoughts running through her head. "Why...won't you understand... Why won't you kill me...d-don't you hate Fallen Angels. I just pushed and hurt you so much... I'm so disgusting... " her face was contorted in a miserable expression, she just couldn't stop her tears from flowing... Gasping for air she pleaded, " I didn't want to be like this..." she couldn't breathe from all of the sobbing, " I'm the wo-wor-st..."

Unable to bear the pain anymore she pulled off a feather from her wings and stood up holding it to her neck, "Sorry Rias,it seems i couldn't endure this any longer. Forgive me... Father.." and closed her eyes,ready to part with this cruel world.

The sound of blood dripping down alarmed her to her surprise - from her hand Issei took the razor sharp feather before she could slice her neck open and die alone, finally to leave this world of misery forever. The sharp blade like feather had sliced his palm, the blood on her face was his when he released his grip on the feather, leaving to fall to the ground.

"You're not alone...Even if you had Fallen Angel blood, there is nothing wrong with it... If you died... Someone would be sad if you died so don't do it. You're not disgusting or worthless - even if i don't like it,i just can't let you die alone with so much regret because someone would cry for you. Don't do this to them because they'll be hurt..." Issei didn't dare to come closer. He knew he wasn't the right person for this, he never knew how to comfort someone else... Dropping to his knees, he bent over to the wall with his right leg stretched outwards on the bloodied bath floor.

She pressed onto him,shoving her swollen face into the fabric of his robe with her arms on his chest. She was crying her broken heart out to him. Nothing mattered - neither that she hated him and he disliked her,everything was bleak in the vastness of this steam, like a white shroud encircling them in it's clutches.

Coming from the other room was Rias,already in new clothes to see what was all of this racket about. Rushing to the side of her friend,she lifted her up and helped stand up to lead her back to her room. And before taking away the emotionally shattered Akeno she gave Issei a final pained expression of sadness...

"* I couldn't hope to understand you as it was impossible for us to understand each other. Despite our contrasting views and opinions, our differences... Maybe there's something else in it that made us similar - i had known it all along. It was suffering... I didn't understand the enigma of Rias Gremory but i could never hope to understand the mind of Akeno Himejima. Despite knowing that she was a abomination of nature she had this pure desire, impossible it may be- to be loved. I could see through her like a book and it was just then when i realized the meaning of Barakiel's words - "Save my daughter for if it wasn't her,i would have no meaning in living. " This was the true face of the sadistic Queen Himejima - a scorned, fragile girl who lived with the pain as her second nature till now. Even so i didn't think i could still view her in the same light as i did... It was something i didn't know... *"

XXX

9th August, Kuoh City Shopping Center, 13:55 pm,Saturday

It was a warm August Saturday noon with everyone out to the mall. Just another mundane day in the small city of Kuoh. Atleast to the mass populace that is.

"You drifted off again! Why do you always do that when the things at hand are important? " an annoyed young man directed his frustration at his companion sitting on the other side of the table. They were at a café drinking their cappuccino under the warm rays of the August Sun undisturbed by the surrounding crowd next to the clothes shop.

"Sorry. I just couldn't help it. This Rating Game that's due in 5 days caught my attention- my sweet prize is there and going to participate in this antiquated relic of the past. Isn't it time to make our move? " in a relaxed tone the man with a black shirt and blue jeans explained his reasons for his excitement.

"I heard that all of the high ranking devil leaders would be there to watch this match. Even the leader of the Fallen will honor them with his presence - isn't it hard to go through it with so much resistance? "

"Not really... " he lowered his black sunglasses to show off his yellowish green eyes with a condescending feeling to them, " We'll just use a distraction - the angel we caught would do us justice. Removing the seals on Samael was a bit tricky,even more so entering Cocytus to do it. Thankfully that old Lucifer geezer was on the same wavelength as us. " he smiled as he pushed his glasses back up to the ridge of his nose, hiding his eyes hastily.

"But what about that dragon wielder? He seems tough and appears to protect the trophy.?" the red dress shirt clad man with slicked back dark hair looked puzzled by his companion's intentions." What would she say if we did something behind her back? You know how axe crazy she can be.. "

"Let's be honest, she's itching to fight as much as we are. You remember how frustrated she was when she couldn't catch him even once, do you? If you want why don't we call her, she's going to be at the Rating Games anyway so it's just a matter of time before we go and take what we want"

"Isn't that right, Vali?"

Before them a girl with long platinum silverish-blonde hair and ice cold blue eyes with the shade of the ocean. She was dressed in a black low v-neck shirt,a pair of burgundy jeans with chains hanging around them and a small black bolero with laced curls. Vali Lucifer came alone to them just by some coincidence, she was bored and told Azazel she was to go on a stroll around the town to alleviate her boredom.

"So you want us to storm the Rating Games and kidnap the Twilight Maiden, Asia Argento in the ensuing chaos?" her eyes reached towards the sunglasses wearing male with dirty blond hair. She looked a bit bored with everything so she just asked like it was of no matter to her.

"Yes. " he just raised his shoulders in a "why not " manner as he continued,
" Plus all of the people you want to fight will be there. Especially that feisty,elusive Red Dragon Emperor of yours that you want to beat so much. " the blonde man with the sunglasses tempted her with such an offer she couldn't resist.

"Fine by me, let's do it." she blurted out in excitement, " We'll get your nun as a bonus."

"By the way, where have you been? We've been searching for you under wood and stone for a month, do you know what might happen if she found you were almost caught? "

"Don't worry , it was for the mutual benefit of everyone. " he insisted on his absence being justified, " Everyone in this team wants something for their own and in the course of matters, we're better off by sticking together and getting what we want by helping each other out"

"When i think about it, have you even seen what's the Red Dragon Emperor like under that Balance Breaker armor or his name? " Bikou started slowly to shift the focus of the conversation to something not so pressuring.

" I don't know how he looks like but i heard his voice over the phone and it appears his name is Issei. Nothing else " she presented this information rather shortly and reserved. She pulled out a nearby chair and sat down in a somewhat unbecoming pose, her eyes twitched.

"Don't tell me you've fallen for your sworn enemy just like that. Totally unexpected from you, miss Vali." the other man teased her in a jolly way, he even gave out a stiff laugh regarding her conversation with the host of Ddraig, " did he atleast have a cute voice over the phone? "

Vali stiffened up by the thought of someone pairing her again with this unknown gentleman, causing her to act a bit bashful by the sound of that.

" Hhm,in the course of matters it has no value over our goal. So don't you go assigning things like that to me. What would Albion say if he heard that", she was flustered, even going as far as trying to hide what was on her mind at that moment.

"Fine. Fine." he smiled

" Isn't it really weird how we're sitting out in the open when we're wanted criminals to both the Devils and Angels?" Bikou pointed out the obvious.

"Don't worry, I've masked our presence so that we could remain out of sight. There's nothing that could track us for a span of 12 minutes in this barrier. And plus it's swarming with escaped convicts and runaway renegades. There's a reason why it's called the Devil slum and Angels and Fallen can't enter so 5 more days and I'll get my sweet Asia... "

"Aren't you the sucker for innocent girls,Diodora Astaroth? " Vali glanced at the current heir of the Astaroth family while picking on him about his hobby.

"What can i say,i enjoy pretty things to add for my illustrious collection. That's the reason why i decided to help you in the first place. Humiliating the damn Gremory is a bonus for me. I'll make her pay dearly, that redhead bitch. " his tone changed to one full of contempt for the being known as Rias Gremory.

"Let's get going then. I have to tell the others. Kuroka would be happy to be reunited with her dear, sweet sister Shirone or should i say Koneko Tojou now." Bikou finished his drink and stood up to follow their leader to a place unknown...

XXX

14th August, Underworld, 20:33 pm. Thursday night

The day of the Rating Games came by unnoticed to the Gremory peerage as they were training hard this one day and reign victoriously despite the crushing odds against them. Luckily Riser Phenex was a prideful man so he had her choose the field of her demise with all of the extra settings such as time,weather and the conditions.
A bit of sportsmanship on his side it was just to show that he wasn't so awful as to crush her on a foreign terrain to her and what better would it be to get back at her on her own ground?.

15 minutes remained till the start of this deathless curbstorm of a battlefield with team Rias going through their strategies one last time before going out to the match. Heated debating and delegation of roles ensued in remaining 15 minutes, with Issei going through every detail possible that might arise - he told them to improvise if necessary as it was more than a battle of brawns, brains were the deciding factor of the outcome. Whether he would die and Rias leave or should they win and stay.

Twitching brows as he crossed his arms," The trees are a good cover in the darkness so it's natural to expect Pieces to use it to their advantage. I'd expect an assault team coming from there towards HQ but see here", pointing at a crossroad on the map where the route they were likely to take converged, " Right here; these two spots are good for pincer attack from both sides and just to make sure, place some anti-magic mines as a feint,they'll go straight for them. Place Koneko and Kiba on these two spots, they'll do it just fine."

"I know we've talked this through a few times already but doesn't it leave us defenseless? Even Akeno can't take on too much of them" deep concern and doubt became friends with Rias all of a sudden. It didn't sound as assuring as it appeared to be.

"Let him be.. I trust in his judgment . I'll take layer the gym with explosive seals while you and Asia stay in the club room. " Akeno was sitting in the corner fiddling with her long hair in a cold stare. What happened 5 days ago didn't left her thoughts for a moment and skipped two days of training.

He continued, "After we remove any incoming threats from the forest, have
Koneko go to the gym and let's make some noise to attract another batch to attack. Once we lure them,blow it up in a bang.I'll cover her as I'll go to it before she arrives. "

"What will i do?" Asia's voice came from the left, her gentle tone surprised him yet again when he was immersed into planning out every move possible and checking things again.

"Your time will come but for now you'll wait in the club room with Rias until i give you a sign. " with the posture of the famed Tsun Tzu he reassured her of her place in the plan,asking her to be patient and follow through.

"Any objections on our goals? If you have any - say them fast as we have 6 minutes left before going to the field. "he looked at them with dead serious eyes. " Also since we'll use the environment and time,you'll need these for our stratagem to work." he opened his briefcase only to take out 4 pieces of black cloth.

"What are those and how would they even help us. It's just a piece of rag," Rias began to whine. Her eyes widened in disbelief on how a piece of fabric could even help them in this time of peril.

Issei stood upstraight, not paying any attention to the others. He brought out a pair of steel toed boots, he placed his metal weighted, fingerless gloves on his arms and had prepared his lightweight, shock absorbant armor under a black, skin tight suit with some padded areas.

"I'll show you how" brooding over the 4 pieces of fabric on the table,he placed his hands above them and used the "Generate: Clothing" on them with the fabric tweaking it's fibers into four identical skintight suits as his.

Kiba's eyes were glued to them like a fly to a jar of honey. "Oh, i see. Let's get suited up. We've got no time to waste " he took one of them and casted aside what he wore on a nearby chair. Zipping up the suit to the edge,it was precisely his size, he made a gesture of "come on,damn it" as he handed one of them to Rias.

Rias followed suit with everyone else as well. It was rather uncomfortable with two boys in the room watching them so Koneko wrapped a towel over their eyes and finished with her suit.

"Are we ready for this. We didn't come here to lose, we came to win. So let's do this! "

"Let's win this match for the sake of our lives. " Everyone made their battle cry and headed towards their base, ready to put their lives on the line for the sake of their continued existence.

XXX

Marion, Karlamine and the twin catgirls ran up on the way Issei had envisioned they would, waiting for them to reach the spot he wanted them to be.

"No traps or anything ahead of us, Karlamine.I knew they were noobs but this is beyond pitiful " Marion talked while she ran up, preparing herself for any dangers that may wait for them at the end of the road.

They soon reached the before a crossroad where they stopped for a second to gain bearing of their surroundings. Closely adhered to each other they tensed up their muscles for any incoming threats only to be surprised as it was a dead end and just one road. "This wasn't in the database! " the twin cat girls groaned in dissatisfaction.

"Stay put. It's obviously a trap but they couldn't allocate more than one person to intercept us. We're many and he's one. It's probably that blonde Knight from the files. They don't have any other offensive Pieces." Karlamine gave a quick info dump to the nervous Marion and Pawns, shifting their positions in a new formation to take head on a single assailant.

"Do you hear that?"

"Hear what? There's nothing in there."

A hissing noise could be heard in the distance, coming from between the trees. Marion split up with one of the cat girls while Karlamine went with the other on the short distance of 30 meters. And then there it was it. A large dagger flew towards the female Knight head on from the left flank as she dodged it with ease - it was a poor attempt at throwing.

It fell to the ground, stabbed what appeared to be dirt when in reality it was a elaborate mine. The ticking sound made her panic but it was too late, the blade itself flashed with energy as it exploded with the power of a grenade, setting off the rest of the hidden mines in close proximity. Before the explosion could take them down with it,they managed to outrun the detonation sequence barely. It was going smoothly as planned.

"* Intercept the ones on the right. Coordinate with her to the left. I leave things in your hands*"

Coming from the right side was a humanoid shadow with no sound coming from it's footsteps, it's presence was non existent as only silence existed in the night.

"What was that. What the hell is going up here." she shivered in fear as she just saw a black silhouette behind her,coming from the shadows and she couldn't sense it at all like it never existed.

"Keep it together Marion. It's a trick!"

Something was behind her. Karlamine had this weird sensation of being watched from the shadows within the forest and just as she tried to turn around there was nothing in sight.

"I'm right here..." a faint whisper gave her a shrill bright chill on her spin with her raising her sword to strike only to see it shattered. A formless black mass brought it's hand in a straight punch to her face, throwing her off balance enough for a second one to emerge from the shadows and cut her down with a black sword straight to the chest. And they vanished...

The rest ran up ahead on the only way left and suddenly changed direction by jumping into the trees to make it look like they ran away. But the trees blew up, scorching the paranoid attackers as they were thrown out in the road.

Then suddenly the formless shadow gave chase -it was totally silent and faster than what they could ever imagine. Visible to the eyes yet invisible to the senses as some figment of their imagination, only that it was not- the silhouette taunted them to try to catch it...

But it was there,encroaching on their minds as unnoticeably it came closer and sliced one of the cat girls with two different strikes coming from the opposite direction.

"How the hell are we going to survive against this monstrosity? " His breathing was heavy as he hid underneath a gnawed tree with mind was going blank from all of that paranoia that grasped their psyche tightly in it's clutches, never to leave them in a short moment of peace.

"It's coming. Run!" Rias grabbed his arm and started running to wherever her instincts lead her with her Knight right behind her. Only to see that the shadow was before them, smiling with it's creepy face at their faces as Kiba tried to slash it with his swords in panic. It was useless... But that didn't stop him from trying run away from everything and fight back with everything he had. Their only chance was to dive into the forest and yet it wasn't anything other than a self delusional thought that they could escape.

He had to learn to fight at a distance. His blood vessels were about rupture from the pressure but everything in him told him to run and live no matter the pain. The only way was to keep Issei at distance - charging up his swords with energy he waited for an opening to throw them at him and with a flick of his finger detonate them in a grandiose series of explosive heat. But it was far from over as he saw the dragon's eyes from up close and be punched by it's scaled claw and sent flying.

At times he was the one giving the chase only to fail miserably and on the ground with a pair of green eyes staring at him intently while he blocked it's attacks with a hail of swords in a futile manner.

What was left of the strike team was just Marion and Li hiding behind a tree at the side of the road. They tried to make their combined presence smaller and safely proceed with the operation only to be betrayed by their intentions.

The tree was cleaved in two by some inhuman pressure, leaving them stranded to the side and disoriented from the impact. Marion tried to run away only to be pinned to the ground by a hail of swords from every direction before she could even notice it. And the only thing she saw was a fleeting shadow in the distance.

The only one left was Li. But she didn't fare well like her comrades - the second shadow grabbed her by the ankle out of nowhere and slammed her in a tree. Lifting her up only to throw her in the air, it jumped off at her and with a backflip kick to her face, shot her down to the ground with a bed of swords stabbing her.

The swords evaporated into dust with the way closing off with fallen trees from the short battle that ensued a few seconds the fallen trees emerged Kiba and Koneko with their featureless masks pulled down slightly enough to talk over the comlink.

"Enemy assault squad exterminated. This is Lancer-2, i repeat. All hostile enemies are removed. Should i proceed with the operation? Yeah,got it."

Turning towards Koneko, he pulled up his mask and with a simple shake of his hand made her a gesture to roll out to phase B.

XXX

Inside the gym...

"They just had to throw at me a masked freak!?" the Rook named Xuelan snarled in disgust." Let's get this over with " clapping her hands together in a ticked off way.

The unknown fighter took a stance the enemy Rook had never seen before - there was no style or any point of logic in that positioning of it's own. It seemed so flawed and incompetent that made the twins with chainsaws laugh at it.

The twins charged at it with their chainsaws in the air ready to strike at it. The masked fighter tightened it's upper body and charged at them in a simple unimpressive manner that bored Xuelan.

Ile and Nel, the twin chainsaw wieldiers went at her in the left and right direction, running on the walls in a zigzag manner as they aimed at
the unknown, masked opponent. It was predictable on how this would have ended in Mira's mind - the twins would finish the job quickly and efficiently. But it was far from the truth.

As soon as the twins jumped at it,the shadow like suit switched it's footing, spun in for a split second and with the metal brace of the weighted gloves it wore blocked the chainsaw blade, bent it and hit back while at the next second swung it's leg to the other with enough force, breaking Nel's nose and arms.

The black suit took a static stance focused on defense while the staff wielding Mira attacked it only to find it was just a suit with the smell of amonia.

"Wait... It's a trap. Run.!" Xuelan screamed as she grabbed the twins by the colars and ripped through the wall with a kick.

"* This is Caster-4. Detonation of the gym building in 10..3.2.1..*"

The whole building went in the air with everything that was in it. Nothing gave a sign that on this very place stood a sports hall facility, not anymore. Just falling debris and smoke- nothing else was left by the seals Akeno had placed before their arrival. On on the outside was Xuelan standing on her feet with the twin Pawns in her hands.

"It seems you survived. I'll be your opponent." coming from the burning debris was Koneko with her mask removed and ready for combat.

"You?! You better not be like your friend that burned out in that explosion. " condescendingly Xuelan gave her a ridiculing laugh judging by her size. Even she thought the masked suit was a worthy opponent compared to the smaller Rook.

Shifting her feet and drawing out her arms in the position of guarding her chin and kneeling with one leg, Xuelan charged forward at the small platinum silverish-blonde girl.

Xuelan went out for a double straight punch only to stop at the last moment curl her leg backwards in a vicious kick, aimed at Koneko's kidney. Retorting back with a spin that saved her from a few fractured ribs, the brawler Koneko swung her arm in a right hook to her jaw in the momentum of her spin, continuing with a curved kick at her knees, bringing her down on the floor.

"You damn bitch... You're supposed to be a little runt who only knows to kick and bite" she spat blood from her mouth, blood seeped from her forehead but it didn't matter to her anymore. Ignoring the pain, she seriously fought without holding in any of restrained emotions. What was left of the Rook Xuelan now was a unstoppable machine of kicks and punches, which Koneko had some difficulty tracking. Even Issei would have had trouble against the likes of her if he had no access to his Sacred Gear to help him out.

"* If i get hit by that I'll be dead. Think,damn it. How to beat her? That's it!*"

With Xuelan constantly moving around with no opening present, circling her as she delivered kick after kick tearing the armored parta of the suit Koneko wore piece by piece. She wouldn't last long if she didn't do something to trap her legs somehow and finish her off quickly.
The smaller girl wasn'tgoing to give up as the life of her savior was at stakes and she would never want to part ways with her because of this dreadful Phenex character

" Fall already, you little maggot! " the black haired girl continued to kick at her elvows with such ferocity that it seemed like Koneko's arms would break of ahe took another few hits. She could only defend herself at this moment.

Raising her right foot for the final strike to be delivered, Koneko clutched at her leg with two energy shields, blocking the attack of her enemy,in this one moment of hope, bringing everything she had in her to her fist- The Rook of Gremory brought her fist up to her chin in a surprise uppercut so fast that the martial arts Rook never had a chance to react to this driven by passion strike of attachment.

"Now you see the difference between us" Koneko went for a one liner," I have someone to protect while you serve a piece of shit master." and brought down her leg on her chest.

XXX

"* Rider-3... Return to home base. Guard the Research Club room at any costs. Take precautions, the enemy Queen is coming. Fall back with Lancer-2 to HQ,avoid any combat with the Bomb Queen *"

Koneko pulled up the colar of her black suit and masked her presence as she ran up towards the base in the opposite direction to rendezvous with Kiba who was waiting for her at the entrance. It was convenient that the suits he made for them blended perfectly in the night landscape for it was what they aimed for.

"* Caster-4, intercept Yubelluna but be cautious and fall back when given the opportunity. Drag out the fight to lure out the enemy King, he'll surely use his remaining Pieces to attack you. *"

Akeno remained hidden in the shadows, awaiting the presence of the Bomb Queen, Yubelluna.

Flying to the site she was supposed to be,Yubelluna raised her arm in the air,forming a black orb of fiery chaos before her. It split into a few hundred smaller flying orbs swirling around her being, ready to rip apart everything in her vicinity.

"You can't hide from me. Come out and play, Priestess of Thunder. Or are you scared? " taunting was a common tactic of the Phenex peerage and their Queen was no exception to this rule.

No response. It ticked her off to no ends...

"So this is how it's going to be then" she snickered nastily with her staff pointing towards the burning spot where the physical education facility once stood.

A hailstorm of bombs rained upon the scorched grown like a nuclear bomb. Bushes, trees and everything were ripped apart by the sheer force of the blast- what remained was only black dirt and rocks and the devastated background, and every with every impact the sky lit up like fireworks.
The unsuspecting Queen didn't expect what was to befall her back.

Striking from the back was Akeno who silently flew up to the Bomb Queen's back and slammed her foot right up her lower taking the brunt of her kick, the enemy Queen spun in the air channeling a large amount of orbs to strike her down,only to be deflected by a strong barrier, repelling every projectile she threw at Akeno. The Priestess of Thunder used the cover of her barrier to throw a lighting spark at her but she made surely to keep moving so to avoid any resistance from her black orbs .It was a battle of magical prowess - Yubelluna escaped the surges of electricity thrown at her,with them being deflected and creating craters in the ground while making sure to keep up with the unexperienced Himejima.

High up in the dark skies were the two Queens fighting with all they had - their teammates were nowhere in sight so they could finally enjoy this battle to the max- lighting and black orbs were the only thing flashing in the darkness. Hail after hail,both women weren't giving up no matter what. The stakes were high and failure was a option they couldn't choose.

Akeno was gaining the upper hand through the fight, dragging it out as much as possible to lure out the enemy King. She didn't have any problems with doing so,her mind was filled with the desire to win and nothing else mattered for it was her friend's life on the line. No witty remarks or vicious jokes, she had forgotten all about .

The Bomb Queen experienced difficulty in overpowering the vicious youth - her strength lay in her vast reservoirs of energy and stamina,her firepower exceeded anything Rias could do but it was just that. The typical weaknesses of a caster- almost little to none physical combat skills and martial arts. She just relied on aggressive offense to demolish her enemies while avoiding physical combat at all costs.

"Let's do this,Akeno! Come at with everything you've got- the blonde Knight urged her with his platinum smile.

Taking a stance relying on mobility and swift strikes she stretched her leg backwards, leaned a bit over and had fists up high. She wore weighted gloves up to her elbows and had some padding around her neck whilst shaping her lightning into two small curved daggers, suitable for parrying and dislocating the opponent's swords.

The blonde boy rushed towards her fast with his swords crossed in a X, using the momentum of his speed to stop in his tracks and strike at the opposite side of direction. Blocking the attack with her dagger, she turned around with a kick to the knees which brought him down in pain and aimed with her other dagger. She would have won if she had more experience in close quarter combat but Kiba had prepared a hidden blade from a distance with it slamming her against a tree.

"We'll have to grind your arms to arms brawling. And use some kicks too.

However they were soon to tire out with most of their remaining energy reserves almost sapped. Yubelluna waved with her scepter in a final attack that used her last ounce of energy,breaking through Akeno's barriers like a bullet through a plastic its trajectory was totally unpredictable unpredictable with it deflecting and striking through the elemental shields around the young girl in a relentless onslaught of projetiles...

Admist the dust and smoke, Yubelluna attempted to fly upwards but to her schock she was gripped by her ankle and thrown to the ground. In midair Akeno stretched her arm out to her chin with such a bloodthirsty face, a face that scared her rival in terror and surprise - there was no information on her adversary being versed in close quarters, the infamous Priestess of Thunder had switched to arms and legs to finish the fight.

It didn't take long for her to exploit her vulnerability - the plummeting caster was being ravaged by the aggressive style of lightning infused kicks, being thrown in a tree stump, lumping back on her face flat as the terrifying force was going towards her. Akeno had finally relapsed back in her sadistic streak,it was visible by the magnitude of her warped smile while she continued to cave in the body of the caster with volts of electricity burning through her shields like a snake devouring it's helpless was gasping for air with the scorching hand of the lightning user tightening on her tender neck, burning off her skin in a ruthless, sadistic manner.

"Don't mess with anyone of us,you damn bitch. Tell your flaming chicken master that Rias isn't for sale!" an erratic, chaos infused wrath echoed throughout her voice, squeezing on her neck with even more rage than before. Her voiced sounded twisted and cold as ice but it was there- like a burning flame of vengeance it coursed through her soul.

But the gasping for air stopped only to be replaced with the silent movement of the burnt woman's lips, uttering the blunt truth - Akeno froze in her place by the words "Filty Fallen Angel scum. Just die already".

Breaking free from her grip, it was finally the moment of payback for this humiliation. The buxom woman stabbed something in her neck the moment she broke free and slammed her staff at the chest of the paralyzed Devil,sending her flying in a burning pillar.

With her damaged ear drums she couldn't hear any directives coming from HQ, she was fazed and bleeding through her ears as the impact had caused a conccusion her slender build wouldn't have endured if not for her having the fortifications of the Rook piece in unison as a Queen piece.

Whatever was used, there was no doubt all the damage suffered from her attacks would have crippled her, Riser's caster was back in top condition and burning with energy from the thing she used. Her conceited smile was terrifying - from the side came out Bürent and Isabela, running towards the downed Akeno by the pillar with their female leader flying upwards to enjoy the demoralization the bleeding girl in unbearable pleasure as she aimed her staff at her and yelled, "Fuckin Fallen trash. I'll help you die right now. "

How she knew this was a mystery - it was a secret only the Gremory knew but still didn't take pride in. It was possible to assume she had found out somehow from someone who knew her from before being turned into a member of the Devil race.

The wrathful strike force of the Phenex clan made their way to her with one of them kicking her arms in an unsuccessful attempt to protect her neck and face. They were going at her with everything like mindless beasts, coordinated by the intenions of their respective second in command.

A smirk plastered itself on Yubelluna's lips. She just kept shooting at random to tick her off and make her lose her balance and fall prey to the onslaught of her friends.

The movement of the girl with Fallen blood in her veins was becoming sluggish, she was faltering against the loathed attackers with no magic left to attack. She only had enough to put up weak barriers to avoid a quick resolution of this uneven game of attrition. She couldn't hear anything Issei screamed at her due to her damaged hearing, she was barely able to avoid their combined attacks with her hands - there was no way to escape from their reach with her current mental state. Her attacks paled in comparison to the unhinged swings of blades and arms,just mild attacks against the usually weaker members of the Phenex clan.

"Now do you see", the staff wielding caster began with, " this is the difference between a dirty Angel and a true Devil, i can't believe that miss Gremory could take in such useless trash like you! Where's your bravado now,little girl?"

With the last of her barrier and magic breached, the black haired girl was left with almost nothing to win against them. She wasn't a grappler to be able to beat them as they ganged on her, slowly taking their time with hurling around her body like it was a feather.10 days of training weren't enough to cover years of experience against hundreds of opponents and if normally she could easily sweep the floor with them,things went out of plan...

In the club room Rias watched in horror as they messed with her dear friend like it was nothing, taunting and taunting her again and again to break her. She didn't know how much would her comrade last this terror.

"I have to go! She needs me,let me go damn it! Rias squirmed in futility in the hands of her Pawn, Issei stopped her as it was suicidal and would give them what they wanted - the King out in plain sight and ready to reap.

"You'll throw away everything she tried to protect. You have survive no matter what!"

"Send Kiba and Koneko, I'm begging you! " through teary eyes she plead to the good will of Issei only to be pinned to the wall.

Letting her off his grip, he took a step back and crashed through the window landing on the ground with magic to soften the fall. With no time to lose he crossed the distance in a few seconds just when Yubelluna was about to land the final blow from the sky, with her compatriots readying to finish the pinned Queen.

At the field...

Isabela remained quiet for her leader to offer a final line to the badly maimed Priestess of Thunder with one final insult to add salt to her wounds. Bürent took a step back with her hand raised in firm fist, waiting for the signal to finish things.

"Any last words before you die,tainted scum? I'm not so heartless to silence someone before even letting them have their final speech on death's door."

"Yeah,just two- FUCK OFF!"

Bürent's arm was sliced off before she even had time to react to the noise that came from the distance. She gripped her bleeding stump, dropping her defense only to be grabbed by the neck by something that appeared to be a tail and slammed against the floor, shattering her spine in the process,blood sprayed as a fountain from her mouth with her Knight's eyes blinded by the burst of her blood.
Isabela tried to fly up only to be intercepted by some unknown black creature with her teeth flying sideways by a brutal kick to the face with the sole of a steel plated boot. She tried to fight back, only to her surprise resulting in a severed jugular vein and broken legs and ribs. Her body twitched on the ground before she lost consciousness from the severe blood loss. She faded into white light with the announcement of her defeat.

Yubelluna's eyes widened in horror, disbelief over the fact if it was really there- in that same darkness was a shapeless shadow with it's gapping mouth, full of razor sharp teeth glistening in the sky. It's body spread open to reveal hundreds of bleeding eyes staring into hers with the murderous intention of devouring every last bit of the existence,known as Yubelluna the Bomb Queen. She created barriers all around her,surrounding every direction with orbs of darkness to keep it at bay. Even light didn't repel it's advances, it only made it contort it's abominable smilw into a wide Cheshire grin by her silly attempts to drive it off.

Toying with her it was. For a moment it was just in her field of sight only to be found in a different place all of a sudden. It was so close she could sense it's breath in her ear, yet it was so far for her senses to register it. She was starting to lose her mind from paranoia, spinning in every direction in her misguided hope to escape it.

"* You like it?*"

"Stop-p... Just stopp it already. I give up.i give up. I'm sorry " in a dry scream her words sounded a bit metallic. She ran... It followed by the corner, always being right behind her back and shoving it's gapping mouth in her eyes,never to forget that sight for the rest of her long life...

[ Riser Phenex. Queen: Down]

The shivering body of hers was on the ground, with a large gap in her stomach caused from the sword of Isabela- Issei had jumped at her like a spring,grabbed the sword nearby and ran it through her abdomen with breaking her wings with a kick, sending her flying down in defeat.

The shadow was gone... There was only Issei holding the hurt Akeno in his arms with his eyes straight up in the distance - he had spotted Riser Phenex in his base with what was left of his peerage. His eyes sent him an invitation to come out and play or he would go and reach him himself.

"Fuck this prick.! Everyone, move out!"

It was what they were gunning for- Riser Phenex came out in the field, ready to fight...

XXX

"*He's out! Commence to phase C of the plan. He's right where we want him to be.*"

Rias had traveled the distance to Riser's base unnoticed under the cover Kiba and Koneko provided her with while keeping at bay 2 of the Phenex's remaining Pieces to stall for time. Issei returned to the base with Akeno in his arms and gently placed her on the couch, waiting for her to recuperate. She was still in the game but had trouble with her jumbled thoughts and needed time to rejuvenate her senses and fill up her reservoirs with magic.

He sent out Rias to go alone with Asia staying back to heal Akeno while the Knight and Rook made way for their King to meet the enemy. It was a risky plan but everything was going as predicted. It was to follow with phase D in tow but first he had to do one more thing.

He could sense the incoming presence of an unknown assailant from the general direction, right bellow the entrance. His burning scars produced a red glow under his first layer of equipment but not enough for others to see them. He smirked wide and went through the door without telling Asia where he was heading out. Rather stupid for a tactician to leave his base unattended but that wasn't the case; he had layered the whole place with multiple barriers, strong enough to withstand a full blown assault by 5 attackers and some extra seals to distort the space around for it was needed in what he was about to do.

Right in front of the entrance was the blonde sister of Riser Phenex - Ravel herself. She was like a cute, female version of the otherwise handsome riser with her dashing eyes of blue.

"You actually came admist this chaos, i didn't expect you to answer to my call. Thank you for taking such a risk, miss Phenex. " Issei leaned on the pillar of the exit as he eyed her head to toe in a scrutinizing manner of checking her for any hidden weapons, not that she needed one to fight.

"Just as promised, " she bowed down with the hem of her violet dress in her palms,"You told me you'd give every detail you knew of this culling in the Houses" she said afterwards.

12th August, Kuoh City Shopping Center,16:43 pm

Issei had returned to Kuoh to gather some materials he needed for the match, he went to the bar for a quick meet up with his allies while discussing the matters at hand and exchanging some information. And now he was at the shopping center, holding a suitcase he received from Castor.

"* She should be around here somewhere, i hope she's not late.*"

Waiting at the other side of the elevator stairs was the cute little sister of Riser Phenex - Ravel. She was a bit worried about what might he had summoned for so she took with herself Mihae and Shuriya for back up. She never had any intention of fighting against him,just the information he had was of matter to her. She had received a call a few days ago when he was back in the city for who knows what.

And she differentiated him in the crowd, she walked up slowly to him and both did their respective greetings and pleasantries.

" I don't know how you managed to pull this meeting up so let's start with it. I can't stay away from those two for so long." in a stern voice she talked to him as the look on her face was somewhat curious yet bothered.

"But first let's take a seat somewhere private" and both went to a lonely bench inside the mall on the second floor, next to the movies.

"You mean we're being targeted, every household from the ones listed as extra are potential targets? " she shook her head in a puzzled way.

"Look, trust me if you want but it's sadly the truth. " showing her his newest message from this mysterious informant of theirs, she felt a sudden chill run through her spine.

"The rumour of missing people from some of the Houses and the Sitri peerage massacre... " her eyes widened in realization, " It's not a coincidence most definitely. " her blue eyes flickered for a moment while she held his phone in her palms.

They were sitting on a bench far away from people and just to make sure,she used a illusionary barrier to prevent any leak of information.

"Why are you doing this? My brother is an enemy to you and he'd try to kill you if he found out about this meeting. Aren't we enemies so why are you trying to save us?"

"For no particular reason. I just didn't want people uninvolved in this matter to suffer. That's why " he stopped for a moment to take a breath and looked straight at her," but aren't you mad that you're being used as some collection piece for your brother's peerage? "

She sighed deeply and swung her legs back and forth as she readied herself to elaborate, " I don't even wanna fight in this stupid game of warring factions. If that stupid redhead my brother liked so much hadn't messed up things, such drastic means wouldn't have been needed to settle such a matter. And yes,i don't like it one bit but i can't escape from it. Oh the humiliation! "

"Tell me about it,she screwed us both -it kinda felt bad for your brother, she used me as a leeway and understand how he felt. " in a relaxed tone he sarcastically blurted out what he thought. Leaning back on the bench,he placed his arms on his thighs in a polite manner.

"* Why the heck am i spewing this stuff to my opponent's sister? What's this feeling of sympathy for this girl?*"

"What a damn twist of events, isn't it?"

"You could say that again, that brother of yours even made a wager with me. Can you believe it?" quizzically emphasizing with her, he mentioned something that caught her attention right away.

"What did that dumbass of a playboy gamble on?"

Taking a moment to fix his colar,he blurted out without any hesitation or intention of lying to her," Your brother agreed that if we won, he'd let Rias out of their engagement and made a bet that if he lost,he'd let us choose two of his girls to take,except his Queen. "

Ravel scowled. " That piece of shit. Making such claims, i don't want to be in his peerage anymore! I'm telling Mother about this!" her posture changed to one,filled with lingering feelings of disgust.

"I'll make you an offer - in the midst of the games, when half or more of his peerage is down,come to the Gremory base and tell me your decision. I need to find a number of people so I'd like some assistance. I offer you freedom and nothing more than that. "

Ravel took a moment to think on this offer and decided, " How can i trust you won't just use me as some leverage against him?" a good question.

"You can't. I won't tell you to trust me at all as i wouldn't but if you want to save everyone, we'll have to work together. I can't let another tragedy to happen again. " he stood up and brought his suitcase on his back,holding it with on arm with his lanky posture in full view." We should get going now,that barrier of yours is almost nearing it's end, meet me at the field on 14th August. I'll give you a sign."

"I wish you good luck against my brother, beat some sense in that head of his. I'll be sure to reach you so stay tuned. "*

" I will but first I'll have to beat your brother in this. Let's make a bit of a show to divert their attention from us otherwise they'll suspect something. "

"It seems there's no other way than this then. Come at me when you're ready, i won't hold back. "

"Perfect. Just the way it should be" a faint smile grew on his face as he charged at the younger Phenex girl.

XXX

" I didn't expect you to come here yourself, sweet Rias. You've grown so much " the flamboyant Riser slurped in a sarcastic way at her.

Before him stood up the black suit clad Rias with a lowered mask just to let him see her face as it was the last time he would have seen it. She didn't come to lose,only the thought of her winning was the driving force behind her conviction.

" Things change Riser" she paused to make it more suspenseful, " that smug face of yours will change as well. I hope you've brought enough make up to cover that pretty face of yours " she snickered sarcastically at him.

Raizer instead threw his cigarette in the air and burned it with a flicker of flames, "Sarcastic as ever. We could've enjoyed life together but you just had to screw me over due to that stupid arrogance of yours. Do you even know how it feels like to mess around with the hearts of two undeserving men just because you didn't want to marry.?" he began with his usual tone, " do you know how much shame you brought to my family? How much pain and ridicule i went through just because of your ego, you don't know that. I pity that poor fucker, now he has to fight because of you. Don't worry, I'll beat him up good as well but no hard feelings, Rias. It's what him and i agreed to settle this fair and square. I'll make an example for you."

Rias just took her stance and clenched her fists, she didn't care to speak anymore. Embarrassing him was her only intention now so she waited for him to attack first.

Riser jumped from the roof straight at her with flaming wings of fire ripping through his back, surrounding his arms with flaming claws of red matter. " I'll make you apologize for everything you've done, prepare that sweet face of yours Rias cause it's gonna hurt."

She appeared to charge her Power of Destruction as far as it looked like to everyone watching it, only to surprise their expectations of her ability.
Before he could reach her with his flames,she made a backflip with her arms infused with chaotic Destruction matter - shaped in over a hundred small tentacled coils, wrapping around her forearms and shoulders in two large blades of primal,dark matter. With them she thrust forward at Riser in the momentum of her flip,severing his arm and leg in such a precise clean cut with no blood gushing from his wounds,the only blood spilt was on her limbs were like torn from existence.

His blood was devoured and absorbed by her blades with them rearranging into sleek black scimitars. They were pulsing as if being alive in her hands,coiling,spiraling around her like a shield in every direction.

"* Try to shape your Power of Destruction into something malleable and tangible. Just empty your mind of any thoughts till it's blank and focus on what you want to make. The process of shaping your magic into a certain form is knowledge and imagination. So control your breathing rate and raise your arm- think of the thing you need it to be and what you want it to do. *

" Not bad,not bad at all. You've become quite crafty,didn't you. The sweeter for me to take." flying up in the air was Riser with fire swirling around the place of his missing limbs, bone,muscle fibers and tissue were being regrown from scratch at an alarming rate. He had made new limbs in a matter of seconds but not clothing as it was inorganic and he had to remove his jacket to fight. "But let's see who's faster - my regeneration or your Power of Destruction? "stretching out his new hand,he cracked his fingers only to smirk.

Out of her hands rose up two black orbs which subsequently split in two smaller orbs levitating behind her back in a circular manner. "You're good but you're no God. I can read you like a book,Riser. Come and get me " she winked at him in a cutesy manner. She was good enough to give him one gesture of attraction just before he was to fall before her.

This enraged the prideful Phenex to higher levels of wrath- he launched himself at her back and with a circular movement of his wing sliced off one of her scimitars, only to be welcomed by two of the orbs she had prepared.

The orbs passed through Riser, burrowing deep into his stomach before errupting from the other side of his stomach wall. They ate at his flesh like piranhas but he didn't care at all; he couldn't sense pain when he switched between his regeneration mode and combat directive. But there was a small lag between them,just enough for the crimson haired King to telekinetically call back those orbs and shape them into stakes to pierce his back and side to the wall.

"* Remember that the enemy's regeneration speed relies on the surrounding area in which he stands- namely being akin to a phoenix, he requires oxygen to utilize his regeneration as it's the one thing he needs for causing an internal combustion. To slow him down you'll have to burn the oxygen around him but that won't be easy. *"

Black orbs of chaos fired from every direction she could imagine in her gathered around the Phenex heir, merging into one big orb of energy- she burned the oxygen in this small space preventing him from using his fire based it was far from over; somehow he ripped through this prison of hers and created two blades of fire as oxygen flew in his lungs. He had to use much more energy to heal than he usually required ; it had hurt him bad enough to cause his regeneration speed to slow down a bit when repairing his skin and organs.

He was enraged beyond a doubt. Not caring about anything anymore,he resumed his stance with his blades and doubled his speed just in a blink of an he was just behind Rias with his flaming arm about to slice off her head if not only for one of the two levitating orbs that expanded in a shield but still didn't contain fully the attack of the wrathful Phenex. She fell to the ground with a large burning wound on her back.

"What's the matter, sweet Rias? Won't you call your playthings to save your ass every time when you can't beat someone? I'll wait for them,I'm a sportsman after all."Descending from the skies,he walked calmly towards Rias but deep inside he was burning with scorn for they had wrecked almost everyone from his peerage and made him look bad.

Laughing at him intently, Rias rose up on her feet and called him on," I told you that i won't marry you. And this is why". From the ground appeared large spikes of dark energy stabbing him through the chest, limbs and eye. He didn't anticipate her to attack from the ground. Never.

"It's handy,isn't it. But you can't beat me with that. " Riser had flew away from the spikes and was sitting on the roof again. "You're almost out of mana, my dear. Spare yourself the humiliation and come aside to like the nice girl you are."

But, Rias never gave in. She raised her hands above her eyes and shot a wide beam of energy at him,burning down the new school building which was his domain for this game.

"That's not nice of you, Rias. I'll win this so just forfeit this match already. You can't win as you are now. Don't make me break that pretty face of yours, i want you to be beautiful in a wedding dress after all."

Rias ignored him totally as she was almost out of magic - with just enough power for one last go,she aimed at the ground and shot. Smoke rised,debris was thrown in directions, a sudden shaking of the ground took place and from the smoke a brutal punch slammed him into the wall.

XXX

Mihae was the only one left standing on the field. In the roaring battlefield , she snuck through the fighting right before the Occult Research Club building. The enemy were preoccupied by Shuriya and Siris so it was just a perfect moment to atleast take down the weakened Queen and harmless Bishop.

Inside the room stood Asia and Akeno on the couch. She was almost up to her normal self but Asia insisted on her taking care of any individuals that passed through the perimeter. They couldn't possibly enter inside the building but it mattered if they could score a point in performance in the overall scores.

"There's someone outside. Stay here while i deal with them." Asia clenched her fist in a tight grip,her voice and mannerisms belied her conviction of not wanting to be a burden to anyone.

"Do you think you can beat them?" unassumingly Akeno struck a vital spot in her self-confidence.

"I want to fight for the people i care as well. I don't want to be a burden anymore, not being able to do anything when i could. So just this once, let me do what needs to be done" she teared up a little by finally saying what she truly felt. Not wanting to be seen as a crybaby, she wiped off her tears and went through the stairs down the exit.

"The door opened slowly with the chilling creak of it's old, rotten wooden boards. No one was there as Mihae raised up her guard and waited for an opening. She didn't dare come closer or suffer from who knows what might be lurking in there. It was night and it was barely viewable in the distance with her awaiting for the prey.

Just right above her a large spiked chain flew through the air, hitting a few millimeters before her legs was the Twilight Maiden, Asia Argento. In the air with retracting her chain, she took out a set of daggers held in between each finger and aiming at Mihae,she threw them one after another. Hitting her before she could remove the ones that struck her in her legs, Asia accelerated her running speed above human levels and with a cart wheel spin, she used her steel toe boots for a brutal set of kicks with an extended boot knife slicing Mihae's face on the cheek.

Mihae charged ahead on the way Asia was standing with the blonde sister taking out four handles from her thigh pockets and ripped off her gloves to reveal her black arms with her diamonds producing enough energy to materialize blades onto the four cross like handles, using them in the manner of Black Keys as she was moving in the air like she was walking with them being thrown, swinging in a buzzsaw manner towards her way and she took out a small pistol and shot a few bullets into her legs and chest,bringing her down to the ground.

Chains wrapped her around every inch of her body that wasn't stabbed or pierced by something. Mihae knew she was cannon fodder but the difference in skill between them to be so big way unnatural. It was beyond unnatural, like she was never a Devil but something else.

"* Berserker-1, This is Archer-6. Enemy down, i repeat all assailants are taken care of *"

"Well, what to do with this now? " twirling her hair with her fingertips,Asia sat down on the bank of the entrance, watching with boredom the enemy Mihae until she tightened the grip and she faded into white light.

"*Should i go to where Issei is or maybe i should wait. I shouldn't reveal anything about this? What do you think about this?*

"*He'll win no matter what,he's the only one who can help us in this matter. So are you up for some fun?*

XXX

" Do you honestly think that by hiding your face,it will save you from what I'm about to do? So it's a fist fight that you want, a fist fight you get" Riser Phenex stood up from the rubble he crashed in. His smile was gone, within him was a hateful expression of maddened ire.

From the smoke came Rias with her fists curled up to her chin. She took a step forward, drove back her leg and crouched a bit in with her arms guarding her chin and ready to strike. But she waited for something to happen.

No one knew what it was but the sound of the announcement of two of Riser's peerage being defeated was like a alarm clock for the suit clad Gremory to attack with a hailstorm of brutal punches and kicks.

Riser had trouble getting away from the metal gloves she wore, one of her kicks created a large crater in the ground, wide enough for someone sink in it like quicksand.
"W-What?!" Riser couldn't comprehend how she was able to fight so well with just her fists and kicks all of a sudden. "*Was she holding back earlier to drain me out of energy and finish this fight with the fist right? I like it,that's the spirit! *"

"Was it all just an act of you being unable to fight? I can sense your magic in the air. It makes me even more the hungry for your defeat, sweet Rias! Come at me with everything you've got!"

Riser Phenex jumped away in the air and slashed the air with a pressurized a slash of fire waves directed at her.

It struck her arms head on, sending her flying backwards on her knees. A stunned Riser noticed the peeled off sleeves of her suit, revealing hard scales of red that fell off and blood evaporated. Then a new formation scales covered her arms up to the elbows and her aura changed violently into something different, savage and primal. He could sense the eyes of her peering deep into his own mind despite the mask hiding them from plain sight - it was that moment when he realized it wasn't Rias at all,despite the masked fighter imitating her fighting style but hadn't used the Power of Destruction.

"You're not Rias! Show yourself! " his angry tone echoed throughout the whole area like a command ushering to the servant. He rose up a few walls of fire around him to protect himself from their crushing fists.

"Pretty good for you to notice but it's rather too late for that!" pulling away the colar and mask down, Issei revealed his identity to the world. He pushed his hands inside his colar and removed two rags that he used to imitate Rias's chest size and threw them in the air."Let's finish this once and for all,Riser Phenex. I don't take any enjoyment in fighting a fellow victim of the circumstances but we have to do it anyway. "

Before Riser could say a word, Issei crossed the distance between them and threw his punch straight at his face.
His eyes widened in horror — scales covered Issei's face with his fangs lengthening and red veins surfaced near his eyes, those eyes were no more the eyes of a human. They glistened in the night, those were the terrifying green eyes of the Ddraig Y Goch that cut deep into his soul. So wrong and so tainted they were,he couldn't look away from them as what was inside made him feel like he was being devoured, the concept of existence known as Riser Phenex was being eaten alive by the vices of the carnage inside them.

But just as he finished with his first attack something inside him snapped. His scales dissappeared momentary and his physique became that of a human again. "**You're mine. Give it to us,give me all... I told you human, I'll haunt you once again so never forget that I'll be in your most perilous nightmare one last time. I'll take what's mine...**"

He was slammed hard onto the bottom,unable to keep up his speed he fell down on the cold ground with his scrapped skin."* Why now of all times. Just why? I have one more time with this and i might be dead for sure next time. But i have to win, no matter what!*"

"Where's the fire you had just a moment ago. That petty illusion won't work on me,you meager low-class scumbag. I'll show you what happens when some shit steals my possession. " Riser came up from the rubble, dusting off his dirtied clothes and with a crack of his fingers, large tongues of red fire sprouted behind his back and clad him in a burning armor of flames. Pure crystallized flames had encased his whole being, destructive as a phoenix itself.

Suddenly the whole sky was illuminated by the scorching heat of Riser's wings. The temperature was rising off the charts, becoming unbearable to breathe. Issei was finally up on his feet only to be pinned down by the flying phoenix with his wings slicing him on the arms and back. His wounds were burnt by the touch of his flames but the suit had endured enough to protect him somewhat from the damage. His sleeves were torn, only leaving the inside layer of his undershirt with his arms showing.

And there stood Raizer Phenex. He grabbed him by the neck and threw him up in the air, jumped up high and landed a volley of slashes at him. Issei was lucky to have enough durability to survive against this magnitude of flames.

"* Remember - when your draconian nature shuts down,you'll be left with your natural reserves of magic but they aren't much. Your stronger magic is fueled by the energy of the Welsh Dragon but don't rely on it so much. If it happens, take this" Castor handed him a black suitcase with something in it, it was provided by Chesare MonBlanc himself with the key to success." There's your chance to win so use it wisely. It's only a last resort where you have no hope of survival but you still have to win."*

Riser had stopped his assault for a moment to let him stand up as he was rather bored with this. It was what he expected - nothing more than a stupid reincarnated Devil with a trick or two up his sleeves.

"Any last words before you're hunted down by my people, foolish Pawn. If you hadn't shown up I'd still be with Rias. I pity you - to die because of some girl's mistake. " he laughed at him with a maniacal glare of pure joy. He did what he wanted so he had him say one last thing.

"Yeah..." faintly whispering to himself. It wasn't heard but by the movement of his lips it was sure in the enemy King's eyes that he was ready to plead for his life.

" Promotion! "

From his lower back pocket he took out a small syringe injector with some red-blackish substance only to stab it in his neck. There was no visible reaction at first but then the King was visibly shaken by this action. He took a step back and summoned a few flaming seals to strike him down in a volley of fire.

"Onyx... Diabolica!" a horrible scream ensued from the place Issei stood. It wasn't a scream like any being could vocalize in any moment of their lives. It was far worse than anything every spectator of this Game had heard. It was just like at the beginning of the Second War of Heaven where the Welsh and Vanishing Dragons had danced around the battlefield, killing everything in sight. It's roar was something befitting of such a dragon and way beyond that. The cries, wails and screams of the dead resurfaced from within him on surface of his scaly skin, demanding what they desired the most with every language on Earth,dead or alive.

Shocked. He was shocked,terrified to death by the sheer magnitude of this dreadful roar, mixed with the voices of the dead calling to the living world. Words of unknown, abhorred meaning could be heard in every corner of the field.

The simulation of the school grounds was breaking apart by the sheer force of this 35 seconds last resort, it began to shatter like glass into fragments of a computer code being erased,destroying the whole system. There was no knowing how long it would last so every other participant left escaped this ruinous arena of war.

Riser looked again but was stabbed through the stomach by the black, long claws of Issei's own hands,stirring his intestines from the inside out. Looking back in terror, the flaming regenerator looked into those white eyes of carnage; skin was replaced by black jagged scales with a mouth of piranha like sharp teeth biting into his wings.

Screaming in pain was something unnatural when he was in his regeneration mode but by using this living flame armor he was subjective to physical sensations and irritability. Panting and swinging his arms on his head,bashing his flaming fists into his face and finally somewhat, by some dumb luck freed himself from his grip.

His wings of fire lit up when Issei jumped above him. But he wasn't giving up despite this terrifying presence of all vices and evil within this small space where hope was the last thing you would think of.
Such hope was crushed when Issei, grabbing onto his ankle and swinging him back around the other direction, his whole leg was torn off with a pond of blood following him up to the main school building.

His leg started to regenerate with a slowed down speed of recovery, barely returning his body to his previous state. He was being drained of his energy,he was getting slower and weaker. The touch of those black scales had caused internal damage with it's serrated tips and something more but he couldn't fathom what it was.

"* This is a small speck of crystalized essence of the Evil Dragon Vritra. I brought it back from a small trip to the Balkan peninsula, namely the destination of a small place called Tsaritsina, in Bulgaria. That place has a lot of phenomena, it's full of mysteries of the old world. Back to this one piece " Chesare explained the contents of the suitcase, opening it to reveal it's contents. A single syringe with black ichor of the Dragon King Vritra, mixed with some booster drugs to add a finishing touch to the mix. " This will only last for 35 seconds only so use it wisely. *"

Issei continued with what he was doing to Riser - he continued to punch and punch him deeper into the wall,breaching it with the body of the Phenex heir. Some deep primeval feeling within his soul was telling him he won't last longer than another 2 minutes at most with his regeneration slowing down more to a simple unimpressive manner of small flames.

"The effects of Black Ichor:Vritra have ceased to an a second sample to continue. " a small notification tone started coming from the left pocket of Issei's him go,jumping back a distance of 400m and the effects of the black syringe wore off,leaving Issei back to normal.

"* It's now or never! *"

Taking out another vial to his neck, he projected a few barriers and started running towards Riser in a final attack to bring him the scales he planted in his body,he gained enough mana to regain use of Onyx Diabolica for an extra 7 seconds, enough to reach him and end in midair, he took out all of his daggers and threw them at each angle ahead of him- the daggers enlarged with his magic, magic provided by the second syringe: magical booster drugs were really expensive and hard to find in pure quality. The swords flew ahead, placing his hands in the back of his suit he grabbed his two modified Desert Eagles and emptied their barrels, shooting every silver bullet with holy water in the air.

And finally slitting his wrists with a small blade, blood poured into his palms, solidifying by the command of [BloodEdge Manifestation] he finally closed in to the body of Riser and with everything he hailed at him damaging him beyond what he could take normally, halting his regeneration by the lodged pieces of silver dipped bullets and blades. There was nowhere to run, no where to hide - It was Death flying towards him, the aspect of Death given tangible form.

The air was cutting at Riser like a pressurized blade by the incoming attack of the humanoid dragon. Bloody wounds gushed the red liquid all over him, Issei took this chance by utilizing a small scale fire spell to ignite the blood of his enemy like a torch.

Riser couldn't keep up with the speed of the holy water burning his insides as much as he tried to regenerate. But they just continued to hinder him and were impossible to remove with their ends sticking in like barbs into his flesh. It was the end for him- his vision blurred with the shapes fading from his sight, the constant draining of the Vritra scales Issei had planted inside him were making a short work out of his body as the energy drain was too much for his body to replenish.

At before falling unconscious and losing this match, Riser looked up one last time with his blurring sight the moment when Issei's pure white eyes met with his own, ending his participation with two stabs of these iron rich,blood swords.

The horrible presence of sheer malice ended with the last second of the small timer he carried on his person. He raised his right hand, with his blood swords dissipating back to his open wound, in a sign of victory. Standing on his feet was the winner of this game, Issei.

"* I did it.I did it*" But just as he finished with his sign, he fell to the ground with spit, full of blood. The sheer exhaustion this ichor caused made him lose consciousness. The arena was falling apart having fallen on the ground, a thumbs up sign was spotted on his left hand, still clutching a silver cross...

[Rias Gremory 0 losses vs Riser Phenex 15 losses ]

[Winner is Rias Gremory without a single loss!]

XXX
"It's about time we made our move,isn't that right gentlemen? " sitting in the corner was Diodora Astaroth a.k.a Diodora the Explorer.

He had arrived secretly at the middle of the game through a deal with the guards at the door. He made some excuse to rebuke his absence of the span of one month and that it was nothing more than an unjustified rumour of the sorts.

"Fine by me. That Sitri bitch that took my rightful place isn't here sadly. I'm grateful for your generous help in acquiring Fafnir and Samael so consider it done." from the other side was the rightful heir of the Leviathan, Katerea Leviathan.

"It's always a pleasure to work with you, Leviathan. " in his usual manner he thanked her getting him a pass at this Rating Game between the Phenex and Gremory.

"We both hate the Gremory for obvious reasons, but is it okay for you to risk yourself in the Vali team? " fixing her glasses, she shot a look at him befitting of her regal birth.

"No need for worries, your Majesty. Everything is going as planned. That old geezer agreed to it without a doubt. " slightly bowing down,Diodora made his mischievous smirk all over again.

"Well then - she paused for a moment, " do as you like. I heard that prize you wanted was with the rest of the Gremory in the lobby hall. Make it fast, we're doing this all for your sake! "

"As you wish,lady Katerea. " and Diodora Astaroth went to ways unknown.

Meanwhile at the end of the game...

Issei was lying on the ground, having won despite the lack of his draconian nature with unusual means to do it.

The system was barely holding on a silver thread of luck, as the technicians responsible for conjuring this arena were working with everything they had to keep it from breaking down and endangering the spectators. And Issei couldn't be retrieved due to the system being incompatible with dragons for some reasons till this day. Even old man Tannin, as smaller dragons called him, was no exception to this rule when he had his own Rating Games not so long ago.

But just as some worker came to retrieve Issei before it was late, the sky brightened like day - hundreds of magicians rained from the gigantic seal that stretched over the whole area and last but not least from the Gate came Vali. She was clad in her Divine Dividing Scail Mail armor and by her side were Kuroka and Bikou.

Coming from the ground was a crucified figure with black bindings on it's limbs anf face. The seals and chains broke all of a sudden, unleashing the vengeful Samael with his wrath directed at everything it saw. It charged a gigantic spear of lightning with it's blood sprayed on it and hurled it at the audience on the other side of the arena, shattering the multi layered barrier that separated them from the carnage of the battlefield. Mass panic took ahold of the crowds with some running, others went to fight it to protect everyone but were destroyed by the large tail of the mutated angel.

Vali spotted the sitting in a VIP section Governor of the Fallen, Azazel himself and flew straight towards him.

"To think you were with the Khaos Brigade, i didn't expect you to reveal yourself so soon." Azazel didn't look like he was surprised at any means possibly. He had found about it not so long but let it slide as long as the Fallen weren't involved.

"What can i say,you know what i want", Vali's voiced sounded manly due to the echo the armor produced,making it appear she was a male. There were no female possessors of Divine Dividing recorded so it just reinforced the belief that the White Dragon Emperor was a male to the rest of the world.

"I do,but is this the only way? You know there are so many possibilities and you to bet on this one. You really want to do it no matter what,am i wrong? " Azazel gave her a response in his usual laid back tone, his eyes squinted when he smiled with his charming smile."Let's talk about this when we get home,Vali."

"Fine by me," her metallic voice spread across the room, magnified by the armor of the Vanishing Dragon,Albion," but I'll be taking the host of Ddraig from this place,don't stop me."

"He's not in a condition to fight right now. Something happened and he can't use his Boosted Gear. He's unconscious. "

Vali spotted the lying on the floor Issei, just close to the berserk Samael. No one could retrieve him due to the rampaging Angel's advances on the arena. In all of that fighting there was a small gap for her to grab him. She gave a look, meaning "Is that him" only to receive a positive response.

"I'll go get him, when he's in a good condition I'll have my rivalry resolved. And he won't be able to refuse. " she flew among the Devils fighting the renegade Angel,knocked down a few dozen of them to get through and even slammed Samael in a wall. In her hands she finally had the Red Dragon Emperor all to herself. She flew up high,above the massacre where nothing could reach her.

"* So this is the Red Dragon Emperor. He's not bad at all, with those defined muscles and everything. He's kinda cute in person too?! What the hell,why am i thinking of this again?! I don't have time for this now,Albion,i hope you're not listening to this!*"

Taking Issei far away from the arena, she dropped him out of the artificial dimensional arena on a nearby chair and started examining him from head to toe. Defined,hardened muscles from all of the hard work, a strong build with broad shoulders and such. He looked kinda cute in her eyes while he was asleep but she didn't miss the blood on his undershirt and remnats of the suit.

"*What the hell happened with you? *"

"I'd rather have you leave him as he is,young miss Vali. " from nowhere suddenly appeared the doctor, Chesare MonBlanc himself in a black suit and his tone seemed relaxed but something gave him out. Under that casual smile was a horrifying pressure of intimidation.

Vali felt the urge to fight him but something told her it would end badly, nonetheless she wanted to try her chances with him. That desire hadn't left her ever since their first meeting at the bar, she was much more spirited than before.

"How did you know it was me?"

"I could never mistake that vicious smile of yours behind that mask.I'd kindly ask you to hand him over,i promise you'll have your fight but not now. He's not in a condition to do so and I'm really pissed off by that Phenex dude. So just hand him over please. "

Rather hesitantly she gave him the unconscious boy to her chagrin but she had enough honor to keep her word. She wasn't devoid of common sense as much as she was notorious for, judging by the words of those who had survived against her took his body in his arms and mentioned something, "By the way", he started casually with a half mouthed smirk," can you do me a small favor? You see,this nice fellow right here wanted to see you but since he's unconscious", he handed her Issei's phone, " give him a picture. " he smirked teasingly, it made her feel weird but she still did as requested.

Removing her white armor, she had her black low v-neck shirt,black capri jeans and a small black bolero over her shoulders. She wasn't picky when it came to clothing and preferred comfortable clothes than fashionable but still looked cute. She took the phone and made a few pictures and handed it back to him.

"Next time he's mine. Just so you know that. "

"Sure, sure. We'll meet again." he waved at her and passed through a portal in the space, leaving the young girl alone.

XXX

"Hello, young miss. Congratulations on winning the Rating Games. Have these flowers as an act of appreciation. " Diodora Astaroth handed a bouquet of Carnations with a smile on his face.

Asia was standing in the lobby hall while waiting for Koneko and Rias to get back. They saw that someone took Issei and panicked while searching for him under rock and stone. She took the bouquet gracefully and thanked the charming devil with a bow.

"How are you doing, mr...mr." she couldn't finish her sentence as she didn't knew his name. She recognized the young man as the Devil that she saved before being excommunicated from the Church and went to exile.

"Diodora, Diodora Astaroth. " he said short. " It's disheartening to hear about your uncomfortable predicament with the Church higher ups . You risked your life to save that of a Devil. I am forever indebted to you. " humbly bowing down to her, he offered her a sincere apology.

"Saving someone is the right thing to do, no matter if you're a human,Devil or anything else. Life is precious no matter what."

"Let's run away from here. It's dangerous. " he grabbed her hands and pulled her closer to himself.

"I'll have to wait for President Rias and Koneko-san, i can't leave them behind." Asia protested with her innocent voice.

"I saw her at the exit,let's go before this place goes to Hell. Or we'll be buried under the rubble. " he raised his voice a bit to try to persuade her into seeing the situation at pulled her in and started running towards the exit with her in tow.

Asia resisted with with everything she had,placed all of her strength into running with every single bit of energy she had left. Diodora made chase after her in his attempt to catch her and run away only to be surprised by the sudden appearance of a giant, robed man with a large metal rod. A quick battle ensued with the collector Devil being driven off to the shadows,in the process Asia was saved from her kidnapper by this mysterious figure. She turned backwards only to see his silhouette dissappear into the vast hallways of the lobby with only a single Evil Piece left behind. Asia snatched it from the ground and judging by it's signature deduced it was a black Bishop piece.

"* This is going good. But who was that robed man that saved me? If it hadn't been for him,i could've been spotted. Diodora Astaroth, the devil that collects holy maidens,now i know how you look like. Till we meet again, explorer. *"

"Asia! Why did you ran away. You've got me worried you were still there." coming from the back was Rias with Koneko in tow,her very posture showed signs of worry as her brows creased upwards.

"I was attacked by a scary man and ran away. A large, robed man with a stick saved me. "

"Never mind that. Issei was kidnapped, we have to go."

"Ok. President. Let's find him." and she went behind Rias with her hand clutching on the black Bishop piece behind her back.

XXX

15th August, 7th Daze bar,7:35 am, Friday morning.

"Wake up sleepy head. It's already past 7 in the morning. " a bright smile woke him up.

Through sleepy eyes, Issei tried to see what was around him and where he was standing currently. He didn't remember anything else after fainting and spitting blood on the arena.

" He's waking up,come on over" a female voice ran through his ears,it was sweet and gentle with a accent of sorts. Something he knew.

Finally regaining consciousness, Issei stood up and looked around himself only to realize he was at the room behind the bar plate where some of his fellow acquaintances spent a night when they had to find a place to crash. Only that they had to wait for the specific day of the opening to get out. It was a space out of the laws of reality, a pocket dimension of sorts for a reason.

"How did i get here?" he yawned as he stretched his limbs. He felt sore all over his body,this burning sensation of his muscles tearing apart and being knit anew was vaguely familiar to him.

"The doctor brought you back after what happened at that match you had against some burning chicken dude." with her ever so cute voice, It was only Hilda Shaun there by his side for that single moment.

"What exactly happened after i passed out? " with an eager look he posed his question towards her. He looked weary and his hair was a bit messed up but seemed to healthy as a newborn.

"After you fainted,a rogue Angel of the sort trashed around the artificial arena but was defeated by some of the Devils there. The rest is just that MonBlanc brought you back here to check out your condition. To use the black ichor without a second thought, rather spontaneous of you, isn't it" Hilda said as she came closer to the purple bed, "I knew you could beat them,no matter the odds. " she exclaimed in praise.

"Are you drunk again? "

"N-no. Maybe just a little. " she brought her palm to her face in a manner of saying " not at all,i don't drink wine".

"* Like hell you are, you reek of booze in every direction. How the hell your manager even deals with it,he must be some superhuman being beyond the scope of reason and logic. *"

Hilda took a chair from the nearby desk only to sit down and lean back to support herself, she had stayed up the whole night to watch over him by the request of Arthur."It's not like i could stay up all night and kill off the boredom, you know?" she gave a faint smile only to point her finger at the door."There's this girl that came over to see you, she looked like she was a marble statue with that face of hers. Arthur called her right away as soon as you were here. She ended up spending the whole night at your bed and fell asleep after a while. "

Finally on his feet, he went to put on some pants but before that gave Hilda a weird look- "* I feel weird with this girl around when I'm changing. Just how tactless could she get I've wondered. *"

"Well then," he began getting dressed in a pair of clothes that were placed on the desk neatly, " I'll be going - i need to finish some stuff."

"Like what?"

"Sealing the deal." he placed over a blue t-shirt on his upper body,with the sleeves of his undershirt sticking out from the edges of the blue cloth.

"Issei... Is that you? " a sleepy Sona just aroused from her deep slumber and the first thing she did was get her glasses on and fix her hair. She hated looking like a total mess in the morning. There was no spite in her voice, unlike a while ago when they were still nothing more than unlikely allies with a common goal. But still it felt like her usual cold tone.

"Yeah,it's me all right. Like someone could mistake this ugly face of mine with someone else's. " in his sarcastic streak he relayed the truth he had grown used to. He wasn't ugly in reality but his eyes made him look like he was constantly in anger or in sadness and had that special feel of disgusting in them.

"Could i ask for a moment of privacy, please. I need to speak with him for a second. " politely asking the blonde girl,Sona stood up and fixed her glasses.

"No problem. Take your time; I'll go grab some coffee. Yo,Issei want one? I'll get one for you as well. " Hilda went through the door straight to the bar plate to fix a bit of the dear "morning cheer" Issei indulged himself didn't ask them as she knew the answer already.

The atmosphere in this small room without windows was weird. Stale and dull was an accurate description of what could be felt in the air.

"You damn idiot, you made me so worried about you! When i saw you fainted after that battle with Riser, i snuck out of home and straight to you. Do you know how worried i was - what if someone recognized your true identity? "

He looked down to his feet, the feeling of someone being worried about him was alien to his thinking process. He could apologize when it was needed, he didn't have any pride nor self-esteem so it wasn't a problem. But something in him made him feel guilty, preventing him from vocalizing even a single syllable.

It was then that Sona threw herself at him,placing her head on his chest in a intimate way and she started pounding on him lightly. "What would i even do if i lost you as well? You're always putting yourself at the prospect of pain before others and get hurt. Do you know how i feel about it when i see you do that? We're a team, you and me. Don't you forget it." Sona muttered under her breath,gripping tightly his sleeves.

Issei nodded,"Sorry for making you worry. Can we stay like this for a bit." he forgot all manner of his hesitation for skin contact.

"Didn't you hate it when people are too close to you? "

"I do. It's just as you said but if it's you, then i don't mind it." his eyes remained static but she knew he was just like that- even in this moment he swallowed his fear of emotional contact just to make her feel better.

"I'm glad," she spoke up without caring about the rest. He was okay - it was just the evolving relationship they had now. From strangers to close friends in a perilous situation with the stakes high, with everything that transpired it only made them realize each other's worth to the later. Now she truly felt him as a friend despite the monster he was.

"I found something more to what we know. The man in the picture is a missing Paladin and the girl his daughter. They seem to know me from somewhere and i had a new message from X" and he elaborated everything when they went to the bar counter to drink some coffee.

"If you ask about Rias which I'm sure you won't, she's waiting for you at the Occult Research Club room with the rest. I told her i sent out a friend of mine to save you and that you were with me." she had to blatantly, outright lie to Rias to get her off her back. She didn't know the full details but got the gist of it from the benevolent barman.

"Thanks for covering me in front of her. I'll repay you somehow."

"No worries, we're friends after all." it was beyond weird, Sona had smiled in a heartwarming, gentle way like never before. And she didn't flinch on top of it. The world must be close to the Apocalypse if it could happen for the Ice Queen Sitri to smile like that.

"We have to go, it's about time probably ." he took his phone to check the time and to his surprise, when he unlocked it- it was the picture of a mysterious silver haired beaty with ice blue eyes with the shade of the ocean.

"* What the hell is it?! Someone tinkered with my phone! But who is this mysterious beauty as of speaking of weird.?*" his eyes widened in surprise when he switched to the right, only for a few more pictures of her to show up. He felt emotionally eleveated by this sheer matter of luck. He even managed to size her chest size just by looking at the photo,he was in a good mood all of a sudden by this situation. Pleased he was.

"Issei, a note for you " Hilda handed him a small envelope directed towards him. Opening it, he read it in anticipation of something bad.

["*This is the White Dragon Emperor, her name is Vali. Ain't she cute? And she saved your ass back then, so fight her sometime cause that's what she wants. *"]

"What's in the note?" Sona readjusted her glasses as she took a sip of her coffee.

"Just some note to go and buy stuff. Nothing else. " he said under his nose. He would be embarrassed if he told her what it had in store. So he kept shut and made it look like it was something normal. And normal was something abnormal in their lives how much they desired it so.

"Well if it's that," Sona finished her coffee and placed the porcelain cup on the plate. Fixing herself, she slowly descended to the floor from her chair, " are you ready? We've got to go to school, i can't fake another day so easily."

"Yeah. Just give me a sec to get my pills." Hilda handed him a red bottle of his usual pills,prepared in advance by the doctor. He knew that he didn't take extra with him so it was such he was prepared for this.

"Hey,Issei.. Good luck. " Hilda gave him a warm smile as a farewell sign.

"Um,thanks for the coffee. I'll see you around. "

"* Why does it always make me feel weird around her? Probably because of my like for Prinz Eugen,she's the real life basis for her. Atleast she's not drunk again. *"

"By the way" Issei started, "how are we to get to school? I can't use my wings for another day and it's a bit far away. We'll be late..."

"Oh,I've got you covered. Catch! " Hilda threw him a black motorcycle helmet and the keys," Arthur brought your Honda just in case this happens. And here's your license, he faked it at the police so there's no problem in using it."

"Where am i to go without him?! Thanks Hilda. "

"Just get going already, i have a gig to play at tonight. And some time, come see me play."

"Sure.I will. " and both Sona and Issei went to a open compartment in the room,went out of the bar and hit the pedal to the metal.

XXX

15 minutes passed since they left the bar. Parking on a nearby parking lot and waiting for Sona to go first not to cause her trouble, he entered the school grounds a few minutes after her.

Occult Research Club room, Friday morning, 08:03 am

Sona waited for him before the door,calmly preparing herself for all of the questions that might fly at her way in this crossed fire,also known as an interrogation of sorts.

"Are we going to do this?"

"Just let's get this over with. I wanna go home and read stuff." a small bored sigh came out of Issei's mouth.

And the other side was waiting a surprise party for them. Lots of food and drinks were placed onto the table- Asia had cooked everything with Akeno the night before after they escaped the arena unscathed. Koneko helped with eating a bit of the sweets while Kiba sucked at cooking and always had take out.

"Surprise! " Asia yelled in excitement at them. She was rather in a eleveated mood as she went to the stunned duo of Sona and Issei. Trying to lure them in with delicious food was a good strategy.

Rias was standing by the window, leaning over the wooden bank of the frames. She didn't look like she was totally fine but still tried to look her brightest for this occasion. She stood up and looked at each of her Pieces by the table, then towards the newcomers in a warm welcome. "Congratulations everyone! We did it without failure so eat up and drink for a well done job. " in her usual manner of speaking with a bit of pride mixed in her speech.

"And thank you Sona, despite your state you, if it weren't for you to save him. I wouldn't have known what to do but please remember he is mine." in her own harmless smile, she directed a threat to her and like a mother owl was ready to fight for him even if he couldn't bring himself to like her.

"*I ain't your property to claim, still not going to let that go, huh? *"

"I'm not some property of yours to say it that way. Just don't take it out on Student Council President Sitri. It's me you want. " Issei retorted back to her weird expression. He didn't do it for Sona,he just felt like it.

Sona gave her a dead stare like that of a dead man. Rias had the knack of competing with Sona since they were little and even if she wasn't here,she would've done it regardless to show off.

"Never mind that. We've won! We were declared as the official winners of this Rating Games. So my engagement to Riser Phenex is adjourned and I'm free from the betrothal. And i must admit, we wouldn't have done it without you." Rias smiled back at him, everyone else looked relieved.

"As the winner of this wager, signed and agreed upon with your life on the line, your part of this bet is valid ; as the winner of this duel you have a right to choose two Pieces of the Phenex peerage by contract, aside from Yubelluna, the Bomb Queen. " Grayfia came out of the corner.

She had helped them with the cooking and secretly she was happy with the results of this match. Rias's words had struck a chord in her heart those two weeks ago, reminding her of her own betrothal,until Sirzechs Gremory saved her and took her as his Queen. Pride. She felt proud over her resolve and stubborn desire for freedom, she had matured. Grayfia smiled and waved at Issei to decide by showing him the holographic images of the girls.

Issei folded his hands behind his back and made a large grimace when he looked through them. Rias gave him a puzzled look but her gaze was locked steadily at his hands and gestures.

"* Which one to choose? Which one? Why is it so hard to do it. Hmm, this one looks good - no wait! I got it. I'll take this girl Xuelan,she's a good sparring partner,a good defensive player and she's hot. That's the one! Ravel Phenex, she's willing to go with no problem posed at all. *"

Grayfia patiently waited for his decision, all of the Phenex peerage was waiting in some nearby place,the old faculty room with the understandable lack of Yubelluna. Riser couldn't get to hear the decision himself as he was traumatized and in a bad condition to be present.

"Well, what is your choice, Issei Hyoudou? What have you decided upon this deal? "

"For my first choice I'll take the black haired Rook named Xuelan. " he started with touching the hologram of Xuelan."And for the second one I'll take Ravel Phenex, we have a deal with her so she's the second one."

"So this is your choice. I'll inform the Phenex family of this matter. "
With nothing else to say, she summoned two large circles from which emerged the sour Xuelan and the blonde Ravel Phenex. One of them looked confused while the other stepped up towards Issei.

"The deal is sealed. You didn't have to trash my brother so much but nonetheless, congratulations. " she gave him a cutesy wink and something in her tone was cryptic.

"What's going on? Why am i here.? Or wait- Xuelan paused in realization, " that damn handsome idiot made a far fetched bet, didn't he?"

"That is correct. You were chosen by the winner of this bet and as the deal goes- you'll be transferred together with miss Phenex under Hyoudou's care. The deal is a deal." Grayfia explained everything in detail.

"Well, since everyone is here", Rias took the initiative to mend the bad atmosphere, "let's celebrate. Issei this party is for you. "

Issei grabbed the doorknob in pursuit of something that they couldn't understand. "I don't celebrate. You didn't have to go through all of this. Have fun." and he left to their shock.

XXX