Chapter 8
Mordred had started walking in a direction, they each had picked one when they left the room. She wasn't wearing her armour, just the revealing red outfit that she used when she wasn't expecting a fight that would require her full abilities. She could always put on her armour, but she doubted that there would be a need for it.
"These halls remind me much of the castle" she stated as she walked, looking at the grandly designed corridors. She reached the bottom of some stairs after a few minutes and started to descend, when suddenly she blocked an attack. A strike from a blade which had been targeted at her neck.
She looked at the blade and noted that it was covered in flames, the wielder dressed in a full set of silver armour that had black accents. There was another weapon at her side, but they had elected not to use it. A decision that she would regret.
Mordred countered more quickly than the girl could track and cut deep into her side. "My name is Mordred Pendragon! The true heir to the Pendragon name! Now who are you?!" she said in her typically loud voice and with the usual air of arrogance.
"Y-You're strong" the knight gripped her side. Another arrived. One was below her, the one she had cut, but the other was also clearly a knight, she wielded a Zweihänder. "My name is Karlamine, one of the two knights in service to Lord Riser."
"Lord? Hah! He is no Lord" she laughed, red energy ran through her blade quickly and covered it almost like fire, with small amounts of electricity crackling around it. Mordred gained a cruel looking smile that showed her arrogance before she looked at the other. "And you?"
"Siris, the second knight of Lord Riser." She and the other knight had scowls from the moment Mordred had insulted Riser, but it didn't matter to her. Siris lunged forward, swinging the large blade, Mordred shifted just enough to avoid the attack with minimal effort.
While she attacked Karlamine also made her move, she increased the aura of flame that surrounded her blade and swung with the hopes of catching Mordred with the flames, Mordred parried the attack.
Kicking Karlamine she forced her to drop her sword as she was slammed into the wall from the force, she then twisted on the spot and sliced straight through the Zweihänder, shocking and horrifying Siris.
Seconds later she cut them both enough that they disappeared in a blue light.
"Both of Lord Riser's Knights have been eliminated" Grayfia announced, her monotone voice as clear as ever.
xXxXxXx
Achilles had made his way to the roof, perching on it gave him a good view of the grounds. They were extensive, but the endless number of torches were a bit excessive, even if the owners of the land were Phenex's. Catching the sound of footsteps through the windows that he had opened under the ledge of the roof.
Swinging over the edge and through the window he slid, there were two figures there that both reacted to him before he even stopped.
One, whom was wearing half a mask, kicked him, barely shifting his position. He smiled when he felt the power of the kick. In that instant he could tell how strong she was. "Too bad you aren't stronger, I was hoping to have at least some form of challenge." Taunted.
The two figures, who assumed to be the rooks of Riser started their attacks, blending together nice combos of kicks and punches with the intent to knock him out of the running. He slowly moved backwards, deflecting the attacks with his hands, allowing his spear to fade away.
"We're not going to lose to you" the Chinese one said.
He smiled before jumping backward. They rushed at him, not wanting to give him any breathing room. He equalled the punch of the mask one, breaking her fist and knocking her back, taking the hit from the other.
"You were both strong, but my orders were to take as many of you out as I can." As soon as he was talking there was a massive explosion that rocked everything. 'Tiamat I'm guessing' he smiled at the mass of power that was some distance from them, only visible thanks to a nearby window that he could peer through via the open door.
"What is that?" the masked one asked.
"Not sure, we need to get back to master." The other said.
"Not happening" Achilles knocked them both out with two quick actions, one a kick, that sent the masked one through a wall while he grabbed the other by the throat and knocked her unconscious by slamming her against the ground.
"Lord Riser's Rooks have been eliminated"
xXxXxXx
Tiamat had found the Pawns, they had been split into smaller teams and weren't moving as a unit, but, she had forced most of them into one large room. It was a ballroom, the perfectly cleaned floor that seemed to sparkle when it was touched by light. There was a large chandelier that was suspended above the dance floor, there were several rounded tables that bordered the wooden floor.
The pawns were all gathered in the centre of the room. The two cat sisters were the closest to the doorway, so when Tiamat entered, still in her human form, they were the first that she attacked. Although, they a narrowly avoided the attack thanks to their cat instincts, unfortunately, the force of the attack generated a wave of air that knocked them off balance.
"What are you?" A pawn dressed as a main said as she kicked at Tiamat, the female dragon rocked backward and blasted her with a magical attack. To Tiamat it was barely any magic, but to them it was enough to defeat the maid pawn.
"One of Lord Riser's pawns has been eliminated" Grayfia announced as the pawn disappeared in blue light.
There was another maid with lighter brown hair who attacked her next, her punches felt like nothing, so Tiamat allowed her to hit her, standing in place as the pawn tried to deal out damage. "You'll pay for hurting Burent!" the pawn said.
The two cats tossed two spheres of magic at her, Tiamat took those hits as well and received no damage.
"You'll have to do better than that to hurt me." Tiamat said as she grabbed one of the cat girls and threw her into a pawn that looked like she was dressed to be a belly dancer, while tossing a sphere of her own magic at one that was using a staff.
"One of Lord Riser's Pawns have been eliminated" was announced as the one with the staff disappeared.
Dealing with the others was easy, she didn't move from the spot she had chosen and waited for the pawns to make the first moves, each time waiting for them to attack and returning with brute force that knocked them out of the running.
"Four of Lord Riser's pawns of been eliminated." Again, the voice of Grayfia announced the defeated of more of Riser's pieces. Leaving the two bishops and two pawns, along with Riser and his queen.
xXxXxXx
Draco smiled when he heard all of the announcements, he knew that they would win but he was surprised at how fast they had tracked most of them down. And now it was his turn to join the fight, as well as Valerie's. "There should be two Pawns left, can you deal with them?" Draco asked.
"I can try" she said with determination.
He gave a smile in reply and they both left together, they walked together as he created a communication circle beside his ear. "Achilles, return to protect the base, I'm going to find the chicken boy." Then the circle disappeared.
"Good luck" he affectionately kissed her on the cheek before leaving her, he had spotted something that she hadn't, the two twins, both pawns, and both wielding chainsaws. When Valerie spotted them she took a deep breath.
Valerie cast a fire spell, which sent a fireball at the twins, they easily dodged the attack. Valerie watched as they dodged and started to charge her head on despite the distance. Both of them laughing and talking about the different ways that they were going to cut her.
She wanted to panic, but there was no point, magic wasn't her only power after all, she was much stronger than they were in every aspect, as long as she didn't slip up or underestimate them too much then she would be fine.
Being with some of the most powerful beings to ever exist she had forgotten how naturally strong she was. When they were close enough she kicked one back and ducked under the blade of the other.
Spreading her hand, she cast a small fire spell which followed the one she had kicked, the gesture to cast the spell was small, flexing her fingers. The spell hit its target and there was a scream as the fire spread across the body of the small pawn. I won't let him down. She thought as she spun to guard herself from the other.
"One of Lord Riser's Pawns has been eliminated" the voice of Grayfia announced once again as the pawn that was covered in flames faded as blue light sparkled in their place.
"AH!" a scream came as Valerie punched, with a hand coated in flame, the other and last pawn at full strength, knocking them into the wall, causing a thundering sound to fill the corridor as cracks appeared behind them.
"The last of Lord Riser's Pawns has been eliminated" and with that her fight was done. As the adrenaline faded she noticed that there were several shallow cuts on her arms and one larger one near to the top of her arm. She was hit by the pain of them at once and sat for a few seconds, waiting for them to heal.
xXxXxXx
There were only the Bishops, the King and the Queen left to go, and they were all together. They had been given the garden as a base, that was neatly kept to perfection. In the centre was a table that was on a marble platform with a canopy above it. Riser and the younger looking bishop were sitting, drinking tea, his queen behind him and the other bishop standing on the steps of the platform to keep an eye out for any possible attackers.
Despite the destruction that had just occurred they seemed at peace, that was until they heard the announcements. That had changed things.
Riser had assumed that he would win without contest the same as if he were to face Rias and her peerage. But his peerage was dropping like flies and there was nothing he could do about it, at least not without putting some effort in and there was only one of the enemy that he wanted to fight. Draco Valefor.
Luckily, he didn't have to wait too long. Seconds after his last two pawns were defeated they were aware of a new presence in the garden. They turned to see the enemy walking toward them at a calm pace.
"Mihae, deal with him" Riser ordered. The bishop obeyed and walked to block his path. She raised both hands and on either a magic circle appeared that was just bigger than her hands. From them came low level spells, testing to see what Draco would do.
"You'll have to do better than that" Draco said with a monotone voice as he walked through the spells. What she didn't see was the shadows that matched the attacks. "As far as I understand bishops are supposed to be talented with magic, you should have stronger spells than that."
She did as he said and used every spell she could think of. But bending shadow around one arm he used it to block everything. It was like he had armour, but for one arm only. "That's better, it's clear that you have some potential, but you haven't had much strict guidance, maybe if you had you'd have worked to slow me down even a little" he summoned a ball of shadow from his other hand and formed several strands that were like strings with pointed ends.
Before she could say anything else the strands fired at her, wrapping around her figure and pulling her down. The pointed ends dove under the ground and she was unable to move.
As he walked past he stabbed her with a blade that he generated from the shadowed arm. He didn't aim for anything vital, her stomach, so that enough damage was done to remove her from the Rating Game.
"One of Lord Riser's Bishops has been eliminated" the very familiar voice of Grayfia announced, he could have sworn that he heard some emotion in her voice that time, not much, not enough to notice, but he thought so.
"You ever notice how sexy her voice is?" Draco commented as he continued to walk toward the others. They were a little surprised by his comment toward the ultimate queen. In fact, the audience listening had very much a similar reaction.
"Now, who wants to be next?" Draco held out his arms and shadow began to flow from both of them.
"So, that's the power of the Valefor bloodline?" Riser commented.
"Yep, just like an evil dragon we can command the shadows. So, why don't we test who is stronger. You. The failure of a Phenex, or me, the last surviving Valefor" Riser brought out his wings, but he wasn't the one to respond to Draco.
Instead his queen, Yubelluna activated her magic and a sudden explosion engulfed Draco.
"All talk" she commented.
"Guess again" he emerged unscathed from her explosion, with a smile on his face that showed the lack of damage he had taken. "Now, my turn? Or do you want to try another pointless explosion?" he taunted.
She took the bait and cast spell after spell after spell, each one stronger than the last, but each one he simply walked through. "Like the Bishop girl you have in your ranks, you have potential to be very strong, unfortunately you have an incompetent king."
"Don't talk about him that way!" she yelled as she charged another spell, before she could trigger it though he suddenly appeared in front of her, demonstrating a small portion of his speed. Grabbing her wrist, he pulled her over to him, cupping her face with his other hand.
"He doesn't deserve you." He moved his face closer to hers eliciting a blush from her, only slightly, but visibly, which infuriated Riser. "It's a shame you're my enemy, maybe we can change that, but not right now" he separated from her. They both prepared an attack, but Draco was much faster and eliminated her.
"Lord Riser's Queen has been eliminated."
"And then there were two" Draco commented as he looked to the two-remaining peerage members but looking them up and down he realised that one wasn't getting ready to fight at all. "What's your deal?" he asked the girl.
"Hmph" she scoffed.
"Fine, don't tell me. But I'm sure I can guess from the similarities in your appearance, although she is a lot cuter than you" he teased. "Now" he narrowed his gaze on Riser. "If she isn't going to fight then that leaves me and you chicken boy."
"You dare insult the great house of Phenex!"
"I don't give a fuck what house you're a part of. You could be the last surviving member of the Lucifer family and I'd still kick your ass across this garden" he threatened.
Both revealed their wings and shot into the sky as they clashed, it was much slower than when he fought Tiamat and he needed a lot less power. He wrapped shadow around his wings to protect them and make them looked cooler, before coating his arms.
The shadow that was on his arms gave them protection from the flames and meant that his attacks were stronger too.
The only reason Riser was still standing after the first few seconds of rapid punching was that he was able to heal thanks to his Phenex genetics. It was annoying, but Lucifer already knew the way around that. After all, the body was the only thing that was immortal. His mind was far from it and as long as he kept laying down a beatdown then he would eventually snap.
That was all he needed to do, but the punches weren't causing enough pain. So instead, he shifted the shadow on one arm and turned it into a long chain with a spiked end and the chains links were all slightly spiked to cause damage.
When Riser saw them it was too late, the chain wrapped around one leg and with a quick motion the chain ripped off and with it the skin and muscle was torn with it. Riser let out a blood curling cry as he was flooded with pain. "ARGH!"
"No rest for the douche bag" Draco swung the chain and it wrapped around Riser's middle. His leg still healing when it was torn from him this time it hurt even more, he dropped from the sky, unable to hold himself in the air.
Changing the chain to a sword, one with a large blade he dove down after Riser, crisscrossing in the air he sliced Riser several times.
"Some Devil you are. Whining over and over about your clan and in the end the only reason you're a high class is because you were born in a family, you never worked to improve your strength and just tried to sail through with the power you've had from birth." Draco lifted Riser by his hair. "Your older brothers work hard to improve their strengths, be worthy of the name, you, you're just a sorry excuse for a Devil, barely worthy to be a low-class." He then stabbed him with the sword and pinned him to the floor with it.
"Hell" he looked back to the stunned blonde girl. "Your sister is probably stronger than you." He allowed the sword to dissipate and watched as the wounds on the Devil began to close with flames sealing them shut. I so wish that I could use my Power of Destruction to kill this guy, but one, I would be disqualified, and two, it would cause a massive uproar in the Devil community to have the original Lucifer, Satan, the Devil, back in the picture. He thought as looked at the arrogant child writhing in agony.
He failed to notice as he looked down on the pathetic excuse for a Devil beneath him that the blonde female Phenex was blushing slightly as she looked at the older Devil who had dominated her brother.
Peerage:
Queen – Tiamat.
Bishop x2 – Unclaimed, Unclaimed.
Rook x2 – Unclaimed, Unclaimed.
Knight x2 – Achilles, Mordred.
Pawn x8 – Valerie, Unclaimed x7.
Harem: Valerie.
Possible Harem: Mordred, Grayfia, Akeno, Tsubaki, Sona, Ravel, Tiamat, Yubelluna, Morgana Le Fay, Vali Lucifer (Fem).
