Ellos!
I'm not going to say much this time. You all could have already tell; this will be Riser's annoying appearance.
Special thank yous for Tapperday, DatGuitarGirl, Currahee506, and of course, Billy The Kid for the awesome reviews. Keep er' goin'!
Enjoy!
Rias narrowed her eyes at the blond with disgust. Just by her reaction and his words, Seifer knew this man is her mentioned future husband. At least for now.
"Now then, Rias. Let's go and take a look at the ceremony hall. The date of the ceremony is decided so we need to check it before then." The blond said sweetly without regarding Rias' unwelcoming attitude. Approaching Rias, he then grabbed her wrist.
"Let go of me Riser." With a hostile tone, clearly, Rias wasn't as keen as him. The Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess then tried to free herself as she kept yanking her hand.
[Told you I'm right. He's an asshole.]
'Shut up asshat.'
{Hehehe... azzhat.} Ddraig chortled.
'Shut up Oppai Dragon.'
Ddraig went silent as Azrael laughed joyously, then proceeded to cut off the link without bothering Seifer anymore. The young man barely held his need to laugh.
"So you're Riser Phenex eh?" Seifer decided to butt in the unpleasant conversation, stepping closer towards the struggling Rias in an even pace. "Now I see why she really didn't want to marry you."
Now losing his charming expression, Riser sharply adjusted his sight to the other young man. "And who the hell do you think you are?!" With great annoyance, Riser asked that towards the nonchalant Seifer.
Seifer simply shrugged. "Oh I'm just that guy." He continued with a taunting smirk, easily caused the hot head to do whatever a hot headed person does. Riser started to conjure his trademark orange sparks fiercely. "I'm surprised you didn't know me. You're the owner of that, Phoenix bird yes? Shouldn't you recognize all of us?"
Riser lost his cool. Or hot flames. Or whatever, as now he was dumbfounded. He didn't expected this at all.
"Is that true Riser? Have you been spying on me?!" Rias' turn to ask. Her voice carried hostility and anger. "What's the meaning of this?!"
After several pathetic excuses and loud yellings, everyone returned to their seats. Rias, unwillingly seated beside the blonde, who constantly tried to put his hands on Rias. As for Rias herself, she kept shaking his hands off. Rise however, stubbornly kept laying touches on her hair, hands, shoulders, even her thighs. Seifer did nothing, retaining his cool head as he knew his King is ale to contain herself as well. He was sitting on his couch. Meanwhile, Asuka and Asia went to sit on the other sofa with Koneko, listening to the conversation silently.
"This tea is superb." Riser said after taking a sip of a cup of tea made by Akeno.
"Thank you."
Oh, that's cold.
Seifer thought with small smirk as he watched Akeno sat herself on his side.
Then they all held a talk. A long kind of talk which was boring for Seifer. So he closed both of his eyelids, hung his head down, and sleep. Even though he had just woke up. This young man is really is something. His unfitting manner only troubled Riser and Grayfia; the others knew this already.
Sadly, Seifer was woken up by Rias' sudden outburst.
"Stop it Riser!" Seifer saw Rias stood up from her seat. "I've said it before and I will say it again! I will not marry you!" With a sharp glare and her hands folded in front of- ahem, under her chest. Riser on the other hand, was smirking.
Seifer blinked a few times and shook his head lightly to keep himself awake.
"That won't do Rias. Your household surprisingly pressing about these circumstances-" Next he said is too uninteresting for Seifer as the young man dozed off. Again. "Your parents and Sirzechs-Maou-Sama as well, fear that your household will go extinct. And the number of the extinct household isn't low either. We lost a great number of Pure-Blooded Devils in the last war. Isn't it natural for the Pure-Blooded Devils to struggle to protect the household?"
Riser continued further after he took an elegant sip of the tea.
"My house is safe since I have two other brothers. As for you Rias, your brother has left the household. Now the only one who can succeed the Gremory household is only you."
"...zzz..."
Once again, Seifer was brought back to life by Rias.
"I will not crush my household. I plan on getting a son-in-law for my house." Rias said, stealing a quick peek at Seifer. Too bad for her, Seifer was shaking his head, trying to actually remain awake.
"Ah, to be expected from Rias! Now let's-"
"No! I will never marry you Riser!" Rias stated, half-yelling. The annoyance evident in her voice. "Even the Devils in the old noble house has the right to choose!"
Hearing that retort, Riser finally lost his smile. He also got off from his seat and his looks turned into a more serious one. Or rather, angry and pissed off.
"I am, you know, bearing the name of the Phenex house. I can't let this name get stained. I came out to the human world for you, but I don't like this world that much." He said as his eyes sharpened. The temperature in the area around him starting to heat up. Not long after, the flames gathered around him, forming a pair of fiery wings on his back. "The flames and winds of this world are filthy! It's difficult to bear it as a Devil who governs fire and wind!"
Riser emitted a strong hostile aura along with another combustion of his flames. There were sparks of his flames, bouncing at every direction. Everybody in the room, excluding Seifer and Grayfia, also stood up and took their own fighting stance, ready to protect themselves.
"I will take you back to the underworld." He said, now looking at Rias' servants. "Even if I have to incinerate all your servants!"
Rias too, was glowing in her own demonic power, giving off the same pressure as Riser's. "Don't you dare threaten my servants!"
The blonde ignored Rias and only increase his building power. The heat of the room spiked up. Lifting his one hand and pointing it at one of Rias' servants-Asuka-. As he did, his fire accumulated and coated his palm. As he did, the temperature of the room increased even more. Asia timidly hid behind Asuka, who has her feet shaking uncontrollably.
"Ojou-sama, Riser-sama. Please calm down." The maid interfered, looking as strict as ever. "If you do something rash, even I won't sit by idly. I definitely won't hold back, for Sirzechs-Maou-sama's honor."
THUD!
After that, right after Grayfia began to emit her own energy, everybody who was present was surprised, shocked. Their eyes widened as their mouth fell agape on what had just happened.
Seifer was gone from his seat.
Riser was no longer standing.
"Shut up. Let me sleep."
Though the sentence seemed to be nonthreatening, it was muttered in a low, terrifying, and cold voice. It was terrifying enough to stun Grayfia and caused Rias to lose her crimson aura. The light of the room seemingly faded as shadows and ominous fog formed around Seifer's body, adding more to his already intimidating presence. Riser's killing intent was easily overwhelmed by his.
"I will kill you right here." Seifer warned, lifting up his right leg to reveal Riser's face. His hands burrowed inside his trousers' pocket. "If you ever, ever try to lay a hand on any of these girls here."
Rias and her servants wasn't sure whether they should be relieved or terrified by how drastic Seifer had acted. Then again, it was foolish for Riser to point at Asuka for whatever reason. True, he didn't know who she is. If only he pointed his attack at another Devil, maybe he won't suffer this kind of embarrassment. But just a maybe.
With that, Seifer dragged his feet towards his previous seat, rendering everybody speechless and astounded. It was their first time seeing the young man's ability. Even it wasn't long, Rias and her peerage realized immediately. They are nothing compared to him. As Seifer slumped back to his seat, the shadows and the smokes faded, and the room brightened.
Riser finally got up, just as Seifer had took a seat. "WHO DARES TO DISRESPECT ME?!"
Within a blink of an eye, Seifer formed right in front of Riser. Again, those dangerous and malevolent fog emerged. "Me." Seifer answered. Even the hot-headed Riser wasn't able to gave out a reply upon Seifer's short but terrifying answer. Riser's flame was swallowed wholly by Seifer's smokes. "Happy now?"
Riser has never felt this amount of fear in all of his life.
Seifer called back his murderous aura and returned to his seat, leaving the stunned Riser behind. All eyes were on him. But knowing this, Seifer simply shrugged his shoulder, and opened one of his eyes slightly as his lips formed a small grin. As if stating, "Pretty awesome eh?"
Grayfia finally exited her trance, but never had her eyes off from the young man. "Lord Gremory, and those in the house of Phenex knew it would turn out like this." She said calmly. Or tried to. Though she didn't showed it, Seifer could feel a certain amount of fear in her. "So they decided to make a last resort."
Rias quickly inquired, hoping to ease the atmosphere. "L-last resort?"
"Ojou-sama, if you're insistent with your wish, then how about settling it with a Rating Game?" Grayfia explained, "If Ojou-sama wins, then Ojou-sama could do anything she wants."
"That is... If she wins." Said Riser with a smirk, rubbing his forehead.
Seifer averted his gaze towards Riser, "And I will ensure her victory."
His words surprised both Grayfia and Rias. The former was looking at him with her eyes widened, while the latter had a light blush.
"I accept this offer." Rias said. Her confidence grew simultaneously as she had saw what Seifer did. With him and his power, she will surely win this. The question about who he is can wait.
Grayfia nodded and turned towards Riser. "How about you Riser-sama?"
"If she accepts, then I won't mind. I already had experience with the official games many time, and won most of them. In contrary of you Rias. Even then, will you fight?" Clearly, this man was looking down at Rias. Completely forgetting he had recently got trashed by one of Rias' servant and his arrogance had swelled inside his head. "You've never participated and have zero experience in the real Rating Game. Your chance of winning is very slim."
Rias' previous confidence dimmed. What Riser said to her is true. She can't deny it. Her head hung down as she gazed down at the wooden floor below her. Not just her, all of her servants were steadily loosing their confidence. Even Akeno.
"Mock her and I will ensure your death."
Seifer was angry for one clear reason. He hates the sight of someone being underestimated. One more time, a strong pressure with enormous intent to kill enveloped the whole room, causing everyone to take a single step back away from him. Riser and Grayfia were no exception. Riser won't admit it, but his hands were trembling, as did Grayfia's.
"Shinjiro-sama. Please calm down. Your last action will be tolerated, but please remember your position." Grayfia reminded with her calm, collected voice. Though she was shuddering lightly. '...So this is his power...Very...Frightening...I must inform Sirzechs-sama about this.'
"Eh?" Seifer spoke. His usual tone has returned. "Oh right, right." Amazingly, Seifer calmed down and retracted his aura. How did he cool himself down that quick?
"That's right. Know your place you low-class." Riser stupidly decided to add oil into the fire. Not his fire. "Your power is impressive, but no way you have more power than me."
Grayfia, however, bluntly said, "No Riser-sama. His power exceeds yours. I'm only saying that to prevent further harm on you."
Riser's jaw hit the floor. "Him?!" Meanwhile, Seifer had his tongue out and gave out a middle salute, easily making him to get hot-headed again. This only caused Seifer to chuckle lightly and casually looked away.
Grayfia then said her final sentence before her goodbye. "Ojou-sama, Riser-sama, as I am the representative of both houses, is it alright for me to manage the game's details?"
"Yes."
"Yeah."
Both Rias and Riser answered at the same time.
"Very well, I understand. I shall inform the two households then." With that, Grayfia conjured her magic circle and teleported away in an instant.
With nobody to prevent him to threaten Rias, Riser took a glance at her servants, and to Rias, then back to her servants before he burst in laughter. Laughing still, Riser finally spoke. "These are your servants?"
Rias narrowed her eyes at Riser's offending words. "What about it?"
'Feh... why can't he learn from his mistake?' Thought Seifer inwardly as he resisted the urge to facepalm.
[He's an arrogant fuck. Of course he's that dense.] Azrael stated with a matter of fact kind of tone. [Only fools would flatter themselves.]
Yet another surprising, wisdom words from Azrael. Seifer was getting worried. '...Dude...Are you okay?'
"This match will be a laugh. You only have what?" Riser continued, looking at Rias' servant one by one, "Four servants? And you still wish to participate in the rating game? Only your Queen, the Priestess of Thunder can fight on par with my adorable servants!"
...He didn't count me in. Okay then.
Riser continued to laugh and clicked his fingers. Immediately, the same orange magic circle with the same emblem of his glowed brightly on the floor behind him.
A total of 15 person appeared from the magic circle.
"These are my adorable servants."
All of them are a girl.
Seifer widened his eyes as he heard a loud gasp emitting inside his thought. It was Azrael's.
'What?' Seifer asked. Curious if any of them has a tremendous power.
[...Those were hotties...]
'...'
{...He's right...}
[See?]
'Fuck you guys.'
There was a girl with a full set of armor. Another girl wearing a hood. A girl wearing a blue Chinese dress.
{Nice cleavage.}
Two girls with large cat-like ears. Two girls with identical face, carrying... a chainsaw? A small girl in a pink dress. A black-blue-haired girl that has her hair tied into a weird ponytail, but with a large sword on her back. A black-haired girl with kimono. Two girls in a black maid outfit.
[Also nice cleavage.]
A girl in a revealing dancer outfit.
{Very nice.}
[Indeed.]
Lastly, a girl with a half mask, half-jacket, and a half jeans.
[At least her breasts isn't half.]
'...I'm cutting the link...' It was at these kind moments when Seifer hoped there was a switch to completely cut off their link and only him who could activate it. But he could only hope.
"Like I said... These girls are my cute servants." Riser stated proudly. Little did he know, his cute servants were staring at another man than him.
Seifer was well aware of this fact. And obviously, he won't let this opportunity slip away. The young, attractive man then pulled off his devastating feats. His lips pulled to the side, forming a lopsided smile. His head slightly tilted to the side to add more effect. Even his eyes were somewhat smiling at the girls. Majority of Riser's servant's lips parted slightly agape at the new sight. They must have thought Riser is the most handsome man they've met. Only the girl with the mask and the large sword were keeping their calm.
"Hello~" Seifer said softly with a gentle wave of his hand.
"H-Hi..." One of twins timidly replied with a mad blush. "I-I'm Ile..."
"A-And I'm Nel..."
"My, aren't you two adorable."
The twin blushed harder.
"W-Why are you introducing yourselves!? And stay away from them!"
Riser clearly felt he was betrayed by his own servants. Inside, his anger towards Seifer must have reached its peak by now. Shown by how hard he was clenching his fists the whole time.
"Jealous much? -Ow!" Seifer once again, yelped. As he turned around, he saw two of his adorable girls were looking up at him with an angry, but cute face. "Ahahaha..." Seifer nervously laughed as he scratched an imaginary itchy spot at the back of his head. "Yes, yes. You two are more adorable." Seifer added as his hands gently patting Asuka and Asia's head. The girls replied by smiling nicely and a slightly pink cheeks.
"...Womanizer..." Koneko finally let out a word. A harsh, suspecting word, directed towards either Seifer or Riser. Maybe both.
"Eh..." Seifer scratched his cheek. "Harsh."
"Hey womanizer." Seifer called out. Oh the irony. Riser only gave him a glare and an annoyed "What?"
"Your familiar is a Phoenix, right?"
"Yes... what about it?" Riser said, showing some kind of interest in this topic.
"I've been wondering..." Seifer continued. He placed his chin over his fingers. As if thinking deeply. "...What does a Phoenix taste like?"
"..."
"Skillet Rosemary Phoenix... Hmm..."
The room muted.
Until Rias let out a "Pfft-" An evidence that showed she was containing her laughter. Koneko, Asia, and Asuka were already laughing. Yes, even Koneko. As for Akeno, well. The lady was giggling her usual "ufufufu" kind of giggle.
"How dare he?! Speaking to Riser-sama like that!" Said one of the twin girls in gym outfit. "Does he have no manners?" The other twin followed, pointing her spinning chainsaw at Seifer.
Without heeding his girls' new emotions, Riser coldly commanded one of his girls. "Siris, do it."
"Yes Riser-sama."
A tall young woman with long black hair. She wore a white top with black accents, seemingly modeled after a Chinese cheongsam. This woman is that woman with a weird ponytail. Correction, ponytails as there were five of them.
[But hey. Cleavage.]
Seifer tried not to facepalm as he continued his inspection. He noted the giant sword mounted on her back. Easily he came to a conclusion that she is Riser's knight. Also, she is one of the woman who tried to hide her blush.
The woman in front of hi reached her right hand to her back to grab her enormous weapon. Seifer only watched her with glazed eyes plus an uninterested yawn. As if mocking the girl.
He then sounded his warning. "If you want to keep your sword, then I suggest you to stop." But Siris dismissed him and brought her Zweihänder down at the nonchalant young man. Rias and her servants watched in fear when they finally realized she was attempting to kill Seifer.
"Stop!" Rias shouted and reached out her hand towards Seifer. But she was too late. Rias and her servants closed their eyes, including Koneko. None of them wanted to see his demise. How did they completely forgot the fact that Seifer has defeated a Dragon-King?
Thud
"...H-huh?" With a certain doubt, Rias slowly opened her eyes. To be honest, she was expecting something louder than a simple 'thud'. When she fully opened her eyes, what she saw had taken her by surprise. The giant sword was now wielded by Seifer, who seemed to be inspecting it. As for the girl named Siris, she has fell onto the floor. Unconscious.
"Woah. This sword sure is heavy." Seifer uttered his thought, staring at the giant sword. It was then placed on the ground beside the unconscious Siris as he decided not to keep it. Afterwards, Seifer glanced at Riser and his servants with a taunting smirk. "Come on. I'll take on all sixteen of you."
Riser only stared at his now fainted Knight, before he shot a glare towards Seifer as his girls did the same. "YOU!" Seifer merely gave out another disheartened yawn.
"Let me handle him Riser-sama!" Yelled a girl in the blue Chinese apparel as she blindly charged towards Seifer. "I, Xuelan, will defeat you!"
As Xuelan closed the distance between her and Seifer, she threw out her attack. A direct punch was thrown at Seifer's head, who simply tilted his upper body to the side. A second punch followed, this time aimed at Seifer's chest and came from his side. The young man only took a quickstep back, easily dodging Xuelan's punch.
"Haaaah!" As if she was sure she was winning, Xuelan roared. With haste, Xuelan lifted her leg up, intending to hit Seifer's jaw to finish the battle quickly. The heel of her left leg passed by a few millimeters in front of Seifer's eyes, still dull and showing no sign of interest. Then, Xuelan sent a powerful punch directed at Seifer's belly.
This time, Seifer made an effort. He had gripped Xuelan's right wrist with ease, and was then staring at her. His eyes were different than his usual, kind eyes. His eyes were filled with a strong desire to kill, but he let her go.
"...My turn."
The woman took a defensive stance while the rest watched the battle with no intention to interfere. Rias and her peerage remained still because they wanted to see how Seifer fight back; since they lost their opportunity from before because they had their eyes shut.
"Hmm?!" Xuelan widened her blue eyes as the man in front of her had vanished. By the time she knew it, Seifer was already standing behind her and has sent his knee up towards her. Hitting Xuelan's defenseless back with huge, the girl let out a shocked gasp as her blood spewed out of her mouth. Then, Seifer kicked his right leg up, easily connecting his under surface of his foot to her back, thus sending way higher up in the air.
After that, Seifer disappeared.
The next everyone heard were the horrifying sound of punches and kicks hitting Xuelan's weakening body, and also her petrified scream. As Seifer stopped his barrage and landed safely on the floor, Xuelan fell from the air and hit the floor, resulting another 'thud'.
"You are weak." Seifer added as he crouched down to look at Xuelan one more time, possibly he had deeply scarring her for the rest of her life.
"...Ukh..." She weakly mumbled as she coughed her blood out before finally blacked out.
"XUELAN!" Riser called out his defeated Rook, but didn't dare to move. None of his servants did either.
"Here you go." Cold. His voice was much more colder than Riser's from before. The young man then brought a brutal kick at Xuelan's belly, sending her forward.
Even if she was unconscious, Xuelan still let out a cry of pain as she flew towards Riser, who managed to catch her even though he skidded several steps backwards due to the collision. The now angry but at the same time, scared Riser, glared at Seifer with hostility. The anger evident in his eyes. "You..."
"What? You're at blame for recklessly commanding your girls like that." Seifer retorted, "And I'll tell you this. If you dare to hurt Rias, or any of these girls here, I will. Kill you, and your girls without any hesitation."
Seifer's recent words had left Riser's servants cowering in fear. And Riser himself was about to counter Seifer with another mock, but he didn't want to test his luck. "Ten days Rias."
"Are you giving me a handicap?" Rias inquired, though she was still in awe, but disturbed by what her Pawn had done.
"Is it humiliating? A Rating Game isn't something simple that you can win via emotional speeches you know." Riser spoke as he lifted his unconscious Xuelan into a bridal style.
"Don't forget about her." Seifer coldly muttered as he sent another kick at Riser's already knocked out Knight without showing any second thought. Siris said nothing as she skidded past Riser's legs. However, her body was caught by the girl with the half-mask, now also glaring at Seifer.
"Damn you..." Riser gritted his teeth as he continued to glare at the deep brown-haired young man. His hands were shaking, and Seifer knew Riser wanted to kill him. Not like he cared. He's more than welcome to try and kill a god.
"Don't blame me." Seifer retorted, waving his hands up in the air. "Those two are the one who attacked me, I simply defended myself. I retort to those who tries to kill me you know?"
"Be thankful for I returned those two completely. Maybe next time, I will only give you their head as a keepsake."
Riser managed to calm himself down. Or rather, forced to. His magic circle appeared on the floor under him as him and his servants vanished in an instant.
"Huaaaaa! Shinji-san!" Noting that Riser and his peerage were gone from the room, Asuka attacked Seifer with a tight hug onto his chest. Her tears streamed down to her cheeks. "Please *sniffles*...P-Please don't scare me like that again!" She uttered as she buried her face to Seifer's shirt.
"S-Shinji-san..." Asia followed her friend's lead as she too, buried her face at Seifer's shirt. "...Shinji-san's scary...Please don't do that anymore..."
Seifer hit himself mentally. He had completely forgotten Asuka and Asia were there with him. Letting out a nervous laughter, Seifer began to pat the girls' head slowly. An indirect way of saying he's sorry. He realized he had went too far. Way too far.
On the other hand, Rias was getting fumed as well, and she too, gave Seifer a hug, but on his left arm, preventing him from patting the girls' head. "Shinjiro... You scare me..."
Akeno didn't want to be left behind and clutched Seifer's right arm between her marvelous breasts. "Ara ara... Shinjiro-kun was very scary~ I feel so hot right now..~"
Koneko only watched the girls swooning all over him with an apathetic look, before she went to a nearby fridge and took out a plat of a cheesecake and took a seat on the now vacant couch. Eating the cake without any care.
Whew. That's that. Previously, I wanted to put this along with the training mountage (huehuehue). But eh... It'll be too long.
So tell me what you think on this chapter. Point out my grammatical errors. Tell me what you liked and what you want to see on the future chapters. Suggestions are also appreciated.
And by the way, I'm still unsure on what to name Asuka and Asia's new pets.
So far, Asuka's Starly name suggestion are; Nika, Tailow, Chika, Aleta, and Calandra.
As for Asia's Sprite Dragon; Raishin, Fulgur, Raiden, and Hotaru.
Should I put on a poll? Anyhow, don't forget to brush your teeth before you sleep.
Visca El Barca!