Chapter: 10

He was still just the way she left him last time, sitting in front of a tree with the deadest of looks to him. No matter what she did or said, she just couldn't get him to do anything but sit there and it was driving the young devil up a wall!

Rias Gremory approached the young teen's back with none of the hesitation that she had the first time around - he nearly took her head off with whatever he had done. Once again he didn't even move a muscle in her presence, so much so that she actually had to check whether or not he was breathing. Apparently he was but not very deeply.

The crimson haired ruin princess was still trying to find out what exactly made him tick and why he seemed to be worshiping a tree of all things, alone in the forest with no sign of civilization for miles in either direction. It was a little odd and off-putting to be honest but then again she seemed to always meet the most interesting people even without trying.

When she finally managed to lean over his shoulders, she noticed the shorter/barely grown in rectangular patch of grass stretching out from the tree. Did he recently dig that up? She couldn't tell either way seeing as how this was the closest that she had ever managed to get to the teen before a tree that was right by her "mysteriously" got chopped down. Absolutely no idea how he pulled that off.

Maybe he was finally warming up to her if he was willing to let her so close now. At least that was her hope, Rias really didn't want to get violent if he tried anything.

Her vibrant blue-green eyes traveled to the monster of a tree itself, other than the size of it and the carvings that looked like kanji it was completely normal. She squinted as she tried to make out the rough lines on the bark, such a thing made even more difficult by the fact that she only had the barest of lessons in the language of her favorite country. 楓 it meant maple right? Was that the type of tree it was or was it something more meaningful?

"Ka-e-de…"

The moment she said the word, she regretted it deeply. Bone-chilling, invisible, seemingly arm-like appendages wrapped around her body; her arms legs and throat with the strength of a raging demon. Rias' terror increased when she found that no matter what she tried she was deeply rooted to her mid-air spot. The young teen couldn't even move enough to try her power of destruction on the guy in front of her, and when she tried to emit and aura of it nothing happened other than the subtle subconscious twitch of the other teen's muscles.

For only a split second, he seemed to argue with himself about what to do with her before throwing her to the side and onto the cold hard ground. "Say her name again...and I won't hesitate to kill you." His voice was deep and ragged from being unused, for how long he had gone without talking Rias couldn't say but it was clear that he hadn't for a while now.

Rias rubbed her surprisingly sore throat, whatever had grabbed her had been incredibly strong to be able to hold her back like it had. She sat back up groaning quietly, she hadn't been thrown like that since the last time she and her queen Akeno had an argument. "How did you do that?"

He didn't answer the question, just like before he was as silent as a mute, instead he went back to his spot in front of the tree and ran his hand over the name. The teen's body seemed to...convulse for lack of a better word, for only a few seconds before his hand dropped to his side. Rias saw his lips move but couldn't make out what it was, though she did try to read his lips from the side.

That was until she saw a small line of blood coming from the corner of his mouth.

In a panic Rias closed the few feet that separated them and yanked hard on his shoulder to turn him towards her. There was a fountain of blood flowing down freely from his throat like a broken faucet, even though it only happened a moment ago it was already covering the majority of his shirt and turning it a very dark red. At the top was a large slit that stretched from either jugular in the shape of a jagged smile and she could see his split trachea and windpipe convulsing for every second he lay there.

He did this to himself didn't he. Why, what reason would he have to kill himself and why do it in such a slow way?! Well he wasn't going to get his way, Rias had already seen what he was capable of and it was a far more interesting power than anything she had seen thus far. She wouldn't let him just lie down and die when she would need his life in the future.

She pulled out a dark wooden box with golden trimmings from her dress. Without hesitation the girl grabbed a small white chess piece with a slightly bulbous head - a pawn - and placed it on his chest. She did the proper ritual for reincarnation but the damned thing just wouldn't sink into him, he must have been worth more than a simple pawn was what she reasoned. Rias reached into the box and took out a few more of them, still nothing, a knight or bishop did the exact same.

Finally she put all the pawn pieces on his chest and it almost seemed to work for a moment but it was utterly rejected, she needed a piece stronger than a full eight pawn but the only normal one she had was in use by her best friend and queen. Rias questioned herself getting angrier as each thought passed, was she not worthy of him?! The girl slammed her hands down on his chest - making more blood pool out from the action.

Rias was moments away from giving up on this rare gem, there had to be more like him somewhere right? Plus if it was a sacred gear then it would just move onto another person, a person that she could she still had one shot. A red glow caught her eye as she put the last of the other pieces away, it was her remaining rook piece. Normally they were only worth five pawns - which in this case wouldn't work - but this one was special. It was a mutation piece, a very rare occurrence that happens in the evil piece system. In short, if someone were worth more than a single piece then a mutation would practically be a sure-fire way to reincarnate.

Reluctantly she placed the piece on his chest, Rias severely hoped that she wasn't making a mistake in using such a valuable item on a random stranger. The rook sunk deeply into his body as a dark red magic circle formed under him with the Gremory crest in the center, signifying the reincarnation spell taking effect.

To her shock his eyes groggily opened, he was practically dead so he should have been out for a full day minimum! "L-let me die...let me join her…" He begged in a ragged voice that would have sounded better on a wounded animal. He looked so broken in that moment, like his one chance at salvation had been brutally ripped from his clutches at the exact moment he touched it. He must have longed to embrace his own death.

Rias shook her head at his request. "I can't let you do that, your life belongs to me so don't go giving it up anymore without my consent." Her calm and kind gaze met his anguish-filled one, then she smiled. "My name is Rias Gremory, welcome to my family."

SMHM

The crimson haired girl was looking at Sora blankly without looking away for even a moment. He had just recently gotten back from his little excursion to his friend's grave, nothing big happened along the way so he had no idea why she would be like this. As soon as he stepped back into the clubroom she sat him down on the couch and just...watched him. A bit creepy really.

"Sora." She said, her voice mirroring the look on her face.

"Yes King?"

"Do you mind telling me where you went while you were gone." Still no change in tone. Was she worried about him leaving permanently or something?

The maroon haired teen shrugged uncaringly, "I went for a walk."

"A walk?"

"Yup."

She pinched the bridge of her nose with her eyes squeezed shut. "Then do you mind telling me why an entire town went up in flames only two hours before you came back." She saw him try to talk and decided to amend her statement a bit. "A town which there were - fortunately - many survivors who all were screaming incoherently about a pink eyed man with the wings of a bat that could cut things apart without moving a muscle."

"...It was a very enthusiastic walk."

Sora smirked at the throbbing vein that appeared on her forehead, it really was too fun to annoy her. "If it makes you feel any better, I didn't kill any civilians just the strays in the area." He cupped his chin in thought, "Maybe I should have waited for them to transform before killing them…"

The vein pulsed even harder. "Then why burn down the town?" She ground out.

Sora's smirk dropped into a look of bewilderment and slight fear at the memory. "There was this one devil, he was really tall, buff too. He had a bald head, and union worker's jumpsuit with a machete as a weapon. He didn't show up until the very end but i guess it was one of those 'final boss' scenarios." He shook his head and muttered something under his breath.

His King coughed into her hand, trying to get him to continue.

"He...wouldn't die." Rias looked amused, did she think he was joking? Why would he joke about something like that?! "I'm serious King. I cut him apart, burned his body, cut his head off, and tore his heart out with my teeth but every damned time he came right back. Each time he did it just when I thought I was safe and about to leave the city. Eventually I just threw him into a gas station, lit a match, and well..." Sora made a 'boom' motion with his hands to emphasize. "The fire probably spread from that." He shrugged.

"...You couldn't kill him after all that?"

"Nope."

"Then what makes you think that the explosion killed him?"

The maroon haired teen's skin turned bleach white and he gulped uneasily. "You just jinxed me, you know that right? I'm never going to be free of that freak." Suddenly his smirk was back, putting her on edge in the process. "Since you're my King I guess that means that it's your responsibility to take him down now isn't it? After all you don't want me to get hurt or worse should he come for me do you?" Now Rias turned white at the thought. Sora's eyes widened and drifted up to the space just above her. "It looks like you can start doing that right now in fact."

Rias jumped and screamed in terror before firing a full-power shot of her magic through the back of the building and deep into the woods behind them, destroying everything in it's path as though those things were never there at all.

Sora couldn't stop himself from laughing at this point - though it was more of a chuckle than anything else - drawing the shaking Gremory heir's attention to him. A growl escaped her throat when she caught on, "I can't believe you did that!...Wait yes I can, actually I should have expected it from you." A dainty finger pointed in his direction with her face set in an unamused look.

The chuckling stopped after a while and Sora started to look uninterested once again. "So was that all you called me in here for?" He had much better things to do than sit around shooting the breeze with his King all day. Though it was pretty fun seeing her so annoyed, he could understand why Akeno liked messing with her so much.

She stared him down, not taking her eyes off of him for a minute. "Sora, I want you to train Issei."

"No."

Rias sighed like she normally did when he was being stubborn but it seemed a bit off...like she didn't have the energy needed to convince him. He had only seen her like this a rare few times in the entirety of his servitude. "It wasn't a request, I don't like doing this but." She straightened her posture and put as much heat as she could into her eyes. "I'm ordering you to train Issei Hyoudou."

The teen glared at her, his rage building in his chest. Train the goddamned piece of worm shit?! He would sooner use the idiot's head as a damned kickball! He growled a bit in his throat until he saw her face. His King looked truly defeated, on her last legs really. Sora took a few deep breaths to calm himself, "He's back isn't he?" He knew he was right when she flinched. "And i'm guessing you did something stupid like challenging him to a rating game." Another flinch, this time more violent.

"Alright fine. But I have some conditions." He put one finger in the air. "First is that it does what I say when I say it, no exceptions and no bitching. Two, if I choose not to help in the ratings game then you can't say a thing about it. Finally three, the blonde girl. I want her to help, if nothing else then it will at least make it work harder to impress her." He leveled Rias with an even look as if daring her to change the deal. "All the cards are on the table, take it or leave it."

She seemed to deflate at the thought of him not fighting with them, it would really hurt their chances of winning if he wasn't there. But having a possibility of both the worm and the blonde getting trained by him seemed to overrule her trepidation. Rias nodded and the two shook hands to seal the deal.

"Alright where is it?" He asked, clearly talking about Issei.

She told him to head over to the Hyoudou residence and to try to be polite to it's parents. Sora stepped out the door of the clubroom and let it close with a soft click behind him. Then he smiled, and somewhere in the Hyoudou house Issei felt a chill race through his body.

Sora needed to find some rope, the worm was going to regret everything that had ever made it alive by the time he was done with it!