[DISCLAIMER]: I do not own Highschool DxD and Ajin. They all belong to their respective owners. Any and every names or plots that are similar to other fics or movies are coincidental (or is it?) while the only thing I owned is my OC.

Fear; an instinct possessed by almost all manner of complex organisms on Earth. Like most creatures, Arabiel, too, experience fear. Walking through a dark, dimly-lit corridor in a pantheon hidden far, far away from civilization, his sweat could be seen pouring out of his body as his body trembled each step he took closer toward a certain room.

Why was he afraid, one might ask, well, the answer was simple; why shouldn't he? He was on his way to report to his leader, one of the most distinguished Fallen Angels of Grigori, who was undoubtedly strong and mad enough for wishing to spark another Great War, the task he had been given ended in a failure.

What should he do?

Swallowing every fear, he walked through the huge, gold-carved, double doors. The room was filled with greek/roman-styled statues and paintings portraying angels, demons as well as fallen angels. There Arabiel saw him sitting on his throne with three other beautiful fallen angels tending to his needs; feeding him some fresh fruits, offering him his wine and waving a large feather fan. It was truly a sight befitting a Lord of Grigori.

He knelt and said, "L-Lord Kokabiel, I am Arabiel and here to report."

"Hm? Ah, yes, of course. Now, I wonder what sort of report worth wasting my valuable time…" He repositioned himself and continued, "You may speak."

"Y-Yes, sir!" He gulped down his fear once more and began reporting of what happened.

Arabiel told him about the time of the transaction, how long did it took them, the locations of where they unloaded the Mana Bombs, until eventually—

"That's enough," Kokabiel cut him off with a tone that held authority. However, he sharpened his eyes and continued, "I was hoping that you were actually going to report something that worth wasting my time, but…" He snapped his fingers and five light spears appeared right above him, all pointed towards Arabiel as the women staggered backward, "Give me back the time you wasted by paying it with your life."

"W-W-Wait, Sir, there's more!"

"…Oh? Then, you'd better change my mind as soon as possible."

"Sir… the mission failed," The women gasped as Kokabiel flinched, "W-We split into two groups, one to intercept the pirates, which I led, and the other one to unload bombs, which Luciel led, b-but before we could even regroup we, my men and I saw all the bombs blew up leaving nothing behind, but charred and burning wasteland!"

The women looked at him with an expression that tells him that he was a fool to say that and they felt sorry for what would happen to him. What had he done?

Kokabiel took a deep breath and began slowly, "You mean to tell me that a task, which worth a tenth of Grigori's budget, had ended in… a failure?"

"Y-Yes, sir. R-regretfully so, sir."

"Who did it?"

"E-Eh?"

Seeing Arabiel's confused look, Kokabiel's left eye twitched, "Mana Bombs don't just explode out of nowhere, it needs mana to operate, and one of them would cost one an arm or a leg… And you mean to tell me that all those bombs just 'detonated' out of nowhere?"

"… We… W-we don't know, sir. Please forgive—AAARGH!"

Kokabiel launched all spears at his chest and Arabiel fell forward into the pool of his own blood. The other three fallen angels wisely took a step backward as they saw veins appeared on his forehead as he stood up and shook in rage. He walked towards Arabiel and began to stomp on his corpse, "You USELESS—STUPID—EMBARRASSMENT—OF—GRIGORI!"

Panting in rage, the three fallen angels merely smiled as they tried not to giggle. It seemed that occurrences such as these were nothing more than a twisted form of entertainment for them.

Then a laughter could be heard echoing from the shadows, "Heh, aren't you a quick one? Wasn't it a waste to kill one of your own? After all, the three factions are in the brink of extinction."

Kokabiel regained his composure and turned toward the voice in the dark before speaking in a tone filled with annoyance, "Sato… what in the name of hell are you doing?"

The figure stepped out of the shadow, revealing an old man in his late forties wearing a classic vintage style clothing and an old cap. He smiled at Kokabiel's, "Hm? Just wondering how the mission went along until he reported. A shame really. It wasn't easy to gather all those bombs, you know?"

"What. Do. You. Want?"

Sato's smile didn't falter and he decided to just simply get straight to the point, "I'll be blunt. Your plan was stupid."

"How dare you—!"

"You were about to obliterate a territory of the devilkin who, under the current truce, are allied to both Grigori and Heaven," Sato walked towards painting portraying the battle between the three factions as Kokabiel told the three fallen angels to leave the room, then Sato continued, "Think about it: you destroy the city, then an investigation would be carried out. With Azazel, the current Leader of Grigori, missing, they would eventually interrogate the Higher-Ups of Grigori."

"And I should worry about this… why?"

"Hahaha, it is simply amazing that you still don't understand what I mean—!"

Kokabiel shot a giant light spear at him and missing by only an inch from Sato's face before embedding itself to the wall, ripping the painting. At this point, Sato was no longer smiling. "The only reason you are not dead yet, is because I am allowing it since we have the same goal of provoking the Great War. It would do well to know your place and cease your insolence."

Despite the overpowering aura Kokabiel released, Sato never flinched nor showed any signs of submission. If anything he looked bored and it annoyed the Lord of Grigori even more.

Sato then spoke again, "To put it simply: it wouldn't be hard to find out that you're the perpetrator. Do you understand? That failed mission… You were not trying to provoke a war between the three faction, no, what you did was you almost initiated a suicide plan that would spark a war between Fallen Angels against the forces of both Hell and Heaven.

"Let's face it. The Angels are true to their words, with or without God; after all, lying could cause angels to fall from grace. If anyone would break the treaty, then it must be either Devils or, you, Fallen Angels.

"If someone is trying to figure out who committed an act of terrorism in a Devil's territory, then the answer would be as clear as day that it was a Fallen Angel from Grigori who committed the attack. This is, of course, not mentioning the fact that you tried to set up dozens of mana bombs to destroy a city which cost a ridiculous amount of money that only someone of a higher class of Grigori who holds a lot of power could possess."

Kokabiel was silenced; he never thought of it that way.

Sato smirked at him with a knowing smile and a shrug, "Can't you see? You're making this game way too obvious! So obvious, it's boring!"

Hearing that was like a bitch slap to the face. He would never admit it, but he understood what Sato meant; he was dumb and almost got his kin and himself killed pointlessly. Trying to save face, he regained all of his lost composure and calmed himself down before sitting back on his throne, "Then… what do you propose we do?"

Sato opened his eyes and smiled in a way that even Kokabiel himself felt disturbed, "Simply put: like all wars, first you must acquire weapons. Second is organizing your troops' positioning. Finally, when you have all necessary pieces together, then you may let the game begin."

"Weapons… I don't suppose you still have more of those mana bombs, do you?"

"No, I don't, unfortunately."

"Tch. Then where—"

"However, a nice little owl told me something rather… interesting."

"…I'm listening."

Sato walked slowly towards him with a playful smile, "Hmm, I wonder. How many weapons do the other factions possess? Like, for example, the Church? Oh, is it possible for someone to… borrow a few, I wonder?"

Idiot; that was what Kokabiel was feeling right now; A first-class idiot. To hear Sato state something so obvious… that information practically just slapped him once again as if to remind him how stupid he was for not coming up with such a simple plan: Steal weapons from other factions; weakening them as Grigori strengthen its own firepower.

Well, actually, he did come up with a similar plan, but that plan was about stealing sacred gears from random wielders, bystanders or a member of the factions alike, but since most never reported back about any success, he assumed that it was a meaningless failure. The idea of taking the enemies' weapons through silent manipulations or launching a head-on operation to steal them completely slipped his mind.

Seeing Kokabiel's thoughtful expression, Sato chuckled, "I assume you now have a plan in mind?"

Kokabiel stared at Sato in annoyance, "Just… what are you, really? What are you and what is it that you truly want?"

"I'm just an old man looking for some actions," Sato turned around and walked away with his everlasting smile. However, when he was at the door, he stopped for a moment and said, "Ah, as for your last question, provoking a war isn't really what I want to do."

Kokabiel frowned in confusion and suspicion, "Then… what do you want?"

The old man chuckled darkly once more, "I want to play a game."

It was three o'clock in the morning and Kazuki was already sitting right in front of his computer with frustration etched on his face. On the screen was a sentence, 'Your search – Eucliwood Hellscythe – did not match any documents.'

"Ugh, of-freaking-course, it didn't. Damn it, another blank..." Kazuki groaned, "I've checked every site and forums in the deep web only to find out that there is nothing about her… why did I expect Google would give me a different result?"

Well logically speaking, of course there wouldn't be anything on the net. After all, you won't need deep web to make some sort of secret organization if you have magic that creates pocket dimensions and allows you to teleport instantly to multiple places, not to mention telepathy.

Magic is just so convenient like that.

Sighing in defeat, he thought to himself, [Maybe Rias knows something about this…well, if I'm all out of options I can always try to ask Eu to tell me more about herself…]

"Oh well… might as well finish those programs for my clients. I still hate working, damn it."

[What's with President last night? It just didn't seem routine…] Issei thought to himself as he walked towards school with Asia on his side.

Last night, he was visited by the heiress of the Gremory Clan suddenly asking him to take her virginity… Any sane person would question such a situation, but Issei wasn't exactly a sane boy, was he? Yup, here he was, regretting not taking such a chance immediately.

However, horniness aside, something did bother the brown-haired boy; Rias seemed sad.

Just what the heck happened—?

Issei was suddenly struck down by two strong punches to the back of his head followed by two synchronized yelling from two familiar figures, "YOU SHIT-HEAD!"

If it weren't for the fact that he was a devil, he would have shouted in pain. "W-Woah! Hey, guys! Getting an early start today, huh?"

"Don't fuck around with us! 'Mil-tan,' my ass! It's a body building man, you dickwad!" Matsuda ranted with vengeful tears.

"Yeah! And why does he use soft male speech pattern? It's fucking creepy!" followed by Motohama's own ranting.

"I-It couldn't have been that bad—?"

"IT WAS HELL, DAMN IT! He brought his friends who were 'just like him' and all of them were dressed as chicks! We were so scared! We really thought we were going to die, you asshole!"

The two of them cried their hearts out while Issei was simply sweat dropping with a look of pity at their woes of pain. Then he saw another familiar figure walking by, "A-Ah, Kazuki-san! Good morning!"

"Yo, what's up? Why are these two crying?"

"A-Ah, you see…"

The two cried boys snapped out of their PTSD-moments and turned toward Kazuki.

"K-Kazuki-senseeeei! Avenge us pleaseeeeee!"

"W-Whoa, what? Seriously, what happened?"

One explanation later…

"Ah, I see… Hey, Issei, come here for a sec."

"Hm? What are you—Oof!" Kazuki punched him on his stomach.

"That's what you get for breaking the Bro Codes."

"B-Bro Codes?"

"That's right. Article 24: Thou shalt not forsake thy own Bros, boi. If you didn't want to introduce them to any girls then just flat out say it, after all Article 46: Thou shalt not leave a bro hangin'."

"Yeah, that's right! Justice has been served! Hail Kazuki-sense—Oof!" Kazuki punched them too before they managed to finish their sentence, "Hey, what gives?!"

"You also broke the Bro Code. Article 77: Bros do not cry, especially in company of a girl."

The look of shock was evident on their faces, then they knelt before him with hands clasped together in a praying position, "Forgive us Father Kazuki, for we have sinned. We swear by our lives that we shalt break the Holy Bro Codes no more!"

As if he was a savior to both of them, he stretched his hand and smiled as the light of enlightenment washed over the two perverts faces, "All is forgiven, for we are all bros in the circles of life."

And with that they stood up and bid their farewells and continued their walk to school; they had been enlightened—

"U-um, sorry, but… may I ask, what just happened? What is this, 'Bro Code'?" Asia asked with a tilted head.

Issei and Kazuki chuckled at her innocent question, "Forget it, Asia-chan, we were just messing around."

Then laughter was heard coming from behind them, "Good morning! What a lively morning, we're having."

"Kiba-san, Good morning!" Asia greeted back, followed by Issei and Kazuki.

"Oh, hi, Kiba!/Yo, Yuuto-san."

"I'd like to know what actually happened since it looked interesting, but we are running out of time. Shall we?" And with that the four continued their walk towards the school.

"Say, Kazuki-san."

"Hm? What's up, Asia?"

"Oh, umm, I was just wondering what time do you usually go to school. I mean, it's rare to meet you in the morning like this."

Issei then waved it off nonchalantly, "I bet you come late or something after lazing off somewhere, right, Kazuki-san?"

Kazuki raised his eyebrow, "For your information, it's not like I hate school… Well, I do, but most of the times the reason I ditch classes in because it's too boring so I decided to do something more productive."

"Eh? Are you serious? What sort of productive things do you do?"

"Most of the time, I take pleasure in tending to my biological needs such as putting it into an anabolic state in order to help it restore the immune, nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems which are vital processes that maintain mood, memory, and cognitive functions, and plays a large role in the function of endocrine and immune systems."

"W-What? For real?! That's amazing, but, uh, is there a way for you to simplify it into a few words?"

Kiba laughed at Issei's question, "Issei-kun, I believe what Kazuki-san meant by that is that he mostly sleeps the days off."

"…I hate you, Kazuki-san. Give me back the compliments I gave you!"

After a couple of giggles and laugh later, Kazuki spoke again, "Ah, Asia-chan, to answer your previous question, I usually go to school at around five or six in the morning. That is if I really want to."

It was the truth really; either Kazuki arrives way too early or way too late.

The three were surprised to hear that, "But, doesn't the school gate open at seven? School itself starts at eight o'clock…" Kiba asked.

"Yeah! How did you enter the school if the gate hasn't been opened yet?" Issei asked with an equal disbelief.

"How, you ask… how else would I enter? I jumped over the school wall, of course."

"Ah…" The two suddenly felt dumb for asking; heck they were demons, for crying out loud, they too could fly over them if they wanted to.

As the four of them approached Kuoh Academy, Kazuki made one last comment, "If you don't believe me, you can ask Toujou-chan. Ah, but I usually meet her at around half past seven in the school's garden so I guess you can't really ask her. Oh well, whatever." He asked a question of his own, "Hey, you guys… is it just me or does your president have some kind of a problem nowadays?"

Kiba and Asia looked puzzled, however what Kazuki didn't expect was a flinch from Issei. He narrowed his eyes at him; what do you know, Issei? He thought to himself.

"President's problem… I believe it would have something to do with the Gremory Clan."

"Do you think Himejima-senpai know anything about it?" Issei asked the question before I did.

"Well, Vice President is President's Queen as well as right-hand man, so I'm certain that she might know—?!"

"Hm? What's wrong Yuuto-san?"

"It took me this long to notice? I am ashamed…" With that he suddenly ran to school toward the ORC Clubroom.

"Whoa! Where are you going, Kiba? Wait!"

With Issei chasing after Kiba, Asia and Kazuki was left standing around in confusion.

"What was that about…?" Kazuki asked to no one in particular.

"I-I don't really understand, but I don't think I liked what Yuuto-san just said."

"Well… only one way to find out."

Issei's PoV

I walked through the corridor toward the clubroom and I opened the door, "Hello—Eh?" There I saw President sitting on her chair with a grim expression, however what caught his attention was the sight of a certain beautiful grey-haired maid, "Greyfia-san?!"

President then stood up just as we entered, "So everyone's here."

Greyfia then turned to Rias, "Mistress, should I explain?"

"That won't be necessary."

Kazuki then spoke up, "Hey, uh, are you going to have an important meeting? Cuz' I'll excuse myself if you want."

"No, it's fine. You can stay."

I was confused, "Prez, what's going on?"

She was silent for a few moment, but then she spoke, "You see—"

Before she could even finish her sentence, a magic circle appeared on the floor and fire erupted in the middle of the room.

"HOLY SHIT, FIRE!" Kazuki exclaimed as he ran out of the room, but no one paid attention since every eyes were glued to the phenomenon that was taking place in front of them.

Soon the fire dissipated and from it stood a blonde man of his twenties in a red tuxedo.

"W-Who's this guy?" I asked out loud.

"This man is Raiser Phenex-sama. He is a pure-blood high-class demon and Heir to the Phenex Clan and also…" Greyfia explained, "Fiancée of the Gremory Clan's Heiress."

[F-Fiancée?!]

"It's been years since I visited the human world…" He turned around and smirked at President, "Missed ya, my darling Rias—"

"BEE-DO, BEE-DO, MADAFAKAAA!"

"What the—Aarglublublub?!" a sudden war cry was heard and the next thing we know was Kazuki screaming out loud as he sprayed a can of fire extinguisher at heir of the Phenex Clan.

A few seconds later, after covering Raiser with foams of carbon dioxide, Kazuki sighed in relief, "Phew, thank God, I wasn't too late! Imagine if he burned for a few seconds later, right? Things might have gone worse!"

Silence filled the room…

"...What? Did I… miss anything?"

"Pfft, HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!" Then everybody laughed out loud, except for Koneko and Greyfia who snorted and tried to hide their laughter.

Kazuki's PoV

"I, uh, I apologize. I didn't know you were a phoenix…" I handed him a handkerchief, "Besides, I know that you're a Phoenix and all, but please try not to burn the whole place down. Like… this is the only place I can laze around with aircon and…" I saw his hateful eyes that glared daggers at me, "…Right."

He used magic to burn away most of the foam, but used it nonetheless to wipe his face as he gave me a death stare while radiating a powerful deadly aura that threatened to burn me into nothingness. The remaining occupants of the room flinched and steeled themselves in reaction to the aura.

…Not that I would know, since I'm an Ajin and all that.

"I swear by my House's name, if we weren't in the presence of the Ultimate Queen, I would have burned you to until there's nothing but ash," He hissed.

[U Mad Bro? But, yeah, it was my fault… probably.]

He shook his head and tried to put on a smirk at the crimson-haired devil, "So, Rias…"

"Leave me alone, Raiser. I told you many times before: I have no intention of marrying you." She replied venomously.

[Oh…? So THIS is her fiancée? Geez, no wonder she's so bothered by this.]

"But, Rias, I doubt your family will be able to cater to your selfish ways forever."

"I do not wish to destroy your family, Raiser. On contrary, I welcome them with open arms, but whom I marry is my choice." She spoke with a tone of finality.

Raiser sighed in annoyance, "Pure-blooded demons drastically decreased in numbers after the last war and that is a problem that affects all demons.

"Your father and Sirzechs thought over this thoroughly when they decided on our engagement."

Rias frowned, "My father and brother and everyone in my family… they are too panicked. I will not say it again, Raiser. I will never marry you—?!"

Raiser walked towards Rias and cupped her chin, "Listen, Rias, I am the poster-child of the Phenex Clan," he glared at her, "I cannot allow myself to lose face."

They both released a powerful murderous aura, trying to overpower the other. At this point, the atmosphere was so tense that you could hear the sound of your own heartbeat.

Again, that's if you can actually sense auras; which I couldn't.

For a moment, no one knew what the other was going to do and so I decided to end this little aura-induced glaring contest.

"Aaalright, that's enough you two. Let's not destroy the room, shall we?" I split them off nonchalantly.

Raiser's eyebrow twitched, however, before he could even say anything, Greyfia cut him off, "That was, indeed, enough. Mistress, Raiser, I am here on orders from Sirzechs-sama," Showing off her own powerful aura that easily overpowered both of theirs she narrowed her eyes, "I will not let anything happen, for his sake."

Everyone was silent, but then Raise broke the ice, "For his prized Queen to say that… You have even me scared with that little speech."

"My masters foresaw that this would happen," She continued, "They have instructed me to carry out a certain plan—in a desperate situation."

"A desperate situation…? What do you mean, Greyfia?" Rias frowned in confusion.

"If Mistress exerted her will strongly enough, I was advised to commence a Rating Game to settle the score once and for all."

[Ah, Devilkin and their Rating Games… a cheap imitation of combinations between Ancient Roman Gladiator Fights and Chess. What a ya-hoo.] I rolled my eyes.

"I've experienced the Game many times and I've won many matches too. You not only have no experience, but you also don't even have all the required pieces for the Game," Raiser smirked at Rias, "Rias, I'd like to make sure of this just in case. Is this your full team of slaves?"

Rias sharpened her glare, "What if it is?"

The heir of Phenex Clan laughed and snapped his finger then a magical circle of the Phenex Clan appeared and flames erupted ones more.

As the flame burned ever so brightly, fifteen beautiful and cute women appeared out of the fire.

"These are my fifteen! In other words, I have a full—"

"HOLY SHIT FIRE!"
"What?! Not aga—ARRGLUBLUB!"

"What the—KYAAAAAH!"

Silence fell within the room.

I took a moment to realize what I had done and face palmed.

[Looks like we're going to need some towels…]

Pissed; that was the expression that any sane person would think of when they saw the look Raiser had on his face. Perhaps, calling him 'pissed' was an understatement.

The fifteen girls was wiping themselves off from the white, sticky, foam with towels as they used their magic to dry themselves off. Heh, what do you know? Rias' judgment to build a shower in the clubroom indeed came in handy after all.

I scratched the back of my head and bowed awkwardly, "Look. I am so, so, sorry about that. It was all reflex, you see, it's just that when I see fire while I'm holding a fire extinguisher, it just felt natural to use them, you know? Like, like… Like it's an instinct or something and—"

"SHUT UP!" He yelled as fire flared from his back.

It was really hard for me not to use the extinguisher, but what can I do? I must practice abstinence.

"A harem… of 15 pretty girls…" Issei began, "You bastard… How enviable!"

Issei's envy caught the attention of the angry heir of the Phenex Clan and it seemed that all of his previous anger was replaced with a sense of pride, knowing that some devil low life was looking up to him, "Rias… this slave of yours seems to lust after me."

"His dream is to possess his own peerage and become a harem king one day…" Rias explained.

A little blonde, pink-dressed girl frowned in disgust, "How gross…"

[Comment of the year,] I snorted.

"Now, I see… Yubella, come here."

A purple-haired woman with a sizeable chest and a bang that cover her right eye answered, "Yes, Raiser-sama."

The moment she got close to him, Raiser pulled her into his arm and began to French-kiss her as he fondled her breasts right in front of everyone.

Issei was, of course, furious, "Y-You… How dare you fuck around with other girls when you're engaged to my President!"

"See this, you low-level demon? This is something that you'll never achieve." He sneered.

"SHUT UP! Just because President rejected you doesn't mean should use your slaves to pleasure yourself! You cheap womanizing asshole!"

Raiser stopped at that and turned furious, "HOW DARE YOU—AAARGLUBLUBLUB?! SERIOUSLY? AGAIN?!"

"Oh, sorry, it's just that… I thought you needed some ice for that burn!" I laughed out loud, "Dang, Issei! Never thought you had it in you. High-five!"

"Well, I learned from the best—!"

Raiser slowly glowed red and soon fire burst out of his whole body. Yubella stepped back just as much as everyone did in front of such an intense heat that he radiated, "You know… I never did sense any aura from you. I don't know. Perhaps you are too weak for me to even notice.

"I tried to calm myself down out of respect for the heiress of the Gremory Clan, but NO MORE!"

"R-Raiser, wait—!" Rias tried to stop his rampage.

"KILL HIM!"

[Shit… All out of ammo… Oh well.]

At his command, fourteen girls from Raiser's peerage lunged forward in a blink of an eye. Time seemed to slow down as all fourteen of them drew their weapons to kill me, an insolent peasant that dared to insult their master.

However, the moment they attacked, I wasn't there.

Silence fell in the room as Raiser's peerage tried to locate me. I walked behind Asia and snatched a bottle of holy water that she always had in her pocket before moving once more.

"…Where is he… Where did he go—?!"

"I'm right here."

Using my IBM, I merely walked around them and stood right behind Raiser with my butterfly knife now at his throat.

Everybody gasped out in shock, even the Ultimate Queen was staring as me in disbelief; for them it looked like as if I had teleported after a few seconds of delay.

Dropping the stupid, annoying-brat façade I had the whole time, I put on an expressionless face and pushed the knife a little deeper into the skin of his throat when I saw his peerage tried to move, "Ah-ah-ah. Don't even think about it."

They were agitated to attack me at any moment's notice, but when Raiser himself felt a familiar stinging feeling from the blade of my knife which was dripping with holy water.

"S-Stand down…"

"B-But Master Raiser-sama—"

"Do as you're told!"

Silence filled the air again and I shot them a sadistic smile, "Good. Very good. Now…" then I spoke in a tone that sent chills down the spine of the famous heir of the Phenex Clan, "Checkmate."

"Tch. Let Onii—Raiser-sama go, you insolent brat! Don't you know who he is?! He is the heir of the Phenex Clan! He is Raiser Phenex-sama!" the pink-dressed blondie yelled at me; the only one that stayed on the sideline and didn't try to attack me.

[Onii? Is she his sister…? Wait, he enslaved his own sister?]

I tried to process what I just heard, but found myself confused so I decided to ignore it, "…And, what of it?"

"Ravel, that's enough!"

I chuckled in amusement, "Wow, for a beautiful girl, you sure are an idiot. Seriously, do you not understand the situation you are in, right now? Raiser's life, your master's life, is in my hands. Right now, I get to decide whether he lives or dies. A little slice and I'd sent him to wherever it is demons go to when they die, you know…"

At this point Greyfia knew that she had to interfere.

"Enough," she spoke coldly with a tone that held power and authority. "It would seem that this meeting is reaching to an end. Young Master, if you'd just let him go…"

"Huh? Why should I? He tried to kill me first," I deadpanned.

Greyfia sharpened her eyes and glared at me in such a way that I felt a chill down my spine; something that I've forgotten how to feel. "That wasn't a request."

I paused and raised an eyebrow, but then rolled my eyes and scoffed, "Buzz kill," Flipping my butterfly knife into my pocket, I let him go with a push.

Right after I did so, he staggered and backed away from me with his peerage circling around him in a defensive position.

[How cute.]

"How dare you… How DARE you! I will not stand for this… this… this humiliation!" He raised a finger at Rias, "Ten days… I will give you ten days to prepare for our Rating Game!"

"Are you trying to mock me?"

"Mock you? No, no, I'm giving you a handicap," he sneered.

Rias glared at the indirect insult, but seemed like even she knew that she needed that handicap, "…As you wish, Raiser. However, do know one thing: I will extinguish you, I swear!"

"Hmph. I look forward to it, my darling Rias. Until we meet again – in the Game," Raiser and his peerage then sent me their death glares, "I'm going to enjoy destroying your miserable life."

I nonchalantly waved it off, "Meh, wouldn't count on it."

And with that they disappeared in a burst of fire.

Silence filled the air as all eyes were fixated on me. I pouted with arms crossed, "Hey, we all know that asshole deserved it. Give me a break, will you?" Akeno giggled as Rias smiled.

Greyfia sighed in relief, thanking the Satans that things didn't escalate out of control. She turned to Rias, "Mistress, I shall now return to report the outcome of this meeting. Preparations for the Rating Game will be arranged. Is there anything else that you would like to add, Mistress?"

"No, thank you, Greyfia. That would be all."

"I see. Well then, I bid you farewell, Mistress," then she unexpectedly turned toward me and bowed to me, before teleporting away.

God damn it, I wish I wasn't an Ajin so I could have one of those…

I sighed at my impossible dream and decided that it was time to go, "Welp, seems like we've skipped some of the classes. What a lively morning, we just had, eh?" I glanced at Kiba who snickered at the irony.

I walked towards the door and was about to leave, but before I could, Rias called out to me.

"W-Wait!"

"Hm? What's up?"

She smiled at me in gratitude, "Thank you for standing up for us."

[Not exactly, he was just being a prick, but… yeah… I guess I did, huh? In some way…]

"Forget it, it wasn't a big deal." I shrugged my shoulders.

"But it was," she looked at me in the eyes, "To threaten an heir of a clan… You even risked making the whole demon race your enemy. For that, I thank you."

"E-Eh? Ah-Ahahaha, r-r-right, sure…!"

[The fuck?! It was THAT serious? Well, yea, sure he is an heir of a clan, but isn't it supposed to be fine as long as he's alive…? My God, I'm officially an idiot.]

After a mental face palm to myself, Rias continued, "Kazuki, will you come with us?"

"Huh? Where?"

"To train, of course. I have decided. For ten days, we are going to train the mountain; starting tomorrow!"

"E-Eh?! But President—!" Issei tried to argue.

"Issei, our time to prepare for the Rating Game is limited. I hope you'd take this training very seriously, because I'll be depending on you. Is that clear?"

Issei looked surprised to see so much faith being given to him like this, however that only served as a motivation. With determination in his eyes he replied, "Yes, President!"

Rias was satisfied with that answer and now she turned towards me expecting the same answer.

Keeping a poker face, I said, "You do realize that I'm not a part of your peerage, therefore, according to the rules, cannot join you in your little game, right? Unless there were some changes in those rules that I am unaware of…"

She frowned a bit, "Well, you're not wrong about that, but…"

I smiled at her and said, "Sorry, I can't."

A look of disappointment was evident on her face, but then I grinned, "…Is what I wanted to say, but who am I to refuse free tickets to legally ditch classes for club activities, right?"

And so it was decided, that I will join their party.

Rias and her peerage began to formulate plans for their training so they decided to discuss about schedules and things that they would need for tomorrow. I didn't see the point of being there any longer so I told them to give me a call once they've decided on their plans.

And so here I was, walking down the school's corridor, yawning out loud, and thinking that I'm gonna be bored for the rest of the day. I walked towards my class and passed by the information board.

The test scores caught my attention and I smirked when I see my name as the first place. I then smiled evilly when I remembered that there were a lot of students who looked down on me in my class. Oh, how I would love to rub it in their faces.

[Keikaku doori—]*

A familiar girl with glasses walked towards me in anger, "KAZUKI!"

Judging from the heir of Sitri's expression, Kazuki knew immediately that things were going to get really annoying.

[—Janakatta!?]**

"Y-yo, Sitori-senpai. Can I help you with something—?"

"You. Me. Student Council Room. Now!"

That did it; I burst out laughing. Heck, even the stoic vice president tried to hold her laughter. Sona's anger was replaced with confusion and after a few second, she realized what she just said and blushed so bad steam was coming out of her ears.

"A-And you haven't even invited me to dinner yet! Hahaha!"

"W-W-W-Wha—N-NO! I-I meant for a game! I-I want us to play a game of chess—Tsubaki, shut it!"

Sitting down on the chair Tsubaki provided me, Sona set up the chess board on the table, still pouting in embarrassment from our earlier shenanigan despite trying to hide it under her poker face.

[And here I was hoping she'd be so embarrassed she'd give up and run away to ask me on another day. Well… I do owe her an appointment anyway. Bragging to my class can wait.]

"So, who's first?"

"Since you're our guest, then I will let you choose."

"Ah, is that so? Then I'll go black."

Because once you go black, you'll never go back; I was talking about my IBM, you racist asshole.

Anyway, our game started and she made her first move with her knight, while I chose to move with pawn first.

"So, Kazuki… how long have you known Rias?" She asked.

Ah, so that's what this is, huh? An excuse for an interrogation, is it? Fine, I'll play along.

"Oh, I don't know… more than a month, I guess?"

She made her second move and so did I, however she had a look of confusion when I chose my king for the second move.

"Moving your king so early in the game?"

I suppressed the urge to smirk and instead shrugged, "As much as I wanna say something epic like, 'If the king doesn't move, then his subjects won't follow,' I'm just gonna say that I have my own plan in mind."

"Ah," She continued with her third move and asked another question, "Anyway, since you've known Rias for that long, then I assume you know that I, too, am a devil, correct?"

"We played volleyball together," I deadpanned, still remembering that demonic war, earning a chuckle from the heir of Sitri.

"So, you're a part of her peerage, I suppose?"

"What makes you think so, I wonder…?"

"Hm? Was I wrong?"

I didn't answer; I pledged my alliance to Rias already and I don't ally myself to random people.

Catching a look of annoyance on her face at my silence, she regained her poker face and asked with a look of suspicion, "Say, Kazuki, which junior high school did you attended?"

I looked at her in the eye and tilted my head innocently, "…Does it matter?"

"No, not really. I was merely curious—"

I cut her off with a rather knowing smirk, "Besides, you're a student council president as well as a devil co-owning Kuoh… Do you really expect me to believe that you didn't already know?"

She looked a little surprised; perhaps not used to meeting someone as perceptive as me. I wouldn't bet on it though.

"Hmph. I've said this before, but you're really perceptive."

"Meh. Occupational hazard."

She raised an eyebrow, "You have a job?"

"That depends on what do you mean by a job."

"Need I remind you that working part-time is—" She spoke in a serious tone.

I moved my chess piece and nonchalantly shrugged her off with a yawn, "Yes, yes , against the rule and bla, bla, bla. I am aware of every rule we have in this school."

"…Yet you still skip classes and work on your job?"

Urk. She had a point about the 'ditching classes' part.

"Hey, first off all, you didn't specify what you mean by a job and, the last time I checked, it isn't specified either in the school rules so you can't just assume I have a job and, therefore, breaking the rule.

"Second, yea, sure, I skip classes, but the rule never actually dictates you must have 100% class attendance to graduate, which indirectly allows students to ditch classes by the way, and if my calculations are correct then I'm still safe to graduate."

She frowned at my logical excuses and was undoubtedly annoyed by it. Sensing the tense interrogation atmosphere, I decided to break the tension as I test her patience.

I shot her a sly, smug look, "Besides, I don't have to worry about my test scores now,do I?"

Catching a twitch from her left eye, I could literally feel the temperature drop; I've just landed a blow on her pride.

However, she didn't say anything to that. It seemed like, even if I was gloating right in front of her face, she could swallow the cold harsh truth, knowing that I was right, and not give in to the frustration.

I can respect that; not many people like getting rubbed in their face with their own failures; especially a leader. Hmm, she might even be better than Rias in leadership which such patience, since I bet she'd be at my throat already if I insulted her pride like this.

The game dragged on and she frowned in confusion at my gameplay: I was moving my king around the board as I positioned the rest of the pieces rather randomly; it was as if all I was doing was making my king run around like a coward while hoping that she'd get lured and fall for my obvious traps around the board.

She didn't look amused and perhaps even felt disappointed when she thought that she got everything figured out.

"Check." She spoke with a tone of authority.

I chuckled at her confidence; she really thought she was winning, wasn't she?

"You know, I came here for a game of chess, like you said, but I honestly didn't expect this to be a twenty-questions interrogation session. I feel cheated." I faked a tear.

"For someone gloating about his intelligence, you sure are playing like a ranked, amateur," She tried to corner me with a deadly glare, "Perhaps the rumor was right after all… that you cheated the tests."

I stayed silent and kept a poker face as I inspected each pieces on the board, both hers and mine, and decided to make my move. I moved my king and took out one of her pawn.

She moved a rook and checked me again, but I moved my king again diagonally backward, but her bishop moved and checked me once more.

"Give it up. You know it's over."

I stared at the board once more then smirked at her, "You bet it is."

I moved my king and she tried to check me with the rook, however she fell for it and her rook was taken out by a bishop I have positioned before. Realizing her mistake in making such a hasty move, she moved the bishop away, knowing that it was in a disadvantageous position, however I wasn't aiming for her bishop and I took out her queen with a pawn; that completely caught her off guard.

She underestimated the pawns.

From then on, the game turned into a massacre. Every time she was busy trying to take out my pawns, guarding my moving king, her valuable pieces like rook and bishop were taken out one by one.

It was the end.

I shot her a sly smirk, "Checkmate."

She couldn't believe it. Sona Sitri, the heir of the Sitri Clan, the so-called genius among the heirs and heiresses of the Demon Clans, had lost in a game of her own specialty; chess.

She was silent and didn't stop staring at the chess board. Even Tsubaki was shocked at the sudden turn of events.

"B-But how—!?" Then at that moment, memories came rushing into her mind as she remembered every move I took that led me to victory, "You… you weren't using your king as a bait for your obvious traps. No, your king was your ace all along!

"You were positioning the rest of your pieces to key positions, knowing that you've provoked me with you moving king… Your pieces weren't defending your king, it was your king that defended the other pieces to take out mine… this whole game was a set up!" she breathed out in disbelief.

Tsubaki didn't even bother hiding her awe, "You've thought so far ahead…"

I should be happy, I should gloat over this victory, however, winning this game reminded me of something both depressing and annoying, "Ugh, if only life was as predictable as chess… I would've been God if it was."

"B-But this isn't possible! I couldn't even see a glimpse of your true plan!"

I sighed, her disbelief was starting to annoy me, and shrugged, "Long story short: you suck, Shitori-senpai."

She looked down at that insult and I felt that I might have gone too far, however before I could even ask, she suddenly looked up at me with a red face, trying her very best not to cry.

Needless to say, Tsubaki and I were shocked.

[K-K-KAWAII SUGI DAYO!]***

I shook my head and Tsubaki turned into a panic mode to cheer her up. She didn't know what to do since her king never acted like this before.

After she calmed down, I asked, "Feeling better?"

"Hmph," She pouted cutely and god damn it I'm confused whether or not this was creepy; she's supposed to be a cold and stoic student council president, for God's sake!

I decided that I should probably go so I stood up, "Well, it was nice meeting you and good game by the way. So, uh, I'll just go—"

"W-Wait!" Sona unexpectedly stopped me.

"Hm? What is it?"

"A-A favor…"

"A… favor?"

"I-I'll do you one favor… t-think of it as a reward for answering my questions and beating me."

I raised an eyebrow, I was about to reject the idea, but then I thought about something and turned serious.

"Is that so, huh… then do me a favor and answer my question."

She noticed the sudden seriousness in my voice, "…Very well. Ask me your question."

I thought to myself for a moment, this was probably a bad idea, but she's supposed to be smart, right? Eh, whatever. I doubt she would know anyway.

I nonchalantly asked, "Do you know anything, and I mean anything at all, about 'Hellscythe'?"

[Dear God, when I said that I doubt she would know—]

Sona, surprisingly, widened her eyes in shock.

[—I didn't mean I hoped she does.]

Author's Note:

I have tons of excuses for my disappearance, but I'll just say one word to summarize the source of all of my problems: Life.

Well, I'm sorry if it sucked. I admit, it's been so long and I lost sight of what I planned before, but, hey, if I'm back then you know what that means! I'm not lost anymore! Yay! :v

I just realized putting in different characters from other animes would confuse lots of stuff up, but don't worry, I've taken care of Yami's and Eu's backstory in this DxD Universe. Ah, right, as well as Beatrice and Nicholas Flamel of course, but I'll be honest, it's going to be a challenge to put them into words.

Like, I honestly don't know how to write them into an interesting story… Ugh. Also, I slipped in some Japanese words there… don't know whether it was good or not. What do you think? Should I just stick to English?

Oh, yeah, Sato's debut's here too! Well, true, our characters won't meet him soon since it's still the arc to fight the fire chicken, Raiser, but at least we all know that he too was pulling the strings in this 'game'.

Welp, anyway, here ya go. My tribute for ye all and I hope you like it!

But if you don't then… well… shit.

Anyway, see ya next chapt, Capt!

:v /

*Keikaku doori!: Just as planned!

**Keikaku doori janakatta!: It wasn't as planned (after all)!

***Kawaii sugi dayo!: It's too cute OMG!