A\N: summary at the bottom


"Sir?" a gentle voice asked.

Issei turned around. It was Katase. Even though it was dark, his dragon-eyes could see well enough. Katase was wearing a loosely tied pink bathrobe that matched her hair.

"You should get some rest," Issei told her. "The game will start in a few hours."

"I can't sleep."

"Yeah. Me neither," Issei admitted.

A silence fell. Both of them looked out the window. The mansion had a pool which reflected the full moon. It was a pretty nice view.

Hopefully, he would be able to see it again after the game.

"I can't do this," Katase said, out of nowhere.

Well not exactly out of nowhere. Issei already had a feeling something was wrong with her lately.

"I understand," Issei said. "I won't force you to fight for me."

"No. It's not that. I want to fight. But… the plan. It won't work. I can't handle Kiba."

"You don't have to," Issei said. "You just need to keep him busy long enough."

"I can't do that either."

"Yes you can. Your speed and strength have improved a lot," Issei told her. "And you'll have help."

Yesterday, with some help from Katase, he had seduced her friend Murayama as well. With two kendo fighters, they should stand a decent chance against Kiba.

He had also recruited Kiryuu, but she had another task.

"I'm too weak," Katase argued.

"No you're not. I believe in you."

"You shouldn't."

"Katase," he said. "We have no choice. We only have three powerful fighters: me, Riser and his Queen. And you can bet Rias will have an ace up her sleeve. Plus we haven't heard from Akeno, so we can only assume that-"

"But can't someone else-"

"They aren't fast enough. You know that."

"It just feels like the plan hinges a lot on me and Murayama."

"It hinges on everyone," Issei said. "Our tactics are just vague plans. We have no idea what the rules will be. But if you get an opportunity to battle Kiba, I need you to take it. If not, we'll adjust during the game. Every Rating Game allows communication between the team."

"Alright then," Katase said. "But-"

"No butts. I believe in you. And it doesn't matter what you think. If you are in, you have to obey every command I give you. I am your King. So are you in or not?"

"You already know that," she said.

"You still have a few hours to change your mind."

"I won't. I'm in."

"Then get some rest. That's an order."

"Yes, Sir."

Katase went back to the bedroom.

Issei sighed.

What do you think?

[She's got a nice ass,] Ddraig replied.

What?

[You've got a nice team.]

Did you just…

[You're infecting me with these stupid thoughts. Let's not lose sight of what is important here.]

Boobs?

[Our fight with the White One. If you can subdue Rias Gremory and make her fight for you, our chances will go up drastically. But if she subdues you… I can't even think about that. I'll never hear the end of it.]

Maybe he'll forget about it?

[No. He won't. I'm still laughing at him for accidentally reincarnating into a donkey four hundred years ago.]

He what?

[Long story.]

I want to hear it.

[Not now. We need to stay focused. The battle is in a few hours.]

What do you think of my team?

[You certainly have the numbers advantage. Smart to divide them into pairs. Now we just have to hope it's an open field.]

And that Rias doesn't have too many fighters.

[How many can she have?]

I've been counting.

[Rias, Akeno, Koneko, Kiba. That's four. Maybe five if she uses her Bishop. She can recruit Sona, but that would only add 10 people. So 15 seems like the most.]

Unless she found others.

[Who?]

Sirzechs?

[I can't imagine the Demon King involving himself in this.]

But he loves Rias.

[But to meddle so openly. I'm sure he would love to, but the optics of doing that would be insane. Grayfia will stop him from ruining his reputation like that.]

Maybe. But Serafall said she would not reveal who is in each team. So what if they hold him back? Just in case.

[If he's there we're doomed. But I can't imagine he will be.]

Let's just hope he's not.

Issei sighed.

If only he knew what Rias' team was, then he could prepare a lot better. Of course, she had the same disadvantage, but somehow, Issei had a feeling she was better at surprising him.

The minutes ticked by.

"Ise?" a new female voice said.

"Huh? Oh, Kiryuu." She too was wearing a bathrobe, but hers was white. She was also wearing pink running shoes with white socks.

"No morning wood?" she asked. The disappointment was obvious.

"No, I've been awake for quite a while already."

"Too bad." She pushed up her glasses.

"You know," Issei said. "I'm surprised you wanted to join."

"Well I wouldn't want to miss Rias being put into her rightful place."

"Hm."

"It's her greatest fantasy, you know?" Kiryuu said.

"What?"

"She wants someone to dominate her," she explained. "Trust me, I can tell."

"We'll see I guess."

"I'm sorry I can't be much help. I don't have amazing powers like all of you."

"I can use every girl," Issei told her. "We have a plan."

"Even so. I wanted to make myself a little more useful. So I made this."

Kiryuu untied her bathrobe and let it fall to the floor.

Beneath it, she was wearing a skimpy red bikini with a yellow pattern of…

"Scales?"

"Dragon bikinis," she explained. "It's Ddraig's color scheme."

"Oh. Now I see."

It was the same red-yellow pattern as his Boosted Gear. And the pieces of fabric were connected with green rings. The same color as the jewels on his gear.

"I've made them for everyone," Kiryuu said. "Battle uniforms."

"But those cover almost nothing!" Issei argued.

"Yes. Cool, huh?"

"But what about protection?"

She laughed. "Against magic? Rias is gonna blast anything apart. Clothing won't help us. And most of us aren't strong enough to wear real armor. It's too heavy."

"Hm. I suppose that's true." Their clothes wouldn't last long in a fight.

"I've got shorts for you and Riser."

"Okay. Thank you, Kiryuu."

"My pleasure," she said. "We should go wake the others. It's almost time."

"You're right. Let's go."

They went to wake everyone.

Everyone gathered to have a quick breakfast. At dawn, the game would start.

Issei went over their team one last time.

Himself, Asia, Xenovia, Katase, Murayama and Kiryuu plus Riser and his entire peerage. 22 members in total. Rias was so screwed. Even if they weren't all amazing fighters, their numbers should be enough to overwhelm Rias. And Riser was a Phoenix. He would be very tough to take down. Issei knew that from experience.

All of them got changed into their bikinis and running shoes. The girls seemed to like their uniforms a lot. The only one who complained was Ravel Phoenix. She remained in her pink dress. It seemed horribly impractical to fight in it.

Oh well. Not like she would fight much anyway.

Then, eventually, it was time. A magic circle lit up in the living room. They all stepped into it.

For a short moment, nothing happened. Then, just as the first rays of sunlight spilled in through the window, the circle lit up.

Everything turned dark.

Issei waited for his vision to clear up, but it never did. Everything remained pitch black.

What the…

Was it a trap?

"What's going on?" Riser demanded.

[Welcome,] a cheerful voice spoke. It seemed to come from above them. [I will be your judge for this game. Please call me Levi-Tan.]

Oh no. Had she decided to let them all fight blind? That did sound like something she'd do. That crazy girl.

However, her next words reassured him.

[Ah, this is so exciting. Uhum. Your surroundings will be revealed once the game starts. First I need to explain some stuff.]

Oh. That explained why everything was black.

But had she taken away their vision, or were they standing in a pitch black room? As good as his night vision was, he could not see anything in complete darkness.

[We'll be playing my favorite game…] drum roll [FIELD COLLAPSE.]

A cheering sound effect played.

Oh God. Why had they asked her to be the judge?

Still. Field Collapse was perfect. Capture the Flag or Object Break could be tough for them. But this was pure fighting.

[The rules are very simple. Stop touching and you lose. Specifically, the game field. If you stop touching it, say because you've fallen off the edge or you're flying, a timer will start. When it reaches zero, it's game over for you. The team that runs out of players first loses. Unless someone wants to surrender of course.]

Hm. So far so good.

[When the game starts,] she continued. [You'll lose every item you're holding right now. So don't even think about sneaking in Phoenix Tears, you bad boy.]

Issei smiled. Oh this was great. Rias didn't have a healer. They had a big advantage.

[And with everything I do mean everything. You can keep your underwear because I think it's cute, but the rest is gone. No cheating!]

Next to him, he heard Riser chuckling.

[But don't worry. I've hidden useful items all over the fore- uhum, field. You can use those if you want to. But remember, keep touching the field. Because if you don't touch for ten seconds in a row…]

"Game over?" Issei said.

[Good boy. You're keeping up. All of you will get a watch which counts down out loud from ten to zero when you stop touching. Now then, let's get- ah, hold on. I forgot the most important thing. The Collapse.]

They all held their breath.

[The watches will also count down to the next Collapse. We're playing on a chessboard, because I know you're all nerds. As you know a chessboard has uh… 64 squares. Every 12 minutes and 34 seconds, a randomly chosen tile will collapse. Why 12 minutes and 34 seconds? Because I say so. And I'm the judge. Cool huh?]

Uh… sure?

[Anyway, the watch will show which tile the player is on right now and which tile will be the next to Collapse. If you look at your watches, you'll see that the home bases are on the King tiles of the chessboard.]

Green lights lit up everywhere. Issei felt something on his wrist. When he looked, he found a black watch strapped to his left wrist.

The display read:

12:34

E8, A5

Hm. So right now he was on E8 and A5 would be next to Collapse? That should be on the side of the field, so he wouldn't have to worry much about that.

But it would get tough later. Someone would have to keep track of the field. If they ran around blindly, they were screwed.

But how big were these tiles? Was it realistic to run straight to E1, where Rias' base should be? They couldn't fly much with the ten second limit. But-

[If you press the button on the right, it will show how many players each side has left. Well, good luck everyone. Begin!]

Then, a sudden golden light blinded all of them.

"Ugh." Issei shielded his eyes with his arm.

Before he could see it, he already felt the change. The golden light was the sun. Which was unusually warm. Like a very hot summer day, only it didn't feel as dry.

When his vision cleared, he found he was standing in a tropical forest. The sounds of monkeys, birds and insects buzzed around him.

Wait. It wasn't a forest.

It was a resort.

Winding concrete paths cut through the trees. They led to various wooden bungalows. In the distance, he could see a large swimming pool and a bar.

"Not bad," Riser said.

"Anyone recognise where we are?" Issei asked.

"It's a Game Field," Riser pointed out. "Created for this game."

"But usually based on a real place. If we know what it's based on, we might be able to use that."

[It looks like Central America,] Ddraig said. [Maybe the Bahamas or Costa Rica? I'm not sure.]

"Alright," Issei said. "Everyone-"

Suddenly, someone grabbed his arm.

"Asia?"

Her eyes were filled with fear.

"The numbers," she whispered. "Look at the numbers."

"Numbers? Oh. The player counts."

Issei pressed the button on his watch. The view switched.

Issei: 22

Rias: 487


A\N: no sex in this chapter. Issei has recruited a few more girls (Murayama and Kiryuu). Katase has some doubts, but Issei reassures her. Then, the game starts. They are playing Field Collapse. Everyone needs to keep touching the game field or they are out. Over time, parts of the field collapse. Then, it is revealed Rias has almost 500 players on her side.