Anything you recognise isn't mine.
"So, Roxas. How're you holding up after the ritual that Wukong and I did on you in Kyoto?"
Roxas looked up, the portion of sushi that he had grabbed with chopsticks halfway to his open mouth as he looked over at Dr. Strange, who addressed him through an audiovisual magic-circle.
It had been a week since the Kyoto trip had ended, and five days since Roxas' peerage had recieved their Rating Game uniforms and competed for the right to have Roxas to themselves for a night (Kuroka had won). He currently sat in his classroom at Kuoh Academy: with the school day almost over and Roxas having a rare free period, he had opted to warp out of school, grab some sushi from a sushi place close to the school and spend the period grading some homework, as well as just having some time to himself.
Time with his harem was great and all (especially the sex. Like with Akame: his new Knight could give a KILLER rimjob), but a guy needed their alone-time too. Though that had been minorly interrupted when the Chairman of the SSPCH had called, with wishes to discuss a few things.
"Oh, I'm fine." Roxas replied, placing the sushi-portion in his mouth, chewing on it and swallowing, before placing his chopsticks down and stretching. "Really fine, actually. Perfectly ordinary, I'd say. Apart from what's going on my mouth, this sushi is delicious."
"I'm sure." Strange replied. "Anyway, I didn't call just to ask how you were, I'm here to chat about what Yasaka told you about her kidnapping."
Roxas (who had already gotten the next portion of sushi into his mouth this time) nodded and, while still chewing, looked over at the Sorcerer Supreme. Strange, meanwhile, had opened up a seperate magic-circle just out of sight of Roxas and pulled out some notes, upon which Roxas assumed Strange had recorded what he had told him about what Yasaka had said.
"So..." Strange remarked, looking at the notes and back to Roxas. "Seems your mother-in-law was responsible for this whole debacle."
"Yup." Roxas replied, after swallowing the sushi. "And I thought she wouldn't do anything more prick-ish after being such a bitch to Palutena when we tried to visit her, way back when." He sighed. "But that's neither here nor there. I've already told Azazel about this, and he guessed that Hera must be involved with the Hero Faction in some way."
"An understandable conclusion." Strange replied. "I suppose he'll be asking the Hero Faction members that he's got holed up in whatever Grigori prison exists in the Underworld about her, then."
"Wouldn't put it past him." Roxas replied, leaning back and running a hand through his silver hair. "Only thing I can wonder is why she's gone and worked with a bunch of humans, let alone kidnap a Youkai leader for them? I very much doubt they have anything she could want THAT badly."
"The True Longinus, maybe?" Strange suggested. "Or just Longinus-Class gears in general? I believe their faction had two Longinus possessors."
"One of which seems to have gone full MIA." Roxas replied. "Georg, I think his name was? Anyway, the other of which is in captivity, and the other non-Longinus Gear-possessors are either also in captivity, with their Gears taken from them by Azazel- fuck knows what he's doing with them in his spare time- or KIA."
"Well, one Sacred Gear wielder MIA is a lot better than many." Strange replied. "Even if it's a Longinus. Anyway, you think that the Longinus' are why Hera co-operated with the Hero Faction?"
"Maybe." Roxas shrugged. "I mean, the True Longinus and Dimension Lost are both among the top four strongest Longinus, so having two of them under her thumb in exchange for a Youkai leader sounded like an offer that Hera couldn't refuse." He then let out a momentary chuckle. "I doubt that cunt Cao Cao could pull off a convincing Michael Corleone, though."
"I wouldn't know." Strange replied, as Roxas finished the last of the sushi and cleared the remains away with a wave of his hand, and leaned back in his chair. "Anyway, if that's everything, I'll leave you be."
"Actually, Doc, there's one more thing." Roxas replied. "It doesn't relate to the Hero Faction or anything, but it's something I've been meaning to ask you for a while."
Strange raised an eyebrow, and looked intently at Roxas through the magic-circle that seperated the two.
"Oh, really?" he asked. "And what would that be?"
Roxas looked down at the paper he had just finished grading, before shoving it aside and looking back at Strange.
"Remember back when we formed the SSPCH?"
"I remember." Strange replied, simply. "That isn't your whole question, is it?"
"No way." Roxas replied, letting out another small chuckle. "But it relates to what I wanted to ask you. We both know damn well that we didn't get off on the best foot, and even after that... eh, fuck it, I'll just come out and say it. Why did you make me Vice-Chairman of the SSPCH?"
Strange blinked, and was silent for a moment.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me." Roxas replied. "Out of the inaugural members that aren't named Stephen Strange or Roxas Gremory: Wukong, Gondul, Scathach, Integra and Nick, probably all of them would've made a better Vice-Chairman for the SSPCH. So why did you pick me?"
"You wanting to step down as Vice-Chairman, Roxas?" Strange asked, his eyebrow still raised.
"No!" Roxas replied, raising his voice. I just wanted to know why you picked me, way back when. It's been-"
"On your mind for a while, I heard you the first time." Strange replied, scratching a momentary itch that formed behind his ear as he talked. "Well, two pretty simple reasons. The first of which being that you were the only one out of the other inaugural six members, besides myself, that I knew on any level, and therefore the one I had the best chance of getting along with. I know, and remember, as you said, that we didn't get off on the best foot. But you seem to have forgotten that we've both moved past that."
"True, true." Roxas remarked, quietly.
"And the other of which" Strange continued. "Is also a simple reason, but the only metric that really mattered that I could base my choice upon: you have the most experience with humanity."
Now it was Roxas' turn to blink, and be silent for a moment.
"That's it?"
"That's it." Strange replied. "You've lived among humans for a solid 100 years, and travelled amongst them for another solid 100, making 200. While I recognise that Sun Wukong has interacted with humans for far longer than you have, his dealings with us are rare at best, so your overall experience with us far outclasses his, as well as anyone else among the first seven."
Roxas remained silent.
"Not the best reasoning, I know." Strange admitted. "But, as I said, the only thing I could really judge you, Wukong, Gondul, Scathach, Integra or Nick over. You came out on top, so I chose you as the Vice-Chairman. And I'd say that, since then, that choice paid off."
"Heh." Roxas replied. "I'd say it did. Thanks for telling me, and having that kind of faith in me. Takes a weight off my shoulders."
"Well, you haven't given me any reason to challenge my own faith in you." Strange replied, flashing a brief, and rare, smile Roxas' way, before hanging up the magic-circle call, leaving Roxas alone in the classroom with nothing but homework sheets, both graded and ungraded, for company.
Letting out a long breath, Roxas checked his phone for the time, in order to check the time, and his red eyes widened at the time displayed on the screen- 3:34pm.
"Fuck," Roxas whispered, sending the pile of ungraded papers through one transportation-circle back to his Kuoh apartment and the pile of graded papers through another transportation-circle to the inside of one of the locked drawers in his desk (which he couldn't be assed to grab the key for). Snatching his phone off of his desk, he punched in a number and held the phone to his ear. After about five seconds of ringing, the person who he had called picked up.
"Hello?" Valian's voice sounded, as she suppressed a yawn.
"Valian, you awake?" Roxas asked. "I need you to come with me to the opening of the new Rating Game season. It's today, and I forgot it's happening right now until like ten seconds ago."
"Oh, I... *yawn* thought that was today." Valian replied. The sounds of a bed creaking could be heard from the other end, as well as the soft moans of another female. "I'll be there in a sec." She spoke into the phone.
"Nice." Roxas replied. "Who was that in bed with you?"
"Ingvild." Valian replied. "Been helping her with her bedroom skills while you're not here. She's improving."
"Heh." Roxas chuckled at the thought of Ingvild and Valian getting it on in the bedroom. "Nice. Anyway, hope you're here soon."
He then hung up, tossed his phone on his desk and quickly changed himself from the suit he wore as a teacher into a more casual outfit, just as Valian showed up, in her Rating Game uniform.
"Shall we?" she asked, walking over to her King, who opened a transportation-circle that they both stepped into.
"We shall." Roxas replied, activating the transport-circle, taking himself and Valian away from Kuoh Academy in a flash of silver.
Line Break
The Young Devils Rating Game Tournament had been going on for a few months now. All the young Kings of the Underworld had stepped up with their peerages to show off their skills on the biggest stage that they had had a chance to stand on thus far, and with the final of the tournament, held as a prelude to the bigger, more professional Rating Game season, the two strongest Young Devils were in the middle of the arena, slugging it out with everything they had.
Imogen (who had beaten Eneely Vassago, Iolova Amon and Achilles Astaroth to get to the final), clad in her Balance Breaker armour, raised a hand and blocked a punch aimed at her sternum by Sairaorg, and returned in kind by raising her foot and kicking out at his stomach. Her foot crashed against the Bael Heir's stomach and sent him skidding backwards a few feet.
Sairaorg (who had beaten Zephrydor Glasya-Labolas, Sona Sitri and Magdaran Bael (his own half-brother) to get to the final), also clad in his Balance Breaker armour, while ignoring the pain of Imogen's kick, replied with a pair of punches to the Belial Heiress' face, followed up by a double-roundhouse kick that sent Imogen skidding backwards, almost to the point that she fell over. Imogen, however, flipped out of Sairaorg's way, as he came dashing at her with all the speed and force of a hundred bullet trains. After landing back on the ground, she caught his next thrown punch and replied with a punch of her own to Sairaorg's face, enhanced by her mixed demonic/dragonic power to the point that she saw Sairaorg's Balance Breaker armour crack under the sheer force of her punch.
Imogen smirked, underneath her own armour, as she saw Sairaorg's face bleeding underneath his armour, though the smirk left her as soon as it came when Sairaorg threw a punch, enhanced by Touki, at Imogen herself, and caught her in the face too, cracking her own armour. Thrown slightly off-balance by this, Imogen was unable to defend against the next few punches that Sairaorg threw, which cracked her armour more and more each time, around her stomach and face, and the spin-kick to the back that Sairaorg delivered her was especially unpleasant.
Slightly dazed by all the powerful attacks that Sairaorg had hit her with in such quick succession, Imogen was unable to block Sairaorg's next Touki-powered strike, which crashed against her face and shattered the armour surrounding her face, as well as her nose underneath.
"Oh, fucking hell!" Imogen muttered to herself as she flew backwards, flipped over in mid-air and landed back on her feet, trying her best to keep herself focused on the huge hulking man in gold armour dashing at her. 'You can fix the armour, right Vritra?'
["Sure can, Imogen."] Vritra replied. ["As long as you can focus on beating the bastard in front of you. Maybe without purely punching the hell out of him, though?"]
"Yea, good idea." Imogen remarked, jumping out of the way of Sairaorg's next punch as she noticed her Scale Mail armour slowly repairing itself. Spreading her Dragon wings and flying straight over Sairaorg's armoured head as he came at her again, she flew over the battlefield and landed a few dozen feet away from him, before extending her arms out and willing a pair of thick pale-blue tentacles into existence, out of her hands: an evolved, Balance Breaker-exclusive version of Absorption Line.
The tentacles, each about five feet in length after they broke off from Imogen's hands, flew Sairaorg's way and wrapped around him, stopping him in his tracks for the vital second Imogen needed to dash forward and deliver several powerful punches to Sairaorg's face and body, each of which would have been enough to reduce a regular High-Class Devil to bloody chunks, but only served to crack Sairaorg's armour more and more.
After the fourth punch, which sent Sairaorg skidding backwards in the same way that Sairaorg's earlier double-roundhouse kick did, Sairaorg finally managed to wrestle the tentacles off of himself and dash at Imogen again. The Belial Heiress noticed Sairaorg pulling back his fist for another punch, just as the helmet of her armour was fully repaired, and leant back just far enough that Sairaorg's fist missed her. Though she felt the wind that was caused by Sairaorg's armoured fist moving as close as it did to her face, she drove her fist into Sairaorg's stomach, shattering the armour around that area before jumping backwards, pulling back her hands and then shooting them forward, calling forth black and purple fire and shooting it towards Sairaorg, where it then settled upon him and his armour like thick tar.
With the flames of Blaze Black Flare laid upon her opponent (but one with a lighter curse than the one that Vritra's infamous flames were known for. Imogen wanted to beat Sairaorg, not kill him), Imogen dashed back towards him, meeting his next punch thrown with one of her own. The blowback from both punches was enough to crack the ground beneath them, but that didn't stop either Heir from throwing more punches, cracking the ground more and more.
More and more punches were thrown, until Sairaorg, gathering up as much of his Touki as he could muster into one fist, and with a scream that conveyed pure determination and power, threw a particular punch that Imogen knew she wouldn't be able to counter with one of her own. Henceforth, the Belial Heiress doubled back and threw more tentacles towards the Bael Heir, hoping that they, as well as the creatures that she began to summon via Calling of the Defeated (a mini-Leviathan, a spider-like monster and what looked like a centaur that was also on fire) would be able to hold Sairaorg back for long enough that she could put him down herself.
As the tentacles wrapped around Sairaorg, holding him in place, and the creatures began attacking him, Imogen began charging herself up, tapping into all of the considerable mixed Demonic/Dragonic power that she hadn't used up. Fuck the fact that this was essentially an all-or-nothing final move, fuck the fact that the result of the Game, and by extension the entire Rating Game tournament, rested on this move, FUCK IT ALL, Imogen wanted to fucking win. Not for her Clan's pride, not just to stick to the Elder Devils who had spat in her face on numerous occasions, not even for her dream... but for herself and her peerage. And her mate, Roxas.
But mostly for herself and her peerage.
It was just at that moment that Sairaorg began to pull himself out of the tentacles, and beat away the creatures that Imogen summoned and sicced on him. Luckily, at that same moment, Imogen finished charging up her punch. Just as Sairaorg had ripped off Imogen's tentacles and killed the creatures attacking him, Imogen flew at him, and with her own scream of determination and power, sunk her fist into the cracked portion of Sairaorg's armour, shattering it. Her fist kept traveling, though, right into the Bael Heir's unguarded stomach, enhancing the impact of her punch with Doloris Vim, with Sairaorg thrown into the air by Imogen's punch.
Sairaorg landed on the ground, a loud groan of pain escaping him as seemingly never-ending shots of pain went through his entire body with the speed and intensity of lightning, which he could probably have withstood while getting up, but the pain in his stomach specifically, where Imogen had punched him, was such that he was barely able to get to his feet, and raise his fists into a defensive stance against Imogen, who also seemed to be panting hard in the aftermath of her own punch.
"This isn't over..." Sairaorg muttered, stumbling forward. "This isn't... fucking... over."
"Damn right, it's-" Imogen began to reply, but blinked in surprise as Sairaorg took a step forward. Then another. Then another.
He then proceeded to drop to his knees and flop down to the floor, letting out a soft groan, seemingly succumbing to the pain as he disappeared in a blue light.
Line Break
"AND THAT'S IT!" Naud Gamgin, who was commentating, yelled at the top of his lungs. "IMOGEN BELIAL TAKES THE WIN OVER SAIRAORG BAEL! AND WINS THE YOUNG DEVILS RATING GAME TOURNAMENT!"
There was extremely loud applause from the entire audience (gathered in an enormous gathering hall in Astaroth territory), who had watched the game on massive screens. Including Roxas and Valian, who had arrived only five to ten minutes earlier, just in time to catch the very end of the Game. As the applause for Imogen's victory died down, Roxas and Valian made their way through the crowd, with the former ignoring the murmurs of recognition that he got. After making his way closer to the side of the gathering hall, where the crowds where thinner, Roxas let out a small sigh and leant against the wall.
"Well, at least we're here." he remarked. "And only missed most of the game as opposed to all of it."
"Sucks for you." Roxas heard a minorly familiar voice, and looked up to see Achilles Astaroth arriving, with Karna beside him. "As much as I wanted Sairaorg to win, it was a good game." He then looked over at Roxas, hands in pockets. "Hello again, Roxas."
"Hey, Achilles." Roxas nodded in greeting. "Before I forget, I should thank you for the warning about Diodora. I heard what Rias, Asia and Xenovia told me after the Old Satan Faction attack, and it looks like you were right."
"Hm?" Achilles blinked, pausing as he recalled the events of that day nearly a month ago. "Oh, I remember. Speaking of that day, there's something that's worth telling you, even if I've never had the chance to until now." he stepped forward, with Karna dutifully imitating his King, remaining coldly at his side. Roxas suppressed a chuckle at the sight.
"And that is?" he asked, looking up at the green-haired half-Devil. Achilles was taller than he was, but not by much. A few inches, at most.
"There was someone looking at you just after you went into the dimension to fight the OSF." Achilles explained. "I know that that doesn't sound like much, but this one was different. Really different."
"Think you can describe them?" Roxas asked, deciding to humour Achilles, though Valian silently raised an eyebrow at the now-Astaroth Heir. If Achilles was right about Diodora, Roxas thought, then he was at the very least worth hearing out.
"Well, they were a little girl, about so-high." he gestured to around his waist area. "Wearing a goth lolita-kind of outfit. Black hair, blank-as-anything expression. There was a scary amount of Dragon-like aura coming off of them as well, though I don't think anyone seemed to notice."
"Oh, really?" Valian asked, stepping forward. "Think you can put a marker on how much aura this person, if they exist at all, had?"
"Couldn't really get the best reading, since she just teleported away a few seconds after I noticed her." Achilles replied. "Though from what I could sense, it was... loads. More than out of any single being I've ever seen. Including you, including that Cao Cao guy that you kicked the ass of in Kyoto a week back. Hell, I'd say including your dad."
Roxas and Valian shared a look in silence, before Roxas looked back at Achilles.
"Well, thanks for letting me know I'm probably being stalked." Roxas replied. "I'll... keep an eye out." Achilles simply nodded in return, turned around and left along with Karna, disappearing back into the crowd.
["A being with more Dragonic aura than the current Lucifer?"] Albion spoke up, quietly enough for only Roxas and Valian to hear. ["And a female form? Roxas, I'm just about certain those two clues alone mean that you're being stalked by-"]
Roxas disengaged from what Albion was telling him when he noticed a transportation-circle opening at the front of the hall that everyone was gathered in, with Ajuka Beelzebub coming out of it. He snapped his fingers, using magic to make the sound of his snapping fingers far louder than it usually would, causing the sound to ring throughout the hall and attract the attention of everyone in it (as if the sight of the second-strongest Devil (and third-strongest Devil of all time) popping out of a transportation-circle in front of everyone wouldn't have done that already).
"I trust that I can be heard?" the green-haired Satan asked, while using magic to amplify the sound of his voice. When he received the calls of ascent from everyone in the crowd, he nodded. "Right, good. While Sairaorg, Imogen and their peerage get treated in the aftermath of their splendid Game, we can get the explanation of the new ranking system of this Rating Game season, which I'm sure you've all heard many rumours about, will work."
There were murmurings among the crowd, which were quickly quietened as Ajuka raised a hand, with his silent call for silence instantly obeyed by all of those in the audience. After a second or two, Ajuka spoke up.
"I trust you're all familiar with the point value system, used in certain specialised Rating Game rulesets?" Ajuka asked. With a flick of his hand, he pulled up a holographic list beside him that all the audience could see. Roxas took a glance up at it, but only in order to look like he was paying attention. He already knew the whole point value system stuff: Pawns were one point each, Knights and Bishops were three, Rooks were five, Queens were nine and Kings got a value from 8 to 12 depending on their level of power relative to each King. Simple enough stuff.
It was a big part of a good number of specialised rulesets, particularly the Dice Figure and Lightning Fast variants of Rating Games.
"Well, this points system is the crux of the new ranking system that we're testing out for this season." Ajuka continued. "To start with, the points of the members of the peerages of each participating King will be added up into a single value, which said Kings will start out with for each Game they play in throughout this five-year season."
One snap of Ajuka's fingers later, and the list of piece values changed into a list of what Roxas assumed was every King that would be competing against in the season, including himself. Alongside the names of each player within the season (there were 20), there were two numbers: the first number was the point value assigned to each peerage member, and the second number (in brackets) was that number but multiplied by 19, with the numbers being thus-
Achilles Astaroth: 64 (1216)
Bedeze Abaddon: 60 (1140)
Roxas Gremory: 60 (1140)
Roygun Belphegor: 58 (1102)
Aezis Amon: 58 (1102)
Rudiger Rozenkreutz: 57 (1083)
Alistair Agares: 57 (1083)
Sean Sitri: 56 (1064)
Raven Branwen: 55 (1045)
Antigraff Naberius: 54 (1026)
Rawnel Mammon: 54 (1026)
Recimi Malphas: 53 (1007)
Sairaorg Bael: 53 (1007)
Imogen Belial: 52 (988)
Arlenex Astaroth: 52 (988)
Diehauser Belial: 51 (969)
Clypida Glasya-Labolas: 50 (950)
Tannin: 49 (931)
Galmull Gamgin: 49 (931)
Ruval Phenex: 46 (874)
"Huh, Sairaorg has a higher total value than last time we fought." Roxas muttered to himself. "Must have picked up a new peerage member."
"Probably." Valian replied. "I wonder why we're all getting two numbers each, though?"
"Maybe my dear godfather will tell us within the next five minutes or so." Roxas replied, dryly, as he looked back over at Ajuka, who had raised his hand again to curb the muttering going on within the crowd.
"Those with peerage members that took Mutation Pieces have had the value of those pieces increased respective to how many regular pieces the Mutation Pieces were worth, which was then factored into the overall point value of their peerage." Ajuka explained. "Such as Achilles Astaroth's Mutation Queen, Roxas Gremory's Mutation Rook and Roygun Belphegor's Mutation Pawn." He cleared his throat. "Now that the first point value has been explained, I'll move onto the second: each King's potential point total."
More murmurs ensued, but quiet enough that Ajuka could speak over them while still making himself perfectly heard with minimal effort.
"Allow me to elaborate, the second value, which the more mathematically-inclined among you will have realised is your first value but multiplied by nineteen, is the highest point total that you can achieve throughout the season. The Kings accrue points towards this total throughout the nineteen games you play throughout the season, with the number of points you achieve being calculated by the members of their peerages that they keep un-Retired. If I may put forward a hypothetical to explain this better-" he raised his voice as the murmurs increased in volume. "Take a rematch of the Game we saw during the human summer, between Roxas Gremory and Raven Branwen."
Roxas' ears perked up at the mention of his name, as Ajuka continued.
"If, like in that Game, Roxas and his peerage were to win after, say, the King, Mutation Rook, both Knights, one Bishop and both of the Pawns of Raven's peerage were all Retired, and Raven only managed to Retire all of Roxas' Pawns, then Roxas would earn fifty-three points, out of his potential of sixty, towards his potential total of 1140. And Raven, in turn, would only earn seventeen points, out of her potential of fifty-five, towards her potential total of 1045." The green-haired Super Devil elaborated. He paused, to take a small breath, then continued, with everyone in the room hanging on his every word.
"This would continue for all the players of this season, as all the Kings will face each other once, making for a total of nineteen games played for all Kings, with everyone having risen their point total as close to their potential total as possible." Ajuka continued. "All twenty Kings will have their point totals tallied, and compared against their potential points total into a percentage, with that being what all the Kings are ranked on. Allow me to present another example, in order to be better understood."
Ajuka waved his hand again, and the list of Kings, their point totals and their potential totals disappeared, to be replaced by a new list:
Rudiger Rozenkreutz: 670/1083 = 61.87%
Tannin: 559/931 = 60.04%
Diehauser Belial: 565/969 = 58.31%
Ruval Phenex: 507/874 = 58.01%
Aezis Amon: 613/1102 = 55.63%
Rawnel Mammon: 569/1026 = 55.56%
Imogen Belial: 546/988 = 55.26%
Arlenex Astaroth: 543/988 = 54.96%
Sairaorg Bael: 545/1007 = 54.12%
Antigraff Naberius: 536/1026 = 52.24%
Clypida Glasya-Labolas: 489/950 = 51.47%
Bedeze Abaddon: 586/1140 = 51.40%
Galmull Gamgin: 469/931 = 50.38%
Roxas Gremory: 582/1140 = 51.05%
Recimi Malphas: 514/1007 = 51.04%
Raven Branwen: 517/1045 = 49.47%
Alistair Agares: 525/1083 = 48.48%
Roygun Belphegor: 510/1102 = 46.28%
Achilles Astaroth: 537/1216 = 44.16%
Sean Sitri: 431/1064 = 40.50%
Valian let out a chuckle at the list, which Ajuka left out for half a minute.
"Any hypothetical Rating Game league table of any kind that doesn't have Diehauser chilling out at the very top, by a long shot, isn't worth taking seriously." she remarked. "But it's a made-up table, and it gets the point across, so whatever, I guess."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Valian." Roxas remarked, dryly. Though a smile remained on his face as he said so.
"Now, keep in mind that the hypothetical point totals were randomly generated, so this potential final league table may not be accurate to what actually happens." Ajuka called, above the hushed whispers that broke out throughout the audience. "But I hope that this league table gives you the gist of what this new system will mean for the rankings. Anyway," he closed his hand, and the hypothetical league table disappeared. "Now that I've got the new system explained... allow me to reveal, for both the Kings in the audience and for everyone watching at home, the opening fixtures for the new Rating Game league!"
Ajuka then waved his hand, with a third list appearing.
Roxas cast his eyes down the list until he found his own name, and found out that his first opponent for his first Rating Game season was...
Line Break
"Rudiger." Roxas sighed, as he accepted a drink from Rodin. "My first professional Rating Game, and it's against one of the 10 most accomplished Rating Gamers of all time. And it's in half a week."
Rodin let out a chuckle.
"No pressure then, I guess." the Fallen Angelsmith remarked. He poured Valian a drink, which she accepted. As she and Roxas took sips out of their drinks, Rodin spoke up again. "Though I guess what I finished making for you will probably help, Roxas."
"You finished it?" Roxas looked up, the smile returning to his face. "Already?"
"Well, when you're in for a fat paycheck from one of the biggest figures in the whole Christian Pantheon, that tends to motivate you to work fast. And work well." Rodin replied. "One sec, it's in the back." He put the bottle that he poured Roxas and Valian's respective drinks from down on the bar, and walked through a door into a back room. As the door closed behind him, Valian turned on her seat to Roxas.
"So, what did you ask Rodin to make for you? And how much did it cost?"
"New weapon." Roxas replied. "One of the Hero Faction members that we fought in Kyoto was wielding the Demon Swords Dáinsleif and Balmung, and they were broken during the fight. I got the shards, figured that something good could be made out of them, and went to Rodin about it. Had to offer 12,500 Souls as a down-payment for him to even consider making what I asked for."
"And another 112,500 after I finished, which I have." Rodin cut across Roxas, as he came out of the back room, carrying the new weapon that Roxas had commissioned for him. What Valian could only comprehend as a double-ended spear, though near the head on each end, there were a pair of semi-circular bladed edges, most likely to allow the weapon to be used for slashing at enemies, as well as stabbing.
"Coming up." Roxas replied, pulling out a card that he placed on a small machine that Rodin procured out of a magic-circle. After holding it there for a couple of seconds, he returned the card to his pocket-dimension. "There you go. All 125,000 Souls as promised. Buy yourself something nice or something." Rodin let out a dark chuckle as he handed the weapon over to Roxas, who dropped it through a magic-circle into the same pocket-dimension.
"You know, I might just do that." he replied. "Since the new Pantheon-wide treaty got signed a few months back, I've been thinking of expanding the business. Maybe open up bars in Devil and Angel territories rather than just Fallen Angel territories, you know? And if people've got the cash, I might offer weapon-related services too."
"Well, if the service stays good, you got my support." Roxas replied, grinning as he took another gulp out of his drink. "Maybe we can work something out."
Rodin let out a dark chuckle.
"Maybe." he replied, looking up as the sound of doors opening were heard across the bar. Roxas looked up as well, and smiled as he saw Imogen and Cana stepping into the bar. Imogen saw him, and instantly made a beeline for him, with Cana following alongside.
"Didn't know you came here too, Roxas." she remarked, hopping onto the stool directly next to Roxas, with Cana taking the stool on her other side. "We'll have the usual, Rodin." she remarked to the bartender while gesturing to herself and Cana. Rodin nodded and retreated as Roxas took another gulp out of his drink.
"Nice one on the Rating Game tournament." he congratulated the raven-haired Heiress. "Sorry I couldn't be there to see the whole match, but I was there for the end. You've gotten way better."
"Damn right, I have." Imogen replied, after a short laugh. She and Cana received their drinks from Rodin (the silverette male noticed that, rather than give her a glass, Rodin had just plopped a full bottle in front of Cana, which she picked up, yanked the cork off of and began positively guzzling down), and Imogen stretched before getting at hers.
"You wouldn't believe how much Cana's drinking habit costs me." Imogen remarked. "It'd be a cheaper investment to buy Stark Industries."
"I'm sure." Roxas replied, sniggering slightly. "Anyway, how've you been? We didn't get any chance to talk during Kyoto, and I don't think we had any real follow-up on that date we had. Unless you count all the summons. Speaking of, how's Wanda?"
"If this is your way of asking for a second date, Roxas, the answer's yes." Imogen remarked, with a smile of her own. "And Wanda's fine, by the way. Anyway, I helped out the Avengers on a mission in Lagos a month or so back. Had to stop some asshole and his mercenaries from getting a bio-weapon, was easy enough. Tried to take him in, but he tried to blow himself up along with a bunch of innocents, so I had to vaporize his head before he had the chance."
"Fair enough." Roxas replied. "You been helping out the Avengers for long?"
"Not really." Imogen shrugged. "Unless you count occasionally training magically with Wanda as helping out the Avengers. Lagos was my first mission with them."
"Alright, alright." Roxas nodded. "Anything else you got up to?"
"Not much, really." Imogen replied. "I started acting on Serafall's TV show. Yes, I know the show is bad, but it's because I owe her a favour, okay?" she added, slightly indignantly as Roxas tried, almost successfully, to suppress a laugh. "Plus, it's... kind of fun."
"I'm sure." Roxas replied. "Anything you've done recently that's not related to the Avengers or a shit TV show?"
"Meh, only the occasional Stray Devil fight." Imogen replied, taking another gulp out of her drink. "Most of them were pretty dull, unfortunately. Though there was one about a week before the Lagos mission that I had to save a kid from, though. That was at least mildly interesting."
"Oh, really?" Roxas asked, an eyebrow raised.
FLASHBACK:
Imogen rolled out of the way of the webbing that was shot at her by the Stray Devil that she had been notified of half an hour earlier. Hopping back up and smoothly transitioning into a jump to dodge the next shot of webbing that was fired at where she would have been had she stayed on the ground, she quickly looked behind her at the webs impacted the wall behind her, and immediately began dissolving the concrete wall behind her.
'Sticky and deadly. Got it.' Imogen thought to herself, looking back at the Stray Devil that she had just tracked down. Its upper body was certainly human, and decidedly female (judging by the creature's breasts, which were around the same size as Imogen's own, if not slightly smaller). If it were not for the creature's spider-like lower body, it could have easily passed for human if not for its eight eyes and beast-like fangs.
Oh, yeah, the creature had a spider-like lower body, eight legs and all. Which it was using to scuttle down the nearest wall and jump towards the unconscious teenage boy that it had been in the middle of doing... something, to, before Imogen stepped in. Said teenage boy was very average-looking, with short brown hair and no discernible features that Imogen could make out while dodging another shot of acidic web.
The Belial Heiress returned fire (literally) with a ball of black fire, which the spider-creature barely managed to dodge. Though Imogen could see it visibly shiver as her black fireball just barely passed it. Evidently, even being in close proximity to the cursed flames of Blaze Black Flare caused the Stray great discomfort.
'Works for me.' Imogen thought. 'I guess I can just-' And then the spider-creature began to crawl up the wall that it was already on, in an attempt to make an escape. It kept climbing as fast as its spidery legs could carry it, and was barely six feet from the top of the wall that it had been climbing on before it stopped and looked around, barely in time to dodge one of Imogen's Absorption Line tentacles, which the dark-haired Devil/Dragon Hybrid fired out of her hand, with the fired tentacle impacting the wall that the creature had stuck to, sticking to it in turn.
"Oh, no you don't!" Imogen muttered, firing another tentacle out of her other hand, following up with another two out of the hand she fired the first one with. The spider-creature dodged the first out of the three tentacles that were fired, but that, unfortunately, put it right in the path of the next two tentacles, which wrapped themselves around the creature's legs upon impact. Almost instantly, the spider-creature fell off of the wall, screeching in anger.
During its fall, Imogen noticed, almost too late, that the place that the spider-creature would land on was just about exactly where the unconscious teenager lay. With less than a second to spare, the host of Vritra's soul cast a magical shield around the teenager, which the spider-creature landed on and bounced off of, landing in front of Imogen and moaning in pain.
"You okay, there?" Imogen asked, in a fake-concerned voice. "You hurt? That fall looked pretty nasty."
The spider-creature let out a hiss of pained rage, and spat up at Imogen. She simply stepped out of the way of the gob of spit, which landed on the ground and lightly dissolved it.
"I'll take that as a yes." she replied, readying a ball of black fire in one hand. "Don't worry. This'll fix it."
She then let the black fire loose on the Stray Devil, reducing it to cinders within less than two seconds. Before the flames had even gone out, Imogen stepped over where the Stray Devil once was, while undoing the shield that she had put up around the teenage boy's body in order to get closer.
Just by his side, she noticed an open bag beside him, contained in the boy's loose grip. Grip that Imogen easily broke as she opened the bag, hoping to get some kind of name she could put to the kid... a name that she eventually found on the cover of one of the boy's school books.
Peter Parker.
Flashback end
"Yup." Imogen replied. "She looked like she was about to eat the kid, kill him or both. I showed up, curb-stomped spider-bitch, and checked to see if the kid was alright. He was."
"And then?"
Imogen shrugged.
"Wiped his memory of being attacked and sent the kid on his way." She replied. "I got my familiar watching him in case anything happens."
"Alright, alright." Roxas replied, nodding to Rodin as he was given another drink, which he took a gulp out of. "Anyway, you excited for the new Rating Game season? You're facing Bedeze Abaddon, right?"
"Oh, hell yeah." Imogen replied, a smirk coming to her face. "And I'm pretty sure I can beat him. Third-ranked best Rating Gamer of all time or not, I'll kick Bedeze's ass. Probably even harder than you'll beat Rudiger."
"That a fact?" Roxas raised an eyebrow as Imogen got another drink (Cana received another large drink as well. Her fourth, as far as Roxas counted). "Well, good luck for your game." He held up his free fist.
"Heh. Likewise." Imogen replied, accepting the fist-bump with her boyfriend and taking the first gulp of her new drink. Just as Imogen put the glass down, she looked up as the sound of the doors to the bar opening could be heard. Roxas looked up too, and the sight of the two women that had just entered the bar was enough for his other eyebrow to go up.
Both women were insanely hot (though for Roxas, the sight of that caliber of woman was nothing new for him), with one walking slightly in front of the other. The one in front, the shorter of the two, appeared to be in her early-twenties, with long chest-length cherry-blossom-coloured hair that was done up into a braid that went down the left side of her face, which was framed by chin-length bangs. Her eyes were a deep, dark green, and scanned the room until they made contact with Imogen, and Roxas sitting next to her. She also wore a formal-looking dress with high slits, which was tight enough to show off and accentuate her well-endowed bust and slim chest.
The woman behind the first was just as bewitchingly beautiful, if not even more so. She has black hair wrapped into a beehive-like hairdo with a bang sweeping to the right, and grey eyes with a beauty mark located at the bottom of her left cheek, close to her lips. As for attire, she wore a skin-tight suit with a rose design on her abdomen with long white gloves, black and grey heels, thin gold chains, three small belts strapped on each arm, and a pair of gold, cat-shaped earrings. What seemed to complete the whole look were the pair of glasses that she wore on her face, which had the design of butterfly wings close to the lenses. She also wore several accessories throughout her body, such as four metal symbols attatched to her hair, three of them in the shape of a crescent moon and the other being a symbol that Roxas didn't recognise. She also had a red hair ribbon wrapped around her hairdo that extended down to her legs, covered in a language that Roxas couldn't read.
"Imogen." the woman with cherry-blossom-coloured hair spoke, once she got a couple of paces away from Imogen and Roxas, before pulling up a stool and sitting down, between Imogen and Cana (who was now on her sixth drink). "I didn't know you came here." The black-haired woman (who Roxas guessed was a servant of the cherry-blossom-haired woman)
"I usually don't, Roygun." Imogen replied. "But Tifa's in recovery and can't work at her usual place tonight. So, I figured I'd try out a new place in the meantime. Lucky for me, I got to meet my boyfriend here, though."
"Boyfriend?" Roygun Belphegor, present Head of the Belphegor Clan and second-ranked Rating Gamer of all time (under the old system, that is) repeated, looking over the bar at Roxas. Her eyes widened slightly in recognition, before she looked back at Imogen, an impressed look on her face. "Nice catch. Hope you'll let me have a run at Roxas, if he's willing. He's just my type~"
Imogen let out a slightly annoyed growl as she went back to her drink, but notably didn't directly deny Roygun's request.
"Wait, you two know each other?" Roxas asked, looking from Roygun to Imogen and back again. Roygun's dark-haired servant had taken a seat next to Cana (now on her eighth drink), gotten a drink of her own and had struck up a conversation with Rodin.
"I was little Imogen's mentor when she just started getting interested in the Rating Games." Roygun explained. "Though outside of that, I like to think that I'm a bit of a surrogate auntie to her." she looked at Imogen, who was now rigidly looking down at her drink, looking like she was fighting down a blush. "Or maybe a big sister~" She leant over and made to wrap one arm around Imogen, and pull her in for a playful hug. Imogen, however, wasn't having any of it, as she ducked under Roygun's arm, causing the Belphegor Head to nearly topple out of her seat, though she caught herself quickly and resettled as if nothing had happened.
"Anyway, you know who you're fighting in the new season, yeah?" she rhetorically asked of the former Gremory Heir and the present Belial Heiress. "Rudiger and Bedeze. Well, I don't envy either of you. You'll definitely have a harder time in your first outing than me, if I do say so myself."
"Oh, yeah?" Roxas asked, trying his hardest to not let his eyes drift down to Roygun's breasts as he spoke. "Who've you got?"
"Ruval Phenex." Roygun replied. "Fought him my fair share of times, so I've got a general idea of what to expect." the light smile that she presently had on her face became slightly more mischievous-looking. "I hope you're not gonna try and charm me into giving you information on Ruval, his peerage and how to beat him, are you Roxas?"
"Nah." Roxas replied. "I'd charm you into bed. Then fuck the information out of you."
Roygun let out a short giggle.
"Just as bold and confident as I've heard." she remarked. "I like that. Helps that you're a serious looker. Either way, I might not give up info on Ruval, but I'll give you a Soul's worth of free advice on how to take on Diehauser and his peerage. That you can hopefully use to put an end to his decades-long winning streak."
"And what would that advice be?" Roxas asked, one of his eyebrows going back up.
"That you shouldn't overlook his peerage." Roygun replied. "Diehauser is ungodly talented with his Worthlessness ability, yeah, but his peerage aren't slouches either. I think everyone tends to overlook them while planning around Diehauser himself, which is what leads to the undoing of many strategies. More than I'd care to count, that's for sure."
"Noted." Roxas replied, gulping down the last of his second drink.
Roxas, Roygun and Imogen would shift into talking about more regular topics for a while at the Gates of Hell, with Valian, Roygun's servant (who she introduced as Bayonetta) and Cana (who had a whopping 25 drinks over the course of the evening. More than the other five devilish beings combined), until after an unfortunately-timed call from Venelana, Roxas and Valian had to be the first out of the six to stand up and take their leave. Though before they did, Roygun stopped Roxas, quietly pulling a small piece of paper out of a magic-circle and handing it to him. Upon inspection, Roxas discovered that it had a phone number written on it.
"Call me, handsome." Roygun urged, leaning in and letting out a slow, hot breath close to Roxas' ear. "So we can talk about some more, hm, private strategies~"
She then let him go, with Roxas and Valian leaving the bar not even a moment later. As Valian opened the transportation-circle to take herself and Roxas back to Greece, Roxas looked at the number that Roygun had given him, before slipping it into his pocket.
'Might just do that sometime.' he thought to himself, as he joined his Queen in the transportation-circle, which went off a second later, taking him and Valian away.
Line Break
Azazel was uncharacteristically quiet as he warped into the Grigori's prison building: where the Fallen Angels as a group held criminal Fallen Angels before the Cadre leadership decided on what to do with them. Most punishments for Fallen Angels generally fell into four categories, in ascending order of severity: community service, restitution, imprisonment and capital punishment.
This, however, was a rather special case. Mainly because the individuals that had been captured, and had been held for the past couple of weeks, weren't Fallen Angels. They were humans, or more specifically, human members of a supernatural terrorist group that had participated in the kidnapping of a faction leader, and possibly a lot of other stuff, too. The leader of said humans, in particular, was the guy that Azazel was specifically going to see.
After reaching the cell that he was looking for, and after nodding to the six-winged Fallen Angel guards stationed just outside, magically unsealed the door and walk into the cell where Cao Cao had been kept.
The guy certainly didn't look his best. After being kept in a cell for a couple of weeks, with only a couple of changes of clothes and not the best in the way of food or drink, the descendent of the Chinese warlord was a good bit thinner than the toned physique he kept up during Kyoto. That confident, charismatic swag that Cao Cao seemed to carry during Kyoto had also all-but evaporated, giving way to a more docile and fearful demeanour.
The fact that his sole weapon was gone, and had been returned to Heaven's Sacred Gear system after Azazel had taken it to his lab and gotten a good look at it (which he'd wanted to for an incomprehensibly long time), probably didn't help his situation either.
"So, Cao Cao." Azazel spoke, conjuring a chair for himself with a snap of his fingers and sitting down on it, fixing Cao Cao with a rather serious look. "I'm not gonna waste my time with you. And I'd appreciate it if you didn't waste my time here, either. That would make things easier for both of us, you know?"
Cao Cao just looked up at Azazel for a second. There was none of the fight that the Governer-General of the Fallen Angels expected to see in the eyes of one who had claimed themselves to be the 'Strongest Human'. Just... emptiness. Emptiness and defeat... with a hint of resignation.
"I'll take that as a yes, then." Azazel replied, reaching into a magic-circle and pulling out some papers, beginning to flick through them absently. He conjured up a table with a wave of his hand and laid the papers down on them. "Now, let's get started. How is Hera involved in the Khaos Brigade?"
Cao Cao looked slightly surprised at Azazel's question. The Fallen Angel leader smirked, and leant back in his chair.
"What I've got here is a report of Yasaka's account of the events directly prior to her kidnapping." he explained. "Hera had a little verbal slip-up and revealed that she's in league with the Khaos Brigade. The fact that you and your former Hero Faction were also in league with the Brigade notwithstanding, Yasaka exchanged hands between the two of you, so you had to have known each other on at least some level."
Cao Cao remained silent for a moment. Azazel sighed, and made to continue his questioning, but Cao Cao then spoke, his voice slightly raspy.
"Hera's become a commander of sorts within the Khaos Brigade. She's been so for about a month now. You could say that she's the leader of the organisation."
Azazel blinked, and leant forward. This wasn't exactly what he was expecting to hear.
"Oh, really?" he asked. "And what could have caused that? Did a previous leader step down? Did they die?"
"I guess." Cao Cao replied. "The previous leader, Ophis, has gone missing from the Khaos Brigade. Ever since the Old Satan Faction attack on the Underworld. The one where Mr. Durandal died."
Azazel raised his eyebrows. Ophis had left the Khaos Brigade? What in the name of Agrat's favourite navy-blue leather domme outfit could have caused her/him/it to go missing from the organisation that she had been a figurehead for seemingly since the beginning?
'Best investigated another time.' Azazel thought. 'Ophis isn't the problem now. Hera and this deflated asshole are.' Azazel took a breath, and spoke up again.
"Alright, that explains how Hera came to power. Next questions, did you and Hera ever communicate at all when you got Yasaka for the experiment, whatever it was, in Kyoto? Or did she act through an intermediary?"
Cao Cao looked down. He wasn't even meeting Azazel's eyes, not that he minded.
"We co-ordinated the kidnapping." he replied. "I had an idea that would benefit the Brigade that involved the Kyoto Youkai leader, Hera liked the idea and agreed to take Yasaka, she gave her to me so the idea could be carried out."
"And this idea was...?" Azazel pushed, thoroughly interested now.
"A plan to coax Ophis back to the Khaos Brigade by summoning Great Red into this dimension." Cao Cao replied. "Through a Dragon Gate powered by a combination of the power of Kyoto's magical leylines and the magical enhancements of the descendent of Georg."
"And considering that Yasaka is the present centre of Kyoto's leylines, metaphorically speaking of course, you needed her to concentrate all that power into a specific place." Azazel surmised. "And the magical enhancements from the Dimension Lost wielder would have been enough of an extra kick to hopefully attract the attention of the Red Dragon God Emperor. Am I right?"
Cao Cao looked up at Azazel, surprised that he'd managed to figure out his plan so quickly and easily, but rather than say anything, simply looked down and nodded.
"I see." Azazel replied. "Not the worst plan in the world. Would probably need a couple of tweaks if you wanted to increase your chances of attracting Great Red's attention. But it's definitely a start, I'll give you that much."
He stood up, caused the table and chair to vanish with a lazy wave of his hand, and made to leave the cell, before Cao Cao spoke up again.
"I'm probably going to die for all of this, aren't I?"
Azazel stopped, and turned around, a neutral expression on his face. Deciding that it wouldn't be worth it to give Cao Cao false hope, he shrugged.
"Maybe. Maybe not." he replied, placing his hand on the door of the cell and pushing it open. "I don't think that's up to me to decide." He let out a small chuckle and added "I'd be grateful that it isn't up to a certain Nephalem to decide, either."
Azazel almost laughed at Cao Cao visibly flinching at the mention of Roxas, before leaving the cell and shutting the door behind him, where it was then re-sealed.
And that's Chapter 53 of Nephalem of Gremory finished! We finally know who is the actual Strongest Young Devil (hint: it's not Sairaorg), the Rating Game season is coming soon, and the introduction of Rating Game star and absolute fucking hottie Roygun Belphegor (as well as her debatably-even-hotter Queen, Bayonetta), has come!
...For real though, have you seen the new LN illustration of Roygun? She's fucking gorgeous. It's also pretty funny that the first ever official illustration for her comes out, like, a week before I finish this chapter. Coincidence? Not a coincidence? I don't fucking care.
And yes, I'm going with Bayonetta's appearance from Bayo 1. Deal with it. Also, Azazel got some answers out of Cunt Cunt. The (former) True Longinus wielder was finally good for something, which is cool.
Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. Whether you did or you didn't, please leave a review and let me know, because I really do love hearing feedback, of any kind. If you fancy letting me know about some possible ideas you might have for later in the story, or just have questions for me (because I'll be happy to answer them), let me know in a review, drop me a PM or hit me up on Discord (my name for it is on my profile), Either method works for me!
Next Time: Further Training, Ice Princess x Ice Queen
Three Sizes of New Girls:
Roygun: 105-60-89
Bayonetta: 93-58-91
Seeya!
…
P.S. With this chapter, Nephalem officially has a higher word count than the ENTIRE Lord of the Rings trilogy!