Hello, Soluxy here with another longfic. This time in the DxD Universe, with the gamer ability.

Warnings apply:
—Major character death.
—Edgy MC.
—Depictions of sex and rape.
—Depictions of extreme violence and gore.
—Depictions of war and terrorism.
—Depictions of extreme poverty.
—Depictions of abuse.
—Depictions of neglect.

Narrated in the first person due to the gamer ability. Several chapters will have different POVs where the gamer system won't be prevalent.

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The Cold Opening Of A Flaming Phoenix I
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Riser

I walked forward, there was no one by my side but that was alright.

This place was kind of fun, this was the Gremory's family home. Though it was a little bit posh and had many halls. However, I wasn't in any of those posh halls, I was in a subterranean corridor with stones all around. This was leading up to a very legendary game. The so-called devil rating games, where competitions between peerages occur. They were a little bit antiquated, but they were there so that Devils didn't lose their edge after the war.

Devils were creatures of instinct and they loved showing their dominance to someone else.

In that vein, I was the same. I am not a good person.

There are many people in the world. However, I care for a few. I didn't have a great time growing up with my so-called "family." However, after this one game, it would be water under the bridge. I'm a hateful guy, I'm not here to deceive anyone about my true intentions. I am not here to make friends, neither am I here to impose any morals. I don't really care about that sort of stuff, neither am I interested in the true Canon story of this whole world.

I don't care about peace, and I don't really care about people's lives.

Once upon a time, I might have those sorts of heroic feelings within me. However, after growing up in this place, I decided that I didn't care for anyone outside of those I found. You see, there's this thing called "peerages," they are like servants or found families. Found family sounds more correct in this term because I have both slaves in my home, and I have my peerage somewhere else.

"Oooh, here comes the Peerage-less King. The piece of shit needs to die already. Nobody likes him."

"Haha, why does he keep doing this. Why does he keep fighting in these Rating Games? What a loser. If only you'd die."

You see, people didn't like me as much as I grew up. Even though I tried my hardest for people to like me, even though I tried my best to comply with their terms. I was always hated for some stubborn reason. Not to mention that there are certain elements here that want to watch me fail all the time. Those feelings have permeated through everyone's minds. So I guess I'm pretty much hated everywhere in the Devil Society, even though those Devils of the Old Faction do exist. It seems I am pretty much hated here.

Even though there are disgusting people like Diodora Astaroth running around.

I was the third son of an influential family, you see. And I was not well-regarded, I was just a pawn for political marriages instead since my older brothers were so better than me. The second one was a media star and quite famous on Devil Society as a whole. He was not the best brother and bullied me quite a lot when I was a toddler. However, I became so strong that he couldn't do that anymore. So he cried to our parents and they admonished me as always by locking me into prison for months, pieces of garbage as they are. Prison here in hell isn't the best place I will tell you.

So then, I get something called the devil pieces, chess pieces that when used in a person they can reincarnate as Devils to serve me. They are like servants or a found family. I treat them like found family. However, I also have a complicated relationship with them, I don't hate them, instead I actually quite love them. However, they aren't here in this match. In fact, none of my peerage has ever entered a rating game.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

People think that my peerage are Stray Devils.

I don't like that classification a lot but there are rumors about me and my peerage that has circulated ever since I was 12 years old. You see, my family, as proud as they are. They have put me into the rating games system since I was young. Ever since I crowned my Queen, I've been obligated to participate in this farce. Even though I had no peerage to speak of, I was forced into the situation by the devil society at large.

I was humiliated by not having a peerage in all my games. People call me the "Queen-less King" or "Peerage-less King." so even though I have a full peerage they are not here.

I would rather they call me the "Lone King" instead, but they feel like it's too badass for me, so they just call me the previous names instead. Society started ridiculing me, they look at me like I'm a clown.

So if I'm a joke, then they should be laughing at me, then why are they hating me so much?

It's quite simple, I haven't lost a single game yet.

Their society believes in the power of peerages so seeing a measly King win everything makes them very mad. Not to mention I am actually engaged to their leader's little sister.

Remember when I said that I was just a pawn to my family?

They wanted to use me, since I was so useless to them, as a marriage pawn. So I've been engaged to the selfish little Princess of the Devil Society, so they hate me even more.

And the one who hates me the most is that little leader called Lucifer, having incestuous feelings for his little sister or whatever, who cares.

Pretty pathetic if you ask me. If you have those feelings then why don't you act upon it?

The guy has all the power and yet he's a coward, he could take his little sister, he could take any woman or man he wants to. He's the most powerful devil that has ever existed and yet he acts with sloth instead of pride, he acts envious towards me instead of greedy. He acts like a damn clown.

They say he's maneuvering politically and trying to stay peaceful with the Devil Society. When the guy himself could just destroy everyone and reign with power instead. And yet, the guy keeps his corrupt bastards and cronies happy by acting like a damn fool. I understand, he wants to keep his little sister happy. I also want to keep my peerage happy. But I am not a fool with them. I know what they want, I know what I want, I act harsh or kind with them as I want. This piece of shit Lucifer is tied to his little sister's finger. Whatever she wants he gives her. That's pathetic, that's not an equal relationship anymore, he's just her slave.

Sorry, I'm quite mad at Lucifer, he's supposed to be the strongest of the Devils and yet he's like this. A person like me struggles so much to cling to life. And as someone as greedy as me that wants everything, and as someone that's prideful as me who can't bow to just anyone. I feel like Sirzechs Lucifer is a bad example to follow.

I am a Devil, so I'm ruled by sins. The strongest sins that influence me amongst them are Wrath, Greed, and Pride. I live by these three sins, and my personality can be summed up by these. I have a bit of lust, but I am not like certain Ecchi Protagonists like the show this world is based on.

This is my second time in life, I am a reincarnated person.

So the feelings of staying alive are really strong within me. And I have a big dream for the future, to explore the vast universe. Quite a silly dream for someone born with magic powers, immortality, and more. People will generally say that with these powers, being King of the world would be the best thing to do, but I don't care about the world.

The world can go fuck itself for all I care.

In fact, I don't care about Trihexa and the end of Earth, I can destroy the world even without that beast if I feel like it. So it's not like I'm against the antagonists' plans or whatever. All I want is to explore the vast universe, you could say I am taken by it. The cosmos itself has grabbed my heart and it won't let go. Even though this place has powerful infinite beasts that can mess with parallel worlds or the in-between. I'm more concerned about exploring the stars instead.

So why am I here fighting another rating game without my peerage?

It's simple, I am ruled by pride, I want to teach these Devils a lesson, that the power of a 'Lone King' can make all the difference. These Devils place all their hopes on the power of friendship and the power of their peerages and how coordinated they are. They say that these battles are not fought alone and I am the antithesis of that.

I mean, believing the power of your peerage isn't wrong by any means. But forgoing all of your personal development and instead focusing on only teamwork is quite the wrong way to go about it. Peerages are strong, I'm not going to lie. However, they will never reach the true peak. Personal growth is also a part of it.

I have a peerage and they never appear on my games. There's a complicated relationship for sure. But the humiliated King that I am, called for them in the beginning. However, they have their own issues to deal with. And this is my issue to deal with.

I realized early on that these rating games are my fight, not theirs.

So even if my Queen, even if my Bishop, even if my Knight, even if my Pawn were to appear here to fight alongside me, I would reject their help completely. I want to prove that I can do this alone. I have issues that I want to resolve with them at my side, and they have their issues that need my help. I understand that.

But this personal struggle of mine is mine alone to tackle.

But soon these rating games for me would be over.

Because right now I am fighting the biggest opponent yet.

After this, I can move to another issue. I have to try to find my peerage in the whole wide world.

This part of my second life would be over and I can finally move on.

QUEST [The Final Rating Game]
Intentionally lose to the strongest peerage of Sirzechs Lucifer. Protecting the integrity of their society and stability of the three factions.

Rewards
?
+10 reputation with the Devil Society.
10 Gacha Tokens.

I wasn't amused. It seems this is the game's way of making a joke.

There's no way I'd lose.

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Author's notes
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We've got a cold open to my next series, tackling the DxD universe. This will be a more personal story, focused on an SI Riser, and his peerage. The original canon peerage won't be making an appearance, instead, it will be different women from different franchises, all strong in their own right. This fic will be extremely focused on individual struggles and different mythologies. It will be a more realistic fic in the sense where actions have consequences and the world at large will feel them.

The main character is not a good guy, however, he's a little different than other power-hungry protagonists. His endgame isn't world domination or having sex with endless women—though there will be plenty of sex. There are two endgame goals, and there are only 5 women that actually matter.

Kiss-shot—Queen
Specialist Wars Arc

Shiraori—Bishop
Kabbalistic Wars Arc.

Jibril—Rook
The Chinese-Indian World War Arc.

Artoria Pendragon—Knight
Nordic Mythos Ragnarok Arc

Harukawa Maki—Pawn
The Destruction of the Pantheon Arc.

Riser's peerage is consisting of all these members, eating all the pieces. Bonus point if you know all these women.

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