"Cheers!"

The celebration went underway and Rias' peerage couldn't be happier.

And yet, for Rias, it felt so frustratingly cheap.

It wasn't her victory. She was just a spectator. She couldn't help in any way.

But they didn't need it. Well… Ruby didn't.

She expected Grayfia to come down mid-game and tear their little scheme apart. For Ruby to screw up and all of this to be for naught.

But she won. No, it wasn't just a victory.

It was crushing.

And while she had to deal with a celebration she didn't deserve, the brat only gave her a quick 'congrats' and was gone a second later.

/

The political shitshow was already underway. Not because the engagement fell through, that things happened all the time, nobody really cared.

No, it was because Rias seemingly dissabled Riser's bloodline. From a rising star of the rating games to becoming ineligible as an heir.

Those things probably hardly mattered to Rias, although it was very obvious that she wasn't truly enjoying her party. Sona, trying to bring up tactics used in the match, was awkwardly brushed off. Issei jumping around and gushing about how Rias defeated Riser was answered with a false laughter and looking away.

And the special guest was hiding away on the balcony on the roof.

Sirzechs decided to pay her a visit now. Rias would calm down a bit in the mean-time and he wouldn't have to listen to Issei's retelling of his fist fight with Riser that was becoming more and more embellished with every iteration.

/

Note to self: Don't mix'n'match experimental spells. Ruby tiredly sighed and heavily leaned on the railing.

Power of destruction? Sure, she could do that. Casting a curse that was based on conceptual imposition while sustaining an illusion and keeping an eye on Rias' tracker?

She didn't know what was worse, the headache from it all or her messing up the math and the resulting spell being much more energy consuming. She was honestly surprised she still had enough juice in her to make the switch at the end.

At least the place was so saturated with mana from all the devils in attendance that she was able to somewhat recharge. Still didn't take away the overall fatigue, though.

"Shouldn't the main hero be at the party and not hiding here?" A soft voice spoke up from behind her.

"Grayfia wasn't kidding about you being jumpy." Sirzechs offhandedly commented, completely ignoring the rifle and five magical circles in front of it being pointed at him. And the utter confusion on her face was rather funny. On the other hand, the fact that the amount of magic being charged up would be lethal even for high class devils was rather concerning. "Now, I think there are a couple of things we should talk about."

"And that would be?" Ruby tersely asked. In the meantime, her mind was running a mile a second, coming up with all the possible problems and consequences, and somehow forgetting about the gun she was still pointing at him.

"Well for starters, what exactly was going on with the match?"

"I think Rias made a good showing." Ruby evenly replied.

He only raised an eyebrow. "Different question. From what I heard, you and Rias weren't exactly friends so how did she convince you to not only help her but to substitute with her?"

"... because now the ruler of devilkind owes me a favor for saving his sister."

"You aren't good enough to fool me with something you came up with on the spot." He chuckled.

Ruby huffed and put away her gun. "Yeah… Trying to fool the Father of lies-"

"Not my title." He sighed.

"-wasn't a good idea… So? What happens now?"

"Maybe you can answer my original question." He quipped.

Ruby rolled her eyes, turned around and plopped down on the railing. "I don't know, okay! Just wanted to do the right thing. And then Sona asked me to help her and Rias looked so angry and sad…"

"Well, I suppose I can oblige. Just remember that I'm not omnipotent."

"You remember that I used it as an excuse, do you? I don't even know what I might need."

"Regardless, I insist." Sirzechs smiled down at the girl. He didn't really care about her reasons, he just wanted to get a better look at what was going on inside her head. She was definitely a bit chaotic and overall misstrusting of them but at her core she was a good person. And a terrible liar. "Just for the record, how many people know what happened?"

"Me, Rias, Koneko and you. I think Ddraig might have also recognised my scent but he doesn't care and maybe Sona will put it together at some point."

Sirzechs nodded. "Grayfia also suspects something, so try not to feed it." He was supposed to be an impartial judge which in this case meant to rule the match null and like hell he would do that. Rias pulled it off and if she could get away with it properly then it was alright in his book. So what if she didn't fight herself? Having powerful friends and connections was also quite important. "Can I ask you something more technical?"

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Sure? Although, I kinda got used to being paid when I have to explain something."

"And I'm the ruler of devils, you have to do what I tell you." He shot back goodnaturedly.

"Well, I'm from the US and I like having my freedom!"

"What are you gonna do then? Ruin my tea?"

After a few seconds of stare off they broke down into giggles.

"Sooo… what is it?" Ruby asked.

"Two things, you using power of destruction and that weapon you gave to the young dragon."

"Hmm…" Ruby tapped her chin. "Let's start with the morning star, it would tie in to the other thing." She briefly looked towards Sirzechs, making sure he was listening. "Okay, so, we all know that all devils originate from Lucifer, be it either by blood or through his book. But he was an angel before that. So I simply had to dig deep to reach this origin point and then twist it a bit so that it would start mimicking the attributes of holy energy."

"...sure? And the power of destruction? You do realize that if Baels learn about somebody running around with it will lead to a lot of trouble."

"Why would they? I just did pretty much the same thing their ancestors did. First devils didn't have any 'bloodlines' so I just started from Lucifer's origin point and started working towards what I knew would be power of destruction."

"That's not how-"

"The only difference between your 'bloodline' and what I'm doing is that I need to perform about thirty steps to make this-" Her circle flashed above her hand and a tennis ball sized wobbly sphere of destruction appeared on top of it. "-while your 'bloodline' just does about twenty to twenty five steps automatically." Ruby fixed him with a flat stare.

"Hmm, one second." He pulled out his hand out of his robes and from the look of it he had some sort of underworld's version of a phone. "You've got it all?"

"Yeah yeah. And you owe me a ten percent increase in funding."

"Whatever, Ajuka. About-"

"Yes, it works like that. I swear, all brawl and no brains… Actually, hey girly. How did you twist it around? Back to holy or..?"

"Do I look-I mean sound like a goddess to you? Devil magic at its core is an inversion of holy so I just twisted it further."

"Was there anything actually left? If you pull and push it too much there is definitely something lost along the way."

"Yeah… About thirty percent loss. Not that I really cared, I just needed for it to have anti-healing properties. And Boosted Gear covered all the power deficiencies."

"Of course…when you have an indefinite supply of energy you can do whatever you want. About bloodlines, have you thought about automating the process?"

"You mean like carrying a wand and enchanting it to have a preset formula?"

Both Sirzechs and Ajuka winced.

"I meant something closer to implanting it directly onto a person's system."

"... I can think of it." Ruby slowly answered. "I didn't really work on it but theoretically it should be possible." Theoretically possible, with a lot of chances to kill whoever was on the receiving and. She would need to pretty much rewire their entire mana system.

"Ehm ehm." Sirzechs interrupted their discussion. "Ajuka, we already talked about it. I don't care if it's possible to implant the king's bloodline through the evil pieces, you are not doing it and I'm not dealing with it when all of the pillars go berserk over it."

"That's why I'll outsource it to a third party! I will only oversee the research."

"Of course, thanks for help and bye." He deadpanned and ended the call. He sighed and took a look at the smirking Ruby. "So! Who are you actually? We know you are a hybrid but who do you belong to?"

"Smooth." What a way to change the subject. "What's the deal with it, anyway? Sona asked me the same thing."

"Bureaucracy. For the most part."

"Ugh… can I burn it?"

"Trust me, I tried. Now it's enchanted to the point I have to bring my A-game to get rid of it." To this moment he wondered how did Grayfia convince Ajuka to do it. "It's just you've been around for a couple of months now and we still know barely anything about where you came from."

Ruby huffed. "Why does it even matter to me? From what I know, even if you put me under some clan then it would barely change anything. And not for the better, mind you." She took a breath. "Besides, I've already tried to figure it out myself and I couldn't find any pillar that would match my sigil."

"So you are either from a dead one or extra…that would complicate things." He remarked. "Available roster only features the active ones."

"Let me guess, politics?"

"Indeed. With that weapon Hyoudou-kun used, we thought you might be a Lucifer."

"Might as well be, I don't really care. Haven't met any, I'm self-sufficient and not looking for a family." Ruby laughed it off.

Sirzechs became a bit downcast at her admission. "While I'd say you should treasure your family more, when it comes to the remaining Lucifers, it would be better for you to stay away. Even if you happen to be related to them."

"Old grudges?"

"Let me put it this way. The current head is an amplified personification of every evil stereotype about devils and his son is, to put it lightly, a little bitch."

"No grudges at all…"

"I suppose I'll pick a dead clan at random and write you under it. Nobody checks those things anyway and when you feel like pursuing it, I can simply change it."

"The wonders of autocracy." Ruby deadpanned. "Anything else or the interrogation is over?"

"Just one last thing." Suddenly, he grew more serious. "Why are you in Kuoh?"

"Been close by, decided to take the offer." Ruby answered, looking into the distance.

Sirzechs sighed. "Miss Rose-" Ruby's eyebrow twitched. "-you have not been forced to stay there, from what I've heard, you are not exactly satisfied and you would clearly be able to live on your own outside of our territory." She had spent five years off the radar, so what made her reappear? "I appreciate that you helped Rias but… With your capability and allegiances, or lack thereof, you pose a certain amount of risks. I do sympathize with your situation and would prefer to simply let you get settled but I would like to know why you really came to Kuoh."

Ruby turned around and looked him in the eyes. Then she checked the entire balcony, both with her eyes and magically scanning the place. She took a deep breath. "...you won't freak out and send an army or something like that?"

He frowned. "The fact that you have to ask doesn't make me feel better."

Okay, Rubes, deep breaths. It's his place anyway so maybe, just maybe, he will actually help. Half a dozen circles appeared around them and spread out.

As far as privacy wards went, Sirzechs was reasonably impressed. Of course, the one in his office was several levels above but for something done on the spot it was quite good. But with them being isolated from the outside world, he noticed a certain very obvious hole.

"Your friends?" He asked.

"Insurance and possible extraction." Ruby evenly answered. "Okay, so… Some time ago I learned from a…reasonably trustworthy source, that there will probably at some point something very bad happen there… Yeah, prophecies and divinations are a bit sketchy when it comes to timeframes."

"And how bad are we talking about?" He slowly replied.

"Armageddon?"

Great… Another one. He remained quiet.

"I expected a different reaction…"

"With the strained truce between abrahamic factions and the whole passive aggressive mess between all pantheons, you get used to it." He easily replied. "The last time was when Brokk got it into his head to make a magical super nuke. Took the rest of the world three years to convince him otherwise. We are still pretty sure that Loki actually got some." Good times. Odin grounded the brat for the next millennium. And Sirzechs didn't have a problem with calling him a brat despite being about three times younger. "Anyway. Who is your little helper who told you to be on the lookout? If it was Angra Mainyu or any of his followers, ignore them, they are assholes and have more bark than bite."

"Ehm, no. Actually, I was told that by somebody who is trying to stop it." Ruby didn't quite know how to react.

"Are they looking at us right now?" He asked and gave a pointed look towards the disturbance in the barrier.

"Some weird ability to see whether you are involved in whatever world ending event is going to happen. Don't ask, gods are weiiii…" Well, shit.

"I see." He carefully replied, trying not to trigger her flight reflexes and then having to explain to girls downstairs, why their friend ran off. "Just please tell me. Does this friendly god-" not so friendly if her face scrunching up was anything to go by. "-of yours stay in Kuoh?"

"Not really." She wasn't in Kuoh. She was inside Pyrrha… That sounds even worse. "Just pops up every once in a while to check in with me."

Sirzechs deeply sighed. "Miss- Ruby, I don't know what happened to you but you don't need to be the hero to save the day. Thank you for telling me, I'll get somebody to look into it. And as for you. Focus on the school, make some actual friends instead of having a snark contest with Rias and go enjoy the party, okay?" He fixed her with a knowing look. His answer was a doubtful look, turn on the heel and brisk walk away. Teenagers…

/

"You are being really out of it for someone who should be celebrating." Sona finally had enough of Rias skulking at her own party. She could deal with it when it had only just started and she got swamped but now she could finally cheer up.

"-oke and whiskey, double the whiskey." They heard a familiar voice.

"Ma'am, I'm not allowed to serve mino-" The servant tried to protest.

"Buddy, I'm getting the drink. Either you make it or I'll take it myself and there is nothing you can do to stop me."

"Are you going to stop her?" Rias asked.

"This is your party. Why should I do it?" She, of course, was a moment away from marching over and smacking her on the head for drinking, giving the bartender a lip and overall ruining the mood with her attitude.

"Well, it's just you are usually the one who keeps her in line. Or around the line." Oh, Rias would just love to have some private talk with her. But that was the exact problem. She needed it to be private, not around all these people.

"See, it was so easy." Ruby gave the bartender a small smirk only to start frowning when her drink started to leave her glass and levitate in the air. "Sona, you have one chance to put it back or… Just give it back, I'm too tired to care about a petty revenge." Ruby grumbled out and presented her empty glass.

"No, I don't care, you are not drinking-"

"I legally have a weapon that has both the range and yield of conventional artillery and you let me bring it to class. So stop complaining and let me have a drink. I'm tired, redhead senior was just done interrogating me and it's either this or I go out, find an undead moron and turn it into a dead moron. Might do that anyway."

"No, if you have problems then we can talk about them." Sona was about to send the liquid to the nearest drain but then it started fading away mid-air. When she looked back at the witch, she was smirking, her drink back in the glass.

"So…what did you want to talk about? You have about this glass and one more. And I'm not talking about what happened between me and Sirzechs."

"You pointed a gun at him." They answered in unison, a mixture of accusatory and a deadpan. She was pulling out that thing way too often and for any reason.

"In my defense, he startled me." Ruby shrugged and downed half of her glass. "You know what? I had enough of devil business for the day. Have fun, see you in school." Besides, she had some actual devil business to attend.

-WoR-

Ravel Phenex, the forth, soon possibly the third, in line to the title of heiress of the Phenex clan was on an unofficial house arrest.

Her father was visiting the Gremory head and trying to figure out what to do now that the marriage agreement was null and void and demanding that Rias would undo whatever she did to Riser.

Her mother was calling and running around their allies, making sure that their reputation didn't start to plummet. It wasn't the loss that really mattered. In the eyes of the underworld at large her brother didn't to Rias Gremory, the Crimson Princess of Ruin. No, he lost to a younger, female version of Sirzechs Lucifer. There was little shame in that, nobody would blame a housecat losing to a lion.

And Riser… In short, had depression. His peerage and their big brother Ruval was with him trying to console him while he was trying to set everything on fire with his non-functioning fire.

And she was told to sit tight and not poke out. She was the youngest and somehow that meant that she would be too easy of a prey for anyone who would want to weaken their family right now.

"Lady Ravel." Her gatekeeper, babysitter or whatever he actually was right now, called out to her. "There is a familiar with a message for you."

"Let it in." At least something to do, although, who could it be from?

A couple moments later a small corgi came in and actually bowed its head to her. "Greetings, my master wished to give you this message." It spoke in an uncharastically deep voice and a bright red magic circle flashed in front of it and produced an envelope.

Good day

I would like to offer to resolve Riser's predicament discreetly and in a timely manner.

For further information send a message through Drei. (The familiar in front of you.)

Ruby Rose, freelance magician.

"Torus." Ravel hoped she got the name right. "Bring my writing supplies and an envelope." If it was some wannabe trying to score good points with them she would ruin her. And if she cured Riser…maybe they would finally stop treating her like a little girl.

/

"Just to recap." A young man of Indian descent, with dark skin, black hair and in loose white clothes looked up from his notes at the elderly monk. "At 3 am, over a hundred sickly, malnourished people got dropped off at your temple, along with a strange pot and a note to call local enforcers?"

The monk nodded. They were a small community. Who in their right mind would even venture into a somewhat hidden monastery in himalayas. So when their population gets tripled it's big news.

"Have you finally found that pot after one of your visitors threw it off the cliff?"

He once again nodded and motioned for one of the younger ones to come forth and pass the object.

A phylactery. Fantastic… The man raised an eyebrow and looked at the people around. "Very well, thank you for contacting us. We will send somebody to help them recover and learn who they are and where they came from. I'll be taking this to see who we are dealing with."

With that he disappeared in a burst of blue flames.

-WoR-

Ruby was, to her own surprise, happy to be back in school. No noble brats in a dick measuring contests. No satans poking their noses into her stuff, although she noticed that somebody was poking around Pyrrha's training field. And she was finally back and able to continue working on her project.

It also came with an unexpected but in her opinion hilarious result.

ORC had left for ten days.

She was pretty much gone for three.

Student council for two.

This left the entire territory attended only by Pyrrha. There was only one stray during those couple of days and she handled herself without a problem.

No, it was school life that had the biggest change. For most people it was subtle, but with Rias, Akeno, Sona and Ruby gone, she had no competition for the Kouh Academy popularity chart.

And oh did Rias seethe when she came back and learned that she was only number two. Sona's gloating didn't help either.

Overall, life continued without much change as far as Ruby knew.

/

"Come on Pyrrha, you can do it! You've already done something similar, just up the power a bit!" Ruby cheered her on.

Seeing as Sirzechs wouldn't let them practice within Kuoh without asking questions or raising a fuss, they had to think bigger. That is why they decided to have a trip to the Soya subprefecture in the northernmost tip of Hokkaido.

It also was suffering a bit of a wyvern infestation. Giant flying lizards made for good target practice.

"I'm still not sure about it, Ruby…" Pyrrha worriedly replied, clutching the holy lance in her hand.

"It will be fine. You just have to aim at the nest, if anything goes wrong, Rhongo can cut the power supply and I'll drain the excesses. But you do need to learn how to control larger quantities." Ruby reassured her.

Do not fret, you need only to guide the light. Do not try to fight or control it and it will surely strike your target. It will tell you what needs to be done.

Very carefully, she pointed the lance straight up and waited as the golden light started to shine from within it. And then, like a rising star, it shot up into the night's sky.

She could hear it. The distant, quiet whisper.

Split the heavens and tether the earth…

Ruby released an uncomfortable grunt as the entire area was bathed in golden rays from above.

Pyrrha brought her arm down.

And the distant hill disappeared in a blaze of a fiery explosion. Several moments later, the shockwave hit.

She released her breath and could clearly feel the fatigue just after one attack, both the spear and the white cape disappearing into motes of golden light. In the meantime, Ruby cleared out the picked up dust.

As for their target… The crater wasn't even that big. On the other hand, all of the vegetation definitely didn't appreciate just a tiny bit of cleansing flame.

"Well, not bad." Ruby commented. On one hand she was happy for Pyrrha and that she was getting better at controlling her 'sacred gear' but on the other… Gods were fucking bullshit. It took her years to make a spell that was as powerful. "Now, we make our escape."

"Ugh, sure?" Pyrrha replied. "What's with the hurry? You said it was all fine."

"Oh, I'm sure nobody would object to killing the pests. Setting the place on fire on the other hand…" Ruby answered and before Pyrrha could either berate or protest, they teleported away.

-WoR-

"Okaaay… I will either need a bigger room, or all of you need to get out." Ruby spoke up to the bubbling biomass that was Riser's peerage fretting over their weakened king. The man of course looked fine. Phoenix tears still worked and his hand was put back immediately after the match.

But she would need quite a bit of space around Riser so that nobody would interfere with the process. At least the guy who showed her in had enough common sense not to be an annoying ass.

"Oh, you are here!" The short girl with blonde drills turned around. "Okay, everyone! Get out, we are healing Riser and you are in the way." She spoke to the rest before turning to her guest. "Ruby Rose, I presume." She cordially greeted her.

"I see, you already grew lonely without my presence." Riser called out after finally seeing and remembering her.

"And now I regret offering to help." Ruby answered with an eyeroll. "Last time I checked, patients should just quietly lay in bed and wait for the doctor to make everything alright." She looked around. "I'm actually quite surprised that your parents aren't hounding me right now."

Ravel looked away and poked her fingers together. "I may have not told them…" She quietly admitted. "And well, they probably wouldn't let you in. Father's contracted magician had already taken a look at big brother but…he said that it would be very complicated and too risky." Something about having only a five percent success chance, thirty percent chance to turn into a stray because his mana system would go rampart due to the intervention and sixty five percent to become a completely non-magical cripple.

"Amatuer." It was just a parasitic self-sustaining curse that was imprinted upon his mana system. Although… It was probably something very new for the guy, he probably never had to heal a Phenex.

"And you can do it?" Ravel asked her and crossed her arms.

"Of course. Wouldn't come here otherwise."

Before Ravel could inquire further, Riser intervened. "She lives in Rias' territory, she probably already saw this thing before."

"So you are coming here to deal with the problem caused by your friend!"

"Excuse me? You, a devil, are calling me out for being an opportunist?"

Ravel and Riser shared a look. "Fair enough. Get to work."

Fifteen minutes later, Yubelluna finally convinced that she would be the one to stay with him during the ritual.

"It would be best for you to lie down." Ruby spoke to Riser after the room was finally clearer with only her, Ravel, Riser's queen and her patient. "Just so you know, it's going to be painful so do you want me to knock you out?"

"I can handle some pain." Riser answered with a huff.

"Okay, do you have any chains around?"

"Would ropes do? We have plenty." Yubelluna replied.

Ruby raised an eyebrow but Ravel was frantically shaking her head, hoping that she wouldn't ask, why exactly they had so many ropes in the house.

"Just get down already so we can get started. Stay calm and try not to move. You two," She glanced at the two girls. "Take a step back and do NOT jump in until I give you all clear."

For them, who were more used to straightforward casting, the following was an unbelievable lightshow. A strange geometric formation consisted of more than twenty mandalas, each spinning, changing angle, lighting up and switching size. Like an overblown mechanical clock.

Riser was able to stay still although quiet grunts and the sound of gritting teeth filled the room. His flames lit up across his body but instead of the usual hues of yellow and orange, it was vermilion with specks of black. Slowly, this dark fire started to disconnect from his frame and went up towards the center of the uppermost circle.

In five minutes it was over. The room went quiet, only Riser's labored breathing was heard.

"Clear." Ruby broke the silence and took a step back.

While Yubelluna flew towards her king and helped him up, Ravel slowly walked up. "Did it work?"

That was the wrong question. First he tried to light up a candle. It worked. And then the room exploded with now working flames and was filled with joyous shouting.

Ruby just stood behind a small barrier while draining some of the mana Riser was throwing around.

"Somebody is quick to get back on his feet." Ruby jokingly remarked. After his initial outburst, the rest of his peerage filled in and they all took off to celebrate. Which only left Ravel to finish the deal. There was still a paycheck to give.

"It looked so easy… Alvin said that his fire was being continuously reduced to nothing…" She was still in a bit of a daze after the lightshow.

"Phe, if that was truly the case, then I would ask if your brother didn't make a god angry at some point." Ruby answered as they started to walk towards a different room. "True conceptual imposition is more akin to a divine intervention than any sort of magic. Yes, this curse is based on the idea but the only person in the underworld who would be to do it fully, would be some strange fusion of Sirzechs and Ajuka." Sirzechs had the power and Ajuka the knowledge, they would probably manage. "Still, I don't understand why you decided to simply pay me off at this kind of price. Small favor would probably be easier to manage, hell, I would probably forget about it later down the line."

Ravel gave her a side glance. "Because this 'small favor' of yours could have become much bigger. If you wanted a service for service, then we could have negotiated but accepting a deal with unclear wording usually bites somebody in the ass." Her mother had stressed that out. The lesson might have been a long time ago but it still stayed in her memory and held true. What if she asked for servitude? Or treason?

So the payment would be material.

Which led to the strangest negotiations Ravel ever experienced because Ruby didn't know the value of phoenix tears at the time and Ravel was willing to pay a lot to have her brother cured. All of the clan was as well.

And so, a small chest containing fifty vials was presented to the magician.

"I hope these are not all yours. Then I would have to worry about getting you dehydrated." Roby joked as she inspected one of the vials in her palm.

"Actually, most of them are from big brother." Ravel answered. "With his fire not working, making tears was 'his only way to help the family'." A warm smile split her face at the memory.

"Then I hope those are really only tears and not some other bodily fluids…" Ruby carefully put the vial back inside the chest.

"Hey! He is not that bad!"

/

/

/

Replies

To merendinoemiliano: Rias didn't have anything in her hand. It was just a little mark for Ruby's spell. Tracking rune for Ruby to be able to switch them up. Visual and sound ones for the illusion on Rias so that she wouldn't screw it up.

To ahsoei: 1) Nope, Issei still gave up his arm for the scalemail. Ruby kickstarting Boosted Gear didn't change much. Just in the show Issei had first only partially awakened it, then true form and at the end Ddraig. In this case, Ruby forcibly woke up Ddraig and then let him and issei figure out the rest by themselves.

2) Duh, do you want to get the story spoiled so badly? Frankly, I have already left around quite a bit of clues as it is. And it's not Vali!