Chapter 4: Conditions

"KAAAA CAAWWW!" A bird cried as it fluttered its way through the forest before landing itself on the window sill of a massive, white, castle-like house hidden in the woods. Through the window you could see Rias Gremory's devil peerage marching through the long corridors as the early lights of morning shined through.

"AAAAHHHH!" The inexperienced blonde devil yawned as she found herself lagging a bit behind the rest of her group. "I lived a rather strict life in the church but I'm still not used to these early mornings. Especially after president Rias had us train all day yesterday."

"My, my…." The dark haired girl said as she covered her mouth with her hand. "I understand where you're coming from but it can't bode well for you being so tired this early in the morning. I doubt our gracious king will grant us any slack especially considering how serious she is about winning this game."

"I wonder what kind of training we'll have today?" The handsome, blonde boy asked with a radiant smile.

"Whatever it is…. It's gonna suck…" The short white haired girl said as she opened up a large set of double doors to reveal Rias standing inside next to Issei, shocking the entire peerage.

"Good morning everyone." Rias greeted her pieces with a large smile. "Issei has agreed to sign with me in order to help us defeat Riser in our upcoming rating game. For the next ten days he'll be a part of our family. I expect you all to treat him accordingly."

"I look forward to fighting with you all." Issei bowed but his introduction was met with mixed reactions.

"No way!" The white haired girl crossed her arms and pouted. "We don't need this jerk. He already bailed on us once."

"Ummm…. I… Uh… Ummmm…" Asia began to mutter but never managed to get a word out.

"Well if he really wants to help. The more the merrier!" The blonde boy said, giving a thumbs up.

"Oh my…." The dark haired girl chuckled to herself. "Rias, just what did you do to convince him? Hopefully nothing naughty…"

Issei stood patiently, his eyes locked on the door the three devils just passed through but much to his disappointment no one else came through. "Is this... it?"

"Yep!" Rias answered cheerfully.

"Fantastic…." Issei groaned as he palmed his face. 'Well, Issei this is the grave you dug. Best thing to do is just do your job… and pray….' Issei thought before putting his fist over his mouth. "AHEM!" He signaled the other devils to quite themselves and luckily for Issei they complied. "Alright guys, I know we probably got off on the wrong foot but that doesn't matter. The only thing that should be on anyone's mind for the next seven days is the rating game with Riser cause I promise you that's all he's thinking about and regardless of how much we train our bodies he'll be difficult to defeat unless we know how to fight him."

"Issei, along with serving as our pawn for the game will have a very important job of teaching us about the game." Rias explained, getting the white haired girl to roll her eyes. "Issei has competed in over 50 official games and has fought both for and against Riser and his team. I'm sure he has a lot to teach us."

"Exactly…" Issei took the praise in stride as he continued his lecture. "A rating game is nothing like any other fight you've ever had. It's not gonna be about comparing one person's strength to another's, especially considering how Riser's peerage outnumbers us. We'll need to play smart and win matchups. I'm not much of a strategist and that's the kings job anyway but I can teach each and everyone of you what fights to take and which opponents you need to be sure to avoid."

"Between workouts with me each of you will spend time working with Issei on matchups." Rias explained. "If we work hard and fight right, we can win this. Are you guys ready to get to work!"

"YEAH!"

(With Koneko)

Issei sat alone holding a clipboard by a fountain. He impatiently tapped his pen against the wood before glancing down at his digital wrist watch. Eventually the white haired girl slowly strolled her way up to the fountain, not exhibiting any particular hurry to work with the experienced pro. "You're the rook, right? Koneko?" Issei muttered to himself as he wrote the girl's name followed by Rook on his paper. "You're late…"

"Yeah, cause I already know how to fight…" Koneko growled back. "I read up on you and I'm pretty sure there's nothing I wanna learn from you. After you're master died on a job you bounced around and signed with three different kings in a span of two years. Pawns are supposed to be loyal, if you can't even get your own piece right then what exactly do you expect to teach me about mine!" As she finished her rant Koneko was answered by a [BOOST!]

"HAAAHHH!" Issei roared as he lunged forward, readying his massive crimson fist to strike. Koneko leapt out of the way as Issei's fist connected with the ground, shattering the tile. "Why'd you dodge? I thought rooks were supposed to take hits?" [BOOST!]

"Hmph!" Koneko grunted as Issei went in for another punch. This time Koneko planted her feet and crossed her arms, taking the blow and only losing ground by a centimeter or two. "How's that for taking a punch?" She taunted but Issei responded with.

[WELSH DRAGON! BALANCE BREAKER!] Issei's gauntlet seemed to roar as his powerful armor appeared in a marvelous flash of light. Issei fired another punch into Koneko's block, this time blowing right through it and sending the girl flying into one of the white pillars that lined Rias' outdoor patio. "Just as I thought…." Issei mumbled as his armor faded and he scribbled down a few more notes.

"Huh? What?" Koneko asked as she rubbed her bruised back. "What do you mean 'Just as you thought'?"

"It's never a good idea to underestimate your opponent in a rating game but height and weight are a factor." Issei pointed out and Koneko immediately started feeling self conscious. "I think you're gonna need to play a hybrid rook roll...which may actually work for this matchup." Issei's eyes lit up as he came to a realization.

"Hybrid rook?" Koneko rushed over to try to get a peak at what Issei was writing. "What's a hybrid rook, why is it a good thing."

"A hybrid rook is what we call when someone who has naturally good mobility is made into a rook position, giving a quick and nimble fighter the extra boost of power and defense associated with the rook piece." Issei explained. "Usually, I'd advise against this because the only roll a hybrid rook has is as an offensive piece and it comes at the cost of extra defense. In this instance however no one in Riser's peerage should be able to hit you as hard as I did except for his Queen and Riser himself but you should be a good matchup for almost anyone else. You probably wanna stay away from knights cause they can out maneuver you and in the future you're gonna want to avoid fights with other Rooks who out weigh you." Issei finished his paper and handed it to the girl. "Work on fight on the move and against multiple opponents. That's today's homework, tomorrow we'll talk about fighting in pairs and who you wanna partner with."

"Uh.. Thanks…" She muttered as she looked over the detailed note page she was handed and began to feel a little guilty. "Sorry about what I said earlier…"

(With Kiba)

"So you're Kiba Yuuto, The knight?" Issei said as he stared down the blonde boy who was brandishing a longsword in his direction. "Your sacred gear lets you create devil swords? That's interesting but Riser's peerage can't be brought down by simple cuts and stabs."

"If you're talking about their regenerative abilities then I'm not worried." Kiba smirked as his grip on his sword's handle tightened. "I can strike them faster than they can heal."

"I hope you're right but I guess we'll see." [BALANCE BREAKER! BLADE!] Issei once again donned his armor but this time a jagged, crimson blade protruded from his left gauntlet. "Let's see how well you move that sword. Don't hold back, got it!"

"If you say so!" KIba disappeared in a burst of speed before reappearing to Issei's flank and striking with a swing of his sword.

KLANG! Kiba struck the side of Issei's armor and managed to pierce his suit but the damage was quickly undone. Kiba then rushed to Issei's side before he could react and sliced again but was met with similar results. Issei took to the air to gather his thoughts as Kiba darted across the battlefield, each of his movements faster than Issei's eyes could perceive. 'He sure is fast but he really doesn't hit all that hard. I'm sure if he could activate his balance breaker it'd be a different story but we don't have time to train his sacred gear significantly enough for that but maybe he was just holding back. I need to confirm something.'

"Okay, that's enough." Issei descended and Kiba stopped in front of the pawn. "I need you to do something for me real quick." Issei lifted his arm out in front of Kiba and created a thin magic shield around his displayed limb. "Okay, I need you to hit me as hard as you can. My shield isn't that powerful so your goal should be to do significant damage to my armor."

"Alright. If you say so…" Kiba lifted his sword into the air with both hands and took a deep breath. "Whoooo…. AAAAAHHHHAAAHHH!" SLASH! KLANG! He brought down his demonic blade with all his might and easily broke through Issei's magic shield but while his sword managed to cut Issei's armor it was stopped before it could go more than a centimeter deep.

"Hmmmm…" Issei muttered to himself as he examined the strike. 'Its better than I thought… but it's still not great…' Issei's armor disappeared and he returned Kiba's sword before turning back to his notepad. "Your attack power when it comes to knights is pretty standard, it should grow as your sacred gear grows but right now you're on par with Riser's knights, maybe a little stronger. You do have a clear advantage when it comes to speed. Unfortunately knights don't last in most rating games so your goal should be to do as much damage as you can while you're out there. You wanna focus on pawns, make sure you deal with as many as you can before they promote. If you manage to get through with them you should look to challenge rooks and use your speed and mobility to take them down. Avoid fighting other knights, it's not an awful match up but it would just waste time." Issei wrote Kiba his own list and handed it to the eager knight.

"Thank you for your wisdom." Kiba bowed respectfully as he took his homework. "I'll try to put your advice to heart!"

(With Akeno)

"Akeno Himejima, the queen. You use magic right? And you use Lightning for your main attacking spells." Issei started a new page.

"That's right?" Akeno said in her usual polite tone. "Are you planning on testing my metal too? I'm warning you, it may not go the way you think." An almost creepy grin formed on Akeno's usually beautiful face. "I get pretty intense when I get serious."

"Good to hear." Issei said as he finished up his note and handed Akeno her sheet. "Well here you go, good luck. Tell the Bishop she's up next."

"What? That's it?" Akeno examined her measly sheet, all the while trying her best to hide her disappointment. "Koneko and Kiba both got matchup advice and my page just says to focus on evasion."

"Yeah, queens are good matchups against any piece but you need to make sure not to take any major hits early on. Riser's probably gonna try to match you up with Yunabella early on, her attacks are powerful but easy to dodge. She often leaves herself open so just wait for those moments to attack her and try not to get distracted. If you me and Rias survive long enough to gang up on Riser, that'll be our best chance to win. So you need to focus on staying in the game, don't take unnecessary risks." Issei explained. "But I'm not that worried. Riser has a bad habit of choosing aesthetic over practicality when it comes to his peerage members. From what I've seen our disadvantage is in quantity not quality."

(With Asia)

"So you have absolutely no combat ability whatsoever….." Issei muttered, his face incapable of hiding his disappointment.

"No…. I'm sorry." Asia buried her face in her hands due to shame. "I'm new and I used to be a nun before I was a devil. I never learned how to fight." When Asia looked up Issei was holding a small bottle that held a strange clear liquid. "Wait, why do you have holy water."

"Rias told me that you're a healer so I wanna test something." Issei pulled out a small but sharp knife and poured his holy water over the blade, Issei began to bring the blade towards his right hand but Asia quickly reached out and stopped him from going any further.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Asia cried out but Issei didn't answer he simply pulled away and continued his...experiment. Issei pressed the blade against his hand and his skin began to smoke and burn as Issei dragged the blade across his palm creating an ugly, bloody cut.

"Here." Issei shoved his wound in the blonde girls face, getting her to jump. "See if you can heal something like this."

"Huh?!... Umm…. Well…." Asia shook off her nerves and took Issei's hand. "I'll try my best!" Asia lifted her palms up over Issei's wounded hand and a pair of emerald rings appeared, one on each hand. A soothing green light began to cascaded down from Asia's hands and it soon enveloped Issei's wound. Much to Asia's shock, slowly but surely, Issei's wound began to close and heal until it left little more than a small scar.

"Wow, that's incredible." Issei muttered as he examined his injury. "If you can heal a wound like that, then your skills truly are something special."

"Oh… No… My powers aren't that great they've only seemed to cause me and everyone else trouble." Asia mumbled as she lowered her head

"Are you kidding, you're incredible." Issei said, not paying too much attention to his words, getting Asia to blush. "Not to mention that your sacred gear can provide us with a sort of counter to Riser's healing abilities though without any combat ability it'd be best to pair you up with a powerful fighter like Akeno or Rias." Issei began to talk to himself as he scribbled away on his notepad. "Hey, how are you with your wings?"

"Umm, I'm not great…" Asia muttered but at the mention of devil wings her thoughts went back to Issei in the alley way and the pained, sorrowful expression he made at the time. "Uh… Issei… I'm sorry for what I said in the alleyway, I didn't think about how you must've been feeling at the time."

"Alleyway?..." Issei muttered as his mind went back to that day as well. "Oh… Yeah… I should be the one apologizing. Sorry about knocking you over and stealing your teleporter card." Issei said awkwardly.

"So Issei…" Asia began to push on in curiosity. "You don't seem like the type of person to lose control of your emotions. Is there something you'd like to talk about."

Issei didn't answer. He picked up his pen and clipboard and turned away from the blonde bishop. "Look Asia, I appreciate the concern but I'm not gonna be around long enough for you to bother getting emotionally involved. I need all your focus to be on this rating game, that's the only way we're gonna win this thing."

"Yeah… You're right." Asia said as she watched Issei walk away.

(With Rias)

With the day coming to an end, Issei and Rias found themselves studying a map of Kuoh Academy, the template chosen for the upcoming rating game.

"For the most part Your pieces beat Riser's when it comes to quality so I think it'd be a good idea to play offensively rather than defensively. A divide in conquer technique would be my first choice of game plan. The objective not being to take out Riser's entire peerage but rather to spread them out thin enough that You, Akeno and I can take on Riser all together without running into too much resistance." Issei said, as he pointed out specific areas on the map for important events and possible areas of confrontation.

"Wow… I like the sound of that." Rias Marveled at how confidently Issei spoke and how well informed his points seemed to be. "I guess experience really is a useful thing to have. Though I thought you said you weren't much of a strategist."

"Yeah well Riser makes it easier than most." Issei said venomously. "But there are a few issues we need to address, for one we have a weak link…"

"You're talking about Asia, aren't you?" Rias' face darkened as Issei answered with a nod. "I suppose we are already suffering from a numbers disadvantage, having a piece with zero combat ability means the rest of us are going to need to fight even harder."

"I'm not concerned with her abilities. Nothing wrong with having a healer around especially if we're planning an offensive strategy. It's her demeanor that worries me." Issei said with a shake of his head. "A lack of confidence can be a major issue in these games. You have to have faith in your abilities or you'll get picked apart out there."

"Yeah…" Rias nodded. "It's not like we have time to change her mindset. I'll have her stick by me for this battle, I need to make sure she stays safe."

"I agree with the plan to keep Asia with you, it should decrease the chances you're eliminated." Issei said before placing a friendly hand on the girls shoulder. "But keeping her safe shouldn't be your priority. I've heard that Gremory's hold deeper affection for their servants than most other high ranking devils but this mindset can be dangerous in rating games. You're gonna lose pieces, there is no perfect strategy. As the king that's something you'll need to accept. The only piece that you can't afford to risk is the king. The only piece that matters is you." Issei once again didn't pay attention to his words and his phrasing made the young king blush. "And me too of course." Issei said getting Rias' face to return to normal. "If I'm eliminated then you're pretty much screwed."

"Yeah, yeah. I get it." Rias said with a dismissive wave of her hand before returning to the map. "You think we should mark down a particular spot to fall back on if things don't go according to plan."

"Oh… I don't know. Like I said when it comes to the nitty gritty strategic stuff I'm not…" Before he could finish Issei was interrupted by a loud BRING! RING! Issei pulled out his phone and the caller ID read "Brody". A feeling of dread overcame Issei. "Ummm… Excuse me." Issei stepped away from Rias and answered the phone. "Hello?... Yes…. Yes, I know…. I'm sorry!... I should've told you I know….. I mean it was kind of a spur of the moment thing…. Well I'm not taking any money on this one…. Cause she's just a girl….. Yes…. Yes, I promise I'll do anything to make it up….. Huh? No way!... But thats….. But….. Fine, I'll do it…. Yeah…. Yeah, see ya…" Issei hung up and a wave of distress seemed to overtake Issei.

"What did he say?" The curious Rias butted in as she had observed the one sided conversation.

"Riser…." Issei muttered. "Wants to have a chat with me?…"

(End)