Chapter 7: Terms of no surrender

(With Rias, Asia and Riser)

(Lady Rias: One knight retired)

"No! Kiba!" Rias shrieked as another member of her peerage was eliminated from the battle.

"One more down, three to go. I'll admit that you've done better than I expected but any hope you had of victory fell with your queen. It'd be more dignifying if you surrendered to me now and accepted the inevitable!" Riser roared as he threw down a large fireball that Rias blocked with a magic shield. "You can keep defending all you want, you're simply delaying the inevitable! I'm the immortal Phoenix! I don't feel fatigued! I won't be worn down! If you want to win then you'll have to fight back but the second you drop your shield I'll be on the attack! You should really just give up! Accept your fate and become my bride!"

'Damnit Riser! Would you shut up! I'm trying to think! What do I do! He's right I have to attack if I'm going to win, I can't keep this shield up for long and the longer I hold it the more power I use up. I need to make a move soon.' Rias then looked down to see a shaking Asia bury her face into her master's chest out of fear 'That's right, if I drop the barrier to attack `its not just myself I'm putting at risk but Asia too. Poor girl, she didn't ask for any of this and she's so new to this. I'm not gonna put her life at risk, not again. I'm gonna need a miracle to pull this off.' Almost on cue Riser's attacks stopped and he and Rias' heads turned on a swivel as they looked over to see a massive pillar of crimson light erupt from the track area.

(Lord Riser: 1 Knight, 2 Pawns, Queen retired)

"What the hell…" The blonde high class devil muttered before [JET!] Suddenly a bright red meteor of light came crashing into Riser and knocking him off the school house roof. CRASSSSHHHH! "Ugh…" Riser groaned, next thing he knew he was across the campus with Issei standing over him, he was surrounded by violent crimson light that was so intense that only the pawns silhouette could be seen through the overwhelming amount of energy. "Issei? What the hell is going on?"

"Riser Phenex!" Issei spoke with a mixture of his and Ddraig's voices. "You've garnered the Wrath of the Welsh Dragon! You will pay for that!" Issei reeled back to punch down on Riser who managed to dodge out of the way before he could make contact but the force of the blow caused a large explosion!

'Man, this thing sure is powerful.' Issei thought as he observed his glowing body. 'But man it's hard to control, I can barely move in this thing. My strike just then was so slow and I need my jet ability just to get around. How come Ddraig couldn't have warned me about it.'

(Flashback, last night)

Issei was standing in his crater from before looking down in awe at his gauntlet. 'What the hell was all that energy? Where did it come from?'

[It's called the Dominating Furry technique, it's essentially a glitch in the Boosted Gear. The way our power normally works is that your base power is doubled every ten seconds but there is a way to increase the rate in which your power level increases and this occurs through the application of strong emotions. The Boosted Gear is an old sacred gear and the limiter has been worn down due to over using and abusing that ability. Through strong enough emotions you can override the limiter entirely and your power will increase continuously and instantaneously.]

'That's incredible, no one would be able to stop me with that kind of power.' Issei began to gush as he was flooded with excitement.

[You'd think so but that's not actually how it works. The body can only handle so much and rising in power so much, so quickly would normally destroy, luckily while using this technique our connection will be strengthened and I'll be able to help your body unconsciously release the excess power so it doesn't kill you. In the end you'll end up expelling much more energy than you'll retain but you're still going to increase your power significantly if you can maintain the form you should be strong enough to surpass Phenex without your Balance Breaker.]

'Maintain? What do you mean, I thought you were gonna be there to help me.'

[Yes but controlling this power is still going to be up to you and it's going to be difficult. There's a reason such a powerful technique doesn't garner the same recognition as Balance Breaker or the Juggernaut Drive, It's extremely difficult to achieve and even hard to manage. For starters you need to have an abnormally powerful body and a vast reservoir of anger to tap into. You being an angry angsty little devil makes you a perfect fit but even once you tap into this power, even with me helping you, it'll take everything you have mentally and physically to keep up the fight. This technique takes a remarkable amount of anger and focus to fuel its power and to keep you from losing all control. If your focus waivers then I'll end the ability to keep you from going insane and if your anger waivers then the form will cancel itself if either scenario is met your body will become all but useless for a significant amount of time, think of it as recoil from using all that power at once. You need to finish Phenex off with this technique or else you'll have no chance and to keep focus you'll need to commit yourself to a single task. Defeat Riser Phenex and that's it!]

(End of flashback)

"AAAAAHHHHHHGGGGG!" [JET!] Issei roared as he began rocketing towards Riser, his increased speed managed to catch up with the blazing devil king midair. Issei grabbed Riser by the leg midair and in a flick of his wrist he flung him down into the courtyard. Issei, meanwhile, kept falling the opposite direction. "WAAAAHHH!" Issei ended up crashing into the school house, causing most of it to collapse. Luckily Rias and Asia were able to escape before the roof they were standing on came crashing down.

Issei stood up, brushing a few bricks and some dust off of his glowing body. "HAAAAHHHH!" He grunted and his powerful aura reconstituted. 'Crap, I really can't control this form. I can feel it trying to get away with me, like trying to hold onto a hundred pound dumbbell that's covered in grease while wearing boxing gloves. I don't think I have much time left with this power. I have to end this quickly!' On cue Riser stood up out of the Crater Issei had put him in. 'Hmmm, let's see how he likes this.' [JET!]

'Ughh… What the FUCK! Is going on! I made sure to eliminate that bastard's Balance Breaker because I was NOT gonna lose to this HIM! How is he so strong! Huh?' As Riser's thoughts raced in his mind he didn't noticed the glowing, human ball energy hurtling towards.

"HHHAAAAAGGGGHH!" Issei coming in at supersonic speed reeled back his fist as he continued his approach. Planting his feet centimeters in front of Riser and using his momentum to deliver his punch. "Huh?" His blow didn't send Riser flying as his fist ripped a hole through the high class devil like he was made of foam. 'Shit, I thought I was holding back on that punch. I forgot that my power is constantly rising. I didn't mean to… Wait, I can use this.'

"BLAAAAGGGGH!" A concerning amount of blood came pouring out of Riser's mouth. The Phenex king then put his hands on Issei's arm and desperately tried to dislodge it. "Let me go!"

"Heh!" Issei's aura flared on his arm, destroying Riser's hands in an instant. Riser could make out through the intense surging energy as Issei's eyes looked up at his and an overwhelming sense of fear overtook him.

"Issei! No wait! I'll really die! Stop!" Riser pleaded as Issei began to pull his arm back, only to plunge it in deeper! "AAAAAHHHHHH! NOOOOOO!"

"Issei!" Rias called out, her voice a little shaky but still commanding enough to garner the Red Dragon Emperor's attention.

Disappointed, Issei decided not to obliterate Riser. He simply pulled his arm to his left taking a sizable chunk out of Riser on his way out.

"BLAAAAAGGHHH!" Riser hit the ground and another massive gush of blood came pouring out of his mouth but this damage would prove to be pointless as it was quickly repaired the next moment. "Haha, couldn't do it huh? Well that was your best shot, huh?" Riser was lifted up into the air by Issei and was then immediately tossed thousands of feet up into the air. "WAAAAAHHHHH!" [JET!] Issei rocketed up after the blonde devil mid air and drove an axe kick into his back, knocking him back down into the ground. "Ughhh…." Riser groaned as his broken bones slowly put themselves back together.

Issei once again lifted Riser, this time just holding him up by his neck. "Give up…" Issei growled but Riser who had no rebuttal just looked away, not willing to give up his prize. Issei, put his other hand on Riser's right wrist and with a single effort less movement tore the entire arm off.

"AAAAAHHHHAAAAHHHHAAAA!" Riser roared in agony.

"Now you're down an arm. Give up before you lose something else." Issei threatened seriously but Riser didn't budge.

"You…" He groaned through his pain. "Took the wrong arm!" He declared as he unleashed a massive blast of fire from his left hand, aimed directly at Asia.

'Crap!' Issei thought, dropping Riser and going off to intercept the blast. [JET!] Issei rocketed himself in front of Asia, splaying his arms out in front of the young blonde devil but just then the Dominating Will form disappeared. "What?" Issei was faced with the full brunt of Riser's attack, with no energy left over to protect him. KABOOM!

Issei was sent tumbling to the ground, his body now covered in bruises and burns. "What… happened?" Issei asked as he tried to move, to no avail. 'I can't even move.'

[I warned you what would happen if your focus waivered. You should've let Bishop be retired and finished Riser now you're all but useless. You may not survive another fire attack it'd be best to retire yourself.]

"Asia! Quick, go heal Issei!" Rias commanded and her bishop answered with a nod as she began to rush over to the fallen pawn.

"Not so fast!" RIser declared as he threw down a wave of fire that separated Asia and Rias from Issei. "Not bad Issei but I'm guessing all that glowing has left you pretty worn out. I don't sense any power coming from you now. As a show of respect you can sleep the rest of the game. I'll take out your king and end things quickly. Nice try Red Dragon Emperor but I'm afraid there is no one alive whose a match for the mighty lord Phenex! HAHAHAHAH!"

"UGGGHHH! Like hell…." [BOOST!] Issei's gauntlet flashed green and he began to push himself up. [BOOST!] "I'm not done yet!" [BOOST!] Issei stood up, his knees shaking but he found his footing.

[Partner, what are you doing. Your body is in no shape for you to continue to use your sacred gear!]

[BOOST!]

[I'm serious Partner, you could die!]

[BOOST!]

'I'm not gonna die!' Issei declared in his mind. [BOOST!] 'I'm gonna win!' [JET!] Issei rocketed forward, blasting through Riser's wall of flames on his way. "RISER!"

"Hahahah! Huh?!" Riser stopped his laughter and turned his head just in time to catch a high speed crimson gauntlet to the jaw. SMACK! CRACK!

Having successfully broken Riser's jaw, Issei fell face first onto the ground. He tried picking himself up but as he continued to exert himself his body continued to revolt. Evident by Issei puking up a mouthful of blood as he simply tried to stand up. "BWAAAAHHHGGGG! I'm not done yet." Isse wiped the remaining blood from his mouth as he stood on shaky legs.

"Issei…" Rias muttered as he watched her temporary pawn struggling to stand but still desperate to fight. 'What the hell, I thought this guy was a selfish jerk out for revenge. He sacrificed his power advantage to save Asia, he's far and away proven if he were to go all out that he's stronger than Riser. Why is he still fighting? He's falling apart, he's killing himself but he's still standing. Why am I letting some stranger show me up in my own rating game, why won't my feat move to help him?!'

"I'm sick of you!" Riser roared sloppily through his broken jaw as he grabbed Issei by his shirt and lifted him into the air. "BURN TO DEATH!" Riser slammed Issei's body down onto the ground and blasted him point blank with a concentrated explosion of golden flames. "DIE!" He blasted again, further roasting Issei's crumbling body until a blast of red and black magic knocked Riser away, just barely sparing the pawn.

"Issei!" Rias rushed to her pawns aid lifting him up as a blue light began to form around his body. "Wait, no! You can't be done yet! I can't win this alone!"

"Sorry." He muttered, his body broken and his chest and lungs burnt to the point were it was agonizing for him to speak. "I don't think I've got another shot in me." He muttered before grabbing Rias by the hand making the red haired girl blush slightly. With his remaining strength he lifted his gauntlet into the air. "I don't like doing this but it may be our only shot. I'm going to share my power with you."

"But I…" Rias tried to interrupt but Issei wasn't finished yet.

"I can be a real jerk sometimes." Issei muttered. "I'm selfish, self serving, I sell myself to the highest bidder and can hold a hell of a grudge but despite all that I'm a proud warrior. I take pride in my power and don't like to share it, the only other person who's ever received my power was my first master. She's the only one I've ever found worthy of sharing with. What I'm saying is, this is a big deal so don't waste it." Issei shot the king a lighthearted smirk. "And don't let that jerk win." [TRANSFER!] A powerful green aura formed around Rias' body. "Good luck." Issei disappeared without another word but his mind continued. 'I know she'll do her best. She wants to win this more than even I do, I'm confident that there's no way we can lose at this.'

(Rias Gremory: Pawn Retired)

'We lost…'

(The next day)

"Uhhhh…." Issei groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. He was lying in a medical bed, in the same Kiba stood looking out the window and keeping himself balanced with a pair of crutches as he kept his left foot elevated. "Hey man…. You alright?" Issei asked but the blonde swords man didn't move to so much as acknowledge him much less give him an answer, he simply continued to stare out at nothing. "Yeah, I get it. Rough night." Issei said as he through his bed sheets off thats when he found his left arm bound in cast and being held up by a sling he also learned that he was dressed in nothing but underwear and a series of bandages and wraps all over his body. "I need a walk."

Issei twisted his body around slid himself off the bed. He managed to fully stand up but he took a second before attempting his next step. Once he found his feet were sound he walked over to a shelf in the back of the hospital room and pulled down one of gowns which he used to cover his body.

"Issei…" Kiba turned around with a look of concern. "Should you really be moving around so much? You were messed up pretty bad."

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Sorry about this whole Riser thing, you think you guys are gonna be ok?" Issei asked as he pulled a cane from the same shelf and balanced himself.

"Yeah, we aren't done yet but this one is gonna sting for awhile." Kiba said before turning his attention back to the windoe, Issei taking the hint decided to slowly creep out of the room making sure to remain quiet but Kiba picked up on his movement anyway. "Hey Issei." The knight called out without looking back from the window. "You're leaving right? Like for good?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm pretty sure." Issei rubbed the back of his head, unsure of how to deal with the awkward silence. "Don't worry. I'll make sure to say goodbye."

Issei limped down the hospital hallway until he came across Rias and Asia standing outside one of the hospital rooms, peering through the door at a sleeping Koneko and Akeno. "Well, glad to see you two are doing alright." Issei said, getting the two girls to jump as they hadn't noticed his presence until he spoke.

"Oh Issei! Umm…." Asia's face began to turn red as she began to panic, clearly feeling guilty for Issei's sacrifice during the game, she then ran and hid behind her master.

"What are you doing out of bed?! You were hurt pretty bad back there, you need some rest." Rias began to scold the defiant pawn, who responded with a roll of his eye.

"I'm fine, they got me full of pain medicine so I don't feel a thing." Issei boasted at an inopportune moment as just then a nurse passed by and caught wind of this.

"Excuse me, Mr Hyoudou. You shouldn't be walking around with your injuries. You have a pair of broken ribs and a lacerated kidney. Not to mention the broken arm and the severe burns. I'm going to have to escort you back to your bed." The nurse demanded but Issei responded with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Don't worry about it, I still have a few tears left at my house." Issei answered and the nurses expression quickly.

"Oh, if that's the case then I'll let the front desk know that you'll be checking yourself out. I'll also have them hail a car for you." The nurse said as she began writing things down on her clip board before walking off.

"Oh thank you, anyways I'm just here to say goodbye." He said, bringing his attention back to Rias. "Sorry about letting you down out there. I told you I'd help you beat Riser but I wasn't able to do that so I'm not expecting any payment. Hopefully you can find your way out of this situation, sorry I couldn't do anymore to help."

The reality of her lost to Riser seemed to hit her all at once with Issei's words as tears welled in her eyes but she refused to let them fall, rather she remained quite until Issei was forced to slowly and awkwardly limp away. "Wait!" Rias called out, her voice cracking in the process, as Issei reluctantly stopped in his tracks. "I'm sorry…. You trusted me with your power and I wasted it. I know I let you down, You fought so hard and took serious damage for me and Asia and I let you down. I hope you can forgive me!" She shrieked as she suddenly bowed her head to the free pawn, her hair drooped down and covered her eyes but Issei could see a small amount of tears as the dropped from her eyes.

"C'mon, no need to apologize like that, there are people trying to rest in this hospital." Issei replied trying to defuse the awkward situation. "Look, everybody loses. I get that I put some pretty lofty expectations on you during the fight but that was just me talking in the heat of the moment. Don't worry about me I'll have another shot at Riser, Trust me. I don't know what's next for you but if you get another chance to end this engagement then give it your all and don't be afraid to fail because true love is something worth fighting for, I believe that from the bottom of my heart." Issei put a friendly hand on his master's shoulder but she was in too negative of a head space to give him an answer. "Alright, take care of you two. That goes for you too, blondie keeps up the hard work. I'll see you guys when you make it to the pros. Give the others my best when they wake up." Issei waved goodbye before he began to limp away, meanwhile his thoughts told a different story. 'Poor girl. I feel like I might even miss those amateurs.'

(Later, at Issei's apartement)

CLICK! Issei unlocked his apartment door and limped in, now dressed in his civilian clothes and with a horrifying expression on his face. 'Crap the pain meds are wearing off. My everything hurts!' Issei groaned in his head as he moved as fast as he could to a cabinet above his stove top. He opened it to reveal three small golden vials filled with a strange red liquid. He quickly opened one of the small bottles and downed the strange liquid. "Ahh! That hit the spot…" Issei sighed in a satisfied voice before ripping his splint and his cast off before clinching his formerly broken arm to test its effectiveness. "Good as new." Issei then pulled his shirt up and ripped his bandages off and then stuffed all the discarded medical equipment into his wastebasket before he made his way to the fridge.

"Whats for supper." Issei opened up his ice box to find a depressing sight. The only thing appetizing was a half empty body of ketchup. Anything with any nutritional value was covered in a thin green mold. 'I forgot it's been a whole week since I've been home, I probably need to clean up this mess…. I'll do it tomorrow.' Issei thought, slamming the door closed behind him. "I'll do it tomorrow. Today felt like delivery anyway."

Issei left the kitchen, passing by his front door on the way. In doing so he noticed a small pile of mail had collected there beneath his mail slot that he hadn't seen before. Curious he went over to check but his mood suddenly dropped as he picked and read the first piece of mail. It was an invitation to an engagement party held by the phoenix household. 'Seriously? Rub it in my face why don't you?' Issei thought as he dropped the rest of the mail and crumpled the invitation into a ball that he attempted to throw across the apartment into his trash can back in the kitchen, unfortunately it fell short, hitting the floor and becoming litter. 'I'll fix it later…' Issei thought as he continued his trek to his bed.

"Finally…." Issei groaned as he plopped down on his large king sized bed in his relatively empty bedroom. 'Phoenix tears or not I'm exhausted… I missed you bed.'

[What are you doing, Partner? We made a deal. I gave you the power to defeat your enemies and you promised to fulfill my request. It's not my fault you blew it, don't think you can get out of this?]

'I'm not trying to get out of it. You gave a whole year to get it done, I'm taking one day off for myself. I'll get to work tomorrow.' Issei answered back in his head before rolling over to his side but this proved to be a bad move as a sharp pain shot through his leg. "YOUCH!" He shrieked as he shot up off his bed. "What the hell was that?" Issei began fishing through his pants pocket and then he pulled out a small red pawn piece with a sticky note attached to it.

"Thanks for all the help, I knew you wouldn't let us down. Don't forget about us ok." The sticky note read like it was written by Rias and Issei simply crumpled up the note and threw it away.

'She must've slipped that in before the game, it's a wonder how I didn't feel it through the whole fight. It'd probably been worded a little differently if she had written it afterwards. I know that she's cocky but reading it now feels like she's rubbing it in my face. Serves her right for putting so much faith into a relative stranger. We were at a disadvantage from the beginning… Maybe if I could've used my Balance Breaker things would've been different but we weren't given that option so theres no use dwelling on it… Maybe if I had gone after Riser from the beginning...but Rias came up with the battle plan and its not the pawns place to go against his kings wishes… She was a told newbie, maybe I should've pushed her harder to rethink her strategy…' Issei through his face down into his pillow and let out a pitiful sigh. "UGGGGHHHH! How could I lose!"

[You're really hung up on this huh?] Ddraig chimed in but Issei refused to acknowledge him. [If you're not happy with this outcome then demand a rematch.]

"Yeah, I'll just walk up to a high ranking devil and demand him to let me kick his ass. That would work out GREAT for me." Issei argued back with a sarcastic eye roll.

[I don't understand you partner, you fight for money, you fight for revenge but you won't fight for your pride? I understand that you're a devil now but keep in mind you were a Dragon first. What do you have to lose, you have no household, your name will be slandered by the higher ups regardless and you and I both know your NOT gonna live forever.] Issei's eyes widened as Ddraig dropped that last bit of information.

Issei stood up from his bed, dropping his new red pawn piece on a desk next to his prized emerald colored piece before marching out of his bedroom. 'You know Ddraig I think you and I finally agree on something but if I'm gonna do this.' Issei bent down and picked the balled up piece of paper off the floor and unfolded it. 'I want an audience. You think I can put your request on hold for a few days? Partner' Issei smirked as he opened the invitation envelope and a small teleportation card fell out onto his hand.

(End)