hey, everyone. Miss me? I missed writing this story, so I'm really happy to finally start the Ratif Game, or at least part of it. Another thing, this chapter might or might not be extremely moving in a switch-y manner, and maybe I had too much time developing each scenario and tried to crump everything here. If things went too rushed or anything, I'm sorry, and I'll correct it as soon as possible. All good? Thank you and I hope you have a good read.
As always, Highschool dxd does not belongs to me~.
"Seriously, because of the recent otaku culture, mangas from Weekly Shounen Jump are becoming more and more mainstream. Since the major demand nowadays is usually moe and harems, Jump is being guided only by the otaku community, and not by general media, since the surviving in The Manga Industry depends on the popularity of a series, and to maintain a good position among them, authors are more and more turned to do generic storylines and characters than put their true potential to work. That's why monthly magazines like Square and Valkyrie Comics are superior. With the extended deadline and the absence of a poll regarding the popularity of a series, since the bigger gap from edition to edition, authors can put more thought and soul into their works without the worry of a imminent cancelation. Another flaw about Jump is their interest only in transmedia: first, the manga, then the anime, and then merchandise. Monthly releases don't care solely about that, and an anime is just a consequence for a good story. Not that I watch any, of course. Anime is a cheap way to acquire more money by milking the original idea and simply animating it to television, only to sell it later on DVDs or BDs. I already like the manga, why bother a cheaply animated, poorly voiced animation, anyway, that sometimes don't even follows the source material? Moreover..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
*ZOOM!*
"What the hell! You scared the crap out of me, Ikkun!" Oh, now it's 'Ikkun'. I swear, when I thought that her offer of a ride through the Gremory mansion was a good idea, I would never guess that she would rant about jump all the way. And we've been walking for barely five minutes. I tried to walk away from her, but she were faster and caught up with me. "Where do you think you're going?!"
"Away from you."
"It's because my choices on manga are superior that your's?! We can still be friends! How about music?! Do you like music?! Real music, like Beethoven or Mozart, and not retarted pop-songs that roots our brains! Books?! Do you read many books? Not Harry Potter or Twilight stupidity, but Kafka and Nietzsche! Those are very good! Your favorite movies are from either Kurosawa or Miyazaki, right?! Star Wars?! The hell is that garbage?! See?! We can still be friends! Despite my choices in media being far better, we can still be friends!"
"Yes, Rei-chan, we can still be friends, and I'd respect you if you really like those, but the way you're saying are giving me the impression that you only watch and read those just to look superior from others."
"..."
"...?"
*POUT!*
And she's pouting at me. Pfff... Seriously? She said she has the best choices in manga, movies and books, yet she's pouting at me. Way to break the mood, Ichijou. Rei-chan stared at me for at least half a minute, and then crossed her arms as we returned to our little journey through the corridors of the Gremory household.
This place, by the way, is Huge! Some parts are kinda destroyed and missing, sure(maybe it was that apocalypse beast when it finally reached the demon world?), but everything else was just fine. The clean white floor, the beautiful gothic-style lamps and chandeliers, several mosaic-like windows and several paintings on the wall. All of them portraying beautiful redheads and a little more.
I caught a glimpse of a bigger picture with a beautiful, pregnant, blue-eyed redhead surrounded by many other pretty women, and by her side, a man with brown hair and golden eyes, wearing a wine tuxedo and with a strange goth-loli hanging on his arm, as he was reaching the main redhead with a hug from the back. For a moment, I thought she was a relative from Grem-... Berolina's, but looking down the picture into the golden-boarded description, I saw names.
.
' - In memorial of Rias Gremory and her dear husband Issei Hyoodou and his harem. Rest in peace. -'
.
So... That's senpai. Huh, he's a lot more handsome that I expected. He's tall and pretty muscular, but that hair of his... Hnnng~. What the hell? Does he have a chicken for hair? Red Dragon, I'm sorry about this, but his hair is awful~. Taking another glance, I saw another beautiful bluenette with giant tracks of land and with a certain yellow ribbon tying her hair in a ponytail. I looked at the wrist of my left hand, where there was also a yellow ribbon. So that must be lady Himejima Akeno, the empress of lightning and thunder. She's also a lot prettier that I was expecting. Suddenly, a feeling of nostalgia hit my heart. Huh... Maybe some fragments of Senpai's soul is somehow printed on the Boosted Gear.
"Oh, you're looking at that one, huh?" Rei-chan called for me, taking her place next to me and looking at the painting. "Pretty one. Guess who made it? Of course, my dear Granduncle Ruval. Believe it or not, Phenex are also good painters. Hohohoh~..."
"Uh-huh...?" I digressed away from her ego-burst and returned to the painting, when something caught my eye: there was also another blue-eyed blonde that looked a lot like Rei-chan. Ravel Phenex, right? The sister of Yakitori Riser? She's also pretty cute. All of them looked so happy with each other, I'm a little embarrassed to inherit his Sacred Gear... Doesn't me I don't want it. Wait, those never work...
I turned around to see another painting, this one, however, portraying a single, tall, handsome albino with white hair and violet eyes, wearing a tuxedo under a cape with awesome shoulder armor and standing tall above a throne made out of blades and lights, some of them really similar to Aria's and one of them being Rhongomiant itself. Under it, there was simply golden plate labeled...
.
- ME! -
.
Okay, there are so many things wrong with this, it's not even funny...
"Oh, you've discovered Gremory's father, our lord Lucifer, Cohen." Rei-chan appeared next to me in front of the picture. "He's our current Lucifer satan and lady Alice's husband. Since he's a commoner and now a satan, it was only a given that they would inherit the Gremory name instead of his. He's pretty powerful, though."
"Uh-huh..." Wow, Gremory's dad is really the demon king. That's kinda cool.
"Speaking of Gremory, Ikkun, Lady Alice said that you have a Rating Game against miss Nemesis, am I correct?" She said, looking a me with those blue orbs of hers. I turned back to her, but when I did, she turned her face away. What? She can talk with me in the eye, but I can't with her? Rude.
"Nemesis-San? Yeah, I have." I answered, as she made an true arc around the upper turn of her eye to look to the opposite direction without batting an eye on me. She puffed a sigh. Returning her gaze to me.
"Y'know, I could say that I'm impressed, yet I'm not. I was actually expecting someone like the red Dragon to challenge the eldest daughter of our lord Lucifer. Never thought she would be with the younger sister, though." And now looking at something by the corner of her eye, Rei-chan spoke those words. "And as her queen, for that matter. This means that you have full access to the Cardinal Crimson Promotion. If can control it, that is."
"Cardinal Crimson Promotion?" That has to be a joke. I mean, it kinda sounds silly in an awesome way, much like any Gundam series that've already watched, but the way she said made me rethink that. "what's that? Sounds important."
"Huh. Disappointing. At least show some respect for your predecessor." I grunted, but then sighed in realization. I deeply respect him, yet I don't know half the story about him. For me, he was a nobody turned a legend, with his Boosted Gear and the Spirit of the welsh dragon Ddraig, plus his harem and allies. Aside from that, nothing else. Some techniques, maybe, like the Dragon Shot, the Scale Mail and the... Bilingual and Dress-break(I just grimace right now.), but nothing else. That Juggernaut Drive is also bothering the hell out of me. Out of the sudden, the blonde in front of me pulled a pair of glasses and put them in her eyes. "Lucky for you, it just so happens that I'm also an expert in that subject. I can provide you all the information about the previous Sekiryuutei for you to drink from."
"Heh?" I curved my eyebrows in a '~', as she simply stopped midtrack on our little tour and pulled a book out of her hammer-space. She opened it and began to flip page after page. So she really wants to help me. Maybe I've misjudged her. "Why... Thank you."
"Don't worry. It's only natural for the most intelligent to help the least gifted ones so that they don't embarrassed themselves."
"..." I turn back on my words. Phenex are the worst.
I don't know if it's me or just the mood I'm in right now, but the aura around this room suddenly got cold. No joke, when Lady Alice said that she had a... 'Secret plan' for Ichijou, I instinctually put myself in battle stance. I know I'm no match against the Redheaded Empress of the apocalypse, but at least I want to know what are her intentions towards my bro, if she means any harm to him, and if there's any way to convince her if yes. She also said that I can join her, making me even more curious but alert.
He's still green, so of course there are people out there that want to either manipulate him to their side or brainwash and control him and the red dragon's power inside his Sacred Gear. But I'd never that that Alice Gremory, the sweetest devil there is, if not a little perverted, could think of such thing. No, I'm overthinking. Maybe it's not that serious. But since she also entered in battle mode, too much caution is absurd.
"Your plan? What do you mean by that?" I asked her, as Lady Alice was still with her calm, serene smile. She was oozing killing intent, yet no change of expressions.
"Well, since I've accidentally told you, I guess there's no more reason to hide it, is it?" She said in that sweet tone, opening her eyes a little so that the Crimson light from her orbs could stare directly at my soul. "Now, now, I'll tell you, and after that, you have two options: join me or stop me. I could brainwash you, but I know that's almost impossible."
"So... Tell me. I'm ready." I said, as scales began to take over my skin and my hand was eagerly twitching to pick the first sword that would come out of Solomon's Gate. Lady Alice's eyes sharpened seeing my determination, and she turned her smile into a grin, chuckling a little. This is it. Heaven or Hell, let's rock.
"Very well then: my ultimate plan that I've formulated since... This morning... Is to take the current Sekiryuutei under my wing..." And she turned around, and clapped her hands together, only to open then and let a show of small colorful fireballs decorate the kitchen like mini-fireworks. "And then... CREATE THE ULTIMATE HAREM FOR HIM!"
*PUF!* (deactivating transformation and whatnot.)
...
...
"Huh?!" I said, dumbfounded. Did she just say that she wants... To create a harem for Ichijou? What? Where did that...? Why did she...?! Geez! Of course it would be that! Berolina's genes must've come from somebody!
"Yes! The ultimate harem! You may or may not have noticed, but I was near the springs when his confession came to bloom! So much sadness, so much grief! His soul was destroyed because of a mistake from the faraway past, leading him to an unknown future!" She said in a bombastic, flamboyant manner, as she made circles in place and moved her hips as she spoke. "So... In order to fix his broken soul, I've decided to guide him to the Ultimate Happy ending! A whole world of women for him to enjoy! The nirvana of the perverts! The lustful paradise! Where the moans and delights of his concubines will be heard from miles aw-...!"
*CRASH!*
"Kyaaah! Aria-chan, that was my favorite Jar of cookies!"
"Holy shit, Auntie! Do you want to give me a heart attack?!" I said back after destroying a nearby furniture in pure, distillate rage. Holy Fuck! For a second I thought of committing suicide by fighting her in case she was plannin something harmful for Ichijou and maybe the whole underworld, but... That! THAT! THAAAAAT! I CAN KILL ONE NOW!
"Waaah~! Granzboa-kun made this jar with so much care and love~! How am I gonna explain that her favorite friend destroyed it completely~?!" She continued to mourn over her destroyed furniture, as I put myself in calming pose, fingers on my forehead, taking deep breaths and avoiding destroy anything with my leaking power. Sucked it up, Aria, she's your godmother and your best friend's mother. You've known her for years now...
"But, really, Auntie Alice? You're gonna do that for him?" I asked her that. Suddenly, she stopped crying and smiled serenely to me.
"Sure, why not? He's the queen of my daughter, and I've always wanted a son to create a harem with. He seems good enough, a little dumb and inexperienced, but we can change that." She said nonchalantly, picking a small broom to dust away her broken furniture and singsong while doing it. "Moreover, it's dangerous to fight your demons alone. He has his problems, and there are other girls with problems too, they'll figure it out things together and bond and all that jazz. Problematic girls will grow with him, normal girls will support him, and it will all end in pizza. Besides... You know another girl with identity problems, right?"
"..."
"That's what I thought. I can't reach her, her father can't reach her, her sister can't reach her. Only the person she admires the most can: the Sekiryuutei. Maybe a little shake to reality from her favorite character will put some reason into her." And Lady Alice dried a tear and sighed. She cares... Of course she cares. "Moreover, I want some grandchildren. It'd be nice to have some around~. Chibis going 'grandma Alice' or 'auntie Alice' and asking for me to play with them~. Hahahah~."
I sighed, as I picked a broom to myself and helped her dust the mess away. Rina-chan and bro... A couple? Nah~. Not gonna happen. But bro and a harem? He doesn't like women, but again, every one of them on the first time treated him like trash or a toy. Maybe if he meets a cute, gentle, sweet girl, he might change his mind. I wonder if he's gonna get a clone of grandma. Gramps took the righteous path of the pervert because of her, anyway. Maybe friends for now. I could invite Granzboa to talk to him, or even Raven, even though he might get sick of her superiority speeches. She's a Phenex, after all...
But she knows about Rina-chan's condition. I wonder what will Ichijou do when he discovers it himself. He's not that kinda guy, probably will just laugh at her or scream at her. But again, he has his problems too. Maybe pairing them up won't be too bad. Aaahh~, what the hell~. I'm pairing People up! This is evil.
Evil~...
"Don't you think is a little sick to pair people up, auntie Alice?" I said to her, as she dusted the remaining dirt away.
"Love and madness bloom from random places and situations. As long as there are reasons to spark a small flame, a true fire may or may not come. Lord Issei was a human, and my husband was my servant. You and Nero and Nemesis have threesomes every night and you were enemies." I spat blood at that last one. She knows! Of course she knows! Damn... I'm on the dry zone; almost a week without Nero, or Nemesis, and I miss them already. I can dismiss Najda and Akio, but not those two. "Huhuhuh~, I wonder what will she think when she becomes another slave for a Sekiryuutei."
"The word 'slave' is a little too harsh."
"Huhuhuh~, I'm a harsh person, Aria-chan, you know me that much."
Yes, I know her that much...
"Now, if you excuse me, I'll prepare some tea for the Sekiryuutei and his little friend. Raven-chan did a great job with the Succubus's Ring, she needs this special tea." She said again. Oh, so that Phenex brat is around him. And she used the Succubus's Ring on hiwhaaaaat...?! Oh, crap! Oh, crap! Geez, I knew she would do something so reckless! How the hell he's reacting to it! How the hell is that Phenex brat reacting to it?! Goddamnit, I knew it she would do something like that! And what the hell is that thing she's pouring into the tea?! "Now, now, better let him to rest here for tonight. Your rating game is tomorrow, right? Let him dream and have a good night of sleep. This tea of mine will also help him relax~."
"..." Yeah, let him rest. However. "Hey, auntie Alice, you didn't put any kind of weird stuff in that tea, right?"
"..."
"..."
"No."
*DASH!*
Ah, shit!
Well, I'm well-rested, feeling great and everything that could happen happened during my stay in the underworld. I could say that I'm glad, but this still doesn't worth a holiday on the beach with my family. At least I'm not empty-handed: Hyung gave me this blue pebble that he said it can make it rain anywhere, and I can keep Rhongomiant with me, so it wasn't that bad. Not to mention, thanks to Rei-chan, I've thought of a new form of offensive. I wonder if I can enter this Scale Mail thing like this, but we can't expect much, yet...
I digress, here I am at my guest room in the Gremory household, and according to lady Alice, I can tele-transport from here to the place the Rating Game will take place using this small demonic rune on the paper she left on my table. I wonder if the girls worked as hard as me. After all... *Sigh*, I can only rely on them for now. Very well, I've done that before, a second time won't kill me. Just concentrate, think positive, and then...
*ZOOM!*
The rune on the paper in my hand shined, and a bigger replica of it was drawn under my feet in bright red energy lines! I did it! Let's go! Before anything else, my body started to dissolve, and soon enough, in the next blink of the eye, I was now in my classroom back in Kuoh academy. Huh, really? The school will be the battlefield? Lame...
"Oh, you're back." I heard from behind me, and turning around, yes, there she is: the ninja, who was sticked on the ceiling by the sole of her feet. She jumped out of it and landed in front of me. "And look at you...!"
"Huh? Did I... Did I change that much?"
"Nah. I'm actually surprised that you haven't change jackshit in five days!" She said, friendly punching me in the chest. I frowned, as she continued to laugh, hands on her stomach. Yep, change in five days is a little too much to ask. But in the end, she turned to me, and grinned. "but you look a lot healthier. So, still wanting to be Issei?"
"..." Yep, nope. She knew it since the beginning, so I guess it's a given she can see the difference. I sighed, and smiled. "Being like him would be great... But a consequence, in the end."
"Attaboy! Right answer, Ichijou." She punched me again in the arm, and crossed her arms, her eyes shining in excitement. "You are you. He is him. I am me. Can't be too hard to see that, huh?"
"Yeah. I guess so..."
"Ah! Here he is! Ichijou-kun!"
"Darling...!"
"Tsukino-chin..."
"Oh, the current Hong Long is kinda handsome..."
"Ah!" And there they are. My peerage all gather up, entering the room from the door and reaching for me with open eyes. The one in the front was, of course, Gremory, with teary eyes and ready to give me a big bear hug.
"Waaah~! Ichijou-kun! Welcome back! I've missed so much! Let your dear King spoil yo-...!"
*FACEPALM!*
"Stay away from me, Gremory!" I said, stopping her midway by facepalming her face. She stopped for a second to regain her composure and cry a little over her little red face, now turning it to me.
"Waah~. Not cool, Ichijou-kun. I was really worried about you. You'd have died training with Aria-nee." She said with her swollen face, as I sighed and started with the screaming.
"WORRIED?! If you were really worried, then you could've just ask if I wanted to play a Rating Game! I lost a holiday at the beach just for you to play little Battle Royale's with your sister! And do you know what happened to me, there?! I was chased by a dragon! A goddamn dragon! Do you have any idea how close to death I was all the time?! Do you?!"
"..."
"...!"
"I'm sorry. Please forgive your king, and I promise I'll let you touch my breasts later." She said in a sad tone and trying to sound innocent and convincing. I just exploded a rage vein in my head! Okay! That does it! I Lifted my hand and reached it for her, full speed.
"Like that would make things up, you Stupidhead!"
"Hiiii~!"
*PAT!*
"Seriously..." And she was with her eyes shut and ready to at least try to defend herself, but in the end, I just patted her on the head. She opened a trembling eye, and blinked twice, confused. "That's enough, right? It's not like this solve things either."
"I-Ichijou-kun...?" She said, confused and cross-eyed. Yeah, I'm not gonna hit her now, we can solve things later. For now, I'll let her pass... But let's pinch that little nose a little. "Owowow... That hurts, dummy Ichijou!"
"Serves you right, dumb Berolina." I said back with a grin, letting her go, and suddenly, the place went quiet, even Gremory went blank and surprised. That kinda made me uneasy. "What's up out of the sudden?"
"No, nothing." Gremory said, smiling again and blushing. I couldn't do much but to blush a little too. "Let's win this one, right?"
"Yeah, whatever. Annie, Yoko, Tasha, Rina, let's just end this and go home." I said back, turning back to my group, as they wilded their gaze, save Annie, who just smirked. Huh, I wonder what's up. In the end, another girl with long smooth pink hair and wearing a black gakuran with some old-timed cloths wrapped around her waist and a wooden staff by her back entered the space between me and the redhead and smiled to me.
"Such passion and love, I like you already! Your will and voice are truly worth the title of the Red Dragon emperor, Hong Long! With your power, we can reach high in the skies, and defeat the redhead demon by the other side of this fortified battlefield! Away, Lady Berolina's Queen and the heir of the Red Dragon emperor!"
"..."
"...?"
"Okay, who are you, again?" I asked with a pointer finger at her. She's kinda cool for now, but the flamboyant attitude can become annoying. Herself just smiled and laughed like a lady.
"Ohohohoh~! Jokes on you, Red Dragon. For I am the descendant of the great general, conqueror of worlds, Liu Bei!" Liu Bei? Oh, I read about those in the past. I remember bein pretty much everywhere.
"Oh, you mean Ryuubi Gentoku, right?"
"..."
"...?"
"As I was telling you, I am the descendant of the Great Conqueror Liu Bei, the one who dethroned the legendary Cao-Cao from his rampage across the Chinese nation..."
"You mean Sou-Sou, right?"
"As they tell about their legendary struggles of the Epic story of the Sānguó Yǎnyì, one of China's most precious tales..."
"You mean Sangoku-shi, right?"
"Who trained and trained at the special division of the jade palace, under the tutorage of the great monkey king Sun Wukong and now as a graduation gift, holds the magical staff..."
"You mean Son Goku, right?"
"Please stop interrupting me, otherwise your corrections will take us the whole day,my dear." She flashed me a cat smile and touched my nose with a finger. She's alright. "You can call me either Liu-Bei or Ryuubi. I don't really care. After all, the sun shines with different names across the globe! The flowers smells and beauty the world even with several other names! And I am the same powerful rook of Berolina Gremory no matter if it's in Chinese or Japanese. Deal with it."
"We found Ryuubi-dono when she was using her magic staff to reach the heavens since some onis were spanking a monkey near the jade palace, and so..."
"I will hear that one later, thank you." I stopped Gremory of saying even more misleading tales. Descendant of Ryuubi Gentoku, huh? Well, she does own some huge tracks of land... Crap! Aria-San, you've cursed me with boob obsession! Boobsession! But a rook, huh? With that, she had at the double the pieces Nemesis-San has. That's good, we have higher chances now...
"..." Out of the sudden, I lifted my eyes from the ground and found myself staring at the Ninetails that suddenly went from there to in front of me. She looked at me with those golden eyes, somehow drowsy and pitiful, making me feel a little uncomfortable. What now?
"Hey, Yoko, what's the matter? Did you thought you would lose your walking snack or...!" And before I could finish my sentence, she hugged me. Out of nowhere, she hugged me, crossing her arms around me and locking them by my back.
...
Wow... This is awkward.
"Err... Yoko, what the hell?" I said as she snuggled on my chest and trembled. She's not sniffing me, is she? She's pretty dark now, and it's scaring me. No flirt, no teasing, no jokes. She's really shaken.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry, Ichijou." She said. Did she just called me by name? One surprise after another. I have a feeling that this rating game will blow... Not in a good way. Suddenly, the voice box by the top of the blackboard went all static, and soon, a voice was heard by the other side...
'Rina, I know that you're mad, but understand this: you won't win this time, or ever. Please, stop this nonsense, and we won't be talking about this anymore.'
That's Nemesis-san's voice. And she sounds... Pretty depressed and really upset about something.
'We can talk about this in another time. When you're ready to take control and be able to control your own power in a better way, maybe we can..."
*BOOM!*
"Gremory...!" In a blink of an eye, the redhead in front of all of us simply destroyed the voice box with her... Power of destruction, I guess that's the name.
"So sorry. It just... I'm really sick of her. I've already made my mind, so I guess we can't discuss anymore." She sighed, crossing her arms and soon after, lifting her head with a smile. "Don't worry, everything is under control. Let's just... Win that and then we can start our Occult Research Club! Yeah... Let's... Let's follow our dreams..."
"..." I sighed, as a magic rune appeared in front of us and another voice called.
'Very well, let's begin then, Rina-chan! I hope you're excited as us!' From the magical circle, kaichou's voice could be heard. She seems excited as ever, if not a bit worried. Another of those circles appeared right under our feet. 'Yoko-chin, could you please step out of the circle? You're not part of Rina-chan's peerage, so you can't participate. I hope you understand.'
"B-But...!" She said, turning her head to face the circle floating in the air. She's shaken and all, and really, I'm starting to get worried, but I lost a holiday for this day, so I guess we can deal with this later. I pat her in the head, as she turned back to me. "D-Darling...?"
"Look... Huh, whatever I did, I'm sorry. But we have a Rating Game to win, so, well, I guess we will have to deal with that later. I promise, okay Yoko?" I said in a rather calm, yet apologizing manner, while turning my head to a side and try to look professional. I'm probably blushing and looking pathetic like that. "So... Huh~... We'll catch up later... And we will... Solve things up, okay?"
"..." She looked at me, hugged me even tighter, and let me go after some time, batting me a goodbye as me and my group dissolved in dark matter to the battlefield. I wonder What's the problem with me. I feel warm somehow, and my chest is burning for some reason.
In the end, we were transported to a complete replica of our school, the sky in a rather sick emerald green, and devoid of anything beyond the school ground, with a black Barrier instead. Huh... Nothing different, it seems. Maybe Nemesis-san wants a fair battle since we all know this place?
"Oh~, so this is how a Rating Game arena is! Neat!" Gremory said as she looked around, completely over her heels. I must say, I'm impressed, this place is really a good replica. Even the drawings in the blackboard and the seats are intact and just the way they should be. But for some reason; one of the seats next to me is missing. Odd. "Waaah! Even the pencil I stuck here before is here! This is awesome!"
"We should be more worried about how the enemies's going to attack, Rina." I said to her, as she turned around and blinked a few times in realization. Dummy as ever, right? As so our king sighed, picked a little map, with some plants of the buildings differently colored, and put it on one of the seats, as she took a deep breath.
"Yeah, you're right. Well, for the starters, we have this complete map of Kuoh academy." She put her pointer finger in one of the black building's plants, as she did with others of the same color. "All of these are our territory. Our safehouses where we can rest before going back to action. Aside from that, those Crimson places are my sister's territory, and as the rules say, we can invade them to bypass Nemesis's defenses, take control of them and leave her with none. As long as there are no other pieces of her there, we can take control if we reach them!"
"But she can take control of our territories too, right, Berolina-dono?" Ryuubi-San said. Huh, it does look like chess.
"Yes, but since this place is a perfect copy of the original, I guess we're fine by n-..."
*DOOON!*
"Huh?" Suddenly, the whole place we're in trembled a little, like a little earthquake, and then the sky changed colors, now looking like a black and white kaleidoscope. I looked at Gremory, as her face was white as chalk. "Oh, no... Oh, no..."
"Errr... Gremory... Was that suppose to hap-...?"
"We must get out of here!" She cut me short as she stood up from the chair and ran for the exit. I was left dumbfounded for a second, as everybody else was in the same boat, but soon, I saw a big blue ball of energy in one point of the school, and that was enough to convince me to GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!
"What the...?!"
[THUNDER ANNIHILATOR!]
.
~~x~~
.
"All set, Nemesis!"
"Akio."
"Yes. [THUNDER ANNIHILATOR!]"
*BOOOOOM!*
As I guess that should be enough. I'm currently besides Nemesis as we are at the top of one of Kuoh's building together with the rest of our peerage. It maybe be a little too much, but we just did the 'Rpg-lightning' combo. Nero morphed the area around the school into his own Balance Breaker, in which he has total control over, and Akio finished things with her special attack, a light-thunder sphere of destruction, which came down crushing the building where Rina and her peerage were in and destroying everything, with so much power that Nero's own Role Playing Game balance Breaker couldn't handle it and ended up forcefully shattering, deactivating it. As expected of the daughter of the Himejima house and a hero, nonetheless.
"A little too much, don't you think, Chief?" Najda, the dark-skinned, blond shaman said to our king with a grin. The redhead simply sighed to one of her Bishop. "She's your little sis, right? And it's her first rating game too. Take it easy there. She's just a kid."
"Shocks like those are necessary to bring idiots back to reality. Maybe with that one Rina will wake from her dream and see that not everything she wants will come true." She acidly said, as Nadja could only shrug and wait for the best. In the end, she turned around and pat me on the back. "Aria; let's go home. I need a bath and maybe we can..."
"Oe, heads up, Aria-dono~."
"What the...?!"
"ARIA-SAMA! WATCH OUT!" And before we could do anything, out of nowhere, our Second rook and butler Faust Michaelis appeared in front of us and punched a massive rock out of nowhere to defend us. Sure, the massive rock turned into smithereens, but so turned his arm. I looked around to see the author of such thing, and it turns out, it was that pink-haired girl with the staff, who was balancing herself on an extended version of it. Another thing: it was not an ordinary piece of rock, it was the whole upper floor of the new building, sliced WHOLE.
"Wow, that girl sure is stron-..." And before Nero could finish his sentence, a blue meteor came out of nowhere and hit him right in the head, launching him backwards to another section of the arena. For a minimal second, I saw it was Actually Rhongomiant. The impact was so strong that he flew away from sight.
"What was that?!" Nemesis said, as everyone was confused enough to see what was going on. And suddenly, like billiard balls, Nadja, Faust and Akio were tucked away by the pink-haired rook by he other side using her retractable monkey staff, flying away from us, leaving only me, Jin-Yong and Nemesis. "Damn it, they are trying to split us. Little devils..."
"Well, it's only natural, dongsaeng." Jin-Yong said, looking around with his dragon eyes and thinking while stroking his white beard. "she's your sister, and she knows us like any other. I must say, as Long As I'm here, however, they can 'tget close to you unless they want to become sm-...!"
*ZING!*
"W-What...?" And before he could finish his sentence, Hyung's neck was caught by something, forming a small holes of lines on his massive scales. And not just that, when he was about to try to push it away from him, a greater force pulled him in from the floor below, down to the ground. In a closer inspection, I saw what it really was...
... A string.
"Hyung!" Nemesis said, trying to reach a hand for him, but before she could be also caught in that trap, I pulled her away, as Hyung was pulled to the border of the top and caught in a true sphere of power of destruction, the emergency escape spell taking him out of the game.
'Alright! The first out! The rook Hwan Jin-Young is out!' Announced Serena Sitri by the real realm. Appearing in the place Hyung originally was, a pair showed up: Rina-chan and her dear, dear Ninja Knight, being leveled by a transparent string held by the greenette.
"Yo, Red boobs II and blond Boobs. Long time no see." The shorty greenette, Annabelle if I recall correctly, said, retracting her strings back to the rings of her glove and showing us one of them by biting and pulling it out with one of her fangs. "And goodbye, too."
"Let's go, Ninja! Nemesis, prepare yourself!"
"Damn you... You little cockroach!"
And Nemesis said back, as extras, round and red eyes were sprouting out of her forehead and beside her usual ones. So, the Alastors natural hot-blood is itching again... I took a deep breath and summoned a handful of swords by my back...
Like bro would say, everything sucks...
And cliffhanger again. Never underestimate the power of a young devil, specially if they sweat hormones. The series so far was great, so I'm kinda hyped for everything. I miss chichigami-sama, though. As always, stay golden~.