Anything you recognise isn't mine.
The familiar silver transportation-circle opened in the living room of Roxas' villa, and the man himself, Roxas Gremory, stepped out of it, stretching his muscles and yawning.
"Hey, Val." the silver-haired Prince of Twilight greeted his Queen, who was watching a Rating Game between Sairaorg Bael and Ruval Phenex (Sairaorg seemed to be winning, as he Retired a beautiful young woman with long blonde hair, blue eyes and armour that resembled a one-piece swimsuit than anything else, who held an enormous sword in her hands, with a single punch, and kicking) and typing notes on the match. "Still working hard, two days before the match?"
"Yeah." Valian replied, tucking a couple of strands of her silver hair (which was a couple of shades lighter than Roxas' own silver hair) behind her ear, and continuing to type. "This is the last match I'm watching, though."
"Cool." Roxas replied. "Thanks for the help by the way, Valian. I would have done this myself, but I've got a bunch of nigh-useless mercenaries to train, so I can't do much."
"Oh, it's fine." Valian replied. "Isn't it the Queen's job to take on duties that the King would usually do themself?"
"I guess." Roxas chuckled, as he couldn't see someone like Grayfia doing Sirzechs' job as Lucifer, even if she was a descendent of him.
She had enough on her plate already with her exasperation at Sirzechs' idleness in his job, in Roxas' opinion.
"Oh, you also got a call while you were out." Valian replied. "I didn't get to it, but it said it came from a guy named... Tony?"
"Tony?" Roxas, who knew two people by that name, raised a brow. "Iommi or Stark?"
"Since it was a few hours ago, and I've been busy with this," Valian gestured to her laptop and the TV, "I don't quite remember. But I think, if I'm remembering correctly, it was Stark."
Roxas sighed, and gave a slightly annoyed growl.
"Rich little brat." Roxas groaned. "He can go fuck himself for all I give a damn."
Valian giggled, herself.
"Yeah, I figured you'd say that." she replied. "Knowing your history with him. And the rest of his... uh..."
"Shithead friends." Roxas replied. "Apart from the guy who was the descendent of Thor, he was okay. Relatively speaking."
"Didn't you kick one of them in the vagina?" Valian asked. "Hard enough to shatter her pelvis?"
"Hey, it was Natasha's fault she went and pre-emptively slapped a pair of cuffs on me!" Roxas defended herself. "You saw my memory of the whole thing! If she'd have asked first, I'd have accept-"
Roxas' words died in his throat when he saw a crimson transportation-circle showing up on the floor of his lounge, and Sirzechs, Grayfia, Rias and another person, who had pink and brown hair.
"Hey Mom, Dad." Roxas greeted his parents, as Valian looked over the edge of the sofa, seeing Roxas' parents and aunt/lover.
"Hello, Roxas." Sirzechs, who was just wearing a casual shirt and jeans. Valian had to acknowledge, as she saw both Roxas and his father side by side, just how similar they looked. If Roxas were to dye his hair crimson, get blue eye contacts, and lose the ponytail, then Valian wouldn't be able to tell the difference, appearance-wise, between them. "I'm here with that peerage member for the Rating Game. Or rather, two peerage members."
"Two?" Roxas raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, Dad?"
"Well, as soon as Rias heard that I was bringing Neo here to trade her from me to you," Sirzechs replied. "She immediately insisted that she come along and... temporarily join your peerage for the Rating Game."
"The hell?" Roxas looked from Sirzechs to Rias, who nodded at what her older brother said. "People can do that?"
"If both parties agree to it, then yes." Sirzechs replied. "But anyway, this" he gestured to the pink and brown-haired girl, who was silently looking up at Roxas. "Is my third Pawn, who works directly under me as a spy against the Old Satan Faction. Her codename is Neopolitan, and she answers to it, as well as Neo. Mostly because I... uh... forgot what her real name was."
"Well, if she answers to it, it's honestly no problem." Roxas replied, looking down at Neo as he pulled out a single Pawn piece. Sirzechs and Grayfia stepped forward as well, with Grayfia drawing up a trading-purpose magic-circle.
Roxas and Sirzechs stood at each side of the magic-circle, while Neo silently stepped into the middle. Sirzechs put his hands forward, and gestured for Roxas to do the same, which he did. As their auras (Sirzechs' aura being red and Roxas' being silver) began to glow and synchronise with one another, bypassing the magic-circle, both auras reached Neo, and enveloped her.
After about five seconds, a single Pawn piece dropped from the aura that had enveloped Neo, and landed on the ground, which Sirzechs picked up.
"Alright, Roxas, just chuck your Evil Piece into that aura." Sirzechs replied. "It'll automatically go inside Neo. Go on, do it quickly."
"Right." Roxas replied, and he did as he was told, throwing his Evil Piece into the aura that surrounded Neo, which it sunk into. Right after the piece sank into the aura, it vanished, and Neo stood, completely unharmed.
"And it's done." Sirzechs replied. "You have your newest permanent peerage member, Roxas. And despite Neo being more talented in illusions than anything else, she is QUITE capable of fighting. Anyway, do you want to accept Rias temporarily into your peerage?"
"Hmm..." Roxas replied, looking at Rias for a moment. Though he acknowledged that his aunt was strong, by the standards of young Devils, she would, if she joined, be one of the weakest members of his peerage.
Hell, even Asia had more power than Rias did, thanks to the training that Akeno, Valian and Palutena had been giving her!
But, if she was willing enough to help, then Roxas saw no reason to say no. After all, if someone had the determination, then they could very easily end up doing great things.
Look at Roxas himself. After he gained the discipline and determination to train himself as hard as he did for the past two centuries (and after a little help from Palutena, with her turning him into a Nephalem and all) one of the Top 50 Strongest Beings in the World, and fast approaching the likes of Azazel, Michael, and even Palutena herself.
"You know what? Sure." Roxas replied. "Welcome to the team, Rias. What piece would you like to join as?"
"A Bishop." Rias replied, smiling. At the scene between his little sister and his oldest son, Sirzechs smiled, too. Even Grayfia's lips curled upward slightly.
"Well, my business here is concluded." he replied, opening a crimson transportation-circle. "Good luck in the Rating Game, Roxas."
"Thanks, Dad." Roxas replied, as Sirzechs and Grayfia left the room. Once they were gone, he looked down at Neo, who hadn't spoken at all.
"You don't talk much, do you?"
The pink and brown-haired woman shook her head.
Line Break
Two days later, in the late-afternoon, Roxas and his peerage (plus Rias) were riding in what seemed like a larger, enclosed ski-lift, towards the floating island of Agreas, that housed upon it one of the largest cities in the Underworld. Sirzechs and Grayfia were also sat with them.
Roxas, who had a grey zip-up hoodie on instead of his black leather jacket, as the weather in the Underworld was a little bit cooler than in south-east Greece, was strumming on his acoustic guitar, playing the song 'Wild Horses' by the Rolling Stones, and Sirzechs was sitting on one side of him.
Grayfia was stood next to Sirzechs.
Valian was watching something on her laptop.
Akasha was drinking a carton of blood.
Akeno (who was wearing a shrine maiden's outfit), Asia and Kuroka were sitting and looking up at the island and city, which was coming slowly into view.
Rias was leaning against Roxas' other side, her arms loosely wrapped around her nephew's chest. She had her head on his shoulder.
Neo was silently eating ice-cream. Neapolitan ice-cream, of course.
"You know that the Bael Clan wanted to host this Rating Game in their territory?" Sirzechs spoke to Roxas as he continued strumming.
"Hm?" Roxas looked up. "No, I didn't, Dad. You know I don't pay much attention in Devil politics. That's your shtick."
Sirzechs chuckled.
"No, I didn't expect you to." he replied. "But Alistair Agares intervened, and the game ended up being held here, in a neutral territory.
"Well, since it's been announced that me and Seekvaira were engaged not too long ago, I somehow doubt it'll be totally 'neutral'." Roxas replied, placing his guitar into a pocket dimension as the lift reached its destination. Sirzechs sighed.
"Me too." he spoke. "Speaking of that, have you and Seekvaira met up at all? Though strict, she is rather nice. She's got some rather weird interests, though."
"So's everyone else." Roxas replied, thinking of Serafall. "But no. I actually had our contract severed. By my Pact Magician."
"Medea?" Sirzechs asked, blinking. He paused for a moment, and then spoke again. "Wait, she's really in possession of Rule Breaker?"
"Damn right, she is." Roxas replied. "And it's every bit as good as severing magical contracts as the stories say it is."
"I see." Sirzechs replied. "At one point, I would've been the proudest father in the world to see my oldest son engaged to the highest-class young Devil in the Underworld. But now, now that I know you're married to the daughter of the Biblical God himself..."
"Puts things into perspective, doesn't it?" Roxas grinned, as the lift came to a stop, outside the Agares Stadium, which looked a lot like the Tokyo Dome.
When everyone stepped out of the lift, reporters immediately came towards them, some using magic-circles to take pictures, while Devils who were dressed like people working in security used their own magic-circles to keep them away from everyone, especially Sirzechs and Grayfia.
"This match is getting a pretty large amount of coverage." Sirzechs spoke to Roxas, as everyone entered the stadium. "The Heirs of the Bael and Belial Clans, two great rivals, teaming up against the son of the Great Satan Lucifer."
"I can only imagine the headlines." Roxas muttered, as they made their way into the stadium. Once they did, Sirzechs began to walk away.
"Well, Grayfia and I are in the VIP area, as are the relatives of you, Imogen and Sairaorg." he spoke. "See you, Roxas."
"Seeya, Dad." Roxas replied, watching his father leave. Once he was gone, Roxas heard a voice that he didn't really expect to hear.
"Hey, Roxas!"
The silver-haired Nephalem turned around, and to his surprise, he saw Yasaka, standing and talking to Palutena and Medea. Kunou was stood next to Yasaka, along with another person who Roxas hadn't seen before.
The unknown person was a girl with long black hair that reached down to her knees, and red eyes. She wore a dark, sleeveless mini-dress with a white collar and red tie, and a red belt that had a red side-skirt cover. She wore long black socks, black shoes, red gauntlets and black shoes. She carried a katana, which was currently inside a red scabbard, which she had strapped to her left hip.
"Yasaka?" Roxas walked over, along with his peerage. "Didn't expect to see you here. Hey, Kunou." he added, as Kunou walked over to Roxas and gave him a hug around the middle.
"Medea and I met Yasaka, Kunou and Akame here when we arrived her a few minutes ago." Palutena remarked to Roxas. "She said she 'couldn't bring herself to miss her mate's first Rating Game'. I told her about it, by the way."
"Fair enough." Roxas replied. "I assume Medea had the same reasoning? Only replacing the whole 'mate' thing with 'Pact Devil'?"
"Yeah." Medea, who was wearing a black top with jean jacket and long tan skirt, replied, as Yasaka walked over to Roxas and gently pressed her lips against his.
"I hope you can come back to Kyoto soon, Roxas." Yasaka whispered, after pulling away from her mate. "I might have to get one of those summon-sheets and summon you as a pseudo-boy-toy~"
"Hehe." Roxas chuckled. "I'd be okay with that, Yasaka." he replied, in just as low a voice as before.
"Anyway." Palutena replied. "Let's go and find good seats. Yasaka? You coming?"
"Yeah." Yasaka replied, as she stepped away from Roxas. Palutena enveloped her husband in a quick hug, which he returned, and then left, along with Medea, Akame, Yasaka and Kunou. Once they were gone, Roxas heard footsteps coming towards him, and saw Seekvaira Agares approaching him, along with a man who was tall, a few inches caller than Roxas, had black hair, red eyes, and dressed in a butler's outfit. Roxas could feel the aura of a Dragon emanating heavily from him, but he paid it no mind.
"Oh, hello Seekvaira." Roxas spoke, looking carefully at her. "You came to watch as well?"
"Most of the Noble Young Devils have, Roxas." Seekvaira replied. "Ruval, Rivan and Ravel Phenex, Gragg Forneus, Diadora Astaroth, Sona Sitri, myself and Magdaran Bael are those I know of who're in attendance."
She then fidgeted awkwardly with herself for a moment, before speaking again.
"Also... I wanted to ask you... about the contract between us-"
"I had it broken." Roxas replied. "I stopped a terrible idea from your father and my grandfather from coming to fruition before it had the chance to, and before you ask, I'm not interested in you. Sorry."
"Oh." Seekvaira replied, looking down for a moment. "Okay..." she then turned around and silently left, with the dragon-butler (who Roxas could only assume was her Queen) following, but not before giving Roxas a rather dirty look, which the silver-haired Nephalem took no notice of.
"Right, now that that's over." Roxas stretched himself. "Where the fuck are we supposed to go?"
"I can help you with that." Roxas looked up to see Imogen and Sairaorg, accompanied by a voluptuous young woman with mid-back-length brown hair, and a beautiful girl about the same age as her, with blonde hair tied into a ponytail and blue eyes.
"Hello again, Roxas." Sairaorg spoke, walking up to Roxas and patting him on the shoulder.
"Hey, Sairaorg." Roxas replied, smirking up at his first cousin once removed. "I was just wondering if I'm supposed to be somewhere."
"Yeah." Sairaorg replied. "Just follow us. We'll take you to where you and your peerage need to be." he then noticed Rias. "Rias? I didn't know you joined Roxas' peerage."
"I'm just joining temporarily." Rias replied. "Because... uh..." she went red, and Imogen laughed.
"Anyway, let's go." The Belial Heiress replied, and she, her Queen, Sairaorg and his Queen walked off, with Roxas and his peerage following. "Also, Roxas? I saw Seekvaira walking past a moment or so ago. She looked kinda upset. Since you're engaged to her, you got any idea what's gotten into her?"
"One, Imogen, we're not engaged." Roxas replied. "I had the contract broken by a friend of mine, and when she tried to ask me if I was still interested in her, I told her the blunt, honest answer. Though somehow I feel that I'm gonna be suffering backlash thanks to the fact that I was the one to reject her instead of the other way around."
Imogen sighed.
"Fucking double standards." she rubbed her temple in slight annoyance. "When I was younger, I remember being confused as to why I never got any shit for turning down Ruval Phenex, but I see male Devils getting shit left right and centre for rejecting girls they don't like."
"I know, right?" Roxas replied. "It's so dumb!"
"Agreed." Imogen replied, as the conversation between the Belial Heiress and former Gremory Heir devolved into lighter topics.
After about five minutes of walking (and talking between Roxas and Imogen, the former thinking that Imogen would've been a MUCH better person to be stuck into a contract with than Seekvaira), they came to two separate doors.
"Walk through that one, Roxas." Sairaorg pointed to the door on the right. "It'll take you to your stand in the stadium, before you're warped to your base in the Rating Game-dimension.
"Alright, then." Roxas replied. "See you on the battlefield, Sairaorg. And good luck."
"Same to you, Roxas." Sairaorg stepped forward, shook hands with Roxas, and, grinning, walked with his Queen into the left door.
"Good luck, Roxas." Imogen remarked, shaking hands with him as well. She and her Queen went through the left door as well, and Roxas, along with his peerage, silently walked through the right door.
They seemed to come out in a tunnel, leading to the main portion of the Agares stadium.
"Hello, everyone! Thank you all for coming here tonight for tonight's Rating Game!" Roxas heard the voice of Naud Gamgin, the commentator for most of the Rating Games. "Tonight, we have an extra-special Rating Game for you all! For tonight, for the first time in recent memory, we have three teams competing in one match at the same time! A two-versus-one Rating Game!"
There was loud applause from the crowd, and a few loud "oooh"s.
"From the west gate, we have the two teams teaming up to take on their single opponent!" Naud announced. "Great rivals when facing down against each other, but known to be good friends off the battlefield, it's the two Strongest Youths and their peerages, Sairaorg Bael and Imogen Belial!
Sairaorg and Imogen walked out of a tunnel opposite to Roxas and his peerage, waving to the crowd. There were many, many cheers from most of the males in the audience, and Roxas had a good feeling as to who they were directed at.
"And from the east gate, after returning to the Underworld in the aftermath of a two-century long leave of absence, the oldest son of our Great King Sirzechs Lucifer, it's the former Young Heartthrob Prince of the Devils and his peerage, Roxas Gremory!"
Roxas sighed as he walked out of the tunnel, followed by his peerage.
"Shut up, Akasha." Roxas idly remarked to his Vampiric Nephalem of a Rook, who was sniggering at the nickname Naud had referred to Roxas with. "It's not that funny."
"Hehehe. Sorry." Akasha replied, composing herself. When Roxas reached the open, he looked around, and saw the stadium packed to breaking point with Devils, of all shapes and sizes. If he were to estimate, he'd guess around a hundred and fifty thousand were in the stadium.
Not to mention the millions who would likely be watching at their homes, given how popular the Rating Game was.
"In light of today's Rating Game being of a special variety, it's only natural that we would have a special commentator!" Naud announced. "And tonight, we have two! The fourth-ranked Rating Game champion, Raven Branwen, the current head of the Branwen Clan, and the ninth-ranked Rating Game champion, Ruval Phenex, have both joined us tonight as special commentators!"
"No way!" Roxas looked up at the large screens that were broadcasting Naud's face to the crowd, and he widened his eyes when he saw the cameras zoom out slightly, to reveal Raven Branwen and Ruval Phenex, sitting next to him.
"Now, before we get to the rules of tonight's Game, let's talk about the competitors tonight." Naud spoke, turning to Raven. "Raven, you've had history with Roxas, I hear?"
"I have." Raven replied. "Before he disappeared from the Underworld two centuries ago, I was his sword master. Now that he's returned, I want to... see how good he's gotten, since we last met. Whether in a Rating Game or not, it doesn't matter."
"Ooh, we have a challenge from Raven to Roxas!" Naud announced, turning to Ruval as the crowd went into uproar at the 6th Strongest Female Devil (behind Roygun Belphegor, Venelana Bael, Serafall Leviathan, Grayfia Lucifuge and Fianna Asmodeus) challenging someone to a fight, if not to a full Rating Game. "Ruval. Don't you have history with our competitors tonight? Particularly Imogen?"
"I've had history with all of them, Naud." Ruval replied. "Roxas and I... were sort-of childhood rivals, back in the day. I used to remember our fights." he smiled for a moment, before continuing. "I was Imogen's fiancé about a decade or so ago, but it... didn't turn out too well."
"I'm sure you'll find someone, Ruval." Naud replied, before turning to the camera. "As to the rules of the Rating Game, this Rating Game will be... of the Lightning Fast variant!"
The crowd's noise level increased dramatically.
"For those who are unaware, this is the short varient of the standard Rating Game!" Naud explained. "Within the one-hour time limit, whoever defeats their opponent's King wins the match. If neither King is defeated, the winning team is decided by the number of points calculated by the values of the pieces remaining on the Rating Game board. For the sake of fairness, the piece-values of Roxas Gremory's peerage have been doubled! Speaking of Roxas, he and his peerage must defeat both Sairaorg and Imogen in order to win the Game!"
There were loud "ooh"s from many people in the crowd. Including Rias. Though her "ooh" was followed by a muttered "fuck."
"Now, let's take a look at the values of each peerage member for tonight's game!" Naud annouced. The screen went black, and then a list, of all the members of Roxas' peerage, flashed up on screen, with numbers next to them.
Roxas (King): 24
Valian (Queen): 18
Akeno (Bishop): 6
Rias (Bishop (Temporary)): 6
Akasha (Rook (Mutated)): 30
Asia (Pawn): 2
Kuroka (Pawn (x2)): 4
Neopolitan (Pawn): 2
Total Value: 92
The screen then flashed for a second, and then showed the list for Sairaorg's and Imogen's peerages.
Sairaorg (King): 10
Kuisha (Queen): 9
Coriana (Bishop): 3
Misteeta (Bishop): 3
Liban (Knight): 3
Beruka (Knight): 3
Gandoma (Rook): 5
Ladora (Rook): 5
UNKNOWN (Pawn (x7)): 7
Imogen (King): 11
Cana (Queen): 9
Ayaka (Bishop (x2)): 6
Himari (Knight): 3
Undyne (Knight): 3
Tifa (Rook (x2)): 10
Navi (Pawn (x6)): 6
Alphys (Pawn (Mutated)): 3
Chifuyu (Pawn): 1
Total Value: 100
"Damn." Roxas muttered. "Even when our values are doubled, we still come out weaker."
"Of course we're not weaker." Valian remarked. "We'll win this, Roxas. You know we will."
"Yeah, Roxas replied, as a transportation-circle went off underneath them, and Roxas' peerage (plus Rias) disappeared, re-appearing in a small wooden hut, surrounded by forest.
"I guess this is our base?" Rias looked around.
"It was decided that the venue for today's Rating Game would be a small forest-area of the Underworld, close to my Clan's territory." Raven explained. "It takes about ten minutes to walk through normally. There is a red stream of water that runs close to where Roxas' hut is, and a green stream of water that runs close to Sairaorg and Imogen's hut. If the Pawns of Roxas' side are able to cross the green stream, they will be eligible for Promotion, and vice versa for Sairaorg and Imogen's Pawns."
Roxas waved his hand, and eight earphone-type pieces appeared in front of him and his peerage. One of them travelled through the air into each of the ears of his peerage (plus Rias).
"So we can communicate better." he explained.
"Each of the Kings will have five minutes to plan for the Game." Ruval stated. "And that five minutes begins... NOW."
"Alright, everyone." Roxas stated. "Since we're outnumbered, almost two to one, we're splitting into groups." he looked at Valian and Akasha. "Apart from you two, Valian and Akasha. I'm sure you can handle pretty much anything short of beings with powers akin to a higher-Satan-Class Devil."
"You got it, Roxas." Valian replied, cracking her knuckles. Akasha nodded, as Roxas continued speaking.
"Asia, I'm pairing you with Akeno and Rias. You two" he addressed his two Bishops. "Make sure to keep her safe. If all goes to plan, I'll have her as support for the final portion of the game. When I come out to play." he grinned.
"We'll do our best." Akeno replied.
"And Kuroka, you're with Neo." Roxas addressed the sexy black Nekoshou and his newest Pawn. "Neo, Dad said you were quite capable of fighting. Try not to turn him into a liar."
Neo blinked, and bowed before Roxas, giving him a view of some of her cleavage under her outfit.
Sairaorg and Imogen's Base
"Okay." Imogen remarked. "What should we do? We know that we outnumber Roxas and his peerage, two to one. Shouldn't we take advantage of that and try to overwhelm him quickly? This is a Lightning Fast game, after all.
"That might work." Sairaorg replied. "But keep in mind the values of Roxas' peerage members, even if doubled. His Rook is worth three Rook pieces, which has to mean she's pretty damn powerful."
Imogen made to speak, but stopped, as Sairaorg had a point.
"Even if we outnumbered Roxas' peerage five to one, we shouldn't try to underestimate him." Sairaorg continued. "I vote we try and send groups of fighters out into the forest, and wear down Roxas' peerage when we meet them. In the event that that doesn't work, we ourselves can come out to play and assist.
"Sounds pretty good." Imogen replied. "But how do we decide who goes in which group?"
"Well when I go into Rating Games like this, I usually divide my peerage into groups and send them off that way." Imogen replied. "I guess you could add your peerage members to the groups that I've already established?"
"Makes sense." Sairaorg replied, looking at Imogen's peerage, which consisted of Cana Alberona, the daughter of Diehauser Belial's Queen, Gildarts Clive, and his wife, Cornelia Alberona, Ayaka Phenex, the daughter of Renzo Phenex, the Head of the Phenex Clan, and one of his former mistresses, the famous Magician Kazane Kagari, who now served as Serafall's first Bishop, Himari Noihara, the sole survivor of a ransacking of a Nekoshou village by Devils five years ago, Undyne and Alphys, two of the four results of the secret Project Undertale (the other two served in Raven Branwen's peerage), which was meant to try and create Devils without the use of the Demonic Genisys ritual, Navi, a female Dragon that was rumoured to be the daughter of Tiamat, the strongest of the Five Great Dragon Kings, and Chifuyu Orimura, the host of the Sacred Gear: Shirokishi.
Cana was a tall, slim young woman with an ample bust and tan skin. She had long, mid-back-length brown hair with varying shades of colour, ranging from bright brown, to black, back to plain-ass brown. Two shoulder-length strands of hair framed her face, with the left one starting from a prominent, high fringe. The woman had large brown eyes, and visibly long eyelashes. She possessed a very voluptuous figure, with large breasts and curvy hips. Sairaorg noticed that her fingernails were cut back and uncoloured.
Ayaka was very tall, had long black hair, green eyes, a buxom figure and a very stoic expression on her face. She donned a green witch robe.
Himari was a young, Japanese woman in her late-teens, with a fairy buxom figure. She had long black hair with a blue tint, that extended all the way down to her hips, with several bangs hanging over her forehead, and side bangs that framed her face. She also sported two white cat-ears and a single white cat-tail. She wore a white summer dress with a red ribbon between her breasts and white sandals.
Undyne was an anthropomorphic fish monster, with blue scales and a long, red ponytail. She had red and blue fins on the sides of her head, and a pair of sharp, yellow, protruding teeth. Her one eye (as she wore an eyepatch over her left eye) had yellow sclera and a black vertical pupil. She had no nose. Undyne wore a white turtleneck under a black leather jacket and pants.
Tifa had dark brown hair which fell below her waist, and was tied at the tips to form a dolphin-tail split. She had brown eyes, and quite a buxom figure, possibly the most buxom out of Imogen's whole peerage. Tifa wore a white tank-top, a black mini-skirt, a belt and suspenders. She donned red and black gloves that extended to her elbows, red boots, black socks and a metal guard on her left elbow.
Alphys was a yellow, reptilian monster about two inches shorter than Tifa was. She had scales, round glasses, two protruding teeth, and normally wears a white robe that seemed to be a mix between a battle-cloak and a lab coat.
Navi was a bewitchingly beautiful young woman with long eyelashes, snow-white smooth skin, ruby-coloured eyes, luscious lips, beautiful slender legs, a remarkable large bust, a curvaceous figure, and long horns on her head. She had waist length pink hair that seemed to shine silver. She wore a light-coloured dress, resembling a robe, that showed off her amazing figure without having to show off any skin.
Chifuyu was a tall woman who had long black hair, split into several parts. She had dark green eyes, and wore a white jogging suit.
In a few seconds, Tifa, Undyne and Alphys got into a group together, Cana and Chifuyu got into a group, and Ayaka and Himari got into a group, while Navi remained alone.
"How about adding some of your peerage members to the groups I've made, and then make more groups out your remaining peerage members?" Imogen asked.
"...Sure." Sairaorg replied, sending a mental command to all the members of his peerage (sans one member), which consisted of his Queen, Kuisha Abaddon, his Bishops, Coriana Andrealphus and Misteeta Sabnock, his Knights, Liban Crocell and Beruka Furcas, his Rooks, Ladora Buné and Gandoma Balam, and his Pawn, who no-one knew the identity of.
Coriana was a gorgeous young woman with long, wavy blonde hair and red eyes. She wore a blue business suit with pink blouse underneath.
Misteeta Sabnock was a young boy with light green hair and violet eyes, with identical hair ornaments, one on each side. He wore a white Magician's robe with hood and golden accents, and carried a staff similar to Yubelluna's in his hand.
Liban Crocess was a young man with blonde hair and silver eyes, wearing a set of light yellow armour. He had a sword in a scabbard next to him.
Beruka Furcas was a man covered in head to toe in armour. He was standing next to a horse, who was also covered in armour. He had a spear in his hand.
Gandoma Balam was an enormous buy who was about three metres tall. He had a huge build and his arms were exceptionally thick, as were his fingers. His face resembled that of a monster rather than a human, as his skin looked rather like rocks, and was tan in colour. He had pale blue-grey eyes.
Ladora Buné was a tall and lanky man with dark green hair and red eyes.
Sairaorg's unknown Pawn was a young boy with spiky golden hair, golden eyes, and wore black and white attire with golden accents. He wore a yellow facial mask with black accents that covered his entire face, apart from his eyes and mouth.
Coriana joined Ayaka and Himari, Ladora joined Cana and Chifuyu, Gandoma and Liban joined Navi, and Kuisha, Misteeta and Beruka got into a group themselves. Sairaorg's Pawn remained by his side.
"Regulus will remain with me." Sairaorg informed Imogen. "He's my trump card, in a way."
["Regulus?"] a voice that seemed to come from Imogen, though the Belial Heiress didn't speak at all, asked. ["The same Regulus that is sealed within Regulus Nemea? He's a lot more dwarfish than I remember."]
"Yeah, this is the spirit that resided within that certain Longinus, Vritra." Sairaorg replied. "I reincarnated him as my Pawn after he appeared some time ago."
["Fair enough."] Vritra replied. ["Little midget had better prove himself."]
"Be nice, Vritra." Imogen remarked, amused, to the being sealed inside her. "Else I'll force you to watch Serafall's show again~"
Vritra growled, and remained silent.
"Yeah, that's what I thought." Imogen remarked, as Naud Gamgin's voice came up again.
"The five minutes of planning time are up!" Naud cried. "The one-hour time limit that is the Rating Game between Roxas Gremory and the combined might of Sairaorg Bael and Imogen Belial begins... NOW!"
"Alright, everyone, off you go!" Sairaorg called to both peerages.
"Make sure to kick ass!" Imogen called, as everyone, sans Sairaorg, herself and Regulus left the hut, and entered the forest at speed.
Line Break
Time left in the Rating Game: 1 hour.
"Okay, everyone." Roxas spoke to his seven peerage members (other than himself). "Out you go. Kick ass, take names, I'll join you later, when Sairaorg and Imogen come out, or when you're all taken down. Good luck!"
Everyone left in their designated groups left the hut and entered the forest, with Valian delivering a kiss to her King's cheek before she left.
Line Break
Time left in the Rating Game: 57 minutes.
Kuroka and Neo had been walking through the thick forest for a few minutes, both in silence. Neo because, of course, she didn't talk, and Kuroka because her Nekoshou senses were on high alert, trying to pick up a scent of a peerage member that wasn't in Roxas' peerage.
She'd taken to walking like a cat stalking her prey whenever she did this.
While walking, and stepping over the red stream, Kuroka's ears pricked up, and she turned her head to the right. She swore she'd heard something.
The buxom Nekoshou strained her senses as much as she could, but after a few seconds, she concluded that she'd felt nothing.
Not a minute later, Kuroka widened her golden eyes, as her senses picked up the definite sound of something flying their way. Something was being thrown at them.
She jumped into the air, far out of the way of the trajectory of where the spear would have gone, and landed a few feet behind Neo, who hadn't moved at all.
"Look out, nya!" Kuroka called, but Neo merely pulled out... an umbrella. Opening it as the spear came into sight, the canopy of the umbrella shielded her from the spear, which harmlessly bounced off and away, as Neo closed her umbrella and held it at her side.
"Nngh!" Undyne growled, as she came into view, followed by Tifa and Alphys, the latter of whom was wielding something that looked like an arm-cannon on her right arm. "Damnit! Thought I could take you by surprise."
"No such luck, nya." Kuroka replied, stepping out from behind Neo and readying two large balls of Ki in her hands. "So, who wants a piece of this naughty kitty?"
Alphys replied by shooting a large blast of lightning at Kuroka from the arm-cannon, and Kuroka leant to the side, dodging the blast. She threw the large balls at Alphys, and rushed towards her, while Neo jumped into the air, flipped gracefully, and landed in front of Tifa, smirking while opening her umbrella and holding it behind her shoulder.
She barely reached her chest, in terms of height.
"Oooh, and we've reached our first battle of tonight's Game!" Naud announced to the audience (and the people watching on their TVs at home. The combatents couldn't hear his commentary). "Looks like two of Roxas' Pawns, one of which looks to be the former Stray Devil Kuroka, will be facing off against Imogen's Rook, one of her Knights and one of her Pawns! Looks like this'll be a fun fight!
Tifa immediately ran towards Neo, and began throwing punches and kicks at Roxas' diminutive Pawn. However, the number of attacks that made their mark on Neo was equivalent to the number of sane people that actually like Justin Beiber's music.
That being none, by the way.
Neo ducked, dodged and took quick steps away from Tifa's attacks, making sure to dodge barely enough to evade Tifa, so every attack she made only just missed her.
Tifa jumped into the air and kicked out at Neo, who flicked her umbrella to deflect Tifa's kick away from her. When Tifa landed down on the ground, she kicked out at Neo again, who swung around Tifa's outstretched leg, leaving Imogen's sole Rook open to a kick from Neo that sent her sprawling to the ground.
Annoyed, Tifa looked up at Neo, who jumped, flipped through the air, and attempted to land an axe-kick on her, but missed as Imogen's Rook jumped to her feet, back-flipped away so she could put some distance between herself and Neo, and dashed back at her, throwing a punch.
However, Neo casually ducked under the punch, reached up to grab Tifa's arm and pulled so she stumbled towards her. Neo then swung her leg up high to kick Tifa hard in the face, stunning her, and kicked her in the stomach, sending Tifa sprawling back onto the ground within a moment of the first time she'd gone down.
"Impressive." Raven remarked. "If I remember correctly from the records, that specific Pawn of Roxas, Neo, took only one Pawn. And she's beating the hell out of someone worth two Rooks, or ten Pawns. Goes to show that you shouldn't rely on stats alone, everyone."
Growling in anger, Tifa summoned two blue and gold gauntlets on each of her hands, this being her Sacred Gear, the Premium Heart. This Gear increased Tifa's attacking strength gradually over time, but this attacking power was lost after she used one of seven special techniques, that she had developed while training this Gear. It also did nothing to increase Tifa's defensive capabilities.
Tifa opened her hand and sent a stream of fire-magic at Neo, but she merely used the canopy of her umbrella to block the attack, and countered by smacking her in the face with it to push her back. Tifa tried to fire back again, this time with ice-magic, but Neo ducked, and flicked her umbrella upward into Tifa's face, pushing her back still further, along with jabbing her in the belly with the ferrule of the umbrella.
Imogen's Rook tried to burn Neo from close-range, but her attack was blocked. Incensed, Tifa jumped into the air, and tried to throw several rapid-fire punches, which were all infused with fire and ice, at Neo, but Neo flipped away from where she would have been, and landed on a branch of one of the many trees in the forest.
Just to taunt Tifa still further, Neo pulled out an ice-cream cone (the same ice-cream cone from earlier) from a pocket-dimension, and began licking at the remains of the neapolitan ice-cream still inside.
"Oh, boy." Ruval said. "Tifa looks like she's getting pretty angry right now. And anyone who's faced her, Rating Game or otherwise, would know that you don't like her when she's... upset."
Line Break
Time left in the Rating Game: 55 minutes.
Kuisha, Misteeta and Beruka (who was riding on his armoured horse) made quick progress through the forest, having crossed the green stream several minutes ago. They had nothing but the sounds of their footsteps and the sound of wind on leaves for company as they progressed, but soon, they heard the sounds of attacks being thrown, both physical and magical.
"The hell was that?" Misteeta asked.
"Seems to be coming from the north-east of here." Beruka remarked, turning his horse, Altobrau, to face that direction.
"Let's go, then." Kuisha replied. "Seems some of our comrades have encountered Roxas' peerage. We might be able to help them."
As soon as the words from Sairaorg's Queen left her throat, she, the host of Trick Vanish, and Beruka Furcas moved, with haste, towards where the sounds of fighting were coming from.
Line Break
Kuroka
Time left in the Rating Game: 53 minutes.
Undyne's spear clashed with the magic-circle shield in Kuroka's left hand, while the lightning-bullets from Alphys' arm-cannon clashed with the magic-circle shield in her right hand.
Undyne gave a scream of rage as she pushed, harder and harder, into the shield, and as her strength began to pay off, the shield began to crack, and Kuroka jumped into the air and flipped behind Undyne, who stumbled forward, accidentally stabbing Alphys in the leg with her spear. It was only when Alphys shrieked in pain when Undyne realised what she had done.
Pulling the spear out of Alphys' leg and apologising profusely, she turned to Kuroka, who grinned.
"Oh, dear~" she said, playfully. "Did I accidentally cause a little friendly-fire, nya?"
"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" Undyne screamed, raising her hand and creating a dozen or so spears, before swinging her hand and flinging them all at Kuroka, who began to gracefully dodge all of the attacks coming at her at the same time, with all the acrobatics that Neo had.
However, Kuroka wasn't able to entirely evade damage, as one of Undyne's spears gashed her left side, and the other one nipped one of her black cat-ears, causing her to hiss in pain.
Kuroka summoned a large wheel of Ki, infused with demonic power, turning it black, and flung it at Undyne. Before Imogen's second Knight could get out of the way, Kuroka's attack made its mark, and hit so hard that Undyne was sent flying, and disappeared in a blue light.
"And that's our first retirement of the match!" Naud called (this time, his voice COULD be heard by all combatants in the Rating Game dimension). "One of Imogen Belial's Knights, Undyne has been Retired!"
Neo
Time left in the Rating Game: 52 minutes.
Neo, who had finished her ice-cream, jumped down from the tree she was standing in, and landed in front of Tifa, who tried to throw a punch at her midriff. However, Neo quickly opened her umbrella, used the canopy to block Tifa's punch, span into the air so she was standing on her hands, rather than her feet, landed in front of Tifa (who took a step back in order to avoid getting axe-kicked), and extended her leg out to perform a quick roundhouse-kick to Imogen's Rook, sending her backwards.
Growling, Tifa extended both her hands towards Neo and send a wave of blue, frozen flames (a very difficult elemental technique to perform, with there being only one other Devil in the Underworld apart from Tifa who could create frozen fire, her name being Serafall Leviathan) directly at Neo. However, Neo merely raised her umbrella and blocked the frozen-fire, but not without it doing mild damage to the canopy of her umbrella. However, this was inconsequential as it still blocked Tifa's follow-up punch. And when she closed the umbrella, it blocked the punch after, as well.
"Holy hell!" Naud cried. "That umbrella seems to be doing wonders against Imogen's Rook! It looks like it's a part of Neopolitan, she uses it so well!"
Neo proved Naud right by using the umbrella to block Tifa's fire-induced punch, sending her fist flying out of harm's way. However, Neo made her first mistake of the fight by attempting to kick Tifa again, as Imogen's Rook grabbed Neo's leg, and used it to throw her away.
Despite this, Neo landed perfectly on her feet, and dashed back at Tifa, jumping on top of her. The two women struggled for a few seconds, before Neo managed to get a good grip on Tifa, and throw her into a large, sturdy tree, knocking her unconscious for a few seconds.
In those few seconds, Neo noticed Alphys charging up a large shot of lightning out of her arm-cannon, and firing it at a defenceless, injured Kuroka. Neo, getting an idea, jumped into the air, landed in the way of the blast of lightning, and opened her umbrella so the canopy was facing the lightning-beam at an angle.
When the lightning impacted the umbrella, Neo focused a pulse of demonic energy into the umbrella's canopy, which reflected the beam of lightning from Alphys, and right into the conscious Tifa, knocking her out.
"Well Satan damnit!" Naud cried out. "Some very clever play from Neo there! Using Alphys' blast of lightning, which could very well have Retired Kuroka, to Retire Imogen's sole Rook, Tifa Lockhart..."
Before Alphys fully realised what had happened, Kuroka jumped over Neo, gathered a large amount of Ki in her hands, and threw it at Alphys, which impacted her hard enough to knock her unconscious as well.
"And one of Imogen's Pawns, Alphys, has Retired as well!" Naud announced. "A full sixth of the combined forces of Imogen and Sairaorg have been taken out, and without a single casualty suffered from Roxas' side! Very impressive from Kuroka and Neo!"
"What he said." Kuroka spoke to Neo, who looked around. "Nice one, nya."
Neo smiled, and blinked, as Kuisha, Misteeta and Beruka showed up, and saw Kuroka and Neo, standing relatively defenseless.
Taking full advantage, Kuisha conjured up a large sand-storm with her demonic power (which was enhanced by the Bishop trait of her Queen piece), headed it up so quickly that the sand became small spikes of glass, and sent them all flying at Kuroka and Neo.
However, when the glass impacted two of Roxas' Pawns, they shattered, leaving neither of them there.
"The hell?" Kuisha whispered, looking around, before she saw the distant sight of Kuroka and Neo leaving the scene with extreme haste.
They had escaped.
Line Break
Time left in the Rating Game: 51 minutes.
With Asia close to the pair of them, Akeno and Rias walked through the forest, having crossed the stream some time ago.
"We should be coming close to the other stream soon." Akeno remarked to Asia. "Then you can cross, Promote, and help me and Rias out with whatever comes our way."
"I'm afraid that's not going to happen." a voice said, just before a large fireball came flying in the direction of Akeno and Rias, who noticed it in the nick of time, and threw up a combined barrier to stop it from damaging them. Or Asia.
When the fiery blast dissipated, it was revealed that Ayaka Phenex, the one who cast the fireball, was walking calmly towards Akeno, Rias and Asia, with Misteeta Sabnock and Himari Noihara on either side of her.
"Hmm, one of you seems to be a Phenex." Akeno remarked, stepping forward and spreading her eight white Devil wings, as she gathered a ball of Holy Lightning in her hand. "Shall we fight, one-to-one?"
"I'd like nothing better, daughter of Baraqiel." Ayaka replied, spreading large, eagle-like wings of fire, and taking flight into the air, Akeno following soon after.
"Woah, did Akeno just say 'daughter of Baraqiel'?" Naud cried out. "The wielder of the famous 'Holy Lightning'? Since Roxas is a Devil, that should make Akeno a Nephalem, or to be more precise, a Fallen Nephalem! I wonder how this'll turn out against Imogen's half-Phenex of a Bishop!"
Akeno quickly started out the fight by placing her hands together, and firing a large missile out of Holy Lightning straight at Ayaka. The missile homed in on Imogen's Bishop as she tried to fly away from it, but the missile made its mark, and caused a large explosion that left Ayaka slightly injured. It seemed she'd managed to defend against Akeno's attack.
"Not bad." Ayaka complimented her. "But I can do better!" Creating a magic-circle in front of her, Ayaka fired a large, fast-moving ball of fire at Akeno, who, giggling to herself, blocked it.
However, Akeno wasn't in any way prepared for how the ball of fire reacted when she blocked it.
She was forced to quickly fly up into the air, and avoid how the large ball of fire scattered into several smaller balls of fire, whch all flew at her faster than the original one had done.
Once she was sure she'd evaded the balls of fire, Akeno created an Asian Dragon, which was around fifteen metres in length, out of Holy Lightning, which opened its mouth and let out a blast of Holy Lightning, right at Ayaka, who tried to evade it, but her left arm got caught in the blast of lightning, blowing it right off her body.
After a few seconds, the arm regenerated, but it was still a few seconds longer than Riser Phenex had managed to regenerate his limbs the first time. Akeno noticed this, and grinned.
'Must be working.' the raven-haired Nephalem grinned, casting a shield to block Ayaka's bullets of fire. 'If I can get a powerful enough hit in on Ayaka, I should be able to completely negate her Flaming Regeneration. Then I can finish her off!'
Akeno fired a massive beam of lightning right at Ayaka, who, unlike before, was prepared for it, and was long-gone before Akeno's beam of lightning got anywhere near her. She returned with a huge blast of fire, which Akeno countered by creating an enormous shield, completely out of water, not lightning or normal Demonic or Holy energy. The water-shield managed to put out Ayaka's fire-ball, and the steam that resulted from such a thing happening was enough to conceal Akeno teleporting behind Ayaka, and firing another large beam of Holy Lightning right at her.
And this time, Ayaka couldn't block it. She was caught right in the middle of the beam of Lightning, and screamed in pain. Her fiery wings began to flicker and die, and Ayaka Phenex began to fall.
However, Akeno wasn't finished. Creating three large spears made from Holy Lightning, she fired the lot of them at Ayaka, who couldn't do anything to stop them impaling her through the chest, and ending her time in the game.
"WHAT A FIGHT!" Naud shouted. "Akeno managed to overpower Ayaka's regeneration with pure force, and Retire Imogen's sole Bishop that way! I won't be surprised if many people start going against Phenex Clan members with this tactic!"
Rias, Asia, Misteeta and Himari
Time left in the Rating Game: 50 minutes.
Rias cast a magic-circle shield to block the attempted strike of Himari Noihara, and pushed her away with difficulty, blasting her with her Power of Destruction to keep her away for a second. As Misteeta waved his staff, casting a large wave of fire, Rias blocked that attack as well, and attempted to return fire with her Power of Destruction.
Her attack only partly made its mark, as it impacted Misteeta's arm before he could teleport up into the air, leaving him with only one arm.
"Not so fast, Gremory Heiress!" Misteeta shouted, pointing his staff at Rias before she could fire at him again. As he did so, blue markings began to appear on Rias' body, which she knew about instantly when she tried to fire a blast of her Power of Destruction at Misteeta... and found that she couldn't.
"Wh-what?" was all she could cry before Misteeta yelled out "Now, Himari!", and Himari dashed towards Rias, and swung her sword, which, thanks to Himari being a Nekoshou, was empowered by Ki, at her before she had the chance to even blink, slicing a deep wound in her body, which hurt a LOT.
"Rias!" Asia shouted out, concerned, as she immediately activated Twilight Healing to try and heal her, but it was too late. Before Asia's Sacred Gear could take any effect, Rias was enveloped in a blue light, and was Retired.
"Well, damn!" Ruval remarked. "Even if Rias managed to overcome Riser in their recent Rating Game, she's still got some metaphorical holes in her. Holes which Misteeta and Himari were able to exploit, to great effect. Not to be mean, but Roxas' blonde Pawn... doesn't seem like much in a combat situation."
Ruval's words were proven right as Himari, just as quickly as she had taken down Rias, took down Asia and Retired her with one swing of her sword. She didn't even need to infuse it with Ki to take her down.
Akeno
Time left in the Rating Game: 49 minutes.
"Ha... ha... ha..." Akeno panted. Pulling off so many powerful attacks in such quick succession against Ayaka had done a pretty damn big number on her stamina, and Roxas' sole Bishop didn't think she could go through such an intense fight again.
As she looked down at Misteeta and Himari, Akeno's eyes widened when she realised that Rias and Asia had both been Retired by them, and neither Misteeta nor Himari seemed fatigued, like she was, in the slightest.
'Time,' Akeno thought, flapping her eight wings and leaving the scene. 'To make a strategic retreat.'
Line Break
Time left in the Rating Game: 47 minutes
"You sure you know where you're going, Liban?" Navi asked Liban Crocell, as he tried to direct both themselves and Gandoma through the forest-area.
"Yes, I'm sure!" Liban, slightly annoyed, replied. "We should be coming to members of Roxas' peerage any second now!"
"For a Knight, you're not very good at directions." Navi remarked, yawning. "I should try flying overhead and finding some of Roxas' peerage members to fight."
"I'd have to concur with the sexy pink-haired Dragon girl." a voice came from up in a tree nearby. Navi, Gandoma and Liban all whipped around, and saw Akasha Bloodriver herself sat, lazily swinging her legs, on the branch of a tree, while drinking from a large jar of blood. "You've passed me twice now, it's really rather amusing."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Naud cried out. "Is that BLOOD that Roxas' Rook is drinking! Wait, let me have a look at the records of his peerage!" There was the sound of papers being shuffled. "That's right! It seems that Roxas Gremory's Mutation Rook is the legendary Vampiress from the Carmilla Faction, Akasha Bloodriver herself! Satan only knows how he managed to coax HER into his peerage!"
Akasha giggled at the looks on Navi's, Gandoma's and Liban's faces, finished her drink of blood, and jumped down from the tree to do battle with them.
As soon as she landed on the ground, Akasha placed her hand on the ground, and as she did so, two magic-circles appeared in front of Liban and Navi, and out of them came... what seemed to look like beings, created entirely out of blood.
The one that appeared in front of Liban was a large humanoid creature with six arms, that wielded six swords, which were also made out of blood. The one that appeared in front of Navi was an average-sized Western Dragon.
At her mental command, the sword-wielding blood-creature attacked Liban, while the blood-Dragon attacked Navi, while Akasha jumped into the air and swung her leg at Gandoma, hitting him full in the face with enough force to send him flying through three trees, before he came to a stop.
Looking annoyed, Gandoma began to rush at Akasha, preparing to smash her in the face, but Akasha merely snapped her fingers and created a spike of blood from the ground, that severely impeded Gandoma's progress. He had to slide to a stop to avoid getting impaled on the spike, and that was the distraction Akasha needed to jump over the spike, land behind Gandoma, and send him flying forward with an incredibly powerful kick to the back, which was also infused with Holy energy.
Gandoma let out a roar of pain, and tried to attack Akasha again, but Roxas' Rook was far too fast for Sairaorg's Rook. As she heard the call of Liban Crocell being retired, and smirked in satisfaction, Akasha infused her legs with Holy energy, jumped into the air, delivered five fast mid-air kicks to Gandoma's head to send him flying backwards, and then manipulated the blood she had used to create the sword-wielding blood-being, and sent it all flying at Gandoma, simultaneously infusing it with Holy energy and crystalizing it at the last second to pepper him with enough Holy attacks to render Sairaorg's Rook unable to continue the fight.
Ignoring Naud's announcement that she was certainly worth a Mutation Rook worth 3 Rook pieces, if she were to be as strong as she is (which she was), Akasha turned on Navi to, to her surprise and slight disappointment, had managed to defeat the blood-dragon that she had sent at her.
Navi had also transformed into a Western Dragon, and was staring Akasha down.
"You know," the Dragon-Navi called down to Akasha. "I've only had to go into this form once before, and no Devil has managed to survive it!"
"Good thing I'm not just a Devil, then." Akasha replied, grinning and jumping into the air, avoiding the huge fiery blast that Navi shot from her mouth. Landing on Navi's head, Akasha got an idea, and (most of the audience winced at this) stamped on Navi's eye with one of her heeled shoes, prompting Navi to let out a shriek of agony, and draw blood, which was just what she, a Vampire, wanted.
"That's it." Akasha cooed, holding onto Navi with one hand (as she thrashed around, trying to throw Akasha off her). "Come on, now." With her other hand, she scooped up some of the blood that had came out of Navi's punctured eye, and licked it right out of her hand. "Ooohhhh~"
Licking her lips from how nice Navi's blood tasted (not quite as sweet and fulfilling as Roxas' blood, but oh well), Akasha focused the newfound aura she had, thanks to the blood she consumed, into her arm, and before everyone's eyes, her right arm began to change into the arm of that of a Dragon.
"You know, I don't usually like getting my hands dirty in a fight." Akasha remarked to Navi, as she continued to thrash around. "But this time, I think I can make an exception." Infusing Holy energy into her Dragon's arm, Akasha punched the back of Navi's head so hard that she went down with one single punch, landed on the ground, and moved no more.
"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Naud shouted. "I SIMPLY! DO NOT! BELIEVE IT! ROXAS' VAMPIRESS ROOK JUST RETIRED IMOGEN'S SIX-PIECE PAWN, SAIRAORG'S GIANT ROOK, AND HIS KNIGHT! ALL ON HER OWN! JUST WHAT OTHER POWERFUL BEINGS DOES ROXAS GREMORY HAVE IN HIS PEERAGE?!"
Line Break
Time left in the Rating Game: 45 minutes.
Misteeta and Himari, who had been the ones to Retire Rias and Asia, were walking quickly through the forest. They had crossed the red stream, and thanks to this, knew that they were fast approaching Roxas' base.
As they hurried towards where they thought the base would be, they heard a loud scuffling of leaves. In an instant, Himari drew her sword, and Misteeta readied her staff, but they found that they were facing Cana, Ladora and Chifuyu (the latter of which was clad inside a suit of platinum armour that resembled of medieval Knight of old, and had a helmet that covered her entire face. She also held a gigantic white and blue broad-sword in her hand.
"Oh, it's just you." Cana remarked, sighing. "I thought we'd be facing down Roxas when we got this close."
"Same." Himari replied. "Good to know we're now here. So we can fight whoever comes up against us togeth-"
["VANISHING DRAGON, BALANCE BREAKER!"]
Remaining members of Roxas' Peerage:
Roxas (24), Valian (18), Akasha (30), Akeno (6), Kuroka (4), Neo (2)
Total Value: 84
Remaining members of Sairaorg and Imogen's Peerages:
Sairaorg (10), Kuisha (9), Coriana (3), Misteeta (3), Beruka (3), Ladora (5), Regulus (7)
Imogen (11), Cana (9), Himari (3), Chifuyu (1)
Total Values: 61
And that's the fifteenth chapter of Nephalem of Gremory, everybody! The Rating Game between Roxas, Sairaorg and Imogen has begun, and so far, things seem to be... rather tipped in Roxas' favour, as far as value-numbers go. But in terms of fighter-numbers, he's still outnumbered. Though not quite to the same degree as before.
Also Seekvaira got *in the voice of the gaming sound effect* DENIED~
And no. I'm not sorry for that reference.
Apart from that, what else? Uh... a reference to the Avengers (who may or may not be showing up next chapter)? That's something.
DxD Discord Server Link: discord. Gg/TGPM9pH
Now that that's done, what did you think of this chapter? Please, review and let me know, because I really do love hearing feedback. If you fancy letting me know about some possible ideas you might have for later in the story, just let me know in a review or PM (or talk to me on Discord (my name for is is on my profile)), as I really enjoy talking to you readers!
Three Sizes of New Girls:
Akame: 81-56-83
Cana: 95-67-99
Tifa: 92-60-88
Next Time: The End of the Rating Game.
Preview of Next Chapter:
"Shit." Roxas muttered. "I was hoping that I'd at least make it through this game with my Queen."
"No such luck, I'm afraid, Roxas!" the armour-clad Imogen replied.
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Seeya!