Welcome to the next chapter of The Magic Knight, before starting the story. Let's answer some reviews:
Wacko12: I've actually been considering someone else to be his Joker. Not that I don't think Escanor is an absolute boss character.
Hellspam: It does sound like something that he would do. Yea, you mess with a member of their team than their armed and ready to deal anyone. That does sound like an interesting way to introduce him into the story. I will make sure that her introduction will be an enjoyable one. And I did consider making her his Jack.
Guest: I never heard about that before. But, I can just hear what Issei might have said if Freed came to in front of them again. It would probably have gone like [Why won't you just stay dead?!] or something like that. Freed would be an interesting opponent to deal with.
Blue Eyes Pendulum Dragon: Sorry about that, I was having a bit of trouble with writing the chapter. I have already thought about other Hero descendants to add into the Hero Faction.
King0fPowers: That is something I don't think that he can do. I don't know either, compared to Diodora and other former antagonists, Raiser has the most character development. I think that he is only interested in Saints, like Asia and Jeanne. You're right, but there will be something going on during their Rating Game. Their fight was interesting, despite being descendants of the original Four Maou, they never showed as much talent or power as Vali did. Azazel did see that fight as a mean for testing his Pseudo Balance Breaker. I thought of the Avalon Syntax after reading about Ajuka's Kankara Formula; it allows him to control his light powers along with allowing him to add in different attributes; with enough practice then he would be able to…it's full capabilities. Those abilities aren't exactly only exclusive to them. If he was reintroduced into the story, I don't think that they would allow him to live much longer.
Guest 2: That sounds like a hilarious idea, the moment when they're in the heat of combat, then out of nowhere they're interrupted.
Guest 3: If it were him then Diodora would be more into the idea of breaking an actual angel who is also a saint.
Guest 4: That actually sounds like something he would want to do, but I think that I could make that idea work.
Naruto: Well, thanks for spoiling that first part for me…I actually wanted to wait until the full translation was done.
Tamm: Thanks.
Asia's Worries
[One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.]
Both Issei and Asia spoke in unison as they ran forward together practicing for the Three-Legged Race today. Since neither of them had much rhythm with one another they decided to practice every morning behind the gymnasium of the new school building. Assisting them with their practicing was Xenovia who returned to her usual self and clapped her hands at a certain rhythm.
Lance was also there dressed in the same gym clothes as the rest of them.
"Auu! One, two! Hauuu! Three, four!"
Asia tried to desperately follow him since athletics wasn't much of her thing at the moment and Issei is much faster than him. Training over the summer caused Issei to realize one thing, daily training would allow them to get one step ahead and get even better. Seeing their progress Xenovia nodded her head with a satisfied look.
"Yes. You guys have quite a good rhythm now. Now let's have you guys run as if it's the actual race."
Xenovia said to them as she fixed the rope that connected their legs together with one another.
While she was doing that, Issei looked and noticed the look of gloom on Asia's face.
"…."
Issei could only consider that it concerned their upcoming match with Diodora Astaroth. Being unable to handle it, Issei just decided to ask her out.
"Asia, tell me what is concerning you."
Hearing Issei's request, Asia put on a confused look and then told him after thinking about her response after a short moment.
"…I don't regret saving that person back then."
Issei already knew that Asia saved a wounded Devil during her time as a member of the Church and due to that she was treated as a heretic. Losing her place amongst them, Asia experienced different painful experiences due to that incident. Hearing about the incident, it only rose more questions. Like why the Devil―Diodora Astaroth was there, to begin with in the church's territory, to begin with.
The only thing that he did know was that it didn't matter whether he was a devil or not, Asia still would have saved him no matter what, because that's just who she is. But, it was due to that incident that her entire life changed. Issei thought about the possibilities of her returning to her former life, but then other things started to run through her mind.
"…Ise-san?"
Asia asked as she looks into his face.
"You had a very serious expression just now. …You also looked sad…."
"…Hey, Asia. If you were able to get your old lifestyle back, what would you do?"
"….."
Asia gets shocked and opens her eyes wide to the question that Issei asked.
Even though he might end up losing Asia if she says [I want to go back], but he was thinking about this for her sake and not his own. As Issei got ready for her answer his heart raced at a fast pace, his hand that was connected to her own started to get sweaty.
"I won't go back."
Asia had a smile on her face and answered without any hesitation in her voice.
"I have asked Ise-san once before. I asked you [Can I stay by Ise-san's side forever?]. Ise-san, you said [Yes], to me."
It was before their fight against Riser Phenex and his Peerage during Rias' forced engagement, he did indeed remember saying that to her.
"I like this place. I also like Kuoh Academy and the Occult Research Club. I also like Buchou-san, Akeno-san, Tou-san, Onii-san, Sensei, Kiba-san, Xenovia-san, Koneko-chan, Gasper-kun, Irina-san, and Kiryuu-san. I also love …Ise-san and Ise-san's parents. The new life I started in this city is something very important, and something I greatly love which makes it so wonderful."
Hearing her answer caused Issei to berate himself. Issei himself should have known that Asia currently enjoyed her lifestyle now more than she did in her former one.
"Yeah, Asia and I will always be together! I also won't allow you to get married! Asia, don't think too much about Diodora. No matter what happens, you know that you can say no if you don't like it?"
Asia looked puzzled but then shows her saintly smile immediately.
"Yes."
"Hmm, saying that in front of her awesome brother. You really have guts, Ise-kun."
Lance said with a thumbs up and cheeky smile, while Issei only glared at him with an annoyed look on his face.
"Don't you dare start!"
Xenovia then says with an apologetic expression as she approached Asia.
"…Asia. I want to apologize to you once again. The first time I met you, I said harsh things to you. I still regret it even now. …Asia, you treat me kindly. You said I'm your f-f-friend…."
This was one of the only rare times where one would see Xenovia's face a bit red as she approached the topic. Asia then took Xenovia's shaky hands she said with a big smile.
"Yes. Xenovia-san and I are friends."
Despite them being straightforward words to her, they held a lot of emotions behind them. As she heard those words, Xenovia's eyes became moist with tears.
"Thank you. Thank you, Asia."
Both Lance and Issei could not help but smile at the heartwarming moment that occurred between the two of them. Asia truly was a kind girl without the heart to hold any grudge against someone.
"Uuuuuu! It really is touching…."
They heard a cry coming from the side of them and Lance suddenly felt a soft sensation being pressed up against his arm. He turned his head to see Irina currently in tears after seeing the moment between the two of them.
"Irina. You also came?"
"Uuu, yes. Xenovia invited me…. She said [Mornings at Kuou Academy also feel good]. And when I arrived, I saw this beautiful friendship. This also must be because of the guidance of the Lord and Michael-sama…."
Irina who has become deeply moved starts to pray to the sky.
"If I remember, you have joined the Knights of Chivalry Club right?"
"Yes. I joined the club of my dear childhood friend. There I feel like I can help others in need!"
"Even though you have the least amount of requests compared to the rest of us."
Xenovia mumbled out with a hint of superiority in her voice, Irina who caught onto her tone glanced in her direction with a questioning look.
"Hmm, what was that Xenovia?"
"Oh, nothing. Putting that aside, let's resume our practice."
Xenovia and Irina had joined in their practice for the Three-Legged Race with them getting better and better coordination with one another.
"Well, they're certainly getting better attuned with one another."
Lance said to himself as he entered the gymnasium storage room that was located in the corner of the school grounds. Since both Issei and Asia did a lot of running since the morning, Lance volunteered to put up the equipment that they used for their practice. And since he wasn't as tired as Asia since he was far physically inclined due to his physical training since childhood, and he wanted to give her some time with Issei.
"Hmm, I gotta admit the two of them makes a great couple."
Lance added as he was prepared to leave the storage room after putting up the equipment used, however….
SLAM!
The sound of the door being closed shut; turning around, Lance noticed Xenovia standing behind him with her back facing the door. He stared at her with a wondering and confused look on his face.
"Eh, Xenovia what're you doing?"
Lance asked as he had a sudden case of déjà vu, due to the similar situation that he had been through from before.
"Lance-sama, I heard that girls my age start to flirt with other during this period."
"What're you―?"
"It means getting your breasts played around with by a boy."
Xenovia said with a plain yet serious look that didn't match this situation and caused Lance to stare at her with a shocked look on his face. He couldn't understand since her meaning of "Flirting" was a bit different from what it actually was.
"Xenovia! Don't suddenly start a conversation like that!"
"There is a girl in our class who has her breasts played with every day by her boyfriend. I researched quite a lot. And so, I thought this would be the perfect chance to do the same with my fiance."
Again her tone remained the same.
As she continued to talk about indecent things, while the expression on her face remained the same. A thought then came to mind when Lance was caught in a bind.
"W-Wait, you know you're not a normal human anymore. Since you're a reincarnated Angel you might fall."
It was true since they were indeed reincarnated angels they were held by the same rules as other pure angels in Heaven. However―
"That won't be the case with those amongst your brave saints."
The words that came from Xenovia's mouth caused him to make a blank look on his face.
"Eh, what're you talking about."
"Your brave saints were modified in a way where you can be intimate with the chosen females without the concern of any of them falling. This was one of the things told to us directly by Gabriel-sama…but, at this point I should probably refer to her as Kaa-san or just mother."
Xenovia mumbled that last part to herself with a bit of a conflicted look on her face.
"Not that I don't think you're lying, but why wouldn't she tell me that herself?"
"I told her that as your Queen, I would inform you. She also said that [Both Onii-sama and I did want my dear Angelic Child to receive his own Brave Saints, along with them being able to love him freely. But, our reasons were slightly different. Onii-sama wanted to increase Heaven's numbers and strength with children of Lancelot who inherited strong genes from his father and me, but…I just wanted adorable little grandchildren that I could dote on~]. That is what she said."
"Did you have to mimic my mother's tone of voice, which I have to admit was kind of spot on?"
"Are you not satisfied with me?"
"It's not that?"
"Then what's the issue?"
"It's just that…eh, you got me there."
After mumbling that to himself, Xenovia started to approach him reaching for the bottoms of her gym shirt. As she slowly took off her shirt revealing her skin and bra covered bust, Lance couldn't help but admire the curves on her body. A body definitely maintained due to her constant training.
"Then let's do it. I will also be practice making babies as well."
"Again, do you remember that you're still in high school? You can worry more children after graduating."
Lance reminded as he stared at her with an even deadpanned stare.
Essentially ignoring his response, Xenovia finally undid her bra that suppressed her breasts allowing for them to be free. They were quite big and her nipples were a beautiful pink. No matter how many times he saw them, Lance couldn't help but have his eyes drawn towards them.
"They are breasts which I haven't had anyone touch except Lance-sama. Do you still remember how they feel?"
Hearing her ask that question, he couldn't help but recall the details of that first experience. Before he would have thought that a woman who constantly trained her body that her skin wouldn't have been that beautiful and smooth and that her breasts felt as soft as marshmallows.
"You're really adamant about this aren't you?"
Lance asked as he started to scratch the back of his head after recovering from the slight shock that occurred beforehand. Without a hint of hesitation in himself anymore, he started to approach Xenovia with a normal smile on his face. Seeing how opened his was about this situation caused her to be a bit stung by it, but those thoughts were pushed back as she felt pressure on her chest.
"…Nnn…."
A sweet voice came out of Xenovia's mouth, as Lance began to sink his five fingers into her breast, the sound coming from her mouth almost paralyzed his brain due to how cute she sounded. Though that didn't stop him from continuing to knead her breasts using his hand. Every moment caught a soft moan to come from her mouth, in response to this arousal her nipples started to be erect. This sent a new feeling across her body that soon increased.
"Ahh…Lance-sama…."
"Xenovia, you know what I decided after the summer?"
"Huh?"
"I decided that I would accept all of your feelings and take responsibility for all of you. Especially if one of them is my fiancée."
Lance admitted as he stopped "flirting" with her. Hearing those words come from his caused her usual beautiful smile to form on her face.
"Then please take responsibility for my feelings, Lance-sama."
Xenovia said almost sensually wrapping her arms around his neck and leaned forward puckering her soft almost inviting lips. Closing their eyes, the two of them begun to lean in close towards one another.
CLANG!
The door suddenly opens.
"…I came here because you weren't coming out and….W-W-W-Wh-what are you doing in here?!"
Both of them opened their eyes as they noticed, Irina walking inside of the gym storage seeing that two of them close to one another; while Xenovia was half-naked. Seeing this Irina's face turned red as he thought that she was going to comment about them being this close.
"Do it in a b-bed! This place is filthy and is no good!"
What she said caused Lance to be a bit shocked. Since he expected her to comment on something else, but Xenovia only clicked her tongue with a hint of annoyance.
"We were this close…. Damn, Self-Proclaimed Brunette."
Those words cut Irina deep almost as if she were stabbed by a knife, tears started to stream down her face.
"D-Don't say that! I am a brunette!"
"Self-Proclaimed Angel."
Another one caused streams of tears to fall down her cheeks as she fell down on her knees crying, and started to flail her arms around.
"Waah! I am an Angel! …Lance-kun tell her to stop calling my a Self-Proclaimed Angel when I am the same angel as her. Waaaah!"
Irina continued to sit there bawling her eyes out while rubbing her eyes out.
Xenovia stared down at her former teammate with slanted eyes and a bit of a cocky smirk. Seeing this situation caused Lance to scratch the back of his head.
"Well, I guess that it could have gone…. Why do I hear electricity?"
From where he stood, Lance could hear electricity starting to crackle in the air around them that even caused the lights inside the storage closet. As he wondered what could have been the cause of this, soon enough he felt a great deal of killing intent coming from behind him. Sensing this causing him to glance behind Irina who was still recovering from the verbal assault dealt to her by Xenovia; standing behind her was Yuuma who was covered in a dark purplish aura that exuded pure coldness. Her eyes that normally exude so much confidence was now lost their shine and were now blank.
Seeing this caused Lance to come to one terrifying conclusion.
"Crap, I think she just went full yandere. Usually, it's just like 40%."
"What were you doing to my Lance-kun?"
Her question was so coldly that it sent a chill down even Lance's spine due to this being his first time seeing her like this, but it didn't affect Xenovia who soon bravely replied.
"I was spending time with my fiance."
"Uh, Xenovia. I know that you still don't know much about Japan, but it's kind of known that you don't under any circumstance antagonize a Yandere!"
Lance warned her, but Xenovia who didn't know nor cared created a dense light sword that caused the air to vibrate. She pointed her sword towards Yuuma who continued to stare at her with blank eyes.
"You're correct, I don't fully know what most of Japan's weird classes are…but I won't falter no matter what they are."
"Fufufu, you want to fight for my Lance-kun."
Yuuma asked as she summoned a dense light…hatchet! That was the first time that anyone had seen a light weapon like that. Seeing that Lance wasn't left with many options to calm her down.
"Qīnglóng! I know you can hear me! A little help here before she kills someone!"
[….]
Lance got a bit of a response, even her own partner didn't what to get involved whenever she got like this. It was unknown what happened inside that storage room, but no one dared to approach it.
Occult Research Club
It the still the same day during the Occult Research Club's activities, inside of the club room everyone in the room sat in their seats. With Issei again being used as a personal seat by Koneko as they waited for the purpose of this meeting.
"Looks like everyone has gathered."
Confirming that everyone was there and prepared, Rias took out something that looks like a video as their club adviser Azazel stood by the monitor.
"It's a video recording that has the matches of the young devils. Our match against the Sitri group is also on it."
Rias explained, today it would be decided that they would be watching the recordings of their upcoming opponent. Seeing the looks on their faces, Azazel confirmed their expressions.
"Not just you guys, but the other Young Devils also had a game. House of the Great-King Bael and Maou Asmodeus' House of Glasya-Labolas, House of Arch-Duke Agares and Maou Beelzebub's House of Astaroth. Each of them had a match after yours. This is the recording of those matches. It's the video of your rivals so watch carefully."
[YES.]
Everyone nodded at Azazel's words.
This serious tone caused everyone to focused towards the monitor with anxious anticipation, how did the other matches go aside from the ones that they had with the Sitri Group.
"First is the match between Sairaorg…. House of Bael versus House of Glasya-Labolas."
It was the match between the Number One Youth Devil and the troublemaker from the House of Glasya-Labolas, the same house that produced the current Asmodeus. As the video of their match continued to play, the excitement that they felt before soon turned serious as they watched why Sairaorg was given the title [Number One] due to his overwhelming power.
They watch Sairaorg's other peerage members fighting against Zephyrdor, both their peerage member were undoubtedly powerful in their own right and was already finished. The victors of their match being the pieces belonging to Sairaorg. Seeing that all his pieces were lost, Zephyrdor challenged Sairaorg to a one-on-one battle, but what then proved to be a mistake. During their battle, Sairaorg fought as if all his challenger's attacks were nothing using nothing but punches and kicks.
Numerous of the Yankee Devil's defensive techniques being taken down by the Bael Heir, with a single punch his fist dug deeply into his opponent with the whole area begins to shake due to the pressure. Zephydor fell to the ground in defeat.
"…The one who was called the wicked one. The new heir of the Glasya-Labolas, who is hated, can't even put up a fight. He's someone of that much caliber, that man Sairaorg Bael."
Kiba said as he narrowed his eyes at what he just witnessed since he was their group's Ace, there were a number of thoughts going through his mind right now. Not only did Sairaorg possess overwhelming physical strength, but his speed itself was something that even him and Avon was unable to keep up with using their eyes.
This was the level of power that Sairaorg used with nothing more than just his bare hands and without using any kind of magic. Gasper who witnessed this sight began to shake and clung to Issei's arm.
"Rias and Sairaorg. Both of you have too many one-on-one battles even though you guys are the [King]. Basically, the [King] can just have their "pieces" march forward while the [King] doesn't move. You do know that the game will be over if the [King] is taken down, right? Maybe those who carry the blood of House of Bael are hot-blooded."
As Azazel said that, while sighing to himself caused Rias' face to turn red due to embarrassment.
"By the way, how strong is that Yankee Devil?"
"If we didn't limit it to the current six Houses, then he wouldn't be weak. But since the former heir died in an accident, he participated as a representative…."
Rias answered Issei's question.
Akeno-san continues.
"In the ranking produced by the Game Committee, Bael is ranked first, Agares is ranked second, Gremory is ranked third, Astaroth is ranked fourth, Sitri is ranked fifth, and Glasya-Labolas is ranked sixth. It's the comparison of the average ranking of their strengths, including the King along with their servants. Though each of them turned the result around after having a match."
"But only Sairaorg Bael is excelling…. That's what it means, right Buchou?"
Rias nodded at Issei's words and answered.
"Yes. He is a monster. It's said that [Maybe he will rise up in a short time when he participates in the official game?]. In other words, you can say that our fame would increase if we defeat him."
If they were to defeat the heir of the Bael who gained this much strength, then their own fame would go higher than now.
"Is he stronger than Raiser?"
"I won't know unless both of them fight against each other, but even from my own favorable views, I feel that Sairaorg is stronger."
For Issei who had to use both Holy Water and a Cross just to defeat Raiser in their match to put him down due to his clan's Immortality shocked him. Even without competing in the official matches, Sairaorg had a level of strength that surpassed the Phenex heir.
"Well, I will show you the graphs. They're the ones that are distributed to each faction."
Azazel said as he activated a magic technique that displayed a holographic vision of a graph appeared in the air before them. On the graphs were the images of Rias, Sona, Sairaorg, Seekvaira, Diodora, and Zephydor. Below it was something that resembled parameters started to move and is getting longer as they moved upwards. Written in Japanese were the categories of [Power], [Technique], [Support] and finally [Wizard].
These were the types that were given to those participating in Rating Games, but another category is listed as [King] representing their quality as a King. For the [King] category, Rias, Sona, and Seekvaira were fairly high in that category; Sona is higher than Rias, while is considerably higher in comparison.
The lowest of them being Zephydor who lost his match.
For Rias' graph, the [Wizard] category that rated their demonic power increased to most out the rest, the [Power] category also increased fairly high. Other categories like [Technique] and [Support] stopped at the mid-point positioned in an average mark.
Sairaorg out of the Youth Devils is the lowest for [Support] and [Wizard]. But, the problem lied in the [Power] category increased to the point where it reached the ceiling. It was an overwhelming increase in pure power. Out of the others, Zephydor was the second highest in terms of power, while Sairaorg was several times stronger than him.
"Sairaorg didn't even fight seriously in the one on one battle against Zephydor."
Azazel admitted to him, Issei then realized that even in his Balance Breaker Scale Mail, the power that was just displayed by Sairaorg was higher than that.
"So this person, Sairaorg-san, must be a genius as well, then."
Issei made that assumption since Sairaorg had that level of power without a legendary dragon inside of him. Hearing his assumption, Azazel shook his head in disagreement.
"No, Sairaorg is the first pure devil from the House of Bael who didn't have any talents. He also couldn't inherit one of the traits passed down from the House of Bael, the power of destruction. The ones who strongly inherited the power of destruction are his cousins, the Gremory siblings."
What he heard shocked them, based on what he heard both Sirzechs and Rias who inherited their power of destruction from their mother who came from the House of Bael; but Sairaorg who came from that house hadn't inherited that same power.
"But he's the strongest within the youth right?"
"By doing something, which pure devils who inherited the gift passed from their clan normally wouldn't do, he surpassed the geniuses."
"Normally wouldn't do?"
Azazel says with a serious face to him.
"Intense amount of training that is. Sairaorg is a rare pure devil who attained power by doing abnormal amounts of training. He only had his own body. So he trained it to the extreme."
What Azazel just told him is something astonishing. The reason being that all the high-class devils that he heard about were all blessed with overwhelming talent, yet Sairaorg wasn't born with that kind of talent.
"He was being beaten and kept on being beaten since he was born and continued to get defeated. Among the high-class devils and pure devils who are colored with a brilliant environment, he was the one who was walking in a muddy and bloody path."
Hearing that explained both the pressure and confidence that came from him, which was different from that of Rias and Sona.
"A talentless person to become chosen as the next heir. Do you know what an exploit that is? He's the real deal since he knows the great difference between humiliating defeat and the happiness of victory. Well, in Sairaorg's case his strength also comes from something which is a secret, though."
Everyone turned back towards the video as they saw Zephydor retreating into the shadows after he was defeated even dropping into tears. Sairaorg only turned around leaving the place without responding at all the expression on his face. Despite him being a vulgar jerk, no one could talk bad about how their match ended at all. Even they were oppressed by Sairaorg power. The video finished, and Azazel then says it in the room which became dead silent.
"I will tell you guys before hand, but after your fight with Diodora, your next opponent is Sairaorg."
"Are you serious?!"
Issei asked with a shocked look on his face, with Azazel just nodding his head. Rias also asked.
"Is it not a bit too early? I thought we would fight Glasya-Labolas before him."
"He's no good now."
Everyone in the room became doubtful at the words that came from his mouth.
"Zephydor was crushed in his match against Sairaorg. His soul is carved with fear in his match against Sairaorg. He won't be able to fight now. Sairaorg has crushed his heart. His mind. That's why the rest of the matches will be done with the remaining participants. The house of Glasya-Labolas ends here for the matches among the youth."
Even with the match ending the way it did, they could still see him shivering in fear.
"You guys also should be careful. He will come at you while having the high spirit of crushing the mind and spirit of his opponents. He really is trying to become a Maou. Not even a slight hesitation or the will to give in lies in there."
Azazel's warning struck them deeply, then a question came to Van's mind.
"Didn't Lance say that he fought against him in the past?"
"I asked him about it a while ago and Lance just said that the two of them wanted to see how much the stacked against the other. I doubt that even Lance could handle more than a couple full powered hits from Sairaorg. When I even asked about it, he admitted he could only handle about four hits without armor." Azazel replied while activating another technique that displayed another holographic image similar to the ones used for the others. "Despite matches against their Brave Saints not being a possibility for at least twenty years, I still thought that I should show this chart made by Grigori to rate Lance."
The same parameter graph used to rate the others appeared, like before the possible quality for [King] started to raise up until it reached the same level as Sona. Both the [Power] and [Support] categories were fairly high up, his [Power] on the other hand was still far from that of Sairaorg, but it still wasn't that high; with his [Support] being a bit higher than his [Power].
What caught their attention most was that his [Technique] and [Wizard] category continued passing up the young devils bypassing the normal parameters.
"He's fairly well-rounded in all categories. I can't say that I'm surprised."
Van said in a bit of a joking tone but still couldn't get over the wide difference in the [Technique] and the [Wizard] category. Azazel who noticed his expression later commented.
"The kid is considered to be a prodigy from both the Du Lac and Ambrosius Family, possessing the best qualities from his heritage."
This was something that all of them were already fully aware of the moment that they saw him fight for themselves.
"It will also be dangerous considering that he's as much of a strategist as Sona."
Rias stated as she was caught towards his parameter compared to her own, taking note of the distance between them including in the King category.
"If I were to grade the two of them both as strategists, then Sona would be a grade higher than Lance in terms of devising plans. Though that doesn't mean he is incapable of leading his own team and utilizing their traits to their fullest." Azazel replied. "If anything, I'd say Lance is a genius in terms of combat capable of devising a number of techniques. His main battle technique is a lot similar to Sirzechs' a…Wizard-Technique-Type. Those two are the kind of people who seek to master their abilities to the limit, then inventing his own technique and spells."
"What about that sacred gear, Avalon Drakon?"
"Form the information that I found out is that it is an Independent Avatar-Type Sacred Gear, it can fire off beams of holy energy from capable of injuring beings of darkness such as Devils and construct barriers that can defend against physical and magic attacks. Though it can transform into a sword to match Lance's fighting style, I don't think that it can be classed as a subspecies. A possible balance breaker for it hasn't been recorded yet. Considering its potential it won't be a match for either Boosted Gear or Divine Dividing or matching them in terms of offensive power, but is still high in terms of different abilities and doesn't consume as much stamina." Azazel answered releasing a sigh. "Though even when he isn't using a sacred gear, he's still a dangerous opponent for several reasons. If it wasn't for a couple individuals, he would have already been promoted to a Knight a long time ago."
"What does that mean?"
Van questioned with a wondering look.
"It was the Round Table that made that decision, a small group made up of descendants of the originals who make the choices of who to promote as a Paladin or Head Paladin," Azazel answered with a bit of a sigh. "They weren't very thrilled about there being another Knight named Lancelot since the original didn't leave the best final moments for his legacy. He essentially caused the fall of the empire that he swore to protect. In the past none of them wanted Elaine to be a Paladin even though her strength alone was well passed the criteria."
This was something that wasn't much news to them since it was common knowledge that the original Sir Lancelot caused the fall of Camelot due to his adulterous relationship with Queen Guinevere; then causing distrust that couldn't be repaired among the Round Table. Even till this day. Those feeling of betrayal fell down on the one who inherited his name.
"Wait, why Elaine-san of all people?"
Issei asked wondering as to why she of all people wouldn't be allowed to be allowed to be a paladin.
"Even as a child they saw her as being "War and Destruction Incarnate"…that form of hers just proves their point."
Seeing that everyone was getting off track from the purpose of this meeting, Azazel decided to stir them back towards the conversation.
"Anyway, let's get back to the main topic of this meeting."
"First, we need to focus on the next match. We will also watch the video of the Astaroth whom we will be fighting next. I heard that they defeated their opponent, the next heiress of the Arch-Duke, Seekvaira Agares."
Akeno informed them much to their great shock after receiving this news.
"The Arch-Duke lost!?"
Issei asked with a shocked look on his face. He remembered her during the party held after the end of the summer break. Issei could back then feel that neither her servants nor herself was weak and were indeed quite strong themselves.
"Sona who gave us a hard time received a gold star mark, and like Akeno said earlier the Astaroth who defeated the second rank Agares received a big gold star mark. It certainly is regretful, but it was the rank given before the match began and they were nothing but predictions. So no one can tell what will happen when the game begins. That is Rating Game."
Rias replied it was true that despite being powerful and granted high rating by the higher-ups there was no definite way to determine what might happen during the rating game.
"But I never thought that Agares would lose."
Just like Sona couldn't believe that Seekvaira would lose against Diodora or his peerage, as she was about to start the next video.
FLASH!
At the corner of the room, a green-colored transportation magic-circle meant for a single individual shined brightly. Neither Issei or Asia who were still a bit new to these kinds of magic circles were a bit confused about who it belonged to, but Akeno remembered the pattern.
"Astaroth."
"How are you doing? It is I, Diodora Astaroth. I have come to see Asia."
After the arrival of their next opponent, the ones who currently sat at the table were Rias, Diodora, and Azazel as their adviser; along with Chris who entered the room later on. Pouring green tea for the Astaroth Heir was Akeno who did her duty as Rias' Queen. The other remaining servants were looking from the corner of the room. Asia stood next to Issei for comfort, through his hand her nervousness was felt by him. All they could do was believe in their king. Diodora who didn't bother to drink the tea given to him said to Rias with a gentle smile.
"Rias-san. I will say it straight forward. I would like to [Trade] Bishops."
It was something done by most King who wasn't happy about their pieces' performance in the games, then they would trade with another King. Though after hearing that, the Gasper of the same Bishop-class made a frightened look on his face.
"Iyah! Is he talking about me!?"
Gasper shouted as he attempted to protect his body.
"Of course not."
Van said with an annoyed look on his face by hearing his question.
"The servant I am seeking from Rias-san is…the Bishop Asia Argento."
Diodora says it without hesitation and looked at Asia, disregarding the fact that her father stood in front of him with a blank look on his face. As he glances at Asia with a refreshing smile, she tensed up along with her grasp of Issei's hand.
"The one I will be arranging is….."
Diodora tries to get out a catalog with his servants in it, but Rias says it without any pause.
"I thought so. But I'm sorry. I thought that I should say it before you show me that catalog with your servants, so let me say it before hand. I have no intention to have a trade. It's not that your [Bishop] doesn't match up with mine, but I just simply don't want to lose Asia. She is my important servant Devil."
Rias said that face to face to him.
Hearing that comment caused Diodora's comment face to tense up a bit annoyed, but this didn't get noticed by everyone else.
"Is it because of her healing ability her heritage? Or is it because of her charm as an individual?"
Diodora asks normally not giving up on trying to get his hands on Asia.
"All of the above. I think of her as my little sister."
"Buchou-san!"
Asia called out as she put her hands over her mouth, with her forest green eyes getting a bit teary.
Chris smiled after hearing Rias' comment believing that it truly was a good idea to leave his daughter in her care.
"We live together. Having my affections deepen and not wanting to let go of her won't be a good reason? I think that is a good enough reason. I can't understand you for trying to get Asia through me with such a method, Diodora. Do you understand the meaning of a proposal?"
Rias says that with a smile filled with intensity in it.
Though she was being as polite as she could, anyone could tell that she was pissed. Taking note of that he made a creepy smile on his face.
"I understand. I will return for today, but I will not give up."
Diodora stood up and walked towards Issei and the others―no he walked towards Asia who seemed to be troubled by this.
"Asia. I love you. It's okay, destiny won't betray us. Even if everything in this world rejects us, I will overcome them no matter what."
Issei clenched his teeth after seeing Diodora's attempt to reach for Asia's hand in an attempt to kiss it; then he grabbed onto his shoulder. Feeling Issei place his hand on his shoulder caused a change in expression on his face from the usual one that he would normally wear.
"Can you let go of me? I feel a bit sickened to be touched by a filthy dragon."
SLAP!
Without hesitation, the usually kind-hearted Asia slapped Diodora on the side of his face shocking the people in the room. She then hugged onto Issei's arm then shouted at Diodora.
"Please do not say that!"
No one who knew them had ever thought she would have actually slapped him like that. Due to the force of the impact caused his cheek to become red. Chris who decided to be silent through this had turned towards him.
"Diodora, I think that it might be a good thing that you left."
Chris spoke in a calm tone, but the intensity in his voice was apparent.
"I'm sorry, Christian-san. But, I don't think that a Magician contracted with my Onii…."
There was a single second of silence in the room, as there was a slight disturbance in the green tea that Diodora hadn't drink causing droplets of it to jump into the air. A mass of pure magical power was emitted from Chris' entire body sending a chill down the spines of most of those inside the room. Chris then stared at Diodora with a cold almost too robotic expression.
"I think that you're little victory against Seekvaira-san must have gone to your head. Especially for a devil who never showed any kind of progress on his own since gaining his Evil Pieces."
With those sheer words alone, a cold sensation was sent down the spine of the Astaroth heir. Diodora clenched his fist tightly to regain his composure.
"I see. I understand. Then how about this. In the next match, I shall defeat Hyoudou Issei the Sekiryuutei. Then I would like you, Asia, to answer my love…."
"There is no way I will lose to you."
Issei answered his taunt with his usual confident yet stubborn demeanor.
"Sekiryuutei…Hyoudou Issei. In the next match, I will defeat you."
"Diodora Astaroth. I will show you the power of the dragon which you called filthy to the extreme!
As the two of them continued to glare at one another, Azazel's cell phone then rang in his pocket and it was after a few exchanges with the person on the other end of the line.
"Rias. Diodora. Good timing. The date for the game has been decided. It's in five days."
Their day finished right then, and Diodora went home afterward.
K.O.C Club Room
Inside of the K.O.C Club room, Lance sat in his chair staring at the small device that someone made an attempt to attach to the back of her neck. As he continued to examine it, on his laptop there was a number of codes going down on the screen. His focus at the moment was towards the device in his hands, while the color of his eyes turned a pale blue. This was another function of his Avalon Syntax that allowed him to analyze different devices. Despite it still being underdeveloped, he could still use it like this.
"From the looks of it, it looks like some kind of controller. I don't think that some random person would try this, their intended target was clearly Jeanne-chan. With the issues with Asia-chan and Diodora Astaroth could that mean that―"
"Uh, Lance-kun could you mind explaining something to us?"
"Aaand I lost my train of thought," Lance mumbled as he glances towards Yumi who glanced towards him with a questioning look. "What's concerning you my dear Ace-chan?"
"Okay, one. What's that thing in your hand?"
"I'm still going over it to find out who made it, but it could be concerning for us in the future."
"Okay, two. Why is she on your lap?"
Yumi asked her final question pointed as Yuuma who sat comfortably on his lap with her intentionally moving her soft butt near his crotch. Not wanting to humor her, it took most of what he had not to get an erection from her doing this. This was all that he could think of to snap her out of her yandere mode, though she barely remembered what happened after her eyes went blank.
"Well, there was an incident that I won't go into detail about and I promised Yuuma-chan she could sit on my lap."
Hearing his explanation caused both Yumi and Jeanne to glance towards him with wondering looks on their faces. Xenovia who was involved in the incident sent sublet glares in the direction of Yuuma as the raven-haired girl continued to nuzzle Lance's neck while going through what seemed like papers.
"Uh, Lance-kun. I've been wondering this for a while, but I don't recognize any of these codes."
Yuuma who returned to her usual demeanor pointed towards his lap top screen, due to Azazel's work with sacred gears and other artifacts she became quite familiar with unique codes. But, she had never seen codes like these before.
"After reading about the different sacred gears and holy swords that my grandfather created, I found some unique codes that caught my interest. Now, I'm going to see if I could potentially use them in the near future." Lance answered, before glancing towards Xenovia who sent subtle glares towards Yuuma who continued to sit on his lap. "Xenovia did you go over the information on that guy I talked about?"
"Yes, based on this information there isn't anything wrong that I could say about him. He's also a talented and experienced Monster Slayer with great knowledge about different kinds of monsters from his territory and others. He would be perfect as one of the main vanguard."
"What's his name?"
Jeanne questioned as she looked away from the papers given to her by Rossweisse before she left back to Asgard. She had to admit there were some things that she got stuck on during the lesson, but the silver-haired Valkyrie assisted her like an actual teacher and Jeanne actually had more fun than when Lance would tutor her.
"His names Percy, but the last name isn't listed on her."
"I guess that we will just have to ask him after meeting him."
BEEP BEEP
His cell phone started to go off in his pocket; pulling it out his pocket he noticed that it was a number that he didn't recognize. Though he was a bit hesitant about answering the phone since he didn't know who it was, he still pressed the answer button and placed his phone at his ear.
"Hello~?"
Lance asked in his usual tone as he leaned back in his chair staring at the ceiling.
[Ah, this must be Lancelot-kun.]
"May I ask, who this is?"
[This is Ajuka Beelzebub.]
Hearing the name caused Lance to jerk up a bit, causing Yuuma to jumped up on his lap. Those in the room took notice of this change in mood glanced towards him in his mood.
"A-Ah hello, Ajuka-sama."
The tone that came from Lance was different from his usual nonchalant one, but now it was that of an individual meeting their role model. Ajuka was a bit surprised about his current demeanor.
[That was a different reaction than I thought I would hear. If it were your father he probably would have said [What up Green-Devil?] or something like that. But onto other matters, there is something that I wanted to discuss concerning a certain Rating Game that took place awhile ago.]
"Huh? Which rating game?"
[The one between Seekvaira Agares and my brother.]
Hearing that caught Lance's attention, this change in his mood caused the girls in the room to glance towards him.
"What exactly happened during the game?"
[It was something that caught the attention of a Secret Judge of the Rating Game. And it seems to be connected to another incident concerning the former heir of Glasya-Labolas.]
"You mean the relative of that Yankee Devil? Both were related to the current Asmodeus…since there are some unsavory individuals with personal grudges against you guys. It doesn't take a genius to tell it was the Old-Maou faction." Lance said with a slight sigh coming from his mouth. "I've been running into those guys a lot for the past week, then there are the files the Asmodeus descendant destroyed."
[Yes, it seems that both Sirzechs and Azazel had already felt that something was wrong, then started their own investigation. Since they were already handling it, I didn't bother to get involved. The only reason that I contacted you was simply that issue coincided with a question that I wanted to ask.]
"And what would that be?"
Lance asked with a hint of curiosity returning to his usual tone after conversing with Ajuka.
[Would you be interested in playing a game?]
A/N: And there goes the thirty-second chapter of The Magic Knight, not much to say about this chapter both Asia and Issei are practicing for the Three-Legged Race just like before. Something interesting happened in the gym locker room between him and Xenovia before Irina and Yuuma who entered the room. The two of them witnessed her Yandere Mode with Xenovia making the decision to try and fight her. Wonder what else is going to happen between King and Queen.
In the Occult Research Club, they had their usual meeting about the Rating Game along with their Rating Game types being revealed along with Lancelot's being shown along with the arrival of everyone's least favorite…I mean Diadora with him being reminded as to why you don't mess with a guy's daughter. Then at the end, Lancelot was invited to play Ajuka's "Game" while having a recovered Yandere sitting on his lap. Well until next time, later.
Lancelot's Harem: Yumi, Jeanne, Irina, Xenovia, Le Fay, Sona, Serafall, Rossweisse, Valarie, Seekvaira, Kuroka, Yuuma, Griselda, Yasaka, Lavinia, Liu Bei, Tiamat, Kiyome.
Issei's Harem: Rias, Akeno, Koneko, Asia, Ravel, Tsubasa, Aika, Isabel, Katase, Murayama, Mira, Kunou, Elmenhilde, Bennia, Reya, Karlamine.
Lancelot's Brave Saints:
King: Lancelot Du Lac
Queen: Xenovia Quarto
Jack:
Ten:
Nine: Akame Kirigakure
Eight: Alex Grimm
Seven: Rossweisse
Six: Ariel Light
Five: Chelia Mathers
Four: Percy Mycenae
Three: Yukio Saito
Two: Jeanne d'Arc
Ace: Yumi Kiba
Joker: