Hello everyone!

Shoutouts:

aGoldenLion: It's gonna depend on two things: How much buffer do I have (currently about 15k words) and how many exams will be happening in the next two weeks. My guess would be somewhere between every 4-7 days, although I might feel like writing a whole chapter on a day sometimes.

Soundion: Yum... roasted chicken :3

Nintendoesgamer: Thanks man! I definitely will.

: Magnificent comment, please write more soon.

DatGuitarGirl: your hours of waiting have come to an end. Enjoy!

Flashback

Present narrative

Alternate Rating Game Dimension – ORC clubroom

Issei sat in a meditative trance, focusing himself. It would be five more minutes until the rating game started. Five minutes for Riser to finish his 'plans' and finalize is strategy. He felt the weight of the knife in his hand. It would be the only weapon he took with him into this fight. A blade exactly thirty-six centimeters long with the center of gravity positioned two thirds of the length of the blade down. He knew his weapon like no other, for it was he himself who had forged it. He remembered the hours preceding the game.

"I talked to my brother. Is it true you are the Hand of God?" Rias asked. "Ah yes, Sirzechs always was a bit loose lipped about these things. I shouldn't be surprised." He had responded. "Yes, I am the one who they call the Hand of God. I thought you would take a little longer to figure it out, but you kind of cheated by asking your brother."

"Oh, it was he who came to me actually." At that moment Kiba and Koneko had entered the ORC clubroom. "I hope you know what you are doing. I would not see Buchou's future go down the drain because you don't know what you are doing." Kiba had said, giving a formal bow. "Kiba!" Issei had raised his hand. "No, it's quite alright Rias. It's good to have such vigilant friends about you. He has honor."

"Did the two of you need anything else?" Issei asked. "…" Koneko blushed furiously and walked off. That was strange. "Kiba?" "I…" Kiba hesitated, uncertain whether to ask the question. "Come on, talk. I won't bite… probably." Kiba had smiled at the added commet. "I was hoping you could spar with me."

"I would be honored, but why me?" "You appear to be a formidable opponent. I would enjoy measuring my skill with yours." A lie. Issei sensed it immediately but didn't push. "Very well. I believe earth children have no school today, am I correct?" Rias nodded. "Very well, shall we head out to the field then?"

Grayfia's voice echoed through the fake dimension. "The game has started. Pawns please move towards the opponent's base to promote. The game ends when the opposing king dies or surrenders. Good luck."

Issei walked out to the replica of the field. Standing there with his arms spread, waiting for Risers peerage to show up. This would be an enjoyable fight. He twirled the blade in his hand, feeling it's perfect balance. People always forgot it wasn't the type of weapon you fought with that mattered, it was how well you fought with it. He could have gone into this fight barehanded and won. Three of Risers pawns moved onto the field, along with one of his knights and a rook.

"Riser-sama said this would be easy. Let's kill him girls!" The rook said. "Disassembly Time!" Two of the pawns shouted, before pulling out chainsaws and throwing themselves at Issei.

He dodged Kiba's first strike. "Very good, Kiba. Fast." Kiba turned and swung his blade across Issei's chest. Issei merely backstepped and touched the tip of his blade to the side of Kiba's neck before he could recover. "Clumsy, Kiba. Don't underestimate your opponent because he is armed with less steel than you are."

"One pawn, Riser, Retired." The other chainsaw twin watched in horror as her counterpart's head made a graceful arc through the sky, before it, along with the body dematerialized. "You bastard!" She shouted and threw herself at him with renewed fury.

"Control your strikes Kiba. You were taught better than this." He dodged strike after strike, utilizing the gaping holes in Kiba's defense to jab, push and punch him with his bare other hand. Strikes that could have been fatal if he had wished them to be.

"Two pawns, one knight, Riser, retired."

"Why do I see your eyes in my dreams every night?!" Kiba suddenly shouted. "Kiba. This is not the time. Focus on the here and now!" With a carnal shout Kiba threw his sword at Issei in a futile hope to surprise his opponent. "As you wish. We will fight unarmed." Issei said, tossing his knife to the side. Kiba was fast. Not surprising considering he was a knight. But he was not fast enough. Issei blocked two strikes before delivering a firm strike to his sternum, leaving Kiba gasping for air.

"One rook, Riser, retired."

Issei walked on, heading for the large building across the sports fields, twirling the perfectly balanced knife in his hands. He heard a twig snap in the brushes to his right. He stood motionless, concentrating on his hearing. Soft footsteps, they were certainly there, sneaking around in the greenery. He focused, breathed and with a single, fluid motion, threw the knife.

"One bishop, Riser, retired."

Deciding he would retrieve the knife later, he walked on. After years of training Issei didn't need weapons to disable or kill his opponents. A sizzle of power in the air alerted him. Quickly he rolled, narrowly avoiding a blast from the person who was presumably Riser's Queen. His eyes scanned the night sky, looking for her.

Another blast. This time Issei caught the bolt in his hands and returned it to its owner. He watched in satisfaction as the magic reached home, blasting the devil out of the air. She got up, coughing. "Impossible! You should not be able to catch my wildfire!" "Honey," Issei said, walking up to the scorched woman, "if you think your flame burns bright, try angelfire!" He accumulated the blue flame in his hands and smashed it into her skull.

An unnatural cry sounded from Risers Queen as her body started to disintegrate. Her body fell apart as sheer magic ripped it to shreds, burning her from the inside out. The chunks on the ground combusted in blue-white fire, erasing all signs of her once being present.

"One Queen, Riser, retired."

Issei turned invisible. "Where did you go, you coward!" Kiba shouted. Issei delivered a firm push to the knight's shoulder blades, sending him stumbling. "All is fair in love and war, Kiba. You will soon fail your King if the only sense you rely on is vision."

"One Knight, Riser, retired."

Kiba was beating about himself wildly, trying to make something, anything happen to hurt Issei. To say he was failing would be an understatement. Issei knew something was off with Kiba. He would not have lived as long as he did had he always fought like this.

"Six pawns, Riser, Retired."

"Kiba! For heaven's sake. If you have a quarrel with me, this is not the way to handle it." Issei had said, deciding this game was over. In rapid succession he jabbed five of Kiba's pressure points. The knight fell to the ground, no longer in control of his arms and legs. He dropped the invisibility, standing over the fallen devil. "Now tell me what is bothering you."

"One rook, Riser, Retired."

Kiba growled something into the dirt. Issei sympathized and turned the boy over on his back. "I didn't quite catch that." Issei said. "I remember where I saw you. You were there that night, three years ago you were there. I heard your voice and when I ran, I saw your eyes." Issei's blood turned cold. "Listen to my voice. You do not remember that night, Kiba. You will speak no more of this. This fight is over."

He left the blond haired boy in the dirt, turning away from him. "Come back here you bastard! I am not done with you yet!" Kiba yelled. He returned to Rias. "He will regain control of his limbs in a few hours. We should leave for the underworld. I need time to prepare." Lie. But he would deal with Kiba later. He was not yet ready for the truth, and quite honestly, neither was Issei.

He found Riser, spectating from a rooftop above. Issei spread his wings and landed on the other side of the roof. A small girl with hair the exact same color blond as Riser's was cowering behind him. His sister perhaps? "Do you surrender, Riser?" Laughter filled the air. "I am a Phenex! You cannot kill me, therefore you cannot defeat me!"

Issei sighed and reached out with his mind. Riser collapsed in agony as all the bones in his body started deforming, moving like boils under his skin. With a bored face Issei sat down. "Let me know when you are ready to give in. I can keep this up for a while." He bluffed.

The scene lasted twelve excruciatingly long seconds. "Stop! Stop this!" The girl begged, throwing herself across Riser's body. "I, Ravel Phenex, surrender on behalf of my brother!" Issei released his hold. Riser went limp, whimpering indiscernible words. "He should be up and about in a few minutes, I caused no lasting harm." Issei assured the girl.

Meanwhile in the spectating room, Issei had an audience. "Is that him?" Sirzechs asked his sister, watching as the boy emerged from the ORC clubroom and proceeded to the sports field. "Yes. I really do hope he knows what he is doing." The whole ORC was watching the fight, save Kiba. For some unknown reason Rias's Knight was groveling in a corner, probably licking his wounds. He had not lost a duel in quite some time, as far as Rias knew.

Asia gasped in horror as she watched Issei being surrounded by four girls. A Knight, A Rook and two Pawns. Rias and Sirzechs were fascinated as he leaped into action, decimating his opponents using nothing but a simple knife. Something sparkled in Koneko's eyes as she watched him fight. Akeno was looking at the game like a child with her nose pressed up against the glass of a candy shop. Across the room the Phenex family was watching with complex expressions as their prided heir was being owned.

So it went on for a while, Issei dispatching one opponent after the other. Rias's breath caught as he was at last matched against the Phoenix himself. She was both relieved and disappointed as Issei won the game with about as much effort as snapping his fingers. It was rather anticlimactic after all. She realized he was ruthless. There was no long monologue, no epic fight to the death, no heroics. If Issei played in a movie, he was the kind of guy who would pull the trigger regardless when the bad guy tried to save his hide through some cliché 'but-wait-there-is-more'-speech.

"Riser Phenex retired, Rias Gremory is victorious." Grayfia finally announced.

The patriarch of the house of Phenex approached her brother. Through gritted teeth he forced out the formal words. "Your… peerage… fought well. It was a good fight." Before Sirzechs had the chance to reply the man turned on his feet, heading back to his people. At that moment Issei and Riser rematerialized in the room. "You saved me!" Rias shouted, throwing her arms around Issei. He briefly returned the hug, before pushing her off him.

Blood was welling up from under his fingernails, running down his face like tears and trickling out of his nose. "You are hurt!" Rias said with a shocked expression. "It's nothing." Issei said, wiping away the blood on his face. "It's a side effect of my magic." He offered no further explanation. Someone cleared his throat. Rias and Issei turned to see it was Sirzechs. "Might I have a moment of your time?" he kindly asked.

Issei nodded and followed the Crimson Lucifer across the room, where they engaged in a hushed conversation. Rias saw Kiba was still huddled away in a corner. "Kiba! Come over here." The boy looked up with a tired expression and stumbled over to her with lifeless steps. "Aren't you happy your King is free, my cute Knight?" Rias asked with a concerned voice.

A few metres over Riser groaned as he regained some coherency. "Rias, I know where we both remember him from." Kiba said, gesturing to Issei. "He was there when-" "You bitch!" Riser shouted. Everyone turned to face him as he manifested the fire of the Phoenix itself in his hands. "He won't have you if I can't! I will turn you all to ashes!" Issei and Sirzechs looked up as well now, their conversation rudely interrupted.

When the flame left Riser's hands it was headed for none other than Rias herself. Issei immediately bounded into action. With a speed that would make any Knight jealous he leaped across the room, unfurling his wings. Issei's eyes briefly locked with Kiba's as his wings reached around the five members of Rias's peerage. Issei's teeth cringed together as the fire with the heat of a thousand suns burned through all his protective wards like they were nothing. He felt the flesh of his back, the feathers on his wings melt, then go completely numb. Behind him he heard Riser collapse after such an expenditure of power. Then the darkness took him as well.