Chapter 6

night before the rating game

Kaede who annoyingly had been woken up thanks to his throat drying out due to his mouth being open was getting a drink of water from the kitchen and was returning to his room when he spied Rias walking down the stairs from her room she was wearing a near see through night gown and was weirdly wearing glasses of all things and she must have noticed him since she called out to him "Kaede?"

Kaede deciding that although he was dead tired and didn't like being up after 11 at night he should play nice and in his usual lazy tone, slouched posture and half lidded tired yet smouldering eyes "Heya Rias, watch'cha doing up so late?"

Rias who didn't look tired at all and Kaede cursed the fact that she never did seem to tire "What perfect timing I need to chat with you about something."

Kaede grunted and ended up following her to the concreate pergola like structure where he had been training the last 10 days. When they got there, she sat down and lent against one of the pillars illuminated by the moon like making her night gown very see through, while Kaede laid down on the cool concrete tile floor and listened to her various concerns of what tomorrow might bring.

When she finished Kaede didn't move or react in anyway "While I admit nothing is certain I tried to make the plan as flexible as possible and furthermore you have to understand that with our lack of combat effective members there is still a large possibility that we will lose you also have to understand that I have banked on the enemy acting arrogant and nonchalant since they will be going up against rating game virgins but that being said by the end the entire underworld will find out that the great Phoenix isn't almighty or immortal, in other words you shouldn't worry too much and shouldn't be losing any sleep over it besides there are plenty of other ways to get rid of Riser I'm sure more extreme ones as well."

Rias nodded and gained a sad tone "I suppose your right and your right we can't control what the enemy will do"

Kaede sighed and sat up "Well if things turn out bad I suppose I should apologise in advance for in a way telling Riser where to shove his huge egotistical ass"

Rias sighed and smiled "You shouldn't be sorry thanks to you I can now tell my father and brother where to stick it they set this up in anticipation that I would lose but I hope to change that and prove them wrong"

Kaede sighed "I don't know why but it is pleasing that you aren't going along with this marriage... and strangely I don't find this bothersome in the slightest."

Rias removed her glasses and stood up "the proposal was to the heiress to the house of Gremory, because of my title I'm not ever recognised as Rias, the house of Gremory will always come before me but I've learnt to adjust and make decisions accordingly. Kaede make no mistake the title I have is something I will always take pride in. But when it comes to the subject of marriage I want to share it with someone who loves me as Rias not for how my status can improve their life. I understand history is not in my favour and the idea of love may end up staying a dream but it's one I'd like to keep."

Kaede hearing that sighed and grunted as he stood up and moved so he was a step below her and stuffed his hands in his pockets "Well that's a little defeatist of you isn't, there are people you, that is to say they see you as Rias and not the Gremory Heiress, I guess I'm one of them besides truthfully I like you for you and no title will change that fact probably why I don't find it bothersome to actually do things that you ask of me, heck thinking about it you've done a lot for me already and I guess if kicking a Phoenix to the curb for you is what you want then it's a start in paying you back."

Rias hearing that gained a faint blush and looked at Kaede still with his lazy posture and look "Thank you, anyway the point is if we're going to fight then we're going to win."

Kaede nodded "Enlighten me Your called the princess of Ruin and the Empress of Annihilation then that obviously means your powerful in your own right and fried chicken that has a name that rhymes with penis could beat you..."

Rias cut him off "Not true, unlike him I can't selfheal my strength lie with my entire team fighting together which means I need never battle alone, when I fight Gremory fights with me but the same happens if I lose..."

Kaede returned the favour and cut her off "Meaning winning is the only option right. And that also means I need to take the kiddy gloves off and get serious as well, let's just hope I don't flop like against the exorcist fella."

he was then surprised when he felt Rias hug him but what had him more surprised not that he was going to complain was that his face was buried in her cleavage "You wrong Kaede you didn't flop and I can't wait to see you serious, but for now go get some rest I know how much you like sleeping and I have noticed you haven't been sleeping all that well lately either. If it helps I'll stay with you until you do."

Kaede nodded and could feel his eyes drooping "Thanks now that you mention it I am feeling more tired than usual."

the next day Rating game begins

Kaede was sleeping on one of the couches in the Clubroom dressed in his white and red variation of his training clothes, while he was sleeping he completely missed Sona and Tsubaki visiting to tell Rias that she would be broad casting the entire event to the underworld and would be viewed by over 10 million devils.

about five minutes after that Kaede who had woken up summoned Greed to his side and moved to one of the window seats "Greed buddy you remember what we spoke about?"

Greed just squeaked a little and bobbed his head as if nodding, Kaede gained a mischievous glint "remember any magical Items and..." he then leaned forward and whispered in Greed's ear before leaning back only to receive a squeaky like laugh from the weasel familiar. Kaede nodding to himself patted Greed smiled "As soon as we go through the portal to the subspace you begin your mission alright buddy a lot is riding on this don't fail me."

Greed nodded and curled himself around Kaedes neck and settled down just as Grayfia appeared and made a magic circle appear on the floor "It's time everyone"

Rias nodded and led everyone onto the circle and waited a second before they disappeared.

Appearing again out of a white light Kaede saw he was back in the club room and smirked before tapping Greed who nodded and scurried away knowing what to do "Summon your familiars now and have them set up where we planned in position for them to intercept Risers Bitches."

when he finished he had Gluttony, Envy and Lust by his side while Asia had Sparky, Kiba had his falcon Titan, Koneko had Shiro, Akeno had her Oni Flora who could split into four other Oni and Rias had her bat Velvet. Kaede looked at them all "You all know the plan right so get going please and thank you."

All the familiars gave their version of a nod and headed out into the forest. It was then Grayfia voice came over a speaker system that must be built in with the dimension "YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE; WELCOME EVERYONE AND HELLO TO ALL THOSE WATCHING MY NAME IS GRAYFIA, I AM A SERVENT OF GREMORY AND I WILL BE THE REFEREE IN TODAY'S MATCH TO CREATE THE BATTLE FIELD YOU'LL BE COMPETING IN WE HAVE TAKEN SUGGESTIONS FROM BOTH KINGS LADY RIAS AND LORD RISER TO THOSE COMPETING YOU'LL RECOGNISE THIS PLACE AS KUOH ACADEMY AND TO THOSE WATCHING IT IS A EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION IN THE HUMAN REALM ..."

Kaede at that point glance out the window and saw a sight similar to the northern light and whistled "Nice if I do say so myself."

It was then Grayfia continued speaking as if she was wanting the viewers to hear what Kaede said "EACH TEAM HAS BEEN GIVEN AN AREA THAT WILL SERVE AS IT'S HOME BASE LADY RIAS AND HER GROUP WILL BE IN THE OCCULT RESEARCH CLUB ROOM IN THE OLD SCHOOL HOUSE, LORD RISERS HOME BASE WILL BE LOCATED IN THE STUDENT COUNCIL OFFICE IN THE NEW SCHOOL HOUSE PAWNS WILL BE PROMOTED IF THEY REACH THE HOME BASE OF THE OPPOSING TEAM GOOD LUCK TO ALL, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BOYS AND GIRLS WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY LET THE MATCH BEGIN. "

Rias then handed out a glow thingy and said to Kaede who looked at it with a hint of curiosity on his bored countenance "it's like an invisible head set walkie talkie system."

Kaede shrugged and placed it in his ear "I'm down with that, it's high tech shit after all, so you all know the plan right let's get into position, Akeno I've got my sensing I'll blow the gym to kingdom come we should head out now Kiba after all it is the man's job right to protect his womenfolk right."

Kiba nodded "That's right our image of Gremory Gentlemen would be ruined otherwise."

Kaede deciding to be funny put on a posh English accent "Oh yes quite should we depart then and let the tale of the charming knight and the Lazy genius commence, ladies we'll bid you adieu please stick to the plan Tata for now" as he said that he bowed and closed the door leaving a giggling Akeno, a stoic but lightly smiling Koneko, Asia looked confused and Rias had a light blush.

Kaede having parted ways with Kiba sat in a tree close to the gym smirked when he sensed four signatures enter the gym spoke into his head set [This is lazy genius here I'm about to blow the gym thought I would give status up date would Red big titty princess read over.]

it was then he got three different sputtering sounds, a giggle and an indignant squeak [Don't say such things lots of people are watching this. and thank you for the report.]

Kaede stood on his branch pointed his hand to the sky "Let's do this I'm bringing the heat ādo" when he finished a large magic circle appeared high above the gym and a white dragon made completely of fire curled its way out and quickly descended and blew the gym sky high.

it was then Grayfia voice rung out "THREE OF LORD RISERS PAWNS AND ONE OF LORD RISERS ROOKS RETIRES"

Kaede hearing that jumped from the tree and dashed for where he had explained he would be going next but he was going to hop between buildings to avoid detection making his way to the tennis courts where he would sometime nap Kaede hid in the shadow of the equipment shed when he heard another announcement "THREE OF LORD RISERS PAWNS RETIRES"

smiling to himself Kaede dashed across the way to the assembly hall where he was met by Greed who was sitting by the entrance with 2 vials of phoenix tears and 13 pairs of bras and 14 pairs of panties and a pair of boxers seeing Greed he patted him on the head and handed him his phone "Greed buddy phase two of your mission underworld national anthem go"

Kaede then picked the articles of clothing up and went into a props cupboard in the assembly hall hoping that the others were waiting for his signal to attack, finding a length of string Kaede set about stringing the undergarments together and made his way to the roof and felt a tingling sensation muttered to himself "promotion Queen" he immediately felt the surge in power.

finally making it to the roof Kaede ran across and jumped/scrambled on to the roof of the main school building that had a flag pole on, crouching at the bottom he set about getting ready and waited for Greed to hit play. after 3 nerve racking minutes and avoiding the troublesome queen who was flying about wondering why Rias wasn't attacking.

Kaede feeling his nerves fraying nearly jumped when he heard the school PA system crackle to life and the music began

Gehenna-Rising
Kingdom-Ruling
Devil-Smiling
Angels-Sighing
Gehenna-Rising
Pious burden so revealing
Preachers teaching so deceiving
He compels you, then exploits your soul
Subversion, your life's error
Gently screaming there's no bleeding
Gently dying there's no breathing
So you search for the sign
Blinded by their spoken lies
Place the truth within your hands
Now the truth burns your eyes
Try to floor these fragile words
But we gather here as one
Confusion roams the herds
Holy souls misled the sun

sarah-jezebel-deva/the-devils-opera-lyrics/#FPvBfHwEBrwmuOp2.99

Standing and hoisting up the rope the, the underwear that Greed had liberated now hung proudly for all to see, after that he mockingly snapped to attention and saluted before he dashed back off the roof and back into the assembly hall. making his way out he made his way over to the courtyard between the athletics field, the once standing gym, football field and new school house.

With Rias and the others

All of them standing on the roof watched as the white inferno died down as they waited for the signal to engage the remaining enemy it was then they all heard the underworld national anthem crackle to life on the school PA system it was then Akeno through a gap in the flames saw Kaede standing on the new school building roof by the flag pole doing something waiting a second she soon burst out in a fit of giggles "Ara, Ara Kaede-kun sure has a sense of humour Buchou look at the flag pole."

Rias and the other looking to where Akeno pointed out Asia blushed at some of the provocative undergarments,

Koneko gained an eye twitch "Pervert senpai!"

Kiba chuckled good naturedly and was trying to figure out how he did it

Akeno was still giggling and Rias she faces palmed and sighed before looking at everyone making them switch on and get serious "You all know the plan this is the signal lets go, Akeno you've got Yubelluna, Kiba your Karlamine and Siris, Koneko the Rook Isabela, Asia and I will be back up, let's do this people."

she then got a resounding """"Yes President!""""

In the building below Kaede.

Riser getting bored of waiting and the fact that his sister's strategy had fallen to pieces startled slightly when he heard the music play "Ravel and everyone else outside and find out what's going on."

they all nodded and headed out.

making it to the courtyard they looked around and it wasn't until Mihae covered herself and shrieked that they looked on the roof only to have similar reactions as they saw their lingerie flying from the flagpole.

Kaede walking casually now hands in his pockets, slouched like usual, half lidded eyes and a bored look on his face walked to the edge of the courtyard and stretched his head at the sight of couple of Risers girls holding down their already short clothing in case they gave an unknowing show to viewers "Man I knew it was a brilliant idea to have Greed steal your panties but I never thought you would be so easily subdued"

all the girls then turned to Kaede and glared at him and Ravel who was the most modestly dressed stomped over to him with her face a brilliant crimson colour "You, you dam pervert first you kiss me now this I won't let you...humph" her eyes soon widened as she felt something soft press against her lips and saw Kaede the person at the forefront of her thoughts and dreams over the last 10 days was kissing her once again.

Kaede deciding to be scolded by the girl was no fun moved at Queen speed and kissed her again, holding her there for a minute Kaede pulled away and found she had gone limp in his arms sighed as he laid her down on the ground "troublesome she feinted again, but on the plus side she still tastes like strawberry cake Mmmhmm"

it was then the kitty cat twin's Ni and Li attacked him but due to him having the boosted gear active with an illusion over it 10 minutes before actually coming to this neutral subspace, plus his Queen promotion and the fact he was pretty quick, agile and good at dodging and fighting that coupled with his Chi sensing he was able to dodge the twins with ease.

He soon though found himself dodging the Rook as well as the two knights who decided to join while the bishop Mihae stood back and Ravel she was out cold having feinted from the kiss.

while he was dodging around the five girls he had his hands in his pockets not taking them very seriously it was then that he heard an explosion looking over to it along with everyone else they soon heard announced "ONE OF LADY RIAS'S ROOKS RETIRED"

Kaede hearing that sighed "Well that wasn't part of the plan it seems your queen is troublesome oh well Akeno will handle her so now I have to take the rook and pawns o joy more work for me, ah well" he then saw Kiba stealth behind Mihae and run his sword through her making her vanish completely in a blue light

"ONE OF LORD RISERS BISHOPS RETIRED"

Kaede decided to separate the girls "Hey Kiba about time you have the two that like playing with swords huh that was a little more sexual than it sounded in my head meh"

Kiba nodded "Fine by me I Kiba Yuuto a knight of the house of Gremory challenge the Knights of Riser to a dual!"

it was then that Karlamine nodded "I Karlamine and Siris accept knight of Gremory." it was then the two girls charged forward and attacked Kiba.

Kaede watching Kiba moving around faster than he remembered and wearing the enchanted pauldrons completely forgot about the rook he was facing "Never turn you back on an opponent." he then received a beauty of a punch to the cheek sending him sprawling along the ground.

getting to his feet relatively easy Kaede looked back at her with a bored look and rubbed his cheek "Alright calm your double D's Hun I was about to get to you."

Isabela then charged forward and started swing to which Kaede just dodged but during his dodging he grunted in annoyance as the illusion on his boosted gear wavered and dropped revealing his gauntleted hand he then called out loudly "Hey Kiba release your sword birth would ya I'm getting sick of fighting this rook chick who has a fighting style much like an overgrown ape!"

Kiba nodded and stabbed his sword in the ground "Alright let's do this SWORD BIRTH!"

Kaede smiled and dropped low before sweeping Isabela off her feet and giving a palm thrust to her chest with enough force she coughed up blood and imbedded in the ground then with the boosted gear punched the ground {TRANSFER!} it then caused thousands of swords to come forth from the ground taking out Ni and Li, Isabela, Siris and Karlamine.

"TWO OF LORD RISERS PAWNS, TWO OF HIS KNIGHTS AND ONE OF HIS ROOKS RETIRES."

Meanwhile with Akeno and Yubelluna

Yubelluna having been knocked out of the sky looked up at Akeno battered and bruised "I didn't expect the priestess of thunder to be this strong your magic must be almost depleted."

Akeno giggled "Never fear my kohai pawn and king thought ahead hence why I have these" a battered and bruised Akeno then reached into her cleavage and pulled out a vial "that's why I have these Phoenix tears." she then drank them and felt rejuvenated.

Yubelluna frowned and went to reach for her own "You're not the only..." as she reached for them she couldn't find her own tears "...What where are they I had them right here."

Akeno giggled "Oh well you can ask my cute little kohai pawn or his familiar Greed who not only took your precious tears but well look at the flag pole."

Yubelluna did just that and her eyes narrowed before she felt a large shock hit her. But at the same time a large fireball shot from the roof of the new school building hit Akeno just after Yubelluna was defeated

"LORD RISER ONE BISHOP AND ONE QUEEN RETIRED AND LADY RIAS ONE QUEEN RETIRED."

Kaede and Kiba hearing that looked at the roof and saw Riser standing there with a shitty little smirk, Kaede then looked at where Ravel once was and saw she had gone too so being unconscious or feint for too long made you retire as well. It was then that the two of them saw Riser get his face blown off by a black and red energy blast.

Kaede and Kiba nodded and headed to the roof to help Rias and Asia who was healing Rias who seemed to have taken some damage. Kaede who was flying up with Kiba could feel fatigue starting to kick in he had put more than he wanted into that transfer than he wanted and as much as he hated it he messed around with the pawns and rook and the fire attack that had already dented his stamina a great deal to begin with he reckoned he was good for about four fire attacks before he ran out completely and about 20 minutes of hand to hand combat since he may or may not have hurt his knee slightly when he was sent tumbling along the ground.

making it so he was beside Rias he knew that taking the potions they had wouldn't be any help as they only had healing regeneration and not the stamina one he saw Kiba mirrored him on the other side but he only just noted that the bottom of Kiba's shirt was stained red and his blazer looked darker than normal in a patch on his waist.

it was then he had to duck along with Kiba as two fire balls were sent their way Kaede was lucky but Kiba with his wound was quick enough and copped the fireball to the shoulder spinning him around and making him roll down the steep roof before disappearing in a cloud of light.

"LADY RIAS ONE KNIGHT RETIRED."

Kaede sighed "Heya Rias my plan worked better than I thought but it seems I'm running on fumes and Asia is not combat orientated and you're a bit beaten yourself you moved in earlier than planned didn't you."

Rias nodded "Sorry but with Koneko being taken out before she got a chance to fight the rook I decided I should distract Riser and leave you, Kiba and Akeno to deal with the rest."

Kaede nodded "Can't be helped heh man I'm tired."

Rias then fired off some of her power of destruction at Riser and removed his arm but it just regenerated "This is perfect I wanted to take you all on so I can show you how persuasive I can be."

Rias not liking that and noting how heavy Kaedes breathing was "Don't get ahead of yourself, you'll have to get through me before you get to them."

Riser laughed as Rias again fired off some power of destruction taking off the other arm "Give up your about to be mated I can't help but read your every move, Riser knows you better than you think. Checkmate my dear."

Rias getting angry with Risers nonchalant attitude shouted, "you don't know the first thing about me that was made true when you started to think I would just give up try as you might you will not intimidate me and I am ready for war."

"You leave me no choice then" Riser then jumped into the air and fired a large fireball over the top of Rias and at Asia and Kaede.

Kaede seeing the fireball coming jumped in front of Asia and poured all the chi he could muster into his hands before clapping them together and spreading his arms wide "Spirit guardian wall!" it was then the fireball hit, while the spirit guardian wall protected Asia since she was behind him Kaede sustained a lot of damage which was shown when the smoke cleared.

Rias looking worried ran over to Kaede who was still standing without his shirt on and his usually pristine white hair was now a grey colour coughed "Dam that hurt, Hey Asia that's a second time I've taken a blow because of you don't make it a third in the future. Hey Rias step aside would ya I have one attack left in me then I'm going for a fist fight."

Rias seeing Kaede in pain went to protest but noted his lazy gaze was holding an abnormal glint to it "this isn't going to do much but it just needs to hold him still for a minute Scorching Heat Consecutive Bullets" as he said that multiple near hundreds of fire bullets the size of ping pong ball appeared around Kaede before firing at Riser hitting him dead on.

Kaede then looked at Rias and smirked before using the knights speed his Queen promotion gave him and appeared in front of Risers partially reformed body and started laying into him destroying parts that were rebuilt for a brief second when his eyes met Risers he saw a flicker of fear pass through the usually cocky man's gaze.

Kaede who knew he was at his end let out a startled cry {BURST!}

As it happened he stumbled backwards and heard Rias shout his name before he pitched left and rolled down to the other roof that joined the main one, Kaede struggled to his feet and took a pull of the Phoenix tears he had liberated and felt his injuries fix up but it did jack shit for his stamina or energy levels, getting to his feet Kaede could hardly breath with how much his lungs burnt from over exertion.

by this time Kaede looked up at Rias and saw her continuing his assault on Riser but annoyingly Riser had already completely regenerated and was telling Rias to give up, straightening up Kaede called out and made an effort to mask how physically spent he was "You know I'm fine right, I can and will beat you Riser" unfortunately his bravado was ruined when he coughed covering his mouth with his hand he frowned when he pulled it away and saw a slight smattering of blood he must be more battered than he thought "You know I made a promise to become the mightiest pawn surpassing the Lucifer's pawn Beowulf and Enku your just a simple stepping stone in mere obstacle in my way."

Riser frowning summoned his wings and flew down to Kaede "You just don't know when to die do you!" he then tried to knee Kaede in the chest but luckily Kaede managed to step back and make a hasty defence but it was a little in vain as he still took a l bit of damage he then proceeded to jump and dodge around Riser but the elder devil kept pace and managed to land some hefty blows against him.

Rias was calling out the whole time telling Riser to stop and for him to run away but that was kind of hard for Kaede he had no energy he was fighting well dodging on sheer will power alone Kaede who was and he knew he was fighting a losing battle shouted for once surprising Rias and the rest of the peerage and Tsubaki who were all watching "WOULD YOU SHUT UP RIAS I MADE A PROMISE DIDN'T I NEVER TO GIVE UP ON YOU!"

Rias hearing that remembered to the night before and muttered something he couldn't hear but what he did was Riser "Now I'm pissed your just a pathetic lowly servant you don't even have the right to challenge me" At this point he had tripped Kaede and was resting his foot on Kaedes chest stopping him from moving with a flaming fireball overhead.

"Riser what do you think you're doing"

"I'm sending this loser to the deepest pits of hell where he belongs no amount of healing will save this boy when Risers done..."

Kaede being the smart arse he was cut Riser off and in a girly voice "Cause any death that happen in a rating game our considered accidents anyway." he then looked at Riser with an evil look "beware of the dragon"

"KAEDE! RISER PLEASE STOP LET HIM GO!" Rias as she said that started crying and dived at Riser tackling him out the way making Kaede look at her with sorrow and not wanting to see her forfeit mumbled "I forfeit, I'm done, I just want to sleep."

He was then engulfed in a blue light and appeared in a hospital bed somewhere. before falling asleep while a doctor fussed over him bandaging him up Kaedes last thought before sleeping for a few hours 'he made her cry, I won't forgive him ever he's dead.'

while he was asleep he was visited by Ddraig telling him about something called the white one and how in time he would be expected to fight it