Hey everyone, and welcome to this new chapter. Just to let you know, this chapter will cover the rest of the Rating Game but not the rest of this Arc. I decided to wrap up the match first and leave the epilogue to a chapter of its own. Hope you all enjoy it, and happy birthday to me.
Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan-based parody. Highschool DxD, Highschool DxD New, Highschool DxD Born, Highschool DxD EX, and Highschool DxD Hero are all owned by Funimation, Fushimi Shobo, TNK, Passione, and Ichiei Ishibumi. Please support the official release.
"Shirou" Regular speech.
"Shirou" Thoughts.
DRAGON SHOT Attack names.
(Shirou) Words said previously.
"SHIROU!" Shouting speech.
[Ddraig] Dragon talking.
Difference In Power And Checkmate
—…
In the VIP room, Azazel leaned forward to get a closer look at the current status of the Rating Game, but it wasn't just him. The VIP room had become opened-mouthed.
The strategies, the traps, overturned situations, and of course, the battles.
The battle between Shirou and Saito had been the most exciting and captured everyone's attention but what also couldn't be overlooked was Kiba's performance in demonstrating his ability to skillfully wield Durandal and use it to retire the enemy's Queen.
Back to Saito, it was also a showstopper to see him decisively overwhelm Koneko, who was a powerful and rare Nekomata, not to mention seeing him drive Shirou so far into a corner and bring him to his knees. Though, it was just as amazing to see Shirou face the greatly improved Saito and defeat him while keeping a get deal of his abilities in reserve.
Shirou, Saito, and Kiba—Azazel had no doubt that the evaluation of these three Young Devils would be exceptionally high.
"So much fun. I really was enjoying myself." Azazel thought with enthusiasm.
"Azazel." Sirzechs brought him out of his thoughts. "That technique that some of the members of the Sitri Peerage were using—"Reverse", what can you tell me about that?"
"Ah, that was something researched by us in Grigory. We had started giving technical assistance to the Devils, but that "Reverse" was still in the research stage. So someone like Armaros or Sahariel offered it to them on the condition of getting data on it during the game, Geez…." Azazel rubbed the back of his head with a sigh.
"Are there any negative side-effects to using it?" Sirzechs asked with a bit of concern.
"It's still at the research stage, so it wouldn't be strange if anything happened." Azazel answered bluntly. "And Sona Sitri and her servants used it while acknowledging that. Well, that's their resolution—An example of their fighting spirit of wanting to win at any cost.
"Why is that?" Sirzechs sounded more concerned. "What cost are you referring to?"
"Well, there are also Fallen Angels who picked out Sacred Gears and embedded them into themselves, but this "Reverse" was similar in that it forcibly granted someone an ability they didn't originally have. As an act that shortens one's life and destroys one's own abilities, it's dangerous." Azazel said with a grim expression.
Sirzechs' eyes widened at that information. "And you let them use it in spite of that fact?"
"As I already said, they knew of were already aware of the risks but wanted to use it anyways. Winning this match for the sake of their ambitions means so much to them that they're willing to risk their lives for it. Still, I don't like it either. Even if this ability increases as an appendix to one's own ability like Kiba, there are also safe examples of this, but as expected, it couldn't really be recommended. Incidentally, since my artificial Sacred Gear was made specifically for my use right from scratch, it has no problems.
"Even so, I'm going to have to advise them that "Reverse" should be banned from future games. We can't allow the next generation of Young Devil that will carry the Underworld's future to lose their lives at such an early point."
"And I'd second that motion. I also feel like I do not want to nip young buds in such a place."
After saying that, though, Azazel went back to the fight and started to think about what he saw.
"However, to think that they would use "Reverse" like this. Originally, it was created for the sake of reversing contrary things that turned the Holy into demonic and darkness into Light. To think that they would skilfully use "Reverse" in accordance to their opponent's abilities." He couldn't deny that he was impressed. "I've ascertained with my own eyes the resolution of the Sitri group this time. Show me how far you guys can go."
With his match against Saito over, Shirou broke open the door of a nearby vending machine and gulped down a water bottle from inside. His body was still injured from all the dame he stood. In particular, his arm was still broken, and his face was stained red with the blood that had dried up. And yet, after catching his breath, Shirou just acted like none of that bothered him anymore.
At that time, he was contacted through his communication device. It was a communication from Rias.
{Offense team, can you hear? We're now advancing toward the enemy base as well.}
Shirou placed his hand on his device. "Rias, the Offense "team" is now down to just me, so that term is gratuitous."
{Right, I wanted to ask about that. How did Koneko get defeated when the two of you were together? Did something happen to separate you?}
{Rias, now really isn't the time to be asking about that. I get that you're upset, I am too, but we're on a schedule.}
{Sorry, I know.}
"That you, Mika?" Shirou asked.
{Correct, Broyata. Now listen carefully. Now that Sona's lost her ace and her second, her game plan has definitely moved into the end game, and I can pretty much guess what she's planning.}
"Okay, so what's our plan?" Shirou asked curiously.
{I'll explain as you make your way to their base. For my battle plan, everyone has a part to play.}
And so, while communicating with Mika, Shirou proceeded toward the location of the final decisive battle.
There was a place that looked like a central plaza in the center of the shopping mall.
Surrounded by a circular bench, there was a clock pillar in the center of it. Shoppers that got tired of shopping frequently sat down there. Once the group had advanced that far, they stopped walking.
The being that almost all of the remaining members of the Gremory Peerage converged there. First, Rias arrived with Gasper at her side, followed by Kiba and Xenovia, then Akeno with Mika and Asia.
Rias addressed all of them. "Good, you're all here."
"Now, all that's left to do is wait for Shirou." Xenovia added.
As if on cue, Shirou arrived last. Everyone turned when they heard the sound of his footsteps. He approached them after arriving at the plaza, but before anyone could say anything, they all froze when they saw the state he was in.
The dry blood, the open wounds, the battered state of his face, the way his arm dangled uselessly beneath his shoulder. And the way he just casually walked up to him despite all that, they honestly didn't know how to react.
So Shirou spoke first as he looked over them all. "Good—Looks like no one's too badly injured."
"What are you talking about?!" Rias snapped emotionally at him. "You're clearly "very" badly injured!"
"What, these flesh wounds?" Shirou downplayed his injuries.
"How on earth did you so did you get so messed up?" Xenovia asked, flabbergasted. "More than that—Who could have messed you up this much?"
Shirou shrugged. "It surprised me too. But, Saito fought the good fight, even I can admit that."
"Saito?" Rias said with surprise. "He's improved that much to have driven even you into a corner?"
"Well, it's a bit more complicated than that."
"I was going to ask how Koneko-chan was defeated, but I think I get it now." Kiba muttered.
"I'm really glad I didn't run into him.
"It seems that we really did underestimate the Sitri Peerage. We never expected the other side to have anyone who was on that level from a direct standpoint." Akeno pointed out.
"Not exactly." Mika argued. "Our opponents are mainly a technical group that happens to have one Power-Type. We weren't wrong about that. He just happened to have grown more than we were expecting. Even so, you can't really say we underestimated them when everything else has been going according to plan, so let's not make this a bigger deal than it actually is. We still have the lead and the momentum."
"She's right. We're already on the verge of winning, now's not the time to lose our nerve." Shirou advised them.
Asia timidly approached Shirou. "Shirou-san, let me heal your injuries or your arm, at least."
Shirou was about to respond to her request but then stopped and looked off to the side. "We've got company."
The others followed his line of sight to see what he was referring to. Naturally—Since Sona was right there before them.
"How do you do, Rias, and all of you from the Gremory Peerage? I must admit when I see you all gathered together as a single unit. I do feel a terrible wave of power from you. It's only natural for everyone to consider your group dangerous."
She spoke in a calm and composed tone. Sona was surrounded by a barrier. The ones generating the barrier were the two Bishop members of the student council—The one with a tall figure and long white hair was Momo. The other one with average height and dark brown hair was Reya—Both of them were Second Years. In front of them were Tsubasa and Tomoe, the Sitris' Rook and Knight from before.
Now all remaining members of both teams had converged and were on the same spot on the battlefield.
Rias stepped forward. "…Sona, you're quite bold. To have come right to the center."
"Haven't you yourself, the King, also moved personally as well, Rias?" Sona shot back.
"Yeah, since we've already reached the final stage either way. Though it seems to have turned out quite differently from what I expected…." Rias wore a rigid expression.
"Yes, things played out differently from what I had expected as well. I never thought Tsubaki would lose so early." Sona's expression was also rigid as she turned to Shirou. "Shirou, listen to me; the plan to set a trap for you was set by me. Don't hold it against Saito, it was for the group, but he honestly didn't want to resort to methods like that. We were just desperate."
Shirou raised his hand. "You don't make excuses. It didn't end up mattering in the end, so there's nothing more that needs to be said."
Sona shook her head slightly. "I wouldn't be so sure about that. After all, I don't think you're fully aware of what I'm referring to."
Shirou raised a brow at that as Rias looked at her suspiciously. "Mind clarifying that?"
Sona fixed her glasses as she stared at Rias with a calculating expression.
"Rias, what are you willing to bet on this battle? I'm willing to risk my life. My dream is a very difficult one. If I don't destroy the obstacles one by one, I can't cut open a path of solution."
Sona spoke to Rias from right in front of her.
"Rias, I will destroy your pride and estimation."
DOGON!
Suddenly a large and potent amount of magic was released over the plaza that momentarily blinded the members of the Gremory team. When they looked again, they saw the purpose of the magic. Right now, there was a blue magic barrier over the plaza, it was similar to the barrier that Sona was inside of, but that one took the form of a large wall.
A solid wall of magic formed around the center of the plaza, splitting it in half and thus blocking both teams from each other. But that was the surprising part. As they saw, Shirou was on the side of the wall that the Sitri Devils were on and, thus, separated from his group.
"Shirou!" Rias called out.
Kiba knocked against the wall. "Is this a magic barrier?"
"We've been cut off from him." Akeno summarized.
"Don't bother trying to smash through it." Sona advised them. "That wall is impervious to physical attacks and brute force."
"Mika, can you do something?" Rias questioned her.
"I'm already working on it." Mika told her, inspecting the barrier with her eyes. "But this is a pretty complicated composition."
"You really have a thing for traps, don't you?" Shirou commented as he faced them. "But honestly, what was this supposed to accomplish? You really think I can take you guys, five against one?"
"I already said before I am going to destroy Rias' pride, and that starts with you." Sona said with unquestioned seriousness. "You are the cornerstone of the Gremory Peerage, the group's heart, and backbone. When you rise, the others rise with you. But conversely, if you were to fall, the rest would follow suit."
"If I were to fall?" Shirou repeated with skepticism. "That's a pretty big "if," isn't it? No one can make me fall. I'll always stand and fight. Or what, do you think you have a chance just because I can only use one arm."
"Sona, just what exactly are you hoping to achieve?" Rias questioned her through the wall.
"Rias, I saw the video records of how the battle with Raiser was finished. What I understood from that was that Shirou is a man that won't give up in battle to the point of being frightening. For the sake of his comrades, for himself, and above all for victory—" Sona continued further. "We may not be able to defeat him with just damage. No matter how many times we knock him down, he'll just get back up. To us, your so-called "fighting spirit" is just as astounding as the power of the Red Dragon Emperor. Yes, if you don't give up and keep on standing up, you believe that you'll eventually defeat your enemy, or rather, you believe that it is already a foregone conclusion. That willpower connects directly to the power of the Red Dragon Emperor and increases your power by several times as well. That is the greatest weapon for Shirou Amakusa." Sona proclaimed before making a bold statement. "That's why we had no choice but to beat you with a different method."
"Enough with the pontificating." Shirou said impatiently. "If you got such a great plan, then show it to me. Show me this "method" you thought up for beating me."
"Very well, I'm sure you'll find it interesting." Sona gave him a small smile.
FLASH!
Beneath his feet, a magic circle appeared around Shirou, and upon its activation, Shirou felt himself freeze. It felt like he was being bound by invisible chains that stripped him of his freedom and prevented him from taking a step forward.
"Grr… What is this?" Shirou struggled angrily. "Why can't I move!"
"What is that spell?" Kiba asked, surprised by Shirou's response.
"I don't know, but it's powerful." Xenovia replied with dismay.
"What your standing on is a landmine containment spell. It's a magic circle used to capture and subdue wild and powerful monsters." Sona explained stoically. "This spell is a variation of this other one that Saito used on you earlier in the match."
"And containment spell?" Gasper gasped at this news.
"I suppose that's one way to do it. If they can't beat him, stopping him would be a reasonable option." Akeno frowned at them.
"We have to get over there and free him." Kiba said, frustrated at the situation.
"You think I'd fall for the same thing twice?" Shirou chided Sona. "If it's the same as that first spell, I can just break out of it by unleashing enough power."
"Normally, that would be true, but in your case, that's no longer an option for you." Sona informed him. "If you think otherwise, go ahead and try it."
Shirou glared at her and clenched his fist. "Boosted Gear."
DON!
"—!"
To Shirou's shock and confusion, his Sacred Gear didn't activate or manifest. No matter how much he filled for it, the gauntlet didn't appear over his alarm. If that wasn't strange enough, something else appeared. On the back of his hand, glowing over his glove, was a blackish-purple symbol that looked like a Dragon symbol.
"Remember what I said before. You didn't fully comprehend what I was referring to." Sona calmly reminded him. "This is the true trap that was set up for you, courteously of Saito."
"What are you talking about?" Shirou demanded; she elaborated.
"You weren't the only ones that grew over the summer. Over the course of our training, those in our group who possessed Sacred Gear experienced growth ad gained new abilities. One of which was Saito's newest ability, a lock-on effect of the Deletion Field. With this power, he can brand a person with the stigmata of the Prison Dragon, and those under the effect of that stigmata find themselves unable to activate any of their special abilities. You can think of it as being continuously under the effects of Deletion Field for a long period of time. Even without Saito being here, it was activated after he had retired from the match. And in case you're wondering, this power can only lock on to a target after he physically touches them."
Shirou easily knew what that meant. During his fight with Saito, with the vast number of times he landed a hit on him, he had plenty of opportunities to brand him with his stigmata. It was clear this was the true trap she had set for him, and he fell for it.
"Now, to finish you."
With that cold declaration, Tsubasa, Tomoe, Reya, and Momo each took out a weapon and pointed it at Shirou. Shirou's eyes went wide when he immediately recognized what they were holding. It was something else they acquired through Grigory, exorcist guns that Stary Exorcists who were employed by Fallen Angels were known to use.
"Forgive me, but I'm willing to do anything to win this battle." Sona said with a hint of misgiving before she gave the order. "Fire!"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
With a pull of the trigger, the four of them fired their guns, and a hall of Light bullets rained down on Shirou's defenseless body. With no way to dodge or protect himself, the bullets pierced into his flesh and started to burn his skin, as was the natural reaction when a Devil came into contact with Light.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"Augh! Gah! Ahh!" Shirou cried out in pain as he felt the Light bullet burn his flesh like acid while also piercing his body like lead. It was like being put before a firing squad, as being constantly shot at messed up his body even more than it already was. Now his other arm was damaged to the point of being unusable, and his body was even worse as it took most of the brunt.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"Senpai!"
"Stop! Please stop!"
"S…Sona… You…"
"…"
Gasper cried out, horrified at what he was forced to witness, while Asia cried, unable to keep watching as she buried her face in her hands. Rias struggled not to lose her composure as her expression was wrapped with impatience while the rest of them didn't say anything but were all upset for differing reasons.
When the bullets finally came to a stop, Shirou stood there, hunched over and breathing heavily. He was covered in bullet wounds all over his torso, and blood was dripping from his body like sweat from a marathon runner. Now both his arms just dangled uselessly, and his flesh was smoking. All that Light burnt him so much that parts of his body were chard black like charcoal.
"Haah… Haah…"
Shirou's breathing was heavy. The damage from his previous fight was starting to resurface and added to the damage he had now reserved. He was in a terrible state. But still, Shirou would not fall.
"Mika! Haven't you figured something out yet!?" Rias asked impatiently, now sounding desperate.
"Quit rushing me!" Mika snapped angrily at her. "I'm working as fast as I can. This isn't easy!"
"Wait, I think I can heal him." Asia suggested with urgency. "Thanks to my training, I can heal from a distance, I've never actually tried it for real, though, but if he isn't too far away, I might be able to do some minor healing."
"Anything is fine. Just do it." Rias ordered her urgently.
Sona heard their plan and narrowed her eyes. "I was waiting for this. Tomoe!"
On her order, Sona's Knight dashed forth toward Shirou. Having fought against her, Kiba and Xenovia knew what she had up her sleeve and immediately paled when they realized what was coming.
"No, don't!"
"Asia, stop!"
But their warnings came too late as Asia had already activated her Twilight Healing, and a small sphere of emerald green light surrounded Shirou's body with the purpose of closing his injuries. As Tomoe used the superior speed of a Knight to appear before him in a fraction of a second, she held out her hand in front of him.
"Reverse!"
DON!
The pale green light changed instantly and emitted something red and dangerous instead.
"—Ah."
"The reverse of healing is damage. Argento-san's healing ability is immense. But, if that is reversed… What do you think would be the outcome?"
Shirou froze as his eyes just stared openly while his body was trying to comprehend what was happening to it entirely. The total effect of the reverse healing didn't happen right away. It was a delayed effect, like the last seconds of a grenade after the pin was removed.
WUSHA!
Pain. A violent pain ruptured throughout his body as Shirou felt the effect of the reverse healing hit him all at once. All of his open wounds opened even wide, and blood mercilessly exploded out of his body. It was as though his body was a water balloon that popped and water sprayed everywhere, thick, deep crimson red water and burst out before it stained and sept into the floor like rain.
Standing in a pool of his own blood, Shirou's strength fully gave out as he fell to his knees. His head was down, and his expression was lifeless. He didn't utter a sound. But it wasn't just him.
The Gremory group was silenced. They were as quiet as a grave. None of them knew what to say or what they even could do. They had seen Shirou in horrible condition before, but it was impossible to ever get used to it, and every time always seemed worse than the last. And honestly, it never once occurred to them that he would ever be brought to the brink like this during a Rating Game, especially against the Sitri Peerage.
Because they were tongue-tied, Sona broke the silence.
"—This is the end result. You are a reincarnated Devil that is a human at your base. It's lethal if a human loses a large amount of blood coursing through their body. You know that, right? The rule of the Rating Game. When a Devil reaches the point of being unable to fight during the game, they are forcibly transported to the medical room."
Sona explained stoically and calculatedly.
"Shirou. You are close to retiring. You are strong, so much so that even together, it would have been impossible to defeat you in battle. But we don't have to defeat you in a battle to win. How can we achieve results with our limited abilities? It's not unthinkable. After all, humans have been doing that for eons. Your technique is solid. Your offensive power is great. And your battle sense is sharp. However, when I searched for ways to defeat you, there were many. Light poisons, ruptured organs, blood loss, severed consciousness, no matter how strong someone is, you can't train your internal body. It's like destroying a fortress from the inside. Even if we can't physically defeat you, the game rules will consider you unable to fight."
Sona hadn't aimed at winning with immense power but instead at using counters and traps that made use of their weaknesses and openings of those who did possess immense power. This was the original Rating Game. You couldn't easily win with just power. This was how the weak overcame the strong with superior intellect.
"…Shirou-kun…" Kiba silently murmured, speaking for almost all of them.
(You are the cornerstone of the Gremory Peerage, the group's heart, and backbone. When you rise, the others rise with you. But conversely, if you were to fall, the rest would follow suit.)
"Now, do you understand why I said that?" Sona asked rhetorically. "I intend to use everything at my disposal to defeat you and win this match."
"But do you remember what I said after you said that?"
"—?!"
Sona looked up in surprise at suddenly hearing that voice. Not just her, but the rest of her servants and the Gremory Peerage also looked up to see as Shirou smirked. There was life in his eyes as though they never faded from the beginning.
"I always… Stand… And… Fight."
Upon those words, Shirou slowly rose to his feet. Not only was he conscious after all that punishment, the fact that he could still stand truly shocked Sona. Shirou seemed to find that amusing.
"But how?"
"Don't look so surprised. Since you saw my fight with Raiser, you already know how high my tolerance for pain is. But, I'll admit it, you almost had me there, but there's a simple reason why you couldn't get rid of me."
Sona narrowed her eyes. "And what reason is that?"
"You were afraid of killing me."
That single and simple declaration from Shirou made her stop. Maybe she and her group weren't aware of it, or maybe they didn't expect anyone actually to say it, but it was the truth, a clear fact. Despite the damages he was given or the methods they resorted to, there was absolutely no lethal intent in their strategy.
"You could have won if you aimed for my head for neck, but you made a point to avoid my vitals while shooting me and tried to make me lose only the necessary amount of blood to send me to the medical room all because you just wanted to beat me not kill me. You might have been prepared to lose your life, but you weren't afraid to take mine. That's why you couldn't win."
Now Sona's expression was the one wrapped with impatience as she trembled. "Don't be foolish. Even if this is the Rating Game, hardly anyone aims to kill their opponents, even professionals. Do you honestly expect me to attempt such a thing against your group of all people?"
"Don't get it twisted. It's not about whether you actually do kill me in the end, what your problem was, you don't even try to attempt it." Shirou clarified, stopping her. "You've seen what the fights I've been in and what I've survived. Even when others try to kill me, I still endure and keep fighting. But in your case, you were too afraid of the idea of actually killing me that you couldn't even attempt it. You talked about your dream and how you were willing to risk your life to reach it, but if that's all that you're willing to risk, if you're still held back by fear, then your resolve is still weak."
"My resolve is… Weak?" Sona repeated, not wanting to believe that.
"And that is where the two of us differ. I laugh at fear, I welcome danger, and weakness will never be in my heart. Because I always have a difficult dream, and like you, I break through every wall to reach it, but even so, my resolve is far greater than yours!"
Play OST — Ace Of Diamond — Wide Eyed Animals
CHILLS!
He stared directly into her eyes with his gaze that shined its bright golden color. His gaze filled her and the others with intimidation like many others who were on the receiving end of it before, but Sona tried not to let it show.
"Don't be mistaken. Even if you're still standing, your abilities are still sealed by the stigmata, and you're still trapped by my containment spell."
"So it would appear, but I'm not the only one with weaknesses!"
ZAN!
Despite supposedly being unable to use any of his special abilities or powers, Shirou's aura flared out, and he was coated with a thick aura of energy. Sona was surprised by this considering he was still branded by the stigmata but also noticed that his aura was neither magic power nor Demonic power.
"Senjutsu?" Sona realized.
"That's right. In case you've forgotten, I recently became a Senjutsu user myself. And Senjutsu is the practice of taking nature energy that can be found in the atmosphere and absorbing it into yourself. Since the people technically didn't come from me naturally, Saito's power can't nullify it. It looks like his control isn't that precise."
Sona frowned. It was true; while Saito could nullify a Senjutsu user's aura if he were facing them directly, the stigmata were something that could only nullify the powers of whoever it was locked on to and things that were directly linked to Shirou, like special weapons or the natural energy of Senjutsu of example didn't fall under that category.
And Shirou had a plan for his Senjutsu. Nature energy is different from demonic power or magic power. If strong enough, it could even be denser than Dragon-aura if the gap in levels between the users was wide enough. Thanks to that fact, Shirou focused his Senjutsu and made all of his aura converge on the back of his palm. With all that nature energy, he used it to cover up and fully dissolve the Prison Dragon's stigmata, freeing him from his effects.
"Look, he broke the stigmata." Xenovia noticed.
"Now he's free to use his Sacred Gear and magic again." Akeno said happily.
"Not just that." Mika informed them knowingly.
Sona frowned deeper at the fact that things were really starting to diverge from her plans. "You broke the stigmata."
"And now I think I'll break this trap."
DOOOON!
Darkness flared as Shirou immediately took advantage of his reclaimed freedom to use his powers to unleash the Power of Darkness from his body in a powerful fashion. The Darkness overlapped his outer body like a fiery outline before Shirou flexed his body and let the Darkness surge out like a bustling wind current that concentrated around his body.
"In case you need a reminder, Darkness renders Light. My Power of Darkness can consume all Light elements without leaving a trace behind. Naturally, that will clear out any Light poisoning that I may have gotten from your bullets.
But that wasn't all his Darkness accomplished. As was established before, the confinement spell had a limit on how much it could contain its victim. If the one captured by the magic circle was powerful enough, they could break free from its hold. And after unleashing the Power of Darkness, Shirou had discharged enough power to break the magic circle and thus finally free himself.
Sona was really starting to become worried, all her traps had been broken, and she had been unable to retire Shirou. Her whole strategy was becoming undone, but things only got worse.
"In case you think your troubles are over, I have more bad news for you."
Music Off
CRACK!
Upon Mika's words—Like a glass window—A large crack appeared around the barrier wall that separated them. This happened while Mika smirked and placed a hand on the barrier.
"This one really was a brain puzzler, but now I've finally calculated the composition for the barrier, and now all I have to do is rewrite the composition. And after I do that."
BREAK!
"The whole thing will fall apart."
And just as she said, after Mika finished her objective, the entire barrier shattered to pieces and vanished into particles. Now there was nothing that could impede the Gremory group from reaching Shirou.
Shirou sighed and turned in their direction. "Haah, took them long enough—?"
Shirou stopped when he turned around because, in the blink of an eye, the first thing he saw was the tiny forms of both Asia and Gasper flying towards him with tear-filled eyes and emotional expressions as they closed the distance between them immediately and clung to his body like bay pandas while burying their faces into his chest.
"Shirou-san! You were—I was scared that you would—!"
"Senpai! Senpai! Waaaah!"
Asia and Gasper could babble emotionally through their tears as they let out all their fears and concerns from having to watch him be bloodied and maned from the other side of the wall. While they were doing that, the others gathered around him as well.
"I think what they're trying to say is, we're glad you're okay." Kiba said good-naturedly.
"Okay?" Shirou cocked his eyebrow impatiently. "Is that a joke? In case you haven't noticed, I'm not okay, and I'm just not dead. What I am is filled with holes, with two mangled arms, and in serious need of healing."
"Asia, that's your cue." Mika reminded her.
"R-Right!"
Asia responded through her tears and quickly achieved her Twilight Healing as another pale green sphere of light wrapped around Shirou's body, and this time the warm, soothing feeling of Asia's healing properly did its job in repairing the damage to his body. Even though part of her was afraid of it turning red and hearing him again, Kiba and Xenovia stood in front of them to prevent their opponents from attempting to "Reverse" it again.
Sona knew that they couldn't stop what was happening and only watched with dissatisfaction as Shirou was being healed while being without any options to stop it.
It didn't take long before Asia was done, and Shirou was fully healed. All the open wounds and injuries around his body were gone, and he looked as fresh as when he was at the start of the match, not to mention that both his arms were fixed, and he could move them freely and normally once again.
But despite being back in good condition, Shirou saw that Asia and Gasper were still giving him the same looks that children have after they witnessed something scary and seemed ready to start crying at any moment.
"Seriously, how long are you two going to keep giving me that look?" Shirou asked uncomfortably.
"Ara, Ara. You can't really blame them. I think all of us were spooked by what we saw back there. You were in really bad shape." Akeno pointed out, letting him know that she was also worried.
"Honestly, how many times are you going to make me worry?" Rias mildly scolded while lovingly brushing her hand over his face. "Don't you realize how painful it is for me to have to see you get hurt like that?"
"It's not like I mean for these things to happen." Shirou lightly placed his hand over hers before brushing her hand away. "It's simply the nature of a Pawn to be targeted more than anyone."
"Even so, that was much worse than even I was expecting." Mika admitted with a grimace. "One more push, and they might have actually pulled it off. At this point, you've gotta give it to Sona, maybe we really did underestimate them."
"Well, either way." This time, Rias narrowed her eyes at Sona. "We're ending this now."
Sona stared back and didn't waver. "While it is vexing that you unraveled my strategy, I still have no intention of letting things end here. As long as I'm still standing, this match isn't over."
"In that case, we'll just defeat you right now and end the match." Rias declared with a willingness to fight.
"You're welcome to try, Rias, but this barrier is one you won't so easily be able to break." She challenged back, referring to the barrier that was shielding her.
"And who says we need to break the barrier to beat you?" Mika questioned rhetorically, getting the attention of the others.
"What are you implying?" Sona scowled at her.
"Oh, cut the act already. I know the truth. That "special barrier" your two Bishops are conjuring is a decoy. And that's not really you in there. It's just a holographic."
Mika's revelation surprised her team and Sona's team. Her team on the fact that none of them expected the idea that the Sona they were facing was just a fake image, while Sona's team was surprised that she saw through their plan.
"Mika, how do you know that?" Rias asked curiously.
"I'd love to tell you, Rias, but…." Mika then smirked widely and mischievously at the hologram of Sona. "Not as much as I'd love to tell the "real" Sona first."
Sona let out a small sigh before turning to face her Bishops. "Well, since there's no point in keeping this ploy anymore, release the barrier."
"Are you sure?" Reya asked.
Sona kept her gaze on Mika. "I'm fully aware how capable a strategist she is, and that girl doesn't bluff. If she truly has figured out my trick, then all we're doing is wasting magic unnecessarily on a barrier we don't need." She then looked to the rest of her team. "All, I'll try to think of another plan. Just please, try to survive."
Even if those words were just a token promise to avoid having to accept defeat or something she had to tell herself to keep her spirit up, none of the remaining members of the Student Council had any intention of giving up on victory.
[Yes, understood, President.]
With that, Reya and Momo lowered their hands, and the barrier disappeared along with the Sona hologram. Now, the Knight, Rook, and Bishop duo faced the Gremory group with the intention and determination to fight.
"It won't end here." Tsubasa said while raising her fists.
"We won't let you have your way." Tomoe proclaimed as she held up her Sword.
"That's great and all, but we're done here." Mika said dispassionately as she walked over to Shirou and raised her arms to wrap them around the back of his neck, and kicked her feet off the ground so that she could be carried by him like a princess. This baffled some of the others and made Asia look envious.
"Is there a reason I'm carrying you?" Shirou asked sarcastically.
"I want to go to where Sona's real body is, and it'll be faster if you carry me." Mika explained before she half-closed her eyes and grinned at him. "Also, I've had to walk around a lot ever since this match started, and now my legs are tied."
Shirou groaned. "Fine, whatever. Let's just go."
Mika then faced the rest of the group. "Everyone, you take out all the enemies here. Me and Bromura will head to the real Sona's location."
Rias nodded with acceptance. "Fine then, we'll leave it to you."
With that settled, Shirou held onto Mika and took off to head further into the shopping mall to where they would find Sona but Tomoe and Tsubasa gave chase to try and stop them.
"We won't let you!" Tomoe exclaimed.
CLANG!
Before they could pursue any further, Tomoe and Tsubasa were stopped when Kiba and Xenovia appeared in front of their path and prevented them from advancing.
"Wrong. It's us who won't let you get in their way." Xenovia announced, wielding Ascalon again.
"You escaped us last time, so let's finish what we started." Kiba suggested as he created another Holy Demonic Sword.
Tsubasa looked past them and saw that Shirou and Mika had fully left the scene, and she couldn't even see them anymore. Realizing that caused her to click her tongue in annoyance. "Looks like there's no way around it. We'll have to fight."
Tomoe arrived at the same conclusion. "Right, let's take them together."
CRACKLE!
At that moment, Akeno entered their sight. She gave off a crackling golden aura from her entire body. Akeno—She had a cold look in her eyes that coupled with a sadistic, merciless smile and was giving off a strange aura.
"…Even though I tried to show Shirou-kun my determination…."
She went forward and stepped with a commanding presence and authority in her stride. The others could feel a strong pressure in that step that couldn't be expressed in words.
"…Even though I tried to overcome it… By using this hateful power in front of him… I didn't get the chance to…."
Akeno slowly raised her hands in front of her and—Her smile changed into a scowl, and she glared with uncontrolled anger as she faced both of the Sitri Bishops.
"All that pain, all that punishment he was forced to endure, all of his blood that was spilled by all of you. I won't forgive you."
Some of the colors drained from Kiba's face when he realized what was happening. "She showed the natural face of her S-side! The number one state that Akeno-san shouldn't be touched in! Impossible to think that the usually calm Akeno-san would act like this! I didn't think seeing Shirou get torn apart like that would have this much of an effect on her."
It wasn't just Kiba. Xenovia was also a little intimidated. Asia was a bit shaken, and Gasper straight-up cowered behind Rias, though Rias herself wasn't that surprised to see her act this way. On the other side of things, Reya and Momo were sweating as they could feel the danger that Akeno exuded.
"—Disappear."
After that brief anger-filled declaration, a great mass of Thunder sprung forth from Akeno's hands and swooped down on the Sitri Bishop, Reya.
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!
"Reverse!" At the instant of impact, Reya spread out her hands and tried to Reverse the Thunder, but—
BIGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA!
The violent Thunder was unhindered by her attempt and wrapped around Reya. Reya couldn't Reverse the Thunder and directly received Akeno's attack. And at the same time, she was wrapped in light and disappeared.
Akeno coldly watched her vanish as she knew why her "Reverse" failed. "It seems it was useless. She tried to Reverse the Thunder, but what I shot just now was Lightning. Thunder and Light. The "Reverse" of the Light portion wasn't enough to Reverse it all."
{One Of Lady Sona Sitri's Bishops Has Retired.}
"—The power couldn't be overturned when the power being reversed was changed."
Just as Akeno said, it seemed that their training wasn't enough for them to master the power of "Reverse". Akeno had succeeded in demonstrating her newfound power as one commanded Holy Lightning, but she was still unsatisfied that Shirou wasn't present to witness. Well, she could always show him after the match.
If her object was to strike fear into their opponents, she succeeded in that as well as Tomoe and Tsubasa were clearly shaken by Akeno's display of power.
"This is bad. They have a high-powered offense that we can't Reverse." Tsubasa grimaced at their situation.
"You'll be in trouble if you only focus on Akeno-san."
Kiba recaptured their attention as he and Xenovia stood side by side while facing Tomoe and Tsubasa. Even though the Sitri Devils braced themselves for combat, Xenovia had something else in mind.
"Xenovia, let's use that technique."
Kiba apparently wasn't expecting that from her. "Are you sure? We're not exactly cornered right now?"
"Our group's Queen just demonstrated the full power of her trump card. At this stage in the match, doesn't it only seem fitting that we do the same?" Xenovia suggested confidently.
Kiba closed his eyes and smiled. "I suppose I can't argue with that logic."
Their decision having been made, Kiba placed both his hands on the hilt of his Sword and Xenovia moved in closer before she held onto his Sword as well. Then, she let out some of Durandal's aura that flowed into Kiba's body as they both prepared their attack.
"Now then, Xenovia. Let's show it to them."
"The technique created by you and me, Rias Gremory's two Knights!"
ZAZAZAZAN!
Holy Demonic Swords sprang up everywhere on that side of the plaza. The Holy Demonic aura that covered them might have been little. But if Durandal's aura is also added to them, it's another story entirely. This resulted in a wave of Holy Demonic Swords filled by the power of Durandal shooting out from the ground and closing in on the Knight and Rook of the Sitri Peerage.
DURANDAL BIRTH!
Their attack pierced violently through Tsubasa and Tomoe's bodies. With no chance whatsoever of surviving such potent Holy aura or the Swords that stabbed into them, they began to shine, and they disappeared from the battlefield.
{Lady Sona Sitri's Knight And Rook Have Retired}
With the announcement making their victory official, Kiba, and Xenovia allowed the wave of Holy Demonic Swords to vanish, and both looked proud of their victory.
"Kiba. That was a nice attack."
Her expression was covered with a smile. So Kiba also smiled at her.
"Yeah, when you and I work together again, we can make more Holy Swords bloom."
Momo couldn't stop herself from trembling. She was now officially the remaining member of her team that was active on the battlefield. She was all alone against a whole team of offensive powerhouses that she had no chance against, even from an individual standpoint. And if that wasn't scary enough, the one that stepped forward to face her was Rias, the one she needed to be the most afraid of.
"It's too much… President…." Momo mumbled through her intimidation. "In spite of all our strategies, preparations, and planning, they're tearing all down with just brought force."
"Honestly, I'll admit you were more than I was expecting, but there are two things you need to understand." Rias said, both praising her and demeaning her. "The first, no matter how far you plan ahead, even for the best-laid plans in the world, if the gap in power is vast enough, all strategies can be rendered to nothing. And the second." Rias gave her a smile only the Crimson-haired Princess of Annihilation could give. "We are the House of Gremory. It's our way to blow away all opponents to nothing."
Rias then held up her hand and created a large ball of Power of Destruction that rested on her palm, waiting to be unleashed.
"Now then, let's put an end to this."
{Lady Sona Sitri's Bishop Has Retired}
The only remaining opponent was—The King, Sona Sitri.
The roof of the department store. The sky outside was blank, empty of anything. Because it was within the space of the game, that was where Sona's real body had resided. Throughout the battling that had taken place within the store, she had remained here where she would be out of reach of her enemies. At least, that was her plan.
Shortly after hearing the announcement that her last remaining pieces were gone, Sona soon realized she wasn't alone. In front of Sona were two opponents that discovered her location.
Sona turned her gaze towards them and smiled bitterly before she asked. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you found me."
Standing before her were Shirou and Mika, only a few feet away. The Tsukiharu siblings stood side by side while they wore expressions that made them look as though they had already won.
"I call Check." Mika declared smugly.
"You're not the King, but whatever." Shirou commented passively.
Sona was under no delusion that she could escape from this situation, so she addressed them with seriousness. "Tell me; I have to know, how did you figure out my strategy, that the 'me' down there was a fake?"
"I took advantage of the location of the battlefield." Mika answered casually.
Sona raised a brow at that. "What do you mean the location?"
"Sona, during the warmup period before the start of the match, we checked around to see just how detailed they made this replicate of the shopping mall. After we confirmed that it was exactly the same, right down to the powerlines, Mika took off from the rest of the group to go to one specific room in the building that would give us an edge in this match."
"I went to the surveillance room."
Sona's eyes widened when she heard this revelation before she narrowed her eyes with resigning dissatisfaction. "Now I get it, surveillance cameras."
"That's right. This is a public shopping center. The fact that there are cameras around every corner is common knowledge. That's just the natural practice. And since this place has a surveillance system, there must be a room where all the footage is monitored. All I had to do was go there, and I could see everything going on in this store, including your base."
"You were watching me the whole time?"
"Only for as long as necessary. I kept watching until I saw your Bishops making a barrier with a hologram of you inside of it. Afterward, you split from them and went off on your own. I knew at that point that it was your strategy to make us attack that decoy wastefully and weaken us—If only a little."
"But wait, even if you knew I separated from the others, how did you know I was on the roof?" Sona questioned that hole in her explanation.
Shirou spoke this time.
"The King must survive until the end. That is the duty of the King. If the King is taken out, the game would be over, right?"
Sona's eyes widened with surprise when she heard Shirou speak that quote, a quote that she once said to him during a time they shared a discussion after their first Chess game.
"It's just so interesting, don't you think, how a lot of people tend to show certain character traits in how they play board games?" Mika asked coyly, obviously referring to her. "Especially ones involving strategy."
"So you anticipated that my style of Chess would align with how I would act during a Rating Game?" Sona asked, remaining composed.
"Can you say we were wrong?" Shirou asked rhetorically.
"After knowing that you weren't with your team and the fact that you wanted to make sure that you survived no matter what, it just became a matter of figuring out where you were hiding. But, it was evident that you had to be as far from the front lines as possible while staying within the vicinity of the shopping mall. While you narrow down the possible hiding spots, the roof was clearly the obvious choice." Mika explained. "I was certain you were here before we even arrived at the plaza."
"Are you trying to say you saw through all of my strategies from the beginning?" Sona asked, sounding almost insulted.
"No, not at all, honestly, even I was surprised when I saw you put up that wall, not to mention the way you stockpiled all those other things to debuff and corner my Brother." Mika confessed. "The truth is that I expected to have us overwhelm you and your group once we arrived at the plaza before cornering you at the roof without any struggle, but I never expected you would pull the rug from under us like that. Bravo, Sona, one more push, and you might have actually retired Big Bro and taken the momentum." She praised her as though she was talking to someone much younger than her. "I mean, you still would have lost, but you know, nothing you can do about that."
Sona kept her eyes narrowed at them. "So that's it, you believe you have me cornered, and now your calling Check?"
"No, we expect you to surrender with dignity so we can call Checkmate." Shirou corrected her.
"Don't get the wrong idea. Just because I avoid the frontlines doesn't mean I'm helpless!" Sona gathered magic power in her hands. "As long as I'm still standing, I haven't lost this match yet! I refuse to be defeated after the others fought so hard for our dream!"
An aura of water gathered around Sona and gradually formed something. This was no ordinary amount of water. Looking at it, the water seemed to be collected from everywhere within the department store.
As expected of the Sitri family, whose specialty is water magic. Sona was like Rias in that she excelled as a Wizard-Type. But like Akeno, her specialty leaned closer to the Technique-Type category.
ZABUN!
ZABAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!
Sonamanipulated the water and started to give it depth and shape, and because she was gathering it from the entire building, it was unlimited.
"Now then. I shall thoroughly display my water techniques to you. You'll witness the true power of the next head of the House of Sitri."
Sona transformed a large amount of the water with magic, turning it into many hawks that flew in the air, serpents that slithered on the ground, valiant lions, wolves that herded together, and several huge Dragons as well. She created a legion of different beasts made entirely of water, all that looked ready to tear apart their prey and rip all enemies to shreds.
There could be no debate after witnessing this display. Her magic skill surpasses that of Rias.
And yet, neither of the Tsukiharu siblings seemed impressed or concerned by her display of ability. Instead, they just looked at her with casual indifference. Shirou just looked at his Sister as if he was telegraphing his intent.
"Mika."
"Of course."
As though they could read each other's thoughts, Mika understood precisely what he wanted, and with just that single response, he knew she had the same idea. Mika raised on hand and prepared to click her fingers.
SNAP!
WHOOOOOOSH!
It happened in an instant. With a snap of her fingers, Mika activated her ice spell, and every single one of Sona's water magic-created beasts was frozen solid into ice sculptures. Sona was also frozen, frozen with shock at what she had witnessed. With seemingly no effort whatsoever, her magic, used to the very best of her abilities, was literally put on ice.
Shirou smiled, admiring the result. "Beautiful."
"Thank you." Mika happily accepted his praise. "I was hoping you'd like it."
Sona eventually found her voice and breathed the only response she could muster. "…Ice magic?"
"It's a shame, you really are a master of water magic, but sadly unlike your Big Sister, you don't also have an equal amount of control over ice magic." Mika reminded her. "Since you can't turn water into ice or ice into water, once someone freezes your conjured animals, they're nothing but glorified decorations."
"But… They were made with magic laced with my magic power?" Sona muttered, still in disbelief.
"True, they were created with the magic of a High-Class Devil who is a master at water magic, so how could they have been put on ice so easily?" Mika vocalized her question before answering it. "The answer is simple; My amount of magic reserves and my level of magic manipulation are greater than yours."
CRACK!
The ice sculptures started to crack and break apart before they all shattered and fell to pieces, leaving behind nothing but piles of broken ice all over the floor that slowly started to melt back into puddles of water.
Sona was bamboozled. This was all so much that she had trouble accepting all of it. She had been beaten in every category—Strategy, tactics, magic, combat. She had been bested in every field she attempted, and every effort she made to win this match had been rendered fruitless. The feeling of powerlessness that Momo and the rest of her group felt when facing Rias and the others in the plaza was starting to creep its way into Sona.
Ready to finish it, Shirou and Mika vanished from her sight for a moment before reappearing only inches away from her. Shirou used his superior speed to close the distance, and Mika used magic to teleport a short distance.
Now Shirou was standing right behind her and pointed his index finger at the side of her head as though he was holding a gun to her head. Mika, on the other hand, was right in front of her with her back turned as she held her hand up and pointed her index finger at Sona's chin as though she was holding a knife to her chin. Sona could tell right away that she was trapped, and if she made a move, either of them could take her out.
Shirou smirked victoriously at her as he spoke. "Do you get it now? Mika and I are—"
"—Invincible." Mika finished his sentence while wearing the same smirk. "You know the words we want you to say."
"You think I'll just give up?" Sona questioned them, still trying to be defiant.
"We know that you're not like Rias. You're tenacious but not as passionate, and you're smart enough to know when there isn't a point to being stubborn when you're just prolonging the inevitable." Shirou corrected her.
"Whether you surrendered or not, this is Checkmate." Mika reasoned with her. "We will fire at you if you make us, so make it easier on everyone and accept the outcome."
Sona bit her lip in frustration at her own inabilities. "I'm sorry, everyone…." She thought forlorn before forcing herself to accept the result and spoke out loud the words that would signal the end of this match. "…I resign."
{Resign Confirmed. It Is The Victory Of Lady Rias Gremory.}
—…
Ō ō
And that's the chapter. First of all, originally, I did plan on making this chapter cover the rest of the match and the rest of the Arc, but I decided to change that near the end. I thought that if I did that, this chapter would become too wordy, and I wanted the main focus of this chapter to be the end of the Rating Game. Also, in the last Rating Game chapters, the end of the match and the end of the Arc were split into separate chapters, so I figured it was better to do the same with this set of Rating Game chapters.
As for the match itself, this was the direction I chose to go in. From an individual standpoint, the Gremory Peerage overpowers the Sitri Peerage, so they try to compensate with strategies and traps, but when those fail and they have no more cards up their sleeves, the difference in power shows itself. This was just the power gap between the two groups.
Anyways thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed. If you liked the story, leave a review. If you want more, click the follow/favorite, and as always, have an awesome day.