"Boy!" Normal Speech.

'Boy!' Normal Thought.

"Nista!" Power/Technique.

"Loki" Demonic/Dragon Speeches.

'Loki' Demonic/Dragon Thoughts.

Summary: At seventeen years of age, Atreus and his father found themselves in another realm, one that was unfortunately filled with the less crazy, but irritating versions of the gods they had slain. Can they live their life in peace? Or the supernatural world of DxD will be forced to know the full might of THE God of War? Atreus will try to make sure that won't happen… anytime soon at least.

The story will focus on Atreus, with Kratos being a side-character most of the time.

Friendly reminder for those who might have forgotten: For the time being, Kratos and Mimir are known only as Kevin and Mike by other people.

Pairings: Atreus x Harem (Confirmed: Rias, Akeno, Aphrodite, Rossweisse, Ravel, Gabriel and Kuroka)

Kratos x Yasaka (final)

Son of War

Chapter 25

When Rias knocked her hand on the door of her boyfriend's house that morning, having decided to come make breakfast for him and his father before they always went on with training on Sunday at eight thirty, she definitely did not expect the one to answer her to be none other than her best friend, Akeno Himejima.

"Wha…"

"Oh, good morning, Rias." Akeno smiled as she greeted her king and best friend, who could not stop herself from furrowing her eyebrows in surprise.

"What are you doing here? I thought you…" The crimson haired heiress of the Gremory devil household tried to ask, noticing the white apron that Akeno was wearing, along with the fragrant aroma of cooked eggs and baked cookies coming from inside the house.

She was, however, interrupted by her queen, whose smile turned pleasantly sweet as she answered her question.

"What do you mean what am I doing here? I live here."

For a moment, Rias could not say or do anything, only standing there and staring at Akeno as she smiled pleasantly back at her. It did not take it long, however, for her to have to fight back the urge to drop her jaw in shock as her mind proceeded all that she had just heard.

"Wh… since when!?" Rias forced herself to ask in disbelief. Moving in to live with Atreus was something she had been planning to do for a while now, but still had not found a good opportunity to ask him and his father, whose permission was the one thing that she had been worrying about.

Clearly, Rias did not expect Akeno to have done it before her, even though she had already had the feeling that Akeno wished to do the same, or would follow her example if she succeeded.

"Does it matter?" Akeno answered simply with her own question, making Rias widen her eyes in shock.

With a soft, amused laugh, Akeno then turned around and made her way back into the house, causing Rias to immediately take off her shoes and follow her.

"Hold up! Does that mean father gave you the permission to move in? How did you do it?" Rias asked and walked into the kitchen with Akeno, pausing for just a second to greet a certain someone who was waiting on the dinner table with a tablet in front of him. "Good morning, Mike-ji san?"

"Ah, good morning, my dear girl!" The smartest head alive greeted back with an amused chuckle, having overheard their conversation.

After that, Rias helped Akeno finish preparing breakfast, getting the foods ready before Atreus and his father returned as they had left to buy some new woodworking tools at a local store. They also talked about a number of things, including the prep work that had to be done by them for the upcoming meeting of the Three Factions' leaders at Kuoh Academy. They were in no rush, but next week they would have asked Atreus and his father to cancel a day of training in order to have free time after school and help Sona and her peerage, whose student council office would be used as the meeting room.

"So can we bring Gasper-kun along, Rias?" Akeno asked as she set the plates down and around the dining table.

"I will have to ask my brother about him." Rias answered with a shrug before continuing. "Though, I highly doubt that they will let us bring him in without doing some tests first."

"Better safe than sorry, right?" Mimir asked with a soft laugh, having been voicing his opinions and giving advices to Rias and Akeno. Although Gasper had gotten a lot better at controlling his Sacred Gear, it was still a power that was heavily affected by his emotions.

In a room full of powerful beings, two third of whom were the archenemies of the devils since the dawn of time, it was highly unlikely that Gasper could keep his emotions in check and not get extremely nervous, or even scared, making the chance of him unconsciously activating his time controlling power and disrupting the meeting incredibly high.

Before the conversation could continue, it was stopped by the sounds of the door being opened and then closed, making Rias and Akeno widen their eyes in realization that Atreus and his father had returned. Immediately, the two set the plates in their hands down and raced to the doorway to be the first to greet them, making Mimir chuckle in amusement as he called after them to be careful and watch their steps. Breakfast started shortly after that with Rias joining the family, chatting heartily with Atreus while Kratos simply enjoyed his meal in silent contentment, speaking up only when he was asked or referred to by his son or any of the two girls.

"Wait. Huh? Where are we?"

Atreus blurted in surprise, unable to stop himself from asking upon stepping out of the realm tear that Fenrir had created for them and finding himself standing in front of a completely different building to the Gremory villa. Looking around, however, Atreus could still see the same trees that he used to practice his archery every day to the left of the field, but the rest looked completely different to what he remembered.

"The building has been rebuilt." Kratos said simply as he walked up to stand behind his son and scanned around the area while holding Mimir up in one hand. Akeno and Rias gave each other a meaningful look, knowing that there could be a single explanation for the sudden change.

"Hey hey hey!"

Before either girl could say anything, they were interrupted by a certain goddess of love and beauty in her mortal persona as she stepped out of the building to greet them.

"Welcome to the Gremory training facility, you all!" Aphrodite announced cheerily with her arms raising above her head and a beaming smile on her face.

"Aimi, what happened to this place?" Atreus asked while glancing between her and the building in front of them.

"Well, her parents seemed to think that the villa was not exactly a place where their daughter and her servants could train and hone their strength, so they had it rebuilt overnight." Aphrodite said with a gesture to Rias, who did not look surprised in the slightest, before gesturing the group to follow her into the building, waiting for them to greet the old housekeeper before continuing with a finger pointing to a room across from her desk. "So over here we have the infirmary…"

Once that Aphrodite had shown them the rooms where she would be working, occasionally with Asia, the goddess in her mortal disguise began to lead them around the new training facility, having checked out everything before they arrived. The facility seemed to be separated into two main areas, one for training and the other for resting. The main training room in the first floor was vast and expansive, having more than enough space for them to train how they wished while having the magical wards and enchantments to withstand even the most powerful spells that Rias and Akeno could cast together.

Kratos and Atreus were both especially impressed with the armory, which contained a vast variety of normal, magical and demonic weapons, some of which the two tested out together while waiting for the rest of the Gremory peerage to arrive. The two storerooms in the backyard were both packed with materials and a number of replacements for the amenities inside the training room, while the gymnasium on the second floor provided the group with a place for them to work out outside of training.

The resting area began with a huge kitchen and an outdoor dining pavilion where they could eat their meals and enjoy the scenery, connecting to a camping site that they could use to relax. There were also two classrooms for them to study tactics and strategies, which Kratos had been planning to teach them with Mimir, and a big library that Atreus could not wait to start using.

There was a meeting room for guests and visitors, and while the bedrooms had the luxury of those that could be found at a five star hotel, coming alongside indoor baths of various sizes and a large, heated swimming pool and sauna, Kratos immediately deemed them completely unneeded, believing that they would only serve as distractions with the comforts that they provided, and banned Rias and her servants from using them during training.

"All of you, in here. Now." Kratos sternly gave the order, and the Gremory peerage knew better than not immediately doing as he asked them to, rushing into the classroom and taking their seats, sitting at their tables in pairs.

With an amused chuckle at how concentrated they all looked, even Xenovia who he heard had been slacking off at school, Atreus then caught Aphrodite winking meaningfully at him from the corner of his eyes and gesturing her hand toward the resting area as she made the already widely opened neckline of her kimono sliding further down her arms, revealing even more of her creamy cleavage.

Before he could start making his way over to her, his mind working on an excuse to give his father, the man had already reached his hand out and stopped him, making Atreus look up in surprise, his eyes widening in realization when he saw the look Kratos was giving him.

"Wait… me too?" He asked in surprise.

"Yes." Kratos answered simply, his firm tone brooking no argument, making the smile that Aphrodite was having on her face turn upside down as Atreus reluctantly walked into the classroom to sit down at an empty table next to Rias and Akeno. To say that the two and the rest of the peerage were surprised to see that Atreus would be studying with them would be an understatement.

"Well then, I will be off to my…"

"I will need you to operate this machine for us." Kratos interrupted and showed Aphrodite an object that he had taken out from his pouch, stopping the goddess from leaving and making her look at it for a moment before picking it up from his hand and speaking to him in monotone.

"This is a USB. Do you even know what it is?" She asked flatly, but Kratos simply ignored her as he turned around and entered the classroom with Mimir.

Rolling her eyes and scoffing a little at the man and his grumpy attitude in annoyance, Aphrodite followed him and took her seat at the teacher desk, where the laptop connected to the projector hanging from the ceiling of the classroom was ready to be used. While waiting for the projector to boot up, Aphrodite then gave the data inside the USB a look and saw that they were recordings of several Rating Game matches with detailed descriptions of the two peerage participating in their names.

"Alright. Listen up." Kratos spoke up as he put Mimir down the teacher desk and turned around to face Atreus and the Gremory peerage "There will be no training today. Girl, you and your peerage will be preparing for the opponents that you will be facing as the first test of your training."

His announcement caused the Gremory peerage to gasp in surprise, and no one more so than Rias, who Kratos directly addressed.

"Who will we be facing, father?" Rias asked, as she and her servants sat up a little straighter than before.

This was it. This was the moment that they had been waiting for; an opponent for them to test their strength and everything that they had learn from Atreus and his father the past weeks, since it was difficult for them to tell how much stronger they had gotten with how easily it still was for the two to beat them around.

"Your former fiancé and his peerage."

"What!?"

Atreus asked loudly in shock, almost standing up from his seat at the mention of Raiser Phenex, who he had defeated to save Rias from her marriage engagement. Even Rias had a look of utter shock on her face, as she did not expect to hear that she would be facing Raiser and his peerage.

"But father, I thought…"

"You defeated him, yes, and the engagement is canceled, but the girl and her peerage never did." Kratos interrupted his son and spoke to him in a calm tone. "He played on your words of buying time for them to better prepare themselves, and has been pressing the matter with your parents to have that rating game match with you that he was promised."

"So he thinks now is that time?" Atreus asked as he leaned back into his seat.

"Correct. He wishes to rekindle your engagement with him." Kratos answered, looking at Rias who scoffed in annoyance under her breath "Your father did not agree, but he keeps on pressuring."

"What about his family, father?" Rias asked, knowing that unlike Raiser, his parents were honorable devils and they would keep their words. There was no way that they would agree with what their son was trying to accomplish.

"I was told they were also against the idea." Kratos answered "I spoke to your father when he told me about it last night and asked him to permit the match. Even if you lose to him, it is unlikely that the marriage engagement will be reformed, but it will still prove to your entire world that if Atreus had not stepped in and you had fought him, you would have been his wife by now."

And that would still be a huge boost to his ego, Rias could tell. He would go around and brag about how Rias Gremory could have been his wife, and how they would have made strong children to ensure the future of their species. No doubt it would also fuel the devils who were against the idea of her being in a relationship with someone who was not a devil like Atreus.

"But if you win, it will send a message to all who think they can still win you over in such a manner, no?" Mimir pointed out, with Rias agreeing wholeheartedly.

"So when are we going to fight him, sir?" Kiba Yuuto asked while tapping the butt of his pencil on the table.

To say that the knight was looking forward to this fight would be an understatement. Raiser Phenex had two talented knights in his peerage, whose skills rivaled that of the contenders in the official rating game tournament. This was the chance for him to prove himself to Kratos, and show him the swordsman he had become under his guidance and teaching.

"Later on this afternoon. You will leave at 4 and the match will start at 5. The preparation for the match is being made as we speak." Kratos answered, making Rias and her peerage gasp in shock "When we first started, I said I would teach you how to prepare for the fights that you might not be ready for. Show me that you can prepare yourself for these opponents using all the knowledge I have taught you using the little time that you have from now till you face them in battle."

"I have also asked your father to prepare the recordings of their previous matches against other opponents for you to study." Kratos said and gestured his hand to the white background on the wall, making Aphrodite show the first video of Raiser Phenex and his peerage she could find before rushing to turn off the light. "As you study them, they might also be studying you, so make sure that you will do so better than they ever could. I want you to learn their tactics, their strengths, their weaknesses, even their habits of wielding their weapons in combat… I want you to prepare for everything, and be surprised by nothing, is that clear?"

"YES, SIR!"

"Good." Kratos nodded his head firmly after getting the response from Rias and her servants before turning to Atreus to speak to him "Atreus, you will work and learn with them."

"Yes, father." Atreus nodded his head in understanding, wanting nothing more than to help Rias and her peerage beat Raiser and his group.

"After the first recording, I want each of you to show me at least fifteen individual details that you notice. Pay close attention to even the minor details. I might pause the recording at any time and ask what you see, clear?"

Kratos asked and after another simultaneous response from the entire class, he nodded his head to Aphrodite and allowed the first recording to be played, grabbing his own seat with Mimir on the side of the room. However, after only a few minutes of watching, Kratos gave the signal for Aphrodite to pause the recording and asked while looking directly at Issei.

"You, boy. Tell me what you see."

"Uhmmm…" Swallowing hard, Issei began to give his answer "Are they moving in pairs? Maybe to back each other up if needed?"

"Correct." Kratos nodded his head in confirmation.

"But it seems Xuelan is a bit further away from her partner than the others." Koneko raised her hand and gave her opinion, speaking in her normal emotionless tone "Her strength as a Rook is said to be on par with a Queen, so maybe her master is confident in her ability to fight alone?"

"Ah, interesting." Mimir mused with a thoughtful smile.

"Or… she served as the bait." Kratos spoke, nodding his head to Aphrodite for her to resume the recording.

True to his words, once the battle had begun between the servants of the two high class devils, Raiser's Queen started channeling her spell and then unleashed it in the form of a barrage of fireballs, bombarding the area where Xuelan. As the opponents she was fighting were immediately taken out of the game in the resulting explosions, Xuelan got out of the way at the last possible moment. Her powerful defense as a Rook allowed her to withstand the explosions with little to no injuries.

The first recording ended shortly after that, as it was a swift victory for Raiser and his peerage. The Gremory peerage submitted their reports to Kratos, who took a moment to read every note on his table and corrected all the misunderstandings that each of them had made, explaining it to them in full detail before allowing the second recording to be played.

Despite the fact that Raiser and his peerage had the advantage throughout the match, it ended with them making a series of mistakes that even Gasper could tell were purposely executed to lose to the other high class devil at the most crucial moment.

"That devil is from a devil household who the Phenex was in favor of, no doubt he lost them to show them his respect."

"Good."

"It seems Raiser does not mind sacrificing his pieces for victory, does he?"

"A sound strategy. He is willing to make sacrifices for victory, and win no matter the cost."

"It seems Ravel did not fight as well in that match and was also always protected by the same Rook, Isabela."

"Correct."

"That means we have 2 less opponents to worry about, but we still need to prepare for them just in case."

"Certainly."

"We still need to worry about Raiser, who is technically immortal and will not go down like the rest."

"But remember, his immortality has a weakness." Atreus pointed out, and Rias nodded her head to him with a smile before noting it down, recalling what her boyfriend had done to make Raiser give up.

The third one soon came after, and then the next, and the next. With a record of nine wins and four loses, there were a lot for them to go through, and Rias and her peerage lost track of time as they discussed among one another, taking break only during lunch time to eat the foods Aimi had prepared for them, carrying on until it was time for them to leave.

In a flash of crimson light, Rias and her peerage arrived at her family's spectating room with Kratos and Atreus, who was surprised when he looked out the windows and saw that the sky above them was a complete white that stretched out as far as the eyes could see.

"Woah, where are we?" Atreus found himself asking that question for the second time that day.

"An alternate dimension created by Ajuka to host the Rating game." Sirzechs Lucifer answered, announcing his appearance as he arrived to greet them with his parents and maid following closely behind him. "Hello everyone."

"Onii-sama. Otou-sama, Okaa-sama." Rias greeted the group in turn as her peerage bowed their heads to the crimson haired Maou, who shook hands with Atreus and received a nod of acknowledgement from Kratos. "So you are all here to watch this match?"

"Yes. Unofficial or not, this is your first Rating Game. We can't really miss something like that now, can we?" Zeoticus answered before continuing with an apologetic smile "I am sorry for how sudden this is and for not telling you, Rias, but Kevin insisted on letting him do it."

"They need the experiences to know how to deal with the unexpected, nothing more." Kratos answered as he shook hands with Zeoticus while his wife lowered his head to him.

"I could tell when you asked me to arrange the match." Zeoticus chuckled before continuing "The Phenex has already arrived. Raiser and his peerage will meet you now if you are ready for the final confrontation before your both leave for your bases."

"We are ready, father."

Rias said firmly, and followed her parents outside to see with Raiser and his peerage, who were waiting in the hall with the Lord of the Phenex devil household sending apologetic smile to Rias and her peerage when they saw her walking out before standing up with his wife to meet with Zeoticus and Venelana.

As Atreus stepped into the hall with his father, he could see that the Gremory and Phenex were not the only ones currently there. There were also Sona Sitri and her Queen, Tsubaki Shinra, standing in a corner with Serafall Leviathan, who was bouncing up and down, getting all excited for the match much to the displeasure of her sister. There were also devils that Atreus did not recognize, some appearing to be the organizers of the event, while others seemed to be devils from other households close to the two directly involved in the match.

The ones who stood out the most among them, meanwhile, were the two devils standing to the right of Sona and her peerage, due to one of them having a strong physical resemblance to both Rias and Sirzechs. The first being a beautiful girl with blonde hair tied in a ponytail and blue eyes. She wore a costume that is open in the chest area revealing her large breasts and cleavage and part of her stomach, the costume has a section cut off in her arms revealing her shoulders.

The second one, who resembled Rias and her brother, was a tall and handsome young man with short black hair, purple color eyes, and an extremely muscular build, which made him second only to Kratos among all the men in the room. Even as he just stood there, Atreus could see a strong fighting spirit radiating from him, something that was also noticed by Kratos, who could tell the young man was someone of indomitable will and great commitment.

"Yuuto, who is that?" Atreus leaned toward Kiba and asked him.

"That is Sairaorg Bael, senpai. He is the current heir of the Bael, and the strongest devil of our generation."

Kiba answered, making Atreus nod his head in understanding before the blond Knight hurriedly stepped up to stand with Rias and Akeno as they faced off against their opponents, who were led by Raiser Phenex. The third son of the Phenex devil household had a smug grin on his face as he looked at Rias and her servants with a superior attitude while purposely ignoring Atreus and the hulk of a man standing with him, acting as if the two did not exist.

"Good to see you, Rias. I must say though, you and your queen are downgrading yourself by wearing those tracksuits." He greeted Rias in a pleasant tone, but she was having none of it.

"You do realize that even if you defeat me here, which is highly unlikely, I will still not marry you, right?" The crimson haired young woman asked emotionlessly. "Our engagement is canceled; in case you have forgotten."

"Oh, I have not forgotten. However, it does not mean that I cannot continue pursuing it. I was promised a match to decide our future together." He then looked to Sirzechs and spoke to a confident tone "Now that Lucifer-sama is here, I will show to him and your family what the flame of the Phenex is capable of, and what they and the entire Devil Faction can benefit from it if they reaccept me as a member of the Gremory. I will show you and your peerage the difference between us and…"

Before Raiser could finish his speech, an overwhelming aura snuffed out his confidence and made him snap his head back to Rias to look at her with his eyes widening as wide as dinner plates, having a mild look of shock on his face when he realized how overwhelming her presence had gotten despite only standing there and glaring at him. Not just him, but his peerage, and every other devil in the room had also noticed it, the sudden change in the demeanors of Rias and her peerage, now that they were not facing their teacher and his son.

"Sairaorg-sama, this is…"

"Oh hell no… I think Raiser is in deep trouble." Sairaorg Bael muttered in barely contained excitement, having never seen anything like it before from his cousin and her peerage. When did she get this strong? "Is it…?"

Stopping himself, Sairaorg then glanced to the side and noticed the two men standing the most further back. He knew who they were, and what they were to his cousin, having been told about them beforehand by her parents. Still, a single glance at the ashen skinned man, who was observing the faceoff in silence, was enough for Sairaorg to know he was not someone he would want to trifle with and was the very reason why his cousin and her peerage felt the way they were now.

"Are you done, Raiser?" Rias then asked as she hardened her gaze at the Phenex, who could feel a sweat trickling down the side of his face "How about we cut the chit chat and just get to the part where my peerage and I smack your face in the same way my boyfriend did to you a few months ago?"

"Those are… some harsh words, even for how you normally talked to me when we were still engaged, Rias." Raiser said after he had managed to collect himself and gathered his courage "Fine then, if you want to be utterly destroyed and eat your own words that quickly, then I will be more than happy to have the pleasure."

With that said, he nodded his head to Sirzechs and Grayfia, who then stepped up to announce. "My name is Grayfia Lucifuge, a servant of the Gremory devil household, and Sirzechs Lucifer-sama. I have been charged with the honor of referring to the match between Raiser Phenex-sama and Rias Gremory-sama. After taking in the opinions of both families, we have decided that the battlefield will be the replica of Kuoh academy. The match will start as soon as you arrive at your respective strongholds. Rias-sama will have the old school building, while Riser-sama will hold at the new one. Promotions for Pawns will only be possible when they reach the other stronghold."

With that said, Grayfia raised her hands and activated the two magic circles on the sides of the room, making them shine brightly with the respective color of the two devil households. The relatives then began to gather to wish their children the best of luck, with the adults exchanging a few friendly words to one another before Raiser turned on his heels to start leaving, with Rias and her peerage not far behind toward their own magic circle.

"Good luck, Rias, everyone." Atreus called as Kratos nodded his head firmly to Rias and her peerage, making them smile at the father and son before they turned around and stepped into their magic circle to teleport away in a flash of crimson light.

"Best of luck to you, Raiser. Feels like you are going to need it now." Sairaorg called after Raiser and his peerage just before they were teleported away, chuckling a bit before following the Gremory as they made their way back to their spectating room, catching up to Atreus and offering him his hand.

"Sairaorg Bael, nice to meet you, Atreus."

"The pleasure is all mine." Atreus replied as he shook hands with Sairaorg, noticing that he had a strong grip "I was told you were Rias' cousin."

"And I was told you were her boyfriend." The black haired young man chuckled with a friendly grin before turning his head to look at Kratos, giving the ashen skinned man a slight bow of his head with a hint of respect for him "It's an honor to meet you, sir."

Kratos said nothing, but he gave the young man a nod of acknowledgement as he stepped into the spectating room and took his seat on the couch in the back with Atreus to watch the match on the massive screen that took up an entire section of the room. Once everyone else had settled comfortably in their seats, Grayfia gave the official announcement for the match to start.

At first, nothing happened, as the two peerages remained in their bases to strategy their attacks and defenses. Zeoticus and Sirzechs both tried to strike a conversation with Kratos, but the man was dead silent and looked so serious as he listened to Rias as she devised a plan to take the gymnasium with Akeno that neither crimson haired man wanted to disturb him, forcing them to turn to Atreus instead and talk to him in whispers.

Then, the Phenex made their first move, attacking the gymnasium in two pairs at the same time that Issei and Koneko arrived at the place and tried to look for an advantaged point, hoping to catch the two off guard.

"Heh, knew it!"

What they did not expect, however, was for Issei to exclaim with a wide smirk and unleash his dragon power in waves of red energy, sending them tumbling back before they could reach Koneko as every window with the facility shattered into million pieces.

"Let's do it, Koneko-chan!" Issei shouted and threw his gauntlet into the air, blinding his enemies with the bright light that was emitted from the green jewel on the back.

When the light died down, Issei, who was now donning his scale mail dragon armor, was already upon Xuelan, punching her with so much force that despite the fact that she had reacted in time to his attack, she was still sent crashing through the wall of the gymnasium and flying outside with a painful cry.

"Xuelan!" Ni and Li, the two cat girls in skimpy school girl uniforms cried out in shock, not realizing what just happened until they saw that Xuelan was no longer standing beside them.

"Wow, she is not out with that!?" Issei asked in surprise behind his dragon helmet, but smirked and then started boosting up his power as Xuelan began to slowly rise from the rubbles "Then I will need to kick things up a notch!"

"You will pay for that, perv!" Ni and Li cried out and jumped at Issei from behind, but Koneko instantly jumped between them and knocked them away with two powerful punches to their guts, sending them crashing into the amenities of the gymnasium.

Mira, who wielded a wooden staff and fought in a combination of martial art techniques, rushed at Issei and tried to attack him, but he simply grabbed her weapon while waving a finger in front of her face with his other hand before grabbing her head and slamming her down the floor, blowing up an entire section of the gymnasium and effectively eliminating her from the match.

[Raiser Phenex-sama's one Pawn retired!]

"It was just as Raiser-sama had expected, the Sekiryuutei will prove to be a problem."

Yubelluna murmured to herself as she floated above the gymnasium and prepared the spell to destroy the place, creating several magic circles bearing the crest of the Phenex devil household within them on the sky around her. Her master had ordered her to destroy the gymnasium and eliminate everyone and everything within it, and after she saw how fast Issei and Koneko were able to handle the four that he had chosen to sacrifice to bait the Gremory, she was even more set on the task that she had been given. Xuelan, Ni and Li would be a small price to pay for their master's victory.

"No matter, this should be…"

Before she could finish channeling up her spell, the loud rumbling of thunder sent Yubelluna to look up in alarm, having just enough time to launch herself out of the way just before a massive bolt of lightning struck the spot. Hearing a soft, amused giggle coming closer and closer to her, Yubelluna looked down and saw Akeno Himejima, wearing her shrine maiden outfit, walking on the ground toward her while arcs of lightning danced between her fingers.

"Ara, surely you have expected us to know that you will try to sacrifice your pieces to thin down our already small number of fighters. It is, after all, a sound strategy when you have a greater number than us."

With that said, Akeno raised her hand and casted another spell, but Yubelluna was fully prepared this time, summoning a barrier around her body to protect herself from the blast. She could still feel the force of it, however, and saw cracks appeared on the surface of the shield, realizing that the spell was a whole lot stronger than she had anticipated.

"So the famous Priestess of Thunder herself has also decided to join the battle early." Yubelluna said smugly as she lowered her shield down "Splendid, I have always wanted to…"

But Akeno did not let her finish her sentence. Lowering herself down, Akeno flared out her devil wings with the necklace she was wearing underneath her outfit forming into a set of silver armors with blade like motifs for them, surprising even her teammates as they had never seen her wearing them before and shot into the air at Yubelluna, catching her off guard with her speed and the sudden change in the way she had thought they would be fighting each other. Her shrine maiden outfit was also replaced with the black jumpsuit that she had worn earlier, allowing Akeno to freely move her legs as she kicked Yubelluna across her face.

With a cry, the Bomb Queen was sent crashing into the ground, landing with a heavy thud. Before Yubelluna could recover and use the vial of phoenix tear Raiser had given her to heal, Akeno called down a bolt of lightning that struck the metal blades of the armors covering her wings, using it to focus the energy into the palms of her hands as she held them in front of her chest and unleashed it as a powerful blast at Yubelluna, breaking through her magical defenses instantly and eliminating her from the match with a direct strike.

[Raiser Phenex-sama's Queen retired!]

"Aw, she went out with just that? And here I was hoping to have a bit of fun, oh well." Akeno stated with a pleasant smile as she touched down the area that was nothing but a giant crater and licked her ring finger, which was still cracking with mini arcs of lightning just like the armor of her wings. "Otou-sama is right, just as expected. I should always keep my expectation low, and…"

"…assume nothing." Atreus finished just as Akeno did before turning to his father to ask him "Father, when did you teach her that?"

"You would have known if you had stayed more focused, Atreus." Kratos answered simply without breaking his eyes from the screen, making Atreus roll his eyes at him.

Back on the battlefield, Issei and Koneko had finished taking control of the gymnasium, eliminating their opponents in a swift battle that could not be more one sided in the favor of the Gremory. With the building taken, the two knights of Rias Gremory freely entered the fight, crossing over the gymnasium to help Issei push forward their opponents' stronghold and gain the ability to promote. Them grouping up and coming at their base forced the Phenex to do the same, leaving the two peerages to end up facing off on the school yard just outside the new school building.

"You will go no further. We will take you down here." Karlamine spoke as she charged at Kiba with her sword and dagger, while her fellow knight Siris wielded her Zweihander into battle against Xenovia, who did not waste even a second to land a powerful, direct strike on the other blade, shattering it into pieces and knocking the opposing knight and her comrade back with a shockwave of holy power.

Seeing the clear opening, Kiba disappeared from sight at speed far surpassed that of theirs and slashed them, reappearing behind their back just a split second later with a look of absolute focus on his face. Before Karlamine and Siris could even fall onto their knees or catch themselves, Xenovia brought Durandal down and sent a wave of holy energy at the two, swallowing them whole and making their bodies seemingly disappear within it as they were eliminated from the match.

[Raiser Phenex-sama's 2 Knights has retired!]

"Good." Kratos praised Kiba and Xenovia for their decisiveness, while Atreus cheered for them in the manner similar to that of a passionate football fan witnessing the striker of the team he supported scoring a goal.

Behind them, Issei and Koneko, with the assistance from Gasper who took cover nearby to provide them support with his power, made swift and quick work of the remaining Pawns, who did not even stand a chance against Issei and his Balance Breaker with their combat styles, and being constantly slow and frozen by Gasper. Mihae, the only Bishop that could fight, was taken down right after by Akeno, who proved herself to be magically superior to her, breaking through her defense with a series of lightning strikes before eliminating her with a blast of lightning just like what she did to her Queen.

"Yeah! We won!" Issei cheered as he entered the new school building and immediately promoted himself to Queen, feeling his whole body surge with newfound power.

Ravel, who was standing nearby while being protected by Isabela, looked on nervously at the current Sekiryuutei, still finding it hard to believe that the entire peerage had been taken out that easily despite having foreseen this when she felt the overwhelming fighting spirit coming from just Rias alone.

"Not yet, Ise-kun." Kiba stepped up and hit the back of his head to snap Issei out of his glee. "Our plan to catch them off guard worked, but we still need to defeat their king, and you are getting distracted. Remember that master is watching us."

"Oh… right, hehe." Issei laughed nervously while scratching the back of his head and opened his mouth to speak something that would show his head was still in the game, but stopped and immediately launched himself of the way with Kiba and Xenovia when an intense wave of fire fell upon them from above, grabbing Koneko with him before she could be caught in it as she could move as fast as they could.

"Too slow…" Kratos spoke under his breath, but everyone in the room could hear it.

"Ah, there he is." Xenovia said as she pushed herself up using her holy blade, looking at Raiser as he flew down and landed before them with a look of pure rage on his face. The heat coming from his fiery wings were so intense that the ground around him caught fire, but Akeno immediately casted a defensive spell to protect herself and her comrades from it.

"Is that it, Raiser-sama?" She asked with a hint of mockery in her tone and unleashed a sudden burst of demonic power, generating an invisible force that blew away the heat and sent Raiser stumbling back a single step. "What will be your move now? Are you going to face us yourself? You are the only one who is left standing, unless of course… you intend to send your sister and her guard into battle."

"Shut your mouth, you filthy low class devil. Who do you think you are talking to in that tone?" Raiser asked Akeno angrily, making the amused smile on her face disappear as she hardened her gaze at him. "You think you have won after defeating my servants? None of you here have what it takes to beat me. I will show you why I am one of the pureblood devils, while you all are just our lowly servant."

To prove his points, Raiser unleashed his power at full force, causing his wings to stretch out even further, almost doubling in size and affecting even the two remaining members of his peerage. Akeno, however, stood her ground without fear, her devil wings flaring out as she casted a spell that caused lightning to erupt from the ground toward Raiser, who in turn threw a giant fireball to counter it. The two magical attack met in midair between them, negating each other and generating a large explosion that sent both groups back.

Before Raiser could make another attack, Issei had already dashed behind him with one fist rearing back and the boosters of his Scale Mail armor propelling him forward at full power. The moment that Raiser realized Issei was behind him and tried to dodge, the current Sekiryuutei punched him square in the face with all of his might, sending Raiser flying and crashing through the entire new school building, his body tumbling like a ragdoll as it smashed harshly through one classroom after another before coming to a sudden stop in midair.

It took Raiser a moment to comprehend the fact that he was not the one who had done it, but Gasper, who had his glowing eyes set on him nearby. Still, he was not completely frozen in time, as the crossdressing Dhampir was trading off a lot of power of his Sacred Gear for more control of its time controlling power just like he had been taught to do, allowing Raiser to struggle. Before he could not break free, Koneko had come at him and sent her knee into his face. A loud crunch resounded from his now shattered nose and skull as Koneko sent him sailing back.

Despite the fact that his skull healed up in a blink, the pain was still there, and it was intensified when Kiba attacked him, slashing him several times before he was forced to take off to avoid Xenovia, who came swinging at him with Durandal. Even in blind rage, Raiser knew better than to test how fast he could heal up being cut by that holy blade she was wielding.

He was caught completely off guard, however, by Kiba, who appeared behind him with his holy demonic sword in hand. With a slash that made him scream in pain, feeling his wound sizzling and burning by the holy attribute of the blade, Raiser fell down and crashed harshly into the ground. He would have suffered far worse, if Ravel had not thrown a fireball at Xenovia to stop her before she could reach him, and Isabela had not jumped in to tackle him out of the way before Kiba could land another hit.

"R-Raiser-sama, we… we lost. You need to…" But the girl could never finish her plea, as Raiser threw her off of him to flare out his wings and launched himself at Issei, his wound just finished healing to allow him to fight.

The two clashed violently across the whole battlefield as two streaks of red and yellow, generating shockwaves every time they met until Issei knocked some of his teeth out with a direct left hook to his face before throwing his fist into his guts, shattering his organs. With Ravel and Isabela being stopped and watched by Kiba and Koneko, the two remaining members of his peerage could not assist him anymore, and watched on helplessly as Issei continued with the assault, with each punch being a harsh reminder of the beating Atreus had given him a few months back.

As the Phenex stumbled back, stunned and shocked by the fact that the reincarnated, low class devil that he thought was the lowest of the lows was beating him in a straight up duel, said devil grabbed him and ran forward, holding him in front as he charged through the trees just left to the running track with a battle cry, smashing him through them before throwing him into the gymnasium.

For a brief moment, Raiser laid there on the floor, groaning out his agony to the world. He did not have the chance to do so for too long. With his eyes widening in shock and realization when he heard the sound of thunder, the blond only had just enough time to react purely on instinct with his arms shooting up to shield his face when a devastatingly powerful bolt of lightning burst through the roof and struck him along with the entire building, blowing it up with Akeno hovering in the air above.

Large chunks of tile and concrete within a giant crater were all that were left once the explosion ended, and Raiser could be seen crawling out a moment later, albeit very slowly without half of his torso and his right leg. His healing factor had already kicked in and started healing him, regrowing his limbs and stitching up his wounds, but anyone could see that it was doing so at a much, much slower rate than normal, showcasing that he was at his limit.

How were some low class devils so powerful? How could they do so much damage to him with just those feeble attacks? Was it the holy power of that blade Kiba Yuuto was wielding that had weakened his healing factor? There were so many questions racing through his mind in that moment, but the pain was too great and Raiser was too exhausted for his mind to come up with a reasonable answer and accept it.

He felt humiliated.

"Give up, Raiser." Hearing that voice, Raiser looked up and widened his eyes when he saw Rias walking toward him with being accompanied by her other Bishop, Asia, who then rushed to check to see if anyone was injured. "I will give you one chance, just one chance to resign from this match now and stop embarrassing yourself and your servants."

"GAHHHH!" Raiser let out a scream of pure rage as he threw himself at Rias, whose had a stern look on her face that he could not accept, interpreting it as her looking down on him. "You… fucking… bitch…"

But to his shock, Rias just sighed and stopped him with a harsh slap across his face, one that could be felt across the entire artificial dimension not by the strength behind it, but by how easily it had landed. Before he could even recover from the shock, Rias had shot her hand out, palm facing forward, and unleashed a tremendous, condensed wave of black and crimson demonic power unlike anything those who knew her had ever seen directly at Raiser the moment that he snapped his head back, shaking the battlefield with a force akin to an earthquake and annihilating half of his face and the entire area behind him.

Raiser, who felt slowly onto his back, could see the destruction that Rias had caused with his remaining eye. When he glanced back at Rias while she stood over him with her arms crossing over her chest, and saw the amount of demonic power radiating from her body as her hair and the pebbles on the ground around them started to float, Raiser knew that even at his full strength, he would not be able to defeat her. In that moment, fear and terror swallowed him whole, and he knew that he had lost… Whatever words he tried to say, the insults that he wanted to make to protect his ego while his face slowly grew back, his healing factor exhausting what little stamina that he had left, died in his throat along with his pride.

[It seems Raiser Phenex-sama can no longer fight. The winner of this game is Rias Gremory-sama and her peerage!]

That night, while his son remained in the Underworld with Rias and her peerage to participate in a party that her parents had organized to celebrate their daughter and her servants' first rating game victory, Kratos returned home after declining their offer to stay and celebrate with them. They had a lot to talk about with all the mistakes that they had made during the match, but for the time being Kratos had decided that he would let them enjoy their victory.

"Ah, you look great, brother." Mimir praised when he saw Kratos walking down the staircase in a full suit, the same suit that he had worn to the Class Observance Day but without the red tie. "How about trimming that beard a bit more, eh?"

As he had expected, Kratos only grunted at him in response before heading out without saying a single word to his trusted advisor and brother, leaving the head to laugh humorously to himself before turning back to watch his favorite tv drama until either he or his son returned with Akeno.

"Sir, you look like you are going on a date! Would you like to buy some flowers for the lady?"

Declining the offer with a simple gesture of his hand, Kratos walked past the flower shop and reached into his pocket to take out a business card to make sure that he was still going in the right direction, eventually arriving at a hotel that appeared to be secretly, but heavily guarded. Doublechecking the address to see that he was at the right place, since it did not exist until a few days ago, Kratos then entered the hotel, but he was immediately stopped by two men wearing black suits, as they walked up to him and grabbed his arms to stop him from advancing further into the building.

Kratos did not flinch, nor did he try to shrug them off. They were just men doing their jobs, and he respected that.

"Hey, what are you two doing!? Release him at once." Before Kratos could tell them his intention, he was beaten by a familiar face, the fox youkai Mina, who Kratos still remembered to be the one who had greeted him and the Yoshioka construction group when they arrived in Kyoto, as she appeared and rushed to them to berate the two guards, making them let go of Kratos while looking confused. "This man is Kevin-sama. He is the one who fought valiantly to help Yasaka-sama and save your princess during the incident in the capital a few months ago."

"Wh… We are very sorry, Kevin-sama. We did not recognize you." The guards spoke as they repeatedly bowed their heads to him, their attitude completely changed but Kratos simply held up a hand to tell them to stop while adjusting the cuffs of his jacket.

"Please follow me this way, Kevin-sama. Yasaka-sama has been expecting you." Mina said and led Kratos to the elevator, waiting for him to enter to reach inside and swipe the card over the scanner, pressing the topmost button before stepping back and bowing her head deeply to the ashen skinned man, who nodded his head to her before the door closed.

When the door reopened, Kratos stepped out of the elevator and walked through a short but cozy hallway to reach the one single door near the end, being escorted there by one of the men and women guarding the place, who pressed the doorbell for him before bowing and returning to his post.

Kratos did not have to wait long, and the person who opened the door a moment later and revealed herself to him was none other than the woman who had invited him over for dinner, the nine tailed fox youkai leader of the Kyoto Youkai Faction, Yasaka.

"Good evening, Kevin-san." The woman greeted him with a soft smile, before glancing down and gasping softly in surprise. It was then that Kratos realized he was holding a bunch of flowers, which had magically appeared there in his hand right at the moment that Yasaka opened the door. "Ara, is that for me? You should not have. It's just a simple dinner to show you my gratitude, you know?"

As Yasaka took the flowers from him and skipped into the house to admire it, the soft smile on her face blooming into one so radiant the flower themselves seemed to pale in comparison, Kratos successfully held back the urge to roll his eyes, but still failed to stop himself from letting out a grunt of displeasure that he had not made since the day a certain witch in the wood asked him to go fetch for her some Lamb's crest. He knew exactly who had put those flowers in his hand, and he did not feel surprised as he thought he should have.

Yasaka, meanwhile, was enjoying the flowers so much that she did not notice him grunting, her two fox ears twitching in happiness before she thanked him with a beaming smile.

"These flowers are so beautiful. Thank you, Kevin-san. Please don't just stand there. Come in."

With that said, Yasaka stepped to the side and allowed Kratos to enter her lodging, which he did looking as calm and collected as he had ever been, something that made the fox woman laugh softly while trying to hide it behind her hand, making him ask.

"What?"

"Nothing." Yasaka shook her head and spoke in a playful tone, making Kratos grumble in response before asking after checking there was no one else in the hallway but her guards "Atreus-kun is not coming with you?"

"My son is… busy." He answered, knowing that it was not his place to tell Yasaka, the leader of another faction, about an event that was supposed to be a private affair of the Devil Faction.

"Aw, that is too bad. Kunou has been really looking forward to showing him her collection." Yasaka told him with a soft, amused laugh.

"Atreus… also has a collection."

"Of fox toys?"

"Of books."

"Right. Your son does strike me as someone who reads." Yasaka said while smiling in amusement at the ashen skinned man "You know, I almost had a feeling that you would not come."

"I accepted your invitation, woman. I am only keeping my words, nothing more." Kratos explained. This was also one of the reasons he did not accept the invitation to stay and celebrate with Rias and her peerage with his son, beside the fact that he was never a man of parties.

"Whatever you say, tough guy. Anyway, I hope you like Japanese cuisine, Kevin-san." She then said, changing the subject to break the silence between the two of them. "I am an expert, so get ready to be blown away."

Kratos did not know if he could get blown away again after eating the Japanese delicacies that Akeno had been serving him, with Rias coming in a close second.

But Yasaka's welcomed to surprise him.

End of chapter 25

Note: And that is the end of this chapter folks! The next update for this story, and a long one at that too! I think this is one of the longest chapters for this story that I have written, and not to mention a pretty fun one to write.

After much thought and consideration, I have decided to take Grayfia off the harem. Even though I did mention that Grayfia is single in this AU story and is not Sirzechs' wife (yet some readers keep asking why she is paired with Atreus when she is), I could not see any direction to go for Grayfia with someone like Atreus. Ravel and Gabriel is now confirmed to be in his harem, and I think this will be the official harem unless some developments over the future chapters make me change my mind.

Do you enjoy the little moment of Kratos and Yasaka in this chapter? I hope that I did not make Kratos behave uncharacteristically when he met her. The match between Rias and Raiser with their peerages are something of a twist from the one that happened in canon, to showcase the result of their training with Kratos and Atreus, with some of their influences could be seen in Rias and her servants' fighting styles. Keep in mind that while they train with Kratos and Atreus, they are also being advised and helped by Aphrodite, a goddess, so don't feel so surprised that the caster/magic users like Rias and Akeno are much stronger and more skilled than they were at this point in canon.

And that will be all for the time being. As always, leave behind a REVIEW once you have finished reading! Last chapter could not get as many reviews as I have wished it to, but it's okay. I did leave it on hiatus for a long time after all before updating. Hopefully this one can do better, so please, give me a lot of nice reviews and feedbacks to inspire me to write faster and better, okay?

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See you in the next update everyone!