On paper, our odds were good against Milcom Amon. We have six combatants while he only has four.

There was just one problem – He fought against Riser Phenex's full peerage of 16 and won. With that in mind, it seems that the odds are all but stacked against us.

There's also the fact that I know that two of them are going to be really hard to crack. Enrico only has to get one solid hit to cripple any of us for the rest of the game. Not to mention my new Secret Technique is likely our sole bet against Hagane's nigh-inpenetrable armor.

"Well, if you're going to insist on taking on Milcom Amon, then at least take these," said Riser.

He handed each of us a small vial filled with scarlet liquid.

"These are Phoenix Tears. While these obviously won't do any good against Enrico's Null Ripper, these will otherwise heal any injuries you sustain during the fight."

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Rias stated, "but thank you, Riser."

"Not that I'm complaining," I commented, "but if you were so keen on marrying Rias Gremory, why are you helping us defeat him and save your sister if that means you will call of the engagement?"

"My dear Ravel's safety is more important than family politics," he replied. "And besides, I want Milcom Amon to learn the cost of humiliating the house of Phenex!"

After Riser teleported out, Rias said to me, "Makoto. can I perform an enchantment on you for a second?"

"Sure,"

She held out her arm and we both began to glow. I felt a massive surge in adrenaline.

"I gave you a temporary Queen aspect. Masters of a peerage have access to this for when they need a sub for a Rating Game."

"Woah."

She then began to lay out our battle plan.

"Milcom has taken control of the main schoolhouse. His Queen is likely positioned so that we will have to get through him to make it inside.

I'm splitting you into two groups. I want Yuuto and Aika to go out the front. Makoto, you go with Koneko and take the back exit. Splitting up into groups gives us the best chance of isolating the other two servants and taking them 2-on-1."

I glanced at Koneko. She was visibly pouting at the thought of having to tag along with me.

"Once one of you defeats the Queen, I will go in with Asia to help take the King."

And so there I was, going into battle with Yuuto Kiba.

To think of the doujinshi ideas this will generate – the school prince side-by-side with a so-called lowly otaku like myself…

"Are you alright, Aika?" Yuuto asked me, "You look a bit off…"

What are you doing, Aika!? Get your head out of the gutter!

"I'm fine. Just a little lost in thought."

"I know. This could be one of the toughest fights yet."

Not exactly what I was thinking of, but points for trying.

We went out the front door of the club building.

From a way's off, we already saw Enrico lounging around on the roof of the main school building like he owned the place (which he didn't).

Only a few minutes in and the Queen guarding the King's location is already in our sights.

However, there was another servant we would have to get through before we could get a chance at the Queen.

Next to Enrico on the roof was a man with long black hair tied up in a ponytail who looked like some modern samurai.

He leapt from the roof so far that when he landed, he was right in front of us.

"My name is Jin Kamado. Knight of the house of Amon."

"I guess if we're doing introductions, then I am Yuuto Kiba. Knight of Rias Gremory."

"Aika Kiryuu – The Pawn," I replied.

"It's a pleasure to meet you two, especially a fellow Knight such as myself."

Upon closer inspection, he had an intimidating katana attached to his waist.

What was more intimidating, especially now that he just unsheathed it, was its fuchsia-colored hue.

What kind of curse does this servant wield?

I put my hand over my ear so I can send a message.

"President?"

"Yes?" she replied.

"Permission to promote to Rook?"

"Permission granted."

I was now promoted to the Rook class. That should help me counteract the Knight's speed.

"Prepare yourselves!"

As he said that, Yuuto raised his sword to defend against Jin's first move. I, likewise, raised by deflector shield.

He took charge and made a wide swing to attack both of us.

My shield is clearly in the way of his blow. And he seems to be attacking with great force.

This fight should be over quickly. With the Rook piece I can more easily absorb a blow like that and easily redirect it right back at him for massive damage.

But that's not what happened.

It ignored both my shield and Yuuto's sword and he we were both struck by his cursed blade.

"You're lucky I hit you two with the blunt end of my blade. Despite this Game being through quite unofficial channels, my master insisted on no casualties.

My blade passes through all forms of defense. However, most of my opponents, such as yourself, will only realize this until it is too late. I'm sorry I couldn't pose much of a challenge."

Lucky for us, we still had our Phoenix tears. Yuuto used his shortly after hitting the ground and I quickly followed suit.

It seemed to work, as the wounds Jin inflicted quickly vanished after I used it.

"Hmm. I should have expected the House of Phenex to meddle in this battle."

"If I can't block your attacks," Yuuto said, "Then I will just have to evade them!"

Koneko and I went out through the back exit.

"Before you say anything," I said to her. "I finally decided to start calling Rias President earlier, but she shut me down immediately."

"Of course she did, with the way you two are."

"Are you jealous, Koneko?"

"Absolutely not…Idiot."

I noticed that the lights were on in the gymnasium, so we made our move towards there.

We then found out that Hagane was already inside.

"Oh! It's Makoto!" she said.

She's acting awfully giddy for someone as tough as her.

"I'm terribly sorry for the manner in which we met," she stated, clasping her hands together. "Lord Milcom was insistent that I retrieve your Bishop from you."

"Cut the chatter and let's get this over with," Koneko insisted.

"Oh, right. Sorry."

Hagane transformed into her armor and Koneko charged straight at her, hitting Hagane with vicious blows that didn't seem to phase her at all.

She responded with a single punch that knocked Koneko all the way back to the end of the gym.

I was close behind Koneko, trying to use her as cover to get within range of Hagane and mark her for my Secret Technique. However, Koneko was launched right into me and I was blown back with her.

The impact of Koneko's body hitting me hit way harder than a girl her size would suggest.

I ended up hitting the wall with Koneko in my lap.

She blushed, "Don't get any ideas…" she said as she was getting up to make another charge at Hagane.

"I wouldn't dream of it…"

Since blocking was out of the question, Yuuto had to rely on his speed to avoid taking another hit.

However, he was quite fast, too. Not to mention, unlike us, he had the ability to block.

Both of them were way too fast for me to even make a move on.

I sent another message to the President. "Permission to Promote to Knight?"

"Affirmative."

As I sent that message and changed my aspect, Yuuto and Jin were fighting on.

"You're quite fast," Yuuto said to Jin, pulling out a second sword. "But not for long."

One of his swords was suddenly covered in frost and he stuck the ground in front of him.

After he did that, Jin was rendered immobile as his feet were stuck in ice.

As Jin used his sword to slash through the ice surrounding his feet, Yuuto charged, using one of his swords set aflame to cut through the ice so he could get to Jin

Jin reacted fast. His sword phased through the sword that Yuuto was trying to jab him with and he was managed to get another hit at his torso.

But not before Yuuto managed to also connect a hit! Apparently, he was using an electricity sword to stun Jin.

Now's my chance!

While he was stunned, with my increased speed I ambushed him with a kick to the back, sending him flying right through the door of the club building.

I walked up to where the doors were unhinged. Jin seemed to be grasping his left arm.

"Seems like you managed to break my dominant arm. I guess that's it for me."

Yuuto came up to us. "The most you did with that last attack was ruin my uniform and cut me a little."

"You caught me by surprise with the clever use of Sword Birth along with the sudden ambush from the Pawn. I'm impressed. You're certainly worthy of the title of Knight.

Now if you'll excuse me. I have to return to Lord Milcom to recover."

"I have to go to our Bishop to get healed myself. We should spar some other time."

"I'm sure of it."

I managed to activate my Power of Retribution and I fired an attack at Hagane.

As usual, it did absolutely nothing to her.

"Sorry to remind you. But your Holy magic does nothing to my armor."

However, the attack was merely a smokescreen for Koneko to come and deliver a massive punch on the chest area of Hagane's armor that managed to cause it to start cracking.

"But a good old-fashioned beatdown might do the trick," Koneko replied.

I might not need to bust out my Secret Technique after all. Koneko keeps on surprising me with just how powerful she is.

However, Hagane suddenly countered with an equally massive punch to her head, knocking Koneko back several feet. I yelled out her name in shock.

"Oh my God!" Hagane exclaimed, practically blushing through her armor. "I meant to aim lower!"

I rushed to Koneko's aid. It looks like she got the lights knocked out of her. An attack like that would have killed someone less bulky than a Rook, but she seemed to have escaped with merely a bloodied forehead.

I reached into her skirt pocket and grabbed her Phoenix Tear, administering it through her mouth.

That attack really fired me up. I charged right at Hagane, narrowly dodging one of her powerful punches.

I tapped on the cracked portion of her armor with my Dividing Gear.

"DIVIDE!"

I got hit in the stomach with another punch for my troubles. She seemed to deliberately miss my ribs to compensate for the injury she accidentally dealt to Koneko.

Though, even with her power divided, a punch in the gut is still a punch in the gut.

"I would give up now. I don't believe you have anything that can deal with my armor."

"Well, I believe I do have one thing," I said, getting up from that punch to the gut. "But it's largely untested."

I raised my right arm with the Dividing Gear on it and called out my attack:

"ARMOR BREAK!"

*Snap!*

It was working! The crack suddenly turned blue and expanded until the armor shattered.

It worked!... Too well.

"Oh shit!" I exclaimed as I quickly took off my uniform coat.

Unfortunately, the technique also destroyed her clothes, leaving only her skivvies.

"I'm so sorry!" I said to her as I used my coat to cover her up. "It was an accident."

"I-It's fine," she replied. "Thank you."

"Makoto, you pervert."

Looks like Koneko has recovered.

"My Armor Break technique malfunctioned!" I explained. "It wasn't supposed to go through her clothes!"

There was a very awkward silence as we began our trek out the door.

However, Koneko broke the silence to say,

"Thank you… for saving me. I can see why the President takes a liking to you."

"… You're welcome…"

As we went out the door, we were greeted by Rias, Asia, and Aika.

"I see you managed to defeat the Rook as well?" Rias asked.

"More or less…"

"We only have the Queen left on the roof of the schoolhouse," she explained. "Any thoughts on taking him down?"

"I have an idea," I replied. "I'm going in alone."

"You can't be serious," Koneko said. "What are you going to do? Strip his clothes too?"

"We are not speaking of that again," I told Koneko. I continued with Rias, "It will require luck and perfect timing. But I promised Akeno I will take him on for her. However…

Asia. Aika. I will need your help…"

I began to execute my attack plan.

I began to fly up to the roof of the main schoolhouse, charging straight at Enrico. The Queen aspect seems to be doing its job, as I was quick enough to dodge several of his Null Ripper shots that he fired at me from afar off.

My first step was to weaken his power. As he was charging for another attack, I managed to get within range of him and I punched him with my Dividing Gear.

"DIVIDE!"

I felt my magical prowess growing even stronger. I knew my Power of Retribution would be able to settle this in one blow.

He began charging up his attack again.

I reached into my pocket with my left arm and with my right, I was about to fire off my Power of Retribution at Enrico.

But he got a hit on me! Interrupting my attack before I could reach grab what I needed from my pocket.

Strangely, he appeared to aim all his shots at my left arm.

The shot knocked me down from the upper roof and I was hurled onto one of the roof of one of the lower wings of the school building.

"Somehow I knew you were going to reach for that vial of Phoenix Tears that Lord Riser gave to you," he said. "You would purposely let yourself get hit so you could position yourself to make a finishing blow on me while simultaneously using the vial to heal your injuries once I am incapacitated."

Damn. He knew.

My arm was in immense pain. It's weird. I'm so used to being able to heal off my injuries that this is a new sensation for me despite receiving worse injuries from Freed and Raynare.

"Your knack for getting yourself in precarious situations will catch up with you one day…"

Fortunately for me, today wasn't going to be that day like Enrico seemed to imply.

"Promotion: Queen!"

Aika and Asia finally made it through the door to the rooftop. As I instructed, they went in through a back entrance while I distracted Enrico. If I couldn't defeat him, Aika was my backup plan.

"Aika!" I exclaimed

"TRANSFER!"

I transferred the divided power I accumulated to Aika.

"Thanks, Makoto!"

Asia rushed to assist me. Enrico tried to take this opportunity to take her out but Aika blocked his shots, allowing Asia to reach me.

"He got me. There isn't anything you can do unless Aika can defeat him."

"No matter what happens, I'm staying by your side."

Aika managed to knock Enrico back against one of the roof decorations with a counterattack.

He charged up again, visibly frustrated even from down here.

He fired in vain, and was rewarded with the attack being reflected right back at him a second time.

With the Queen promotion, she not only had the bulk to withstand his assault, but also the magic power to return it!

Once he was launched off the roof, Asia's attempts to heal my arm were finally working.

"She won!" Asia said.

"Now all that's left is for Rias to check the King," I replied.

Me and Asia met up with her at the main entrance of the school.

"Milcom is most likely in the Headmaster's Office. Follow me."

However, as we were going through the lobby, a flash of green light suddenly appeared as a summoning circle appeared.

"That isn't House of Amon!" Rias exclaimed.

"You two go on ahead!" I told her. "I'll deal with this guy!"

Rias and Asia went on without me, but the devil who teleported in grabbed ahold of Asia.

It was Diodora Astaroth!

As Rias stopped, I told her "Finish the Game! This is my fight!"

She nodded and went ahead.

"I'm not letting Lord Milcom's agreement prevent me from claiming what's rightfully mine!" Diodora exclaimed.

"And who said Asia is yours to claim!?"

I was suspicious of him before, but now, Diodora crossed the line. It's on!