"Oh! Nice to finally see you here!"

The long-haired servant greeted me as I, Luther, entered the room.

"Is that the new guy?" the purple-haired servant asked who was lounging on the couch.

"Yes, Enrico!" he said. "Get up for five seconds and greet him!"

"Don't wanna," Enrico said, refusing to even avert his gaze from the TV. "And besides, I'm above you in the pecking order – can't boss me around."

"Goodness. Even when not fighting, he refuses to move a muscle," he commented. "I'm Jin Kamado, Lord Milcom's Knight. That lazy bum is his Queen, Enrico Stark. I assume you're Luther, the new Bishop?"

I nodded.

"So you got repoed after that Diodora freak got himself arrested and Lord Milcom got you?" Enrico asked as he was messing with his cell phone.

"Well, that's one way of putting it…"

"Hang on, you're not betting on that upcoming rating game between Lady Rias and Lord Sairaorg are you?" Jin asked Enrico as he glanced at the TV and Enrico's messages.

"Minor bet just for fun between me and another Queen. He thinks Sairaorg will win. However, if Rias' group was able to kick my ass, Sairaorg should be no problem."

"You seem pretty confident," I remarked.

"Only way I could be more if I were to somehow rig the game…"

Volume 6: A Game-Breaking Plot

"Be careful now, keep that up and what you'll end up catching is my heart?"

Serafall and I were in a café reviewing the script for an upcoming episode of her show.

"It's cute, right?" she asked.

"It's only been a couple episodes. Isn't it a bit early for our characters to start flirting?"

"It's subtle!" Serafall insisted. "Obviously I'm saving the spicier stuff for later."

"How can you get less subtle that 'catching my heart?' That's pretty on the nose, don't you think?"

As we were in the middle of discussion, three girls suddenly approached us carrying posters of the show.

"Excuse me, Levia-tan, can we get your autograph?" one of them gleefully asked.

"Sure thing~!" she replied, signing "Levia-tan~" on each of them with a bright pink pen she conjured up.

"Thank you!" she said and dashed off. But the other two weren't done.

"U-Um… Would you sign ours two, Makkun?" one of them asked.

"For the record, it's Makoto Fujiwara, but sure…"

I used the pen I was using to mark up the script to sign their posters with my full name and they ran off as well.

"Looks like you're beginning to build up fangirls, Makkun!" Serafall commented.

"Beginning?"

Rias and Sairaorg approaching as we were talking.

"People are enjoying your role in the show, Makoto," she said. "I'm glad!"

"Yeah. I've been enjoying it myself… even though I'm not quite the target demographic." Sairaorg commented.

"That's awesome!" Serafall replied. "Broadening the target audience is always a win!"

"So how are the preparations for the Rating Game between you two?" I asked them.

"Going smoothly. Thanks for asking!" Rias replied. "I was hoping you would join us with the training at some point."

"But I'm not part of the game," I replied.

"Maybe not this game, but you will likely be participating in future games once you complete your set."

"I wouldn't pass on a chance to improve," Sairaorg reminded me.

I nodded.

"But to answer your question, my servants having been doing well preparing on their own," Sairaorg continued.

"What about you?" I asked.

Sairaorg was silent…

"His mother, Lady Misla, has been in a coma for quite some time now," Rias explained. "She had been inflicted by some sort of strange sleep disease."

"The doctors had been saying that they don't know how much longer they can keep her on life support. It had been slowing her deterioration, but she had been still getting gradually weaker," he commented. "I hadn't been able to train much lately because of this."

"Oh no! Lady Misla's actually dying?" Serafall exclaimed. "That's terrible!"

"I had sent Asia and Kuroka earlier to try and use their abilities to find a cure," said Rias. "We are heading down to the Sitris' hospital to see if they were able to wake her."

"Now all we can do is hope and pray they are successful," I commented.

"But we can't even do that!" Serafall replied. "Devils are hurt if they try to pray to God!"

"Shit, you're right. We gotta look into that," I said. "For now, I guess the only thing we have left is hope then."

The three of us rode in a limo to the Sitri territory. It had very pretty forests and greenery. Rias had brought flowers for Lady Misla and carried them while we rode.

"Mother wanted me to bring this to her," Rias explained.

"Yeah, I almost forgot. Sairaorg's mother is your Aunt, isn't she?"

"Almost," she replied. "Mother was born to one of Lord Bael's mistresses, while Lady Misla was born to his Head Wife."

"Which makes what happened to her even more unfair. No offense to Aunt Venelana," Sairaorg said.

"No, she should have, at least, received the same level of respect as Mother," Rias replied.

"The last thing I remember her telling me before she fell into that coma was to continue to become strong even if I lack our family's demonic power," he said. "Those words were all that kept me motivated to challenge my brother for me and my mother's honor."

Sairaorg had told me earlier that they had been shunned by the family because he didn't receive the same Power of Destruction that Venelana passed on to Rias and Sirzechs. Her dying as such would certainly be a grave injustice.

We arrived at the Hospital as Asia and Kuroka were walking out.

"Were you two able to wake her?" Rias asked.

"No luck, nya," Kuroka said as Asia shook her head sorrowfully.

"It's horrible…" Asia said to us as tears began to well up. I hugged her and pat her head.

Sairarorg bowed his head dejectedly before holding up a finger in epiphany.

"Makoto. You were able to cure those servants from Diodora's curse, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Maybe you might be able to do the same thing for my mother."

"His technique also used senjutsu, nya, and I had no luck curing your mom," Kuroka commented. "I don't see how he could pull it off."

"An angel's senjutsu with his holy affinity might be different enough from youkai senjutsu for it to be worth a shot," Rias said.

I nodded.

The butler who chauffeured us escorted me in. He led me to a room labeled "Misla Bael."

I walked in. Indeed, she was hooked up to a high-tech life support system and more asleep than Kuroka was on that train. her hair was much like Venelana's but her skin was much paler, definitely owing to the nebulous disease she was afflicted with.

"This is Lord Sairaorg's mother, Lady Misla," the butler explained. "Please try the best you can."

I nodded and began to use my senjutsu.

…

I continued using it for quite some time. I was intensifying my aura in a cold sweat as nothing seemed to be happening.

"Come on… This may be her last chance!" I nervously muttered as I further intensified.

Eventually, I nearly collapsed from power fatigue. Thankfully Asia was right behind me to catch my fall.

"No luck either?" Asia asked.

I sighed heavily and shook my head.

She returned the favor from earlier and I chuckled as she hugged me. "Thanks, Asia."

After over half an hour – No – more like 45 minutes of trying to heal her, Asia and I walked out of the hospital into an outdoor waiting area.

"I see it didn't work?" Sairaorg commented.

"Not yet anyway." I said, "I'm only a novice at this, so any advantage my holy affinity had just wasn't good enough. I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize, Makoto," Rias said. "You did the best you could."

"This isn't going to deter you during the Rating Game, is it?" I asked Sairaorg.

"Not in the slightest!" he replied with newfound confidence. "So don't hold back on my account, Rias Gremory!"

Rias chuckled. "I had no intention to."

Later that afternoon, Rias and Sairaorg's teams were going to have a joint press conference at a high-class restaurant located in the Gremory territory in preparation for the game.

A couple hours before that, however, Rias took me to a nearby gym. She asked Grayfia to tag along.

"I was wanting to get a chance to spar with you before the game," she said to me. "No Sacred Gear, just my Power of Destruction versus your Power of Retribution."

"Really?" I replied as we went onto the Basketball court. "Wouldn't that non-equivalent to fighting Sairaorg, though?"

"I just wanted to see how your power compares to mine."

"Seems a bit lopsided, but okay."

Grayfia had placed barriers around us for our protection. Makes sense since it would be bad if we got injured right before the Press Conference, much less the game itself. Though, I doubt I would be able to bruise up Rias even without them.

The two of us stood around the three-point line of either side of the court. Grayfia stood on the center, extended her arm, and blew the whistle.

Immediately, Rias gathered up energy and prepared to release it.

Damn, she's quick. I began gathering up my power shortly after. However, just as I was ready to release it, she had already sent her attack hurdling at me. All I could do was attempt to protect against the attack with mine.

However, my own energy did very little as it took the hit and I was still thrown to the ground by the attack.

I winced in pain as Grayfia rushed to my aid. "Are you okay, Makoto?"

"Yeah…" I said as I slowly got up. "I hesitated, that's all."

"You don't have to worry about harming Lady Rias. I know for a fact these barriers will withstand even Lord Sirzechs' attacks."

"Oh, I'm not worried about my power harming her. Not with the sheer power gap between us."

"Your closer than you think," Rias assured. "Remember last time I coached you and you struggled to even use your power? Look at yourself now! You got much more in you than you think."

"Well, we'll have to see once I stop hesitating," I said. "I'm not too keen on potentially hurting a pretty girl like yourself."

"I told you before. No mercy!"

Grayfia blew the whistle once again and this time, I immediately began gathering energy about the same time as Rias.

She charged it up faster and released before me, but I fired my attack not long after, firing just to the right of her projectile to make sure they don't just collide in midair.

However, the curve and large burst of her attack made it so the attack ended up colliding in a flash of sparks anyway. Grayfia appeared to be taken slightly off guard as the resulting bang happened around the middle of the court.

She very quickly followed up with another attack. I decided to gather energy individually in both my hands. Before her attack landed, I decided to fire a curveball attack at Rias with one hand and used the other to block her incoming burst.

I was still knocked back quite a bit by the attack but apparently Rias was also caught off guard by mine and was also knocked back slightly.

"Wow! Not bad!" she said. "Not bad at all!"

I exhaled. "I have to catch my breath for a second, but you weren't even breaking a sweat!"

"Oh, you had me breaking a sweat, alright. That was a pretty good move," she said as she approached me. "I'd say we are getting close to even!"

"We are?"

"There was something I wanted to do for a while now. More than this matchup against Sairaorg," she said. "Once you gathered all your pieces and fully mastered your abilities, I want to challenge you to a Rating Game."

"Me?"

"Yes. You. Just to give you a chance to prove how far you have come."

"Wait… Does that make me…"

"After fighting side-by-side for quite some time, I'm just curious to see how we match up in the end," Rias replied. "In fact, I have more reason to worry about a power gap since you also have your Sacred Gear and Balance Breaker and are nowhere near plateauing. I don't know how much more I can go from here…"

"It's okay, Rias. I believe in you," I said, giving a thumbs up. "You'll beat Sairaorg for sure!"

Rias suddenly hugged me. "You are too kind, Makoto!"

"We need to head back to the site to prepare for the Press Conference," Grayfia interjected.

Rias nodded and we made our way out.

As we headed to the changing rooms on the top floor of the building, we ran into someone familiar.

"Oh hey, Makoto, Rias-senpai!" Saji exclaimed. "Fancy meeting you two here. You look in an awfully good mood."

"Surprised to see you here too," I replied. "I guess Sona brought the Student Council to watch us?"

A blonde-haired woman with glasses covering her scarlet eyes approached us. "Sona is facing me in a Rating Game the same day," she corrected abruptly.

Rias introduced her, "This is one of my old friends, Seekvaira Agares, current heir to the House of Agares."

"Seekvaira Agares… I think I've heard that name before…" I muttered.

"Shouldn't you be with your master, young man?" Seekvaira interrogated Saji.

"O- Of course. The Class President would murder me if I weren't!" He nervously chuckled and scuttled off.

I shook my head. "Good grief," before I snapped my fingers as I remembered.

"That's it! I think I remember a user by the name SeekAgares on the old mecha forums!"

Seekvaira's eyes widened and her glasses glistened, "What was your name again?"

"Makoto Fujiwara. I believe I was username Fuji0510."

"You're Fuji0510!?" Seekvaira exclaimed. "Gosh, that brings back memories!"

Me mentioning the mecha forums definitely flipped a switch. She went from as cold as Sona is to geeking out in a manner of seconds.

She then mellowed out to a slight smile. "Our turn with the Press is coming up. We should catch up sometime!"

I waved as she walked off. Rias chuckled. "So, I suppose we are both her childhood friend. We are equals in more ways than one."

"IRL friends and old internet friends are two completely different things…"

Still. Yet another high-ranking devil to add to the list of women with some sort of affection for me. Good grief. The list never ends.

I looked around for a few minutes before following the crowd to where Sona and Seekvaira were having their Press Conference.

I stood in the back of the crowd watching them. The respective Kings took most of the questions. Tsubaki and Seekvaira's own Queen took a couple, but the rest mostly stood there nervously, particularly on Sona's side. Saji appeared to open his mouth a few times but always got interrupted by Sona or Tsubaki.

It's super odd seeing how intimidated most of them were right after seeing Seekvaira's fangirlish side and after seeing Sona's smug side and especially her anywhere-near-Serafall side.

The Press Conference was over relatively quickly. All of Sona's servants left the premises and Seekvaira appeared to motion to her Queen to lead her servants out as she moved to where I was.

"So… Long time no see, apparently…" she stated in her typical stoic manner as they removed the old signs and put up new "Sairaorg Bael vs. Rias Gremory" signs.

"Apparently," I said. "How did you get into mecha, anyway?" I asked. I remember private messaging her on the forum and I don't think I ever got a straight answer. She seems so intimidating in person, but I just found out she was an old buddy from my mecha forums phase.

"I told you before. My dad got me into it." She must remember more than I do about the forum. "He suggested trying watching mecha anime to take my mind off the stress of being the heir to his title of archduke. From then on I got super into figures and Gunpla."

"Hmm. Interesting," I took a sip of water that was available nearby.

"Remember when you proposed to me over the forum's private message that long time ago?"

I immediately spit out my water… which got the attention of several press members.

"How the hell did you remember that? Because I sure didn't."

"You asked if I would be willing to marry me. I said it wouldn't be possible for reasons you probably now know. You lived in Japan and I was here in the Underworld. Not to mention, I was a high-ranking devil and I thought you were a human. We didn't message much after that…"

"Good grief," I wiped my face. "I think that was Mom's idea. When she somehow found out that this user was a girl and we were getting pretty close, she suggested I be 'honest with my feelings' or something along those lines."

"Hmm…" she said. "I think we're better as friends, anyways."

She glared daggers at the Press. "Take that story to the tabloids and you're dead."

The lot of them freaked out. "Y-Yes, ma'am!" one of them exclaimed.

"Agares Heiress in Secret Relationship with Angel!?" – That is one headline I don't know if I would be interested in seeing.

Shortly after, Rias and Sairaorgs' peerages each took their seats and the Press Conference began.

The host outlined the format of the game and each King got a chance to comment.

"I'm looking forward to this matchup," Sairaorg said. "I don't intend to hesitate. That is all."

"I would like to second Sairaorg," Rias commented. "He may be the #1 contender, but I intend to win regardless."

That got some "ooh"s from the audience.

The Q&A was next

First Question:

"Makoto Fujiwara – do you intend to use Armor Break at any point during the match?"

Rias sighed and Akeno giggled uncontrollably.

"What's Armor Break?" Seekvaira asked me.

"Something we don't talk about…"

"Hey!" I called out. "As you can see, I am way back here… I'm not actually part of Rias' team and won't be playing."

"But if you were," the same reporter asked. "Would you use it at some poi-"

"No."

"Please keep the questions directed to the Gremory and Baal peerages. Thank you!" the Host chided.

"Thank you very much," Rias replied, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Akeno, I would like to ask you a question," another reporter next to the last one asked

"Yes?"

"Has your relationship with Makoto lead to him using Armor Break on you?"

Oh, for Pete's sake…

Akeno giggled. "No… Not yet anyway…"

Rias became flush red.

"I know I have a particular counter-measure to Armor Break…" Sairaorg commented.

You're not helping.

"Keep the questions on-topic please!" the host said yet again.

"Thank you!" Rias exclaimed.

After that, the questions were relatively normal, literally thank God!

Well, between the whole "confessing to Agares" gaffe and that whole fixation on Armor Break everyone had, I do not look forward to seeing the papers tomorrow.

Today was friggin' stressful, so I took a breather in the sauna before bed.

Somebody then opened the door and tossed a bottle of chilled champagne my way that I narrowly catched.

"I think you may be needing this…" Rias told me. "I picked that up on the way out."

She was wrapped in a towel. I said before that was still dangerous, but I could care less right now.

"I don't really drink, but thank you…"

"Eh. It's the thought that counts…" she said. "I can't believe they were so fixated on that stupid technique."

"Tell me about it."

She began pouring out the drink into a glass she brought in. "You have so many cool techniques that are far more powerful and all they care about is the funny strip attack."

"It was supposed to break armor!"

She took a sip. "I'm just glad I can talk to you and vent."

"Thanks… I changed my mind. Let me try that drink."

"Here," she passed the glass to me.

"Y'know, this would be extremely awkward if we weren't this chill with each other, or if I was stuck calling you-"

I then heard a loud banging noise

"President!"

I turned next to me. Rias collapsed on the floor!

"Rias! Are you alright!?"

I sniffed the glass. It had a strange scent. Almost like… poison!

I was sweating profusely… and not just because of the sauna.

"Somebody help!"

Grayfia quickly came in and got us out of there.

Both of us were changed into night robes and she was sent to bed. Doctors were quickly sent in to assess the situation. Asia joined them.

I was pacing the floor of the Living Room.

"It's okay, Makoto. It wasn't your fault." Akeno assured me.

"That's not it. Why would someone want to poison Rias?"

"You didn't ingest any of the champagne, did you?" Yuuto asked.

"THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME, ALRIGHT!?" I yelled out.

I was tearing up and clearly hyperventilating. Koneko escorted me to a chair. "The President is going to be okay…"

"I'm sorry… No, I didn't drink any of the champagne."

"You are a kind person, Makoto. Don't be hard on yourself," Akeno said, sitting next to me. "I'm already furious at whoever did this to Rias. I don't know what I would do if they hurt you too…"

Asia and Grayfia entered the room. Asia gravitated towards me and hugged me tighter than ever.

"I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Lady Rias is fine. With Asia's help, she's finally awake but very weak." Grayfia commented. "Thanks to you, Makoto, she only ingested a very miniscule amount of the poison. It's not life-threatening but she will be sick for a few days."

Yuma handed me a handkerchief and I wiped my eyes. "Thanks…"

Sairaorg entered the room. "I heard the news and got here as fast as I could. I'm so sorry."

I had slowly breathed in and out several times. "She's going to be alright, but we may need to postpone or cancel the game."

"I have another idea," Sairaorg said. "Maybe you can sub for Rias."

"Come again?"

"Someone's obviously trying to stop this game from happening. But I won't let that happen. I want a matchup at full strength. Makoto Fujiwara, if Rias hasn't regained her strength, will you take her place and take me on with her peerage?"