I, Rias Gremory, stared blankly at the display screen in our box as Akeno's holy lightning was redirected by the opposing Queen. That flash of light!
"Akeno…" I dejectedly exclaimed, with my hand on my chest, beginning to tear up. "How?"
"I get you, President. How did that happen?" Xenovia commented, confused.
"She hasn't lost yet!" Irina said, her fists up and clenched, with a determined look on her face. "I didn't hear no bell!"
Lady Serafall then entered the room suddenly with a sigh of both disappointment and exhaustion, but for a different reason. "No sign of anything suspicious. I asked pretty much everyone."
"Everyone…?" Xenovia asked suspiciously.
"Well, everyone except maybe the camera crew," Serafall replied. "but I would have to interrupt the game for that!"
"Well, that's good!" Rossweisse exclaimed. "That means we are not gonna be-"
We then heard something from the display. A familiar giggle.
"Did you think I would let Makoto lose all that sleep over you for nothing?"
"She escaped the attack!" Irina exclaimed. "I told you!" I was speechless.
With a sudden strike, Sairaorg's Queen was retired.
"Makoto's victory is assured now!" Irina exclaimed.
"Not necessarily," I said. "They will still have to get through Sairaorg himself to win."
Even after Lady Serafall gave an all-clear for now. I still fear Sairaorg may not be Makoto's biggest opponent tonight…
Even though we had three against one on the battlefield, that one had a value of 12. We merely have 11. We will have to smartly utilize the sum of our strengths to our advantage.
This round took place on an island in the middle of a lake. Sairaorg took his place at the top of a hill, solidifying the high ground he already has. Rahab, Koneko, and even Kuroka were below him, and not just in a literal sense, all four knew it.
"Round 5 begins… now!"
Just as the arbiter said "now," Kuroka charged straight at Sairaorg, firing a full blast of senjutsu much stronger than Koneko's.
Nevertheless, it hardly phased Sairaorg. And his speed proved superior as well as he effortlessly dodged her close-range assault.
He chuckled, "You're fast!" before countering with a punch right in her stomach "But not fast enough!" launching Kuroka into the drink.
"Sister!" Koneko exclaimed as she saw the all-too-familiar sparkling from the water.
"It can't be!" Aika said. "Kuroka lost that quickly?! She was our trump card!"
Akeno and I chuckled.
Golden marks then appeared on his arms, "Though, to your credit, you were fast enough to delay me from releasing the bonds limiting me. Let this be a testament to your resolve!" he said as these marks shattered and fell to the ground.
He did all that while using a limiter the entire time! This is gonna be tougher than I thought…
"I'll show you fast!" Rahab exclaimed as she charged at him in the ensuing dust cloud. She swiped at him, and, through the cover, he was merely able to escape with a graze on the cheek.
"Now that's what I would expect from a Knight!" he said, as his own touki flared up, probably not from senjutsu, but from sheer fighting spirit. "However, can Arondight withstand my blows?!"
Koneko answered his question by flaring up her touki in nekomata mode and intercepting him, blocking his fist with both of hers. The sheer force of Sairaorg's punch, however, knocked her back, launching her on the ground.
"Excellent combination of bulk and speed!" Sairaorg continued complementing his opponents as he charged at Koneko with both bulk and speed, giving her and Rahab little breathing room.
Rahab charged at him. Sairaorg's arms were so tough and so refined from his training that he was able to use the edge of his hands as if they were blades themselves; being able to parry the blunt ends of Arondight with them!
He then swiftly dodged her next swing, countering with a flurry of punches to her stomach finishing with a blow that left her sword and body flying, coughing up blood. The shockwave for the final blow resulted in a shock wave that launched Koneko away as well.
"Rias Gremory's Knight – RETIRED!"
"Wait a minute…" Aika chimed in. "The arbiter just called out Rahab. What happened to Kuroka?"
Her question was immediately answered as Koneko was bracing herself with Sairaorg about to swiftly retire her next before he was suddenly knocked back on his rear by a powerful mix of senjutsu in one hand and some other magic in her other hand.
"I see with your fighting spirit, you can manipulate your ki as well, nya…" Kuroka said, dripping from having just emerged from the lake. "But only us youkai can use youjutsu like that attack and these illusions!"
She then multiplied throughout the battlefield and Koneko quickly followed suit.
"That's how she faked her retirement," I explained. "She used the power of her youki to make it look like she was beaten. And it looks like she's been teaching Koneko some of that too from the looks of it, or rather all five copies of her."
Sairarog's eyes dotted around him and he narrowly dodged furious senjutsu blasts from both parties. He furiously swung in vain as the Konekos and Kurokas he struck vanished in thin air.
But just as he appeared to be beaten, he took a deep breath and noticed the combined attack that the real two of them were about to unleash on him!
He found them right as Koneko and Kuroka's full-power senjutsu and youjutsu blasts respectively launched towards him. He crossed his arms, focusing his touki as he took it straight on, he then released his arms as the attack scattered and with his right arm sent the two of them flying with one concussive punch.
As the two of them landed on the ground, all three of them were breathing heavily.
"Thank you… big sis…" Koneko said.
"No… Thank you… little sis Shirone…"
Sairaorg exhaled. "All three of you deserve my gratitude" he said. "That was an excellent warmup for the main event!"
"Rias Gremory's Rook and Bishop: Retired."
That round was a decisive loss, bringing us from a numbers advantage to leaving us with only Akeno, Aika, and myself, but the combined efforts of Rahab, Koneko, and Kuroka looked like they significantly softened Sairaorg up.
However, Sairaorg viewed that as a mere warmup. I should still keep my guard up.
"I apologize, Sairaorg," I said as I went up to the center. "They convinced me to lay out this first round."
Sairaorg chuckled, still catching his breath from the climax of the previous round. "No need. If it means you can fight me on even grounds, that is fine with me."
Speaking of even. We both rolled a 4. "The total is 8!" Arbiter Rosenkreutz announced.
I scoffed. "We're gonna need a 12 for us to even have a chance to fight again, though."
"I need a chance to catch my breath, anyway. I suppose that's why they got the repeat rule."
"Oh, right…"
I went back to my side.
"You got this, Aika!" I said, giving her a handshake, among other things.
She chuckled. "Are you sure I'm going to be getting revenge on the Rook for Yuuto-kun with the and not the Pawn?"
"He seems to be saving that Pawn to the bitter end," I observed. "Plus, he just had to use the Phoenix Tear to heal him, so he will probably bring him back out at the next best opportunity."
"Hmm. You got a point," she said as she walked up to the circle.
"Hey, Aika," I interrupted her. "We are aware of your feelings for Yuuto, but don't make this too personal, alright? He would want you to keep a clear head."
She nodded. "I figured as much."
He stepped onto the magic circle as the battlefield resembled an ancient colosseum.
As I suspected, Aika's opponent was the Rook that defeated Hagane and Yuuto.
"Round 6 is about to go underway! On Sairaorg's side: his Rook Ladora Bune returns to the battlefield! And facing him is Rias Gremory's Pawn Aika Kiryuu!"
Cheers erupted from both sides.
Aika smirked as she approached Bune. "You're lucky Makoto reminded me not to make this personal. I will be avenging Yuuto this round."
"And I, in turn, will be fighting to repay Lord Sairaorg for using his Phoenix Tear for my sake." Bune replied.
She raised her Downfall Dragon Spear. "Fair enough… BALANCE BREAK!"
The two of them transformed; Bune into his dragon form and Aika into her Downfall Dragon Another Armor.
"This is Dragon versus Dragon!" Aika declared.
"So be it!" Bune replied.
"Promotion! Rook!" Aika is going all-in on strength. She is going to need it.
Aika immediately leaps at Bune, but is met with a massive strike from Bune's dragon fist. The armor's shield stops it from hitting Aika, but not without serious knockback.
She gets back up, sprouting dragon wings from her armor. "Promotion! Knight!" Getting immediately hit by Bune meant she needed the speed advantage. She flew out to flank Bune, intentionally going at the side where his arm had been injured and was likely still recovering strength.
She got in a flurry of punches, exclaiming "Promotion! Rook!" to get one final punch to knock him back several feet, but he quickly regained composure to whip her with his tail, launching her into the stands of the colloseum!
Among a host of shocked gasps, her helmet on her armor was breaking off, so she discarded it entirely.
"You talked quite a bit of smack earlier," Bune taunted. "Unless you plan on beating me by taking hits, you don't appear to be backing it up!"
Aika weakly chuckled. "I will back it up, don't you worry. Someone very foolish once said something very similar!"
Bune immediately began gathering his dragon breath and unleashed it at Aika.
Will the plan work? The same plan I had tried to use before when fighting Milcom?
As he dissipated his breath, a large chunk of the colosseum was reduced to rubble and ash and Aika was left without her Balance Breaker, lying face down on the ground.
"Is… Is Rias Gremory's Pawn dead?" broadcaster Gamigin exclaimed. "Did the medical team not get her in time?"
I stared blankly at the screen. I thought one of my first friends through middle school had suffered a brutal death…
For a brief second.
Aika discarded the Phoenix Tear to the side, her heavy breathing being drowned out by the cheers from our side.
"SHE IS STILL IN IT! She used up the Phoenix Tear to soak up all the damage! Kiryuu still seems weakened, but she seems to have enough energy to make one last play!"
"WHAT?!" Bune could only exclaim.
Aika raised her Downfall Dragon Spear and weakly said. "I know I really should wait until Sairaorg is retired to say this but… Checkmate…"
A massive blast came from her artificial Sacred Gear, launching Bune into the other side of the colosseum, crumbling the entire half. She herself collapsed on her back, laughing hysterically as both of them began to vanish in blue light.
"Sairaorg Bael's Rook, Rias Gremory's Pawn – RETIRED!"
Both sides cheered, but ours were certainly the fiercest.
It was down to the wire. Two on both side. Sairaorg and his Pawn, and me and Akeno.
I walked up to the center determined. Sairaorg and I picked up the dice and as we were about to drop, I commented, "At this point we're gonna need at least 9 to even play."
He retracted his hand from the bowl, "You're right. And this game is going to be inevitably decided in 1 or 2 more rounds."
"I would prefer it be 1," I said, and pointed at his cheek. "That cut you received from Arondight must be painful for a devil like you. Without a Phoenix Tear to heal the wound, that is probably eating at your strength to the point fighting you two rounds from now may hardly be a challenge."
Sairaorg chuckled. "Ha! You are too considerate of your opponent. Besides, the only burning this scratch is causing is merely feeding the fire of my fighting spirit! It can afford to wait one more round… However…"
He then turned to face one of the cameras.
"Why should we confine our matchup to the rules of some game?!" Sairaorg declared. "I propose one last match between the last two members of each team!"
Cheers and clamor overwhelmed the stadium. "Wow! That declaration from Sairaorg! He proposed a two-on-two brawl between the remaining members of each team!"
"I second that proposition!" I exclaimed.
Each team is evenly matched at this point. My team is 9 and 9 equalling 18, and Sairaorg's side was 12 and 7 equalling 19. The next round would have inevitably been against Akeno and the Pawn if we didn't get 12 again, so this proposition to just combine each side in one last round made sense to keep the crowd on their toes.
"It is it, then! The final round is an all-out brawl between Sairaorg Bael with his Pawn Regulus versus Makoto Fujiwara and his Queen Akeno Himejima!"
The final round was on a bright desert plain under the starry night sky, unperturbed by clouds, lit by a massive moon.
"This battle is not only a fight against the peerages of the young devils of Bael and Gremory, but it just so happens to be a devil versus angel fight with both of Rias' combatants!"
"Rias Gremory, if you are listening, your love for your familia is to be acknowledged," Sairaorg said. "It is a great strength, much like your love for Akeno is making this two-on-two fight with you and her even more exciting, Makoto Fujiwara!"
"Your love for the underdogs and your own fighting spirit in the previous round also inspired me, Sairaorg," I said. "My own touki will not hold back."
"You must be prepared to kill then," Sairaorg replied. "Looks like you made good on your promise from the first round."
"I hope it does not come to it. But don't be surprised if you start knocking on that door!"
"The seventh and final round begins now!"
Immediately, both of our touki flared up. I transformed into my Balance Breaker and sent a blast before Sairaorg.
I quickly noticed the Pawn, Regulus, a red-headed young boy who couldn't have been older than me, had removed the lion mask he was wearing and his body quickly began morphing.
Akeno giggled. "I won't give you the pleasure, young man!" and sent a furious series of holy thunder strikes. However, the golden beast the emerged from the lightning was…
"Regulus Nemea!" I said as I charged at Sairaorg, having to think on my toes as I had to dodge not only his charges, but also Akeno's own lightning attacks as she began fighting with Regulus around the battlefield. "You managed to control a Longinus Sacred Gear too! The Nemean Lion!"
"Yes! We have both rescued a Longinus from the clutches of the Goddess of Death!" Sairaorg explained as we continued our fierce sparring.
"She wanted control of his power like the Spear and Staff, but Regulus would not cooperate and, just like the Axe he took the form of originally, he went rogue and, as fate would have it, came under my protection!"
So that explains why he never came out early in these games. He was rogue and, if Halja couldn't control him, he needed Sairaorg's full strength by his side to keep his power in check.
What was resulting from this matchup was an elaborate dance of his furious might versus our furious magic. While the plain had no natural walls on its own, mine and Akeno's attacks coordinated each side and each other's energy.
Under the cover of one of Akeno's attacks on Regulus, I managed to sneak behind Sairaorg and get in a punch of my own!
"DIVIDE! DIVIDE! DIVIDE!"
However, as Sairaorg was launched several feet, Regulus also managed to close on Akeno and swipe at her, gashing her right arm!
"AKENO!" I exclaimed, as I opened my helmet and reached out to her, using a combination of holy magic and senjutsu from both hands to begin healing the wound.
The decisive hit from both sides put a defined pause in the seemingly non-stop action.
"My, my…" Akeno replied, as she grabbed onto her bloodied arm. "You didn't have to worry about me so much. I could have defeated him with one arm."
"That's what I admire about you, Makoto." Sairaorg said. "You just put the whole game on the line to make sure your girlfriend was safe."
"Lord Sairaorg! You need to wear me!" Regulus then exclaimed, still in his lion state. "We will only surpass the White Dragon Emperor if you use my power!"
Wait. Is there a way that he can get even stronger with Regulus?
Nevertheless, "Silence!" Sairaorg rebuked him, followed with a loaded pause. "I swore that I would only use that power if there was a genuine crisis. Until then, I will fight Makoto with my own strength! Learn something from his honor he demonstrated just now by protecting Rias' Queen!"
"But you are losing strength by the second between the White Dragon's power and the holy sword injury, while Makoto and Akeno are only getting stronger!"
"Regulus has a point," I said. "You and me, Sairaorg. We need to settle this in one final stroke while the night's still young."
"Hmm. Agreed," Sairaorg replied. "Prepare yourself, Makoto Fujiwara!"
It was like a samurai standoff, we were about to decide the entire game that felt like two years in the making that was, in a reality, a couple weeks. I raised my right arm at him.
I then heard a familiar buzzing sound and yellow light.
It was from one of the cameramen, surrounding himself with Enrico Stark's Null Ripper projectiles. But his appearance wasn't Enrico's, it was… the cameraman from the social!
I was about to then turn to him to stop him, but by then, the energy bullets had tore through the armor on my right arm!
After the flash of light that seemed to be the end, the screens went to static!
"President, what happened?!" Irina said to me.
"I don't know…" I replied.
Gamigin then came back on. "Um… We had some technical difficulties, but… I'm getting word that… Sairaorg… won?"
Jeers erupted from both sides, even Sairaorg's fans.
"Makoto…" Asia muttered, tears dripping from her eyes. Xenovia then patted her head.
"I'm going up there to have a word with Diehauser," she reassured Asia.
"Xenovia. What are you doing?" Irina asked.
"I just said. I'm gonna have a word with Diehauser," Xenovia insisted. "This seems fishy, does it? It ending that quickly?"
I nodded. "I will go to the infirmary to confirm if Makoto made it there safely. If not, I need to find a way to get onto that battlefield."
"But Rias, are you still recovering from the illness?" Rossweisse asked me.
"I'm recovered enough," I insisted. "Makoto's life may be on the line."
"Okay. I'll work with security to find the perpetrator of this incident," she replied.
Asia followed me out while Irina and Xenovia went in the opposite direction.
Asia and I made it up to the infirmary, where we were greeted by Ravel and Hagane, who appeared to have just ran into each other themselves.
"Oh wow!" Ravel said to Hagane. "You have gotten really tan!"
"Getting hit with dragon fire in a suit of armor will do that to you…"
"It looks good on you, though!"
"I nearly got heat stroke from that, so I wouldn't recommend it."
Ravel then noticed us. "Oh, President! Asia! What are you doing here?"
"Did Makoto arrive here?" I asked.
"Oh!" Hagane said. "That incident. It is weird. The announcer said Sairaorg won, but I haven't seen him here yet."
"I don't believe it," Ravel said. "Makoto doesn't go down that easily."
"Lady Rias!" A doctor approached me. "Great to see you here. These two made a quick recovery and the others are resting in good condition. How can I help you?"
"Is there a way I can get onto the battlefield?" I requested.
"I'm sorry, Lady Rias. That is very much against Rating Game regulations," he said. "We can obviously teleport combatants off the battlefield, but we are not allowed to send anyone onto it."
"But someone has already broken those regulations and Makoto's life may be in danger!" Asia replied.
"I will take full responsibility for any repercussions as a result of my actions," I replied. "I need to ensure my friend's safety."
He sighed. "Right this way. I know a place we can form a circle for emergencies." We followed him.
"Thank you very much," I replied. "I will make this worth your while."
Meanwhile, Xenovia and I rushed up to the press box. A security guard stopped up on the way up.
"Sorry. Spectators are not allowed up here," he said.
"I am Xenovia Quarta and this is Irina Shidou, Makoto's two Knights," she said. "We need to speak with Gamigin and Diehauser."
"We need to make sure our master is alright!" I insisted.
He nodded and pointed up the stairwell. "Right up this way. Take care of your business quickly, for your master's sake."
We ran up to the press box where we were greeted by Diehauser and a very confused Gamigin and Rosenkreutz.
And by greeted, Diehauser told us, "What are you two doing here? Spectators aren't allowed up here."
"You were the one who fixed the Rating Game, didn't you?!" Xenovia accused him.
"What makes me think you weren't the ones who did it?" he retorted, "coming up here this suddenly."
We both drew our Holy Swords. "Whatever it is, we want answers as to what happened to Makoto!" I exclaimed.
He then reached out his hand and our swords felt heavy in our hands.
"Worthless," he explained as his eyes glowed red. "That is my family's ability. I know about your holy swords' abilities to make them completely useless against me."
Xenovia then dropped her sword and tried to sucker punch him, but repeatedly blocked multiple jabs. "You're wasting your time," he said. "Didn't you think a champion like me would be proficient in hand-to-hand combat against pranksters like you and Rahab?"
He was then pinned to the wall by several spears of ice.
"Lady Leviathan," he greeted the attacker.
"Didn't you think you could comprehend my abilities, Belial?" Serafall confronted him.
"No one can," he replied. "To answer your accusation, someone managed to hijack the stadium's entire system and infiltrated security. He hired audience members to hold the crowd hostage to rig the game in the favor that his organization collectively bid for. We managed to hold this perpetrator off until just now."
"But why?" I asked. "Why do something so petty as rig a Rating Game against Makoto for gambling?"
"It wasn't just for the money, though he did tempt me with a fair chunk of the pool," Diehauser replied, as Serafall melted all the spears away into steam. "The primary objective was to kill Rias Gremory."
The security guard rushed back up. "Sir. We've arrested several audience members with the help of Rossweisse! They were concealing weapons and explosives and had a very suspicious bidding history."
"Perfect. We now need to get the screens back up and running to see if we can expose who just did this thing," Diehauser replied. "I will begin deploying the backup drone cameras."
"Rosenkreutz. Is there any chance Makoto can pull out a victory?" I asked.
"I never made the call. The perpetrator coerced Gamigin into making that announcement." the arbiter replied. "If he, as the King for Rias' team, is still healthy. I might consider."
"Alright!" Serafall exclaimed. "Gamigin! Is it okay if I take over announcements? You look a bit shocked."
Gamigin definitely looked startled by that. "Uh… Sure! Go ahead!" he nervously chuckled.
I was in pain on the ground, with my bloodied arm making me feel faint.
The culprit landed on the ground and removed his cap.
"It was you all along… Korgull Naberius!" Sairaorg exclaimed.
"Yes. It is no coincidence someone tried to kill you in front of me," Korgull replied.
"Makes sense, considering your family did those unethical experiments on Rias' two nekomata friends." Sairaorg said.
Korgull scoffed. "You people always call our genius 'unethical.' I am continuing my father's legacy by researching powerful abilities for the Khaos Brigade! Enrico would not be happy I nicked his healing immunity schtick, but it was necessary to disable your buddy Makoto so Lady Halja can finish him off."
Akeno rushed to me. "It's okay, dear. I'll get you out of here," she then desperately called out. "Makoto is injured! He needs to get to the infirmary!"
"Do not bother," Korgull said. "I disabled the Rating Game's retirement system. I managed to get a very useful ability with this camera called Worthless from Diehauser's traitor of a sister… right before we had her killed for snooping into affairs she should not have."
Akeno then retaliated at him, shooting a massive burst of lightning at him, but it was sucked into a black hole and launched back at her!
He knows any and all abilities he captured with that camera. If that means what I think it means, even Sairaorg will have trouble.
But then we got a very familiar voice that I saw on the jumbotron in the distance.
"All right! We are back on the air! But, oh no! Makkun is hurt and Akeno isn't doing so hot either! Could this strange man have anything to do with it?"
Korgull grimaced. "Leviathan, you meddler!"
"Yep! That has to be the one!"
Regulus, still in his golden lion form, charged at Korgull, but Korgull, in response, transformed and punched the lion back!
And that transformation, to confirm my suspicion, was my own Balance Breaker!
"That fraudster! He stole Makkun's White Dragon Emperor transformation!"
"I want to thank you for letting me take a picture of your Sacred Gear," he said to me. "If you are still conscious that is."
Akeno, barely able to sit up after the counterattack, grabbed my uninjured arm and told me, "Hang on, Makoto…"
"Attacking my friend Makoto is one thing," Sairaorg declared. "but sullying my battle with him and making a mockery of the great White Dragon Emperor is unforgiveable!"
He then charged at Korgull, who narrowly blocked his punch and countered with one just as ferocious, knocking Sairaorg back!
"I handed you victory on a platter by taking the King for you," Korgull replied. "I effectively retired him and this is how you repay me?!"
"Yo Korgull!"
He was then knocked back himself by a flash of white energy!
"I didn't hear no bell!" I exclaimed, being held up with Asia's help, bringing the entire stadium in a roar of cheers.
She had suddenly appeared in a magic circle and brought Akeno and I back up. My right arm was still injured on account of the Null Ripper, but with Asia's help, she got me back up and I attacked him with the Power of Retribution on my remaining right.
"Impossible!" He exclaimed. "The injuries to your right arm disabled your Sacred Gear! How are you still this strong!"
"You can steal my ability, Korgull, but you can't steal my spirit!"
Irina then took over the mic. "Everyone give it for the White Dragon Emperor!"
The cheers heightened.
Enraged by the fans' support, Korgull charged at me but, a flash of red light appeared on the battlefield, and the red hair gave away who it was immediately, followed by the flash of red energy from the Power of Destruction that blasted Korgull back once more.
"Amazing! Rias Gremory has made a surprise appearance in the game! And you all thought she wouldn't show up!" Xenovia exclaimed.
She turned to me and smiled. "You did well, Makoto. I will take over from here."
"It's both Kings against you, Korgull," Sairaorg told him. "Concede this game of yours!"
"You are both weakened!" Korgull reminded them. "I personally sent that poisoned drink to be delivered to you, Gremory, and you, Sairaorg, have been battered by a holy sword and Dividing Gear!"
"We'll see!" Sairaorg exclaimed. "Regulus! Now's the time!"
"We're doing it?" Regulus replied.
"We're doing it!"
Regulus vanished in a burst of energy that began merging with Sairaorg.
"My lion! King of Nemea! You who bears the title of King of Lions! Heed my cry and lend me your being!"
Together, they finished the chant. "BALANCE BREAK!"
Sairaorg was then clad in golden armor, with the face of a lion on his chest and its mane flowing as long hair.
"Regulus Rey Leather Rex!" Sairaorg declared. "It's a shame I will have to use it against a fraud such as yourself before sparring against Makoto with it, but your dishonor against our grand competition has pushed me to this limit!"
Korgull scoffed. "I will show you who is the fraud!" He charged at Sairaorg, but Sairarg effortlessly caught his fist and launched Korgull across the battlefield.
Rias then added fuel to the fire by launching a volley of energy from her Power of Destruction.
He got up to narrowly dodge two projectiles from Rias but the next one knocked him right back down for his troubles.
By then, Sairaorg had caught back up with Korgull and gave him a swift uppercut shattering his helmet, making him hack up blood, and launching him what seemed to be miles into the air.
Rias and I then jointly attacked him with our respective Powers, though she had two hands to do it, and the two attacks clashed on him, shattering the armor completely!
His fall made a crater on the ground, and suddenly he was surrounded by security guards accompanied by Rossweisse. Two others teleported in through a purple circle.
"Ha! That's what you get for stealing my exclusive ability!" Enrico taunted him.
"So, you double-cross me like you double-crossed your father, Milcom?" Korgull jeered.
"You will appreciate it in time…" Milcom replied.
"Hey! I need to incapacitate him so Asia can heal Makoto's arm!" Sairaorg protested.
"You can't if you tried!" Korgull taunted. "I upgraded that ability like I did with Conjured Armor so you're gonna have to let it heal naturally even if you TKO me!"
I scoffed, still having to be held up by Asia, whom I then turned to. "Thank you. You did the best you could."
"You did very well, Makoto." Asia congratulated me.
Akeno giggled. "Even if they say we didn't win. I consider that a win."
Regulus separated from Sairaorg as the lion on his chest was shedding tears as Regulus was. "That was the best fight of my life…"
"Yep," Sairaorg said, wiping the blood off his forehead. "It sure was. Both sparring with Makoto and then curb-stomping that fake White Dragon Wannabe with ya."
"Well…" Gamigin resumed his announcements "After these turbulent events, we have concluded that the victor of this Rating Game is… Sairaorg Bael…"
Silence filled the arena as it sounded like he may not be done.
"… and Rias Gremory!"
The cheers were deafening. The tournament was interrupted by a third combatant and both combatants put aside their differences to defeat him.
No other reasonable conclusion could have been made, all three of us were the winners today and they were celebrating us.
Everyone else finished recovering in the stadium's infirmary, but they quickly shipped me off to the hospital at the Sitri territory to perform surgery on the injuries on my arm, as well as to better protect me from anyone else who was targeting me at the stadium.
I woke up shortly after the operation to find my right arm was still wrapped up. It still couldn't be healed.
Sona walked in. "You doing well, Makoto?"
"As well as I can," I replied.
"I'm sorry about your arm. They tried several treatments, but it is as we feared." Sona said. "We were able to treat it, so the pain is mostly kept at bay."
"Thank you, Sona." I said to her.
"I definitely need it more than he does…" Albion finally chimed in woozily.
"Glad to see you're safe, dragon." Sona replied.
"Unfortunately, you won't be able to use my powers until you fully recover naturally," Albion reminded me. "However, I suppose that will not stop you, will it?"
"I know until then, my friends will cover for me," I told Albion before turning to Sona. "So, how did your game go?"
"We managed to get a victory. It was a flag battle."
"Hmm. So like capture-the-flag?" I replied.
"Yeah. It was like that," Sona replied. "During our training for it, Saji actually managed to achieve a new form."
"Oh, really? What was it? A Balance Breaker?" I asked.
She chuckled. "I can't tell you, because you may be subbing with Rias' team again sometime before we spar."
"Oh, right, makes sense." I chuckled as well.
"I will say he still needs to learn to control it."
"Don't be afraid to help him, Sona." I chimed in. "He will definitely appreciate that."
She nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, Makoto."
I then heard Akeno's giggling. "My, my. The Class President is meddling, I see?"
Sona abruptly adjusted her glasses. "Not… really…" she stammered. "I'd best be off, Makoto. See ya."
After she shuffled off, I said. "If you weren't paying attention just then, I was trying to nudge her to getting hooked up with Saji."
Akeno giggled. "I kid. Though, trying to beat her in that type of game is tough."
"Heh. It's worth a play at."
I walked out to the front, with my right arm now in a sling.
"I see you're out and about?" Sairaorg asked me.
"Yep. How are all your sponsors and other related nonsense reacting to that weird outcome with us both winning?"
"Surprisingly well. We had them convinced we all won. It was super close even without the interloper. In fact, they want to do some cross-promotions with all three of us after that explosive finale. The crowd really liked it."
"Well, that isn't something I would like to repeat any time soon…" I said, gesturing with my injured arm.
"Well, at the very least, I want to fight with you again some time... when you're fully recovered, of course. Maybe you can up your Balance Breaker a bit and compete with my form with Regulus."
"I am counting on it." I fist bumped him with my left hand right as someone rushed out.
"Lord Sairaorg! She's awake!"
He immediately turned around and his eyes widened. "You serious?"
"Lady Misla is awake!"
We all rushed in to find Misla sitting up in bed.
"Mother!" he said to her. "It's me, Sairaorg! You recognize me, right?"
She smiled. "Of course, I do, son… Look how strong you have become. It was almost as if I could see it in my dreams."
Sairaorg could barely say anything, being choked up in tears.
"I see you also made a friend, Sairaorg. I am glad that you met him. You have grown to be a great man."
Somehow, I get the sinking suspicion my efforts were what brought her back somehow. I thought I was an absolute novice at senjutsu and it may have worked!
Either way. The friendships I have cultivated in my journey have proven to be one of the most valuable assets I could have hoped for.
Afterword:
Thank you all for sticking out with the grand finale of Volume 6 of Marriage of Heaven and Hell! It took almost a year between chapters, but I finally got the gumption to finish this! It got difficult at points during this volume trying to be faithful to the lore while distinguishing it from just "High School DxD with an angel MC"
This was a long two years working on this volume between going through an internship, starting graduate school, as well as full-time job in the span of this volume alone. I am much busier than ever and it can be really difficult to carve out time to work on my writing, but I really enjoy when I have the opportunity to really dig my teeth in it.
If you were wondering where I've been the past year between chapters, I have released a few chapters for a new series called Side Story of Support. If you, for some reason, really enjoy this series for being an alternate universe based on an ecchi series that focuses more on plot than "plot," you will really enjoy this one, as it based on the infamous Redo of Healer. That probably has an even bigger contrast as there are some scenes in Marriage of Heaven and Hell which rival the spicy scenes in the DxD light novel, whereas Redo goes to a level of smut which I am not really comfortable writing, but, hey, I play to my strengths and I've seen a couple reviews saying they enjoyed it even having not seen or read Redo.
Self-plugs aside. Thank you so much for your patience. Next time on Marriage of Heaven and Hell, we skipped from the plotline of Volume 6 to Volume 10 of the original, so we are going back a bit with our version of the Kyoto arc from Volume 9. It may be a few months, as I will probably drop a couple chapters of Side Story before then, but, Lord willing, I hope for it to be less than a year.
See you then.
- iBlewupthemoon