Fate: Bonds Beyond Humanity

by Apprentice of Life

In a world where all can be real, what does it mean to be human? What is the meaning of humanity? A meeting between a human and a devil will have them discovering the truth while chasing their dreams. My take on the combined worlds of Fate and DxD with characters from other franchises if they can be adapted to it. Harem.

27. Chapter 27

Fate/Bonds Beyond Humanity

…..

27- Time Waits For No Devil

…..

"My name is Asia Argento. Nice to meet you all." The blonde bows in front of the class with a small but radiant smile, now dressed in the school's uniform even with a sweater instead of the corset most girls opted to use.

"An European transfer student! A bonafide European transfer student!" "A beautiful blonde in my class!" "She is so cute." "I wonder what she does to her hair, it looks like silk." "She looks so pure!"

Issei can only smile while the rest of his class celebrates the arrival of the new Bishop of his King's peerage. Not that anyone else present knows about that or had any idea of why Asia had transferred for Kuoh even if they are still at the beginning of the term.

And that was fine with him as he can see the girl smile back at the questions she was receiving. However the former nun is still a bit shy and nerves are starting to affect her as she begins to have trouble replying to the other students with just how many are talking at once.

The Pawn is still surprised that Rias decided to put Asia in his class instead with the others like Kiba and Shirou. 'Maybe she just wants her to be with a friend?' Issei nods to himself at the hightsight of his King. 'Yes, she pretty much only knows me and if she is in my class I can protect her.' The last part is thought carrying all his determination and spirit, not willing to allow Asia to be harmed in any way.

No one was paying attention to him, every other student was fascinated by the new arrival to their classroom as questions still flew around and Asia tried her best to reply to everyone, even if it was impossible at this point.

"That is enough. Settle down." Waver commands them with a serious tone and the students obey. After Kuzuki, Waver Velvet is the second most respected teacher of Kuoh even if not just as feared as his colleague he is well liked and patient with any student with reasonable doubts. "I am sure Miss Argento won't have any trouble answering a couple more questions later but for now we must continue with our day." The man looks around the classroom for an empty seat. "Miss Argento, why don't you sit behind Kiryuu-san? I am sure you two will get along smoothly."

Most students approved of their teacher's choice, while having a reputation for being a pervert as a negative, Aika never did anything wrong with it and uses it more like a counterbalance against the other perverts on campus, mostly the Perverted Trio. Besides that she is also a grade A student with a kind attitude towards everyone who didn't push her buttons also was a plus on the majority's books.

Waver waited for a couple of minutes for Asia to recover her bearings and move towards her seat before nodding his head. "Now that our new student is comfortable, let's begin. I will do a fast review of the content from the last class before proceeding, for Miss Argento's sake." He informs the class to receive no disagreements.

After Asia's introduction things ran normally as people liked Waver's class. He had a way to present even the most boring topics in ways that most students like by trying to correlate them to someone's interests and make short conversations.

At least that is how he does the mundane lessons. Before working in Kuoh, Waver never had teached the normal curriculum of mundane schools; only magecraft, its fundamentals, principles, variations and applications. Those were the kind of classes he was used to teaching.

But for the expansion of his project he had to learn fast, choosing an approach similar to his magecraft lesson; have the students decide what they want to learn at least to an extent since that wouldn't work with most of the mundane stuff as everyone in class needs to learn a determined number of subjects or the school itself will be failing them.

In the end Waver's approach didn't change, interact and hope that the students want to interact too. A good thing going for him is that the students in Kuoh knew how prestigious the institution was and how even the opportunity to study there was a privilege.

After the usual time the bell rings and Waver knows he lost the attention of the class immediately; everyone wants to know more about the new student and they didn't bother to wait for the teacher to dismiss them for their short break between classes.

That is fine with Velvet and he can see now that Asia appreciates the slower pace the students are asking questions contrary to the previous chaos. He is sure that the blonde girl is in good hands with this class.

None of the questions was anything invasive, small things like which country she came from, how it was there compared to Japan, small things that Asia had no problems answering. "Oh, I am staying at Issei-san's house."

'Goddamned!' Issei thinks to himself as he slams his face on his desk as he can feel the hate pouring from his classmates as a vast majority is not even bothering to hide their disgust with him.

At least there were two people there whose reactions he liked. "Issei! How dare you?!" Matsuda demanded while grabbing his supposed friend by his school uniform.

"Yeah! You owe us an explanation!" Motohama follows up with his face centimeters apart from Issei's who just smiled nervously as the rest of the class reactions weren't as pleasant as his friends' jealousy.

Deciding to go with a partial truth while skipping a lot of details for both secrecy and his own survival, Issei goes with the most convenient thing that happened that week. "My parents adopted her." Leaving aside that Rias took Asia to his house and convinced them with a sad tale of how the former nun was attracted to the city for unsavory elements and that Issei helped her in a time of need making the redhead devil deduce she felt safer with him.

Rias also left the home with a pleasant smile and a thumbs up to him as the Hyoudou parents gushed over their new 'daughter'. If Issei didn't like Asia smile so much he would be jealous of the attention she got from his parents but to him they were a rather good fit.

"YOU LUCKY BASTARD!" Motohama shouts as he grabs Issei in place of his friend. "How could you betray us like that, Issei?! How could you?!"

"What happened to our pact? Our brotherhood?" Matsuda asked with tears in his eyes as the Perverted Trio had a schism that the rest of the class didn't really care about.

"Asia-chan, are you alright living with that pervert?" Katase questions the girl with a serious face, making the blonde tilt her head cutely.

"Huh? Why shouldn't I be?" Asia's expression has most of the girls gushing and the few boys almost falling on their knees.

"Well...because, you see…" Katase has no words, Asia just looked too pure to understand the implications of what she wanted to say.

"Because Hyoudou there is a pervert of the highest degree." Aika on the other hand just found things hilarious and touched Asia's shoulder with a sympathetic smile as she talked. "Realy, the greatest pervert. Or at least one of them. He isn't giving you any problems, is he?"

Kiryuu found it extremely funny when people returned their glares to Issei while they waited for Asia's answer, just a couple of seconds but still enough that the brown haired student felt that many death wishes were being directed at him at the same time and started to sweat cold.

"No, Issei-san has been kind to me. He and his parents- I mean, mom and dad have been so understanding and taught me so many new things I loved to learn. They are truly wonderful people. I am glad I met them and that they welcomed me so earnestly." Asia says everything with a gentle smile that took away even Aika's impish nature and replaced it with a type of 'older sister' desire to protect.

"Good job Hyoudou, you manage to not be a creep with her. Keep doing that." Aika's declaration removed the metaphorical Sword of Damocles from Issei's neck as the classroom took it as the sign that Asia is fine and that he is being respectful.

Except for his two friends who are still crying and complaining about his situation. That was fine for Issei.

He would just enjoy the salt.

…

Soon enough it was lunch time, Asia's first lunch in a highschool setting and Kiba had volunteered to collect both new devils, much to the rumor mill's pleasure as it was fed with more stories about him and Issei.

No one dared to say anything about Asia, she was just too pure for that and the ones responsible for the rumors don't want to involve her in them.

""Thank you for the food."" Everyone said in appreciation as they began to eat their lunch.

"Excellent work as always, Shiro." Rias is the first to complement with the others agreeing right after.

"This is delicious, Shirou-san. How did you become such a good cook?" This was the first time Asia was tasting one of the magus dishes and he can only chuckle at certain memories.

"Trial and error mostly." Shirou said in good humor. "And someone that inspected any of my creations thoroughly for a long time."

"Please try my tea, Asia-chan." Sakura offers to fill one of the cups that the ORC started to bring for lunch.

"Thank you." The former nun says in appreciation before beginning to drink the tea. "Ah~ this is so delicious too. The Lord truly has blessed- ouchie." Quickly Kiba grabs the cup as Asia holds her head.

Rias shakes her head a little with a small smile. "You really shouldn't keep doing that, Asia."

"Let her Buchou. She just wants to praise her Lord." Akeno takes care of how she says it but she still finds the former nun situation amusing.

"We don't want another Bible incident, do we?" Setsuna intervenes with the sensitive topic as Asia looks to the floor depressed which made the hanyou hesitate. "I mean…"

"She means that you already thanked him for the food from the beginning." Rin points out as Asia opens her eyes to look at her. "That was who we were thanking, technically."

"Nee-san is right, Asia." Sakura offers the new devil a gentle smile. "You were thanking Him, just indirectly. Don't worry too much about it."

"I see, thank you Tohsaka-san and...Tohsaka-san?" Again in confusion Asia looks to the siblings but this time Sakura replies first.

"You can call me Sakura. I know Rin wouldn't mind you using her given name either." The younger girl is polite and gentle with her words and Asia nods with a smile of her own.

'At least that took Asia's mind out of the Bible incident.' Issei shudders at remembering that. 'I mean, she is a devil now. I know she loved reading the Bible but come on! There has to be a limit of just how she could push it...or how cute she looked trying and failing to read it.'

Lunch continues normally for a while as Asia adjusts to her new surroundings. While she is still nervous, everyone present was willing to help her and talk to her normally and calmly even as she panicked once and dropped her cup of tea.

Fortunately it was the same kind of cup that one can have on a termos so it didn't break on the short fall even as the towel got a little wet. "I am sorry! I will clean it up!"

"Relax Asia, this is one that Shirou made for us to use today." Kiba informs her kindly much to the Bishop's confusion. "Ah, that is right. You don't know about his magic. Basically, he can make stuff and he can make it disappear after."

"That is a very short explanation of Gradation Air. And not exactly what Shero can do at all considering his real capabilities." Luvia points out with a smile and once Rias heard her she looked at Shirou and then at Asia, suddenly realizing something in a flash of inspiration.

"That is it!" The president of the club shouts, surprising everyone present. "Asia can complete EM!"

"What?" Shirou is the first to voice his curiosity.

"Asia can complete EM!" Rias' excitement was palpable as she was even trembling a little. "Maybe not for real mass production but enough to start to test materials and find a combination to transfer the healing ability…" The redhead devil starts to mumble a little while making some observations that no one could hear to understand.

"Buchou, I think-"

"Wait a moment Rin, Rias is having an epiphany." Akeno observes her best friend for a while before speaking again. "Rias, mind sharing with the class?"

Hearing her Queen''s words managed to make Rias stop to breathe and look around her to see everyone a little worried. "Oh, right. Shirou, you were failing to transfer the spell of the original EM right?" The redhead magus nods and then the pureblood devil smiles at a thought. "What if you had a better version of the spell? One far more developed and cheap?"

"Depends, I guess. I could make more tests or if the spell is more malleable I can make an EM around it that may work better for mass production or if still impossible make more of it myself…" Shirou stops to think about the possibilities for a little while.

"From what I gathered his mother spell was literally the best healing spell a magician could do…" Akeno reveals about her own studies, turning to Rin who nods her head in agreement.

"Yes, but now we have something better!" Rias points to Asia who then points to herself. "Say Asia, would you like it if your power could be used to help more people?"

"Yes, I would love to." The smile that followed the reply was radiant with positivity.

"Then if Shirou," Rias points at the magus in question, "made an EM around Twilight Healing's energy," she then points at her new Bishop who is still confused about what is being discussed, "wouldn't that be a better healing in general?"

"Maybe? That doesn't exactly fix prior problems." Shirou points out but Rias is still smiling.

"Maybe not but remember that as a sacred gear, Twilight Healing's power is in a greater category and its ability not only would be more efficient but depends a lot on the will of the user." Rias declares with her smile growing larger as everyone starts to understand.

"'Magecraft is bound by rules, sacred gears aren't'." Luvia quotes from a book she read once about the topic.

"The same thing that happened when we tried to sell my swords could happen again." Kiba decides to remind everyone as his weapons needed to be at least around his vicinity, it was the main reason why Shirou could study them but once they leave Kiba's general vicinity they start breaking after a couple of minutes.

"But we aren't using the sacred gear product, only its power. Not to mention that the types and functions are completely different." Shirou was already thinking of the possibilities and could see plenty of advantages, if it worked. "I never tried to do something like that with a sacred gear before."

"We never had one like that before." Rias is still excited, her heart full of hope.

"Excuse me but...what are we talking about?" Asia is a little nervous and she couldn't hide that which actually made Rias calm down as she doesn't want to scare her new servant.

The pureblood devil still smiled. "Shirou was working on a project that could save many people but he wasn't successful. However, with your help, he can complete it."

Once again the idea of helping people fills Asia's heart. "If such endeavor is just and Go- auch." The former nun stops her small prayer and Issei offers her a cup of tea to calm her down and help with the pain. "Thank you, Issei-san."

"No problem." He replies with a smile as the bell rings announcing the end of lunch.

"We will talk later and then I will explain EM for Asia." Rias declares as everyone starts to pack up.

"Testing sacred gears, huh?" Shirou thinks for a moment before smiling back at Rias, a little of her excitement infecting him. "Well, I can trace the products of Kiba's sacred gear so it isn't that far fetched."

"It really isn't." Rias is satisfied with herself from catching on that quickly, Asia's recruitment proving her luck once again. 'And with EM empowered by Twilight Healing, I can force the Phenex Clan to the negotiation table.'

She had time as the marriage was only supposed to happen at her highschool graduation and Rias is sure that she can stall at least until the end of the year if things get complicated.

Now she feels even safer as Asia's addition promised the completion of her plans.

…..

A couple of days later the members of the ORC just finished dinner.

Tests with the Twilight Healing were actually promising but Rias also didn't want to delay other things for Asia so everything was still in its initial stages as the pureblood devil also helped her to start making deals and get used to some Japanese customs. The girl once forgot to trade shoes upon entering the school and while nobody made a fuss Asia felt guilty about it.

Also her first few outings were with Issei since he was going around town with his bike and it was a good chance for her to see more of the sights with him as company, a thing the Bishop not didn't mind but appreciated.

After Asia's rescue, the brown haired devil returned to his routine and was enjoying his friends' company before leaving to work while ignoring Medusa's presence to an extent. Both him and Asia have managed to introduce themselves and were even able to talk with the goddess properly in small doses as they still didn't have a strong enough will to resist her aura.

For Asia the experience of meeting a goddess was odd and the girl didn't know how to properly react. Her religion taught her that there is only one God and that others were just fakers or demons but she also didn't want to be rude to Medusa.

In the end it was the goddess herself who offered a solution. "I don't want anyone venerating me. Treat me like you would any other person." That managed to stun Asia as God had her absolute devotion and love despite her being a devil but this goddess didn't want any of it.

The words still managed to convince her to treat the goddess as she would her King; with respect and as someone more wiser than her. The former nun still finds herself staring at the little goddess from time to time with admiration she knew she shouldn't have and when she did Asia tried to pray for forgiveness only to hurt herself but it was never any lasting damage and everyone could understand that for someone as devoted as her that was something she needed to do.

While Asia had a mini crisis of faith, Issei took the little goddess' existence a lot better. He just thanked the Maou he wasn't a lolicon and immediately started treating Medusa with respect. He also got ahead of himself and apologized for any future slight just in case he ends up doing something stupid all the while thanking the goddess in front of him for not being a lolicon, much to Medusa's amusiment.

"Ah, that hit the spot." Issei said satisfied. While a part of him was against Shirou because of his police against 'pretty boys' he is never going to get on the redhead's bad side, that would mean losing the great food he was having since turning into a devil.

The fact that Akeno also worked on it also helped. "Glad that you enjoyed it. Today I was the main chef." The Queen said with a smile of pride and some people even began to clap.

"Not bad girl, not bad." Yoruichi commented from her spot at the table. Even if she needed to place her paws on it, nobody had any problem with it. "Congratulations on reaching the 'Shirou Scale'."

"She still isn't at top level." Leysritt said bluntly but Akeno just smiled.

"Liz…" Shirou groans a little at the teacher's comment.

"But she is getting there, I suppose." Akeno never lost her smile at Liz's words because she knew how the taller white haired woman could be demanding about her food.

Koneko on the other hand just gave her a smile of her own and a thumbs up as a show of support, she is still being honest as she did enjoy the food and if she didn't like it there would have been words of disapproval but she is kinder than Liz in that department.

"I hate to admit it Akeno but between the two of us you indeed became the better chef under Shiro's tutelage." Rias said with a sigh but also with a smile as she finished her food.

"Thank you, Buchou. It took a good while not only in learning magecraft but also developing my own skills in the kitchen and I have to admit that Shirou-kun was a great instructor all the while." Akeno was proud that her even prouder best friend acknowledged her dedication.

"I want to say' I taught you how I was taught' but Sella's approach was more of the tough love kind in this sense." All Shirou did for this particular meal was help with the preparation and organization, the rest was all the Queen herself.

"I could use some tough love." While the way that she said it made Shirou's blush, it was just a little as he was used to her way of doing things. Also she teases him more when they are in the kitchen alone so he can say he already had worse.

"Huh~ looks like we are going to have company." Rias commented with a little grin much to the majority's surprise.

"Is that bad?" Issei, still new to everything the ORC did, questions why his King announced that.

"Well that doesn't happen much." Kiba was happy to supply the information for his and Asia's benefit. "Because of the boundary fields around the building only certain people can approach most of the time. with proper permission of course."

"What are boundary fields?" At Issei's question Rias just shrugged.

"Magic force fields." The pureblood explained, much to the pervert's relief as he nodded his understanding. "Don't worry about it, Velvet-sensei is going to explain everything to you sooner or later. After that if you want to learn more you will have to join his classes."

"Should I go to Gasper's room?" Medusa decides to interrupt before further explanations are given. "If someone is coming I believe we have agreed that only certain individuals should know about my presence."

"Don't worry about it, the one who is coming already knows about you." Rias reveals to Medusa which made the goddess frown but the devil quickly added. "After all, she, like me, is also a Second Owner and her servants are reliable to keep a secret. She wouldn't accept anything less."

Medusa turns to Shirou, silently asking for his input. "I don't think there isn't going to be any trouble. We don't even know how many of them can pay attention to you for starters."

With that observation Medusa turned back to Rias who chuckled. "Only Sona is a pureblood devil, everyone else was human before reincarnation so I have no clue how many will be able to resist you." With that she stood up with most following right behind. "Either way, we should wait for them in my office."

"I will be with my protector." Medusa decides after a second with Liz nodding as well.

"Well then you are following me and Akeno back to the kitchen to make something for our guests." Shirou tells everyone as the quartet starts walking to the kitchen only for the present nekomata to say her piece.

"Oh, she knows that." Yoruichi points out while jumping to Shirou's shoulder. "She also wants more food." Medusa's face didn't change at the accusation while Liz just nodded as if that was the most natural thing in the world.

The commentary is followed next by a pensive Setsuna watching them go before asking a question. "Should we even be here? Depending on what you and Sitri-dono want to talk about, our presence may not be as welcomed." The hanyou pointed to both herself and Liz during the observation.

"If Sona had something she wanted to say privately she would have called me during school hours or even sent a message scheduling a meeting." With how much paperwork the two of them have to work on that was a foregone conclusion. "So don't worry about privacy or...are you trying to use it as an excuse?"

Setsuna blushed a little but said nothing else as she got up and walked to the kitchen. At the hanyou actions, Rin threw a small grin at Luvia because she can also see that the blonde wanted to do the same thing but unlike Setsuna who got called on it, Luvia isn't even if Rias did notice a very similar reaction.

The problem is that the Edelfelt heiress is prideful to the point that even some devils would be impressed and she was raised to be a shining example of aristocratic magus which means not pinning after boys or following them to the kitchen.

That would be different if she was challenged like Setsuna was but Rin knew that her hanyou friend was honestly asking the question and that for a magus hearing the meeting between two heiresses of the 72 Pillars is a good opportunity to gather some intel.

In the end the fact is that Luvia wants to go but her upbringing doesn't allow it. 'In times like this I am grateful to be working under Rias. Less headaches and power plays to think about.' A smug Tohsaka head thinks to herself as Luvia can see her rival's smile but can do nothing about it other than clench her teeth or fight against her family's way of raising her, which her pride also won't allow.

Rias enters first in her office, noticing how everything is properly set up as her friends start to sit around in preparation for Sona's arrival. "Kiba, they will be here in a few minutes. Could you be so kind as to receive them?"

"Of course, Buchou." Kiba didn't sit down, expecting the order to escort the other peerage in the premises and started to move towards the front door at a sedate pace.

Everyone else in the office just sits down and waits patiently for just a couple of minutes as Sona walks in with her peerage escorted by Kiba. "Sona, welcome to the Occult Research Club. I think this is just the second time you have come here."

"And the first to some others." Sona says with a smile as she enters the office with a small smile. "This place hasn't changed at all since you got it."

"What can I say? After cleaning it up a bit I realized the old school building has style. A sort of gothic charm in it." The two pureblood devils smile at each other for a moment before Rias continues. "I can see you added some more members to your peerage, two boys even."

"And you also added two new faces. Well, one new and one old with a certain degree of infamy." Hyoudou Issei lets out a nervous laugh at Sona's mention of his 'record'. "Which is why I am here. I thought that this was a good opportunity for our peerages to introduce themselves appropriately."

With a raised eyebrow but still smiling, Rias made a gesture with her hand. "I believe the more senior members of the student council already know the veterans of my peerage and even some of the magicians' present." Hyoudou Issei, Asia and Luvia stood up to greet the new arrivals but one of them was already advancing in a particular direction.

It was a blond young man with short hair and gray eyes also dressed in the school uniform like all present but unlike the other males around he is not using the blazer and the sleeves of his white shirt are pulled up. "So you are the other Pawn, Hyoudou Issei?" He said with a small glare that had Issei glaring back.

"Yes, I am. Any problem with that?" The brown haired Pawn replies with the same level of aggressivity while the blond just takes a good look at him.

"I don't like the idea of sharing the title with you." The blond says while pointing his finger at Issei which earned a chuckle from Rias and a sigh from Sona. "A pervert like you, a Pawn like me, just the thought gets on my nerves."

"That is enough Genshirou." Shinra Tsubaki, in her position as Queen, steps up to place a hand on the blond's shoulder. "We are guests in Gremory-sama's place of business and you should have some respect."

"But-"

"I don't mind." Rias interrupts Genshiro's with a smile that had Sona give her a side glance of warning. "You all came here to introduce yourselves, correct? Now I know Genshiro who is a Pawn and he heard about my Issei." Her eyes moved to the side a little to see another member of the council who also used glasses. "And I do say 'my Issei' since I can see that Sona got out of her way to find one of her own."

"Technically I recruited him first so it could be said 'you' got out and found one for yourself." Sona's comments with a smile that made Rias giggle. "But that is correct, we came here for introductions and I suppose it is only fair for me to begin. All of us go to the same school so I believe not everyone needs it." Sona motions to her Queen to step forward once again.

"Shinra Tsubaki, Queen of Sona Sitri, a pleasure to meet you." She turned a little to bow in respect to Issei and Asia, the only ones she was unfamiliar with and then gave a look in Genshirou's way and since Sona was giving him the same look he knew he was next.

"Saji Genshirou." He bows much more than the woman at his side and after a last glare in Issei's direction he gives Asia a smile. "Pawn of Sona Sitri, a pleasure."

An arm belonging to a devil with blue hair and a manly face grabs Saji by the neck and gets him on a hold. "Getting excited with the blonde girl, Saji? Didn't know she was your type." She then turns to the two new members of Rias peerage with a sheepish grin. "Yura Tsubasa, Rook."

Two girls stepped forward in a small pose and back to back, one with white hair and other with red-brown. The two looked confident and in sync as the white haired one spoke. "The Bishop duo of the student council Hanaki Momo-"

"-and Kusaka Reya, nice to meet you two." The way the two introduced themselves had their audience silent until the brown haired girl stepped back. "See Momo, I told you we shouldn't have done that." She complained with a little blush on her face.

"I just wanted to do something different and Kaichou said we could." Momo protested looking at her King and she can see that Sona is not ashamed or anything like that but her face also didn't show any emotion.

'I really didn't expect them to go through with it.' But the Sitri heiress isn't going to say anything or show it on her face, Rias would never let her forget. 'I am getting soft.' Instead of complaining, she clears her throat and looks for the next in the line.

Chuckling a little at her friends' introduction, the next one with reddish-brown hair stepped forward pointing her thumb to herself. "I am Meguri Tomoe, Knight of Sona Sitri and probably the strongest Knight in Kuoh." She looks at Kiba in challenge but the blond just shrugs, not falling for the provocation.

It still stimulates another member of the peerage to introduce herself. "Nimura Ruruko, also a Pawn. Hope we can get along." She says with a smile and a victory sign.

"I suppose I am the last." Fixing his own glaces, the black haired student steps forward. "Ryuudou Issei and I am a Pawn as well."

"Issei?" Asia questions looking at both boys with the same name.

"That may get confusing while we are here." Tomoe said with a giggle.

"It's fine." The brown haired Issei steps up to shake the other Issei's hand. "When we are together people call him Issei and me Ise because I'm actually fun to hang around."

"Ha ha. Very funny." Issei says sarcastically but he shakes Ise's hand. "So you are a Pawn as well."

"Oh, that is right." Ise realizes he should make an introduction and turns to the majority of the Sitri's peerage with a respectful bow that Asia followed soon after. "I'm Hyoudou Issei, nice to meet you all. Also a Pawn." The last part he said fast as he almost left it out.

"Asia Argento, Bishop of Lady Gremory. Please take good care of me." The former nun said next with a small smile and a bit more formally.

"And everyone here heard about Kiba's reputation already or does the pretty boy need introductions?" Tsubasa asked while Saji fought to free himself from her hold but the strength of the Rook is still too much for him.

"Toujou Koneko." The small girl introduced herself once she saw Kiba shrug. "Rook."

"Tsubasa let Saji go. I don't want any excuses later that he couldn't pay attention because you were suffocating him." Sona orders when she notices that her newest Pawn is starting to turn blue.

The Sitri Rook obeys the order immediately and while the blond Pawn is getting reaquitanced with oxygen Rias decides to proceed. "There are some people missing at the moment but from our prestigious club we also have the Red and Blue Rivals, Rin and Luvia."

The nickname that their rivalry earned around the school made both magicians embarrassed but neither shows it. "Tohsaka Rin and I work for Buchou." Is all she allows herself to say to avoid getting into details about her employment.

"Luvia Edelfelt, heiress of the Edelfelt family and it is an honor to formally meet the new member of the lady Sitri's peerage." With her usual confidence, borderline arrogance, Luvia introduces herself to Saji with all the pose and grace of a noble lady which manages to even enchant the boy for a moment as, much like his own King, he felt he was looking for an example of a true noble woman. "It is also a pleasure to see you again Ryuudou-san, I know for a fact that Shero missed having you in some of our lunch breaks."

"I talked to him about that once or twice but the duties of the student council tend to keep me occupied." Issei comments with a small smile since he had no problems with such duties in the first place.

"Doesn't mean you should neglect your friends." Sona comments with a smile as she can be demanding but she wants the best for her followers.

"He didn't neglect us, he was just busy." It is at that moment that Shirou enters the office followed by Akeno, Liz and Setsuna carrying plates with some kinds of food they made quickly while Medusa and Yoruichi move to their favorite spots, one trying to avoid any attention to herself while the other just wanted to watch the proceedings.

"What is Emiya-san doing here? Is he also a devil?" Saji questions as he can see the trail of dishes that Akeno was pushing, looking delicious.

"He is my personal magician, the one I have a pact with." Rias said with pride and Genshirou's eyes grew wide.

"Really? That means he is super important right?" Some people chuckled at Sona's Pawn comment, including Akeno.

"I suppose you are new to our world since I know pretty much everyone else." The Gremory Queen started talking with a smile that had Saji blushing. "Himejima Akeno, Rias Gremory's Queen. Welcome to the moonlit world."

"Yes, thank you very much." Genshirou bows his head in respect as the majority present starts to gather around the food, much to a goddess's relief even as the Sitri King's eyes didn't leave her form, some respect in then but also a good dose of caution.

"My name is Inutai Setsuna but I go by Higurashi Setsuna in our school." The hanyou extends her hand to shake Saji's which he accepted. "Welcome to our club."

Since Liz was a teacher and she didn't need introductions, Yoruichi on the other hand decided to have some fun. "You can call me Kuro." She jumped on her pillow and waited for the reactions.

"That cat can talk?!" Genshirou Saji didn't disappoint as his shocked face looked funny to her.

"Why yes, I can." But Yoruichi took great pleasure at Sona massaging the bridge of her nose as Saji stepped closer and looked at her like she was an alien.

"Careful, she bites." Rias comments and lets her own amusement show.

"Don't be ridiculous, Rias." Yoruichi replies with a chuckle while lifting a paw. "I don't bite." Saji took that as an incentive to get closer until shiny claws appear. "I claw people's eyes out." And immediately the blond Pawn jumped back and was about to fall on the table in the middle of the club.

Fortunately both Liz and Koneko were expecting such a prank and managed to save the foot that was already being placed on the center table before Saji hit it. "I see you still have a stray cat around your premises." Sona comments with a small glare which makes Yoruichi laugh.

"Nyahahaha~ don't be like that. With how big this terrain is you should be happy I am the only cat you actually see." The comment made the student council president pause.

"What do you mean by 'actually see'?" Sona's question just makes Yoruichi laugh a little more as Rias scratches her head.

"Don't mind her Sona. Since you all are here, why not eat some good food. I can guarantee that both Shiro and Akeno got way better since the last time you ate their work." Rias tries to offer an olive branch and her counterpart can see that some members of her peerage are already eating as Kiba helped Saji up.

"I appreciate the invite and accept it with gusto." Not that the heiress of the Sitri will refuse the food being offered, she still remembers the taste from the other times when she and Rias would meet from time to time.

It doesn't take long for the two groups to start mingling with each other since the majority already did something similar more than once when their Kings had meetings or in parties of some kind or another as the Gremory and Sitri families are political allies in the Underworld.

While that is happening, Medusa is eating a little of her food and reading a book, always paying attention to those who turn their eyes to her. In those times one of two things happened; once they realized her presence they either managed to fight her aura off or they would fall into a trance.

It was something mostly involuntary to her but Medusa always could do it, with her sisters being more capable in that aspect. Her charm was part of her domain as a Goddess of Beauty and those weak of mind were hypnotized even if she willingly tried to avoid it.

Since she was holding back and not issuing any commands, as soon as another thing distracted those stuck admiring her visage their minds blocked even her memory, a defense mechanism so they could function normally, unless someone else reminded them of her.

And sitting besides the goddess is her protector. He is talking with his old friend and Rin about something or another but the important thing for her is that Shirou moved to sit close to her almost instantaneously. He can't really talk too much with her considering that it may get some people stuck admiring her for a while and that may be a mistake but he makes sure to mention things for her or get more food when she asks.

In another corner of the room Asia gets aquitanced with the other Bishops. As they are the same type of Piece, Momo was trying to give her tips on basic things that Rias hadn't explained yet like the fact that she now has more magical energy but normal stamina can be more difficult to manage for her.

That quirk from the Bishop Piece is not something that is talked much since devil's are naturally stronger than many races but Reya pointed out how the others on their peerage usually last more in combat and training when she and Momo tried to use anything other than just magic.

Still upset by the idea that he was of the same Piece as Ise, Saji steps closer to the other young man. "What is your number?"

At such, question Ise needed a couple seconds to elaborate an eloquent response. "Huh?"

"You're a Pawn like me right? How many Pieces did your King use to reincarnate you?" Saji then points to himself with his thumb and a large smile. "I needed four Pawn Pieces, the most of all the Pawns in our peerage." He then points to Issei. "He took three," his finger moved to Ruruko, "and she needed just one. So, how many did you take?"

Annoyed by the other boy's aggressive attitude, Ise stands up glaring at the blond Pawn while everyone else is distracted. "I'll let you know that I…" It is then that the owner of the Boosted Gear realized something important. "I don't know."

"What? How you don't know?" Considering his own reincarnation, Saji is confused by the statement.

But Ise isn't going to tell him-

"Will you die for me?"

-the circumstances of his reincarnation. The number of Evil Pieces used just never came up even when Rias was explaining his capabilities to him which also included the powers of the other Pieces.

Still it was an easy problem to correct which Genshirou took measures to do himself as he stepped forward to the main desk of the office where Kings and Queens are playing chess and talking about one thing or another.

"Excuse me, sorry to interrupt Kaichou, Buchou." All the four ladies, the Four Great Ladies of Kuoh as some students are fond to call the four most beautiful women of the school, turn to look at Saji which makes him blush and get a little nervous. He still won't be deterred by the sight of four beautiful women looking at him. "I apologize." He says again with a deep bow of respect before raising his head. "If it isn't too much of a bother to ask; how many Evil Pieces did you use to reincarnate Hyoudou, Rias-sama?"

"Such a polite boy you have there, Sona-sama." Akeno can't help but comment in a tease while the Sitri King took her time drinking from her cup of tea.

Sona knows that technically speaking Saji shouldn't ask something like that, not only it was a personal question but also it was an actual number that spoke of Hyoudou Issei's, and therefore Rias', combat potential. Still she is curious so avoids making comments while Rias just smiles without a care in the world.

"Eight." Rias says with a chuckle once Saji's face showed that he understood what was said.

"'Eight'? Wait Buchou, that means-"

"That means that I used all my Pawns on you, Ise." And Rias sounded extremely pleased with herself for the reactions that she got, not only from Saji but she can see that Sona also looked surprised with Tsubaki not far behind.

"AHA!" Ise shouts in victory as he points his index finger. "In your face! I have more Pawns than you!"

"That means nothing!" Saji declares back with a glare. "I refuse that a pervert like you is in any way better than me! Having eight Pawns means absolutely nothing!"

"But your four are better than my three?" Comments out loud the other Issei as he fixes his glasses. "I remember you lording your number around like a badge of pride! Now that you lost you want to change the rules? Shame on you Saji-san, shame on you."

At his collegue words Saji's face grows red and if it is either from embarrassment or anger even he wouldn't be able to tell.

Meanwhile Ise is practically beaming with his numbers advantage but before his head got too big, Shirou spoke. "Having more Pieces doesn't mean you are immediately stronger. That is just a measure of your potential and at this moment you are sorely lacking in actual strength."

The redhead's words deflate Ise's ego considerably and with both him and Saji humbled the two of them give each other one last glare before moving for the food once again much to Rias and Akeno's amusement.

Usually Sona would be as amused as them but her mind was on other matters. "Eight Pawn Pieces?" She questions in a low voice and a raised eyebrow.

"You won't guess the sacred gear Ise has." Rias throws the bait, liking the nickname for her Pawn as well and finding it fitting for him. "And I do say sacred gear. There is no trace of any magical bloodline or anything similar on his family."

"Are you sure?" Tsubaki asked while looking at Ise eating his problems away with Saji. "He really doesn't feel much." She was trying to be polite because what she could sense from him was nothing.

"Emiya-san was correct when he said that Evil Pieces measure potential, even if actual power is also relevant." And Sona didn't believe for a moment that Issei has any secrets, the boy proudly announces his ambitions for a harem without any shame, if he had something she believes he wouldn't be able to stay quiet. "One of the Longinus?"

"Yes, but which one?" It was logical for Rias that her friend would go for some of the most powerful sacred gears on her deductions. Not guessing since Sona doesn't do those, she always thinks before every decision, every action. "You still have thirteen to go~"

"Some are already confirmed to belong to other factions like the rumors that the Grigori possesses both Divine Dividing and Canis Lykaon." Sona comments nonchalantly to eliminate those from contention before shrugging. "And that is all the information we have, I have no way to guess one between nine or so considering the Heaven faction if you don't give me a hint."

"Come one Sona, can't you just play the game and try?" Rias pouts as well when she asks but Sona shakes her head. "I could just choose to not tell you."

"Then you won't." Sona accepted the fact with confidence that Rias is going to tell her anyway.

"Spoilsport." With that last comment the heiress of Gremory is accepting that the heiress of SItri isn't going to play her game, much for both Queens that are serving as witnesses amusement. "Boosted Gear."

"You are serious? The Boosted Gear?" Rias nods once to both Sona's questions, a huge grin on her face. "So he is our generation's Red Dragon Emperor." Sona looks back to Ise with new eyes, trying to find some indication that he really carries a legendary dragon on his soul. "He really doesn't feel like it."

"Do you need to have him show his sacred gear?" Rias questions, grin still in place.

"No, I believe you. He just feels…" Trying to find some diplomatic words to use, Sona pauses as she can't find them.

"Underwhelming?" Tsubaki attempts to rescue her King but before Sona could accept her word someone interfered.

"Weak?" Akeno says with a teasing smile knowing that decor and pride would stop the Sitri heiress from accepting her own Queen's words while also trying to avoid using the more depreciative but more precise description from her best friend's Queen.

Not really being good at thinking on her feet like that, Sona still knows how to dodge the embarrassment of speaking the wrong thing even if Rias wouldn't actually mind. "I just can't see him being the host for the Welsh Dragon." She decides to say before too much time passes, barely stopping the situation from turning into a literal minute of silence. "From records that I studied on dragon types sacred gears, they tend to be aggressive, not perverts."

"That can be considered a form of aggressivity…" The new information also got Rias curious. "And why were you researching dragon type sacred gears in the first place?" But her eyes were already analyzing both new members of Sona's peerage.

Now it was Sona's turn to chuckle. "Guess?"

"The same way I should guess why you are really here?" Rias' comment made Sona blink. "And before you say anything else, this situation looks familiar; one of us going to the other's office to talk with our whole peerage. And once again we were the ones with the food and drinks prepared."

"To be fair, I am not here to announce I stabbed my best friend in the back." Sona shot back with a deadpan look.

"Don't be mean. I told you the one Ise has." Rias was completely ignoring the accusation, she doesn't regret what she did and all things considered is ever grateful that Serafall had shown up that day. "Besides, you already go out of your way to change the dates to make sure neither of our siblings knows exactly when they can come here."

"And you didn't disagree with me at the time." Sona felt justified in her actions and it wasn't even a big change as she just made it a week or so earlier. However when Rias raised her hands in a peaceful gesture the short haired devil let out a sigh. "It is Saji and he has the Absorption Line."

"One of Vritra's fragments. Not bad." Rias said a little smug as she knows that even that Longinus can't compare against the Boosted Gear so between her and Sona on who has the better dragon she knows she won.

"Brag as much as you want, Red Dragon Emperor or not, remember Emiya's line; that is just potential, not actual power." Sona says competitively.

"It still means that Ise's ceiling is way higher than Saji's." The smugness doesn't leave her tone but it holds no malice as for both pureblood devils it was all in good fun. "You still didn't tell me why you came."

"This conversation is really familiar, should we play a game of chess on it?" Sona comments with a smile that makes Rias giggle.

"We just did, but I suppose it depends. Is my brother coming for a surprise visit?" Is the redhead's reply.

"Nothing like that." Sona said quickly but calmly. "I heard you made reservations to go to the closest Pet Forest with your peerage."

"And I suppose you did the same reservation since you also have new members." It was an observation that Sona had no problem admitting.

"You assumed correctly but unfortunately there was a hiccup with the Familiar Master." The student council's president informs with a frown before she fixed her glasses. "It seems that after attending to one of us he is going to be quite busy for a while. You will receive a message about it soon, tomorrow at the latest as you and I are in the front of the line and they don't want to upset either of us."

Rias frowns as well. "You checked?"

"Yes, since we were close to the date they informed me when I asked." But Sona would prefer it if they did it much sooner. "It could be potentially months before he is available again."

"That is irritating since that kind of job can only be during the full moon." Commented the Gremory heiress. "And since they didn't know who to cater to, you came to ask me to withdraw?"

"I know you well enough to know that you won't just do that." Sona affirms and Rias nods at the statement. "But I did think about negotiating with you into giving up your spot and allowing my peerage to go first."

"Not happening." Rias' response was swift and decisive.

"But if we don't come to an agreement neither of our servants will get a familiar for quite some time." Sona also replies fast, as stated earlier she didn't expect Rias to back down. "And since the Creature Preservation Organization doesn't want to choose…"

"We find ourselves on a dilema where none wants to back down and both want to go." Recognizing the problem and Sona's intentions, Rias acts fast by pulling something from her drawer. "Heads or tails?"

On Rias' hand is a silver coin and in Sona's face was a deadpan stare. "You think I am foolish enough to leave anything against you up to luck?" To the sides Akeno has her usual smile but Tsubaki is giggling a little behind her hand.

"Don't blame a girl for trying~" Rias places the coin back down, her eyes not leaving Sona. "So...how are we going to decide this little predicament?"

At this point both sides had realized that negotiations had failed and the two know each other well enough that there is no point in offering any kind of deal.

Like any proper heir of the 72 Pillars, both know the importance of familiars and how they can make the life of a devil considerably easier. With two new devils on both sides there is no chance for either of them to try and play the sympathy card as they are in the same situation in that regard.

Some things must be done, preferable this week since the full moon is close, or the two of them are going to lose and neither will go.

""A competition it is!"" Both Kings declared, startling their peerages a little while both Queen looked at each other, Akeno with an amused smile and Tsubaki with a sigh.

Both can already see where this is going.

…..

On the very next day things are already in motion as a crowd surrounds the tennis court of the Kuoh Academy school division. "So let me see if I get this straight; to see which peerage is going to the Pet Forest to get a familiar, they decided to do a tennis match?" Yoruichi is watching the proceeding on Shirou's shoulder as he and most of the ORC stand on a side of the court. The sun is hot but she doesn't care, the nekomata was amused and she didn't bother to hide it. "That is hilarious!"

"Sshh." Shirou tries to silence Yoruichi as some passing students look at him weirdly, all he does is wave to them as they ignore him and get in position to watch the show. "Can you not speak so loud? Explaining a cat around is easy, a talking cat isn't."

"Sorry, sorry." Yoruichi isn't sorry at all as she is relaxed on his shoulder.

"Bad kitty." Liz's comment made Yoruichi chuckle.

"I am surprised they are going to decide on a tennis match." Setsuna comments by Shirou 's side. "But what surprised me more is the number of students that came to watch."

"They needed to reserve the tennis court and the tennis club must have heard about it, checked who did it and the word must have spread." Rin informs with a shrug but she is sure her deductions are mostly correct, even Luvia stayed silent since she agreed with it.

"It doesn't matter! We must support Buchou and Akeno-san!" Issei declares with fire in his eyes as Asia stands at her side with her fists closed firmly to show her determination.

"Kinda hard to compete with that." Kiba points to the other side of the tennis court where members of the student council are together with Saji Genshirou with a huge flag on his hand ready to be unveiled while his friends and keep some distance where other students, fans of either Sona or Tsubaki, are close to him almost like a cheerleading squad. "Maybe we should have made a banner or something."

"That speaks more of Saji's dedication than anything else." Shirou comments with how fast the boy got it ready, he only had 24 hours and he made a flag and some bandanas that his sharp eyes can see on some of Sona's peerage and the improvised cheerleading squad. "And I can admit this; he is really dedicated."

"But why a tennis match?" Setsuna asks curiously and since neither the King or Queen of Gremory are present it is up to the Knight to explain the reasons.

"Buchou and Kaichou are competitive, especially with each other." Kiba notices that only Issei and Asia are surprised by the information. "Apparently they have competed on one thing or another since they were children."

"Skip the boring points, most of us know it already." Yoruichi said with a whisper that Kiba heard.

"In luck Buchou wins but in chess Kaichou wins. So, with those facts in mind, their usual means to compete are worthless against each other since they already know the most obvious result. The best way they can compete in an alternative sport so it is a fair match." Kiba explains in the best manner he could while trying to keep the new members on the loop.

"But why not a Rating Game?" Luvia is the one who asked. "And if not that, why not a spar or a duel of some kind? A tennis match, especially one that attracts this much attention, can be a hassle."

"That is because of the laws on the Underworld." Kiba points out. "They are too young to participate in Rating Games, they don't have the proper permissions and it is literally ilegal for them to participate without them."

"Makes sense considering how dangerous combat can be." Shirou comments with a frown.

"'Makes sense' when you remember that besides a sport, the supposed goal of Rating Games is to replace war." Yoruichi recognized the fact for everyone's benefit. "But Sausage Hair," Luvia fights back a scowl but Rin doesn't fight a smile, "is right. Why not a spar or a duel?"

"Combat between peerages also needs to be somewhat controlled or else they will be accused of emulating a Rating Game." Kiba replies while they all pay attention to the great number of students that are starting to surround the tennis court. "That is why they can't fight, either directly or indirectly. It is literally against the law and since their siblings are the ones that made those same laws…"

"Big trouble if we break them." Koneko said while taking a lick of her popsicle which some people found odd.

"Koneko...where did you get that?" Shirou is the first to ask and the girl points to the side and he can see Liz buying ice cream from some students who decided to make a small stand. "What the hell? How did they get that up so fast?"

"The important question is; did they already have everything prepared or they improvised?" Setsuna was impressed by the diligence and also moved to buy ice cream with some of the others.

"Do you want some?" Shirou asked Yoruichi.

"No, I am good." She replies while positioning herself to let her tail around the redhead's neck. "How long until it begins?"

"I actually have no idea." Shirou admits with a shrug and he was willing to even look for a chair to sit down when he saw a familiar face around the sea of students. "Sakura?"

"Huh?" Hearing her sister's name caught Rin's attention and she turns to see her younger sister approaching them. "Sakura? Didn't you have club activities today?"

And indeed the girl is even dressed with the archery club uniform when she gave her sister a mildly depressed smile. "We were about to begin practicing when someone arrived on our club screaming that there was going to be a tennis match between Rias-san and Souna-san." She pats Yoruichi's head for a second before continuing. "After that, everyone ran here and made a mess of things at the club. I put out my gear and decided to take a look."

"Well it still didn't start yet so you arrived in time." Yoruichi comments in gratitude for the head pat.

"I just find it a little silly that everyone is so excited about this. It is just a tennis match between friends." Sakura comments with a shrug.

"It is not that different from someone wanting to watch a movie star doing something." Luvia says loud enough just for their circle of friends to hear. As always, her attitude towards Sakura is much more friendly than her usual posture with Rin. "The idea that someone beautiful or admired is doing something is already enough to garner interest. When you add the fact there are multiple popular people together then the masses don't hesitate to follow them to witness whatever is happening either for curiosity or admiration."

"That is a good point, I suppose." Sakura said in acceptance. "It is still a little sad that people interrupt their own activities for this."

"Well, this kind of event doesn't happen everyday." Rin tries to cheer up her sister with a smile.

"3 for 1! Make your bets people! We have 3 for 1 on the ORC!" Another familiar voice catches Shirou's attention and he watches as Flat is walking around the crowd, with Svin right behind, both with tickets and notebooks to take notes from what, if Shirou was interpreting the words correctly, looked like gambling.

'What is wrong with today?' The redhead magus thought to himself before raising his arm. "Flat! Svin! What exactly are you two doing?" Both blond boys approach the now more complete group now with ice creams and popsicles.

"Shirou! How you been?" Flat excitement is contrasted with the small frown in Svin's face. "Want to make some bets? As a Gremory magician I suppose you and miss Tohsaka both would like to bet on lady Gremory."

"You are really taking bets?" Shirou found the thing hard to believe.

"Yeah, we knew about the event a little earlier than the rest so I thought it was a good opportunity to make some money." Flat sounds proud of the accomplishment.

"How did you know about it?" Shirou can't help his curiosity as more than one student is already proving themselves to know about the match way before the game even started. 'An unofficial game with Sona Sitri, a really private person. How things developed like this?'

"Look over there." Svin points to the direction of the entrance of the court where the students are making way to someone. It didn't take long for Shirou to recognize who it was.

"What is Olga Marie doing dressed as a judge?" Shirou's question catches the attention of most second years as they see the small figure of Olga Marie Animusphere, the youngest student in their year, walk inside the court dressed in black shorts with a long black and white shirt and a whistle around her neck. Her hair is in an unusual sports pony tail for her with a hat on her head to protect her eyes from the sun. 'All in all she looks like a professional judge.' Shirou has to admit that much.

"She has been bragging about it since she arrived at the school." Flat says with a smile but Svin shakes his head.

"She wasn't, she only started doing it when you managed to make her tell you why she was 'all happy' since the day began." Their fellow magus commented but his friend shows no shame. "When he finally managed to pry the information out of Olga Marie some students overheard..."

"And so we found our leak." Rin comments with a fake laugh as she now understands how the situation developed.

"But why Olga Marie?" Shirou decides to ask. "I didn't even know that Rias or Sona knew her."

"If I had to guess it was because they needed an impartial judge and Lady Animusphere fitted the bill of a neutral party." Luvia comments but her voice is strained from what Shirou could perceive. "She is, arguably speaking, the only noble of the same rank in town that is not affiliated directly with either of them. At the same time that can be an excellent opportunity for her to approach Sona to try and get a pact."

"Yes, yes. Between magicians and devils, favors can make or break a relationship." Flat said it like a joke but everyone that knows just a little about the moonlit world understands that he is correct. "Jokes aside," Flat gives Shirou the most serious pair of eyes the redhead had ever seen from him, "do you want to make a bet?"

For a second most of the ORC was surprised but Shirou just chuckled. "No, thank you. Unlike Rias, I would say my luck is the worst."

"What? Like a F-rank or something like that?" Flat comment made Shirou blink.

"Not that bad." Considering the family he has and the friends he made Shirou can say for certain F is a little too low of a rank.

"Then E?" Flat offers inquisitively.

"Why do you need to classify luck like that?" Shirou asked back.

"Kinda like a game right?" Surprisingly it was Ise who asked the question. "Like some characters that have high HP and power but suck at the hidden mechanics like criticals and such?"

"Yeah, Shirou is exactly like that." Flat said with a smile.

"You are exaggerating." Emiya tries to defend himself but Yoruichi chuckles on his shoulder.

"I don't know, you do have your moments of good luck but I think many present here can agree that what you have would be classified as bad luck." The nekomata sounds amused by her tone.

"That-"

"First date, assassins." Setsuna points out. "One of them with a Noble Phantasm."

"Goes to check a building in the middle of town and ends up discovering a hidden army and almost dying." Rin followed up next.

"Go on a trip with your father to face an army of monster serpents."

"Et tu, Kiba?" Shirou felt particularly betrayed from the first and last comments but he can forgive Setsuna because the first event did involve her.

While Kiba just shrugs his shoulders, Svin picks up the pace. "Add all that with a homicidal classmate who tried to turn all school into his personal battery…" Looking serious to Shirou for a moment he grows concerned. "Are we sure you aren't cursed?"

"Almost forgot about that one." Rin says while nodding her head and most of the ORC agrees with her, much to Shirou's horror.

"Oh, ha ha ha. You guys are hilarious." The redhead decides to ignore the topic from now on and never mention his luck again. "Shouldn't we be focusing on this?" Shirou motions to the court with his thumb.

"You are right! We need to go and collect more bets!" The excited magician begins to move but his companion doesn't show any interest. "Come on, Svin! We have to work for our living!"

"I am just doing you a favor…" Letting out a sigh, Svin turns back to the other present. "Anyone here wants to make a bet."

"No, thank you." Rin replies quickly but that gives Luvia an opportunity.

"What the Poor Head wants to say is that she has no conditions to make such bets." If they weren't in public, Tohsaka would have started a fight. "I, on the other hand, only bet on secured outcomes or those I can influence with my own power."

Nodding, the magician looks to the rest. "I only bet my life." Setsuna says.

"No." Is what Koneko said.

"I don't have any money." Issei comments since if he had he would bet on Rias.

"Gambling is wrong. We shouldn't do things like that, the Lord will be disappointed-" Asia was about to recite one of the passages of the Bible that spoke about it before Liz placed a hand on her mouth.

"Don't hurt yourself." The teacher intervened, a habit she was starting to get into everytime it looked like Asia was about to recite the Bible. "No bets."

Svin realizes the situation and nods his head, turning to leave while Liz lets go of Asia's mouth allowing the former nun to ask a question. "Do Buchou and Kaichou play a lot against each other?"

"Other games, yes. This is the first time I see them playing tennis." Shirou answers while nodding at Liz in appreciation for stopping Asia from hurting herself.

"I agree, I have never seen them play tennis before." Kiba makes a pensive face and even Koneko was looking up trying to come up with something from her memories.

"Maybe they chose this to even the playing field? They play something neither has too much experience in?" Issei's observation caught everyone off guard for a moment and the brown haired devil starts to sweat when he notices everyone staring at him. "I mean, that was what we did in the arcade when we were having an argument; me and my friends would pick a game none of us played to see who was right."

A roundabound way to do things in the redhead's opinion but it fits the present situation. "Huh. Good point Issei." Shirou compliments the new ORC member before they hear the crowd starting to cheer for something. "Looks like it is about to begin."

It takes just a couple of seconds for everyone to see the two sides entering the tennis court all dressed in appropriate attire for the sport but in their prefered colors; Rias on dark red, Akeno on yellow, Sona on blue and Tsubaki on teal.

The two sides meet at the center and shake hands, making a show for it to the audience that is already starting to enter in a frenzy as some can't stop shouting the names of their favorite girl on the field. "I hate crowds." Setsuna comments with a frown as she is covering her ears because of all the noise.

Taking pity on her, Shirou traces two ear plugs. "Here." Noticing the gesture, Setsuna smiles and accepts the temporary relief. When someone pulled his sleeve he noticed Koneko giving him a cute look. "Want some too?" She nodded and he provided.

"You two need to train more to control your senses~" Yoruichi bragged but only Shirou could hear her as the two ladies in question now could watch the game without overbearing noise.

Meanwhile, a coin spins on the air for two seconds before landing on Olga Marie's hands. "Shitori Souna's pick." The white haired magus announced and some of the crowd let out an even bigger cheer, almost like she had already won the match.

"We serve first." The Sitri heiress announces with a small smile as she begins to move in position to personally begin the game as someone offers her a ball.

"The tennis club must have offered members to help." Kiba commented as all the devils on the field are now in position for the game to officially begin. "I don't recognize anyone else on the tennis court."

Shirou shrugs. "Makes sense." Immediately when the game began, everyone that is aware of the moonlit world notices that Sona's energy began to spike in intensity. "Wait. Don't tell me-"

The serve came fast and neither Rias or Akeno could react until the ball had already hit the cage protecting the audience. "Oh my. Is this how it is gonna be Souna?"

"The first maneuver often leads to victory." Was the reply as Sona was already preparing for the next shot. "15-0 by the way."

"Did she just-"

"Yes, she did." Rin replies before Shirou finishes the question.

"Isn't that cheating?" Shirou refrains from saying too much in case normal students are in their ear range.

"What? Did Kaichou cheat?" Issei, who until this very moment was just shouting his support, turns to the redheaded human confused.

"Magic." Yoruichi said a single word like it explained everything.

It did. "Wait, for real?" Issei turns back to watch as Rias' serve also goes at extreme high speeds and the game goes for a tie.

"They aren't using much, their magic circles are barely visible, but they are using it." Luvia commented with some admiration at the work as both sides are using magic on the game to make the ball go faster under hundreds of eyes and nobody outside of the moonlit world was none the wiser.

"That is cheating." Issei said under his breath but someone heard him.

"Show me the rule book where it says that it is forbidden to use magic in a tennis match." Yoruichi comments with a chuckle.

"Are you alright? Need some earplugs too?" The fact that Yoruichi easily heard Issei indicated that she may not control her senses as much as she claims.

"What I need is some popcorn because things are going to get good." The nekomata points to the field with her tail as Tsubaki manages to intercept one of Rias' serves, the ball flying through the air for a couple of seconds before Akeno jumps and sends it back in another direction that Sona was already running towards. "Don't worry about me. Unlike Setsuna or the little kitten, I have a much greater control of my senses thanks to my youki. They are the ones that need to improve a lot before hanging around places like these."

"Should we do something?" Asia asked Shirou with a concerned tone. "I mean...we shouldn't let anyone else find out about the moonlit world. If anyone pays attention-"

"They won't." Liz's words got Asia's attention. "The magic circles are too small."

Asia looks back to the game and she can see what Liz means, the magic circles being used by the devils are small and practically transparent in comparison to the ones she has seen in other occasions in her life.

But they are still there and the former nun fears what may happen if someone notices. "This is dangerous. We should stop them."

"Unfortunately, there isn't stopping those two when they are like that." Kiba informs Asia with a depressed smilçe. "Buchou and Kaichou won't quit until one is the winner."

"But-"

"Don't worry Asia. Nobody that isn't already aware will be able to notice the magic circles." Rin places both her hands on the Bishop's shoulders to calm her down before turning her back to the tennis court. "Just enjoy the show while it lasts, I am certain plenty of students are doing it."

Asia couldn't understand what Rin was implying but pretty much everyone else could, many of the students watching were focusing their attention on the players themselves, everytime their bodies moved, their breasts jingled or the skirt ended falling short. To them the game was irrelevant when compared with the sights.

Even Issei didn't return to the same cheerleading and was just enjoying the view. "Is that on purpose?" Shirou questions with a raised eyebrow.

"Strength is beauty, beauty is strength." Luvia says while fixing her hair. "If both sides knew from the very beginning they were going to use magic and are using their beauty to make sure the masses won't perceive their real abilities then you can only call such maneuver 'elegant'." Edelfelf says with admiration as she watched the match with more attention than most by the feats of physical and magical ability.

"I call it irresponsable." Shirou says with a frown as deep down he has the same reservations as Asia and his eyes are moving around to try and see if someone is actually noticing magic being used. "I am sure that someone must be paying real attention to this."

"I think I pity the judge most of all." Sakura was looking to the elevated chair on the center of the tennis court when she spoke and her comment got everyone's eyes looking in that direction.

Olga Marie has both hands on her head as the equivalent of small cannon balls keep flying around her a little too close for comfort, sometimes right before her eyes. From time to time the girl gained respite as someone managed to score on the other team and yet she diligently kept up with the scores before going back to protect her head as the game continued at a fast pace that could kill most humans.

"It is like she is in the middle of a battlefield." Sakura continued to say and Yoruichi had to contain her laugh.

"I agree with you but there is little we can do, she agreed in being the judge for this dispute." Setsuna points out while trying to keep her eyes on the ball. "Although I doubt she will ever accept such requests again."

"Don't underestimate a magician's determination, especially a magus." Luvia informs the blackhaired beauty with a smirk. "We can be the most greedy bunch of people you have ever seen. Trust me, she doesn't regret her position."

Every member of the ORC takes a look at Olga Marie's face, she looked close to crying. "I disagree with that statement." Setsuna doesn't know much about greed but she can recognize fear and regret just fine.

"The poor thing." Liz's face remained impassive when she spoke.

"I wonder how long this is going to last?" Rin finally asked which made everyone realize something.

"They are playing tennis right...there is no clock." Kiba said with horror as the match was still on the second set of the game. "I mean, they are going a little fast but…"

"Now that both of them know they are using magic, scoring got much harder." Feeling a little nervous, the magus concludes something. "This...can take a while." Shirou followed up next with a facepalm. "Why did they decide to play tennis again?"

Because it was clear for all to see that none of the two Kings is willing to back down now, the Queen are also playing but the Kings are the ones really using magic and running around trying to win at any cost, even Akeno is holding herself back and she is usually the one that would jump at the opportunity for some mayhem.

"This can't last forever...can it?" Realization dawns on Issei about the rules of tennis and how long a match can be allowed to go. "I mean… this match has to stop sooner or later. Right?"

"Honestly, I have no idea." Kiba replies to his new companion with a genuine smile. "But they look to be having fun."

"Everyone except...what is her family name please?" Sakura prefers to be polite when possible.

"Animusphere." Rin supplies her sister with the answer she seeks. "But she likes being called Olga Marie, not Olga or Marie, Olga Marie."

"Animusphere-san really isn't having any fun on this." Even with the indirect permission, Sakura will remain using the family name until she receives direct permission, no exceptions.

"So, you guys think she will ever realize that technically she can call the match off?" Yoruichi felt some pleasure when everyone looked at her in confusion. "What? Magic may not be against the rules but it is against the spirit of the sport. Even then, she can call for a break and just not call the game back."

Once again everyone's attention is on Olga Marie and she is having a miserable time as her face can't hide her panic. At the moment the girl even stopped focusing on keeping track of the score and maybe one of the sides has already won the set but balls just keep flying and the judge looks unable to do anything about it.

"I hope this ends soon." Sakura's voice carries her concern and worries for the white haired girl in the middle of the battlefield and many members of the ORC found themselves agreeing.

…

"No." One word said with certainty and even annoyance. It invites no challenge, being a simple decree of deal but absolute in its nature.

"But Shirooooooooo." Rias whines, a little for comedy sake and a little sincerely. "We still need to decide a winner."

"I have to agree with Rias, Emiya-kun." Sona fixes her classes, both of them and their Queens are once again wearing normal clothes while their respectives groups watch as Shirou waits for them to leave the gym after a shower to express his concern about the game that took the whole afternoon. "Until we decide who's peerage is going to the Pet Forest first, the show must go on as they say. We only need to think of another competition."

While Rias is smiling and nodding at her friend's Shirou is massaging the bridge of his nose. "Do you two have any idea of how close you were to exposing the moonlit world?"

"You are exaggerating Shiro." Rias said somewhat dismissively until Shirou brought out her tennis racket, practically broken in half and barely keeping itself together. "Equipment breaks all the time."

"Not like this." Shirou is fighting to not raise his voice but he is exasperated and he isn't the only one. The thing is that everyone else that was worried also respected the two women enough to say nothing without prompt and he is the only one who doesn't care about that. "You two are too competitive."

"We made sure that no one noticed our actions. Or you doubt our skill?" Sona replies with a look that screams authority, trying to cow Shirou's attitude into submission.

All he did was raise an eyebrow and another tennis racket on his free hand. It was much more damaged then Rias' with its net practically ripped apart and the top missing. "No offense Kaichou but you have no 'ground' to stand on this."

"Where did you get that?" Sona loses her severe disposition and actually blushes at seeing how her equipment actually got more damaged than Rias'.

"When I noticed that Shirou-kun was fuming because of our little game, I provided it for him." Akeno said with a smile that has only happiness in it.

"Even if she didn't, I could make a copy of it." But having it in his hands did make Shirou even more concerned about the two girls' competitive spirit considering he managed to analyze the damage a little more.

"Happy to help~" The Gremory Queen said with pride but Shirou wanted to cut that out immediately.

"Oh no, don't think you are out of the woods, missy. You are as guilty as them. Don't think I didn't see you joining in and egging Rias on." Shirou points at Tsubaki with his thumb, surprising the Sitri Queen. "The only one of you not endangering the secret of the moonlit world was Tsubaki and even then she just used the speed of a Knight to stop any of your more dangerous balls to hit some of the bystanders."

"We were avoiding that." Sona is a little irritated for being called out like that while Akeno just smiles pleasantly, looking extremely satisfied with herself. "No one was getting hurt and we made sure nobody noticed the magic. Even if someone did, some members of my peerage were keeping an eye out to make sure nobody was taking pictures or speculating what they shouldn't."

"Which wouldn't be needed if you two choose a more private way of settling things." Shirou can understand Sona's strategy of having the student council roaming around somewhat to cover up the most fantastical things under the gaze of protecting her image and stomping down indecent behavior but it was just not enough. "All you need is someone with a good enough cellphone camera and 'bam', 'Magical Girls of Kuoh' will spread on the internet."

Shirou started to believe he managed to get to the student council president when he saw her face looking like she had a sour lemon but in reality it was the idea of 'magical girls' that actually made her pause and reflect on all her actions.

"Isn't he being a bit too harsh?" Momo whispers to the others present, trying to avoid the redhead turns his attention on her for any reason. "I mean, we are pretty sure no equipment could capture the circles."

"I think it is more the principle of the thing." Tomoe commented while scratching her cheek.

"I don't like how he is treating Kaichou like that." Tsubasa said with folded arms.

"Me neither." Momo expresses her opinion but they just look at each other and the other devils around them and see that no one is stepping up to stop him. "Is that a thing that happens a lot in the ORC?"

"He and Rias…argue from time to time and things do get heated but that is rare in general." Kiba knows that the two redheads only have heated discussions with proper reason. "But they can get really heated on these occasions."

"Shirou is upset. This was all for nothing." Liz's words made everyone realize that she had a point; after a tennis match that ended inconclusively and lasted throughout the afternoon nobody had anything to show for it.

"Stop overreacting, Shiro." Rias' voice interrupts the conversation between groups. "Nobody was hurt and everything is fine. Well, not completely fine since we still have no real result."

"Poor Olga Marie looked like she was about to die from a heart attack." Shirou points out and some even flinch at the memory of the one of the youngest students on campus walking away from the tennis court with a traumatized look on her face while being escorted by her friends. Mostly the girl looked like she wanted to run and hide.

"Was she that bad?" Sona asked because no King or Queen present saw that, they just left for a shower and to change clothes.

"Yes, she was." Ryuudou Issei steps up, the black haired student approaching respectably with a sad look of sympathy for the Sitri King. "She looked like she had run from a wild animal or run around a minefield."

"Not that far off." Yoruichi mumbles to the side, still amused by the events of the day.

"But, she could have stopped the match, she was the judge." Sona tries to argue in defense for her actions but Rin decides to say something.

"She is a magus that wants to get on your good side. You would be surprised with how much punishment we are willing to take." The Tohsaka Head was actually grateful that Sakura moved with Flat and Svin to help scort the girl out of the premises and was not around.

She would probably join Shirou in scolding the devils, nobility be damned and Rin doesn't want any troubles with her boss..

"Then she needs more of a backbone or else she won't get anything." Rias says without shame, even if what happened with the Animusphere heir bothered her, pride demanded her to remain steadfast. But in the end, her conscience spoke a little louder. "But I can see your point, Shiro. No more public stunts where mundane people can see us. We need another way to settle this."

"Can't we just all go together?" Asia asked with a timid look.

"Asia is right, why don't we all go together?" Ise immediately jumps to support the former nun but Sona just shakes her head.

"Usually the Familiar Master only receives one peerage per visit, no more, no less. It is a way to preserve the environment in the Pet Forest and to avoid having too many familiars be extracted at the same time." Sona informs while keeping a pensive look on her face.

"Can't we just ask if he can or not take everyone, just this time?" Shirou looks at the two pureblood devils to see if they would consider. "It isn't like everyone here is after a familiar."

"We can." Rias admits. "But either way we will have to decide who will go first just in case."

Sona nods at her oldest friend's words. "The main issue is if he says no. While only four people want new familiars, that doesn't change the fact that too many people may bring too many problems to the environment." It is clear that she had thought about it extensively even if she was acting a little distant from her own explanation. "We can try but either way we need to decide who has priority."

"So either way you two have to compete." Shirou scratches the back of his head. "And that may not even be necessary but, just to be sure, you have to do it anyway." He can't disagree with the logic since both women aren't going to give up. "Fine, but please choose a more private avenue."

"Of course." Sona focuses on the redhead once again. "I agree that such a public display was a mistake on my part and that I may have to apologize to Animusphere-san."

"Whoa, calm down a bit Sona, you are not the only one that should apologize for that." Rias smiles at her friend. "It takes two for a tango; I should have either called you out or insisted on a better set up, with a boundary field for the judge to watch the dispute safely, for example."

"Be as it may, the initial mistake was mine and I shall strive to correct it." Sona fixed her glasses with her firm posture once again, something many in the gym at the moment admired her for, but one of the presents didn't like what she was hearing.

'Is she planning to offer a pact as compensation?' Luvia questions herself, trying to divine the pureblood devil's thoughts.

Usually such things are only possible with prior knowledge about the individual and while Luvia can't say she knows Sona Sitri well she did manage to compile a file with plenty of information about every devil that resided in Kuoh prior to her arrival.

That is just how far the heiress of the Edelfelt family was willing to go and something her agents spend a good deal of time working. While her relationship with Shirou opened a new avenue of pursuit on such matters, the blonde magus knew she was behind the competition for him in comparison to other women.

That didn't stop her from trying other avenues of pursuit; investing in the town to show initiative, publishing theories of magecraft on magazines she knew Sona read, getting into contact with other members of Seekvaira's peerage to establish friendships.

All in an attempt to try and expand her influence and get on one of the Heiresses' good side. And now she can only watch as her efforts come undone.

Even as Rias and Sona discussed another competition to define who is getting priority, Luvia's mind was working every scrap of information she had in both Sona Sitri and Olga Marie Animusphere, the later's file being created after Luvia saw her in classes for the first time, almost an year ago.

'She probably is.' At the conclusion that the Edelfelt heiress had arrived, all the information she has on Sona speaks of a frigid attitude and a great sense of justice. At present Luvia knows that Sona's goal is to one day build a school for devils even if she lacks the details on how Sitri is going to do it.

The main issue is that Sona isn't like Rias, going after a new form of magecraft; she is looking for allies and there are few families that can give her the support that she needs.

While the Edelfelt name has money, Animusphere has allies, Olga Marie's grandfather was an influential magus with big ideas and many alliances before he retired saying that he had no more interests in politics since his goal was impossible for whatever reason.

But Animusphere still has every favor he collected even if they lacked the funds to do whatever they wanted, in a way that is exactly what Sona needs as the Sitri family, while not the richest of the Underworld, has enough capital to start her project.

What Sona needs is allies and favors, something Olga Marie inherently gets from her family name the same way Luvia gets the fortunes and knowledge from her own.

Clenching her fist, Luvia stops any other possible sign of her frustration that could be visible and even that she hid by just keeping her arms folded while her eyes kept watching the others around.

'Shero, you truly are lucky to have a pact and I am lucky to have met you.' Luvia thought to herself with a little sadness. 'However, things can't keep going as they are. I have no guarantees from you and neither can I force you to pick me and join our families. That is why I need to find some way to seize the opportunity.'

Realizing that the window to get a pact with Sona, the last free pureblood devil in Fuyuki, is closing, Luvia's mind turns to plans that she could employ to get it for herself before the Sitri heiress truly commits to making a pact with Olga Marie.

'All that I need is a chance.' Unfortunately Luvia has nothing that she can use at the moment, it wasn't even because she spent most of her time pursuing Shirou for the last few months, it is because after the 'Shinji Incident', nothing happened that she could capitalize on and use it to get in the good graces of one of the remaining heiress.

She was actually shocked when Agares left without getting any pact at all. Rumors ran around the moonlit community in Fuyuki that the magician she wanted a pact with refused, much to the confusion of many, including hers.

The fact remained that Luvia wasn't chosen, someone else was and they refused what she wanted. Her pride demanded satisfaction if the rumor was true and if it wasn't there was a wound on her pride born of failure in securing the Agares pact in the first place.

'I will redouble my efforts. There must be something I can do to get a pact.' For now Luvia can only bide her time, she will have to change some of her attitude and try to approach Sona more and once one opportunity arises she has every intention to pounce on it.

"Dodgeball then." While Luvia was lost in her thoughts, the two heiresses of Kuoh finally arrived at a decision. "It is the only game that we can play where the numbers are going to be fair, usually has no luck involved and neither of us has too much practice." Rias announces to all present.

"I concur." Sona has no reason to disagree with that game in particular. "However I estimate that only our peerages should participate in this game."

"Isn't that obvious?" Rias looks back at Sona with a smile that was far too innocent.

"Is it?" Sona's eyes look to all the members of the ORC, two in particular. "Some of my peerage expressed how capable some of the members of your club can be. Stronger than many devils if the Shinji Incident was any indication. Especially Emiya-san and Higurashi-san."

"Come on Sona, it is just dodgeball, not a Rating Game." Rias tries to argue but her friend shakes her head.

"Not happening. Both are comparable with Rooks or Knights. To make the game really fair we can have the same numbers and the same types of Pieces, that is the only way I am accepting this." Sona declares firmly.

"It is just a club activity, a game between friends." Rias tries to argue, knowing how strong and useful both Shirou and Setsuna can be in a game like dodgeball.

Seeing how much Rias is trying to push to have her way just made Sona more aware she can't allow a magus that has a Noble Phantasm and a hanyou daughter of one of the strongest yokais get involved. "But this is a matter between peerages. Between Kings. Unless they are a part of your household then they can not participate."

"Shiro technically is part of my household, he is my magician." Rias said with pride but Sona has a perfect counter.

"Yes and I don't have one while you have an extra. Or should we call your other Bishop to have a truly fair match?" Her words had some bite in them that was enough to make Rias mute for a moment.

"Other Bishop?" Ise whispers to Kiba.

"I will explain later." The Knight said in the same volume.

"Fine." While getting Shiruo on the game would be an advantage, Rias doesn't want to even bother Gasper with the possibility, not to mention the seal that still stops him from leaving his room. "That was a low blow Sona."

"Maybe. But I don't want to lose." Sona stated, the last part barely a whisper.

"Great, you guys have a game and we are in the gym already." Yoruichi catches everyone's attention before continuing. "Can I be the judge so we don't make Olga Marie's hair any more white?"

"You are technically aligned to Rias." Sona points out, making the nekomata chuckle.

"Are you saying that I am going to cheat?" She asked back with a smile and raised eyebrows. "That is bold considering the last time you said I was lying on anything, I proved you wrong, if I recall correctly."

"Fine, you can be the judge." Sona said with clenched teeth, much to Issei's and Genshirou's horror as they never saw their King looking so frustrated.

"Yay." The cat let out a sarcastic but satisfied cheer. "So, you gals want the match now or later?" The nekomata question makes both purebloods pause. "We are already in the gym, classes are done and with a boundary field, no one else will be coming."

"Kuro is right. Besides, the sooner we have this competition the sooner we won't have another 'Tennis Disaster'." Shirou decides to add to the conversation.

"Is that what we are calling it now?" Akeno felt a shiver on her spine when Shirou gave her a look to warn her to not try anything. She pretends to lock her mouth with a key and throws it away just making the redhead sigh.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get some balls and start playing!" Tsubasa shouts in excitement and most of Sona's peerage is with her in it.

"Need some time to decide which Pawn is going to play?." Rias asked Sona with a smile while she fixed her glasses.

"This can't be worse than the tennis match...can it?" Rin asks with a grin, happy that she won't be part of whatever mess is about to unfold.

"With Kuro as the judge?" Liz's question made Koneko and Shirou actually flinch as the two turned to look at the cat.

Yoruichi didn't even bother to appear innocent as she started to jump around the area. "Get into your gym uniform and get ready for the game! Everyone else, clear the arena!"

"'Arena' eh?" Shirou says under his breath.

"She is having too much fun with this." Setsuna doesn't facepalm, she was raised better than that. She still covers her eyes with a hand in mild embarrassment.

In the end the game would be a six vs six match; all the devils from the Occult Research club versus the Student Council whose members are Sona Sitri, Shinra Tsubaki, Hanakai Momo, Meguri Tomoe, Yura Tsubasa and Saji Genshirou.

Six balls are placed in the middle of the field. "Let's get ready for an apocalyptic game of dodgeball!" Yoruichi announces with a huge grin to those that could see it while the remaining members of both sides sit together besides the area of the game. "If I say you were hit, you were hit! No complaints or crying! If you catch a ball you can rescue one of your teammates! You grab it and then let it go too fast, you are out! Game ends only when one team is fully eliminated! Also no magic, we want the building to stay standing by the end of the game."

The last part was said without the usual enthusiasm since that was a rule that Shirou had to add while the players dressed in their gym uniforms, white shirts for boys and girls with gray pants for the boys and black bloomers for the girls.

"Anything else, King of the Spoilsports?" Yoruichi complains to Shirou a little but instead of being offended he just chuckles besides Setsuna and Issei where they were going to watch the match.

"Not at all, you may proceed." The magus spoke in a fake kingly tone just for fun.

But Yoruichi's fun wasn't over. "As his majesty commands." She then turns to the players. "Hands on the walls people! Hands on the walls! If you take it off before we start I will have your hide!"

"She is really getting into it, isn't she?" Rin comments to the side, sitting on one of the chairs that they managed to find.

"I just hope things don't escalate again." Reya comments with a small nervous smile.

"With that cat there? Either the game will end fast or will escalate in some way, that is inevitable." Rin said with a chuckle at the Bishop's side. "Maybe we should have left Asia out of this just to be sure."

"She wanted to play." Liz said with a shrug.

"Ready! Set! GO!" The judge calls and both sides sprint to the balls in the middle of the gym.

Obviously the Knights are the first to get to the center, Kiba and Tomoe trading glances before they grab one ball each, throwing them back as their Kings ordered earlier. It was clear that both Rias and Sona had instructed them to go for the maximum number of balls possible and since they were fast enough to arrive at the center at the same time, both keep up a fast pace to try and outspeed the other.

However the Knights are equally fast, getting three balls each, and the two sides retreat when the Rooks get in position, ready to throw. Besides Koneko and Tsubasa, the Kings and Queens also have balls on their hands, ready to be used.

While Kiba was a little bit faster in a sprint, Tomoe was actually faster in throwing the balls back and Tsubasa managed to grab it before the majority could react. The blue haired girl started to look for a target, finding it on the slightly too forward Pawn of their opponent.

"OOHHHHH!" With a mighty shout, Tsubasa throws the ball with the full strength of her Rook Piece.

"OOOOWWW!" "Ise!" "Issei-san!"

Many shout while part of the audience flinches as Hyoudou Issei was hit below the belt. "I am glad to not be participating." Ryuudou Issei comments with terror after seeing his friend who shares his name go down with one single shot.

"That was cruel." Shirou comments with a shiver. "He wasn't even prepared."

Some were stunned by the event, some weren't. "Koneko! Avenge Issei, now!"

With Rias' command, Koneko raises an arm, aims at her target. "AAAAAWWW! WHY?!" Saji falls to the floor holding his lower parts.

"You know why." Koneko said in a confident tone.

"Nyahaha- Okay! Okay! Pft! Enough nut shoots!" The cat was rolling around for a while before finally controlling herself. "Both Pawns are officially out!"

"Not going to do anything about Koneko's surprise attack?" Sona complains, trying to seize the opportunity to get an advantage which made Yoruichi stop trembling.

"Say...Rating Games are replacements for war...right?" Yoruichi said in a low voice that actually made Sona look at her in a new light.

"That was their original intention, yes." Sona isn't the only one hearing the conversation but she is the only one giving her full attention.

"And in a battle is your opponent going to stop because you want them to?" Yoruichi barely finished the question before Sona felt something on her arm, looking down to see a ball rolling on her feet and looking up to see a smiling Rias. Suddenly Sona felt a shift around her and when she noticed she was sitting besides her peerage. "I warned that the game would only stop when it was over, when one of the teams was out." The nekomata keeps talking and the Sitri King notices that she is besides Ise, Asia and Saji, all of them out of the 'arena'. "With this, it is 4 vs 4 now."

'How did I get here?' Sona didn't realize how she moved, she felt no magic or teleportation.

Her mind kept thinking of the possibilities until she saw a bottle of water close to her. "Here, Kaichou." Issei offers it with a smile. "Don't worry. I am sure the others still can win."

"I apologize for Kuro's behavior." Shirou comments from where she was sitting. "She shouldn't have pulled you like that."

Sona fixes her glasses before letting out a sigh. "It is fine, I suppose." What impressed her was how fast the cat had moved. "I am a little frustrated that Rias took the chance to throw a cheap shot at me."

"And you were complaining about something your Rook technically did first." Yoruichi said with a chuckle. "I mean, I am not a guy but even I felt that one."

"You're a girl?!" Saji sounds absolutely surprised as Ruruko was trying to help him or at least hold him down until Asia could.

"Rude~" Yoruichi says in good humor. "But yeah, if I was going to penalize Konkeo, I would have to penalize Tsubasa too. But with Asia here, even if it is really painful, the problem is fixable; why should I stop the game when in dodgeball things like that are natural?" She gives a second to Sona before continuing. "Besides, Asia clearly was leaving the field anyway and with both of you leaving the game stays equal, punishment or not. Also this can also count as a lesson for you to not drop your guard before things are definitely over."

With that Sona takes a deep breath. "Very well." She accepts the water bottle and an offered chair before turning to the field. "Win this! Tsubaki! Tsubasa! Momo! Tomoe!"

"You can count on us, Kaichou!" Momo says with confidence while dodging one of Rias' throws.

Tsubasa counter attacks but Akeno uses her own ball to stop the Rooks throw with a smile as Tsubaki follows up with her own throw at Akeno's leg that has the Gremory Queen jumping to the side to avoid it.

It became clear in a few minutes that this was a game where Queens had a distinct advantage against everyone else; the Knights are fast but they lack the fire power to take down the Rooks, the Rooks throws are strong but they need the Knights to pick up and pass the balls for them and everyone is aware of their presence while the King and Bishop both are athletic women but are still not stronger than a Rook.

The Queens were different; while both Rooks on both sides clearly train their physical aspects more than most present, the Queens are still strong enough that every throw can damage the floor.

It didn't take long for the next one to be eliminated, it was Tomoe. The extra speed of a Knight was worthless when Kiba was the one throwing and he proved good enough to hit her on the arm. However a few seconds later Tsubasa avenged her friend and took out Kiba just before Koneko managed to hit her.

With two against three the remains of Sona's team fought valiantly but it was just a matter of time for things to end with just Tsubaki throwing the balls. The Gremory group ran to the back of the court, close to the wall and Akeno focused on defense with Rias collecting the balls and Koneko being the main thrower aiming for a single target: Momo.

An easy plan, take out the extra before focusing on the main threat. It wasn't Rias' preference but Momo was just passing balls to Tsubaki and the Sitri Queen is stronger than Akeno and a little faster which was pushing the Gremory side on the defensive even with the number disparance.

All ended when Rias took out Momo and Akeno managed to nail Tsubaki's arm when she tried to take out Rias in retaliation. It wasn't planned, it was an accident at best but Akeno just saw the opportunity and capitalized on it, Rias still got hit and was technically out in the final moments but the win was for the ORC whose members celebrated while the student council comforted each other.

Sona stepped up to Rias and offered to shake her hand, showing grace in defeat. "Don't worry Sona. We can still talk with the Familiar Master so both our peerages can go." Tried to console Rias and while Sona nodded she still looked a little bothered until she smiled.

"I won't lose when we eventually have a real Game between us." Her childhood friend's words don't surprise Rias who smiles back.

"We shall see." And it was clear the small game between the girls didn't shake their friendship or competitive spirit as they clearly are ready for more.

"You know, I would love to officiate a Rating Game between you two." Yoruichi said optimistically.

"Don't count on that, Kuro-san. Only official judges and special guests can officiate Rating Games." Akeno informs the nekomata with a small smile.

"And the special guests? Are they important people or something?" When the Gremory Queen nodded, Yoruichi started to laugh to the confusion of some.

"I doubt that will happen." Setsuna whispers in Shirou 's ear. "She has too much fun keeping her disguise."

"I think it will happen, in some way, somehow." The redhead magus whispers back. "And she is going to enjoy throwing curve balls around during their game. I just know it."

Kuro the servant of Yoruichi never would be invited but Yoruichi herself definitivally had a chance since those that knew about her real identity also know she does have some contracts in the Devil Faction.

"We better avoid giving her any ideas." Shirou and Setsuna nod to each other with their decision made as Liz starts to clap to get everyone's attention.

"Class is over. Put away the equipment...and fix the gym." Leysritt may not speak much most days but when she wants to be a teacher she had the posture, attitude and even the 'no nonsense' tone voice on the mark as the students complied, even those that didn't play.

""""""""Yes sensei!"""""""

…..

The next couple of days were peaceful around Fuyuki, so much so that Shirou actually managed to adjust to his new routine after adding Ise's training to the mix. He still isn't a specialist on hand to hand combat but he got some advice from Rin that actually helped him make due even if everything he is teaching so far is basic.

Another new addition to his day was Asia and their efforts to make a new EM; It was a success to an extent. They managed to create an EM Mark II capable of better healing than the original and with the ability to heal bones, the thing wasn't perfect and couldn't replace completely destroyed organs completely but even the nun herself couldn't do that so Shirou believes that it just isn't in the capabilities of her sacred gear.

Either way it took many days and three hours of constant work for the new model of EM to be born and Asia was exhausted but that could also be blamed on her skills in managing Twilight Healing without no one to actually heal. While healing demands a certain finesse, EM was just too small and the Bishop wasn't used to the heat of the forge either so she had considerable difficulties on working on the process.

But Asia was determined to see it through and their success was well received even if the process can be improved a lot still. The Mk. II also can be mass produced, much to Rias' pleasure. Shirou still needs to find the right combination of metals since the addition of the power of the sacred gear changed the optimal composition but they are practically on the home stretch now and the Gremory heiress even threw a small party to celebrate.

While Shirou walked to his classroom he began to remember the party that day, he never really knew what to do with himself in those and much like his birthday, or the day Iri decided was his birthday, he couldn't just skip it since the party had been for him and for Asia.

'Besides the addition of the student council and that I didn't cook, that was pretty much a normal day.' If anything that made Shirou a little unhappy, the fact that he couldn't cook but he wasn't surprised either, Iri used to make the same demand during those days and she must have given Rias tips or something because she made the same demand note for note. 'At least it was fun.'

And Shirou can't deny he had fun that day, everyone was smiling and in a good mood. The dodgeball game didn't strain any of the relationships they had combined with the fact that every devil managed to go and watch while four of them attempted to get a familiar also helped.

Only Asia succeeded, a small purple dragon she ended up calling Rassei. From what the redhead gathered, shenanigans ensued, nobody else managed to get a familiar, some clothes were destroyed and in general the Familiar Master apparently only wants one peerage from then on regardless of how many people are actually getting familiars.

Routine settled in the next few days; Shirou would wake up early, cook breakfast and lunches, go to school to actually do normal student things if his mother was to be believed, hanging out with friends during lunch, finish classes and then go for club activities, including dinner and work on his forge, before going back home to do other things depending on his mood or the people around him.

Since Yoruichi arrived, even before they moved to the new house, a good time of his night was trying to catch her when she was in the mood for a game of tag. It was either that or meditation or even hand to hand training to help him develop touki or understand a little of senjutsu. Other times she just wants to tease him in a way or another.

Then there are days he sits around and just reads a book with Medusa or she asks him to escort her somewhere to explore the town a little. Usually that happens on the weekends and the other house guests also join them on their outings. Everyone had fun on those and it was always a pleasure to see Medusa's face when she found something new.

But during the week the little goddess favorite pastime is reading, or watching TV with Koneko but mostly reading. The library of Shirou's house had at least a couple hundred books and Medusa can always be seen reading one when not doing other stuff or reading from other people's collection.

Her room in the house was also one that Shirou admiried a little, not only was it the most clean room of the whole place but she also modified it with some materials she asked him to buy. Instead of a normal Japanese room it looked like a mini temple full of pillows with her own bookcases that she used for the books she was reading at the moment or for her growing collection she recently started.

Liz had to adapt a little to their new surroundings and got into a routine to help around the house. Where before she did little to nothing, now she takes care of their equipment and some of the empty rooms for him

The maid turned teacher still enjoyed eating his various dishes and still prefered to just spend most of her time in front of the TV but Shirou can't deny that her help allowed him more time to work in other things and to train.

Koneko was the only one that didn't change much, even her room wasn't that much customized since everyone else did one thing or another but hers is similar to his, bare and having nothing really personal on it.

Shirou knows his room is pretty much the same thing but everything he actually owns is either around the house or in his workshops, his house itself can be called a reflexion of his taste; neat, clean and with a mixture of modern and classical all around with the rooms of his guests given to them to do as they pleased.

More than once he wanted to see what bothered her but Yoruichi's warning remained on his mind even after months. So Shirou remained firm on not confronting Koneko, he trusted Yoruichi and he didn't want to invade neither's privacy.

This day started normal enough, he woke up, did his stretches and cooked. The way to school was peaceful with mild conversation; Yoruichi threw some jokes around and Medusa commented a little about her most recent book, nothing much.

After arriving, everyone started to go their own way, Shirou traded farewells with Koneko before starting to walk to his own classroom. 'Today is gonna be a good day.' Shirou is in a good mood since the progress with EM, it wasn't just Rias that was ecstatic because of it and soon his job will be done with Asia's help, it was now just a matter of time.

"Shirou!" A familiar voice gets the redhead's attention to see Hyoudou Issei running in his direction, the brown haired boy clearly had run for some time as he stops himself just short of the magus completely out of breath.

"I need to remember to add extra stamina training to your routine." As a devil, or even as a fit human, Issei shouldn't be tired like that in Shirou's opinion.

"What?" Issei questions in horror as he was already training with both Shirou and Rias, the idea of more exercise was actually concerning him. "I just... ran from my house...straight to school."

Shirou nodded at the information. "And your house is not that far, you need extra training." The magus speaks clearly to make sure Issei could hear even with the other students talking around the hallway.

"I- Never mind that. Can I talk with you? Privately?" Issei's reaction had the magus raising eyebrows but they did have some time before classes.

"Sure." Shirou said with a shrug and then stepped to the bathroom with Issei in tow before stabbing a sword beside the door. "Check the stalls, please." With a little mana, the area around the bathroom is covered with a small boundary field outside of Kuoh's grid.

The sword itself is one of Shirou's mystic codes that he tried to work to make swords that could make shields of some kind. It failed for the most part but now he has a way to make instant boundary fields with minimal functions like blocking sounds and keeping the less aware people away from the area.

"All clear." Issei had just finished with the last stall when he said that. "I don't think anyone comes here before the first period."

"Better safe than sorry." Shirou is still checking to make sure that the sword is stable as this was his first real work of its kind. He also needs to make sure that his field is not messing with Kuoh's for any reason but the ley lines seem to be accepting him easily. 'Maybe I should check that later?' He thinks for a moment before shrugging. "Then again, Angelo did pretty much the same."

"Did you say something?" Issei hears Shirou muttering but the redhead shakes his head.

"Nothing important right now." Emiya comments before turning to look at Issei. "So, do you need help with something? Problems with clients? If you need a break from training we can but that will hurt you in the long run."

"That is not- Wait! I could have asked for a break?" The host of the Red Dragon Emperor is surprised by the revelation, which actually disappoints Shirou a little.

"Issei, all the training we have been doing is for your own sake, to make sure you are strong enough to survive in the moonlit world. While I wouldn't recommend stopping, that is your decision, not mine." Shirou smiles a little at seeing Issei's pensive face since he wasn't immediately saying he wanted to stop. "If you want to stop, say it. I can even talk with Rias and you could just work with deals, I am sure she wouldn't mind even if she will be a little disappointed herself-"

"It is about her that I want to talk about." The interruption surprised Shirou a little, especially when he saw confusion and worry in Issei's eyes. "You are Buchou's magician right? Her business partner and 'keeper of secrets' or something, right."

"More of the first then of the second. Rias never told me any secret she wanted me to keep." And Shirou can freely admit he has a secret or two he hasn't told her either.

"But you would know if something is wrong with her right?" Now Issei's words are actually worring the redhead.

"Tell me what happened." It wasn't a demand but it didn't need to be, Shirou's posture and eyes spoke enough.

"Yesterday night...you aren't going to believe me but please listen, Buchou showed up in my room and asked me to take her virginity." Issei's blood was pumping even with just the declaration, his mind going back to the almost naked body he saw and even touched a little.

Shirou on the other hand had to do a hard reset on his mind. "I am sorry but...what did you say?"

"Buchou asked me to take her virginity." Issei said once again.

After another reset, some consideration on tracing Truthbearer and finally letting out a sigh, Shirou finally spoke again. "I don't know if that is a devil thing or not but you didn't need to call me to brag."

"I am not bragging! We did nothing because that strange maid showed up!" And Issei can admit he was a little frustrated because of that.

The previous night the boy had a chance, the chance, to finally have sex and he ended up being left alone in the dark with a boner. Worse, Asia heard the noise and had checked to see if Issei was alright and only his bedsheets and her innocence stopped the situation from getting worse.

"Okay." Shirou claps his hands to try and get some focus, a strange relief washed over him but he wasn't going to comment on that. "From the beginning; what happened?"

"That is it!" And Issei is growing frustrated again. "Nothing else happened! Buchou showed up at my house and said she wanted me to take her virginity. She just started taking off her clothes and then that maid came from nowhere saying something like 'that is unbecoming of you, ojou-sama' and a lot of other stuff I didn't get. Then they were gone and Buchou told me to forget about it."

"That is odd." Shirou is controlling his reaction, a big bundle of concern starts to form on his gut as he manages to stop himself from overreacting.

"I know right!" Issei also is starting to calm down again, happy that Shirou didn't doubt his story. "So, as her magician, can you tell me what was that about?"

"I...honestly have no idea." Shirou has a scowl on his face, something that Issei never saw before on the usually calm redhead and it looked actually scary for the devil. "But you can bet I will figure it out."

With that intent on his mind Shirou begins to leave the bathroom, a confused Issei follows in his wake. "Wait. Shirou, wait. You are going to talk to Buchou now?"

"That is the plan." Shirou was about to place his foot on the stairs when Issei spoke again.

"What about classes?" The Boosted Gear owner question was unheard as Shirou began to make his way to the third floor, Issei following him still. "We can just interrupt them."

"I will call Rias, say that I want to talk with her." Shirou simply replies.

"Can't this wait until after classes? In the club?" That question makes Shirou pause and turn to look at Issei with a frown. "I mean-"

"For a good while now I suspected that Rias wasn't telling me something important." It was always on the back of Shirou's mind, especially when it came time to talk about EM. "And now you tell me that she just...what? Teleported to your house to give her virginity? Then a maid showed up? Either you are pulling my leg or there is something definitely wrong."

"And you just believe in me? I could be hallucinating for all you know." While grateful that Shirou believed in him, he knows his story is unbelievable in the best of days, but Issei knows that having Emiya marching to confront Rias may be a bad idea at this hour of the day.

"Were you? Because you don't look like a liar and that story is too unbelievable to be a hallucination." Shirou could see in his eyes that Issei was worried during his story, worried and confused. 'That is not the expression of a liar.' He had decided to believe in Issei and that meant finally confronting Rias. "This problem has been going on for too long, whatever it is." He turns to go to the third floor again. "Rias is not really an aggressive person, she is passive until provoked, then she gets overly aggressive, and the fact that she just tried to jump on bed with you out of nowhere means that the situation just became serious." Was what he had deduced. "And maybe it wouldn't be like that if I had insisted that she told me what was wrong earlier."

A good while ago when Shirou started to really notice Rias concerns he couldn't help but compare the situation with Koneko and he ended up using Yoruichi's advice applying it to Rias situation without realizing that there was something different, a greater urgency that Rias wasn't showing or telling and that now finally showed its face.

And he still didn't know what was going on.

The bell finally rings at the beginning of classes and Issei tries one last ditch effort to avoid disaster. "Look, classes have already started. If you go now you won't just need to drag Buchou out of her classroom, you would have to pass the teachers, the other students and we can't let anyone know about the moonlit world. It would be too dangerous for them."

The last point was what really hit Shirou, the possibilities of more people being dragged into the supernatural, of having their normal lives being turned upside down because of his actions.

He could try to make up an explanation but everybody knows Shirou can't lie, he just couldn't. 'What am I going to do really? Show up in her classroom and then ask infront of everyone why she was jumping on Issei's bed?' The thought actually made him chuckle. 'I would sound like a jealous boyfriend.' Taking a deep breath, Shirou began to walk towards his classroom. "Fine, I will wait until lunch. There is no more dodging with this anymore; either she tells me what is bothering her or I will not cook for her for a year."

"That may be a little too cruel." Suddenly Issei felt that he shouldn't have said anything.

"You will get extra portions for the rest of the week." Shirou says quickly.

"I thank you for your service." Issei bows to his waist, happy to have more of the great food on his plate and not realizing that Shirou was essentially bribing him to betray his King's secrets.

"Now let's go to classes. At this pace we are already late enough." The information makes Issei run as fast as he could, Shirou almost got the impression he had been promoted to Knight with how fast he was going. 'Huh, he must have a strict professor in his first period.'

Shirou just shrugs and walks at his own pace, this would be the first actual time he was going to be late for a class since he could remember. At least he could say he had a new experience.

…

For the first time in months, neither Rias or Akeno showed up for lunch and nobody knew why. Koneko lives in his house so she didn't speak with them and Asia lives in Issei's house and he already knew that if the Red Dragon Emperor host had no idea what was going on there was little chance Asia had clue herself.

Kiba also had no explanations to give, arguing that he hadn't seen his King since the day before, only receiving a message saying that all devils must go straight to the ORC after classes as fast as possible and that no one else needed to go, Rin getting an unofficial day off with no strings attached.

Just that information was enough to have alarms going around in most people's heads but Kiba said that it was devil business and that Medusa would stay in Gasper's room during it, promising to take her home soon after.

Most didn't buy that explanation and even Kiba admitted it was weak which prompted some to decide to go after classes. The devils got a head start to warn Rias about it if they wanted but Shirou, Yoruichi and Setsuna were going either way.

Only Rin and Luvia decided to not actively go against Rias' wishes; one as an employee felt that she shouldn't go and the other vaguely stated she had other duties.

Finally the end of the school day came, the devils departed straight to the club with haste while Shirou decided to give them a couple of minutes while they waited for Liz and even when the maid turned teacher arrived they still decided to wait another five minutes.

It took ten seconds after they started to walk towards the club for Yoruichi to ask, "Any idea of what this is all about?"

"First time I am actually 'banned' from the club so no." Shirou replies fast while looking at the cat on his shoulder. "You?"

"What~? Why would I know anything?" Shirou gives Yoruichi a deadpan look that has her chuckling.

"You are telling me that you didn't use the time after lunch to run to the club to see what Rias was up to?" The nekomata chuckles more at his indirect accusation. "Does anyone here believe you didn't go spy on the club?"

"No." "Nope."

Were Setsuna's and Liz's replies respectively, the two paying close attention to the conversation as the nekomata began to laugh. "Nyahaha~ You guys know me so well." Yoruichi controls her laugh after a second and her face turns serious. "There is someone seriously strong inside the ORC, she is familiar to me but was trying to clearly hide herself. She may be hiding her power but with senjutsu there is no hiding from me, no matter how much she tries." Everyone stays silent at Yoruichi's words. "I honestly don't know if I should be surprised when I saw the Queen of Lucifer having a stern talk with Rias."

"Grayfia?" Shirou asked with a confused look. He remembers her well from the Parents Day Visit the previous year.

"Got it in one." Yoruichi says with a smile. "Fortunately she wasn't able to detect me, she may be strong but her awareness is not that great." Says the nekomata that everyone knows is a specialist in stealth. "But for real, the way she was looking at Rias was not like the last time we saw her. She doesn't look upset but disappointed and even a little sad."

"'Sad'? Did Rias-"

Yoruichi quickly interrupts him. "I managed to hear a little of what they were talking about. It is nothing she did but what she tried to do, her little attempt to 'romp' with Ise." Shirou nods in understanding but the nekomata wasn't done. "Funnily enough her sadness was not directed at the action itself but the reason behind the action."

"Any idea why she tried that?" Setsuna couldn't see Rias just offering herself like that without a really good reason.

"Unfortunately I got there in the middle of the conversation so I lack much of the context." Lamented Yoruichi with a frown. "Something is upsetting Rias and Grayfia is here to stop her from doing something she would regret, that is just what I could understand. The rest was a normal conversation; Rias asking about her nephew, Grayfia asking about her peerage and how strong they have gotten, nothing unusual."

"Except that Grayfia is here." Shirou voices his thoughts.

"Without Lucifer." Liz added to the conversation. "Kings and Queens are often together."

"Liz is right, her being here alone is even stranger when you consider that she is the right hand of the unofficial Leader of the Underworld." Setsuna remembers the woman well and how she takes standing by her husband seriously.

"This whole situation is odd but especulating is not going to help." In the end Shirou rationalized that just thinking of theories is only going to delay.

And yet Yoruichi wasn't done. "I spoke with Medusa to see what Rias told her to make sure she wouldn't leave Gasper's room." After Shirou gave her a nod to show she had his attention she continued. "All Rias said was that she was going to have some important visitors and that when they left she was going to escort Medusa home post haste." At that moment the nekomata stopped to chuckle. "Our little goddess didn't like the idea but the maid behind her 'looked dangerous' in her actual condition so she accepted but was ready to cause a big explosion to call for you if Grayfia actually tried anything."

'Medusa's instincts are still sharp even in her actual condition.' Still Shirou felt bad that technically she was in a dangerous position and he would only know if it was too late. "Anything else?"

"She hadn't bothered to eavesdrop since it was just supposed to be some kind of business." Yoruichi finished her report as the club is now visible.

"I few new people." Leysritt informs everyone.

"But no fighting so far." Yoruichi can be more specific but before she could elaborate she stood to attention on his shoulder. "Another fourteen presences just showed up!"

Urgency fills everyone as they start to run to the club, getting ready for a fight.

…

'And my week had started so well.' Rias laments as two new figures had arrived to her club and one of them is someone that she hates on principle. 'One more month, I just needed one more month and then I wouldn't have to worry about his ugly face.'

Even if she calls him ugly, the man before her can be considered an example of the pinnacle of nobility in terms of good looks. With dirty blond hair longer than Kiba's but still not reaching his neck that helped frame his face and bring attention to his dark blue eyes.

Dressed in a burgundy blazer with gold embroidery on the right with matching pants and black dress shoes with an open white dress shirt with a button open that showed his chest, the man is completely relaxed on one of the chairs of the club with a beautiful woman to his side.

She has long wave purple hair that goes all the way down her back with it cascading also in front of her right eye easily while reaching her breast while her left stops only at the beginning of her skirt.

The woman also has a voluptuous figure and the right type of clotting to show it; a dress consisting of a navy blue tunic top with gold accents and a pale blue skirt with open sides, black shoes and over matching thigh-high stockings with garter belts. The top reveals much of her cleavage, and is held with a gold choker with blue and red jewels. Over this, she wears a white overcoat with black and gold accents and matching pauldrons. For accessories, she wears a black headband with a red-orange jewel over her forehead to keep her long hair in place, and wields a staff-like scepter in battle. For cosmetics, she wears purple lipstick and nail polish, matching her eyes and hair.

The intimate way she was sitting on the arm of the chair that the man was sitting also shows how close the two actually are, with him having an arm around her waist and her having one around his shoulder.

'Considering I am still his fiance, one would think he would be more subtle.' Rias can't help but think before saying, "I already told you and I hate repeating myself; I have no intentions of marrying you, Riser"

Riser chuckles, finding the whole situation humorous. "And I already told you that you will, our parents are tired of waiting and your time playing in the human world already delayed things too long in their opinion." Just the way the man spoke was enough to make Rias want to blast him away but she holds back both for her peerage's sake and because Grayfia is also there watching the proceedings. "After so long you should just accept it. My father finally convinced yours to stop waiting and have our marriage as soon as possible."

That information irritated Rias to no end. "Who do you think you are to say that to Buchou?" However she didn't have time to formulate a response as someone else spoke. Unlike most of her peerage that have some experience dealing with figures of authority speaking unpleasant things, Issei is still far too inexperienced to stay silent. "I don't care if you are her fiance or whatever; if you talk with her like that I will break your face."

"You should control your servants a little better, Gremory-sama." The woman spoke and Rias didn't know if it was her tone or the way that she moved her body which made her breasts jump a little but Issei immediately shut up. "He should know better to not speak with his betters like that."

"Regardless, the facts don't change, I won't be marrying your King." Rias tells the woman calmly which made Riser chuckle again.

"You don't have a choice in this, Rias. It was decided for a long time now and it is happening." The blond pureblood devil said with a confident smile. "Or you are going for the alternative." She dearly wanted to go for the alternative but Rias knows she isn't ready for that yet, both of them knew it.

Fortunately for her, diplomacy was another route open for the taking. "Riser, can't you wait at least until I graduate highschool." Despite being a request, the heiress of Gremory doesn't lose her confidence and even offers a small smile at the man. "It is just one more year, a blink of an eye for beings like us."

"No can do, Rias. My lord father is convinced that the marriage must proceed as soon as possible." The man actually did sound apologetic when he divulged the information. "I have no idea why you like to spend time in this world but I suppose that you could spend more time here after our honeymoon, how long it may be."

"I don't want to marry you." Dropping the pretenses, Rias decides to be direct.

"But you shall, all the same." The certainty on Riser's voice just served to make Rias mad but she didn't let it show, it would be a defeat and a blow to her pride if she allowed weakness in front of that man. "It is inevitable Rias, the sooner you accept the facts the sooner we can get our marriage going. Stop wasting time and let's go back to the Underworld to get it done. I promise to be gentle."

Stalling isn't an option and negotiations have failed, Rias truly ran out of reasonable alternatives and cornered politically she does for the last resort. "Then you leave me no choice." Standing from behind her chair, Rias looks firmly to the smirking Riser. "I challenge you to a Rating Game."

The moment that the words left Rias' mouth, Riser began to laugh. "Pfft hahaha! Are you sure you want to do that, Rias? We may just marry now with how things are going to play out." The words are ignored as Rias just keeps glaring at him which makes Riser sigh in disappointment. "Could you stop being a child Rias? There is no need for any of this. What does a Rating Game between us even going to accomplish besides soiling my image from beating my very inexperienced fiance on it?"

Refusing to acknowledge the truth in his words and holding on to her last hope, Rias glares at Riser. "Do you accept it or not?"

"Lady Gremory." The woman with purple hair stands up with a charming smile. "While I can understand you may not like the situation, there is no need to waste time on an endeavor we all know you have no chance of winning."

"Yubelluna is right." Riser quickly affirms the words before Rias can reply. "If you want to negotiate, then we can spend some time in the human world during our honeymoon." That still made Riser scowl. "I may not like the air from here and most of the people around will be weaklings but there is no need for you to be aggressive."

"Lord Riser, please remember to not antagonize her that much." Yubelluna says with a smile that was full of love for the blond. "That is exactly why your lord father asked me to be here."

"What can I do if she already hates my guts?" Riser asks the woman with a smile and Rias just glares at him. "See? She fails to understand that I am in this contract too."

"A contract with far less restrictions for you." Rias keeps her tone even but she can see that Yubelluna was just ignoring her. "Or is the woman you brought along not a part of your harem?"

"It is normal for us devils to have a harem, even your father has one. I don't know what that fuss is all about." At Riser's comment Rias heard Issei mumbles something, she could guess what but she ignores it.

"He started only after he married my mother and with her permission." Rias replied while taking her time before continuing. "You didn't consult me nor came to talk to me at any point of this mess before now."

"Oh well, the milk is already spilled anyway." Riser doesn't consider Rias' protests a big deal and he only attempted previous negotiation for the sake of a smooth begging for their marriage. "Since you don't want to play ball I suppose I should at least be a good groom to be and ask...are you sure you want a Rating Game?" When he finished the question his eyes immediately moved to Rias peerage. "Besides your Queen, I can't see anything impressive about the rest of your servants. In my experience I can say for certain they look quite weak."

"Why you-" Issei was about to jump Riser only for Kiba to restrain him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down." Akeno whispers while keeping her posture and offering a fake smile to the blond pureblood devil.

And yet Riser still heard her and with a chuckle he turned his attention back to Rias. "Are these all members of your peerage?" Her silence was his answer. "You don't even have a complete set yet." Rias clenched her teeth but said nothing as he had a point. "Hey boy." Riser calls out pointing to Issei who calmed down at this point. "You asked if I had a harem right?"

With a vicious smile Riser snaps his fingers and the magic circle of Gremory that was in the corner of the room starts to emit an orange glow. The members of ORC can see that its shape was now different with an emblem surrounded by different words than the usual ones around the circle.

Then people started to emerge from the magic circle, obviously teleported and all at the same time and Issei immediately could feel his jaw hit the floor as every single one of the fourteen new arrivals was a beautiful girl of some kind and hitting some kind of fetish that he himself has.

There were maids dressed in with french maid outfits with no sleeve and one showing plenty of cleavage, a dancer with tanned skin and a black bikini with metallic highlights, one with blue hair in a complicated pattern and a red haori, girls, twins that looked like mirrors of each other from highschool with animal years and sailor uniforms exposing their abdomen, the low part of their breasts and arms, lolis, also twins but identical, dressed for gym in white and black, a knight with short hair and standing to attention with some armor, an adventure with long hair in five ponytails and a sword at her back dressed in white also exposing her cleavage, a tall woman with a mask on one side of her face a voluptuous body and using a torn apart jacket with pants missing one leg, another voluptuous woman with a qipao that clearly showed that she has no bra and black hair, another with a kimono with various colors and the last one in a purple dress with a dark purple ribbon above her chest and blonde hair.

Issei can only stand there stunned; all the women are beautiful, all of them are amazing and all of them are his type in one way or another. "What do you think, boy? Of the Riser-sama's harem?" Yubelluna asked in a teasing tone but Issei could do nothing but gulp and blush.

"Ha! You complain about my harem Rias but look at your servant! He is jealous! Absolutely jealous" Riser can't help but find the situation ironic and hilarious. "Look at them Rias, my peerage, a true and complete set." He offered her a mocking shrug when Rias stayed silent. "Forget about the Rating Game, Rias, you have no chance. You never even competed in one and you don't have any idea of how tough they can actually be." Once again, the redhead pureblood stays silent and he isn't liking her reaction, looking back at her peerage and noticing Issei admiring his servants he decided on a way to rile things up. "Mihae, come a little closer."

Some people could already predict what he was about to do and the blonde one who arrived with his peerage tried to interfere but she was too slow as Mihae moved fast to stand besides her King.

"Yes, Riser-sama." The woman in kimono with purple, orange and pink with black hair and light brown eyes approaches her King gently while keeping a composed posture. "What I can-" She is interrupted when Riser grabbed her hand and pulled her on his lap for a kiss.

When the blond's lips made contact with the girl's mouth she let out a loud moan that was still muffed byt the exchange of saliva. It was clear that Riser was putting on a show when he made a point to retreat a little back and everyone can see the once proper looking girl's tongue trying to pursue him before he returned to kiss her.

The whole demonstration did many things, including anoy most of the members of Rias' peerage. But one of them was the most irritating of all. "You bastard!" Issei charged forward before Kiba could properly stop him, Boosted Gear on his arm as he aimed a punch to Riser full of fury for him having insulted Rias.

He never got the chance to reach the pureblood devil as another of Riser peerage stepped up to stop him. The girl dressed in red with blue hair stepped forward to intercept, a staff on her hands. She hits Issei mid air straight on his chest, sending him back to hit a wall.

"Issei-san!" Asia quickly reacted and started to look over the Gremory Pawn for wounds while the other members of the peerage also looked at them concerned.

Meanwhile most of the members of the peerage didn't move with one exception. "Didn't father ask you to not do anything shameful, onii-sama?" Asked the girl in purple, her hair was long blonde hair tied into twintails with large, drill-like curls and purple ribbons keeping them in place as she placed both hands on her waist while making an irritated face.

Riser slowly separates from Mihae who was blushing and taking deep breaths. "How is it wrong to demonstrate my love and care for my dear peerage?" He then raised another hand to the girl with a staff. "Mira, come here too. You deserve a reward for a job well done."

"Yes, Riser-sama." She did as ordered and sat beside the black haired woman that still hasn't recovered while Yubelluna looked at Rias who was still trying to maintain a neutral expression. The girl with curly hair just kept her small glare at her brother, as he started to kiss Mira with the same intensity he did Mihae.

Still she turned to look at Rias and offered her a small bow. "Lady Gremory, I apologize for the rudeness of my brother but I must ask, did you challenge him to a Rating Game?"

The question wasn't a surprise. "Yes, I did, lady Ravel." Rias wondered why the smaller girl asked.

"I see. Looks like I owe my cousin, Rutal, some money." When Rias heard the words she almost let her mask slip but, besides a small movement of the eyebrow, she made sure no one noticed a small twitch from one of her eyebrows. Except Ravel noticed. "Don't look so surprised, there is a reason why Mira was the one to intercept your servant."

'The contract was ironclad, there was no way for him to talk…' Like pieces on a puzzle, the picture was beginning to form in her mind but she is still missing many parts. "What do you-" Before Rias could finish the question, the door of her office slammed open. 'I told them not to come!' She thinks a little more than frustrated when she sees Shirou with Yoruichi on his shoulder and Setsuna and Liz behind him.

The redhead magus looks around for a moment to take stock on the situation. "Are we interrupting something?" He said in a careful tone while looking directly at Rias while half of his attention was on the man on his usual chair who had two girls on his lap and was looking at him in confusion.

"Rias, why is there a human in your base of operations?" Riser asked without hiding some of the distaste he had for the new presence.

"That is lady's Gremory magician, lord Raiser." Yubelluna smiled at Shirou but he didn't allow the beauty of the woman to distract him. "He is the maker of many magic swords and the source of the new economic direction that the Gremory Clan decided to take as a whole."

"You should know that, onii-sama." Ravel reprehends her brother and Riser loses any aggression on his face.

"Ah, the smith that has been making waves lately. I saw one Rating Game with a Knight using one of his swords and I have to say; you do good work." Human or not Riser is not one to besmirch talent and considering he is to marry Rias that meant he should at least try and be polite to Shirou.

"Thank you for the compliment." Shirou said that only to be polite as his attention is still divided. Even without entering the office he could see that Issei is on the floor with Asia finishing treating him for some reason and while the others newcomers had confident but relaxed postures, the same couldn't be said about the Gremory side.

"He is not the only one of importance that arrived here, onii-sama." Ravel said while stepping forward a little and then offering a small bow. "Emiya Shirou, magician of the Gremory and Inutai Setsuna, daughter of Sesshomaru. As a daughter of the Phenex Clan, it is an honor to make acquaintances with such prestigious individuals like yourselves."

'Phenex?' It clicked in Setsuna's mind what was really happening and she stepped forward to the office to offer a bow in return. "Greetings as well. I welcome you to Japan even if this isn't my territory."

"Who is Seshomaru?" Riser asked and his sister just shook her head in mild disappointment but two members of his peerage talked instead.

The ones with animal and sailor uniforms stepped forward, positioning themselves close to their King before the one with blue hair spoke, a silent Yoruichi giving them a quick glance as well. "The strongest yokai and factual leader of Kyoto, Riser-sama." With her hair in a long ponytail and red eyes giving Setsuna all her attention she informs her King cheerfully.

"She is the second heiress after her sister and a dog hanyou as well, nyaa." The red haired one has her hair in a long braid on the same size as her sister reaching her lower back, her hair color is blue and both truly look like a mirror with the exact opposite posture and even with opposite fangs being shown in the side of their mouths because of their smiles.

"I see." Riser says before standing up. "Thank you, Ni, Li." The man pats their heads, taking care to not mess their hair but still showing them with affection that has the two looking pleased. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am the third son of the House of Phenex, Riser Phenex." He said while giving a nod of respect to Setsuna, clearly showing her the proper amount of respect. "And she…"

Riser motions to the blonde again who lifted her dress a little to also show courtesy. "Ravel Phenex, first daughter of the Phenex Clan. I apologize for the delay in introducing myself."

"It is no trouble." Setsuna answers simply and directly, her eyes also in the newcomers for a moment before looking at Rias. She can recognize the tell tale signs that the Gremory heiress was holding her emotions in check.

She isn't the only one as Shirou can also see that but before he could formulate a proper question, Riser spoke once again. "Now why don't you introduce this rare beauty behind you?" The redhead magus stops to blink at the comment. "It is rare to see a woman with white hair and red eyes and she looks extremely lovely."

While Riser made no moves everyone can see that he has his eyes past Shirou and looking it Liz which made some of the people present react in different ways; Ravel just shrugs and shakes her head while most of the Gremory peerage can only glare at the man's attitude while Rias herself just blinks before sitting down on her chair once more.

Shirou realized something. 'I don't like this guy.' The way that he was speaking and the eyes he was giving Liz just made him feel extremely protective of her. "She is Liz, a teacher-"

"Shirou-sama's servant." Yoruichi interrupts with her own words, making the newly arrived devils realize that the cat wasn't just a prop or animal. "So keep your paws off, she already is taken, nyaa."

"Yo- Kuro." Shirou gave her a glance of warning but her eyes were giving a glare that told him to go along with it.

"Yes, I am Shirou-sama's servant, Leysritt." Positioning herself at Shirou's side but still behind him, the teacher bowed until her waist with elegance, pretending to be in a dress and using the same costumes and habits ingrained on her by the Einzebern. "Protector, maid and main assistant. Whatever is required from my master, I shall accomplish with due diligence."

'That is new.' Shirou can't deny that everything that Liz spoke was technically true but he never saw her react like that.

"I see." Riser comments while placing a hand on his chin, he also chooses to ignore Yoruichi, judging the cat a 'familiar' or something similar and not relevant in his opinion. "Well, that is fine. I suppose we can talk more about this after the wedding."

"'Wedding'?" Shirou repeats the word, being the first time he ever heard of the topic in any capacity, something that Rias definitely didn't want.

"Allow me to elaborate." Some were surprised by the mature voice but others just looked at Grayfia to show they are hearing the woman, dressed in a more proper french maid outfit unlike Riser's peerage where most clothes have a skimpy twist of some kind. Still her face was impassive as none of the events happening were able to bother her. "Rias-sama is the fiance of Riser-sama, a contract that was made when the two were children. However, Rias-sama has rejected the contract which her parents, Riser-sama's parents and Riser-sama himself are in agreement with. Such action needs to be accepted by both parties but since it isn't them they must either come to some sort of agreement or the alternative which is a Rating Game."

"Why a Rating- wait a minute, this is a political dispute?" Shirou's deduction has Grayfia nodding.

"As you already know, Shirou-sama, such conflicts between devils can be settled with a Rating Games. Be either for money, political interest or just for the sake of fighting, Rating Games are absolute and such if Rias-sama wins she can call off the wedding but should Riser-sama win then the ceremony has to proceed without delay." Grayfia explained the stakes calmly and clearly to Shirou and his group as well to Issei and Asia who still didn't understand everything that was going on.

"But isn't Rias-sama too young to play such games?" Yoruichi asked, playing the part of Kuro perfectly.

"She has no choice." Yubelluna felt that since a subordinate is asking the question she also has the right to enter the conversation. "The marriage is already supposed to happen within the next few weeks, the contract is signed and the ink is already dry."

"No, it isn't." Rias interrupts Riser's Queen, a glare escaping her former calm face. "A Rating Game can upheaval any contract if both parties agree and a challenge has been made." She then turns to Riser. "Do you accept it or not?"

"It is important to recall that should Riser-sama refuse the challenge then the contract is immediately nullified." Grayfia chooses to elaborate.

"Why?" Setsuna questions in confusion. "I know that Rias is the one that doesn't want it to happen but how is a contract so submissive to just a game."

"Because in the Underworld, Rating Games are absolute… No better to say that Power is Absolute." Riser said with a sad look. "Rias, Ravel didn't finish explaining why Mira was the one to intercept your servant, correct?" His hand starts to pat the head of said blue haired girl. "It is because she is the weakest of my servants."

"That…" Rias interrupts herself thinking of the implications. "You are saying we are weak."

"Correct." Riser smiles at her understanding. "You magician himself pointed out that you are still too young for Rating Games. That is true, you have no experience on them while us," he waves his hand towards his peerage, "fought many battles and won many victories since our debut. Besides that you also lack a complete set of servants and the ones that you have don't compare to any of mine."

"Do you accept it or not?" Rias asked again. "I hate repeating myself Riser, hate it. But I won't let you intimidate me." And she has no other resource left but this so she is going all in. "I don't want to marry you, I will not marry you! I don't care about that contract that our parents signed! I had no input in it and I say either let me go or we fight for it!"

A moment of silence drops on the room as everyone waits for Riser's response. In the Gremory group all are looking at Rias with respect and certainty, anyone can see that they will fight for their King's honor without hesitation.

But Shirou, Yoruichi and Setsuna can see that the Phenex group is looking at her with anger at the rejection of their King. They honestly see Riser as a great man and the fact that Rias was supposed to be the main wife was already grating most of them and it is clear that they too shall fight for their King's honor.

"Onii-sama, once again I must remind you of our father's orders and Rutal's advice. You shouldn't be provoking your fiance." Ravel spoke yet again, being the only member of Riser's peerage to not lose her composure. "You must forgive my brother lady Gremory but someone," she throws a glance at Yubelluna who looks unrepented, "should have helped smooth negotiations and they didn't."

"You spoke about Rutal, correct?" Since the cat was already out of the bag, Rias decided to sate her curiosity. "How did he break our contract?"

"He didn't. But he kept insisting throughout most of the last year to accelerate the wedding plans for our father and it didn't take long for our older brother to realize he was under contract." Ravel informs Rias who wants to facepalm. "From there it was only a matter of time until we found measures to free him to speak his mind and his warning."

'Indirect suggestion! I can't believe that I didn't think about that.' When she looked at Setsuna, Rias knew that the younger woman was thinking the same thing.

Ravel then spoke again. "Since no one else shall point this out, then I shall. Are you sure you want to go along with the Rating Game?" That caught every Kuoh's student attention once more. "Mira had the duty to defend my brother and the job to show you our strength. The fact is that you can't win as you are." The younger Phenex looks at Rias with some pity. "While I know you may not like my brother I can guarantee to you he is a good capable man; we have won many Rating Games together and he treats every member of his peerage with love, maybe more than what you are willing to give in these conditions but this is how things are." She motions to Riser in a delicate gesture. "Accept the marriage and don't let yourself be humiliated because of your pride. I am sure you two will get along famously once you know each other better."

Another moment of silence passes on the club but it doesn't last long. "You ask me to accept a contract I never wanted, that I had no say on and that he," Rias clearly points to Riser, "got all the liberties that I could never have. I couldn't love anyone, cherish anyone if I ever found someone, because of the conditions of a contract I never had a say on." Fury is carried by her words but Rias doesn't allow it to make them any less clear. "While he had all the freedom, I had to live with the fact that this day would come. I couldn't deny it and I always hated it." She makes sure the other pureblood woman can see the hate in her eyes. " So no! I have nothing to gain on this contract- on this marriage! Nothing! So I refuse it!"

"I can understand what you are saying but your situation isn't uncommon. It is a clear fact that men can have more children than women and our people need to recover or many losses from the wars." Ravel feels genuine sympathy for Rias but her words are true and her stance is with her family and siblings.

Even as the younger daughter she is aware of the whole situation and that while Rias' virginity was paramount on the contract, her brother was truly allowed to do as he pleased but no amount of sympathy is going to change her position with her family.

Yet she also received orders to try to keep things peaceful between them. "I implore you, spare yourself the humiliation you will surely suffer. You have no hope of winning-"

"I maintain my challenge." Rias cuts any argument but Ravel is ready to try again only for someone to speak first.

"That is enough." Riser says with a serious face. Unlike his sister he already accepted that there is no convincing Rias. "You really are elegant Rias, even with so much anger on your face, it still remains an impeccable beauty." The complement was practically out of nowhere to many present until Riser continued. "That is why I shall marry you! You say that you gain nothing? You gain me as a husband and I will make sure you enjoy every second of it."

"Not going to happen." Rias controls herself to not raise her voice but the male Phenex just chuckles.

"It will, as we are now, you will lose. That is a fact, as my sister pointed out." Riser said dismissively. "But that would truly be unfair on my part so I should give you a chance to equalize the field."

"Chance?" That did surprise Rias who pretty much expected to fight immediately even if that was a little unrealistic.

"Ten days." Riser said with a smile. "I shall give you ten days to prepare for our match. Consider it an engagement gift." No one was willing to comment how the groom usually isn't the one giving those presents. "That must give you enough time to turn these pathetic excuses of devils into a proper fighting force."

Ravel lets out a sigh at her brother's declaration, not only it meant that she failed to make sure things went smoothly but that also announced that he accepted the Rating Game. 'Truly my big brother follows his own desires a bit too much. Then again, that is a 'proper devi's way'.' She laments the fact but can only accept it.

"I accept those conditions." Rias' mind is already running with plans to help Issei and Asia acclimate to their devilhood faster to make sure they have an actual chance of winning. 'Ten days isn't much but we will win!'

"Then it is settled." Grayfia announces to the room. "The game will start in ten days, starting tomorrow. If Riser-sama wins the Rating Game, the contract shall be fulfilled as intended. However, should Rias-sama win then it shall be undone. Both parties are in favor?"

""Yes."" Both engaged pureblood devils say in unison, one looked determined while the other looked anxious.

"Good." Grayfia raises a hand and a magic circle appears for a second before disappearing. "Both families have been informed and most details about this meeting have been recorded." She bows politely once again. "With that I must request that Riser-sama follows me to the Underworld to allow Rias-sama to prepare."

"Understood." Considering Grayfia's reputation, Riser has no intent of picking up a fight of disagreeing with protocol. Besides, he got what he wanted even if delayed. "I shall see you in ten days for our Rating Game, Rias." He then chuckles as a joke passes by his mind. "Funnily enough I will be your first man on that too."

"Just go Riser. I have to start preparing to leave and train." Rias gives him a small glare for good measure but Riser just smiled as he stepped closer to his peerage before an orange magic circle teleported them. "Hmph."

Grayfia waited for Rias to breathe a little and calm down before she spoke. "I can only wish you luck, Rias-sama." That surprised the redhead.

"I thought you had to remain impartial on this matter." While Grayfia is her brother's wife and they are a close family, Sirzechs can't show favoritism in these kinds of situations and as his representative the Strongest Queen needs to do the same even among friends and family.

"This is not about the wedding." Grayfia looks to the side and Rias turns her head to do the same direction to see Shirou with a scowl on his face, clearly waiting for an explanation. "I wish you luck Rias." The name was said informally as she teleported and left only the ORC members present.

"Well...can someone explain to me what is going on." Shirou's voice is even but his eyes are as sharp as his best swords as he looked at Rias. "And in detail."

After taking a deep breath to compose herself, Rias decides to be blunt. "Shirou...this is not your problem."

"Last year, a devil sent assassins after me. Rutal, if I remember correctly." Shirou recalls outloud, his eyes not leaving Rias as he crosses his arms. "That was supposedly solved but instead of being solved I find you about to get married."

"It is complicated." Was Rias' reply.

"Then uncomplicate it." However Shirou finally ran out of patience. "Is that why you wanted EM to work so badly? To counter the Phoenix Tears on the market?" He already was managing to complete the puzzle, the picture practically done on his mind.

"It doesn't matter. What is done is done." Despite the situation or Shirou's anger, Rias refused to retreat or turn her eyes from his. "Now the marriage is earlier than scheduled and I need to prepare for the Rating Game."

"You think you can win?" Shirou questions but his scowl didn't diminish. "You think with ten days of training you can win? And don't lie to me."

"The changes may be small, but we will win." Rias declares and Shirou says nothing in response for a few moments.

Until the redhead magus finally says. "You are one of the most stubborn women I have ever met." Shirou declares with a glare and Rias' face finally shows a reaction as one of her eyebrows twitch. "Instead of asking for help, instead of letting someone help you, you are insisting on doing things by yourself. Again."

"My peerage will help me." Rias' conviction doesn't affect Shirou.

"They will, now that you are cornered and with no other choice." Once again Rias' eyebrow twitches but she takes a deep breath to control herself.

"You are right." She admits with resignation. "You are right, my plan was to dominate the healing market with EM and force the Phenex Clan to back off."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Shirou gets closer but Yoruichi actually stops him.

"Does it matter? She is right, what is done is done." The nekomata says before turning to Rias. "You are going to train then?"

"Yes." The heiress confirms.

"Do you have a plan?" Shirou inserts himself back into the conversation.

"Help Issei and Asia get used to their new devil powers and go from there." Rias' determination doesn't impress Shirou, Yoruichi nor Setsuna who actually shakes her head in disappointment.

"That is not enough." The hanyou said with an even tone of voice.

"It is the best chance we have." Rias says while placing both her hands on her desk and folding them on each other. "Regardless, that is a devil matter and my business. Leave it to me." She then smiles at Shirou. "I really want to see EM mass produced Shiro and I won't let any Phenex, especially Riser, stop me from seeing it."

Yoruichi was about to speak when Shirou placed a hand on her head. "I am going home early today since you guys need to prepare." He is speaking through his teeth but Rias can understand his frustration. "Setsuna, I need your help with something, can you come with us?"

Blinking her surprise away, Setsuna can't guess what Shirou needs from her. "Of course I can."

"Great. It will be your first time in our house. I will make some special dinner." Without speaking to the rest of the Gremory groups, Shirou steps towards the door of the office. Before leaving to collect Medusa he turns to Rias and then her peerage. "Good luck."

With that only the devils remain in the office and Rias lets out a sigh of relief. "That went well." Akeno commented but Rias disagreed.

"Shirou is pissed." Was all the pureblood devil could say.

"He is? Shirou-san looked calm." Asia words make Koneko shake her head.

"No dinner." The white haired devil was pouting by the fact and Asia soon joined her when she realized how right Koneko was.

"Ah, don't worry. I can wipe up something." Akeno tells everyone with a smile. "Don't be like that, we will need all our energy for tomorrow."

"That is right. We are going to train to beat that Fried Chicken up." Issei hits his fist on his palm when Akeno says that. "So, how do we do it? We get together here early and start."

Rias chuckles at Issei's question. "Actually training close to school is going to be impractical since we need more space and we need all the time we can get so no classes for the next ten days."

"Wait, if we aren't training here...where are we training?"

"Oh, a property that my family owns close to town. It is isolated and in a forest so don't worry about it." Rias tells Issei with a smile that looks similar to Akeno's when she is preparing for a prank.

Already outside of the club Setsuna is following Shirou as he led their group outside before he stopped and turned towards her. "As I said; tell me everything and please, don't try to deflect like Rias did."

Setsuna can see in his eyes that if she didn't talk she wouldn't get that dinner.

…..

"This is hell." All the ORC, still dressed in their school gym uniforms with pants for the ladies as well as the men, are climbing a hill in a forest around Fuyuki, most of them carrying heavy bags on their backs.

"Come on Issei, we are close." Rias tells him with a smile.

"This is too much weight, Buchou." During Issei's complaint he watches Koneko climb at his side while carrying at least double his weight. "How?"

"You can do it, Issei-san." The only one not carrying any weight is Asia who couldn't get too far with the bag and she almost fell down when Koneko offered to carry hers as well.

"How much...more, Buchou?" Issei's body is covered in sweat and his legs felt like they were about to fall apart.

"Oh, just two or three kilometers...I think." Rias said with a cheeky smile.

Issei didn't buy it. "You are a demon, Buchoul."

"Devil actually." Rias states proudly, unlike the others she is using a customized jersey with multiple tones of red. "Just hold on a little longer, we are getting close to my family's property and once we are there you can rest a while before we properly begin." The information manages to cheer Issei up a little as they continue the track on the dense forest.

The forests around Fuyuki are preserved by many parties both of the mundane and of the fantastical kind. Not only are they lush with life, some routes are actually connected to the ley lines of the city meaning that tearing it down would actually be harmful to it.

While expanding Fuyuki is still a goal for many, the majority of its more influential inhabitants know about the power of a ley line or were informed about the value of it and so the expansion stopped being outwards and began to be upwards with more and more taller building being constructed or expanded to make sure the city keeps prospering.

That doesn't mean that nobody owned the land, plenty of people actually do and Rias remembers the mansion her brother offered the first time she announced her move out from the Underworld, not only was it on a easy to defend position but it also came with a series of boundary fields to keep people away with them being under complete control of whoever the owner of the place desired.

Once Rias felt herself pass the boundary fields she smiled. "We are closer now." She announced for Issei's benefit as he still isn't used to the sensation and even shivered a little making her chuckle. "Once we get there I will explain the plans for the next ten days and yes, we shall have training later today, just the basics to get Issei and Asia going."

"""""Yes, Buchou.""""" Everyone was in high spirits, their backs may be against the wall and their opponents may be stronger than them but they have no intention to quit.

'I am lucky to have them with me.' Rias thinks with a smile as she can tell they are closer to the property. Finally she pushes the last bush to the side, getting ready for everyone else to marvel at the white mansion her family built, an architectural example of a giant home with marble pillars on the front and classic English design with at least twenty different rooms, when her mind suddenly stops from what she else was seeing. "What?"

"You guys are late." Shirou comments while he is sitting on the exact same chair he usually has in the ORC and he isn't alone as Yoruichi is on his lap receiving some of his attention while his other hand is busy holding a book.

"What?" Rias asks again, a little louder this time.

"Shirou-kun? Kuro-chan? Liz? Setsuna-san? Medusa-sama?" Akeno calls out to everyone as she, Koneko and Kiba are a little shocked by the turn up of their friends while Issei and Asia are just confused. "What are you all doing here?"

"Hey! I am here too!" Announced Rin as she was running from the house with a cup of coffee in her hands. "Damn, I got here late. Did their faces look funny?"

"What?" Rias asked again but no one paid attention.

"They were. We took a picture." At Medusa's side, who previously had a book on her hands, has a purple snake who was carrying a camera for her. "Here."

"Better not give it to Rin, she is really bad with technology." Setsuna is doing her usual thing and playing her violin but this time in open hair as the lawn of the huge mansion is covered with some of the furniture of the ORC like a couch and Shirou's favorite chair.

"I am not that bad!" Rin quickly protested.

"Yes you are." The still shocked Akeno spoke on instinct, even her usual teasing was present.

"What?" Rias' mind was still trying to figure out what was going on.

"Anyway, you guys took a while to get here. We even had time to set up this little bit." Shirou says with a chuckle.

"Did you guys really dragged the furniture of the club here?" Issei can't even believe he was asking that question.

"What? No that would be dumb." Rin commented while sitting down on the couch at Liz's side. "Shirou made it with its magic. Objects like these are easy for him to make."

"So you traced almost every piece of furniture in our club just for a joke." Kiba is honestly smiling at that one. "Even Setsuna's violin?"

"No, this one is really mine." Setsuna accelerates the tune again before stopping. "You guys took so long to get here that I had time to finish two whole songs."

"You guys are so sloooooooooow." Liz comments to the side while finishing a bar of chocolate.

"What?" Rias asked again but still received no attention.

"I am so glad you all are here." Asia says with a smile and a clap. "I was really worried that we wouldn't see you for the whole ten days."

"Luvia couldn't come?" Akeno asks Rin directly and when the magus replies it was with a surprisingly lack of vitriol.

"She said that she is going to be busy furthering the Edelfelt family interests in Fuyuki." Akeno knows Rin enough to notice something is missing there but she didn't call her on it.

"Now that we all had our greeting, doesn't someone think they should snap our dear Buchou from her frozen state?" Shirou points out to everyone as his eyes haven't left Rias who is still shocked.

"What?" Now everyone could hear Rias' question.

"What 'what'?" Shirou asked back with a shrug and a smile and now his fellow redhead managed to process enough to notice.

"What are you guys doing here?" Rias finally manages to say something different and Shirou just keeps smiling.

"What else? We are here to help you all train." Shirou retains his smile but Liz, Setsuna and Rin share the same expression. "You guys have just ten days right? That is not much time so we thought-"

"More like you insisted." Medusa points out with a neutral expression, eyes back on her book.

"And we agreed to help." Setsuna follows next, nodding to Shirou for him to continue.

"We want to help you all win this thing… this Rating Game." Shirou gets up from his chair, still smiling. "We may not be able to fight with you but we will do whatever we can to see you succeed."

Rias was in shock by both the declaration and Sihrou's smile before shaking her head, her pride not allowing her to just accept the offer. "While I appreciate this, all this, that doesn't change the fact that this mess is a 'devil matter'."

"And as your magician, it is also my problem." Shirou's smile was now a little strained but he still kept it and his good humor. "And don't tell me it isn't, because of me things got worse for you." His words still seemed to have no effect but he decided to press on. "Also this property technically belongs to me so if you want to train here you need my permission."

"What?" That made no sense to Rias. "This mansion has been built by the Gremory. My brother was the one who made the arrangements for the property and even arranged for our first vacation here once it was finished." Technically it was her first visit to Japan and she didn't even know that until they left, only seeing the woods around the mansion.

"Except that before it was a mansion, it was a castle." Shirou tells Rias smugly. "It belonged to the Einzebern and then to my family through my mother. Since dad didn't want to take care of the land he lended it to his contracted devil, Sirzechs who in turn lended it to your family." The devil was silent for a few seconds and Shirou decided to go further. "You need our help Rias and this whole situation sets me off the wrong way." Bad feeling, guilt. Shirou was dealing with all of it. "Don't tell me to not help you, we are in this together."

Rias is about to say something when Yoruichi decides to talk first. "Setsuna spilled the beans already, everybody here knows about the contract you made Rutal sign." That stopped Rias' train of thought on its tracks. "A good idea even if it was a bit too forced for my tastes. However, don't think for a second that a contract like that is still valid or even working."

"Rutal couldn't talk about that night nor find means to escape it." Rias says in her defense. "To do so it would be to call attention to the fact he had a contract in the first place which would break it and in turn, break him."

"Except his insistence on getting the wedding going faster caught his family's attention." Yoruichi reminds Rias which made her flinch. "You understand what this means, right? The Phenex Clan is one of the richest families in the Underworld, of all worlds. If there was a method for them to free him from the contract then they were capable of finding such methods."

At Rias' silence Shirou decided to get back into the conversation. "We believe that is why they were trying to avoid the Rating Game. They already know your team's strengths and weaknesses." That thought scared the redhead devil. "In a way they are doing what they advertised yesterday in the club, to spare you from humiliation."

Still, her pride reared its head. "We still can win."

"Yes, you can." Shirou has no intention to say otherwise. "But you need help and we can help. All of us."

The words reach Rias' heart and she watches as everyone is smiling at her. Her upbringing wanted her to deny the help, to stand proudly as a devil with her household and win by their own efforts. She just couldn't do it.

When Sona offered her help, it was never like this. Both always valued each other's desires and pride enough that neither tried to truly interfere with each other's problems. It was something they always did and even as Second Owners, unless the territory itself was in peril, they always worked separately. It was why she didn't even bother to ask for help with Rutal, or even now.

But these people before her, they don't care about politics or even on letting her do as she pleases if that was going to harm her in the long run. Finally Rias realized that this wasn't about being a devil or her pride, these are her friends offering her a hand in her time of need. "I truly am lucky to have met you all."

"So you accept?" Shirou's smile is back at full force and Rias chuckles.

"Sure, why not? With some of you helping Issei and Asia then the rest of us have more space to train-"

"Yeah, no that won't be enough." Yoruichi interrupts the little speech Rias was making, getting everyone's attention. "Tell me something Rias: do you want to win?"

"Of course." The answer came immediately, of that Rias had no doubts. "But what else can you all do?"

"Plenty." Yoruichi jumps on Shirou's head to make sure everyone was looking at her. "I may not look like it but I was trained by one of the strongest yokais alive, the Sage Turtle Oogway." She then makes sures to look each and every devil in the eye. "And I am sad to say that as you all are now, even if you had a whole month, you wouldn't win that Rating Game."

"What?" "What do you mean?" "Kuro-san?"

"Silence!" The nekomata's tone left no room for interruptions." You guys are weak." She stated factually. "You have too many disadvantages and if you train halfheartedly then you will lose."

"Kuro-san, please elaborate." Rias asked politely, the words hurt her but she needs to hear them.

"I will try to make things simple and use numbers for comparisons." Yoruichi drops from Shirou's head to his shoulder. "If I was to place you all on a power scale I would say that Asia is worth 3 points while Issei is worth 6 at best."

"That doesn't sound that bad." The Red Dragon Emperor host mumbles but almost jumps back when Yoruichi locks eyes with him. "I mean, on a scale from 1 to 10…"

"Every Pawn on Phenex's side is worth between 7 or 9." Issei shuts up at the declaration. "Now don't misunderstand, with the Boosted Gear, you can probably beat them all in a one on one fight. However, you shouldn't expect a one on one fight. They have the numbers advantage, afterall." With that she turns to Kiba. "You are a 20, 25 if I am feeling generous."

"And who can I defeat?" Kiba asked seriously, taking the information for what it was.

"That is another thing entirely, this is a power scale, an improvised one since I never saw any of the Phenex side fights. If experience enters into the equation then things get more complicated." Yoruichi says bluntly but Kiba doesn't even flinch which makes her chuckle. "Your eyes are full of anger, boy."

"So?" Kiba questions with a raised eyebrow but Yoruichi decides to proceed.

"His black haired bishop is at least on a 12, depending on how she uses her magic power. The Knights he has are between 18 or 20 both from what I could gather." All can notice that they are closer to Kiba's power level if they follow Yoruichi's scale. "Again, experience may make a difference but that isn't relevant. The Rooks are 20 or so to the black haired one and 25 or more to the tall one with the jacket."

"How are you measuring this? Is it by magic power? Mana capacity?" Rin asked curiously, maybe taking the words even more seriously than the devils since she actually knows that before them is one of the strongest yokais, strongest beings, of Japan.

"If that was the case then Issei would be a 1 and Asia an 9 while most of the enemy's Paws wouldn't pass two." Yoruichi tells Rin, offering her a glance before returning to Akeno. "That is a reason why I can be more specific with you fighting capabilities then with theirs; I have watched you all for a while now while the Phenex's side is unknown to me." She waited a moment to see if there were any more questions but no one spoke. "Akeno is a 30 on the scale while Rias is a 32."

A second passes. "And Riser's…" Rias asked in concern.

"His sister is somewhere on those lines, on magical power you are actually stronger but I must repeat, this is more than just magical power." Yoruichi is almost sure that both leading women of the Gremory peerage could win against her in a fair fight. "The Queen is also around the 30s on the scale but I think we all know she is not the issue here."

"The Power of Immortality." As Shirou's protector, Liz did study everything she could about the Phenex in the odd chance they attacked.

"'Immortality'... How do we beat that?" Issei voices his concerns. "Buchou had explained yesterday that all the Phenex have this crazy regeneration and that we had to overwhelm it but how do we do it?"

"Basically? By being stronger." Rias answers her Pawn but Yoruichi shakes her head.

"That is why you have no chance." Yoruichi was a little sad by the response. "There is more in a fight than being stronger, sure it helps but that alone doesn't guarantee victory." Some agree with her while others clearly didn't but the yokai doesn't let that deter her. "How strong do you think Riser is? You don't need to give a number, just say your opinion."

A little caught off guard by the question, Rias stops for a moment to think before saying. "He has won all his Rating Games with the exception of two but those defeats were against family members that the Phenex Clan has good relationships with...I would say he is strong, really strong." Yoruichi says nothing and Rias took it as a hint to continue. "Stronger than me." It bothered her to say it but lying to herself wouldn't help.

"Correct. From what I can tell, Riser is at a 50 at least if we just count power alone." Of course everyone understood that this was an improvised scale but Yoruichi's words didn't lose weight because of it. "You can't overpower him, his Immortality is the opposite of your Destruction and in a competition like that, unless your power is truly overwhelming or you have a weakness to exploit, you lose." Rias looks to the ground in irritation, the words cut deep. "At least, if you fight like you are used to."

The additional line caughts Rias off guard once again. "How?" She wants to know, she needs to know.

"Leave your training to me, all your peerage's training. As I said, I have watched all of you for a good time now and while I didn't offer any advice on your day by day in these circumstances I believe you need all the help you can get. " Yoruichi says confidently. 'I also don't like the idea of forced marriages but a grunt wouldn't know much about that.'

Noticing that Rias is almost convinced, Shirou spoke. "Trust Kuro on this." His words got her attention. "I have been training with her for months and I can guarantee I improved leaps and bounds. While her methods may be odd, they are sure to deliver."

"Nyahahaha! Stop Shirou, you are making me blush." The nekomata didn't hide her pleasure even if the flattery wasn't enough to make her actually blush if it was visible.

"It is the truth." Shirou said before speaking directly to Rias once again. "If you doubt her strength, don't. She is probably the strongest person here and could kick all our asses by herself."

"A demonstration would be nice." Akeno commented to the side. "We heard much about your being Yoruichi's subordinate but you never really showed your skills."

"Fair enough." Yoruichi jumped from Shirou's shoulder and motioned with her paw to the side. "Are you seeing that tree?"

"We are seeing pleny." Rias comments while chuckling..

"Fair enough again." With that Yoruichi stands on her four paws and moves her tail left and right. "Pay attention since this will be important for training; the difference between controlled power and uncontrolled mess." At the declaration everyone stays silent and those sitting stand for Shirou makes the furniture disappear to give space to the nekomata. 'He shouldn't have bothered.' Yoruichi thinks with a smile.

All eyes are glued on the cat form before them as a golden aura starts to cover her body. Immediately Rias can feel a considerable power on that aura, she is stronger than that with no doubt but the aura itself felt massive for some reason.

The gold around Yoruichi wasn't escaping her form like Rias' or Akeno's power does when they are using great amounts of magic, everything felt like it was completely under the nekomata's control in a way that they haven't seen a devil do before.

Even Sirzechs Lucifer, Rias' brother who she has lived with most of her life who had an almost divine control over the Power of Destruction couldn't control his own mana that way, some energy usually leaves him when he uses too much power, and that made the pureblood devil suspicious. "That isn't mana, is it?" Suspicious to the point she had to ask.

"It is. It is afterall my youki, with touki and most importantly my speciality, all controled by my Ki throught senjutsu." Yoruichi grins a little at Rias' surprised face. "My youki wasn't my best quality growing up but by training senjutsu to its limits I managed to reach a point where even my weak youki can be devastating."

Yoruichi jumps a few meters above the ground to do a front flip, her aura still strong, before a lightning bolt is launched from her tail on the top of the arc of her jump, hitting the tree before her paws touch the ground again.

The attack by itself didn't look really impressive, it was small, much smaller than anything Akeno can do on a daily basis at least. But the precision and skill behind it impressed the devils, the tree didn't even catch fire but it was completely annihilated by a straight lighting bolt except that unlike Akeno's, Yoruichi's lighting was the size of an arm and flew straight without losing energy before exploding and decimating the tree.

"To be honest, this body is quite weak." She says in reference to her form not being her real one to those that know that fact but that didn't matter to Rias as a huge attack with much more power than she expected had destroyed a tree completely. "I bet that this attack was weaker than any you could accomplish but tell me this; could you make the same damage with that level of power or you would have to use a lot more."

Another thing Rias could notice was that Yoruichi's aura didn't diminish, the cat woman letting it perdure around her without difficulties even if wasn't using it.

"I don't know if that can help us, devils." Rias commented, pointing out the differences between them.

"You are still not understanding what I am getting at." Yoruichi says while the aura disappears. "The reason why I showed you that is so that you could understand that there are other ways to fight than just throw your power around. And don't try to deny it, that is how you fight on the few times I watched your practice."

"'A devil's power comes from their magic and imagination'." Rias repeated as if talking straight from a book. "That is an absolute rule that all devils must follow, only by straying from using devil magic is that the rule diverges like the use of sacred gears and other schools of magic. However for me that is unnecessary since my Power of Destruction is my greatest asset."

"I am not telling you to give that up, I am telling you to find better ways to harness your power." Yoruichi wanted to sigh at the obstinate look on Rias' face. "Look, there is no realistic way to teach you anything new in ten days anyway, all we can do is pick what you have and improve it. All we have to do is get…a little creative." Shirou felt a shiver running on his spine at the last word but chose to not comment.

At that Rias nodded. "Yes, I have been trying to improve my control over the Power of Destruction for a good while now."

"That is going to be part of your training but the main thing you need to learn are tactics." Hearing Yoruichi made Rias nod her head.

"I was planning to study more about Rating Games and the ones that already happened, especially against members of the Phenex Clan." That wasn't a bad idea for Yoruichi and Rias wouldn't have to change much of her schedule for it.

"So you are going to accept the help?" Shirou asked again, just to make sure.

"Of course I am, since you said that Kuro-san is such an excellent teacher." Rias wasn't going to disagree to train with someone with as much control as her. "I am sure that Akeno and I can benefit a lot from her lessons."

"Who said that I am teaching you?" That made everyone pause as Yoruichi chuckled. "Well, technically I am but not directly."

"Is this a prank?" Issei asked with a scowl. "You just said you would train us-"

"Yes, but training and teaching are different things." The glare Yoruichi sent to Issei had him falling back. "All of you are training but I will be teaching only one, the rest are getting a super special training that I devised, something from my time with Oogway."

"What is it?" Shirou asked with interest, that was the first time the Nekomata spoke about something like this.

"Simple delegation." Yoruichi laughed when some people looked like they were being punked. "Nyahahaha. You all should see your faces." Then her disposition got serious. "You better be ready, if my calculations are correct some of you are about to have the ten worst days of your life but by the end of it all present members of the Gremory peerage are going to be capable fighters."

"I still don't understand, who are you delegating our training to?" Rias is annoyed with that comment but the nekomata glances at Koneko who looks back with a frown.

"I will be training two of you." Her eyes still in Koneko spoke of her intention, even her omission of giving the white haired devil a number was part of the reason for her choices since she will give the small devil all her attention. "But the others have better suited partners present."

With a motion of her tail Yoruichi points to everyone that came with Shirou. "Us?" Rin asked, a little frightened. "Emiya what the hell?!"

"I am just hearing about this now too." Everyone else also looked surprised at the indication.

"There are things you all can help them with that I won't have time to do and most of you are just giving them one on one training for the most part." Yoruichi comments before looking back at Rias. "What do you say, Princess of Gremory? Still interested?"

The nickname didn't bother Rias but she still needed a moment to think, the new situation was really something she didn't see coming. 'But she already proved her power and Akeno did learn magecraft from Rin…is she intending for Akeno to learn more of it?' The redhead devil kicked that thought out of her mind.

She needs to make a decision, 'yes or no', nothing else. The details are obviously going to be revealed later and all Rias needed to decide was if she can place her faith in Yoruichi or not.

Then she looked at Shirou and made up her mind. "I accept. If Shirou trusts you, then I shall trust you too." While she doesn't know much about the nekomata known as Kuro, she knows Shirou, that is the person who Rias is placing her trust on.

"Hehe. Don't come to me crying when your bones are broken and your muscles are screaming from pain." Yoruichi's words made some people present chiver and the nekomata felt delight at the fear in some of the devils' eyes. "Some of you are going to have an easier time here, there is little I can do with just ten days with you." She confessed which actually was enough for one or two people to feel better. Until she spoke again. "While others…others are about to enter in their own personal hell for the next ten days. Welcome to the Black Cat's Training Camp, hope you survive the experience."

…..

I am back…kinda. It is hard to get back on the rhythm of things after a long period of abstinence but I am happy and sad to announce that my break is over. Sad not because of you guys, it is the job, I am back there too but I am also back here and I admit that I missed writing.

To all of you who waited, for all of those that support and read this story, thank you. Thank you for waiting and thank you for the encouraging words that some of you were kind enough to send me in the last few weeks, the good thoughts were appreciated.

Now we are starting to get deeper on the DxD side of things and there are many of you that were waiting for this, others don't like that some of the things there are going to pop up here but that is necessary, don't worry because as you can see, there are going to be changes.

Yubelluna's presence on the beginning of the meeting and Ravel's attitude are some examples that are going to be expanded later and also the training camp is going to be different because Shirou is tired of getting sidelined by Rias on her troubles and Yoruichi is the leader of her own faction in Kyoto so she can help.

The training camp is going to last two chapters…I think, need to write them but if I follow my notes and count the points I have to approach I can see that this will be at least 100 pages and that may take too long for a single chapter. We will see.

Once again, thank you all for the support and I hope that this year will be better than the last one for everyone. Happy New Year to all.

PS: As a bonus for the wait, let me tell you all something; the DxD cannon is going to last a while, a good and long while all things considered, but after we reach a certain point I will be destroying it with a hammer and the story is going to become much more flexible.

Until next time.