Chapter Thirteen: It's All Coming Together
Riser Phenex made a dramatic entrance worthy of his family name. One with a vortex of fire and wind. He wore his favorite burgundy suit, with a white under-shirt that had a few buttons undone, and his hair was styled to perfection.
It was a perfect and stylish entrance.
"Oh shit!" A young male voice yelled. "Fire!"
An entrance that was ruined completely as he was blasted with ice cold water from all sides for ten solid seconds.
"Stop it already!" He yelled, gurgling through the water.
Immediately the water stopped, and Riser was met face to face with his assailant. A shockingly tall, young man with neck-length black hair and blue eyes.
"Ah…" He stood, his mouth agape in slight shock.
Riser had teleported into the clubroom of his fiancée through the use of a summoning circle in order to inform her that their families had rescheduled their marriage to a much earlier date, so that they may better fulfill their family duties, and so that maybe he could talk some sense into the girl for once.
…But not even a second after entering the human world, some braindead moron had decided to make a fool out of him!
He could see the members of Rias' Peerage all staring at him.
Kiba Yuuto, and Himejima Akeno covered their mouths with a hand trying to hide their laughter, but could not stop the shaking of their shoulders. The edges of Toujou Koneko's lips kept twitching upwards despite her best efforts.
And his own fiancée, Rias Gremory…
"Pfffffftttt! Hahahahahahahahaha!"
Was doubled over in laughter at his predicament.
Even the Strongest Queen, Grayfia, was sporting a subtle smirk.
He brought his attention back to the young man that had humiliated him.
"I… I'm sorry…" He said with a sheepish expression, seeming genuinely apologetic about his mishap.
Riser felt his eye twitch. "Towel. Now."
"Uh, give me a second."
A complex red magic circle appeared above him and descended over him. As it harmlessly passed his body, he felt his body and his clothes dry completely.
In a red flash, there was a comb in the young man's hand. "Here you go. Sorry about that."
"Hmph!" Riser felt his eye twitch but begrudgingly accepted the comb. "My beloved Rias…"
She was still laughing.
Riser had never felt such a big blow to his pride before. "Please stop laughing…"
"Alright, alright." The young man approached Rias, putting a hand on her back. "Breathe already, you're going to pass out at this rate. It wasn't even that funny."
"Yes it was!" Rias choked out between laughs. "Please tell me someone recorded that! I'm putting it on DeviTube!"
The young man sighed, and led Rias to the sofa, still in the middle of the laughing fit.
After finally fixing his hair, the young man approached him once again.
"Sorry about that, I'm Kawakami Sora, Pawn of Rias Gremory, good meeting you." He extended his hand.
A Pawn? It took Rias this long to settle on a single Pawn?
"Riser Phenex…" He accepted his hand, and squeezed down rather hard as punishment for his previous offense, all but crushing his hand.
Sora kept his composure despite the force of Riser's grip. While nothing special, it was at least commendable that he was able to not crumble before his King.
Riser let go of his hand, standing there with a smirk.
The young man rubbed his hand. "Quite the grip you got there."
Grayfia stepped forward. "Allow me to explain. As he said before, he is Riser Phenex, a pureblood High-Class Devil, and third son of the House of Phenex, and Rias Gremory's fiancé."
Riser let out a sigh, his confident smirk back on his face as he tried to salvage things. "How have things been lately, Rias? I've heard you've been having some troubles lately."
Rias lost her smile, her face set in a steely mask. "We've had our ups and downs, but it wasn't anything my precious servants and I couldn't handle." She frowned. "Now, get to the point. You're not here to say 'hello' and have a spot of tea."
His smirk deepened. "Can't a man visit his own fiancée? Especially when the date of our ceremony is closing in so soon?"
Rias narrowed her eyes, and stood up from the sofa. "I've told you a thousand times before, and I'll say it a thousand times more. I will not marry you!"
"Yes, yes…" Riser rolled his eyes at her playing hard to get as usual. "I've heard. Though some tea would actually be nice, especially after your Pawn's misconduct."
"Sorry." Sora grunted. "Been on a bit of a hair trigger ever since I got my familiar, a Sprite Dragon. Little shit has a habit of zapping damn near everything."
A Sprite Dragon as a familiar? That was indeed impressive for a Devil so young. But how could he dominate the will of such a creature with such weak power? Riser could sense the difference between them, and while Sora was above average for a Low-Class Devil, the disparity between their power was vast. Did he have a dragon taming affinity? No… from what he said, the thing had been acting rather rebellious ever since he made it his familiar. So how did he do it? Even Riser himself would begrudgingly admit that taming such a beast, while not impossible, would be a trying and annoying ordeal.
Rias sighed. "Fine…" She turned to her Queen. "Akeno, if you'd kindly."
The raven haired Queen smiled. "Of course."
The lovely Queen walked into a sideroom within the clubroom.
Riser walked towards Rias and took a seat on the sofa she stood near. "Sit down with me, my lovely Rias."
She stared at him for a few seconds, her eyes narrowed in a glare before she huffed and walked to the opposite sofa across from him. She grabbed Sora by his hand on her way and made him sit down with her.
Riser raised an eyebrow at her defiance, idly noting just how close she seemed with her Pawn.
He shook his head, his smirk still on his face. "Rias, surely you understand the dire circumstances your household is under right now."
"The circumstances of the Gremory family is none of your concern, Riser." Rias' tone had an edge to it. "Besides, it was promised by our families that I would not marry you until I had graduated university."
Riser twitched at the insinuation that it was none of his concern. As if he had no right to care for sweet aunt Venelana, who had cared for him when he was just a child along with the maids; or uncle Zeoticus who took him and his brothers out for camel riding when he was younger.
"You're the only heir currently to your household, do you intend for the Gremory line to end with you? Will you abandon your duty to your house and Devilkind?" His tone was now serious.
"Of course not, but this engagement was not my choice. Father, brother, and everyone is forcing me to rush this!" Rias crossed her arms, unintentionally bringing attention for wonderful assets. "I will not bring ruin to the House of Gremory, and I will deal with the issue myself. On my own terms. Besides…" There was a gentle, loving smile on her face as she turned to her Pawn, taking his hand into hers. "I've already chosen who my husband will be."
Riser froze, still as a statue as he processed her words. The unfairness of it all, the indignity, the humiliation, but above all that…
"Pfffft! Hahahahahahahaha!" It was utterly hilarious. "Really, Rias? Really?! This is what you chose over me?"
Rias lost her smile, a scowl marred her beautiful face as she stood up. "Who I choose has nothing to do with you."
Riser shot up to his feet and stomped over to her, rage written all over his face. "Have you forgotten that I too carry the name of one of the Seventy-Two Clans on my shoulders? That I too have my duties to my household?!" The heat of the room raised along with his rage. "And it is part of my duty as a son of the House of Phenex to not allow you to tarnish its name more than you already have!" Riser's body burst into flames, setting fire to some of the furniture in the room. "Let me make myself clear, Rias. I will take you back to the Underworld myself, even if I have to burn all of your servants!" The flames on his back surged and gathered, forming wings behind his back.
Rias' body erupted in a red and black aura as she glared at the Phenex before her. "Threatening my precious servants will not make things go your way, Riser Phenex! If you lay a hand on them, I will bring you to ruin! Immortality or not!"
"Besides…" Sora made his presence known as he snapped his fingers. There were over a dozen flashes of red, and Riser found himself faced with a veritable armory of firearms pointed right at him, all suspended in the air. "You'd die before you harmed a single hair on anyone in this room."
Riser snorted as he looked down at the Pawn. "Do you honestly think that…" His eyes widened as his senses picked up on the holy aura emitting from the weapons.
"Each one of these guns has a full magazine of bullets melted down from crosses, dipped in holy water, and blessed by the Holy Maiden, Asia Argento herself." He explained in detail, and stood proudly next to his King. "Now, if you would be so very Christian-like to calm your ass down?"
Riser held his ground, his hostility and killing intent filling the room, his power and might as a High-Class Devil of the Phenex Clan bearing down on the taller boy. "Do you have any idea of the matters you intrude on, boy?"
"I am painfully aware of the political bullshit I'm getting into." Sora stood tall, unphased by his intimidation. "I understand that on both a political, and moral level, we're in the wrong. But fuck it, we ball here in Rias's House of Hard Knocks." He snapped his fingers again, the guns all disappeared. "And I understand that any man worth his salt would be utterly furious if put in your situation, so I'm giving you one free shot-"
WHAM!
"Sora!" Rias shouted.
Riser didn't know when he did it. It was almost a completely unconscious action. But he had slugged the Pawn in the face, his head snapping to the side. A trail of blood flowing from the side of his lip. Though his head moved. Sora didn't budge from where he stood, didn't even stagger back. Riser was sure a blow like that should've sent him flying across the room.
Rias' power raged wildly. "Riser! How dare you-"
"Rias, I'm fine." Sora put a hand on her shoulder as he rubbed his jaw with his other hand. "I owed him that much."
She had a conflicted look on her face, but sighed, and reigned her power in. "Fine."
Riser could see the scathing looks Kiba and Koneko were giving him, as well as Grayfia's disappointed frown.
He brought his attention back to the Phenex, an infuriating smirk on his face. "Pretty hard hit, Tweety. Feel better?"
"Tch." Riser reigned in his flames, his head cooled a little, then shot a glare at Rias. "Playing house with your servants like this is unbecoming of you."
Sora laughed, whipping the blood from his face. "A bit of the pot calling the kettle black, eh? Isn't your whole Peerage one big harem or something?"
Riser just smirked. "I'm not giving them some false hope of marrying me. The games you play with your servants are truly cruel, Rias."
Rias' expression turned outright furious at the insinuation. "False hope?! You arrogant piece of-"
Grayfia cleared her throat and she walked between them. "Obviously, negotiations have fallen through, and as such my master, Sirzechs, Lord Germory, and those House Phenex have assigned me a last resort should things inevitably break down." She gave both Riser and Rias a pointed and serious look. "An unofficial Rating Game."
"Very well then, I accept." Rias's tone still carried the fury she had previously.
Riser let out a condescending laugh. "Oh? You accepted it so readily. Alright, I don't mind." It was an excellent opportunity to humble her. "But I am a mature Devil, and have participated in the official games. I've even won most of them and have far, far more experience than you. Even so, you still want to play, Rias?"
Rias took a deep breath, the Pawn she claimed she would marry rubbed her shoulder comfortingly.
She met Riser's gaze with a fearless smile. "I'm game."
"Very well." Riser grinned. "If you win, do as you please. If I win, you cease this farce and marry me immediately."
Grayfia nodded. "Understood. I, Grayfia, have confirmed the agreement of the Rating Game on both sides. I will be in charge of the game between the two households which will take place one month from now. Any objections?"
"No objections." Rias agreed instantly.
Riser raised an eyebrow. "A month? Seems like too much time for an outcome so obvious, but very well, no objections."
Grayfia bowed elegantly. "Understood, I shall inform both households then."
With an arrogant and condescending look on his face, Riser's gaze scanned the room. "Rias, I have to ask. Are these all of the servants you have?"
"So what if they are?" The redhead asked back challengingly.
His only response was to laugh and snap his fingers.
A large, orange magic circle appeared in the clubroom, flames burst forth and-
"Oh shit!" Sora had several magic circles prepared, no doubt getting ready to douse the flames with ice cold water.
"Don't you dare!" Riser roared, stopping him in his tracks.
"I wouldn't if you'd stop setting the fucking clubroom on fire!" He shouted back. "You're lucky I didn't use high-pressure Co2 gasses, you'd have got knocked the hell out."
Riser rolled his eyes as his Peerage fully emerged from the flames. Though a small traitorous thought in his head regretted the opportunity to see his lovely girls in wet clothes. It was there he had come to a decision: They were spending the month until the Rating Game at a private beach.
"Well, Rias, I have fifteen pieces, a full set." He waved his hand, gesturing to his Peerage. "Oh, and let me show you how you really show your servants how much you love them since you're so insistent on saying that Pawn will be your husband." He turned to his Queen. "Yubelluna, come here."
"Yes, Lord Riser." Responded his voluptuous, purple-haired Queen, an eager smile on her lips.
As Yubelluna closed the distance Riser wrapped his arms around her in an embrace. He used his hand to tilt her head up towards him, and captured her lips. Yubelluna moaned loudly lewdly into his mouth as his tongue explored her mouth.
Riser pulled back, leaving Yubelluna breathless in his arms. He glanced at Rias who looked at the scene with a deadpan expression.
"You know what? Bet." She turned to her Pawn. "Sora?"
"Yeah, Rias - mmmhh?!" Sora was cut off as Rias pulled him down by his collar and into a passionate burning kiss.
Riser stood there stunned. He didn't think she'd actually go that far.
"Tea's ready!" Akeno called out as she walked back into the clubroom with a tray holding a teapot and multiple cups, then she caught the sight of Sora and Rias making out. "Ara Ara~! Isn't it a bit too early in the morning for that Buchou~?"
Riser's eye twitched as he heard Rias moan into Sora's mouth.
"Y-You'd really kiss another man in front of your own fiancé?!" Riser shouted.
Sora pulled back from Rias. "I already made the pot and kettle joke, you just did the same thing - mmmhhh!" And was then silenced by her lips.
"That was different!" He argued.
He pulled back again. "Really wasn't." And just as quickly, he was once again silenced by Rias.
"Would you two stop already?!" The Phenex roared.
"Those two really need to get a room already!" His sister, Ravel muttered under her breath.
Rias pulled back, her face flushed, slightly out of breath and a smug smile across her lips. "Whatever, I'm finished. For now at least~"
Riser's shoulders trembled in rage and indignity, he shot a burning glare at Sora. "Enjoy it while it lasts, because in one month's time…I'm going to crush you."
Sora grinned, and Riser felt a wave of unnaturally potent bloodlust overtake him. The boy's face was near manic, a mad gleam in his eyes. Riser's eyes widened slightly, for a split second, he saw something there in place of Sora. A monster.
Sora kept his grin, now looking more normal, confidence and pride exuding from him.
"Nah, I'd win."
Riser huffed at his proclamation, he and his Peerage teleported out of the ORC clubroom.
He would teach this upstart the folly of his actions personally.
Chapter End
