Issei was quite angry.
He was furious, even,
Some yakitori had barged into the Occult Research Club(ORC)'s secret clubhouse with his Peerage in tow and had announced that he was Rias-buchou's fiance, and it was clear that Rias-buchou was extremely upset over everything related to the very concept of what was going on, even though she kept up a straight face.
Issei kept himself calm, if barely, while standing amongst Rias's Peerage members in the cushy clubhouse while Rias sat on a couch, and opposite to her, the aforementioned yakitori named Riser sat on a identical couch that had been spontaneously made into being with [Power of Imagination], with his Peerage standing behind him just as Rias's Peerage stood behind her.
Issei glanced at the side where a gray-haired woman in maid clothes was standing in seeming ease some distance away from the Peerages, positioned in a neutral fashion as if she was a mediator or a guard, but Issei was well aware of the presence of the maid-woman that pressed on Issei like if someone was keeping him under a full-power pressure washer.
The woman was the Strongest Queen of the Underworld, Grayfia, and Issei had met the woman for the first time just last night- When Rias-buchou had suddenly appeared into Issei's bedroom, thrown her clothes off, and promptly jumped on Issei's chest while commanding him to make love to her.
Issei had locked up as the erotic situation had been so sudden and he had almost died from blood-loss of his sudden nosebleed, but the moment had come to an end before it could properly begin as the ice-cold gray-haired maid had suddenly appeared into Issei's bedroom as well, and with a few neutral words, had effectively pried Rias off of Issei had sent her slinking off.
The strange encounter had bugged Issei for the whole day, until he got called to the Occult Research Club's clubroom… And had found out why Rias had suddenly jumped him, and why the gray-haired woman had fetched Rias away before anything could happen.
In other words, Rias had tried to desperately escape the engagement that had been forced upon her by bedding Issei, and by hoping that being cucked would have been enough to get Riser Phenix to back off from the engagement that had been forced on her by her parents… Even though such a thing had been a fool's hope at best, and an act of impotent rebellious anger at likeliest.
Well, other than that, Rias had slipped while getting off Issei's chest, and as a result she had sat on Issei's face while fully naked.
Issei felt as his nose started to bleed as he recalled the erotic memory.
"It looks like your Pawn is appreciating my Peerage." Riser commented dryly as the blonde man in a red suit glanced over at Issei, who was currently bleeding a small puddle on the floor of the ORC clubroom. Incidentally Issei was also looking at the group of hotties that made Riser's Peerage, which in no way affected his way of thinking and/or the contents of his stray thoughts. Mostly. If he lied to himself.
"It… is his habit." Rias bristled a bit but made no motion otherwise in order to not betray her nervousness over the event. Issei had been in Rias's Peerage long enough to be able to pick up basic body language cues from Rias, and it was clear that Rias was putting her best metaphorical mask on right now. "I take it that you have come here for a purpose other than to chit-chat and delay my graduation by forcing me to skip classes in order to entertain you. And with both of our Peerages assembled for some bizarre reason?"
"Oh, I would never. There was a definite reason why I called our parents to arrange this meeting- And I might add, you have been quite rude in blocking my attempts to communicate with you, and thus humiliated me by forcing me to speak to your parents to arrange this meeting." Riser slid his hair back while sitting on a couch that was opposite to Rias's, with a small tea table between the two- Originally the man had tried to sit beside Rias, but Akeno had taken a small half-step forwards when Riser had tried to sit, and after Riser had ignored Akeno's warning, Grayfia had just slightly adjusted her shoulders which had caused Riser to pale and back off. "Besides, if education was such a big deal to you, then I am more than willing to arrange you as many private lessons as you can stomach."
"I am glad that you offered, but I will not take you up on that offer." Rias responded curtly, causing Riser to let out a 'tch' sound and look to the side.
"Well, whatever. You'll be my wife one day, like it or not. Meet me halfway here." Riser leaned forwards. "Is it truly so bad that I wish to visit my soon-to-be wife and learn about her habits and little hobbies before we marry?"
"I assume that you are assuming that I wish to know anything about you, or that I wish for you to know anything about me, or am interested in allowing you to insert yourself into my private life." Rias commented coldly in turn, and Issei's head spun a bit as he tried to make sense of Rias's responses to Riser.
The whole conversation was going over Issei's head, if he was honest. But he knew that Rias wanted to have nothing to do with Riser, and Issei felt as if it was his job as her Pawn to tell Riser off.
"Now listen here, you… Yakitori! Yes, you, yakitori!" Issei took a step forward, even though the pressure that Grayfia was radiating intensified tenfold as he took action.
Riser paused his words and slowly, very slowly, turned his head to glance at Issei. "Haah? What was that?"
"Listen up, skin cancer broiler-looking bucket of burnt chicken wings, Rias-buchou clearly wants to have nothing to do with you, so piss off!" Issei pointed his finger at Riser.
"...I see you have not taught your pawns to not bark indoors. Do not worry, Rias-chan, I'll be sure to teach your Peerage to be indoor-clean when we unite." Riser glanced at Rias, whose grip tightened on her teacup.
"I must say, even though Issei's straightforwardness is not something I share but only adore, we do share opinions on this matter." Rias smiled at Riser while having her eyes drawn to slits, causing Riser to growl violently.
"I am hurt. Truly." Riser lifted his hand and rubbed his face. "In that case, let's stop with this facade. I grow tired of waiting, and it's clear that you won't get rid of your bad attitude until you have a good night's sleep and good lay. But I digress- Originally you were supposed to become mine when your 'education' in the human world came to an end. Which, I remind you, is a deal that was struck by our fathers without consulting either of us first. And that is the date that you clearly push backwards with foul play and trickery at every opportunity."
"I hope that you have a point?" Rias was clearly starting to grow more annoyed as her words started to become less courteous.
"I grow tired of your endless yet pointless delays, so I propose a challenge. Your Peerage against mine in a Rating Game. If you win, the marriage contract is canceled. If I win, we are married immediately afterwards." Riser gave Rias a headstrong, arrogant sneer and leaned back on his couch while resting his arms on the couch's back as if he owned the place. "Your answer?"
"..." Rias paused, and Issei could practically feel the atmosphere of the room tensing up as Grayfia's presence suddenly waned, allowing Rias's presence to fill the void and make Issei feel as if he had cold shivers running up his skin.
Issei tried to forward again and tell Riser that he should stop bothering Rias and walk off, but before he could do that, he spotted something from the corner of his eyes- Namely, Riser's Rook's thighs which had become quite visible after the woman adjusted her pose which swayed her hip in very erotic manner.
'Man, those thighs look good… wait. Rias-buchou comes first!' Issei shook off the daze immediately, but Koneko had moved in front of Issei and blocked his march.
"Koneko, please get out of my way, I need to-" Issei started to speak but Rias spoke over him before he could march between Rias and Riser.
"Very well. I accept this challenge with a slight alteration. A handicap, if you will. Seeing that my Peerage has no experience in Rating Games and you do have several victories under your belt, I believe that we should have the Game in… say, two months from now. I believe that this compromise is fair as it would allow my Peerage to train and thus make the Game fair." Rias countered, causing Riser's expression to turn to an arrogant smirk.
"You mean to train this rabble? In mere two months?" Riser glanced at Issei and the rest of Rias's Peerage members. "I doubt you'd get these anywhere the level of my Peerage even if I gave you a hundred years to train them. But two months is too much- My patience is already too thin, and I won't give you the time to weasel your way to yet another delay. Ten days, that is the handicap that I am willing to give you."
"Now, you-" Issei took a step forward, but Koneko's back was in the way and he couldn't advance as the lithe, tiny girl was a Rook despite her appearance and was like an immovable object when she didn't want to be moved.
"I accept." Rias replied easily to Riser's challenge. "I look forward to freeing myself from this… unpleasant business. Grayfia-san, could I ask you to testify to this Contract?"
"Of course, Rias-sama." The steel-gray haired maid commented from the side.
"You-" Issei took a step forward and managed to get around Koneko even though the small girl moved mysteriously, almost as if she was trying to subtly stand between Issei and Riser for some reason.
"Hm… Hm." Riser glanced at Issei and scrunched his nose as if he looked at something that was rotting. "Your rat seems to be wanting to be squished now and not in ten days. Put it back in its cage, Rias-chan, or I'll have to put it there for you."
"Issei-" Rias looked like she was conflicted as she glanced at Issei, and Issei realized what Rias wanted him to do- After all, it wasn't as if she could just tell him to say to Riser what she wanted to say herself, since she was clearly trying to be diplomatic with the blonde bastard.
Issei, however, had no such need and thus could put to words what Rias thought just so that Riser would have no illusions of the situation. "Listen here, yakitori- Do you think that Rias-buchou is going to lose?! We will win, just you wait! I'll take your arrogant words and stuff them-"
Riser sighed during Issei's speech. "Xuelan."
"-Up your-ghuaaha!"
Issei was mid-sentence and then he was on the opposite side of the room, upside-down against the wall and facing towards it.
Issei was fairly sure that there was a human-shaped dent in the wall that had been left from him impacting the wall, and he hadn't even seen the kick land before he had already been airborne with a foot-shaped dent in his stomach
However… '...That feeling. It's like when Rias-buchou sat on my face…'
There was something… awakening inside Issei's heart.
He had seen a flash of greatness just before the kick had landed.
It had left a burning feeling in his heart, which was not related to the pain from the kick to his stomach.
'Could it be… I've been so focused on boobs that… I've been completely blind to thick thigh's blinding light?' Issei felt as if he had become a philosopher of old, unlocking the secrets of happiness and long life.
"...I'll not stand for you attacking my cute Peerage members!" Rias's enraged voice entered Issei's ringing ears as he finally flopped down from the wall and landed on his back on the floor.
"Perhaps if you learned to spay and muffle your pets then I wouldn't have to do it for you?" Riser's arrogant sneer responded.
Issei got up and realized that Rias and Riser had stood up and were glaring at one another, all the while Grayfia had taken a step back and… Was giving Issei a small, almost evaluating glance?
Issei realized something- 'Rias-buchou said that Grayfia-sama was like a sister to her, and that she was her brother's wife… In other words, she's Rias's family! If I act lame now, then Rias-buchou's family would disapprove of me- And after we beat Yakitori's group in a game or whatever then Rias would be free of that marriage contract, and then Rias-buchou's boobs would be free game! Or… What about Rias-buchou's thighs? Hm…'
The feeling of thinking about thighs was strange, but Issei couldn't waste time dwelling on it- At least now!
"Yakitoriiii!" Issei rose up and pointed at the red-clad Phenix man. "Do you think that my love for Rias-buchou's boobs is extinguished this easily?!"
Riser glanced at Issei. And then at Rias. "It seems that my Rook's kick has blown your Pawn's brains out. I would say sorry but it doesn't look like much has changed."
"..." Rias glared at Riser with such an intense ferocity that Issei could feel a tiny sliver of it- And it was worrying that the blonde man was still standing after receiving such an intense glare! Issei was certain that he would have keeled over and died!
At the same time, Issei knew that Rias was keeping Riser locked in place so that Issei could speak- It was clear that Riser wasn't taking Issei seriously.
"Materialize! [Boosted Gear]!" Issei pulled his arm up and the thick red gauntlet formed around his forearm. "Fried chicken reject! Listen up! In ten days We are going to beat you black and blue for your mockery of Rias and-"
"Xuelan." Riser sighed a bit, and a flash moved past him.
This time Issei was ready, however, and took the spin-kick masterfully and parried it with his stomach, causing him to fly to the ceiling with a devastating snap-sound, and he left a human-shaped crater in the ceiling.
Issei fell down from the ceiling and landed in a heap on the floor.
"Riser! Stop abusing my Pawn!" Rias growled at Riser and pointed her finger at the man.
"Oh? I am merely teaching this thing its place… heh, did you call that the 'Boosted Gear', boy? Yes, I am merely teaching this 'Boosted Gear' user his place, seeing that you seem to be too soft to do so, dear Rias. You may think that thing over there is your trump card for the Rating Game, your 'ace in the sleeve' to beat me, but you know full well Boosted Gear's history- Yes, it has the power to slay even a God, but none of its users have managed to do so, not even close. It is clear that it is a flawed tool, like its wielder." Riser ran his fingers through his scalp in a headstrong motion and completely dismissed Issei. "It's not good to be too soft with your Peerage, you know. Consider this a-"
"Ha… Hahah…" Issei stood up and coughed blood. "I see now… Yes…"
Riser glanced at Issei, again, while having a angry vein-tick on the side of his temple after Issei had interrupted the Phenix's monologue. "What was that, mutt? Did you not learn to stay silent and grovel at your betters from two kicks? Do I have to order Xuelan to snap your neck this time?"
"Yes… This… This… Is why I fight…" Issei ignored Riser's words as he could feel it now. Clear as water.
The moment the shin impacted against Issei's stomach, he had moved his hand… And brushed the chinese-dress wearing Rook's thigh.
The supple softness, yet firmness of muscle, the feeling of warmth… There was something that deeply touched Issei's very soul in the feeling. It was like the feeling of Rias's soft buttocks against Issei's face, but… Different. More violent. More raw.
Something had ignited in Issei's chest when Rias had sat on his face, and now the spark had been blown to a fire in Issei's chest. Something which was unrelated to the crippling pain in his stomach.
"Riser-sama, there's something creepy about that guy…" Xuelan, the Rook, whispered to Riser.
"Hmm…" Riser narrowed his eyes and looked at Issei, who had been looking at the ceiling while transfixed by his internal thoughts. "Rias. Perhaps you harbor a delusion that this mutt is capable of breaking our marriage contract. Perhaps you've put your misplaced hope on the Boosted Gear based on it's legend, and that's why you have taken my challenge- Perhaps you think that this whelp can beat me. Let me show you how wrong you are."
Rias glanced in Grayfia's direction and saw that the maid had withdrawn a step at some point during the chaos, clearly giving her consent to the bullying even if she said nothing.
Riser had clearly seen it and was taking full advantage of the opportunity.
A sound of gnashing teeth came from Rias as she glared at Riser and made a motion behind her to tell the rest of her Peerage to clump up and get behind her so that they wouldn't get bullied as well. "Riser, I can discipline my own Peerage, you… you…"
"Yakitori?" Issei glanced over as he rode down the feeling of the revelation while standing on his two feet, blood pouring down from his nose, mouth and ears. "Again."
"What?" Riser paused a bit.
"Have her kick me again." Issei pointed at the Rook… who took a small step back.
Riser saw it and the man's face grew red with annoyance and anger. "Well, you heard the esteemed wielder of the Boosted Gear, Xuelan. Send him through the ceiling."
Xuelan took a step forwards… and hesitated. "Riser-sama, something feels off."
"Do it." Issei turned towards the thick-thighed woman in chinese qipao-dress.
"Xuelan. Do you let this whelp disrespect us?" Riser's face grew redder with anger.
"DO IT!" Issei shouted.
He needed to feel it again.
He was on the brink of realizing something grand.
Something beautiful.
He just needed… One… more… push…
"Riser-sama, this feels like a really bad idea!" Xuelan whimpered but struck a combat-pose nonetheless, in which she bounced softly back and forth on the very tips of her feet while having her hands up in guard.
The effect of the bounce was quite exquisite on the woman's chest, but more than that… Issei saw the bare flesh of the rook's thighs peek out from the sides of her high-cut qipao, showing the motion of the perfectly soft thigh, occasionally allowing the motion of the muscle to show through the soft and supple skin yet not so much that it would be grotesque.
It was… so close…
Issei was… so close…
"…Boy, what the hell…" A deep, ancient-sounding voice echoed in the back of Issei's thoughts- The sound of the dragon trapped in the Boosted Gear, who was observing the world and Issei's thoughts through the gauntlet that was covering Issei's forearm and hand.
"Do it… Do it! I'M HERE! DO IT! KICK ME! DO IT NOOOOOW!" Issei felt as if his head was building up pressure like a grenade about to explode from the force of the building revelation.
"...Fine. I'll do it myself-" Riser seemed to grow annoyed at Xuelan's hesitancy and took a step, and the disappointment and anger in Riser's voice seemed to push Xuelan over her paranoia.
"Haiii-ya!" Xuelan disappeared from the spot- And materialized in front of Issei.
Perhaps she had teleported, perhaps she had been too fast for Issei to see.
But Issei knew the exact spot where she was about to kick him.
If was almost as if one of her thighs had told him, 'I am going to kick you in your flank :D', and the other had told 'I don't get to kick you this time, a shame :('
A devastating slap-like sound rang in the ORC clubroom.
Issei was bent to a bow over Xuelan's shin. He looked like a folded-up book with legs and torso pointing in the same direction with Xuelan's shin sandwiched between his legs and torso.
However…
The Boosted Gear was resting on Xuelan's thigh.
No, rather, Issei's hand was resting on Xuelan's thick, soft thigh.
"Ew!" Xuelan pulled back as soon as she realized that Issei had stuck to her shin like a piece of seaweed instead of getting kicked through the wall, and realized that Issei was groping her thigh.
"Ah… Yes…" Issei fell on his butt as the shin was withdrawn, allowing gravity to do its duty.
And then Issei sprang up on his feet as if he was spring-loaded. "I feel it now… Yes… This…"
Riser paused.
"...This is why I fight…" Issei spoke aloud to no-one but himself. The revelation was too powerful for him to merely think about it- It needed to be said aloud. "Yes… My power… I've realized it, and my power waxes over me- This… This is the Source of True Power. I've realized it."
A hint of worry entered Riser's expression. "What…"
"Thighs…" Issei pointed up like a holy man who had received a message from God. "Thighs… Like boobs, they make up the balance of power- The Yin to the Yang."
Issei lifted both his hands up with palms towards the ceiling, as if he was about to receive the weight of the world on his hands. "Boobs… And thighs. The perfect harmony."
"...What." This time Riser's expression was bland instead of worried.
"...Hentai is being hentai, even at times like these…" A faint, under-tone yet utterly bland voice came from Koneko, causing Issei to open his eyes.
"I have witnessed eternity." Issei stated while he was looking at his own hands as if it was the first time he had seen them. "The secrets of the universe unlock themselves for me."
"You…" Riser gained a confused expression for a brief moment before he scoffed and turned around to walk off. "Rias. It seems that my Rook has knocked loose what little gray matter was left in that soft soggy skull of your Pawn. You have my condolences. Ten days, and eleven to our wedding."
"I look forward to unraveling our little forced marriage." Rias sent Riser a venomous glare, causing the man to let a 'tch' sound and step into a red-glowing summoning circle that sprang open at the center of the room.
Issei caught Xuelan giving him a creeped-out glance.
Meanwhile Xuelan's left thigh said 'Bye now, I'll kick you to death in the match :D', and her right thigh had said 'Nothing personnel, kid L:' before the Rook disappeared in a flash of red light.
The Phenix entourage teleported out of the clubroom, leaving just Rias, her Peerage, and Grayfia within it.
"...Well then. I suppose that I have to excuse myself to train my Peerage, Grayfia-san." Rias spoke to the Strongest Queen who stood in the corner of the room as a passive observer, and who curtsied politely to Rias despite her annoyed tone of voice.
"Of course, Rias-sama. I shall inform Lord Gremory and Lord Phenix of the wager-Game, and ask them for their blessing." Grayfia told Rias and then teleported out of the room via a separate summoning circle.
Rias then turned her head slowly, unhurriedly, until she was looking straight at Issei. "What. was. that?"
Issei used the question as a que to splurt blood from his mouth and pass out as Xuelan's kick had ruptured both of his kidneys.