Ride 19: Re:Present

2nd of May, 2019 AD (3/3 of the Cycle)

As soon as Takeshi opened his eyes, he found himself back inside [Section Heorot] once more.

"... This is how rats must feel every time they sneak into this place," Takeshi muttered to himself before gagging and pinching his nose. "Oh fuck, this place is already reeking of booze..."

The Evil Dragon User was given his answer as he was welcomed into a giant mead hall whose floors and tables were littered with numerous silo-sized barrels all emptied of their alcohol.

"Must've been one Hell of a bacchanal..." Takeshi then walks further into the dimly-lit halls, carefully navigating the now-labyrinthine layout of this once-pristine longhouse.

Memorizing the last time where he set foot in here, Takeshi makes his way towards where Grendel was usually situated. As he drew himself closer towards the throne, slowly picking up on low growls and grumbles as he got closer.

"... Can he get drunk if his diet is nothing but blood and booze?" Takeshi thought out loud as he lumbered over one of the discarded tankards. "... Screw it. I'll find out when I get there."

After climbing onto one of the tables before the throne, the Evil Dragon User spots Grendel, the Evil Dragon slouched onto his oaken throne surrounded by his emptied caskets of mead, with one unfinished one still held in his clawed hand.

"... You got balls of brass for coming here while I'm at my angriest, brat," he growled stoically, uncharacteristically tranquil while ember-laced plumes of thick black smoke came out of his nostrils with a deep puff. "In fact, it never occurred to me that I could get this angry. So angry in fact, that I am actually calm and thinking clearly for the first time in my life..."

"Live and learn, I suppose," Takeshi deadpanned as he took a quick look around. "... Look, I'll make this quick for your sake, but can you stop being a fucking baby for a hot minute and let me use your Sacred Gear to its fullest potential? I have friends I need to fight for, and I am in need of your cooperation."

*SNAP*

With a single squeeze, Grendel crushes his butt (unit of measurement: about 108 gallons per unit) of mead held in his clawed hand, the spillover hissing and evaporating against his searing scales as their gaps began to glow with an ominous radiance akin to the bowels of Hell itself.

"... There's a limit to how bad your jokes can get, brat," snarled the Evil Dragon of Wrath. "... Here's a counteroffer. I let you leave with your pitiful life intact. And in return, I won't have to deal with you ever again."

Takeshi scoffs, unimpressed at Grendel's appeal of a ceasefire. "Wow," he remarked with a smirk. "An Evil Dragon offering mercy? Get real. I'm wise enough to not show my back to the likes of you."

The Evil Dragon User then manifests his [Berserk Devastator] around his limbs and lower face before shifting his posture into a combative stance.

"And even if you were being serious, you know me better than that," he continued. "... I don't take the easy way out. So shut up and put 'em up. Stoicism is a terrible look for you."

The foul grimace around the Evil Dragon's maw then cracked upwards into a psychotic smirk. "... Fine."

The ambient glow coming from the gaps of his scales flare up, cloaking Grendel in Hellfire that turned this green-scaled monstrosity into an actual demon.

"DIE!" Grendel takes initiative as he lunges towards Takeshi, his speed betraying his bulky physique as his meteoric fist smashed the table where Takeshi was standing on into a storm of cindered splinters.

Takeshi then takes flight with his wings, using the chiropteran sails to catch the updraft generated from the sudden blast of heat (and all those hours playing Breath of the Wild) to gain some distance before withdrawing them.

In the next instance, Takeshi then flares up all of his thrusters around his Sacred Gear, propelling himself like a humanoid bullet as he delivers his payload unto Grendel with his fist.

"MEDIOCRE!" Grendel then counters Takeshi's counterattack with his own rocket-powered uppercut, the two fists colliding against each other with equal force. "WHAT?!"

The two combatants parry each other's blows, separating them away from each other in a greater distance.

"HOW THE FUCK ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!" the Evil Dragon roared in disbelief.

"C'mon, use that new brainpower of yours to figure it out," Takeshi mocked before giving him the bird.

Thanks to everyone else's contributions outside (both currently and before), Takeshi was using the principle of Senjutsu to keep his ego intact, letting him face the Evil Dragon on (relatively) equal footing.

Just like how a boulder remains standing in the middle of a rushing river. And Grendel was nothing but a rushing river of violence.

"THEN I'LL JUST KEEP HITTING YOU UNTIL YOU DIE!" The flames enveloping Grendel burned hotter and brighter as he rampaged through the mead hall, bulldozing everything in his wake, crushing everything into flaming rubble and splinters as he beelined towards Takeshi.

Takeshi then leaps out of the burning full-body tackle, landing on another table before Grendel swerved his charge's trajectory towards his direction.

"FIGHT ME, YOU COWARD!"

*SMASH!*

Takeshi then takes flight once again, nailing his fist between Grendel's eyes and stamping him down with a concussive blow after his charge was evaded.

"Goddammit, it's like trying to punch a hot grill..." he grimaced as the Evil Dragon instantly got back up.

"YOU ARE A THOUSAND YEARS TOO EARLY TO FACE ME, BRAT!" The flames spewing from the gaps of Grendel's scales burned even hotter and brighter, now setting the whole mead hall on fire as this blazing colossus stamped on the discarded barrels underneath his feet, with each step sounding akin to a cannon shot, cracking the cobblestone floor beneath it. "DO YOU HONESTLY THINK THAT YOU ARE ENOUGH TO DEFEAT ME?! I AM GRENDEL! THE BERSERKER DRAGON OF GREAT SIN! THE HELLFIRE BRINGER OF HOARFROST! I HAVE FELLED MILLIONS WHO WERE FOOLISH ENOUGH TO OPPOSE ME! I AM THE BRINGER OF DEATH TO THOSE FOOLS CALLING THEMSELVES 'HEROES'! I AM THE DESOLATION TO EVERY POCKET OF CIVILIZATION THAT I HAVE RAZED TO ENDLESS STRETCHES OF WASTELANDS! AND I WILL SHOW YOU WHY, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!"

Clenching one of its fists, Grendel then turns it into a hellish torch as he then leapt towards where Takeshi was standing at, and this time, the Evil Dragon User meets the Evil Dragon of Wrath's fist with his own.

[Berserk Devastator]'s thrusters all flare up as Takeshi channels every last of his demonic and draconic energy into this next strike.

*CLANG!*

Two flaming fists of great wrath collide like hammer unto anvil.

"That's it...!"

Grendel, even with all of his might, could not push Takeshi back like the insignificant speck of meat and bone like he was.

And if the Evil Dragon's senses weren't lying to him, he could hear him snicker like an overexcited child behind the roaring flames.

It sounded just like HIM, further angering the already incensed Evil Dragon even further.

"YOU'RE FUCKING PISSING ME OFF, BRAT!" Grendel roared out as he pushed back harder.

"NOW THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!" Takeshi cackled out madly. "COME ON, YOU SON OF A BITCH! UNLEASH YOUR HATE! YOUR ANGER! EVERYTHING!"

Both combatants roared as the flares of their jets intensified in response to their growing rage and mutual animosity, letting bare of everything they held back against each other up to this very moment.

"I'll take it all... AND FUCKING KILL YOU WITH IT!"

Inside Mira's Mind...

Mira leads Re:Live through her former home, her steps being staggered with a particular burden weighed on her soul.

"... Why did you bring me here?" Mira bitterly grumbled. "... You clearly know more than I do that I don't like it here."

"Call it 'settling unfinished business'," revealed Re:Live as they continued following her behind. "Old wounds won't heal if they're left to fester."

Mira sighs before relenting. "... Follow me."

The Pawn then leads her guest through the recreation of her past life, a modestly sized Japanese manor with a small shrine dedicated to a local kami inside its grounds.

"My family were descended from a line of mystics dating back to the founding of Japan," she explained. "Our ancestors dedicated worship to a local god who has been blessing these lands ever since its first rice paddy was planted and harvested. From that esteemed linage, I was born... as the youngest of the five siblings."

The settings shift around to reveal four other children resembling Mira going outside the estate with smiles, with Mira herself, aged somewhere around her mid-to-late adolescence, wiping the estates floor like a common housemaid, her head cast downward and eyes spiritless.

"... I was born without any spiritual aptitude, and in turn, I received nothing from my family save for scorn," she revealed. "... Did you know that 'Mira' is not even my real name?"

Re:Live was taken aback by that factoid. "... Come to think of it, what was your real name?"

"How am I supposed to know?!" she cried out as she tried not to cry. "My birth was stricken from the family's history, and I was reduced to a common servant! All I remember was being called 'Mira' for my whole life! Even my mother and father, whose face I share with, refused to call me anything but 'Mira'!"

"Combination of Spirited Away and Cinderella..." Re:Live grumbled. "There's evil and then there's cartoonishly evil."

Mira wiped her tears as her mindscape shifted to another scene, with Mira being left out in the snow to clear it out with a wooden spade.

In the middle of the night, no less. The only silver lining was that Mira was at least allowed to wear a mino straw parka

"The only solace I had in that life were the other housemaids who took care of me in my family's stead," she confessed as the young Mira was helped back into the home after fainting from hypothermia. "... I suppose their kindness was my family's way of keeping their useless daughter useful. But to be so close to a life I could've had... is nothing short of cruel."

The setting turned spring, with Mira working with the rest of the housemaids while her siblings went outside in ceremonial garb to bless the rice paddies.

"So there it is," Mira dismissively remarked. "... A life of a girl who was reduced to a mere servant by her own family for simply failing to meet expectations-"

"You're not telling me the full story, aren't you?"

Mira then looks back with a pained expression. "... Haven't I already told you enough?!"

"You told me your circumstances, but not their root cause," Re:Live pointed out. "... The mere thought of them hurting you now despite them being mere memories is a testament to how deeply they hurt you."

Mira clenches her hands into fists, digging her fingernails into her palms until they were on the verge of bleeding. "... So what if I am?" she retorted. "What if I was so weak that even mere ghosts can still hurt me?"

"I am showing you respect that your family didn't," Re:Live retorts back. "To treat you differently just because you're weak is the greatest form of disrespect towards an individual, regardless of their birth. I will hold no pity for you, Mira. But I will not condemn you to your own trauma. So let me help you confront your demons... if you're willing to point your finger to whomever hurt you in the first place!"

The girl's heart quivered with fear, with sorrow digging into her ego like nails, and fear constricting her very self like barbed chains. It hurt like Hell to even move forward like this, but Re:Live wasn't giving her a lot of options-

"I know what you're thinking," Re:Live pointed out. "You're thinking that I'm not leaving you with a lot of options. So let me prove you wrong, right here and now."

Re:Live then sits themselves down before the conflicted girl, composed and waiting for her patiently.

"We will continue when you want to," they revealed. "After all, I am a mere 'spectator'. You're the storyteller. So, will you let it end like this, or are you going to turn to the next chapter to not leave this good thing on a cliffhanger?"

Mira then lets out a sigh after taking a few deep breaths, composing herself to make sure that she wants to move forward through resolving her trauma.

About 99.9% of her own psyche was screaming at her to not pursue any further than where she is right now, but that mere .1% begged her, in a muted voice, to continue for not only for her own sake, but for the sake of avenging her past indignities, unlikely as it may be.

... What is this feeling? she thought to herself. ... And why does it hurt so much... but I want to make it mean something?

Using this unknown feeling as her spur, Mira then turns around before walking ahead, the setting of her sordid past shifting around her.

"... Follow me."

Re:Live gets up and promptly follows the girl into the manor's interiors.

Back at [Section Heorot]...

The clash of wills between Takeshi and Grendel continued with neither side ceasing their advances.

Grendel held the clear advantage, being bigger, stronger, and angrier than his opponent. His scales, claws, and muscles were more than enough to pulverize armies of men with a single blow and shrug off their weapons. His flames burned like the sun, setting everything ablaze until they crumbled into ashes. And his rage was a testament to his divine might, continuously burning and propelling the Evil Dragon to resume his endless hunt towards his most persistent and annoying prey he'd ever encountered.

Takeshi was on the backfoot, for the opposite of reasons that benefitted Grendel. He was smaller, weaker, and not as armored. One direct hit was enough to reduce his body to a bloody paste before being cooked well done like beef stroganoff. However, his disadvantages also worked as his advantages, in that he's smaller, meaning that he was a harder target to hit, weaker, meaning that Grendel's is not on his guard when he's hit (and even then, Takeshi has to hit Grendel REALLY hard to get him to notice the Evil Dragon User), and being not as angry worked to keep his composure in this Hellscape he found himself in.

As long as Grendel assumed that he was fighting him one-on-one, he still held an upper hand. The only problem is actually getting Grendel to submit.

"[PROMOTION: BISHOP]!" Takeshi then flips and spins around to unleash a volley of fiery crescents from his greaves, all of them exploding into Grendel's face, blinding him for a few moments before the Evil Dragon recovers.

"THERE YOU ARE, YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

Grendel then unfurls his cape-like wings before charging with them like a football player. Smashing through tables the size of scaffolding and even shattering through the wrought-iron cauldron like porcelain ran over by a charging bull, the Evil Dragon of Wrath made his way towards where the attack had come from.

*CRASH!*

He stops his advance as soon as his flaming curtain of a wing hits the wall, now looking back at the trail of devastation left in his wake.

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?!" he roared out, the reverberations of his bass voice causing all of the longhouse's interior to tremor like an earthquake. "COME OUT AND FACE ME, YOU FUCKING COWARD-!"

"[PROMOTION: ROOK]!"

*BANG!*

Takeshi then smashes a hammer-fist into Grendel's skull as he leapt off of the mead hall's rafters and propelled by [Berserk Devastator]'s rockets, causing the Evil Dragon to torque downwards from the impact, as if the mortal's impact held actual weight.

Even after landing that surprise sneak attack, even after being spotted, and even after Grendel's body burned until he resembled a demon straight out of Hell's deepest depths, Takeshi refuses to go down without a fight.

"TRY DODGING THIS, YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Grendel then digs his claws into the cobblestone floor while infusing the ground before him with his flames, causing parts of the ground to melt into lava before a scattershot of rock and molten earth were pelted towards Takeshi.

"[PROMOTION: KNIGHT]!" Unfurling his wings, Takeshi then flies away from the scorching tidal wave's trajectory, but as soon as he escaped, Grendel was already in his path to greet him with a flaming maw.

Without a single retort, Grendel then spits a massive fireball from his maw towards Takeshi, prompting the latter to then unleash a fast karate chop across the fireball's width, the sharp vacuum splitting the lantern in two before both halves exploded, sending Takeshi flying smack dab into the mead hall's walls.

"YOU THINK YOU ACTUALLY STOOD A SNOWBALL'S CHANCE IN HELL AGAINST THE LIKES OF ME?!" Grendel roared out as he ran towards where Takeshi had landed. "LEARN OF YOUR INSIGNIFICANCE AS I SEND YOUR PITIFUL SOUL TO THE DEPTHS OF HELL!"

*KABOOM!*

Takeshi was rammed through the other side of the wall while receiving a full brunt of the Evil Dragon's blazing tackle. As regained his consciousness, his eyes absorbed the information that his brain was too slow to pick up and register on.

Grendel tore down the brick and timber wall several dozen meters thick like wallpaper.

Takeshi's body was still holding on in spite of the damage that it just took.

And his next location was the exact same mead hall where he first met Grendel.

... What kind of Cabin in the Woods-bullshit is this? Takeshi thought before he then snapped out of his funk right on time to parry Grendel's pitch-and-punch combo, which minimized his incoming damage at the cost of having him roll across one of the long tables through countless foodstuffs.

"HOW THE FUCK ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!" Grendel roared out, his own rage becoming too much to bear, even for him, as he then took his wrath out on the nearby tables and benches instead of attacking Takeshi to alleviate his problem.

Takeshi merely grumbles as he samples on a piece of the suckling pig's meat to rejuvenate himself, its gamey taste and oily juices filling his body with much-needed nutrients to heal his body. "Dunno," he snarked before letting out a loud burp. "I thought you liked a challenge."

"DON'T PATRONIZE ME!" the Evil Dragon of Wrath roared out furiously, the volume of his bass causing the wooden pillars holding up the longhouse's roof to shake. "I AM NONE OTHER THAN GRENDEL! AND YOU'RE JUST SOME OVERPRIVILEGED LITTLE SHIT THAT IS NOT WORTHY OF MY PRAISE! YOU'RE JUST A STUBBORN BRAT THAT REFUSES TO DIE WHEN TOLD TO DO SO!"

"You're not my dad, you scaly fuck," Takeshi rebuked before flipping him off. "... I choose when I die. And I choose to die after I am done fighting for my very life until I burn out, and I still have plenty to give. You want me to die so badly, Grendel?! Then stop treating me like some disposable mook and take me seriously already!"

Grendel then lets out another snarl as his flames burn even hotter, repeating the same causation of the last room that they were in while the latter's inferno spread over to their current section of the mead hall.

"... Be careful what you wish for, brat."

The flames around Grendel's body kept burning brighter and hotter, its illuminating hue going from deep orange to bright citrine, and then finally to pale blue.

... Welp, in for a penny, out for a pounding. Takeshi then braces himself as Grendel's flames spewed out of his scales like blowtorches whose infernal edges can rend through thick steel with their heat alone.

"I WILL PULVERIZE YOUR SOUL TO DUST AND THEN ENACT MY REVENGE UNTO YOUR BELOVED ONES!"

"YOU WILL NOT LAY A SINGLE FINGER ON MY FRIENDS, GRENDEL!"

Takeshi and the Evil Dragon lunge towards each other with intent of murdering one another, laying out their rage bare and naked towards each other.

Back Outside...

"Formation's still stable!" Akeno informed as she and everyone else kept the magic circle intact.

"My magic chains are still secure, milady," Grayfia confirmed as her links bound Takeshi's physical body tethered to the earth.

"Keep it steady!" Rias ordered as she continued to check on the magic flow of her Pawn and his Evil Dragon that he was confronting within the depths of his soul. "... Grendel's influence has increased by several volumes!"

"Increasing ki output!" Koneko acknowledges as she and Chiharu begin pouring in more of their ki into Takeshi's soul to keep him intact.

"Buddha's balls, this is nerve-racking...!" Kikuchiyo remarked.

"Don't show any weakness!" the Oni barked out. "The Evil Dragons thrive on uncertainty and anxiety! Do not falter!"

Yuuto then places his hand on the Kasha's bare shoulder as a sign of reassurance. "... He's stronger that I know him to be," he stated. "He will survive this. I'm sure of it!"

"... He's right!" Pandora concurs as she orders the ambient spirits to repair any damages on the magical formations like platelets on an open scar. "He believes in us... so we have to believe in him! We have to believe that his choice pays off in the end!"

Spurred by their words, Kikuchiyo then channels all of her ki into the magic formation to keep it stable in spite of the rising tide of negative energy threatening to compromise everything that everyone has worked up to this very point.

"How is Takeshi?!" asked Akeno.

"He's still fighting!" Rias confirmed. "Yuuto!"

"On it!" The Knight then unleashes [Full Release: Pain Killer] around where Takeshi was standing at, planting the healing shivs within their designated spots as the Yōkai present began channeling their ki through it.

"Senpai..." Koneko heaved out as she continued donating her ki through the constructed ley line.

"Takeshi..." Rias, despite being a Devil, prayed for his well-being.

"Please..." Akeno begged, pouring her very life into the very spell tethering his very being onto this world. "LIVE!"

Back Inside Mira's Mind...

Mira and Re:Live enter the manor, sliding open the front doors as various images of the past play back in accordance with the Pawn's memory of her past life.

"Never thought I'd be back here again..." she said to herself in a hushed, reprehensive tone laced with a heavy accent of mourning. "... Why do I have a feeling that I miss this place despite everything?"

"I'm not here to give you the answers," Re:Live pointed out as they brushed their soles against the entrance's curb. "Lead the way."

Mira then walks into one of the rooms where a girl in her late teens resembling Mira but with longer and straighter hair that went all the way down to her thighs could be found reading in her room.

"The eldest in my family, Hanako, was born with great spiritual aptitude," she explained. "In fact, she was the greatest that our family had produced in their storied history, being able to connect the most intimately with our kami of worship. With it she was blessed with great powers as our deity's mouthpiece, and yet in spite of it, she was humble about her gifts... at least in public."

The next scene then shows her badmouthing Mira while the latter was serving her food before brushing her off.

"... She's the type of person who never leaves you alone, isn't she?" Re:Live pointed out as the memories show Hanako continuously harassing Mira even after she had left her with her emptied tray.

"For the eldest, she can easily be so childish," Mira grumbled. "... 'Worship me, you ingrate,' she said. 'Be grateful that you are in the presence of our kami,' she said. I swear, little wonder why mother had five of us in quick succession. Her swollen head must've allowed us easier passage."

"... Continue," Re:Live requested. "We will not draw water from a shallow puddle."

Mira smirked at their shade directed towards her family before moving onto the second eldest, who was seen praying before the statue of their agricultural deity day in and day out.

"Haruma was the most devoted to our kami despite her spiritual powers not being as strong as Hanako's," Mira explained. "Father and mother saw her as the next head to watch over our shrine and temple should Hanako's wedding with one of the Five Principal Clans' representatives succeed. Their faith was secondary to the benefits of having one of their own bloods be connected with the central powers of Kyoto. That is Haruma in a nutshell. Outwardly pious, but deep down, she was only in it for the benefits."

Mira then guides Re:Live into her room, revealing it to be littered with various lavish goods covered in 24-karat gold leaf and other priceless jewelry, almost reminiscent of how one would assume a modern J-Pop idol's room to be like, with all the fan mail, gifts, and other assorted goods to make the room's occupant out as a spoiled brat.

"... When I saw her room, she caught me and then beat me for it before locking me up inside a storage hut overnight," she revealed. "Haruma was a greedy bitch by any metric, but she was a master of hiding it. Only I knew, and the only reason why no one did was because I was threatened into silence."

Re:Live looks at her with disgust. "... She's a pig rolling in her mud puddle made of gold," they deadpanned. "The fact that she knows where she's reaping her benefits from, and how protective she is of it is a waste of her intellect."

Mira grumbles as she pinches the bridge of her nose. "... Don't need you to tell me what I already know."

She then moves another wing of the manor, spotting a young boy in his teens training with a larger, burlier man, both of them bare save for their mawashi belts girdling their loins.

"Futsuyama was the only boy in the family besides father, and as such, it fell onto him that he represented us as a sumōtori when we were to settle water and river rights during rice planting seasons with the neighboring villages," Mira explained. "As a rising star, he fancied himself as a 'protector of our village' and 'fighter for the weak'."

"I'm starting to notice a pattern," Re:Live pointed out. "... If they were in the modern day, they'd be like one of those celebrity families that are one allegation away from having every tabloid across the country hound their asses 24/7."

Mira then laughs dryly and mirthlessly at their remark. "... Then I suppose you know what happens next, then?"

The same practice stable turned into a scene where Mira was being brutalized by the aspirant sumōtori.

"... I lost a few teeth during our 'practice sessions'," she revealed before quickly turning away. "I'm sure you can figure the rest out."

Re:Live says nothing as they follow Mira deeper inside before stopping at a little girl who was basically Mira in appearance, if slightly older, while being doted on by her parents, with the matriarch having Mira's blue hair and the patriarch being an aged man who was a decade older than his spouse (a common occurrence in many in-law marriages in prominent Japanese households during its medieval ages).

"Kichiyo supplanted my place as the 'youngest' in the family after I was reduced to a servant," Mira explained. "The 'sun of our village,' the 'blessed child from the gods,' and of course, my personal favorite, 'our favorite'."

"They're not even trying at this point," Re:Live deadpanned.

"They literally let her get away with everything," she bitterly remarked as the scene showed Kichiyo accusing Mira of something while the latter was defending her very dignity with her life. "... Lo and behold, I was their favorite scapegoat. Bad harvest? My fault. Burned food even though I was nowhere near the kitchen? My fault. Her sandals breaking after being worn for too long? My fault for not buying new ones for her!"

A creeping realization then came to Re:Live about Mira. "... If they despised you, then why didn't they kill you?" they pointed out. "Usually, unwanted children or family members are exiled to the wilderness and left there to die."

Mira sobs as she begins to laugh. "... I honestly wish that they did," she wept. "So for the first time in my life, useless little Mira made her first and only choice in her life made by herself and no one else!"

The scene shifts to Mira running away from the village with nothing but the clothes on her back and a crude wooden staff fashioned from her broom as a final "fuck you" to the family that didn't have the decency to let her live her life away from them.

"... I ran away to die."

Mira, her legs now covered in cuts and bruises and her clothes tattered and barely holding together, found herself standing atop of a cliff before a raging sea whose waves were crashing against the stone face and the pointed rocks below.

"I was sick of living as a nobody," she wept as her memory then dropped her staff to make her choice. "... Nobody wanted me, so why bother?"

Then walking up towards her from behind, a younger Riser approached Mira from behind, wearing a Jesuits' robes and hat to pass himself off as a foreigner in Japan.

"Then I met him," Mira revealed. "... I met Riser-sama."

Back Inside [Section Heorot]...

Grendel let out a roar as he smashed his flaming fist through another table that Takeshi was standing on as the latter delivered glancing blows in a hit-and-run tactic.

"HOLD STILL, YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Grendel's belly then swells up once more before spitting out another massive fireball at the Evil Dragon User's direction.

Takeshi dodges in time right as Grendel lunges towards the Devil, ramming through the obstacles in his way to get to him in an expedited manner. The two then meet each other in a clash of fists once again, sparks flying upon the collision ending with Grendel pushing Takeshi back with his sheer bulk.

Takeshi safely cushioned on one of the foodstuffs scattered about, but Grendel immediately catches up by leaping towards where he'd landed before delivering another hammer blow with both of his fists.

*KABOOM!*

The dual impact bores out a smoldering crater where he'd landed. "... There," the Evil Dragon growled in apprehension. "The fucking punk is dead-"

"SEIYAAA!"

*WHAM!*

Takeshi then delivers a wicked uppercut into Grendel's jugular, causing him to keel back from the low blow before Takeshi then delivers his own hammer blow-

"SUCKER!"

Grendel then catches him between his hands before he brings Takeshi up closer to his mercurial eyes.

"THINK YOU'RE SO SMART, HUH?!" the Evil Dragon of Wrath declared. "... You're not the only one who can fight smart, brat. After all, you said it yourself!"

Takeshi grimaces as he curses himself for getting tunnel-visioned by his own gambit as he strained within Grendel's iron grip crushing his body.

"I already caught onto your ploy, brat," he revealed, causing Takeshi's face to break in shock. "... Thought so. It's the smart ones that are the most ignorant to change."

Takeshi curses himself again for falling for Grendel's "I never said it was poison"-trick with his words alone, unable to deny in time to hide his plans.

"Don't assume you can keep me ignorant for long," he declared. "After all, you and I share the same mind and body. Something about 'ki' and the principle of a 'boulder letting water pass through'?"

Takeshi was out of breath to even let out a gasp as Grendel began laughing at exposing his plans.

"I think I'll pay them a visit," the Evil Dragon said with a wicked smirk. "So I can tell them TO FUCK OFF!"

Back Outside...

Takeshi's body inside the magic circle lets out a pained cry as black sparks danced around his armored body.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING?!" Akeno cried out.

Rias then checks the magic circle's flow of energy before being rebound. "... Oh no," she shuddered. "GRENDEL CAUGHT ONTO OUR PLOY!"

*CRACK*

Everyone then sees the magic formation begin to fracture and fall apart.

"THE MAGIC FORMATION IS BEING COMPROMISED!" Chiharu warned.

"DEPLOYING EMERGENCY MEASURES!" Yuuto then unleashes [Full Release: Gravity Nail] around Takeshi's body to hold him down as Grayfia summons chains made of her own demonic energy to bind the Pawn inside to allow the others to repair the circle.

"I WILL NOT ALLOW INTERFERENCE!" Grendel's voice roared out from [Cataclysm Zone]'s verdant gem as it then unleashed a massive wave of infectious rage to disrupt their concentration.

Pandora screams in agony as her Charmed spirits go berserk from the Evil Dragon's influence while Kikuchiyo vomits from the overwhelming anathema that she wasn't prepared for.

Normally, a Yōkai's training with their ki covered how to defend and adapt themselves from outside influences like a spiritual barrier, but Takeshi's testimony of the Evil Dragon's infectious rage had proved to be quite different from the kegare that they're usually bombarded with every day.

Normally, kegare are akin to pollution. It invades and corrupts everything that it touches, but the only way that it could do its work is by going into its subject from the outside and nowhere else.

Grendel's rage was the polar opposite. The wave itself wasn't the conduit that carried the rage that drove its victims to madness but was more akin to a "signal." A signal that incited their primal instincts to "rebel" against their sanity. It didn't corrupt them as it "awakened" them.

It targeted their base instincts and hidden vices that people in good conscience had repressed in order to live in a civilized commune.

"... This is totally different from kegare!" the Kasha pointed out as she tried to recover her bearings. "... It's literally affecting my instincts on a fundamental level... I can't think... at all!"

"SENPAI!" Koneko cried out as her ki's connection began to fray by the Evil Dragon's influence.

Back Inside [Section Heorot]...

"Don't confuse not caring for not knowing," the Evil Dragon of Wrath declared with a contemptuous sneer. "I only let you get this far because I want to instill that false sense of what you weaklings call 'hope' into you... before I break it with my own fists."

*crack*

Takeshi then lets out a scream as his body was being crushed from all sides by the Evil Dragon's grip constricting his bones into his marrow and organs.

"Your plan was sound, but it had one critical flaw," Grendel boasted as he continued squeezing Takeshi in his grip. "All of you forget that even the mightiest of boulders soon erode and break under the water's ceaseless beatings. And my rage is infinite as the very seas and their tides!"

Grendel then lifts up his hands holding Takeshi over his head.

"The weak do nothing but dream, and your dreams of defying me are about to come to an end."

The gaps between his scales flare up once more, the pale blue ambiance of the blowtorch-like flames burning brighter and hotter, like a rocket that is about to take off into space.

"SO NOW, HERE'S YOUR REALITY CHECK!"

*KABOOM!*

The Evil Dragon of Wrath unleashes a meteoric piledriver that dug Takeshi into the cobblestone floor several meters in. As soon as he saw the boy lying in the imprint, Grendel then winds back a devastating megaton punch as his finishing blow.

"FAREWELL, YOU DAMNED BRAT!" said Grendel as his fist shone like a hellish facsimile of the sun itself, glowing azure like a newborn star whose residual heat set everything around and below it ablaze. "LET'S HOPE THAT YOUR FRIENDS OUTSIDE ARE WORTH MORE OF A CHALLENGE!"

Grendel's roar shook all of [Section Heorot] like an earthquake as he delivered his payload unto Takeshi propelled with all of his rage.

"... You think I'll be satisfied with a conclusion like this?!"

From the imprint where he was buried, Takeshi's body blitzes out of the ground and straight towards the Evil Dragon's fiery fist.

But this time, rather than parry the attack with his own, he instead rolls with the punch's velocity, absorbing the momentum of the attack with his entire body spinning like a figure skater's jumping axel, and activating his [Berserk Devastator]'s thrusters at max output, Takeshi turns his whole being into a bullet propelled by both his and Grendel's anger combined.

"WHAT-?!"

*CLANG!*

The result was a major upset, with Grendel sent off-balance on one foot after Takeshi delivered his devastating cross counter. But that was nowhere enough.

It wasn't even close to "enough." With that in mind, Takeshi channels all of his own draconic energy into his current attack, digging into Grendel's lower jaw, piercing through his famed scales that broke countless weapons against it, and letting loose an eruption of demonic energy into the same force propelling the attack.

*SNAP*

*POP*

A few of Grendel's fangs come loose from his molars as Takeshi then lets out his own draconic roar that reverberates throughout all of [Section Heorot].

*BOOM!*

For the first time in the fight and Grendel's life, he was sent flying by someone else, tumbling and rolling across several tables and benches before his back was the one striking against the mead hall's walls.

"HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW, YOU MOTHERFUCKER?!" Takeshi cackled out as he landed on a dropped game bird, whose cooked meat was still tender enough to act as a cushion.

It didn't take long for Grendel to get back up, now utterly furious at what had transpired. "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS GOING ON?!" he cried out with sheer disbelief. "This strength... IT WAS ALL FROM YOU?! BUT YOUR FRIENDS AREN'T AROUND TO HELP YOU!"

Takeshi chuckles before digging himself out of the food he landed on. "... Not exactly," he vaguely remarked. "... Remember what I said earlier?"

The Evil Dragon of Wrath's eyes widened in shock as he figured out what the boy was insinuating. "... No."

Takeshi snickers like a gremlin getting away with national level-sabotage. "... Like I said earlier... I'll take your rage... your anger... your hate... everything... and fucking kill you with it!"

At [Section Náströnd]...

All this time, Nidhogg had been watching the fight unfold from his cell, snacking on the collection of corpses he'd gathered from his current and previous host's escapades/murder sprees like popcorn.

"The whelp's cunning is not to be underestimated..." the Evil Dragon of Envy commented at his host's performance against Grendel. "... The magic formation outside was merely a decoy. A misnomer to distract Grendel should he get wise. His vini weren't providing him with power, but rather, they were merely acting as the whelp's feelers... similar to how I use my ashes to search for my prey during my hunts. But the key difference is that he's using it to 'get a feel' for the meathead's rage and its wavelength..."

The Evil Dragon continued to snicker at his host's esoteric use of the principle of ki and Senjutsu, to which rather than remain immovable, it instead moved with the rage, like a dancer following the set tune before taking over the routine and making it his own.

"Guess my time spent with you didn't go to waste, whelp," Nidhogg mused as he continued watching the show. "... You'll make a fine Evil Dragon yourself as of yet."

Back at [Section Heorot]...

"And that's not the best part...!" Takeshi continued as even though his body should be in a million pieces right now, due to his soul being incorporeal, he didn't run into that problem whatsoever, and [Berserk Devastator]'s built-in pain inhibitors worked to his total advantage. "... As long as my soul isn't affected by your rage, you can't escape, even if you use your rage to overpower my own. One issue, your rage is also now my very own. After all, you did just say that we share the same mind and body, no?"

Grendel's sanity reached its breaking point as he could no longer comprehend the boy's wits that outsmarted him several times over in quick succession. "I FUCKING HATE SMART PEOPLE!" he roared out, his tone petulant like that of a child being denied of his toy. "YOU WILL NOT DIE A PEACEFUL DEATH HERE, BRAT! AN ETERNITY OF HELL AWAITS IN MY HANDS!"

"Fine by me," the Evil Dragon User smirked confidently. "... I'm not the one trapped here with you. You're the one trapped in here with me. And I'll stay as long as I need to... until I bring you to heel... until I accept you as my own."

"You're mad," Grendel grimaced. "YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND, YOU DAMNED BRAT!"

"Pot calling the kettle black, you son of a bitch." Takeshi then sneers as his Sacred Gear's jets flare back to life. "Isn't this what you always wanted? A fight to the death between equals?"

Suddenly, Grendel's eyes begin hallucinating someone else in Takeshi's place.

For a few frames in reality, Takeshi's lean and short form was replaced with a taller, broader, and masculine frame belonging someone else that the Evil Dragon of Wrath knew very well.

"Stop it...!"

It enraged him even more, for now he was in complete denial that the boy was in the same league as HIM.

"STOP PRETENDING TO BE LIKE HIM, YOU DAMNED BRAT!"

Both Takeshi and Grendel charge at each other once more, now both of their rage resonating with each other in perfect, infernal harmony.

Back Inside Mira's Mind...

"... You look resistant back then and there," Re:Live pointed out as they saw the Mira of the past struggle against Riser's advances.

The current Mira looked away in shame as her past self was now throwing a tantrum of not wanting to come with the Jesuit priest, desperately wanting to die after being sick of living in this world. "... I was in a very dark place back then," she remarked. "... Can you blame me? When one's own family treats them as no less than a household servant just because they're born without spiritual powers? I wanted to commit to that choice so that I can have no regrets left behind when I go... not that I had any chance to have regrets to begin with."

The two of them continued to struggle, with Mira, even with Riser holding back to maintain his disguise, proved surprisingly strong to temporarily overpower the Devil before the two of them ended up being dunked below the cliff and found themselves crashing between the sharp rocks and waves.

"... Riser-sama wanted me," Mira revealed as Re:Live looked down on the cliff, spotting the Mira of the past thrashing and flailing for her life even as her head was bleeding and dying the ocean red as Riser held onto her like if his life depended on it. "... I told him to let me go. I begged. I cursed him with my drowning breath. He still insisted that he take me with him."

From the bottom of the cliff, a massive fiery explosion erupted from the raging seas, allowing Riser to carry Mira out of the ocean with his chiropteran wings ripping out of his robes and exposing his slightly tanned bare chest that was now cradling the now-delirious Mira.

"... A part of me felt... relieved," Mira revealed as the memory fades back into the Underworld's depths, inside one of (many) House Phenex's estates. "... Someone wanted me without asking for anything in return. So I jumped in without hesitation."

Re:Live then sees the Mira of the past bowing before Riser as he stood with Yubelluna, Siris, Karlamine, Mihae, Marion, and Burnet, indicating that their membership occurred before Mira's initiation.

"... I was relieved," she said as Mira's time in Riser's Peerage was less traumatic than her time spent with her family. "Nobody expected anything from me, but no one was demeaning my existence for it. Riser-sama made me feel safe in my own room for once."

Time passed in her recreation of her past, with the Peerage steadily growing with new members being added to Riser's roster.

First was Ni and Li, rescued from the Himalayas after their secret village of Senri was destroyed in an avalanche that killed their parents and scattered their people. Then came Xuelan who was found destitute in an opium dealer's shed in rags and chains. Then came Ile and Nel, who were found on the verge of death in a summer camp cabin after a serial killer had brutalized them. And finally, Isabela, who was found tweaked out on several drugs backstage in Stockholm after her glam metal band's debut concert ended with a lot of people dying (no one knows how nor why), and riot police breaking through the front door.

"... Even though I was being overshadowed by the new initiates at the time," she recalled as her flashbacks to her previous Rating Games consisted of her losing the first five minutes 90% of the time, "even though I was falling behind my peers, I never thought that I had anything to prove. After all, I'm just a weak Pawn. No one expects anything substantial of me. No one was asking me to do better than I already am. Just a Low-Class Devil getting by... and really, can you blame me for wanting to live a quiet life?"

"You getting your ass kicked in those Rating Games during those times?" Re:Live deadpanned. "Including that embarrassing loss against the Astaroth Peerage?"

"Don't tell me what I already know..." grumbled Mira as her surroundings then froze up. "... Is this it? Is this the end?"

"No," Re:Live answered. "... There's something that you're hiding from me."

"... Hiding? Me?" she jittered as her eyes shifted to the side. "... I mean, come on. What do I have left to hide from you?"

"Something's not adding up," they pointed out. "... That instance when you were ordered to attack Ryuugamine Takeshi and you obeyed without question... there's more to it, isn't there?"

"What do you mean, there's more to it?!" Mira defended. "I'm a Pawn! Hello?! It's normally expected for Devils of my standing to obey my King without question-!"

"You know that I was there when Riser talked shit, right?" Re:Live pointed out, causing Mira to freeze. "... I saw your eyes, Mira. Those aren't the eyes of a mindless soldier following orders. They're the eyes of a desperate girl who's as if she's about to lose something important to her."

The girl begins hyperventilating as she was running out of room to argue for her case.

"... Open the damn door, Mira," Re:Live ordered. "... Your true demons are the ones you deny the most."

The frozen mindscape begins resuming its shifting once again, but this time, it was more sporadic and uncontrolled, like a TV static trying to orient itself back into full fidelity.

"... No," she whimpered as she fell to her knees. "... I don't want to."

"Surely, it cannot get any worse than your family, Mira," Re:Live addressed. "So open. The damn door. Now."

Mira continued to snivel as her surroundings stabilized into a clear image of the Pawn in her pajamas wondering about the manor's halls before meandering to a door where behind it, the lights were still on.

"You know that this cannot continue like this, right Riser?" an older male's voice said behind the door.

"Elder Brother Ruval, if this is about my recent performance against the Dantalion Peerage, then you know that I only lost twice up to this point, correct?" Riser's voice replied in a lackadaisical manner.

"Don't get coy with me, because if that were the case, then I wouldn't be here giving you an earful," Ruval's voice remarked in a harsh manner before letting out a sigh, "... Look, Lord Father has already begun arranging a list of replacements for your Peerage members. Especially that Mira girl, who's done nothing substantial ever since you brought her in!"

"I don't see what the problem is," Riser replied. "After all, I only need to win with my subordinates clearing the way-"

*SLAM*

"For the love of the Satans, get your head out of your own arse and listen for a bloody second!" Ruval shouted. "A King's reputation is determined by what kind of Devils they surround themselves with! If Devils like Mira continue to linger around, then not only it'll affect your standing, but our entire family's as well! You're already on thin ice, Riser! Stop thinking only about yourself and consider the bigger picture!"

Both Miras were hyperventilating upon being confronted with the fact that she's on the verge of being replaced due to her lacking performance.

"Grow up, Riser. You're no longer a child anymore," Ruval stated as the sounds of his loafers were head heading to the other door. "... Start thinking about your future within this House and how you will represent us. Don't expect me to do all the work just because no one expects anything from you. Not that you have tried in the first place."

Mira wept as she was forced to relive the worst memory of her life that she had kept long hidden within her heart, forced to confront the painful truth that she was the one dragging everyone down.

"I... I didn't know what to do about it..." she sobbed. "... Either way, I was on the verge of losing everything that mattered to me."

"... So what did you do about it?" asked Re:Live.

Mira sobbed as her mindscape switched to her accompanying Riser to his bedroom with the occasion of being joined by other Peerage members. Regardless of who joined him in his escapades, Mira was always found close behind her King's back, her look tinged with desperation that she kept hidden from everyone else, including herself.

"... I did what I had to do," she answered as she clutched her belly. "... I even stopped using protection in hopes that I may bear his child. I even took upon perversions that I wouldn't normally accept just to curry his favor. I followed every order that was given to me by my King in hopes of having reasons to stay... I... I don't want to be abandoned ever again! I want to stay with Riser-sama! He's all I have left in my life-!"

*SLAP!*

Mira was grounded by Re:Live's slap across the former's cheek, causing the whole mindscape to revert back to her childhood home.

"No," they rebuked. "... You never took responsibility for your own life, that's all."

Mira trembles as she looks back up. "... What?"

"You're not weak, but if you keep thinking of yourself as weak, then it won't be just you being mired in weakness," Re:Live revealed. "A Peerage is like a stool. If one leg is too weak to hold up their King, then everything falls apart. The way I see it, your desperation to be with Riser is going to cost the entire Peerage their tenure. Your so-called 'loyalty'? All that it did was enable his worst traits and emboldened him to act upon his impulses more than his obligations."

Mira quivers in both sorrow and in rage. "... So what was I supposed to do about it?!" she snarled before lunging herself at Re:Live and grabbing them by their shirt collar. "WHAT THE HELL WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO, DAMMIT?!"

Re:Live then takes out a deck of cards before fanning them out with a single flick of their wrist. "... Pick one."

"... Huh?" Mira remarked puzzledly.

"No harm doing it now," Re:Live stated. "Come now, a little fortune telling never hurt anyone. Unless you're one of those gullible schmucks that buy into the psychic hotline-bullshit."

Seething and her teeth gnashing in confused rage, Mira then takes the card at the center before pulling it out.

"... Death?"

It was the Major Arcana XIII, Death.

... Held in her hand, upside-down.

The card then disintegrated in her grip.

An ominous presence has now entered her mindscape.

"Reversed Death," Re:Live recited. "Stagnation. Inability to change and clinging to one's own past obsessively. Denial of the fact that life goes on with or without you."

The sliding doors in front of Mira's house opens, revealing none other than herself, but her aura was a dark violet smog that swirled around her, and her eyes glowing yellow.

"It's useless," the Mira-copy said, her voice booming and reverberating with an echo. "... You can't change how you were born. You can only live with what you have right now."

The broom held in her hand then morphs into a katana.

"Come with me," she spoke. "Living must be hard for an insatiable whore like you. There's no hunger nor thirst in death, after all."

Mira then looks back at Re:Live before the latter shoves her off of themselves and jumps up to the rooftop to watch the fight unfold.

"Meet your Shadow, [Undead]." Re:Live then throws her shakujō staff before the real Mira. "... Either you own up to your failures, or she'll be the one to replace you entirely."

[Undead] then lunges towards Mira as she lets out a predatory howl.

Back at [Section Heorot]...

The eldritch mead hall was filled to the brim with both fire and the screams of its two sole occupants.

Walls were breached and broken by their bodies as their opponents sent them flying into them. More flames raged into the untouched halls of the dimensional prison, spreading the reach of the hellscape further outward.

"IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?!" Grendel roared out as he picked himself up from the pile of toasted timber. "YOU CAN'T EVEN SCRATCH MY ASS WITH THAT PUNY-ASS ATTACK!"

"DON'T WORRY! I'M JUST GETTING WARMED UP!" Takeshi then flies towards Grendel at max speed with his [Promotion: Knight], propelled by his Sacred Gear's thrusters and Grendel's secondhand rage fueling his soul to deliver another crushing blow, negating the size disparity between them as the Evil Dragon was smashed through another set of walls, again.

Grendel immediately recovers and breaks through the same wall before catching Takeshi into his claws before pitching him through another set of walls beyond the one where the Evil Dragon had broken through. Setting himself ablaze once more, Grendel charges through the walls and tables, scattering the foodstuffs and drinks in his way, to which he is met with Takeshi shooting himself out of the same hole he broke through like a bullet of pure rage.

*CLANG!*

Takeshi and Grendel roared at each other as their bodies scratched and ground against each other's. Both of them then wound back their other hands into fists, swinging them at each other with all of their might before executing a devastating cross counter to each other's faces.

Takeshi was sent flying into another room (and breaking through another wall in the process, again), while Grendel crashed through several tables and benches before returning to the room where he'd started, the impact of his landing causing the burning rafters to bury him in the process.

... Okay, I'm starting to notice a pattern here, the Evil Dragon User thought as he looked up at the dimly-lit rafters in the room where he landed at. ... This is literally the exact same room where [Section Heorot] starts.

Groggily, he then gets up before looking to the side, spotting the same oaken throne where Grendel would be found sitting on, only empty of its sole occupant.

... We've been doin' nothing but punching each other through the side walls, Takeshi thought as he approached the throne. ... I wonder what would happen if I punched through that direction?

Before he could entertain such thought, Grendel then breaks through the walls once more, his fiery form spreading its flames throughout the untouched mead hall once more.

"I AIN'T DONE WITH YOUR ASS JUST YET, YOU DAMN BRAT!" the Evil Dragon of Wrath declared furiously.

"Funny, I was thinking the exact same thing," Takeshi deadpanned as he positioned himself near the throne. "And since you seem to be having a hard time killing me..."

Takeshi then jumps onto the giant throne and sits down, eliciting a reaction from Grendel.

"I'll beat your ass while sitting down," he boasted with an absolutely smug smirk on his face. "In fact, I don't even need to stand to kick your ass!"

"GET THE FUCK OFF MY CHAIR!" Grendel then lunges towards where Takeshi was sitting at, the latter narrowly dodging the burning strike before parrying the other blows that followed it up.

Grendel then opens his mouth to spit out another fireball, but Takeshi then uppercuts his jaw shut as the payload could be expelled, causing the fire blast to explode inside Grendel's head and out of his nostrils, ear holes, and eyes, the blast rattling his skull for a few seconds before Takeshi then seizes him by his nose horn, lifts Grendel up as he switches to [Promotion: Rook] to boost his strength, and then judo flips the Evil Dragon to the other side of the wall behind the throne.

Timber and stone snap and collapse under the Evil Dragon's sheer body weight, and once Grendel was laid on his back, Takeshi then grabs the throne by its peak, rips it out of the floor it was nailed into, and then smashes the whole seat into the Evil Dragon's face.

"I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO THAT!" Takeshi then lets out a cackle as he glances at the other room behind the throne. "... I knew it. The walls are hiding replicas of this place!"

Takeshi then visualizes a grid, where the lines were the walls that separated each copy of [Section Heorot]. In fact, [Section Heorot] was an infinite prison where no matter how many walls were broken down, another [Section Heorot] awaited.

And yet, Grendel doesn't seem bothered by it... Takeshi thought as the Evil Dragon in question got up while nursing his groggy head. ... In fact, if I were in his shoes, I would've gone insane just trying to get out of this suffocating place... unless!

"... You don't want to leave in the first place," Takeshi said out loud, catching Grendel's attention.

"Funny that you accuse me of that, brat," the Evil Dragon of Wrath hissed. "Like I said... I will enact my revenge on those who looked down upon me-!"

"That's not what I'm talking about, Grendel," Takeshi rebuked as he looked around [Section Heorot] and its infinite copies beyond its walls. "... Beowulf. You said that he was the greatest fight that you ever had in your life. What you didn't tell me was that you refused to move on from him."

"AND WHAT IS YOUR FUCKING EVIDENCE?!" Grendel shouted. "BEOWULF'S DEAD! HE MEANS NOTHING NOW!"

"So why are you cooped up indoors, o 'King of Storms of the Borderlands'?" Takeshi replied. "... You're mourning, aren't you? You're distraught that none of the fights after are invigorating as he was. Your life was devoid of purpose after the Hero-King passed from the mortal world, and now you're taking your anger out on everyone else because they can't live up to his standards of strength, isn't it?!"

"Shut up! Shut up! SHUT THE FUCK UUUPPP!" Grendel then lunges towards Takeshi before pinning him down to the ground with his claws. "YOU WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND ME! NO ONE SHALL AND WILL UNDERSTAND ME! I AM GRENDEL! I AM THE EVIL DRAGON OF WRATH! I BRING NAUGHT BUT RUIN AND DEATH UPON THOSE WHO PROVOKE MY IRE! THERE IS NOTHING ELSE THAT DEFINES ME! AND TO CLAIM OTHERWISE IS THE GRAVEST INSULT THAT YOU CAN EVER UTTER BEFORE ME!"

The Evil Dragon of Wrath then begins pummeling Takeshi into the floor with his fiery fisticuffs, each blow triggering an explosion upon impact like a shelling barrage.

"YOU ARE NOT BEOWULF! YOU WILL NEVER BE BEOWULF!" he ranted as he continued beating Takeshi into the cobblestone floor. "NO ONE SHALL EVER BE BEOWULF! THE DEAD EXIST TO BE FORGOTTEN! DEATH IS THE ULTIMATE END THAT I USHER FORTH! I WILL NOT BE QUAILED BY THOSE WHO CLAIM THAT CARRY ON HIS WILL BECAUSE IT IS MEANINGLESS! NO HEROES SHALL EVER SLIGHT ME EVER AGAIN! NO MORTAL WILL EVER CROSS ME EVER AGAIN! NO ONE! AND NO ONE ELSE, SHALL LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO DEFY ME!"

Clasping his hands together, Grendel then lifts both hands up and over his head to prepare to deliver his finishing hammer blow.

"JOIN THE RANKS OF THE DEAD, YOU FUCKING BRAT!"

The Evil Dragon wastes no time swinging his fists down, crushing Takeshi below his hands like a bug.

Takeshi, in a last-minute effort, gets up, catches Grendel's fists, uses the downward momentum of the Evil Dragon's hammer blow combined with his Sacred Gear's thrust, secondhand rage, and demonic and draconic energy to pull his arms into between his own legs, flipping the monster onto his back with another judo flip.

"You're right," Takeshi confessed as he spat to the side. "... I'll never be Beowulf. I'm me, after all."

Grendel growls as he gets up, unable to comprehend anything anymore, including his own rage that he was proud of.

"Your wrath is your coping method because you're not so different from us," Takeshi added. "You've lived unsatisfied because you saw Beowulf as more than just another prey to kill. No, it's much more than that."

"Don't tell me what I already don't know...!" the Evil Dragon growled in apprehension.

"No, you already know," Takeshi pointed out. "... You just never accepted it, that's all."

Grendel's gnashing teeth then crack into themselves as the Evil Dragon's wrath peaks instantly.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR DRIVEL!" he declared as his flames ignited to blue. "DISAPPEAR FROM MY SIGHT!"

Takeshi blocked the hot blow that hurt so much that it bypassed some of [Berserk Devastator]'s pain inhibitors. Not stopping there, Grendel continues his rampage to kill Takeshi once and for all, consequences be damned.

His revenge no longer mattered. All that was of significance was to kill that boy no matter what.

"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIEEE!" Grendel's roar bellowed across the wrecked expanse of [Section Heorot], smashing Takeshi through different walls, ceilings, and floor.

All of them led back to another copy of [Section Heorot], with all the same foodstuffs on their same arrangements on their same tables, and all of them equally dimly-lit and lonely as they were the first time that Takeshi had stepped foot in this place.

... He was so alone... like me, the boy thought as his body and soul were pummeled through more walls, ceilings, and floors. He can do nothing but rage... how pitiful.

"DON'T LOOK AT ME WITH THOSE EYES!" Grendel then spits out a massive fireball from his mouth to which Takeshi then kicks back with his greaves like a soccer ball, causing the projectile to explode into Grendel's chest.

As the Evil Dragon recovered from his rebound attack, Takeshi suddenly notices something about his scaled body.

... Is that a reverse scale? he thought as he spotted one of the scales on Grendel's neck pointing the opposite direction. ... I wonder what happens if I make him angrier.

Screaming, both Takeshi and Grendel charged towards each other like maddened beasts, the latter taking initiative with another fierce blow.

Takeshi dodges the strike by running up to the same arm that the Evil Dragon had thrusted, to which Grendel then charged with the boy on board, but Takeshi had already reached his desired location.

"GRIT YOUR FUCKING TEETH!" Takeshi then punches Grendel's reverse scale into his neck, triggering a pained roar from the Evil Dragon as he suddenly collapses in agony before getting back up, now completely barren of the rest of his mental faculties and his flames spewing out of his scales' gaps with the inconsistency of geysers.

Foaming, drooling, and crazed as if he were infected with rabies, Grendel then goes on an indiscriminate rampage where he is guided by nothing, destroying everything within reach as Takeshi then grabs the Evil Dragon by his horns for his rodeo.

"GIDDYUP, YOU ABSOLUTE SON OF A BITCH!" Takeshi cackled as he stirrups Grendel like a bull, directing him to the walls pointing away from the throne's direction. "LET'S GO OUT ON TO THE GREAT WIDE WILDERNESS AND PRAIRIES AND SHIT!"

The Evil Dragon smashes through the first wall, breaking through the throne facing the rest of the mead hall.

"NOT YET! NOT YET!" Takeshi cried out as he kept Grendel on the straight and narrow, smashing through another wall that led into the same place where they entered.

And so, Takeshi continues to let Grendel rampage in a straight line, smashing through every wall until they come upon a door. Eating splinters and loose gravel were part of his job at this point, and when Grendel seemed like to slow down, he punched in the reverse scale once again, keeping up the Evil Dragon's rage to make himself continue concussing through several more walls.

For the first time ever, an indescribable bond was formed between the boy and the Evil Dragon. Smashing through his prison's walls not to liberate and destroy, but to liberate and remember.

Of why his wrath existed. Of why his life led up to this very point.

And after smashing through God-knows how many walls, the pair chance upon an actual door in their path.

"SO! YOU FINALLY ACCEPTED YOURSELF!" Takeshi cackled in elation. "COME ON OUT, GRENDEL! THE WORLD IS BIGGER THAN JUST SOME MEAD HALL THAT YOU FOUND YOURSELF IN!"

With one final strike to his reverse scale, Grendel then charges through the door leading outside of the mead hall with all of their combined might.

*CRASH!*

His scaly and burly body broke through the door, with Takeshi and Grendel ending up outside.

Falling snow as far as the eyes could see, a nearby lake frozen solid, evergreen trees coated white, and Takeshi's face rolling into the frost.

"Bleh... phew! Finally! Outside of that stuffy mead hall!" Takeshi then looked back to see that the longhouse was the size and proportions of that of a regular longhouse (for giants), and not an interconnected facility like that one from the movie, Cabin in the Woods. "... Huh, so this is where the epic took place?"

He then looked around, only to notice that Grendel was gone.

"... Where the Hell did he go-?" Takeshi then trips over something before getting another facial. "Ow..."

"Watch it, brat."

The two get up, and Takeshi ends up confronting a boy no older than six, whose reddish-brown skin, messy black hair, and dressed in thick animal hide akin to that of the American buffalo or a wooly mammoth's gave signs of an indigenous boy of North American in origin or from an Ice Age hunter-gatherer society.

"... Grendel?!" Takeshi pointed at the boy a decade younger than him, but his silver eyes gave his identity away.

The younger boy scoffs. "Congratulations," he clicked his tongue, his voice reverting back to a youthful pitch befitting of his physical age. "... You've proven yourself to be more persistent than that of Beowulf. I never thought you'd of all people would come this far in hopes of understanding me of all beings."

"That's because no one else bothered trying," Takeshi remarked. "... So, by context, I guess the epic of Beowulf sort of missed your whole story besides the whole 'descendant of Cain' or that kind of bullshit?"

The boy Grendel smirks. "Look at you, being smarter than I am," he snarked as he looked outwards towards the frozen lake. "... So shut up and listen to my past that I never want to look back at, because I'm only going to say it once."

Takeshi smiles gently, letting the boy have his piece. "... I'm listening."

Back Inside Mira's Mind...

Mira herself was screaming in terror as her Shadow, [Undead], who was pinning her down with their katana pressed against her ringed staff.

"WHAT IS THE POINT OF ALL THIS?!" Mira cried out.

"I'm not helping you there, Mira," Re:Live stated as they sat atop of her family home's roof. "This is your demon to fight."

"Stop resisting," [Undead] snarled as they pressed their blade against the staff's shaft. "You clearly don't want any of this, so why?"

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE, THAT'S WHY!" Mira then kicked her Shadow off of herself before closing in the distance, locking her shakujō against their weapon.

"Really? What caused this sudden about-face?" [Undead] pointed out. "Is Riser-sama worth being around because of your own sorry ass?"

"HE ACCEPTS ME FOR WHO I AM!" Mira protested as she pushed back against her Shadow.

"Does he even know you besides you being a pair of legs with a pussy betwixt them?" [Undead] pushed back even harder. "Or are you so out of it that you don't care anymore?!"

Mira began to waver as she was then swept from her legs by her own Shadow before being stabbed in the leg, their katana nailing her to the earth as [Undead] began kicking her in.

"Face it, Mira. You're nothing more than one parasite sucking up to a willing and gluttonous host who sees women as nothing more than trophies!" [Undead] ranted as they kept kicking Mira into her ribs. "At least the others have the decency to think about moving to other hosts or bettering themselves whereas you do nothing about your station in life! You might as well have never left that house, so why did you in the first place?!"

Mira weeps as she just laid there, taking the verbal abuse. "... I don't know."

"No," Re:Live interjected. "You do know, but I want you to say it."

[Undead] then lifts Mira up by her neck before pulling their katana out of her leg and placing the blade against her throat.

"It doesn't matter," [Undead] remarked as the edge began to draw blood. "... You'll never change."

Mira then found herself on the precipice between life and death.

"... I'm scared."

Both Re:Live and [Undead] take notice at her whimper.

"... I'm scared... because I'm afraid that my family might be right," she softly sobbed. "I'm scared that they might be right about me! That I'll amount to nothing for how I was born! They didn't let me dream because they knew! They didn't let me leave even through the mercy of death because they knew it wouldn't matter! They bothered to keep me... so that they can keep me in my place!"

"But does that apply right now?" Re:Live asked.

Mira looks up with teary eyes full of doubt in herself.

"What do you mean?!" she asked. "They're still here-!"

"Think about it, it's been several hundred years since you left home," Re:Live pointed out. "Your family is no longer around, so why are you still afraid?!"

The Pawn begins to cry as fear takes over her heart. "... I'm nothing but a servant, existing only to flatter and please my betters," she stated tearfully. "... Nothing will change that. To move beyond it is absurd."

"And why?" asked the superhero.

"YOU KNOW DAMN WELL WHY!" she screamed. "AFTER ALL, YOU'RE THE ONE WHO SET US UP WITH THAT EVIL DRAGON USER IN THE FIRST PLACE! OF COURSE I'M SCARED OF FACING HIM!"

"That's a good thing," Re:Live pointed out. "It shows that you haven't completely given up on yourself."

"... Huh?"

"Mira, fear is universal," they stated. "It helped our ancestors survive past the Stone Age and helped us fight diseases. But throughout our shared history, we learned to differentiate what fears are necessary to keep around... and what fears we need to discard like yesterday's trash."

Re:Live then jumps down from the roof and lands behind where Mira was hanging from.

"Mira, your fear of the Evil Dragon is understandable," they revealed. "In fact, it's appreciated, given how may nowadays seem to underestimate them because of their status. That is a smart fear that will help you grow. Your fear in your family that is no longer around? That's all in your head, Mira."

"... But what if they're right?" she whimpered. "... What if I don't amount to anything?"

"What do you have to be afraid of?" they pointed out. "You didn't even get started."

Mira's tears slowly cease as she digests on what they've said now.

"... Where do I start?" she asked. "Where do I go?"

"It's up to you, Mira," Re:Live answered. "This is your life since you were born. Not your family's, not your master's, and certainly not anyone else's. You live and die however you want? Fine. Kill yourself here and now. But honestly, with all that you have to hold onto, even if it's superficial in the end... do you really want it to end like this?"

"... I don't know," she wept softly. "... How did I live like this?! How did I live with myself until now?!"

[Undead]'s grip began to flicker and fade like a dying candlelight.

"There's a difference. A big one," Re:Live declared. "Will you learn something from this life of yours, Mira, or are you going back into that pit you dug for yourself that no one's looking down on anymore?"

"... I... I don't want to!" she answered as she finally understood what was missing in her life, now actively resisting against her Shadow's grip.

*thump*

Then, a heartbeat was heard from her chest that rung like a gong.

"You have been dead for the past several hundred years, Mira."

One finger at a time, she begins prying them off around her neck.

"It is time for you to learn how to live!"

With a yell and her whole body glowing a bright cyan, she then wishbones [Undead]'s entire right arm across its twain as she then kicked up her shakujō staff into her hand before flipping the sharpened point towards the Shadow.

"I... AM NOT... WEAK!"

With a brutal thrust, Mira then channels her very life through her staff's point and plunges it into her Shadow self's head.

"... This isn't over, Mira!" the fading Shadow declared as they disappeared into nothingness. "... I am you... and you are me...! And as long as I exist... you better watch your fucking back... or else I drive myself back into your soul!"

Mira heaves heavily as she watches [Undead] disappear from her being.

"Congratulations," Re:Live declared. "... You have now awakened your ki. How does it feel?"

Mira then lets out another sigh before answering. "... Honestly, it's surreal," she revealed. "... All this time... I had spiritual powers within me... and all of that belittling... just kept me down all this time?"

"They don't matter now."

They then transform back into their armored form.

"It's time to shape your powers into something meaningful." Re:Live then torques into a fighting stance. "From now on, show me that the name 'Mira' is your very own!"

Mira then readies her shakujō and newly awakened-ki to confront the superhero as her final exam.

Outside of [Section Heorot]...

"... You know, some Dragons weren't born as Dragons," the young Grendel pointed out.

"I know the story behind Fafnir," Takeshi pointed out. "... I think going from a Dwarf to a Dragon is a pretty good trade-off, all things considered."

The boy smirked at his response. "If that's what you think, then I bet you'll enjoy my story."

Beyond the blizzard, both Takeshi and the young Grendel spot a whole tribe's worth of people moving through the snowstorm.

"I... I sort of remember hailing from a group of people known as the Algonquian," he explained. "We were a group of hunter-gatherers moving from place to place, hunting buffalo and other migratory herds to sustain ourselves. That all changed when our recent trail provoked a whole pack of Wendigos. As a result, not only our food supply went scarce due to them already being stolen by other predators, but once they got a taste of our tribesmen... we became the prey."

Behind the caravan of Algonquians, several lanky and towering humanoids covered head to toe in thick dark-brown fur and heads solely consisting of bloodied fangs and canines, a wild mane of white hair, and a pair of deer and moose's antlers crowing their head were following them.

"... The Wendigos had an odd gift," the young Grendel explained. "For every prey they consume, their traits and abilities are transferred to them."

Several Wendigos were already pulling out bows and arrows before nocking the latter back.

"... I was among one of the younger members in that fleeing tribe," he explained several of those who weren't fast enough had their backs shot full of arrows the size of their spears, left behind to die as the Wendigo claimed them as their meals. "... In less than four years, we were reduced to half of our original number."

Those who managed to escape managed to do so by rowing over the massive lake the size of a small inland ocean on their canoes, leaving the confused Wendigo behind to feed upon the rest that failed to escape.

"By the time we managed to reach the other side, we were safe," Grendel stated. "But it wasn't for long."

As the seasons passed into thawing, the number of fighting-age men were only about a dozen.

"... We only had until next winter to fight them off or else we're next," Grendel stated. "So the men began training young boys like us for the next season."

The young Grendel was visibly falling behind his peers, fumbling on stringing a bow or to kill naught a single deer.

"They tried, really," Grendel explained as his younger self's sole solace was with his own mother, much to the other boys' derision. "But I was cursed with a weak body and a failing eyesight."

Takeshi grimaced as he could easily connect the dots as Autumn began to set in, with a few Wendigos being washed ashore drowned, indicating that they're trying to learn how to traverse water, much to the survivors' collective horror.

"Time was running out, so our shamans had devised a forbidden ritual regarding the Wendigo corpses," the young Grendel explained. "... Simply put, they elected me to turn me into a Wendigo."

The boy inside the tepee was held down by his own mother, whom he trusted with his own life until now, as he was forced to gulp down an infernal concoction made of pulped organs of their predators along with a few wild herbs to help it go down easier.

"... I died," Grendel declared as he and Takeshi looked down at the dead boy's body. "... But I lived."

The boy's body then convulses wildly, as if his very soul was being overridden by a foreign spirit trying to turn his very body into its own meatsuit. His eyes' veins had already burst as they began crying blood. His bones stretched and grew past their body's limitations, ripping his muscles apart as the muscles themselves repaired and stitched back themselves together.

Gone was the weak and frail boy, and in his place was nothing short of a monster that vaguely resembled his human self.

"The pain was unbearable," he explained as the misshapen monster howled and screamed atop of its lungs as its nerves were readjusting to its new body. "My humanity itself was destroyed as collateral for greater power. It wasn't enough."

Maddened by his betrayal and the pain spurring it into something especially savage, the mutant then proceeds to kill everyone in their former tribe. First the shamans, then the elders, then the children, then the fighting men, and finally his mother, whom she devoured starting from her feet as she screamed all the way down until her lungs were cut by Grendel's teeth.

"... It still wasn't enough."

Grendel then proceeds to cross the oceanic lake by uprooting an entire tree, throwing it as hard as it could, and then leap onto said thrown tree to ride it across the entire lake like Dragon Ball's Mercenary Tao Pai Pai.

The flung tree lands directly through one of the Wendigo's chest, killing it instantly as the rest of the predatory pack all converge onto the unfamiliar member of their own kind.

"... It was never enough."

Grendel stood as the sole victor atop a pile of slain Wendigos.

"My pain wouldn't stop..." he explained as he shuddered in horror. "Every kill, their souls and memories are grafted onto my very being. I gained their techniques and strengths... even as my mind was on the verge of snapping."

The maddened Grendel began seeking out other things to kill in order to relieve its eternal pain.

"... I couldn't stop," the young Grendel explained as his mutated being rampaged across the Great Plains, the Grand Canyon, and reaching the subtropical jungles with Olmec Heads still being carved out of their basalt boulders.

Skinwalkers, skinned alive.

Two-faces, wishboned.

Crescent-eyed shark-men, mutilated.

A trail of blood and death followed as the now-further mutated Grendel walked about in their blind journey to relieve their pain.

"The pain never stopped even after I killed millions," Grendel explained as their abominable form slowly walked into the ocean. "... I was starting to beg for death... anything to make the pain stop."

Atlantis gets destroyed in the process. Again.

"All Poseidon did was aggravate my agony even more, failing to kill me even with his famed [Trident] or his entire armada of Hippocampus," Grendel explained. "My nerves wouldn't stop burning in pain even after I sought to kill myself by drowning, only for my body to adapt and become amphibious!"

Soon enough, the abominable Grendel was found washed up on the shores of Persia before resuming their pain-spurred rampage across the rest of the Old Continent.

"Nothing changed," Grendel explained as his voice came to a mirthless chuckle. "... I kept killing. Monsters, men, gods who were too weak... anyone who wished to stop me... failed."

Grendel was now found on the side of the mountain's slope with all four of his limbs brutalized into misshapen tangles trying to orient themselves back together.

"... Then she came," Grendel revealed as a hooded figure walked up to the suffering abomination. "... My mother."

The woman takes off her hood, revealing herself as a bald woman with shamanistic tattoos that looked Slavic in origin as her lips were sewn shut and sporting a silver nose ring linked with lengths of barbed chains that connected to her earlobes.

"Her name was Āglæca, 'Death-Sayer' of House Dis," the boy explained. "She was a special breed of Vampires known as a Strzyga, a Vampire born with exceptional magic talent and connection to the arcane. She then explained that my ritual to turn me into a Wendigo was botched and incomplete. And in order to end my suffering, she said that she needed ingredients."

The Vampiric Sorceress then places her hand onto Grendel's head.

A Draq, an Aitvaras, and a Balaur.

"She needed three Red Dragons as ingredients to create a concoction to stabilize my amorphous, misshapen form," the young Grendel explained. "... I obeyed without question, because I wanted the pain to stop."

And so, the abomination hunted those three Dragons down across all of Eastern Europe, pummeling them with their fists three times the size of their own body, bringing their brutalized corpses back to Āglæca by their tails barely hanging onto their buttocks.

"She then concocted a potion made of their melted-down remains," the boy explained as the abomination, failing to resemble anything human, was handed a whole caldron of the hot-red liquid still bubbling in its canister.

The monster then greedily drinks it down in one gulp, and upon finishing it, they drop the barren cauldron onto the floor as their misshapen body begins to warp even further.

"The pain was nothing like I've ever felt before..." the boy explained as the abomination's body began to straighten itself out while said creature was vomiting copious amounts of blood (or the potion, they both look interchangeable). "... It began to feel good."

Fur and skin that were grown improperly were shed in favor of scales that were rubicund as the concoction that the creature had partook. Its crooked maw and snout bulked up and evened out, becoming sturdier, cleft-chinned, and chiseled with sharp angles and horns. Its back, a mess of fins and feathers, were broken apart by a pair of sail-like wings covered with briars the size of stalagmites, and a thick and muscular tail the size of several trees bundled together.

Gone was Grendel, the abomination.

The monster was now Grendel, the Dragon.

"... Your scales were originally red?!" Takeshi exclaimed.

"To be honest, I didn't care what the color of my scales were," the boy deadpanned. "... And from there, I was given my name by my new mother. ... 'Grendel,' meaning 'Legend'."

Āglæca danced in joy as both Strzyga and Dragon celebrated their shared success.

"And from there, House Dis ruled all of the Eastern Continent with fear."

The red-scaled Grendel and Āglæca led their ever-growing band of marauders against all civilizations to enforce their reign.

Castles were reduced to rubble, villages were burned to the ground, its people, either enslaved as foodstuff or impaled on pikes as examples.

House Dis swelled, adding more Vampires, monsters, and other outcasts whom civilization had no room for had found themselves in their infernal ranks.

House Dis was mentioned with hushed whispers and bated breath equating to fear itself.

"And I was crowned King."

Āglæca, approaching Grendel as the crowd of monsters and other miscreants parted to make way, dragging behind an iron crown large enough for his head, came forth as the Evil Dragon knelt before his smaller mother.

Lifting the heavy circlet, Āglæca places the crown made of swords of fallen heroes onto the Dragon's head, declaring him as the King of Monsters.

The crowd roars with jubilation as Grendel makes his first decree as King.

"... We invaded the West, the domain of the Gods," the boy recalled. "... And thus began the formation of the Wild Hunt."

Grendel led the charge across Western Europe, burning and breaking everything in his sight with his flames and fists, his band of marauders not too far behind to ensure that there were no survivors.

Gods and their chosen champions were sent to stop them. Even Deus Trinity's Angels and their Saints were sent to aid in the united resistance. Even the Satans and their lesser Devils weren't exempt from the King's imperial wrath.

All of them broke first before their might, leaving nothing but their bones and blood scattered about the wasteland left behind by the Wild Hunt.

"My army encircled a certain Northern nation, breaking their castles and slaughtering their armies," the boy recalled as Grendel's red scales were turning green from the flames spewing from his scales bluing their coloration through repeated, gradual exposure. "... I'm sure you know the rest of the story, no?"

The scene then transitions to Grendel fighting against Beowulf.

"For the first time in my life... I was the one taking a step back," he shared as Grendel and Beowulf brutalized each other. "I... felt something other than pain when I fought him. I don't know what it is... but I wanted more of it. I wanted... to be with him."

"... You wanted him to be your friend," Takeshi pointed out as they witnessed Grendel getting decapitated by his own severed arm swung by the Hero-King like a sword.

"He was different from everyone else," the young Grendel pointed out as the scene skips to his first reincarnation, where the Evil Dragon reunites with Grendel, now older and wary of the world around him, along with the rest of his extended family surrounding them as witnesses, [Hrunting] in hand, and a whole army of trained badasses behind his back.

"He was different from those other humans," the young boy justified as the rematch begins with Grendel taking the first move. "He was not bound by any fears nor was he obligated to stop me. He came to me because he did, without ulterior motives or anything to hide. He was honest and pure, which forged his strength that I was captivated by."

"... I see," Takeshi remarked as the entire army was still no match for Grendel save for Beowulf, who now in his sixties, was still the only one who stood a chance against the reborn monster. "... Your fighting style... were you emulating him all this time?"

"Not entirely," the boy pointed out. "... But if he could inspire a monster like me, then he must've been truly exceptional."

The past ends with Grendel's second death at the sharp end of [Hrunting] and Beowulf's final act of valor that cost him his life. Once the story ended, the two returned back to the snowscape lakeside with [Section Heorot] standing behind them, now fully repaired.

"... You know, I won't question your wrath on the world," Takeshi remarked. "After all, it's what makes you... well you."

The boy smirks. "Resorting to flattery?" he snarked. "That may have worked with Nidhogg, but not me, brat."

"Just stating the truth," Takeshi defended as the two continued staring out into the frozen wilderness. "... You know, there's more to life than Beowulf, you know."

The boy then looks at his host with confusion.

"Sure, there's no doubt that he was the greatest thing that has ever happened in your life, but do you really want that? Just another rerun?" asked Takeshi. "It's the 21st Century. Times have changed. Sure, people aren't exactly Beowulf-material, and guns pretty much changed how we fight our battles, but given our track record, I'm pretty sure that we'll find a few diamonds in the rough later down the line."

"... Come on," the boy grumbled. "You want me to actively live in an era of disappointment?"

"Don't think of it as a continuation of Beowulf's legend where you're the antagonist," Takeshi insisted. "... Think of this as a new chapter, where you are the protagonist, and you're the one penning your own legend!"

"Ha!" the young boy huffed. "A monster like me playing the role of the hero?! How ludicrous!"

"The world has more thrills than you think, Grendel!" Takeshi pointed out. "But what's more unexpected is when the heel debuts in their own spin-off story and ends up stealing the whole show, even from the heroes themselves! Come on, Grendel! It's time to be a legend like your name indicates! Show them that you're the badass of this world that has long forgotten its vigor!"

The boy snickers before bursting out into laughter, continuously laughing harder and harder until the boy morphs back into his Evil Dragon form, busting a gut at this newfound sense of joy that he thought he'd lost ages ago.

"Never thought I'd humor the possibility of fighting alongside a puny Devil like you, brat!" the Evil Dragon of Wrath cackled.

Takeshi smirks confidently as he extends his bare hand. "... What about a side of a friend?"

Without hesitation, Grendel takes the hand and shakes it. "... Aye. I could live with that."

A sense of mutual rapport was formed between Evil Dragon and its User, forming a pact between the two vowing the path of the Deadly Sin of Wrath.

"Now that we have all the time in the world..." Takeshi then sits next to the Evil Dragon. "... You mind telling me your travel stories?"

Grendel snickers as he runs back into [Section Heorot] before coming back out with several tankards of mead.

"Brat, do I have stories to tell you about my travels..."

And so, the two trained inside of their minds for however long it took.

Re:Live assisted Mira in breaking into her newly awakened powers of ki held back by her family and their collective abuse.

Takeshi listened to Grendel's travel stories after the establishment of the Wild Hunt and his second death.

A new sensation for everyone had awakened inside of their souls that had spent most of their lives listlessly drifting in the winds of fate.

For Mira, it was pride. Pride in herself for coming this far and being able to accept herself as her own person and not as the runt of the litter that didn't want her.

For Grendel, it was joy. Joy found in living his best life of bloodshed and carnage, and joy of sharing his deeds with a receptive listener who believed in him.

And for Takeshi, it was something unknown, but he could feel as if it was something that he can cultivate and grow for himself.

It was like a seed. He didn't know what it would grow into, but he knew that he had to care for it and let it grow through his own efforts to understand evil to fight greater evil.

At Mt. Ishizuchi...

"What's going on?!" Akeno cried out as the formation around Takeshi began breaking.

"The signals... they're stabilizing!" Rias exclaimed. "Takeshi and Grendel... THEY'VE SUCCESSFULLY SYNCHRONIZED!"

Everyone either cheers or sighs in relief.

"... Oh man, that's like, cutting it way too close," Kikuchiyo heaved out.

"That son of a bitch actually did it!" Chiharu cackled rapturously.

"Hey Grayfia-san!" Koneko cried out towards the maid. "Can we get senpai out right now?!"

"Sadly, no," Grayfia answered as she also observed the ley lines flowing around the breaking formation. "Were we to pull him out, it could undo all the work he'd put in, Dame Toujou. Best to let it pass naturally."

Pandora lets out a huge sigh as she falls onto her back in exhaustion. "... Someone pick me up and take me to the showers," she requested with a throaty voice. "I can't feel my everything..."

"You... and me both..." Yuuto then faints after having to release his eighth [Full Release: Gravity Nail] around Takeshi to keep him from physically rampaging.

"Question being..." Rias then looked out at Takeshi, who was now just standing there, looking calmer in his armored form. "... Will he be well enough for the upcoming Rating Game?"

"I will monitor his health at your stead, milady," the maid reassured. "Everyone else, you are free for the rest of the day."

"Come on, Pandora-chan..." Akeno then picks the Spirit Charmer up and carries her under her arms like a cat. "... I'll wash you up and dress you."

Everyone then returns to base camp as Grayfia continues monitoring Takeshi.

Back at Lake Tōya...

"Mira!"

The Pawn flickers her eyes open to find Mihae and everyone else looking over her.

"... Mihae-neesama?"

The Bishop then pulls her in for a tight hug.

"Oh, thank the Satans that you're alright!" she cried out.

All Mira could do was chuckle mirthlessly at this scenery, where everyone had worried looks on their faces. "... So," she began, "I guess everyone's gotten stronger, then."

"So did you!" Ni and Li remarked in unison.

"Yeah, yeah!" Ile and Nel added.

"There's a different air about you," Siris pointed out, to which Riser and Ravel nodded in agreement.

Mira then tries to feel her new aura, and while she could sense that something was different about herself, it felt... incorporeal. Almost incomprehensible.

"... I don't know what to say," Mira replied as she looked at her own hand. "... I can tell that I feel different... but I don't know how."

"No one is fully realized on day one, after all."

The whole Peerage then moves in to defend Mira from Re:Live, who came into the tent unannounced.

"You've hurt her enough, you lunatic," growled Yubelluna.

"If you intend to torment her with any of your methods...!" Karlamine then reaches for her sword before realizing that it was missing. "... WHERE DID IT GO?!"

"You lookin' for this, Pumpkin Spice?"

Peeking into the tent's entrance was Chiha in her tengai hat, holding up the Knight's longsword that she'd pilfered.

"... What... how?!" Xuelan gawks before the bikuni casually walks in and places the sheathed sword back into Karlamine's hands.

"First rule of pickpocketing: watch the hands, not the mouth," she revealed. "... That and well, there are sixteen of you in total. Energy presence or not, your heightened senses could only do so much before it misses a mark."

"She means everyone but Mira and Mihae, get out," ordered Re:Live. "Now."

"Fucking asshole..." Isabela hissed as she was the first to leave.

"At least training's over..." sighed Shuriya as everyone else left, leaving Mira alone with Re:Live and Mihae.

"... So," the Pawn said as she looked down on her sheets, her bright blue aura glowing through the sheets, "this is ki."

"Trust me, Mira, it only feels weird the first time," Mihae shared. "... I mean, my fireballs are based in Yōjutsu, after all. I almost felt my hand was going to be charred black when I first used it!"

"That emptiness you feel right now, Mira?" Re:Live pointed out. "It's your room to grow. Fill it up with something meaningful and you'll be strong enough to overcome and learn from your fears."

Mira then lets out another deep breath as she thinks back to how the Evil Dragon of Wrath killed her instantly before she was brought back to life. "... I don't know if I can really do this."

"You don't need to 'know' that if you can do it," Re:Live rebuked. "No one can truly know anything. That's what living is about. To learn and know oneself. Wisdom is cultivated by generational trial and error, after all."

"... Yeah, you're right," Mira answered, now no longer burdened by her past that has only taught her to seek out better people. "... I'm ready to get stronger, Re:Live. I'm done playing catch-up to everyone else in my Peerage! I'll grow stronger, in my own way!"

"Then rest," Re:Live ordered as they went out of the tent. "Training resumes tomorrow."

Once the superhero had left, Mira and Mihae were left alone in the tent.

"... Can I... can I stay by your side for a bit longer?" Mihae requested, her hand held onto Mira's. "... It may be my ki talking... but I can sort of feel your pain as if it were my own."

Mira nods before lying back on her cot to get some sleep.

Back at Mt. Ishizuchi...

"AND I AM BACK, BABY!" Takeshi cried out as he shouted towards the heavens, which were now shining full of stars. "... Aw fuck, it's already past bedtime?!"

"And not a moment too soon."

Takeshi then looks towards where the voice had come from, spotting Grayfia sitting on a rock with a trolley with a covered plate on top of its stand and a camp lamp shining brightly next to her.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Sir Ryuugamine," the maid greeted with a curtsy. "How was your extended company with Grendel?"

Takeshi then dismisses his armored form as [Cataclysm Zone] returns to being just a belt. "... Honestly, I have stories to tell... but I have to admit, for a bloodthirsty asshole, he's quite the storyteller."

"It appears that I also have underestimated him as well, whelp," Nidhogg spoke from the Sacred Gear's ashen-gray gem. "Then again, he has more material to work with compared to me."

Takeshi shrugs as Grayfia comes up to him with her trolley. "Your supper."

She then opens up to reveal a massive plate of carbonara with a hefty helping of parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

"Eat slowly and don't forget to chew," she instructed as she handed Takeshi a fork and spoon.

"Itadakimasu!" Takeshi then consumes his long-overdue dinner in front of the maid.

"And worry not, I was also served my own portion while you were occupied," Grayfia pointed out.

"No worries," Takeshi mumbled with his mouth full of food.

As he continued eating under the star-studded night sky, a sudden thought occurred in his mind as the Evil Dragon User continued eating.

"... You know, Grayfia-san, I've been thinking," he remarked before taking another bite. "... About... your question... of what I'll do in my... future."

The maid's eyebrow then perks up. "Really now?" she remarked with curiosity. "Please, enlighten me, Sir Ryuugamine."

Takeshi then finishes up the entire plate of carbonara pasta before answering.

"... Honestly, I still have no fucking clue on what I'm going to do with my damn life!" Takeshi answered in a chipper tone. "But alas, that is not a reason to give up on myself!"

Takeshi then points his finger up towards the night sky as he strikes a dramatic pose.

"I'll keep living! I'll keep fighting for my right to live!" he declared boldly. "I'll keep fighting for the life I believe in! And I won't stop fighting for my life until I have a dream of my own! If the gods, fates, or any self-righteous asshole says that I have to die because of who I am, then I'll punch their teeth and tell them otherwise! I'll carve out my own dream in this rotten world I found myself in, because I know that there are people in my life who still believe in me! As long as I hold onto that light, I will never stop fighting! That's the Ryuugamine Way! My Way!"

Grayfia then applauds.

"As expected of someone chosen by Lady Rias," she remarked with a smile. "... Perhaps it was destiny that you two were to meet. A pair of embers ready to set the world ablaze into something new."

The maid then dusts her dress's buttocks before getting up.

"And... even though it is crass for a mere servant like me to express her own opinion," she fidgeted as she willed herself to speak her mind, "but may I be frank with you, right here and now?"

"It's the 21st Century, Grayfia-san," Takeshi replied with a smile. "It'd be strange if you weren't selfish enough to be yourself."

The maid sighs as she then lets out her most frank opinion.

"... I do not like the idea of Lord Riser having Lady Rias' hand in marriage," she stated. "The mere thought of it makes my blood boil. My lady deserves someone who is willing to respect and cherish her dreams and soul. Someone... that someone may perhaps be you."

Takeshi points at himself before Grayfia nods in confirmation. "... Wow," he snickered in nervousness. "... Hell of a pressure you're placing on me, Grayfia-san. But if you're giving your blessing... then I'll fight with those words as the winds behind my back! I will fight for her dignity and honor not as a woman and Lady of House Gremory, but as Rias Gremory the individual!"

Grayfia sighs in relief after getting to speak her mind in private. "... Thank you, Sir Ryuugamine," she said. "I'm glad that my trust in you isn't misplaced."

Takeshi nods confidently, earning the maid's trust.

"And should you run into him during the upcoming Rating Game, which, given your predisposition, is very likely..." She then spoke in a deadpan manner. "... If you do run into Lord Riser... fuck him up. Fuck him up, really, really, hard."

"Gladly," Takeshi agreed. "... Although, I have a request of my own in return."

"Anything." Grayfia then sees Takeshi pointing to his own [Cataclysm Zone]'s gem, now verdant in coloration.

"Can you teach me some of your moves?" he requests. "I get the feeling that they'll come in handy on fulfilling your request."

And so, the training of both Gremory and Phenex Peerages resumed until its final days...

5th of May, 2019 AD

"Good morning, everyone," Grayfia announced as everyone gathered outside of their tents. "I am pleased to announce that the Rating Game shall be occurring within the next 24 hours."

She then reaches into her magic circle people pulling out her lock box with everyone's phones and smart devices inside.

"The final day will be a day of recuperation before the fateful day," she announced as the spatial distortion around all of Mt. Ishizuchi began to dissipate. "I am proud to say that all of you have made leaps and bounds compared to your previous selves, and I have no doubt that you will show all of the Underworld that House Gremory are not to be trifled with. With all that said, I hereby relinquish you all from your training."

The box then unlocks.

"Please, enjoy yourselves and have a nice day."

All of the Gremory Peerage (sans Pandora) retrieve their smartphones.

"Finally, liberation!" Rias sighed as she checked her phone. "... Oh dear."

Everyone within the Peerage who had a phone checked their screens to reveal that they've missed several calls and texts, especially Takeshi's, whose number of missed calls and messages has reached triple digits (each).

"AW SHIT!"

Everyone then had to spend the next hour and a half explaining why Takeshi missed his calls and texts with his extremely worried parents.

"AT LEAST WARN US THAT WHERE YOU'RE HEADING IS GOING TO HAVE NO RECEPTION!" Shiori screamed over the phone's loudspeaker.

Grayfia blushes heavily in embarrassment at her mishandling of this deal with modern technology. Admittedly, the closest she has to modern technology is her 19th Century pocket watch that was gifted to her by Lord Sirzechs, and treated her smartphone (that she got last month) as nothing more than a cost-efficient two-way communication device that didn't use her own magic.

"I am... lost for words," the maid remarked with shame.

"I have a satellite phone," Chiharu revealed as she and the Kasha began dismantling the tents.

Soon enough, the incident was cleared up with no (long-term) major fuss and everyone was allowed to spend the rest of the day exploring all of Ehime Prefecture.

"Remember, be sure to rendezvous at the pier no later than 9 PM!" Grayfia shouted as the rest of the Peerage dispersed throughout the Prefecture, with Chiharu and Kikuchiyo wearing their human disguises (the latter appearing like a regular schoolgirl in sailor suit uniform and bob haircut).

"So..." Pandora said as she walked around with her shades and cane next to Takeshi, "... whereto?"

"First of all..." Takeshi sighed as he checked his phone's clock, reading 10:47 AM, too late to watch any Tokusatsu, "... I'm probably going to have to buy a gift box for my parents as an apology for making them worry all week."

"Can't we just erase and alter their memories?" Pandora suggested.

"I prefer not to take any risks by melting their brains by accident," Takeshi replied as they entered Utsuboya Main Branch Store. "... Remember my Evil Dragons? And that they're fickle on how I use powers that don't belong to them?"

You have every right to be afraid, whelp, Nidhogg warned. Best to keep them at an arm's length while we're around.

They don't put up much of a fight, anyway, Grendel replied. ... And how will a small-ass box of sweets be supposed to smooth things over?

Takeshi rolled his eyes as he purchased their box of Bocchan Dango (12 sticks, about 1,080 yen). ... It's just a gesture. Leave all the heavy thinking to me.

Meanwhile, in Hokkaido...

"... What are you all staring at me for?" Re:Live said as they wore a bandana and apron over their armor. "... Eat it before it burns."

Surrounding the large dome-like grill laid with sizzling meat and vegetables, all sixteen members of the Phenex Peerage were staring and drooling at this sight of actual food.

"... This isn't a joke, right?" Mira stammered.

Re:Live silently placed another slice of meat onto the grill.

"... Alright, if you insist." Riser then picks out the cut of meat off of the grill before eating it. "... It's actual meat. A bit gamey, but it's safe to eat!"

"Alright! Enough said! Let's dig in!" Isabela exclaimed.

The rest of the Peerage began eating around the grill.

"Ahh... meat," both Senri twins sighed in satisfaction of eating actual cooked meat after an eternity of MREs.

"The produce here is also bursting with flavor too..." Xuelan commented.

"I spot the meat's juices dripping down onto the vegetables placed around the grill's edge," Marion observed.

"How ingenious..." Burnet remarked. "... Pray tell, what kind of communal dish is this?"

"I think it's called 'Jingisukan'," Ravel answered as she looked at the menu. "... Strange, but why does that name sound familiar?"

"Who cares?" Ile remarked as she picked out another slab of meat.

"It tastes good either way!" Nel then picked the grill until it was scarce of meat and vegetables.

"Hey! Leave some for the rest of us!" Siris cried out.

"Don't worry about it." Re:Live then summons another plate full of uncooked meat before placing them on the grill. "One of my many contacts owns this place. So eat as much as you want. Given that tomorrow is a big day and all."

That last statement causes all of the Peerage to go silent as the realization of the Rating Game set in.

"... Do you think we can win this?" asked Mira.

"We have to," Yubelluna answered. "... Lord Riser's very existence is on the line."

"Indeed," Karlamine agrees. "... We all trained this far to not let it all be in vain. So no matter what, let's give it our all! No regrets!"

"Hear, hear!" Shuriya concurred.

"May the Satans watch over us," Mihae remarked as she then looked towards Mira. "... Look, we're with you and Riser-sama. So chin up, okay? You won't drag us down, I promise."

Mira sighs before wiping her misty eyes. "... Right," she said. "... I'm not as weak as I was back then before. I will avenge our Peerage's honor, starting by defeating that Evil Dragon User myself!"

The rest of the Peerage applaud at her bold declaration that showcased her newfound resolve.

"... I'm proud of you, Mira," Riser stated. "... And, I'd like to say my piece as well."

"Go on," Ravel stated. "We're listening."

Riser then stands up before addressing the rest of his Peerage.

"Over these... strenuous days, I happened upon an... epiphany, to say the least," he began. "... My training with the woman with the Holy Sword had shown me... how complacent I was. Of how I was drunk my own power of [Immortality] as my 'get out of jail free'-card. My powers alone could only get me so far... but that's not the worst of it."

He then looked around at the gathered Peerage before bowing his head in apology.

"I... realized that I haven't been as considerate of your feelings all because I was King," he pointed out. "I thought that my strength alone would be more than enough to get us by! So please! Accept my humblest apologies for letting my own pride blind me to your contributions!"

Yubelluna sighs. "... Lord Riser, first of all, thank you," the Queen replied. "Thank you for finally considering us after all this time. It won't change our loyalty towards you and what you have done for us... but on behalf of speaking for the rest of the Peerage, we are just glad that you are finally taking that first step."

Riser blinked in disbelief before looking towards his sister. "... Ravel, have I been that inconsiderate?"

"Face it, brother, you had your head up your own arse for a good while now," the younger Phenex pointed out, much to his total shock and dismay. "... Still though, better late than never! And just in time for the Rating Game too."

Riser's look of remorse was something that the rest of his Peerage wasn't familiar with.

"... What have I done to you all?!" he bemoaned.

"Nothing too harsh, Lord Riser," Karlamine reassured. "In fact, we enjoyed your confidence as an inspiration to live up to your expectations."

"But if I may be blunt, Riser-sama," Mira addressed. "... I'd also like to confess that our shared overconfidence might have made us stagnant in the first place. In fact, we were so assured of our initial victory that it took all of us literally dying several times over within a week lasting about half a month... Yes, we, myself included... learned that we're not as hot as we make ourselves out to be."

Riser sighs as he realizes that he was the source of his Peerage's main problem. "... I swear, no matter what happens after the Rating Game, I will treat you all better than mere fodder," he promised. "Regardless if I earn Rias' hand in marriage or not, I will ensure that all of us do our due diligence beyond our bare minimum!"

"Hear, hear!" Ni and Li cheered before the rest of the Peerage followed suit.

"Slow down, dear brother," Ravel smirked. "... At least let us catch up before we eat your dust."

"Enough of the doom and gloom!" Siris exclaimed. "Come on! The meat isn't going to eat itself!"

"Yeah! Meat!" Ile and Nel cheered before they then looked back towards the grill...

*nom*

... Only to find it completely barren, meat and all.

"... What the?" Mihae then dropped her chopsticks.

"WHO THE FUCK TOOK ALL THE MEAT?!" Isabela cried out as the rest of the Peerage looked around for their suspect...

... Who was sitting between them right before Re:Live, hogging all the meat and vegetables on her plate before inhaling every last piece of the food underneath her tengai hat.

"... What?" Chiha remarked. "You guys were talking, so I helped myself."

Suddenly, a sense of murder overwhelmed the entire Peerage despite Grendel and his infectious rage being no longer with them as of now.

"Get her?" Mihae then brandished her tanto-claw glove.

The gluttonous bikuni then speeds out of the door and into the streets of Tōyako.

"You'll have to catch me first, you fatass hoes!"

The entire Phenex Peerage give chase to avenge their stolen Jingisukan.

"... We have more, by the way," Re:Live deadpanned before Raynare dressed in her work uniform (black t-shirt, blue jeans, sneakers, apron, and a bandana tied around her head) walked up to them.

"When are you going to tell them that they were just eating your familiars?" the Fallen Angel part-timer remarked with a wry smirk.

"They don't need to know where the food came from," Re:Live snarked as they removed the dome-shaped grill before replacing it with a large wok-like pot before filling it with dashi-infused hotpot stock. "Now shut up and go get me the crab limbs. You know which ones."

Raynare rolled her eyes. "I swear to God, you might as well have it out for them personally."

Back in Ehime Prefecture...

"Really now?" Rias remarked as she and the rest of her Peerage devoured their red snapper on rice (both cooked and raw) for dinner. "So Grendel has been telling you his life stories with the past Users?"

Takeshi nods as he eats his bowl. "Damn straight," he remarked. "Apparently, his favorite was Foelke Kampana 'the Cruel,' given how ruthless she was during her time as regent."

"Wait," Yuuto remarked after he finished eating his bowl. "... Didn't she die a nonviolent death?"

"Apparently, it was a complication from an infected wound that she didn't know that she had when she and her army retook Aurich in 1389," Takeshi explained. "... You know, I'm starting to think that Grendel only hates women because the only notable female Evil Dragon User was a complete badass that everyone else fell short in comparison."

"I'm starting to think that Grendel looks up to certain people and puts them on a pedestal," Akeno commented. "... I know that feeling."

"My personal favorite was Shawnee's War Chief Blackfish during the Revolutionary War," Takeshi remarked. "I mean, who goes on a post-death rampage even after their whole body was shot full of holes? Mad respect to the man who has bigger balls than I did."

Koneko gulps loudly before ordering another bowl of red snapper on rice (raw). "... Senpai, please don't ever pull that kind of shit just because it sounds cool."

"And I thought the infamous Vladimir Kotlinsky of World War I wasn't terrifying enough already..." Pandora remarked as she finished her (one) bowl.

"But thanks to his stories, I think I got a better handle on Grendel's personality," Takeshi remarked with a small smile. "He's the kind of person that despises anything that goes against traditional martial prowess like guns and magic and adamantly sticks to his beliefs until the bitter end. The only people he genuinely despises are cowards and smart people, to which he can't seem to differentiate, or just have a hard time doing so, and he genuinely admires pain rewarding growth, even though he likes the former a lot more."

"And all those he killed?" Yuuto remarked.

"That, I can't say, but such is life back in the Middle Ages," Takeshi shrugged. "... You just kinda learn to accept the fact that people were killing other people somewhere out there. At least Grendel wasn't denying it."

I own my deeds proudly, brat, the Evil Dragon of Wrath boasted. The Wild Hunt was my greatest accomplishment, and I am grateful to those that accompanied me in my journey towards the West.

"Speaking of..." Rias sighed as she finished her fifth bowl. "... Did you unlock your Balance Breaker with him?"

"Ha! No." The rest of the Gremory Peerage go slack-jawed. "... But, we're getting there. We just need that one, final, push to completely enter perfect synchronization. With Grendel's propensity to be himself in the heat of battle and combined with my sense of impeccable timing..."

Rias nervously chuckles as she and everyone knew what Takeshi was insinuating. "... You're planning to unlock your second Balance Breaker mid-Rating Game?!"

"It'll be the perfect debut!" Takeshi declared. "When a superhero debuts their new power in an episode, their victory is all but guaranteed!"

"Famous last words, Ryuugamine..." Pandora rolled her eyes in skepticism.

"Come on, have a little faith in senpai," Koneko protested. "After all, that's exactly how he saved my life and probably Japan from a regional apocalypse."

"Even still, he seems to have a habit of cutting things really close," Yuuto interjected. "... Forgive me, but I am not an avid gambler."

"Then it's a good thing that the Evil Dragons shit on the concept of causality!" Takeshi then lets out a cackle as everyone else finishes their dinner before going out for dessert.

They all got mikan-flavored ice cream.

"Hey guys," Takeshi remarked as he took out his phone. "Wanna take a picture of all of us having fun? My parents are really worried and I want to show them that we're alright."

Rias sighs. "... Alright, everyone, form up," she ordered. "It's the least we can do for making one of our members' only intact family worry themselves to near death."

Everyone then gets into the shot as Takeshi prepares a selfie with their orange ice cream cones.

"Smile!"

*CLICK*

6th of May, 2019 AD

The fateful day has now come.

Five days after the new Reiwa Era was declared, the two Peerage now reconvene at their prior meeting place the week before.

"Wow," Rias remarked as she and the rest of her Peerage looked at the ORC Building, repaired as good as new, with nary a cracked window or broken lumber in sight.

"I heard rumors that the repairs took less than a day..." Akeno pointed out. "... Just who is this Chiha, I wonder?"

"Quite formidable indeed," Yuuto added. "... Shall we?"

"On me, everyone." Rias then reached for the doorknob before opening it, letting the entire Peerage make their way back towards the office.

"... Senpai," Koneko said as she tugged onto the sleeve of his jacket. "... When you were... well, rampaging inside here last week, how... how did you feel?"

Takeshi sighs. "... I think... it's probably something along the lines of being so angry that I... kind of stopped thinking," he answered. "... I don't want to lose anyone in ORC if I could help it. And after the taste of power that the Evil Dragons have offered me... I couldn't help but take it."

"As you should, whelp," Nidhogg remarked. "After all, we're in this together. Your words, not mine."

"This is merely the prelude to a greater slaughter..." Grendel heaved in anticipation, trying to keep his bearings together. "... Just a stepping stone... to greater battles ahead... YOU BETTER NOT LOSE THAT POMPOUS PRICK, BRAT!"

"Have no plans to," Takeshi replied bluntly as they continued walking down the halls.

"... I have something to say, President," Pandora remarked.

"Shoot," Rias answered.

"Thank you." The Knight then clears her throat before speaking her mind. "... I sort of recall Lord Riser having mentioned another member who, and I quote, 'can't be bothered to show their face'. Given how... dire our circumstances are, shouldn't we at least consider employing their aid?"

Rias sighs before shaking her head. "... Put it this way," the President remarked. "... Our sole Bishop... they're a bit of a unique case. They're like Takeshi... but without any control over their own powers. So much so that the Underworld's Council of Nobles blacklisted them from participating in any future Rating Games until further notice."

Koneko nodded. "Can't be helped," the Nekomata added. "If we could, it would be unfair for the other Peerage."

Takeshi chuckles. "Now that's the spirit!" he declared as they reached the office door. "Aight, let's do this shit-!"

Just as soon as they open the door, the entire Phenex Peerage were also waiting for them inside.

"... The fuck," Takeshi deadpanned.

"What the Hell are you doing here?" Rias growled.

"I was about to ask you the same thing," Riser remarked. "We were instructed to come here as well!"

Rias then checks her phone as Riser did the same, only to realize that they received the same message.

"... What is going on, brother?" Ravel asked. "And more importantly, who's organizing this-?!"

"INCOMING!"

*SHATTER!*

Flying in through the window between both Kings was Chiha, the bikuni riding on a Witch's broom with a large tote bag strapped around her shoulder.

"Howdy," she greeted as she got off the broom. "And yes, it was I, Chiha! Who has sent you both the bogus message!"

Everyone sans the nun blinked stupidly. "WHAT?!"

"But but but but!" Chiha then reaches into her bag before pulling out a signed and stamped contract denoting her as the overseer and organizer of this Rating Game. "Before you sue, I was thoroughly vetted. And to be fair... what part of the message did it indicate that you were to report to your checkpoints?"

Riser and Rias looked back at their sent messages before realizing that it was vaguely worded.

"... So what's the point of us being here?!" Riser exclaimed.

"For this." Chiha then pulls out her own phone before swiping her fingers across the screen. "Field... OPEN!"

The whole room's floor shone as everyone was then whisked away elsewhere.

After Teleportation...

Everyone screams as they all fell onto an unfamiliar spatial boundary.

"Too early in the morning for this kind of shit..." Takeshi groaned as he and everyone else groggily got up. "... Where are we?"

Rias then looked at the sign outside of a school-like building. "... Amanogawa... High School?"

Takeshi blinks. "... Can you repeat that-?!"

"It bears naught to be repeated," Re:Live interjected, causing everyone to yelp at their sudden appearance.

"Can you please stop doing that?!" Akeno cried out.

"No," Re:Live answered curtly. "Before we begin, here are your things that you'll be needing for your Rating Game."

For the Gremory Peerage, they were handed a large cardboard box. And for the Phenex Peerage, they were handed a smaller jewelry box.

"Open them up," Re:Live ordered as both parties did so. "Your team uniforms and markers."

For Rias, she had found a bundle of sukajan each with a different design on their back, and with House Gremory's heraldry on their breast area like a badge.

"Holy shit...!" Takeshi remarked as he spotted the one with his name tag on it. "This is mine?!"

The jacket was black and white in color, the back depicting an image of an armored knight with a tattered cape-cloak standing over a cliff's edge, resting their worn and chipped sword across their shoulder as seven Dragons could be seen flying in from the rising sun in the background.

The banner below it read "Fool of Fate: 0."

"Ha, it's calling you an idiot," Riser taunted as he opened to find that he and the rest of his Peerage got snazzy-looking golden bracelets with a phoenix motif molded around the band, and the center of the bangle was a different kind of gem.

Riser's was the diamond, Yubelluna was a ruby, Mihae and Ravel had sapphires, Siris and Karlamine get emeralds, Isabela and Xuelan get citrine, and Ile, Nel, Ni, Li, Marion, Burnet, Shuriya, and Mira get pearls.

"Don't underestimate the number zero, bro," Takeshi shot back as he smirked with pride, knowing the symbolism behind his jacket's iconography. "It just means that we're getting started. You're just a stepping stone, after all."

Riser growls a forced grimace that vaguely looks like a smile. "... I swear to you, I will make you eat your own words."

"And I'm gonna fist your ass with your own severed head!" Takeshi bit back before flipping him for good measure.

"Okay, you two, chill!" Chiha then separated the pair. "Save your hate-boners for the actual Rating Game. Cameras haven't even started rolling, sheesh..."

"And just to get you two out of each other's way..." Re:Live then texts both of them of their respective messages. "Here are your coordinates. I expect you both to be there before the game starts."

"The time is 7:45 AM, which means only 1 hour and 15 minutes before the game starts!" Chiha announced. "Go on, shoo!"

The two Peerages separate to their respective locations, with Takeshi and Riser giving each other a last parting shot before turning back.

At the Gremory Checkpoint...

"I get that you're worried about me, Takeshi, but do you really have to take it that far?" Rias pointed out as they arrived at their checkpoint, being a school's storage building where all the gym equipment is stored. "... At least let me get angry at my own affair."

"He's not worth the scuff on your shoes, President," Takeshi remarked as he sat cross-armed on top of one of the climbing boxes. "... The mere thought of him taking you for himself... don't even get me started...!"

"Build up your anger, brat...!" Grendel cackled. "Rage is power!"

Rias sighs as she then looks at her own jacket, which was crimson and maroon in coloration with a royally-dressed woman vaguely resembling her sitting on an altar-like throne set between two giant pillars of salt and fire respectively.

The banner below read "Priestess of Power: II."

"What are all these titles for, anyway?" Rias asked Takeshi as she put on her team jacket. "You seem to be familiar with it, Takeshi. Could you perhaps explain?"

"Yeah, sure!" he replied. "You see, these titles allude to the Tarot's Major Arcana and their numbers. Each Arcana represents a phase in a person's journey throughout their life. The Fool represents the beginning of a person's journey, while the High Priestess represents the contemplative phase of said journey."

Akeno blinked. "... You're into fortune telling?"

"Hell no!" Takeshi rebuked. "I've played Persona ever since Persona 4 Golden. I learned a lot about Tarot from that game. And friendship."

"I see," Akeno replied as she then looks at her jacket, which was violet and gold in coloration, with the back's iconography depicting a regally-dressed woman in monarchical garb who vaguely-resembles Akeno herself, holding up a bolt of lightning like a scepter as she sat on a throne of clouds, almost akin to a goddess who's ready to deliver divine judgment upon the wicked.

The banner below read "Empress of Storm: III."

"... Anyone get the sinking feeling that Re:Live themselves designed these team jackets?" the Queen addressed as she put hers on. "... Not that I'm complaining. The stitching on this is immaculate... but it's kind of creepy that they know our sizes too..."

"Need I remind you that Re:Live may as have well bugged our phones?" Takeshi deadpanned. "At that point, I just stopped questioning it. And by the way, the Empress represents the maternal nature within all life, or the ability to care and nurture who we care for."

"It's quite fitting for you, Himejima-senpai," Yuuto pointed out as he unwrapped his jacket. "After all, you are our emotional rock."

"Oh you!" she giggled at the Knight's compliment. "... So what does yours look like?"

Yuuto then reveals a blue and slate-gray jacket with an iconography on its back depicting a crowned king resembling Yuuto sitting on a throne made of swords while holding onto one like a cane, planting it between where his legs were spread.

The banner below read "Emperor of Sword: IV."

"Ah, the Emperor," Takeshi then begins his explanation. "Stability and security incarnate. The point where the person's journey gains their resolve to work towards, a sign of a boy becoming a man."

Yuuto awkwardly chuckles at the jacket's back before wearing it. "... I mean," he jittered, looking both embarrassed and slightly ashamed of himself, "... it's a bit much, don't you think?"

"Really?" Koneko deadpanned as she unwrapped her own jacket. "Then what do you say about this?"

She then reveals her jacket, being yellow and beige in coloration, with its back depicting an image of a legionnaire-like lady who vaguely resembles Koneko herself, standing atop of a chariot pulled by a pair of lions (gold and white respectively) while her arms were crossed as she rode across the open battlefield that stretched all the way to the background.

The banner below reads "Chariot of Soul: VII."

"Ah, the Chariot Arcana!" Takeshi snapped his fingers as Koneko put her jacket on. "Represents strength and determination to overcome a great obstacle! In a person's journey, it is often their first real battle in which their first victory is to be earned!"

Koneko smiles in pride before hugging Takeshi. "Thanks for the hype, senpai," she giggled as she looked up from his chest. "I'll make you and everyone else proud!"

Both share a quick kiss as Pandora opens her jacket, revealing it to be entirely pink and black with an image of a meditating veiled mystic sitting cross-legged on a shallow pool, with elemental orbs of fire, water, wind, and earth orbiting around her printed on its back.

The banner below read "Magician of Hope: I."

"... You got the Magician? Sweet!" Takeshi cheered. "They represent the person's awakening of their true potential and hidden talent! It often symbolizes the individual's catalyst to set out upon their journey towards life!"

Pandora nervously chuckled as she adjusted her shades. "... I think I have to agree with Yuuto here," she remarked. "... It's a bit overkill."

"With us around?" Nidhogg cackled out. "... 'Overkill' is our default setting."

The Spirit Charmer relents before putting on her jacket. "... Fair enough."

Takeshi then looked out at the rest of the Gremory Peerage with their team jackets before he smiled. "... Now we look like a real team of badass superheroes!" he declared. "A full-on Sentai squadron ready to kick ass and take names in the name of justice and blowing up monsters!"

"Really?" Rias remarked as she looked at the rest of her own Peerage. "... We kinda look like delinquents with these on."

"Let 'em think whatever they want to think," Takeshi reassured. "We'll show them our true power!"

"Yeah! Because power is justice!" Grendel added.

*DING-DING-DONG*

Suddenly, the whole space sounds the announcement jingle.

"HELLO, YOU BEAUTIFUL SONS OF BITCHES AND DAUGHTERS OF BASTARDS!" Chiha's voice announced from the speakers. "WELCOME TO THE RATING GAME STARRING TEAM PHENEX VERSUS TEAM GREMORY!"

At the Underworld...

"I AM YOUR HOST AND COMMENTATOR, CHIHA!" the nun announced. "Unfortunately, due to circumstances I am unable to disclose publicly, I will be filling in for Grayfia-san today. With all that said, here are the ground rules!"

At one corner of the Underworld, several nobles were attending a viewing party of this Rating Game hosted by none other than one of the Four Satans, Sirzechs Lucifer.

Normally, most of the well-dressed attendees only accepted the invitation given that it was a great honor to be invited by the hero of the Underworld himself, and most of them were aware of his doting (bordering spoiling) nature to his younger sister, Rias Gremory. But when they heard that they'll be able to see the Evil Dragon User in action, their collective curiosity superseded whatever prior assumptions they had about the event, thus, making them stay.

"We'll be playing by contemporary Rating Game rules, but with some add-ons!" Chiha revealed, causing the viewers to murmur in surprise as they discussed what was waiting for them. "First addendum: [Bounty]!"

On the magical projection, a list of names were posted next to the bikuni.

"Each member will be worth a certain amount of points depending on their standing!" she explained. "But here's the catch! For every member each individual takes on, the defeated target's bounty will be added to their own! Here is the list of these losers and how much they're each worth!"

The list then shows the following:

Phenex Peerage:

Riser Phenex: 10 Points

Yubelluna: 5 Points

Mihae, Ravel Phenex, Karlamine, Siris, Xuelan, Isabela: 3 Points

Ile, Nel, Ni, Li, Burnet, Marion, Shuriya, Mira: 1 Point

Gremory Peerage:

Rias Gremory: 10 Points

Himejima Akeno: 7 Points

Kiba Yuuto: 4 Points

Pandora Othrys: 3 Points

Toujou Koneko: 3 Points

Ryuugamine Takeshi: 8 Points

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" Takeshi exclaimed. "I'M ALMOST WORTH AS MUCH AS THE PRESIDENT?!"

Rias grimaces at the introduction of these addendums. "... Shit, Re:Live's not giving anyone even the smallest of advantages," she pointed out. "... Both of us are worth 35 Points total, so really, we can't call them out for being unfair."

"Of course the Evil Dragon User is such a tempting target..." Mira groaned in apprehension. "And it's not like anyone else is an easy target."

"Hopefully, we can work these new rules to our advantage..." Ravel remarked. "... I hope."

"First team to 100 points within 4 hours wins!" Chiha revealed. "And to earn those points, they're gonna have to kill each other."

A few murmurs throughout the viewing party were heard.

"But don't worry!" she reassured. "Their team markers will act as their beacons to be remotely picked up by our medical staff, brought to you by superhero extraordinaire... Re:Live!"

The projection then cuts to four people all dressed up in medical garbs that should look as if they were not meant to be doctors. One was a bespectacled German man wearing thick red rubber gloves while his doctor's attire was covered in splotches of blood on both his white coat and apron. The other was a sexy-looking nurse with electric blue-hair who was wearing an outfit that seemed too small for her voluptuous figure, her gloved hands tugging on her medical mask semi-seductively as she fiddled with a bloody bone saw in her other hand. The third was a tall and lanky-looking man wearing nothing but teal hospital scrubs, white rubber gloves, and a paper bag mask whose sole eye hole was glowing with a burning red light that trailed with his ghostly movement. And finally there was a lavender-haired man with a medical eyepatch over his left eye, smoking a quick drag before putting his cigarette out on the sole of his loafers before reaching for his scalpel.

"ARE THOSE EVEN REAL DOCTORS?!" one noble exclaimed.

"CAN THEY EVEN BE TRUSTED?!" another pointed out, to which Sirzechs couldn't help but agree to some extent.

"Meet the criminal underworld's medical god hands and bringers of anatomical miracles, the 'Mad Doctor Shift Squadron'!" Chiha revealed. "Don't worry, their treatments only hurt for like the first ten seconds before you're right as rain! They won't allow you to die! Literally!"

A few collective shudders were felt as this Rating Game felt a little extreme, but Re:Live was the one sponsoring this, so they can't do much about it.

"Why did I even bother selling that bastard all of my [Pure Phoenix Tears]?" Lord Phenex grumbled.

"To be fair, Lord Father, they were just collecting dust at that point," Ruval pointed out as he approached him with a glass of wine in his hand. "Silver lining, we didn't sell them at a loss."

The Patriarch of House Phenex grumbles as he takes the drink to deal with this headache.

"Ah, Lord Revive Phenex!" A handsome-looking nobleman with crimson hair, the same shade as Rias, approached the pair of noblemen, drink in hand. "Thank you so much for coming to my viewing party!"

"Hmph, and here I thought being Lucifer would leave you too busy for such... pageantries, Lord Sirzechs Lucifer," Revive snarked back.

"Well, be that as it may, Re:Live themselves helped me clear out all of my recent paperwork just yesterday, all for the sake of this," the current Lucifer revealed, shocking both Phenex noblemen upon hearing it. "In fact, they're the one who arranged this whole shindig to happen in the first place. Credit to where it's due, Re:Live works terrifyingly fast. And they even told me to enjoy the rest of the day off!"

Ruval smirked with an impressed humph. "And to think, you'd leave most of your clerical work to Grayfia," he stated. "... Come to think of it, where is she?"

Sirzechs then looks around before leaning in to whisper into their ears. "... Apparently, during one of the training sessions, my younger sister's Pawn gave her a good hiding."

Both Phenex noblemen's eyes widened like plates upon hearing that.

"... So are you implying that the boy worth 8 Points is Ultimate-Class in terms of raw power?!" Ruval exclaimed, catching a few other nobles' attention.

"Not really... but I heard that he could hold his own," Sirzechs clarified. "And to be fair, her injuries aren't grave. She just needs to surgically replace one of her eardrums."

Both father and son looked at each other concerningly.

"... Son," Revive remarked with a hoarse voice. "... Did I perhaps make a mistake?"

"... We'll see, Lord Father." Ruval then chugs the rest of his goblet of wine. "... We'll see."

"AND HERE'S THE SECOND ADDENDUM!" Chiha announced. "[Rocket]!"

A timer then shows up on the projection, reading "10:00."

"The pace of this game is to keep moving!" the bikuni revealed as the timer ticked down. "So if you're not moving within these 10 seconds unless you're defeated and sent to our doctors..."

Then the projection shows "-10 Points."

"So don't bother camping in one place, you fatasses," Chiha revealed as she flipped off the camera. "Remember, I'm also watching you nerds, so you better not bore me and/or the audience."

"I see," Sona remarked as she and the rest of Kuoh Academy's Student Council watched the Rating Game on their President's laptop in a livestream. "So rather than the traditional Rating Game norms of long-term planning and setting ambushes, everyone is going to have to think on their feet and act on gut instinct."

"Sounds like an actual battlefield, if one thinks about it," Tsubaki pointed out. "Keep moving or suffer the consequences."

"The rules of this Rating Game reminds me of an FPS game..." Ruruko added.

"You mean like a 'Team Deathmatch'?" Genshirou remarked. "... Yeah, I could see it too. A few of the other boys in my class were talking about Overwatch."

"The pacing of this matchup is going to be extremely fast-paced," Reya remarked. "Add to that, death is only going to be temporary. But why?"

Tsubasa crossed her arms and closed her eyes before coming to a realization. "Ah! I get it!" she exclaimed. "This game is meant to show off everyone and what they can do! The speed, the time limit, and objective focus is meant to not only incentivize on-the-fly thinking, but also to allow all members of each Peerage to show off what they can do both individually and together!"

"... That actually makes a lot of sense," Momo pointed out.

"But why, though?" Tomoe asked. "From what I heard, didn't the Gremory Peerage and Phenex Peerage have really bad blood against each other after the ORC Building got burned to the ground?"

Sona then tents her fingers as her bespectacled eyes are locked onto the livestream. "... We'll see, everyone," the President answered. "... After all, lies are the first casualties of the heat of battle."

"AND FINALLY, I'D TO INTRODUCE YOU TO OUR SPECIAL GUEST AND MY CO-COMMENTATOR!" Chiha announced, clearly having way too much fun with her gig. "GIVE IT UP FOR THE UNDERWORLD'S BIGGEST MEDIA CONGLOMERATE, VOTED AS 'HELL'S HEARTTHROB FOR BOTH MEN AND WOMEN' FIFTY YEARS RUNNING...! I'M HONORED TO PRESENT, DJ RAZOR!"

The projection then shows a gaudy-looking man resembling Riser, wearing a Hawaiian t-shirt in white and pink-print of tropical flowers, boardshorts depicting a sunset in its reddish hue sinking under the black horizon, a pair of azure and white flip-flops exposing his painted and polished nails that glimmered like pearls, a golden chain necklace around his perfectly-tanned and chiseled chest and shoulders, a pair of topaz-colored shades under his blond hair that was bleached-half neon pink, and out of his shark-like grin stuck out a tongue that was pierced with a small rhinestone gem on his tip.

"WASSUP, BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE IN THE UNDERWORLD?!" the party Devil announced as he snatched his mic with his hands that were blinged with thick-cut jeweled rings as he then performed a double-corna hand cross-pose with them. "NOW WHO'S READY TO PARTY IN THIS FESTIVAL OF BLOOD AND DESTRUCTION?!"

Echoing across the Underworld's streets of Gehenna and beyond, thousands of excited squeals from both men and women alike were heard from the audience of the livestream.

Both Ruval and Revive spat out their drinks in surprise at the appearance of the special guest.

"I WASN'T NOTIFIED OF THIS!" the Phenex Patriarch exclaimed.

Ruval then called a number on his smartphone for information. "... WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT IT WAS A LAST-MINUTE DECISION?!" he barked out. "AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT HE TOLD ME TO-GARH!"

Sirzechs couldn't help but laugh at Re:Live's sense of showmanship while the rest of the Underworld's gathered nobility couldn't help but stare befuddled. "... You really are going the extra mile for their sake, aren't you?"

"BROTHER?!" both Riser and Ravel cried out at the appearance of DJ Razor.

Yubelluna rolled her eyes in exasperation. "... Typical Lord Raiser," she remarked. "Ever a free spirit..."

"You'd think that being a Director of Razor Broadcasting Network would keep him busy," Marion commented.

"I guess once a radio jockey, always will be..." Burnet pointed out. "... Last I visited his office to deliver his lunch, a corner of it was still a working radio booth."

"NOW THAT I'M CO-HOSTING, I'D LIKE TO MAKE A FEW ANNOUNCEMENTS BEFORE WE GET THIS PARTY STARTED!" Raiser then pulls out a folded note. "First, a message from Re:Live themselves: 'To all those who are participating in this Rating Game, I only have one thing to say: come at each other like if you're trying to kill one another. Holding back after training your sorry existences after putting you all through your mortal paces is the gravest insult that you can show to to me and your opponents. That goes for the other team too.' End quote."

Azazel then looked at Re:Live who was sitting across from him at their main conference room.

"... I'm more of an 'actions speak louder than words'-kind of person," the superhero defended.

"... Well, that could've been put together way better," Chiha deadpanned.

"Yeah, what a way to bring the mood down..." Raiser grumbled as he sat down next to the tengai-wearing bikuni. "... We'll be right back after thanking today's sponsors!"

At the Gremory Checkpoint...

"Alright everyone, huddle," Rias ordered.

Everyone then gathers around as they begin discussing last-minute strategy.

"Before we begin, I want all of you to dispel any thoughts of this Rating Game being anything like our previous battles," the King ordered. "It only feels similar, but we need to be tactical about this."

"So what do we expect?" Akeno remarked. "I took one quick glance at their Peerage, and they're not the same as they were when we first met."

"They were trained by none other than Re:Live themselves," Yuuto added. "We cannot dismiss them as minimal threats anymore, especially when the rules allow them to come back for another go."

"That goes for the same for us as well, but therein lies our problem," Takeshi shared. "Our overall Point distribution."

"Senpai's a tempting target, being the second-highest among us," Koneko noted. "I bet my snacks that the majority of Phenex's bitches will be gunning for his ass."

"Then wouldn't that be the same for President as well?" Pandora remarked. "I mean, they easily outnumber us sixteen to six."

"Or risk giving us a lot of points in the short-term," Rias pointed out. "Remember, there's also the 10-second penalty rule if they 'camp'. So we can easily expect various hit-and-run tactics to wear us down."

"So make sure they don't escape when we get them in our sights or vice-versa?" Akeno added. "... Ufufufu, then it seems that I have to put in some elbow grease for our upcoming excursion."

"Play to our strengths while regarding our opponents' newfound strengths," Yuuto concluded. "... I could work within those means."

Takeshi was contemplating as everyone began winding down on what they can do in these new sets of rules. ".. President," he began. "... Remind me, but what was the name of this place again?"

Rias blinked. "... I remember the sign reading 'Amanogawa High School'."

Takeshi snickers as he flashes a devious smirk. "... Perfect."

He then breaks out of the huddle before salvaging a paper and pen attached to a clipboard found inside the storage building.

"Everyone, I have devised a formula for our victory."

At the Phenex Peerage's Checkpoint...

"Alright, so we're in big trouble," Riser announced. "... It appears that our Evil Dragon User has now reached the pinnacle of High-Class in terms of ambient strength. Dare I say, he might be bordering on Ultimate-Class now."

Mira gulped in fear. "... Oh fuck me sideways."

"Different rules aside, nothing fundamental of this Rating Game has changed," Ravel pointed out. "Remember, the Evil Dragon User isn't our only sole threat. The others of the Gremory Peerage have grown by leaps and bounds compared to last time we saw them."

"So who do we prioritize first?" Yubelluna asked. "Do we focus on the King and the Pawn for larger Points or do we strike down the lesser members of the Peerage and play it safe?"

"The only ones we know for certain of their powers are Lady Rias and the Evil Dragon User," Mihae pointed out. "The former's [Power of Destruction] is formidable, but it's nothing that our Lord Riser and Lady Ravel can't handle. The Evil Dragon User, on the other hand..."

A wave of anxiety sweeps over the entire Peerage, that which even not after weeks of brutal training by Re:Live could shake this feeling of dread off.

"... He'll turn us into his own personal chew toys the moment we even fight him head-on," Karlamine addressed. "And if the rumors I heard are in fact true, then that's only a fraction of his true power."

"Meaning that the Evil Dragon of Wrath is only one out of many things we have to watch out for," Siris added. "... We need to plan an exit strategy in case that Pawn catches any of us with our pants down."

"I can at least slow him down with my counter-grapples," Isabela suggested. "At least that way, I'll buy us some time."

"Let me help too!" Shuriya raised her hand. "I can bet good money that the Evil Dragon User is strong, but he's not that smart! Not when the Evil Dragons are sharing his brain."

"So if we can't overpower him, we'll simply outplay him," Xuelan remarked. "... Sounds like a plan! Let's run circles around that prick!"

"Yeah! Yeah!" Ile and Nel raised their chainsaws in unison.

"We'll find an opening..." Ni said.

"... And pounce!" Li added. "Strike first, strike fast, strike hard!"

"I'll supplement my curses to weaken him further," Marion suggests. "As for the rest of the Peerage, assume nothing. They might be able to easily blindside us if we assume them to be around our power level."

"Agreed," Burnet consents. "My enhancements will keep you all topped up for any situation that we may find ourselves in, everyone."

"Then best we prepare ourselves," Riser confirmed as he got up from the principal's desk in the opulent office. "... Good luck everyone. And may the Satans watch over all of us."

"YES!" The rest of the Peerage then all prepare for their upcoming match.

Riser then approaches Mira from behind, the latter still nervous and quivering like a leaf.

"... You're afraid?"

Mira nods. "... He is so much stronger than I expected, Riser-sama."

The King then places his hand on her shoulder before handing her both bottles of [Phoenix Tears] allowed in the Rating Game rules.

"You can get stronger, Mira," Riser reassures. "I know you can and I know that you will. After all, Re:Live's scarier to fight against, no?"

Mira lets out a deep breath before slapping both her cheeks.

"You're right, Riser-sama!" Mira answered with renewed vigor. "I can-no, I WILL DEFEAT HIM!"

At the Commentator's Booth...

"AND WE ARE BACK!" announced Raiser as the clock now hits 8:55 AM. "And both teams are getting ready to rumble as the clock ticks down!"

"Hooh boy, I am on the edge of my seat right here, Rai-chii," Chiha replied in her kogal-speak. "I can't wait for the blood to spill, teeth to fly, and more body parts to be scattered about than a couple of Girl Scouts walking onto an unexploded minefield!"

"And people call me a Devil!" Raiser ribbed back. "You're quite the bloodthirsty one for a nun!"

"Secular nun," the bikuni pointed out as the hidden invisible camera drones (provided by Razor Broadcasting Network) recorded scenes of both Peerages getting ready in separate cuts. "There's a difference. I enjoy earthly pleasures like McDonalds and video games while being connected to Buddha-sama. Granted, he's on the verge of going Fudo Myo-o on my ass every time I show up, but hey, that's the way I like him!"

"Man, if I didn't swing the other way, I'd totally ask you out for your sheer ovaries of brass, Chi-chan!" teased Raiser.

"Eh, you're not my type, anyway," the bikuni dismissed the party Devil. "I like my men how I like my wine: aged gracefully, and elegant. And here I thought that a gentlemen's club would be chock full of 'em, but all I saw were a bunch of strippers overcompensating for their lack of horizontal appeal with breast implants! Imagine my shock!"

Raiser then cackles at Chiha's short story about her life. "Man, you're fun to be around!"

"Speaking of fun..." Chiha then looked at her phone, reading 8:59 AM on the clock. "IT'S ALMOST TIME, EVERYONE!"

"Remember, first to a 100 points within 4 hours is the winner!" Raiser reminded the audience. "With that said, PLACE YOUR BETS, EVERYONE! IT'S ABOUT TO GET WILD!"

Takeshi sighs as he manifests his [Cataclysm Zone].

"... Ready?" he asked the Evil Dragons as the Pawn stood by his Peerage.

"Born ready," Nidhogg snickered.

"It's time for the King of the Monsters to make his return...!" Grendel declared.

"Brother..." Ravel remarked.

Riser simply nods. "... No holding back," he replied as he focused. "... Whole family's watching, after all."

"Stupid lame-ass reception..." Raynare growled at her smartphone's buffering livestream as she and the fox-masked swordswoman rode on a boat heading towards Russia.

"You can watch it later," the masked woman remarked as she pulled down her cloak's hood over her head while cradling her sheathed brass jian in her other hand. "We have a mission to fulfill, after all."

At one of House Phenex's many estates, a mature woman dressed in a simple, yet opulent burgundy dress sat on her sofa flanked by two butlers, who altogether were watching the Rating Game live.

"Lady Phenex," one of the butlers spoke. "Shall I get you a cup of tea?"

"Please." Romary answers as the butler then makes his way to fulfill his Lady's request. "... Please, my dear Riser."

A rarity for a Devil, Romary then began praying to God Himself.

"... Please, watch over my boy!"

At the viewing party, Sirzechs watches the clock slowly ticking down to its starting time as the gathered nobles go into a buzz.

"... Satans forbid what my parents would think of this shindig," the Lucifer grumbled to himself as he partook in his goblet of wine. "... Kick his ass, my little Rias."

He then holds up his chalice towards the image of his younger sister.

"Show them all that you are the Devil of Devils of this generation."

"TEN!"

Mira lets out a brisk sigh as she clutches around her shakujō's shaft.

"NINE!"

Pandora then briefly closes her eyes as she wakes the elemental spirits that she'd cultivated inside her body.

"EIGHT!"

Karlamine then slowly unsheathes both her longsword and parrying dagger at once.

"SEVEN!"

Koneko cracks her neck and rolls her shoulders as she immediately goes into her Nekomata form.

"SIX!"

Isabela then puts on her anti-magic goggles as her new airmen's outfit fit her very snuggly.

"FIVE!"

Akeno then unfurls both her Devil and Fallen Angel wings at the same time.

"FOUR!"

Ravel then lets some of her own [Hell Fire] seep through her being as she tucks in her collapsible baton tightly.

"THREE!"

Yuuto cracked his fingers and shifted his feet to get ready to speed out at a moment's notice.

"TWO!"

Riser then summons his fiery phoenix-like wings from his back, a manifestation of all three of his inherited traits.

"ONE!"

Takeshi then does his Akiyama Ren-pose.

"HENSHIN!"

*BLARE!*

The Rating Game officially begins.

To Be Continued...

And that, everyone, was the reboot's "Chapter 19."

The hype is real, everyone has trained their butt off, and I'll just say it now, the next chapter is going to be extra-long (probably the longest in this fic so far), since not only I'll be taking a break for the rest of the year from writing (while working on wrapping up by other, smaller fanfic), but also to implement a new upload schedule for the beginning of 2025.

So with all that said, this chapter... yeah, the parallels between Takeshi, Grendel, Mira, and arguably Riser, are so real that it might as well be a dodecahedron.

All four of them lived lives without direction. Takeshi and Mira were basically abused into denying a future (externally and internally bullied respectively), while Grendel and Riser were born with great power that blinded them to the bigger picture (although in the former's case, he was kind of forced into it).

Ultimately, they had to learn the lesson that they're the ones responsible for their own fate and not someone else's. Takeshi has to be the one to carve out his own future, Grendel has to accept the fact that he is fundamentally broken in order to grow (and stop shutting himself in in denial of his own problems), Mira has to take responsibility for her own life now that she doesn't have her family around to blame, and Riser has to own up that he kind of had his own head stuck up his own ass.

Hell, Takeshi and Mira's respective Major Arcanas are indicative of their characterization (the Fool and Reversed Death, respectively).

And for those of you thinking why Mira was kept around despite being considered a "failure" to her family, well, traditional Japanese culture dictates that if one member of the family is considered "shameful," then they do their best to keep their "hands clean" from it. Killing Mira is bad karma, nor they can give her away lest she be exposed, so really, her becoming a house servant and being bullied into suicide was their way of taking the "third option." Oh and their engagement with one of the Five Principal Clans? Succeeded.

They got away like bandits. Sometimes, life isn't fair.

As for Grendel... yeah, he is not exactly a "traditional" Dragon.

In fact, it's more accurate to say that he... bumblefucked his way into becoming an Evil Dragon, and going through three separate instances of "Body Horror," going from human, to Wendigo, then to an indiscernible abomination that barely-looks humanoid (think Hunter X Hunter's Chimera Ants, but gone HORRIBLY wrong), and finally, a Dragon mutant.

Also, regarding Grendel's mother, working off of dvdryms' information (that the author DMed me by my request) about her along with my own research into Beowulf's loose etymology, I settled down with the name "Āglæca" (meaning "A miserable being, wretch, miscreant, monster, fierce combatant" in poetic language), and named her affiliation House Dis, named after the Nordic spirits (an allusion that Grendel's mother is vaguely based off a Valkyrie), and make her a Vampire Sorceress subspecies, a Strzyga.

And as for how she drinks blood given that her mouth is sewn shut, she drinks blood JoJo-style, with her fingers. Arguably more efficient than biting.

And building upon all of that, Grendel is responsible for the formation of THE Wild Hunt after ripping the entirety of Eastern Europe a new one, and the rest is history.

So yeah, definitely earned the title of "Evil Dragon of Wrath" for how much he wrecked shit. But silver lining, he and Takeshi finally got along. Not enough to unlock the Balance Breaker, but hey, everyone loves the tension before a proper debut.

And moving onto the Rating Game itself: new rules are added (courtesy of Re:Live).

[Bounty] makes everyone a viable target. And [Rocket] penalizes all forms of camping. Simply put, what a proper Team Deathmatch should be.

As for the ancillary characters showing up, I named the canonically-unnamed Lord Phenex and the second son of House Phenex as Revive and Raiser, both from Gundam 00 (the latter is named after the Gundam 00 Raiser itself and serves as a Final Fantasy reference to the [Raise] White Magic spell). And I sort of had Endō Tō from Dagashi Kashi in mind, with some elements of Mashle's Delisaster (the "frat boy"-vibe) and Project: Eden's Garden's Kai Monteago (the "showmanship"-vibe) added in. And yes, he's gay, or at least, bisexual.

There's a reason why he was passed over for inheritance, and the only reason why Riser was compared unfavorably to him is that at least Raiser did SOMETHING with his life (further accentuating Riser's own character flaw that he's beginning to work out of).

As for the Rating Game's medical staff, I based the members off of Team Fortress 2's Medic, Skullgirls' Valentine, Guilty Gear STRIVE's Faust, and Fear & Hunger: Termina's Daan. These four will be the ones in charge keeping the junkies (the Peerages) on the battlefield every time they die, and yes, they're the exact "contacts" that Re:Live called to transmutate Pandora's new pair of eyes after her old ones... exploded (thanks Grendel).

Anyway, here are my headcanon voices for them:

- Ruval Phenex: Daisuke Ono (JPN), Jonah Scott (ENG)

- Revive Phenex: Chō (JPN), Cam Clarke (ENG)

And with that, that's it for this chapter.

Tune in next time as the Rating Game between the Gremory Peerage and Phenex Peerage go down, and this time, no one is holding anything back.

I'll see you all then.

OC Fancast:

- Young Grendel: Romi Park (JPN), Laura Stahl (ENG)

- Āglæca, "Death-Sayer" of House Dis: Ai Nonaka (JPN), Alejandra Reynoso (ENG)

- Raiser "DJ Razor" Phenex: Mark Ishii (JPN), Austin Tindle (ENG)

Toku References:

- Mira's Shadow, [Undead], is named after the group of monsters that serve as antagonists for Kamen Rider Blade.

- Takeshi's declaration/taunt to beat Grendel while sitting on his throne is a reference to Power Rangers Super Megaforce, where Emperor Mavro (American adaptation of Gokaiger's Emperor Akudos Gill) says something similar to both Troy and Orion when they invade the bridge.

- Grendel's human child past is based off The Boy in the Dream/Dragon of the Beginning (aka, [Primitive Dragon]) from Kamen Rider Saber.

- The location of the Rating Game is a recreation of Kamen Rider Fourze's Amanogawa High School.

- The Gremory Peerage's team jackets are loosely inspired by Super Sentai team uniforms/jackets had (I initially had Gaoranger/Power Rangers Wild Force's team jackets in mind, with iconography and title-combo), while the Phenex Peerage's team bracelets are loosely inspired by Super Sentai's wrist-mounted henshin-devices, although their gold coloration brings in mind to Isurugi Misora's bracelet containing Vernage's soul from Kamen Rider Build.

- The "Mad Doctor Shift Squadron" is named after one of Kamen Rider Drive's Shift Cars, [Mad Doctor].

- Raiser quotes Tyler Navarro's catchphrase from Power Rangers Dino Charge after he tells everyone to start taking bets.