The day of the decisive battle—
There was a huge magic circle underneath the Gremory castle for the exclusive use of transporting us to the game area.
Our group gathered on top of the magic circle and prepared to transport to the game area, where the battle would soon be commencing.
Besides Asia and Xenovia, we were all wearing our Kuou Academy summer uniforms. Asia was in her sister's clothes, and Xenovia was wearing her bondage-like battle clothes that she had worn the first time we met. Both of them seemed to be full of fighting spirit. And the Sitri side also seemed to be wearing their Kuou Academy uniforms.
Rias's father, mother, Millicas, and Azazel spoke from outside of the magic circle.
"Rias, you've won once before. So Win for this time also."
"Do your best, Rias-nee-sama!"
"Well, I've taught you about the things you needed to be informed about this time. All that's left is to exert yourselves and go all out."
Sirzechs and Grayfia weren't here, but they seemed to have already moved to a spectator's lounge for the exclusive use of VIPs. It was said that not only the leaders of the three great powers were present, but also VIPs from the other powers were invited. It seemed that Azazel would be heading there after this.
Our game was getting a lot of attention... As expected, among the promising young devils, the fight between the two little sisters of the Maous was being bathed in attention...
A feeling of tension floated in the air, but the magic circle mercilessly began to shine.
—At last, the game had begun!
The place we arrived at after jumping through the magic circle was a place full of tables.
...This was a wide restaurant somewhere? When I thought that and looked at the surroundings, it seemed to be a dining floor, with fast-food restaurants surrounding the tables.
Was this also an exact replica of a real place, prepared in a space for our exclusive use?
I stepped out from this floor a bit and looked around the interior. There was a vast shopping mall there.
"I didn't expect that the department store near Kuou Academy would serve as the stage."
Rias said this as she came up next to me.
[Everyone, I, the "Queen" of the Lucifer group, Grayfia, will be carrying the role of arbiter in the "Rating Game" between the Gremory group and the Sitri group on this occasion.]
Just like during the battle with Raiser, the announcer was Grayfia-san. But wasn't her introduction slightly different from last time? That time she called herself a servant of the Gremory family, yet this time she clearly stated that she was part of the Lucifer group. Was it because the quality of the game was slightly different from last time...?
In the name of my master, Sirzechs Lucifer, I will watch over the battle between these two families. It's a pleasure to be here. To get right to the main topic, the battlefield for today is the department store within the neighbourhood of the school "Kuou Academy" that Rias-sama and Sona-sama attend, which has been prepared within a separate space as the game field.
Since the game field was once more somewhere that we were familiar with, you would think that it would make things easy for us, but the same goes for the Sitri group as well. Since they've also come to this department store many times.]
This department store, which had become our battle stage, was a two-story building. It wasn't that big in terms of height.
However, it was a long shopping mall across its two floors and the atrium, so it was considerably large horizontally. The rooftop was a parking lot. Besides that, there was also a multi-story parking garage elsewhere.
[Both groups have been transported to their respective "bases." Rias-sama's "base" is on the second floor of the east side, while Sona-sama's "base" is on the first floor of the west side. In order for "Pawns" to promote, please go to your opponent's "bases."]
Our base and our enemies' base were on opposite ends of the department store. We were on the second floor's most eastern side. The opponents were on the first floor's most western side. Around our base, there was a pet shop, an arcade center, a dining floor, a bookshop, and a drugstore. On the first floor beneath our base, there was a branch store of a major second-hand bookshop company and a sports-supplies shop.
Over on the opponent's side, there was a grocery shop, an electrical appliance store, a junk food shop, and a general goods store.
During the battle, each side would have to head towards the other end of the department. That was simple and clear, but it wouldn't go like that.
This time, there will be special rules. Documents on this have been sent to each group, so please check them. A single bottle of the healing item "Phoenix Tears" has been provided to each team. Furthermore, the time to strategize before the battle is thirty minutes. Contact with the opponent during this time is forbidden. The game is scheduled to start after thirty minutes. Then, let the strategy time begin.
After the announcement, everyone quickly gathered together. We couldn't waste even one minute of this time.
"The battlefield is modelled on the department store near Kuou Academy. So it's an indoor battle."
Rias said this while looking at a guide map of the department store's interior that was depicted on the dining floor's wall. There was also a personal diagram of the place divided into chess squares in Rias's hands.
We had encamped ourselves in the aforementioned dining floor and were planning out our strategy.
Rather, the stage was the department store near our school! This was a place we often came to on our way back from school.
Rias looked over the document with the special rule that had been sent to us.
"The rule this time states [Don't destroy the department store which has become the battlefield]; in other words, we can't do any showy battles."
Rias narrowed her eyes and seemed to be thinking about this rule.
"...I see. So to me, Akeno and Ise, this is a disadvantageous battlefield. We can't do attacks that affect a wide area."
It was just as Xenovia said. By saying that it was an interior battle and furthermore that the building itself couldn't be destroyed, I couldn't use my Boosted Gear-raised Dragon Shot! It would turn into a conflagration! Akeno also couldn't use her extra-large lightning attack by creating thunderclouds unless she was on the rooftop, right? It seemed that, if she didn't suppress her power, she could deal damage to the building as well!
Xenovia also wouldn't be able to unleash her holy slashing wave with Durandal either. Even at the best of times, it was a sword that gushed out a holy aura even in its drawn state, so it couldn't be recklessly swung in order to not break the rule.
"That really is troublesome. A battle of large mass attacks has been mostly sealed."
Akeno put a hand against her cheek with a troubled face. She gave her opinion after letting out a sigh.
~~~
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