Chapter 11
"Everyone, get settled in; the rooms are upstairs, so just pick any you like. We will meet downstairs in 15 minutes for orientation," said Rias, making it sound as if we were attending summer camp.
Since Riser and Rias agreed to the Rating Game, Rias decided to use her 10 days of respite to train with the whole peerage. For that reason we came to a mountain retreat owned by the Gremory Family, though calling it a retreat might be doing it injustice. Much more accurate would be to call it a mansion in the middle of mountains, only feasible by using magic, as there were no paths here that could be used for the necessary heavy construction.
Picking up my luggage, I joined Kiba in finding a room. "Want to board together?" Asked the knight, hefting his own large pack. Since only Kiba, Koneko and I carried the packs, we would need to unpack our own stuff and give the rest to the girls once we all settled in. I just nodded my agreement to him, and we went to get settled.
Later, coming to the meeting downstairs, we all took positions around a large table in one of the many rooms of the mansion. Rias presided over the meeting, a stack of books set down on the table next to her.
"We all know why we are here; we have just 9 days to prepare for the Rating Game. During those 9 days, I do not expect a marked increase in our overall power; there is just not enough time. Instead, we will be focusing on working together, learning how we fight and how we can use our abilities effectively during the Rating Game," Rias said with an encouraging smile to everyone around the table.
She pointed to the stack of books next to her. "I have gathered tomes from the Gremory library that have information about the House of Phenex. Some of these tomes contain descriptions of battles Phenexes fought at. They also contain more details about known aspects of their power. I have also procured previous recordings of Riser's games; some of his Peerage members have changed since then or have not featured in all of them, but we will make do with what we have."
"Additionally, while most of us know how we fight together, Kairos and Asia are new, so we will be focusing on developing their own powers and seeing how we can integrate them into our own."
I took this moment to share with them recent developments of my Sacred Gear. "I have been training for some time, and just a few days ago I finally achieved this," I said as I materialised the Boosted Gear on my left arm. The red gauntlet was slightly changed; another green jewel adorned its red plates, sitting above the first one, closer to my elbow.
"With this, I can now transfer my boost to another person. The boost is most effective when it is transferred by direct contact, though it can be done over a small distance; however, the power transfer becomes less efficient in that case," I said, explaining my new power briefly.
"Ara, Ara, that is a great development," Akeno said with a smile.
"Very good, sempai," said Koneko, earning me other thumbs up.
I gave a nod to everyone. "This is the final stage of the Boosted Gear; I have now unlocked all of its power in its basic form."
"Basic form?" asked Kiba.
I looked at my arm; the red gauntlet was almost taunting me. "I will admit, I am keeping hope that I might be able to push beyond the final limit. If I were to achieve this, I would unlock the true power of the Boosted Gear, the Balance Breaker." Not to mention the Juggernaut Drive, but that was more of a red button you pressed when you wanted to nuke someone and did not expect your own survival.
"You think you could do that in such a short time?" asked Rias, with slight hope in her voice.
"… no, but I will strive to achieve it nevertheless," I admitted, feeling slightly angry about it myself, but I tried to let the thought go. "In any case, I will need to show you how the transfer works; there are caveats to it."
Rias nodded her head, still maintaining the optimism. "That will be on the agenda later today; firstly, I wish to show everyone something."
With that said, Rias led us out towards a large area behind the mansion. The landscape was dominated by a clear patch of grass and expansive woodlands.
This will be a very good place to let loose, much better than behind the old school building.
"I had this planned as a gift for being such a diligent new member of our family, but with the situation being what it is, I think it will serve us well."
With all of us standing on the meadow, Rias raised her hand, and a magical circle appeared. The crimson sigil of the Gremory house burning brightly in its centre.
With another wave of her hand, an object came out of the circle, and I instantly recognised it as a sword.
"I had this commissioned some two weeks ago. It was not supposed to be ready for a few more days still, but I paid the smith a visit. And by providing a hefty commission, he agreed to prioritise my order. I received the notice it was ready just this morning, before we left Kuoh," said Rias, presenting the blade to everyone.
The sword she held was a masterpiece of cold steel, with runes engraved on the length of the blade. Its length was forged from a dark, shadowed metal. Near the crossguard, a sequence of jagged dark runes runs alongside the blade. The hilt was wrapped in dark leather.
"Take it, Kairos; it's yours," said Rias, offering me the handle of the blade.
My hand reached out, and I took the blade by the hilt, noting how natural it felt in my own hand. The balance was very good; I would need to ask Kiba for a judgement later, but I trusted Rias when she said she had it custom made.
"Try pouring your power into the sword, it is not a gift just for a good swordfight. I had it made after you started training that technique of yours," said Rias with a knowing smile.
Sudden realisation hit me, and I turned towards the wooded area, the sword held aloft with both hands, my stance wider.
When Kiba taught me how to wield a sword, he recommended I use high guard* to take advantage of my height.
With my sword in the La poste di falcone, the guard of the hawk, I channelled my power into the sword as Rias instructed. The runes and the central fuller came alight with a golden glow.
The power swelled within me, making its way to the blade through sheer force of my will. I concentrated on the process, applying the technique like I have done many times before. This time, it was different. The power did not fight me; it did not writhe and did not seek to escape my grasp. Like a flow of water through a river, it collected in the blade, a faint corona of dark red energy surrounding it.
I sometimes wondered about the way my different powers manifested visually. Ddraig's energy was generally green, while the demonic power was dark red. It was only the power of Kronos that was gold, and yet that colour rarely manifested when I used my powers. For my external use of time magic, the golden motes of energy were there only when I expressly made it so. The only other way was the change in my eyes when I channelled any power, regardless of its origin, then they glowed with molten gold.
With a focused mind, I swung the blade in a downward strike, watching the dark red energy peel off the blade and sail towards the trees. Unlike before, the moment the demonic power gathered in the strike left the blade, it maintained its form. A deadly narrow wave of magical power slashed into the tree, bisecting it with a clean strike.
I breathed out, amazed at the technique I struggled with coming out so seamlessly. Escaping my own thoughts, I looked at Rias and the rest of the peerage. The crimson-haired devil wore a self-satisfied, proud smile, while the rest looked suitably impressed as well.
"Some years ago, my brother took me to Lucifaad, our previous capital. An old dvengar owns a smithy there; he does not take commissions often. But when I saw you trying to learn the sword and how creative you were getting with it, I could not let my cute servants struggle because of bad equipment. Kiba has his Sacred Gear; it is only right you may have a weapon to wield, Kairos."
I looked at the sword more closely, noting the runes, still humming in soft golden light from before. "The Runes? Is that the way this blade functions? That my power is accepted so easily?"
"Precisely, Master Thrór does not make just any weapons; he is able to inscribe his dvengar magic into them. There are some agreements between us devils and the Norse Pantheon, so Master Thrór is forbidden to provide us with more dangerous examples of his craft. But these runes still make for a powerful weapon. It will not compare to some famous blades you may have heard of, but it's still a weapon of power and should serve you well," explained Rias, looking at the blade.
I honestly didn't know what to say. "Rias, thank you. I am honestly lost for words."
"Think nothing of it. I said it before, and I will continue saying it: everyone in my peerage is my precious family. It brings me joy to see you all reach your potential," said Rias, smiling at us all.
I smiled to myself and looked to the blade once more. Another weapon to add to my arsenal, I couldn't wait to test it out some more. That would have to wait though; today was scheduled to familiarise ourselves with each other's powers and to learn to fight side by side.
/Break
After the initial excitement of the new blade settled, Rias signalled for us to begin the training, spending most of our day practising our powers with each other. The sun was beginning to dip beneath the mountaintops, the last light of the day shining on all of us as we stood on the training ground.
It was time to give a practical demonstration of the Boosted Gear's latest evolution. I felt the familiar weight of the gauntlet on my left arm, the twin green jewels pulsing almost like a dragon's heartbeat.
"Alright, everyone, listen up," I said, my voice dropping into a more serious tone as the Peerage gathered around. "The transfer is an ability that we can leverage greatly in the upcoming game, but the power transferred is not permanent."
I held out my gauntlet, the air beginning to hum with power.
"BOOST"
"When I transfer this accumulated power to any of you, your magical capacity and physical attributes will spike significantly. However," I cautioned, looking at Kiba and Koneko specifically, "it's a temporary surge. Depending on how much power I've accumulated with the boosts, the effect might only last for a single devastating strike or a few seconds of heightened combat. It's the ultimate all-out surprise."
To demonstrate, I walked over to Kiba. "Ready?"
He nodded, bracing himself. I placed the gauntlet against his shoulder.
"TRANSFER"
Ddraig's voice echoed over the training grounds. A surge of emerald energy flowed from the Gauntlet into Kiba's body. His aura flared violently, the sheer pressure of it causing the grass at our feet to flatten. Kiba gasped, his eyes widening as he looked at his own hands.
"The efficiency drops if I try to throw the power across the field," I explained to the others while Kiba tested a few lightning-fast swings that nearly broke the sound barrier. "But if we coordinate—if I can get a hand on you right before a decisive strike—it can turn a standard attack into a finisher."
Soon the power faded, leaving Kiba exhaling sharply. "It's a trump card. We save it for when we need to break through their defences in one go. If we time it right, Riser or his peerage won't even see the hit coming."
Rias nodded slowly, her mind clearly already weaving this into a dozen different tactical formations. "A literal 'boost' for the entire team. Kairos, this changes our win conditions entirely."
"The normal limitations of boosts still apply, but it will be a nasty surprise in the middle of the battle," I said, agreeing with Rias.
Unexpectedly it was the usually laconic Koneko who spoke up. "Sudden increase in power – it will be unexpected, a good surprise to have."
I smiled at everyone present; today was mostly done, but tomorrow we would train more and adapt the use of transfer so that everyone could be familiar with it. In the meanwhile, I would use these days we had for training to try and achieve the Balance Breaker. I grinned harder just thinking about it.
/Break
Three days into our mountain retreat, the initial excitement of the new equipment had transitioned into the gruelling reality of tactical study. The large table in the mansion's strategy room was now buried under open tomes and flickering magical projections of Riser's past matches.
Rias motioned with her hand against a projection showing Riser emerging unscathed from a mid-tier ice spell. "It's the same result in every recording," she sighed, her brow furrowed. "He doesn't dodge. He doesn't block. He simply walks through the attack. The Phenex immortality is more than just a name; it's a psychological weapon. It breaks his opponents' spirits before it breaks their bodies."
"It's certainly a flashy trick," Akeno added, leaning back with a playful yet sharp glint in her eyes. "He plays the part of an immortal, untouchable by all others."
I leaned forward, tapping a specific passage in one of the older, leather-bound Gremory tomes. "Except he's not immortal. Nothing is, not truly."
The room went quiet. Kiba and Asia looked over, and even Koneko paused her snacking to listen.
"Look at the data from his match against the House of Glasya-Labolas three years ago," I pointed out, highlighting a segment of the magical recording. "Riser took a series of heavy hits early on. He laughed them off, but if you watch his power signature—the burning fire of his wings—it flickered for a fraction of a second. It's an exchange, Rias. He isn't ignoring damage; he's paying for his recovery with his own demonic power."
"You're suggesting a war of attrition?" Rias asked, her voice tinged with a mix of hope and scepticism.
"Exactly. The Phenex regeneration seems more like an automated passive ability tied to his life force and the amount of magical power," I explained. "It looks like immortality because his pool is that of a high-class devil, but it's finite. If we stop trying to 'kill' him with one big strike and instead focus on draining his energy—forcing him to heal a thousand small cuts while we stay out of his reach—his powers will eventually lag. Once his magic hits the red line, he'll bleed just like the rest of us."
"He is a bird," Koneko muttered, crunching loudly on a chocolate bar. "Eventually, birds get tired of flapping."
Rias traced the lines of the battle records I had highlighted. A small, confident smile began to form on her lips. "Attrition. We don't need to overpower a phoenix; we just need to outlast the fire. With your transfer ability and Asia's healing, we can rotate our heavy hitters, keeping our stamina high while he burns through his."
This was beginning to look like a good plan, but a frown made its way onto Rias's face. "It is good that we have a solid strategy on how to deal with Riser, but it is all contingent on us first dealing with his peerage." Rias tapped her lip with her fingernail, showing some nervousness. "It is possible Riser will not want to engage us fully, at least not from the start."
"It would be consistent with how he behaved in his previous games," said Kiba, motioning to the battle recordings.
"Unless he views this as more important. The battle will be broadcast to the Gremory and Phenex families, but it is not an official Rating Game. The rest of the Underworld will only hear of the result; they will not see the game," said Akeno, unusual seriousness present in her tone.
Thoughtful silence descended around the table, each of us processing what was said.
"Umm… Isn't it impossible to predict anyway?" To everyone's surprise, it was Asia who spoke up. All attention was suddenly on her, and the former nun looked slightly abashed.
Rias motioned for Asia to go on with a slight smile. "I mean … the best we can do is plan around what we know; worrying about what we do not will gain us anything."
Rias smiled a very wide smile, leaning slightly into her chair. "I could not have said it better myself, Asia; no plan survives the first contact with the enemy. We must train and plan around what we know and anticipate what we can discern from his previous games," Rias said, clapping her hands with a tone of finality. "Let us prepare strategies for what we can expect, and we will deal with what we face on the field as it comes, one way or the other."