"And that's how it is, Onii-sama. I've accepted the Kagenou siblings into my Peerage."
"That's good, Rias."
Standing before the table, Rias looked at the virtual projection of the red-haired man floating above it.
Even though the man with long red hair draped over his shoulders was only a projection, he still gave off an unfathomable presence.
He was one of the current Four Great Satans of the Underworld, a man born into the Gremory family yet bearing the name of Lucifer.
He was Rias's elder brother, Sirzechs.
After listening to Rias's report on recent events, the red-haired man nodded in satisfaction.
"That's good, Rias. I'm sure you'll get along very well with those two siblings."
But instead of looking happy at Sirzechs's expectations, Rias hesitated, as though she wanted to speak but was holding herself back.
After wavering for a moment, she finally voiced the doubt in her heart.
"Onii-sama, I still don't understand why you insisted that Claire Kagenou become my Peerage.
You even specially asked Beelzebub-sama to make a special piece for her. Is there something particularly special about her?"
It was not strange for her brother to introduce potential Peerage members to her. Quite a few of her current Peerage had come through his recommendations.
What puzzled her was why Claire was being treated so differently.
Not only had her brother personally asked Beelzebub-sama to make a special piece for her, he had also specifically instructed Rias to agree to every condition Claire proposed, as long as it was not too excessive.
If Sirzechs had not warned her so seriously, then under circumstances where they had only known each other for a day and were not familiar at all, she honestly might not have signed that agreement.
In another three days, she would be facing her fiancé Riser in a Rating Game.
At a time like this, suddenly adding an unfamiliar source of combat strength would completely disrupt the strategy she had prepared beforehand.
After all, sometimes one plus one did not equal two.
No, not one. Actually two.
But since Cid had not fully fused with the Evil Piece yet, he could be ignored for now. Otherwise, with Cid's combat ability, there was a very real chance that one plus two would end up being less than one.
Rias welcomed others becoming her Peerage, and she did not mind accepting weak ones either.
Once someone obtained Devil blood, as long as they were willing to work hard, they would definitely grow stronger, especially with the bloodline of a pureblood Devil like hers.
But this period was an exception.
One more person would change her entire battle plan, especially if that person was unfamiliar.
If poor coordination caused their fighting strength to drop instead of rise, that would be a joke.
If this were just an ordinary Rating Game, then losing would be losing. She was not someone who could not accept defeat.
But this Rating Game involved her engagement.
She could lose at any other time.
But she absolutely could not lose this one.
"Well... that is something you will have to discover for yourself, Rias. Still, I can give you a small hint. Claire's situation is very similar to one of your Peerage."
"Similar to one of my Peerage?"
Rias frowned slightly and began thinking about the hint Sirzechs had given her.
Akeno?
The first person Rias thought of was her Queen, but she quickly shook her head and denied the guess.
Whether in fighting style, personality, or background, Akeno Himejima and Claire had absolutely nothing in common.
The same was true for Koneko.
After thinking it over from every angle, the only one who seemed even remotely close was Yuuto Kiba.
They were both swordsmen.
But that alone was nowhere near enough reason for one of the Four Great rulers of the Underworld to go to such lengths.
Not to mention that aside from both using swords, the two of them had no real similarities at all.
After comparing Claire to each of her four current Peerage members again and again, Rias still could not figure out why her brother would go this far.
Or was it...
"Is it... is it Akeno? Is Claire wanted because of her bloodline, just like Akeno?"
Rias hesitantly said Akeno Himejima's name and stared fixedly at Sirzechs, wanting to know whether her answer was correct.
"Hahaha... you're half right, Rias."
Sirzechs's laugh grew louder. He smiled and shook his head, giving her a negative answer.
"So it's not Akeno. Then is it Yuuto?"
Rias tried to take the chance to trick more information out of him.
"That's enough, Rias. Stop trying to bait me. I'm not going to say more. This is for your own good."
"I understand, Lucifer-sama."
After hearing her brother's firm answer, Rias's voice dropped, and a trace of distance entered her tone.
Seeing his younger sister suddenly become so downcast and even address him with such a formal title, Sirzechs panicked a little. Just as he was about to say something, he noticed the sly glint that flashed through Rias's eyes.
Realizing he had been tricked, Sirzechs could only laugh helplessly.
After thinking for a moment, he decided to give her one more reassurance.
"Alright, alright, Rias. I'll tell you a little more."
The moment her brother changed his tune, the disappointment vanished from Rias's face. She immediately lifted her head, afraid of missing even the smallest detail of what he was about to say.
"Ahem. I promise you this, Rias. If Claire is truly willing to help you, then in three days, against Riser, you will absolutely win."
Rias listened to every word of that so-called hint, but for a moment she could not react at all, as if her mind had not yet finished processing what she had just heard.
That made sense.
What troubled Rias the most right now was her upcoming Rating Game with Riser. If someone suddenly told her there was an absolutely guaranteed way to win, she would be foolish not to be suspicious.
"Onii-sama, you're not joking?"
After finally processing it, Rias's first reaction was that Sirzechs had to be joking.
That was not impossible.
If anything, it was very possible.
It was entirely possible that Sirzechs had seen how low their morale was and told a well-intentioned lie to raise their spirits. At the same time, it would encourage them to use these remaining days to improve their coordination with Claire.
Faced with Rias's disbelief, Sirzechs only gave her a mysterious smile.
It looked like he said nothing, yet in a way it said everything.
"But... how is that even possible?"
Even after Sirzechs made it clear that he was not lying, Rias still could not believe it.
She was the one responsible for arranging the battle plan. No one understood the difficulty of this match better than she did.
According to the information her brother had given her, under the pressure of the current war, Riser had only recently broken through to the next level. He could now be considered among the very top of the younger generation in the Underworld.
A year ago, he had already possessed A+ level strength.
Now that he had broken through again, and with the added difficulty of the immortality granted by the Phoenix bloodline, he was most likely at S rank.
That was enough to call him an Ultimate-class Devil.
On her side, aside from herself at A+ rank, she only had Akeno at A rank.
Even if she could persuade Akeno to use that other power she normally kept hidden, Akeno would probably only rise to A+.
That still would not create a decisive qualitative change.
And then, even if she included the newly joined Claire, their side would still only have three A+ fighters.
Even if they only had to face Riser himself, that lineup still had a significant chance of collapsing.
Not to mention that Riser's Peerage was at full strength. Focusing only on Riser was simply unrealistic.
In Rias's own estimation, the best possible scenario would be defeating all of Riser's Peerage without losing anyone, then joining forces with Akeno and the others to gang up on Riser together. Only with proper teamwork would they have a chance of winning.
And even that was only a chance.
After all, immortality greatly increased the margin for error. If she were facing an ordinary S-rank opponent, she would not be suffering this much over it.
And now she was being told that as long as Claire was willing, she could easily defeat Riser.
How was she supposed to believe that?
"Could it be..."
Rias suddenly seemed to think of something and spoke cautiously.
"Does Claire have a Sacred Gear?"
"No."