Inside the occult research club, Rias's Familia sat on the sofas, waiting for the Rating Game to start.
"Wow, the prez doesn't look worried at all", Issei said as he watched Rias sitting behind her desk sipping tea.
"We did everything we could have done, we just have to perform and beat them", Kiba replied. Koneko nodded, agreeing with him.
Then the doors of the clubroom opened, two girls walked in. The one in front, was a bespectacled girl with short black hair styled in a bob cut, wearing Kuou's uniform. Behind her was also another bespectacled girl, a bit taller with long black hair and brown eyes. They were the student council president and the heir of the Sitri clan, Sona Sitri and the vice-president of the student council and Sona's queen, Tsubaki Shinra.
"Sorry If I'm interrupting", Sona said in a flat tone.
"No, please, come in Sona", Rias answered her.
They walked closer to the group, Shinra Tsubaki approached Akeno slowly.
"How have you been?", Akeno asked
"I'm alright, are you ready for your fight?"
"Sure we are! we're gonna beat their asses!", it was Issei who answered. Even though he was slightly tense, Issei didn't let it show and motivated himself. He still remembered how he was humiliated by Riser's pawn, but he had trained hard and now he could fight way better.
Rias smiled upon hearing Issei's words, she knew that his demeanor would be contagious and help the others relax a bit.
"Everything has been prepared, the game will be broadcasted to your families and friends." Sona said looking at Rias and a smile formed on her face. "Are your prepared Rias? This is your first rating game, I will surly be watching".
Rias answered her smile with a one of her own, "I promise to do everything in my power to win."
"Oh so you all will be watching?", Issei asked.
"Of course, I wouldn't miss this event for anything".
Then a white magic circle formed in the room, it flashed for a few second and from it walked a young woman with back-length silver hair featuring a braid from each side and red eyes. she was wearing a blue and white French maid outfit with long sleeves and a white maid headband over her head.
This woman was Grayfia Lucifuge, wife and queen of Sirzechs Lucifer himself, she immediately started talking while looking at Rias, "Are you ready my Lady? The Game will begin in ten minutes".
Everyone stood to their feet and she continued, "When the time comes, all of you will be sent to the arena through your magic circle. The match will be held in a neutral space, a separate dimension prepared only for this battle. You may fight with all your strength without concern. Once the match is over, that battlefield will be removed, so there is no need to worry about causing damage."
"Yes, we are ready of course", Rias answered.
"One more thing, I thought you would like to know that the Great Devil Lucifer will be watching you."
"Wait, the Demon King... Whoa!", Issei said.
"Oh, brother dearest..."
"Wait... prez, did you just call the Demon King your brother?"
"Yes, the president's brother is the one of the four great Satans", It was Kiba who answered.
"What the hell..."
Then Grayfia turned to Sona and Tsubaki, "Lady Sona, Is the broadcasting fully prepared."
"Yes, I have checked it before I came here and it was operating perfectly"
Suddenly, a light bluish magic circle formed inside the room, all eyes turned to the magic circle at the same time.
"This design...", Grayfia said.
Then a tall boy appeared in the room, his blonde shoulder-length hair was tied behind his neck. He was wearing black shorts and a black compression shirt showcasing his extremely fit body, he was wearing slippers too. Adrien was drinking coke with his left hand and in his right one was a half eaten burger. And for the finishing touch, his eyes were hidden by sunglasses. What a fashionable young fellow.
"Yo Rias long time no see", he said waving at her.
Everyone's eyes widened in disbelief.
"You...", Grayfia composure slightly broke.
"Who's that?", Issei asked, Asia shrugged, it was the first time she's seen this person.
"You have finally shown yourself, your sister has been searching all over the place for you", Rias said in a reproaching tone.
Akeno's smile widened, reaching her ears. But the one most shaken was Sona, her cold and composed aura shattered to pieces. "W-w-what are you doing here?", she asked in a hurry, which led Tsubaki to chuckle slightly.
Sona was a girl who was very picky, she broke off her last engagement by beating her fiancé in a chess game, stating that he wasn't smart enough. And that was the whole problem, she wouldn't marry anyone who's not at least as smart as her. And in all of the underworld, no devil from the new generation could match her intellectual prowess, aside from Adrien Agares of course.
When she just twelve years old, she played a game of chess against Adrien. Up until then she had barely lost any game, and the ones she did lose too were Rias and her Father, Lord Sitri. But Adrien checkmated her two times and she reigned once all in one sitting. And since then she had fallen head over heals for him.
"What am I doing here? I obviously came to watch the Rating Game and have a chat with Riser if possible", Adrien looked across the room eyeing everyone. "Oh! you must Issei Hyoudou nice to meet you". He said as he shook his hand with both of his.
"Wait, you know me? who are you?", Issei asked slightly suspicious.
"Of course! you got the boosted gear right? I'm Adrien Agares by the way, you must have met my sister, really charming Lady."
"Oh you're Adrien? Wait so Seekvaira is your sister right, she was about to beat me up for no reason at all!"
"Yeah, she does that all the time. So anyways...", Adrien looked at the watch on his left wrist, "Shouldn't you get going?"
"Ahh yes, it's time.", Grayfia said, "Lady Rias and her Familia please step into the magic circle."
Sona then gathered a bit of her composure and said, "Well good luck Rias, I hope you win."
"Thank you Sona... and good luck to you too", Rias smiled and winked at her best friend.
Then Rias and her peerage were teleported away. Sona and Tsubaki moved toward the door, Adrien following behind them.
"Wait! you're coming with us?", Sona asked.
"Sure, you've probably prepared a nice place to watch the game", Adrien answered as if it was a matter of course.
Sona sighed weakly. Just as they were about to leave the room, Adrien looked back toward Grayfia.
"By the way, Grayfia can you keep this a secret at least until the game ends, I wanna watch it peacefully", he said and left immediately, not even letting her answer.
--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>
Sona, Adrien and Tsubaki walked through Kuou academy, heading to the student council clubroom. Kuoh academy was slightly bigger then Seijo high, but there was not really much difference overall.
The student council was a pretty large room, with a desk at the wall opposite of the entrance, there were a few sofa's and a long table in the middle with chairs positioned around it.
Adrien took a seat on the sofa and sipped on his coke, then multiple holographic screens appeared in the room, Sona and Tsubaki each took a seat on the chairs in the middle of the clubroom.
"Welcome, everyone. I am Grayfia, of House Gremory, and I will serve as the arbiter for today's Rating Game between the Gremory and Phenex houses", Grayfia's voice came out of the school's speakers. "By the authority of His Lordship Sirzechs Lucifer, I shall oversee today's match and ensure it proceeds fairly and without bias. In accordance with the wishes of Lady Rias and Lord Riser, the battlefield chosen for this game will be a reproduction of Kuou Academy, the school Lady Rias attends in the human world."
"They chose this school? I get that Rias would like it, but what would Riser gain from it?", Adrien said.
"Apparently it was to give Rias a bit of an advantage since this is her territory", Tsubaki answered.
Adrien chuckled slightly, Riser had given her prep time and home advantage. He wanted to show everyone that he could beat her even in a disadvantageous position.
"Both teams have now been moved to the areas assigned as their home bases. Lady Rias, your base will be the Occult Research Club room in the old school building. Lord Riser, your base will be the student council room in the new school building. All Pawns are to move near the enemy team's home base when carrying out a Promotion."
Grayfia's voice echoed out again, assigning each teach their home base, so that pawns of the opposite team that reaches the opponent's territory could promote.
Each team distributed communication devices so that they could communicate with each other over long distances and for the King to give instructions to each servant remotely.
"It's time, the match will continue until there is a clear victor or until dawn in the human world. Let the game begin."
Ding-Dong Dang-Dong
The school bell echoed across the campus, signaling the beginning of the Rating Game.
Each team immediately started making strategies.
"Gremory might make the first move, with as many pieces as she's missing she might no be able to protect her home base and launch a full assault, so she has to commit to one. And it's not in her nature to play defense", Sona finally spoke, now that she was focusing on the game, she was on her A-game and her mind was formulating strategies and analyzing.
Koneko and Kiba, took a map and went to place traps in the forest, and Rias asked Akeno to cast a mist spell on said forest after they returned. Then Rias released a small part of the seal she placed on Issei.
When she reincarnated him, she used 8 pawns. So the demonic power he received were way more than his weak body could handle so she sealed most of his demonic power away, but after he trained a lot, Rias found it okay to release a small part of the seal.
After Koneko and Kiba returned, Rias sent Koneko and Issei to the gymnasium where they expected a fight. Once they were inside they came face to face with 4 of Riser's pieces, a woman wearing a Chinese dress, a pair of twins and another girl. The former was a rook while the latter three were pawns.
At the same time, Kiba returned to the forest were Riser had sent three pieces of his own.