High School DxD: Fox of Ill Omen

Rias

By the time I entered Azazel’s room the night before the match against Sona, I had already replayed the walk back from the forest too many times.

What I kept thinking of was when the others had drifted ahead and Yuki had slowed just enough for me to fall behind with her.

I could still hear her voice beside me under the trees.

You can put most of the blame on me if that helps.

I should have expected it.

That kind of self-erasure was all too familiar from Yuki.

She would put all the blame onto herself if she thought it would be better for someone else.

It had happened when she blamed herself for me avoiding her, and now she was doing it again with this. 

It probably would have been easier for me if I could frame what happened as mostly her fault, or something she had pushed too far, or a moment I had only been caught in because she had moved first and I had failed to stop it.

But that was not the truth, and she wasn’t responsible for the guilt I felt towards Ise.

And the fact that Yuki had been willing to offer herself up as the easier culprit had only made me realize that I needed to tell Ise what happened myself.

Yuki was right that there wasn’t anything official between Ise and I, but if he asked me to be with him now, I’d say yes in a heartbeat.

The only reason that I hadn’t asked him myself was because of how he still viewed me. 

He still looked at me as his master.

He only saw Buchou, the noble high-class Devil who had saved him when he was killed by a Fallen Angel.

I wanted him to see me as Rias, the girl who had fallen in love with him for his kindness and desire to protect those he cares for.

I felt like if I asked him to date me, he might never move past seeing me only as Buchou.

And when I told Yuki that I was the one to blame rather than her for what happened, she seemed confused as to why I was unwilling to use her as a scapegoat.

She had ended the conversation by telling me that she wanted this to be handled cleanly so the two of us would be happy.

And then she walked back toward the others before I could answer properly.

It had sat poorly with me and I hadn’t had a real chance to talk to her since then.

I pushed the thought down before I could get completely lost in my own head.

Right now was not the time.

We had gathered for our last team meeting before our Rating Game.

In the days after the attack by Biko and Kuroka things had settled down after reports were made and more investigations were done.

And because I had been involved in repelling an attack from members of the Khaos Brigade and because Ise had obtained his Balance Breaker, my assessment had risen. 

I was being viewed as a more capable and powerful [King] and the expectation of how we would perform in the match had become more critical.

But thankfully, the exact method by which Ise had attained his Balance Breaker hadn’t become well known. 

That had remained between the people who had witnessed it, and I prayed it would stay that way.

The room was already mostly full when I finished closing the door behind me.

I glanced at Ise and Yuki as I made my way into the room

Yuki sat near the edge of the gathering, straight-backed and quiet like normal.

Koneko sat next to her, which was another usual thing to see.

And Issei was trying to look serious.

He looked like he was trying to get into a proper mindset for our game tomorrow.

He had realized that there would be more expectations placed on him now that he had his Balance Breaker.

He already had expectations of him as the Sekiryuutei, but now they were heavier.

So he was focusing on this meeting much more than he normally would. 

That thought made me smile.

Azazel looked around once, making sure we were all settled.

Then, without ceremony, he got straight to it.

“So, Ise, you’ve achieved your Balance Breaker, congratulations. But what’s the current state of it?”

The room's attention focused on him after Azazel’s question. 

He straightened.

“I managed to get used to it a bit during the fight during the party,” Ise explained. “However, there are several conditions for me to use it.”

“Yes. I’ve managed to get used to it a little, but there are some conditions to using my aromor that Ddriag has explained to me.”

Ise had already mentioned those conditions to us soon after he understood them, but he hadn’t had a chance to inform Azazel yet.

He would have immediately, due to Azazel being the one behind our training plans and the forefront expert on Sacred Gear, but he had been away from my family’s estate dealing with issues from the attack and other things with the Maou. 

“The first and main condition I face when I use my Balance Breaker is that it takes time for it to occur,” Ise continued. “After I initiate it, the time it will take is displayed on the jewel of my gauntlet. And what’s more, during the waiting period, I cannot use [Boost] or [Transfer]. So I will be unable to fight effectively while I wait. Finally, I can only currently use my Balance Breaker once a day, and if I cancel it while waiting, then my Sacred Gear will lose all of the power it currently has.”

Azazel nodded while humming. 

“That sounds exactly as I would expect. The data we have on previous Sekiryuutei showed the exact same things,” Azazel said while rubbing his chin. “Though there were some slight differences with some of them. But that’s not important right now. So, what’s the time you need to transform into your armored state?”

“Two minutes.” Ise replied. 

“Two minutes doesn’t seem like much, but in a fight, it's ages. During that time, you are essentially removing yourself as a combatant during that waiting period. That time can be a matter of life and death in a real fight, and honestly isn’t realistic to try and use in combat. You’ll have to be very smart with how you go about it if you try and use your Balance Breaker in a fight right now. There are plenty of people who could defeat you while your timer is running so you would need to hide or have someone protect you. Currently, this is your biggest weakness.”

Ise showed a bitter look hearing Azazel’s evaluation.

He already knew that it was an issue, but hearing it from Azazel drove it home.

Ise had worked hard to reach a point where he could use his Balance Breaker, and now that he had achieved it, it came with a glaring flaw.

“The Boosted Gear’s normal abilities, doubling and transferring, are still important, but if you are facing a more powerful enemy, your Balance Breaker is indispensable.,” Azazel continued. “Your case isn’t unique. The Balance Breaker state comes with advantages and disadvantages, regardless of the Sacred Gear. With that said, how long can you use your Balance Breaker?”

“My current max is thirty minutes, according to Ddraig. But as I use more of my power the amount of time I can sustain it drops.” Ise replied. 

Azazel nodded.

“Thats pretty good for a starting limit. You can thank Tannin for his training, as without it your starting point would be much worse. The issue is that Rating Games can last a long time. So with only thirty minutes, and it decreasing as you use your power to fight, it’s not currently enough to use reliably in a Rating game. Your main focus moving forward will be to increase the time you can stay in your Balance Breaker state, like how Yuuto did with her training.”

Yuuto nodded.

“If you’d like, I can help you train your limit, Ise-kun.” She added with a small smile.

“That would be great! Thank you, Yuuto-san!” Ise replied. 

Yuuto’s smile grew with his response.

I narrowed my eyes at her.

She noticed and looked away and down at her lap.

I let out a small sigh and decided to let it go, as it wasn’t the time to get jealous over the attention Ise was getting.

Akeno noticed my jealousy and gave me a teasing smile, which I ignored.

I turned back to Ise and saw him and Azazel shooting each other looks.

I was confused until I saw Azazel make a poking gesture with both hands.

Ise nodded energetically and I put a hand over my face.

I should have known that Azazel had put ideas into Ise’s head.

He had constantly been encouraging Ise’s lewd behavior and desires.

Then Azazel brought up the main reason we had gathered.

He turned to me

“Rias, Sona Sitri knows about the abilities of your peerage to a degree, right?” 

I nodded as I began to respond.

“You are correct. She has a rough understanding of all of our abilities. She has seen footage of the rating game between us and Riser Phenex, she is aware of Koneko’s background and Gasper’s Sacred Gear, and she was present during our fight with Kokabiel and saw Xenovia using Durandel.”

“So it would be safe to assume that she had a full, but shallow understanding of your group and everyone’s abilities,” Azazel said, nodding to himself. “So. What do you know about her side.”

I frowned.

“Not nearly as much. I know the abilities of Sona and her [Queen], her vice president, and a few of the other members, like Saji-kun, but there are too many unknowns. Even with the members I know more about, there are things that I am not completely sure of.”

“So you have a disadvantage when it comes to information. That's not a good thing against someone like Sona Sitri,” Azazel said, leaning back. “But in a game like this, it should be fine, since the game is much more structured than an actual battle would be. Their group has been training their sacred gear as well, and they have more than you do, even if you have the numbers advantage.”

“That’s correct. Sona’s peerage consists of herself as the [King], a [Queen], one [Rook], one [Knight], two [Bishops], and two [Pawns]. I believe that some of her servants have Sacred Gear, as they are human reincarnated Devils.”

“That would make sense if they all were fully human before becoming Devils. Unless they came from a famous blood line, there would be no other obvious reason to take them as servants. And I don’t believe any of them are descended from anyone of note.” Azazel said. 

I nodded in agreement.

Azazel then moved onto the next topic of discussion.

He stood and moved to a white board he had prepared for the meeting.

He started writing on the board as he began to talk. 

“In Rating Games, each player can be categorized into four classifications. These are power, technique, wizard, and support,”

He stepped aside to show the four groups written on the white board.

He pointed to a name next to the wizard category.

“As an example, Rias would be placed under the wizard type category. Those in the wizard category typically have a superior amount of demonic power and rely on that for their abilities. In your group, Akeno would be placed in the same group,” He said, looking to the newer members of my peerage to make sure they were following.

Ise looked like he understood most of it.

Xenovia was nodding along, which hopefully meant she got it.

Asia looked lost.

Yuki was calm as ever and showed no reaction to the information.

“Moving to technique types, I would easily put Yuuto in this category, as she relies on her speed and swordsmanship in a fight,” Azazel continued. “I would also put Yuki into this group as well, though there could be arguments for her to be placed in the other categories as well.”

Ise raised his hand.

“Wouldn’t Yuki-san be in the wizard category? She fights in a similar way to Akeno-san and Buchou… but I guess I could see her in the power category too, considering how strong her Baleful Bolt can hit sometimes. But that could put Akneo-san in the power category as well…”

“That’s why I said she could fit into multiple categories,”  Azazel replied. “But I would still place her into the technique category, due to the utility of her abilities she relies on in a fight.”

Ise nodded slowly, as if he wasn’t wholly convinced.

“Moving on, in the power category are, Xenovia, Koneko, and you Ise. This is the category that focuses on quickly taking down opponents with superior strength. Even though Xenovia is a [Knight] and excels in speed, and Ise has his [Transfer] that could be seen as part of the support category, they both rely more on brute strength in a fight, so they are power-types,” Azazel said pointing at the board with a marker. “Lastly is support. This is where both Asia and Gasper fit into. Support is exactly what it sounds like. They heal and provide utility to the group. Asia is more of a wizard type support while Gasper is a technique type support. You could even put Yuki in the support category depending on how you view her abilities.”

Azazel turned back to the white board and drew vertical and horizontal lines between the categories creating a grid. 

He erased each of our names and rewrote them on the grid in relation to where we each fit in that category. 

Akeno and I were in the wizard category, but were placed closer to the Power category.

Yuuto was in technique but leaned slightly towards power.

Yuki was in technique but sat closer to the center of the chart, per Azazel’s comments on how she was difficult to properly categorize.

Ise and Koneko were both in power and nearer to support.

Koneko being nearer to support was due to her Senjutsu and Youjutsu that she had started learning.

Xenovia was in the middle of the power quadrant.

Gasper and Asia were in the support section where Azazel had mentioned they would be.

Nearer to technique and nearer to wizard respectively. 

At a first glance, my peerage looked to be fairly balanced, but I could see that there was more of an emphasis on the power category.

Azazel circled Xenovia’s, Ise’s, and Koneko’s names.

“The three of you in the power category, what you have to be the most careful of are counter type opponents. Counter types are a subset of the technique types. They are able to turn your strength or an attack back at you, or punish you for using abilities. They are the natural enemy of power types,” Azazel paused. “An example of this would be Sona’s [Pawn] Saji. He has the ability to steal power from an enemy and use it for himself.”

Ise looked concerned with that information.

Koneko nodded in understanding.

But Xenovia didn’t seem convinced.

“If someone tries to counter me, I will just overcome it with power.” She said.

Azazel shook his head. 

“While it is possible to overpower a counter type, if you fail you only give your opponent more strength. It would be better to allow one of the other members of your group to face off against a counter type.” 

Azazel looked around the room as he continued.

“If there is an enemy counter type, then Akeno or Rias as wizard types are better to face them. Even technique types like Yuuto and Yuki would be better off. Each classification of a player has a specific weakness to another type.”

Xenovia didn’t try to argue further.

Azazel turned to Ise.

“Ise, you can use your Balance Breaker now, but do you think you can win in a fight against Yuuto, or Yuki?”

Use frowned.

“…No, I don't think I would. I can’t hit either of them. Yuuto is too fast and Yuki can teleport away. They would just evade me until I ran out of time.”

Ise sounded frustrated, but he was correct.

He was much stronger than either of them, and likely could take them out in one attack, but he wouldn’t be able to hit them.

He still needed time to overcome that disadvantage, but by the time he did, both Yuki and Yuuto would have grown further.

“Exactly,” Azazel said with a nod. “If it’s a tenuous tip like them, then you are at a disadvantage for counter attacks or running out of steam. You’ll need to create your own countermeasures to deal with those shortcomings. It’s all part of battlefield comparability.”

Ise gave a small nod and Azazel turned to me. 

“Rias, I’ve already listed off one, but there may be more counter type members in Sona Sitri’s peerage. You will need to plan for them being sent after Ise and your other power types.”

“You’re right, but most of Sona’s peerage are female. So besides Ise facing anyone but Saji is low.” I thought aloud.

Ise looked confused until Koneko spoke up.

“…Buchou is talking about your Dress Break. Since Issei-senpai is the enemy of all women, no one will want to fight him at all.”

I nodded in agreement.

Yuki was nodding along as well.

“By the way Issei,” Azazel said. “You reaching a Balance Breaker was noticed by others. Because of this the likelihood that Sona Sitri knows of it too. So be prepared to be a target during this game.”

I looked at Azazel.

He said it casually, but I could see that he wasn’t kidding.

This was just more proof that now that Ise had his Balance Breaker, he would have more attention on him,

He now had a target on his back.

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