Rias
Thirty minutes before midnight, the Occult Research Club room no longer felt like a school room.
We had spent the last day planning and strategizing before returning to Kuoh.
Everyone was dressed for battle in the shape that suited them best. The Kuoh Academy uniform remained the base of that shape, just as I had insisted. We were the Occult Research Club. If we were going to fight, we would fight as ourselves. Asia had chosen her nun’s habit instead of the school uniform, and I had allowed it because comfort mattered more than symbolism tonight. Yuuto had armor pieces set at her hands and lower legs. Koneko had her gloves. Akeno looked elegant enough to pass for calm. Issei looked like a boy trying very hard not to shake apart in front of the people he wanted to impress. Kusari sat quieter than all of them, but not less ready.
Grayfia stood near the prepared magic circle, silver-haired and exact as ever.
I hated that her presence soothed me.
I hated more that I needed soothing at all.
No one spoke carelessly tonight. Even Issei’s nerves had finally quieted enough to turn into concentration. The mountain estate had done what it could. Training had done what it could. Everything else would be decided in the hours ahead.
Grayfia’s gaze moved over us once.
“When the time comes, you will be transported to the battlefield through this circle,” she said. “The field is a disposable dimensional space. Fight without holding back.”
The rules after that were familiar enough in theory, heavier in practice. Replica battlefield. Both bases already established inside it. Our base in the Occult Research Club room. Riser’s in the Student Council room. Promotion available to Pawns only in the enemy base. The match lasting until dawn in human time. It had all been explained before, but hearing it spoken aloud with the battle minutes away made each fact settle harder.
Issei listened with the same expression he wore whenever strategy became real enough to stop being game logic and start being danger.
Kusari had gone still in a different way. She always did when pressure became formal. Not afraid. Not passive. Measuring. The clubroom, the circle, the distance between people, the line to the door, where Akeno stood in relation to Asia, where Koneko had unconsciously placed herself nearest to Kusari again.
She had been doing that more openly since the mountain.
No one commented on it.
Issei to me with a look of slight confusion.
“Hey, Buchou?”
“What is it?”
“Buchou, you also have another [Bishop], right? Where are they?”
Akeno, Koneko, and Yuuto shifted awkwardly.
I sighed internally. I wish we could have Gasper join our fight but he was too unstable. I can’t yet control him as his [King].
I glanced at Kusari briefly, wondering how much Onii-sama had told her.
“Unfortunately, the other [Bishop] can’t participate. I will talk about them and why they aren’t around in the near future.”
I knew it was a serious issue and couldn’t bring myself to look Issei in the eye.
I could feel Kusari watching me.
Grayfia’s voice cut in “This “Rating Game” battle will be viewed by members of both households from another location through broadcast.”
So my parents and individuals close to the family will be observing….
“Maou Lucifer-sama will also be viewing this battle. Please do not forget about it.”
I muttered aloud “Onii-sama is? ……I see, so Onii-sama is also going to view this battle.”
I started to think about what exactly that could mean.
Issei asked while looking confused “U-Umm, Buchou, you just called Maou-sama “Onii-sama”? Did I mishear you?”
“No, Buchou’s brother is indeed the Maou-sama.” Yuuto answered Issei quickly.
“The M-Maou!!? Buchou’s Onii-sama is Maou-sama!?”
“Yes.” I confirmed as Issei panicked.
Yuuto began to explain the naming conventions of the Maou to the confused Issei, but I noticed something while they spoke.
Kusari froze up for a moment at the mention of Onii-sama.
Not in her normal stillness. In a way that looked afraid of discipline.
Like just hearing about him made her need to shrink back before she could step out of line.
I wanted to help her, but we had to worry about the rating game first.
“It’s about time. Everyone, please head to the magic-circle.”
My servants gather with me to the magic-circle after Grayfia’s command.
“Also, once you get transported, you cannot use the magic-circle until the game ends.”
Grayfia informed us as the magic circle began to light.
When the magic circle finally activated, the room flashed crimson and disappeared.
The clubroom returned around us at once.
Perfectly.
Every chair. Every scratch. Every angle of the shelves and windows and low table. Our base had been reproduced so precisely that for one moment even I felt the wrongness of standing in a copy of my own territory. Then Grayfia’s voice rang out overhead through the broadcast and the illusion of comfort vanished.
[Hello everyone. I am Grayfia, a maid from the House of Gremory and today the arbiter of the Rating Game match between the House of Gremory and the House of Phoenix.]
We quietly listened.
[In the name of my Master, Sirzechs Lucifer, I will be observing the match. By using both Rias-sama and Riser-sama’s opinion, we created this battlefield which is a replica of the school, Kuoh Academy, which Rias-sama attends to in the human world.]
Issei looked shocked before moving to the window to look outside.
[The location where both teams were transported will be their “base”. Rias-sama’s “base” would be the Occult Research Cub’s clubroom located in the old school building. Riser-sama’s “base” would be the Student Council’s room located in the new building. For the [Pawns] to use “promotion”, they must reach the enemy “base”.]
“Everyone, will you all please put this transceiver in your ears.”
I informed my servants while Akeno hands out earphone style transceivers.
“On the battlefield, we will be using these to communicate.”
Grayfia’s voice continues
[Now it’s the time for the commencement of the battle. Also, this match will continue till dawn in the human realm. So, the Game starts now.]
The bell rang.
No one moved immediately.
The first seconds of a Rating Game were not won by rushing.
“We will need to prioritize Riser's [Pawns]. It will become an issue if they can promote to Queen.”
I sat on the sofa.
Akeno began to prepare tea.
Koneko sat in her usual seat.
Yuuto was gathering maps and documents.
Kusari stood near the window calmly waiting for direction.
Issei and Asia stood awkwardly in the room.
“Umm Buchou? You seem pretty relaxed right now…”
“Ise, the battle just started. The “Rating Game” is a game that takes a while to finish. There are times when it becomes a “blitz”, but mostly it’s a game that takes very long. Just like the actual chess game.”
He seemed to understand and think about it for a moment. Asia nodded along to my explanation.
“The “Rating Game” has a meaning only if you use the battlefield to the fullest. Usually the base would be a fortress, a castle or even a tower. There are forests and rivers between the two bases and we battle using those areas. This time the school is our stage. Yuuto.”
“Yes.”
Yuuto spread the school map across the low table. Routes. Choke points. Gymnasium. Main building. Old building. Sports fields. The field was our school, but altered into a board.
“There’s a forest near our base. It’s safe to assume that this is also our territory. The new school building would be Riser’s territory. It’s quite possible that there will be an ambush waiting for us in their territory. The school field is visible from the new school building. So it’s dangerous to pass through here.”
We had strategized and planned for this. Now we just needed to follow through.
The sports ground and the gym will be two of the most crucial points for the match. Unless someone flies they will most likely pass through there.
“Then do we have to go through the sports ground to get to the new school building?”
I chuckled at Issei’s question.
“Normally, yes. But the enemy will also know that. So he’ll have his servant positioned at the sports ground. Hmmm, he will likely have a [Knight] or [Rook] positioned at the sports ground. If it’s the sports ground, you will need a person with mobility. So, he will have one [Knight] and probably three [Pawns], a likely total of four servants positioned here. He would be able to control th whole sports ground.”
Yuuto chimed in.
“Buchou, what about the gym? Shouldn’t we occupy this location first? If we capture it here then we will have a clear route to the new school building. The gym can act as a passage between both buildings so controlling it also restrain the enemy’s movements.”
My dependable [Knight] noticed it as well.
I nodded in agreement
“Yes, I agree. We will need to first capture the gym. Our opponent may have a [Rook] positioned there. Since it’s inside a building, it would be better to use the [Rook] with destructive power over [Knight] with mobility.”
I glanced up from the map at my servants before continuing.
“……Yuuto and Koneko, you two will set traps in the forest. Take another map with you and make sure you mark the places where you set them.”
“Yes.”
“……Roger.”
Koneko and Yuuto leave the room while taking a map and supplies with them.
“Everyone else will be on standby until they finish setting up the traps. Oh, Akeno.”
“Yes.”
“After Yuuto and Koneko return, I want you cast illusions and mists around the forest and the sky. I want you to create a trap that only reacts to Riser’s group. This is how we will start the match. Though it seems like this battle will become intense once we begin to move. So I’ll leave the issue regarding the mists and the illusions to you, Akeno.”
“I understand, Buchou.”
After Akeno confirms my orders only Issei, Asia, and Kusari haven’t been given a task.
“U-Umm, Buchou? What are we supposed to do?”
“I can assist Himejima-san with the illusions if need be.”
Issei asked what his role is and Kusari offered to be used where she would’ve effectivel. Asia looked nervous and unsure of what to do.
“Ise, Kusari you are both [Pawns] so I will need you to “promote”. I want you both to wait here until we are ready to move. Asia, you will be following me.”
“Yes!”
“Yes, Buchou.”
“Y-yes!”
Issei was pretending very badly not to bounce where he sat.
Kusari nodded and accepted her order.
Asia looked relieved to be given a task she could handle.
Then I looked at Issei and made my decision.
“Ise,” I said.
He straightened immediately. “Yes, Buchou?”
“Come here.”
I waved him over to me.
His ears went red before he moved.
Of course they did.
He crossed the room and stopped at my side with all the confused obedience of a boy who had never fully recovered from the fact that I sometimes chose to touch him kindly.
“Sit.”
He sat.
I pointed at my lap.
“Lay down,” I said.
His eye widened. Asia pouted slightly. Kusari’s only reaction was one ear twitching and her tail shifting.
“I-I will be in your care!”
That answer was absurd enough that even now, on the edge of a battle, it nearly made me smile.
He lowered himself onto my lap with reverent care, as if I had offered him something holy. His face went red the moment his head settled properly. Then, because he was Issei, his eyes watered.
“Why are you crying?” I asked.
“Sob, Buchou, this is a lap pillow during the most important battle of my life. How am I not supposed to cry?”
Ridiculous boy.
“If it’s just “lap pillow”, then I will give it to you again. You seriously are a dramatic boy.”
I noticed Asia looking upset while staring at Issei.
I put one hand against his forehead.
Then I unsealed a small portion of the restriction I had placed over the power of his Pawn pieces when I reincarnated him.
The seal gave way under my hand with a smooth heat that answered from inside him.
“……I unlocked a small portion of the seal that I had cast on you.” I explained to him.
I could feel the full weight of Kusari’s attention on me through her gaze.
“What seal?”
His body reacted at once—heartbeat, power, surprise, that internal expansion Devils feel when strength is no longer being held shut behind necessity.
He inhaled sharply, eyes wide.
“Do you remember? The talk about where I used 5 pieces of my [Pawns] to reincarnate you?”
“Yes.”
“Your strength as a Devil was low, so I put a limit on your power as a [Pawn]. You, who just reincarnated from human, didn’t have a body that could endure the power of that many [Pawn] pieces, especially with one being mutated. More simply, you would be the strongest after Akeno, so you needed to attain more power or else your body would break. So I just released a bit of the seal.”
He looked shocked.
“That training was meant to have you cope with the power of Boosted Gear and the [Pawn] pieces. Though there are areas you still lack in.”
The tears vanished.
Confidence replaced them so quickly it was almost comical.
“That training had meaning after all!” he said.
“Yes,” I replied. “Try to remember that the next time you complain.”
Akeno laughed.
Asia looked relieved.
Kusari was watching me with a quiet focus.
I patted his head.
“Listen up, Ise. You have to beat your opponent even if they are girls, okay? I know you’d rather stare at them, but you can’t hold back. They won’t hold back against you.”
“Y-Yes, I understand!”
“That’s a good boy. When you’re able to, use “promotion” to change into [Queen]. The battle will change if you promote into the [Queen]. It’s the piece that possesses the most power.”
“But it feels weird for me, who is a guy, to turn into a [Queen].”
I chuckled at his ridiculous concern.
“It’s just a name for a role in chess. We are already at a disadvantage due to my peerage being incomplete. So, you have to prepare yourself to push yourself. If we lose even a single person, our situation will get that much harder.”
He nodded.
Then I turned my head.
“Kusari.”
She blinked.
“Yes, Buchou.”
There it was again—that immediate answer in the body, that readiness to move before she had even been told what I would ask. I hated it. I used it anyway.
“Come here.”
She crossed the room more quietly than Issei had, but no less directly.
The others watched.
What I was about to do was not the same thing I had done for Issei.
When Kusari stopped beside the sofa, I rose rather than call her down into my lap.
I touched two fingers along her chin and angled her face down just enough that she would meet my eyes.
“Listen carefully,” I said. “I am releasing the first set of your seals. Not all of them. Not enough for you to lose yourself inside it. Only enough to let your power breathe.”
Her lashes flickered once.
“Yes, Buchou.”
The answer was soft.
Still too fast.
I moved my hand from her chin to the base of her throat, pressing the circle of my demonic power against the old layered suppression wrapped through her like wire.
The seal did not undo like Issei’s.
It resisted.
Old.
Complicated.
Cruel.
Then it gave.
The pressure in the room changed immediately.
Kusari’s breath caught.
Her knees nearly folded, and I caught her by the shoulder before the floor could. Magic spilled out of her in a dark-violet rush that stayed narrow only because the girl inside it had spent too long learning control under pain to let go easily even when the bindings loosened. Her single visible tail shivered—
Then split.
One became three in a bloom of demonic power, silver-white fur and wrong beauty, the second and third tails spilling into being behind her with enough force that the air around them rippled faintly.
Asia gasped.
Issei forgot to close his mouth.
Akeno smiled without any lightness in it at all.
Kusari remained upright by visible effort. The change ran through her body in other places too—less sickly pallor, less obvious drag under the skin, her presence sharpening into something more than it was before. Not healed. Not free. But less suppressed.
She looked at me, stunned for one moment past composure.
Then she bowed her head slightly.
“...I understand,” she said.
No, she did not.
Neither did the others.
But they had understood enough to know this was not ordinary.
I had not been given permission by Onii-sama to remove any of her seals. He had explicitly told me not to unless it was necessary.
But this match would determine the rest of my life.
Allowing Kusari to have more strength would help our chances at victory.
It would also let her have more of herself back.
Akeno’s voice came first. “My, my.”
Issei still finally closed his mouth. “That was insane.” He muttered
Asia looked from the new tails to me. “T-That was only the first?”
“Yes,” I said.
No one asked the next question aloud.
How many more were there?
This battle did not need more complications than it already carried.
I released Kusari’s shoulder slowly only when I was sure she would remain standing. She straightened, the new tails settling behind her with uncertain, unnatural grace. Her eyes went once to the floor, then to the room, recalibrating against herself as quickly as she could manage.
That was enough. We did not have time for more.
I gathered them back to the map.
“The plan remains the same,” I said. “Yuuto splits at the approach. Issei, Koneko, and Kusari will take the gym. It remains the center line between the old and new buildings, and if Riser understands the board at all, he’ll contest it early.” I looked at Issei first. “You still need promotion. Do not forget that just because you feel stronger.”
“Yes, Buchou.”
Then to Kusari.
She did not need a reminder in the same way.
Asia stood by my side, nerves visible and determination no less so. A healer remaining alive was one of our core conditions for victory. That did not make the fear on her face less human.
I sat back down next to Ise.
I patted my lap again and he instantly laid back down.
Akeno chuckled at his enthusiasm.
Asia lightly glared at Issei and me.
Kusari was slowly running her hand over one of her new tails. She looked to be deep in thought.
“Now we will wait until Koneko and Yuuto return before we proceed with the plan.”
“Yes!”
Akeno, Issei, and Asia replied.
Kusari looked up at me.
“Buchou, while we wait I can inform you of the abilities I now have after regaining two of my tails.”
Issei lifted his head slightly from my lap to look at her.
“What do you mean you got new abilities because of your tails?”
“Kitsune a known to have abilities related to each of their tails. It’s part of the reason ones with more tails, like the Kiyuubi, are more powerful.”
Akeno answered his question.
“So, what are they?”
I leaned forward slightly in interest.
I ignored the excited noise Issei made as my leaning accidentally breasts pressed against his head.
“They are Misstep and Fox-Glamour.”
Issei
I was going to explode.
Not from fear.
Okay, also from fear.
But mostly from power.
Buchou’s unsealing my evil pieces left me feeling from the change. Power, warm and real and comfortable in a way the Boosted Gear never quite was. This was mine. Strength I hadn’t been able to touch before because my body would’ve broken trying.
And then she’d done the same thing for Kusari-san, except her version was a million times cooler and somehow hotter because apparently my brain hated me.
Three tails.
The sickly look she had lessing.
Not fully, but enough to be noticeable.
She still looked unwell, just not longer as severely.
I kept thinking about it and every time I did, the image hit me again: white fur, pressure in the room, Kusari-san looking like she was finally able to breathe for a moment. Her appearance starting to become more than a fragile beauty.
I shouldn’t have found that attractive in the middle of a life-or-death match.
I did.
This was, frankly, consistent.
Koneko-chan led the pace without looking as if she was. Kusari-san ran on the other side of me, lighter than she had any right to be, her new tails concealed again, but not well enough that I forgot they were there.
Yuuto-san had headed off in Buchou’s order to guard the traps that were placed and then head to the sports court.
Asia was heading out with Buchou.
Akeno would be waiting to move until Buchou gave her a signal.
“You all right?” I asked before I could stop myself.
Koneko-chan glanced at me like I had offended the idea of stealth.
She quickly glanced at Kusari-san as well.
Koneko-chan and Yuuto-san had both been surprised to see the changes that had happened while they were gone.
Yuuto-san seemed happy for Kusari-san and complimented her warmly.
Koneko-chan seemed more affected by her change. After she congratulated Kusari-chan she began to glance at her new tails occasionally.
She was still doing it now.
Kusari-san answered before Koneko could scold me. “Yes.”
Too calm.
Too short.
Still her.
But when I looked over, I saw it anyway: the tiny extra alertness in her body, like the world had become more vivid around the edges all at once and she was still adjusting to the change.
Koneko-chan’s voice cut in. “…Focus...”
“I am focused!”
“You’re asking questions.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m not focused.”
“It does with you.”
Koneko-chan was unfair.
We reached the outer route that curved around toward the gym and slowed near the service entrance. The replica school held every familiar shape of the real one, but with the terrible stillness of a battlefield waiting for the violence to begin.
I glanced once between the two girls with me.
Koneko-chan was small, tough, and ready.
Kusari-san was pale, sharp, and carrying more hidden power than I even wanted to think about too hard right now.
This was the team for the gym.
We could do this.
Koneko-chan reached for the door first.
I flexed my gauntleted hand once.
Beside me, Kusari-san’s eyes narrowed toward the dark inside as if she were already reading things no one else could see.
Then we went in.
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