5 Chapter 5 - Engagement, Riser and Levelling Up Haki

I got ready in some formal clothes as my mother told me to. I'm wearing black jeans and a red shirt with a jacket and some black shoes with red markings on it I also wear a pair of leather fingerless gloves and black leather boots. After that, I left my room and headed towards the main lobby where my mother said to wait at. After a few minutes, my mother came.

Claude: "So what's the occasion that we are getting ready like this? if I'm not wrong you are not a big fan of those parties or political meetings."

Mom: "This is not something I wanted to do but that darn old bastard Zekram used a favour I owed him to get this set up so there is nothing I can do if you don't like and you are in no place to decline it since it'll help politically with your crimson problem." Said to not mention I'm now a Nephilim

Claude: "Ha? what are you talking about? What have you gotten me into?" I said with confusion.

Mom: "Relax you are in no dangers so it should be fine and this was something the devil elders, counsel set up. They didn't directly say to me because they know that ill beat the daylights out of if they asked me directly so those bastards got to that fool Zekram for help to convince me to do it." Said in with pissed-off tone.

Claude: "If they are going this far it's bad news for me since whenever they get involved it's always bad news." 'don't tell me they found out about my team and my hideout and want to use them for their use.' As I started thinking about the that I was snapped out from my thoughts by a robotic voice.

Claude: 'Yes open it.'

<<Come on don't get so scared of what's going to happen it's not something bad it was supposed to be something which happens in the future but I got I thought it would be both fun for me and you this way.>> As soon as I heard the voice message I start to think it might be even worse than that.

Claude: 'If even that guy is saying it's going to be fun then something very bad is going to happen'

<<Hey>> I ignored the voice of Arugu's.

Claude: "Hey mom can I at least take Mio with me? After all, she is my queen."

Mom: "Sure but I see no need for her to come but as long as you come it's okay." As I heard that I called Mio with my magic circle.

Claude: «"Hey Mio can you come to the entrance to my mansion."»

Mio: «"sure I'll be there in a sec" »

I and my mother got to the entrance of our mansion and I saw Mio there. She noticed us in form cloths and asked.

Mio: "Why are you wearing formal clothes Vermillion-sama." She said that looking at my mom.

Claude: "Hey I'm also clothes formal clothes." As I said that the looked at me with a hint of confusion.

Mio: "No matter how you look at that it's not formal clothes."

Claude: "well this is formal clothes for me."

Mio: "So what am I hear for."

Claude: "So that I alone do not get in trouble." 'and to play with my dear friend Riser.'

Mio: "Eeeeee. Why should I be in trouble? Wait did they found out that you are a." Before she could finish that sentence I closed her mouth by putting my hand over them.

Claude: '*Sheee🤫*. don't say about me becoming a Nephilim in public' I whispered to Mio

Mio: 'Sorry it won't happen again.' whispered Mio

My mother just told me that we are going to teleport to the Phenix mansion and I now I know whats going on. Like Arugus said it's not a bad thing and same as my mom said if I'm correct ill get political help of Phenix clans after this but the only problem is Riser I font know what that guy is going to do. Even if it's a good guess I need to confirm it. So I asked mom.

Claude: "So I'm getting engaged?"

Mom: "Yes and I know that you said you hate the political marriage system but with this, you'll have the support of 3 clans and 2 maos."

Claude: 'Wow Sanji is going to be so jealous.'

Mio: "wait you are getting engaged?" we ignored her question.

Claude: "Ha? 3 clans which are those?"

Mio: "Hey don't ignore me." She said with a cute pout.

Mom: "Gremory, Sitri since Lady Sitri is my best friend and Venelana is like my sister and Lord Gremory and Sitri owes me a lot of favours since they lost at our time gambling and if things go well Phenix." She said with a happy face.

Mio: "If you guys have got it covered why am I going along?" 'Why don't you marry me instead of someone you don't know yet.' she whispered so softly even with enhanced hearing nobody could hear that.

Claude: 'Hmmm. Maybe with Mio with me, I can get Rias out of her marriage and get a favour from Rias if I decide to kill Issei and get his 'Boosted Gear' that should be good. Jist kidding me and Issei are friends after all.' "Don't worry, you being here actually helps a lot."

She gets confused because of what I said but remained quite because we are not at the entrance of Phenix Mansion.

Claude: 'I have gotten an idea about how to defeat Riser. System what are my Haki levels at?'

<-Haki:

-Conqueror's Haki LV 68

-Armament Haki LV 73

-Observation Haki LV 74>

Claude: 'Wait they were not this high yesterday after my level up so how did it go so high?'

Claude: 'I see. So at which level do I get the future vision and Ryou'

Claude: 'Wow I'm so close to mastering both of them. I've decided now I'm going to use Riser as a stepping stone to get both my haki to and if possible above Level 75.' I thought happily

<It is better to get it to level 80 at the very least because if it's between Lv 75 -80 both types of Haki will activate at random if you get it above Lv 80 you can activate it as you wish.> My happiness disappears as I heard the system say it.

Claude: 'So there is a catch to it but if I can get it to those levels nobody can touch me like katakuri in one piece and on top of that I have Vongola Hyper Intuition. If I can get it up to those levels I doubt even the higher super class can touch me.'

I stopped my thoughts as a guard comes and leads us to the main hall and from there a maid led us to the dining room where we meet with 5 figures. One of them was my soon to be punching bag the second figure is Ravel my soon to be fiance in the middle of the table was Lord Phenix and to his right was lady Phenix and to his left was Ruval the eldest of the Phenix siblings.

Lord Phenix: "Greetings Lady Mereoleona and young Claude. It's good to see you came. I know that you hate this type of things so how did they make you come Mereoleona."

Mom: "I owed that rusty old Zekram a favour so his son had him use it on this. If this goes well I'm happy about it but if it goes bad I'm cancelling it."

Lady Phenix: "Of course but our daughter is a very good girl so I don't think that there should be a problem behaviour wise and she does jot even love anyone at the moment but if things go bad you can cancel the engagement."

Riser: "Ha! There should be nothing wrong about it, in fact, you should be honoured to have my sister as your bride."

Due to that sentence, my mother looked at Riser with killing intent and every one of them was under high pressure due to the killing intent. I sometimes think that she is using Conqueror's Haki but the system confirmed to me that this was pure blood lust.

Lord Phenix: "Riser don't be so rude to our guest and this is something which we will benefit the most so it is us who should be honoured and you should apologise for, saying that." Lord Phenix said. After a few seconds, the killing intent was removed.

Riser: "I apologise for what I said." Riser said with an unconvincing look and tone.

Claude: "It's okay right mother." To which she just nods at not entirely convinced at what Riser said.

Lord Phenix: "So without any wast of time ill introduce you to our daughter Ravel Phenix my sons Ruval and Riser my 2nd oldest son is currently busy at work."

Mom: "So let's get down to business now shell we."

Lord Phenix: "Of cause."

Mom: "So where is the food."

Lady Phenix: "Aren't you going to introduce them."

Mom: "Haa. Why should I do that they already know each other."

Claude: "I'll do the introductions. My name is Claude Vermillion heir to house Vermillion and this is my queen Mio Naruse she is good at gravity magic."

I introduced myself and Mio i make Mio go forward to make sure Riser aka punching bag takes the bait. After a few seconds, Riser has the most disgusting face I have ever seen. this means it's all going according to plan.

Lord P.: "So does anyone have any objection towards the engagement of Ravel and Claude?"

Lady P.: "Non."

Ruval: "He seems like a strong and responsible man so I have no problems with that."

Riser: "Brother what do you mean by strong. I still don't think he's strong enough to protect Ravel. So I challenge him to a fight by betting his engagement to Ravel and his queen." Said expecting me to argue back or give up.

I was waiting for this, I would have a huge smug on my face if I haven't seen this coming and prepared for this earlier.

Claude: "I would gladly accept to show that I'm worthy but, since you placed my engagement on the line without my consultant I'll also put your engagement with Rias down on the line. So how about that and since you also want my queen you'll owe me a favour too if I win."

Lord Phenix: "Now now there is no need to go all violent." He was going to stop us until my mothered karate chop on his head to stop Lord Phenix. "Ow" Said lord Phenix in pain.

Mom: "There is no need to stop it let them fight it out and what your son said was correct if he can't beat your son riser he does not deserve Ravel." Said with excitement for the fight.

Claude: "So do you accept the terms." Ravel was about to say something but her mother stopped her from doing it.

Riser: "I accept since there is no way ill lose to you. Your family is good at fire but due to our clan trait we are resistant to fire so how are you going to beat me."

Claude: 'Who said anything about fire I'm just going to dodge your moves till I get future vision and hit you until I master Ryou you are just a side character know your place.' I thought "You don't have to worry about that because my fire ability enables me to make strong fire enough to hurt you." I said with a smug on my face to which shocked the Phenix family since only my mother had the firepower to do that in the past.

Mom: "His firepower is indeed strong as mine but he lacks the technique to surpass me in fire magic." This shocked both lord and lady Phenix as they know how strong my mother is.

After some time we are at the stadium of the Phenix clan where I'll use my new play toy to explore the wonders of Haki. Riser was on one side while I was at the other. The one who judges us is Ruval.

Riser: "You should give up before it's too late."

Claude: "I'm not giving up so let's start the fight Ill show you the difference in training for power and just using your base power without any training." I said that to get Riser angry but he did not get angry maybe he's not that much of an idiot.

Ruval: "Are both the competitors ready?"

Riser/Claude: ""we are Ready.""

Ruval: "Then let the battle commence."

With that said Riser starts to create a ball of fire while I close my eye and concentrate on my Haki and I sense the fireball coming towards me and dodge it and as soon as I dodge it I opened my eyes and saw Riser create another ball of fire. As soon as I saw that I got disappointed as its harder to level up then what j thought.

Claude: 'Well at least I'm not getting beat up like the time Luffy got his.'

As he fires the new ball of fire I dodge it again and close my eyes and focus on my Haki. this happens for 7 more times until I get a message which makes me happy.

<Observation Haki Level up × 2 now

Observation Haki at level 76>

I'm happy with it but still, the future vision being random for the time being still gets on my nerves must be Argusues doing.

Riser: "Stop dodging." He said with an irritated face. "Is dodging all you can do."

Claude: 'Wow my new punching bag has a function which gets me fired up.'

I was tempted to attack him but I held on till I level observation Haki up and because of my Blood of Vongola the speed at which I learn skills it multiplied by many times and me being a Nephilim it boosts up even more. I continue to dodge every attack and counter every punch since his puny flames don't affect me until my Haki is at.

Claude: 'This much should be enough now to master Ryou.'

I concentrate my Haki at my hand and try to make it flow.

Claude: 'This is very tough. I have to move the unused Haki of my body to make an invisible shield around my hand.'

While I was doing it I accidentally released my Conqueror's Haki at full force which makes this makes Ravel go unconscious and Riser got to his knees.

Lord Phenix: "Mereoleona That really is your son. I can feel the same feeling I get from you from your son but this instead of blood lust this feels like it's trying to make me bow to him." My mother just smiles at what he says.

Claude: "Riser if you can't handle that you won't be able to take a single punch from me without getting all bloody."

As I said that I jumped to attack him but I see the future of him rolling on the ground to avoid my attack so I just changed my attack to position to where he will role at.

Riser: "huuu."

I hit Riser tight on the stomach with Haki and saw

I waw a future where Riser tries to escape by flying I try to fly but remember that my wings have changed so it's better to not to show them so instead I kicked the ground and headbutted riser to make him fall to the ground and punched him on the face surprisingly this time with Ryou so he went flying. I keep doing it till I get the hang of Ryou.

Claude: 'Seriously but if I keep this up I'm going to end up destroying my toy. Well, I can always get a new one.'

And after that, I started beating the living shit out of him but I gave him enough time to heal. But at last, when I punched him he did not fly away instead he got blood on the place and even when I gave him time he did not heal so I checked my armament Haki level.

Riser: "Why is Riser not healing, Riser is a phoenix so why can't Riser heal form your last punch Riser still have lots of demonic power left."

Lord Phenix: "I also would like to know it."

I stopped midway in the battle to explain it to them.

Claude: "I just awakened the ultimate form of an ability of mine which I would like to keep a secret."

They all agreed to not look further into the matter and after that, I continued to break my best punching bad mentally and physically

Claude: "So Riser do you accept defeat?"

Riser: "I.....A.Ccept...Defeat. I deem you worthy of my sister." After saying that he fell asleep or did he go in a coma well I don't care.

As he fell asleep the medical team of phoenix house took him away. And then I approached my mother's group.

Claude: "So I hope hell keep his end of the deal about Rias and the favour."

Lord Phenix: "Of course I'll make sure he keeps his promise but I have to ask why did you put that as the bet."

Claude: "well he put my engagement on the line so I thought why not I put his on the line and beside Rias is a very good friend of mine and it seems she is not happy about the engagement."

Lord Phenix: "I see. I'll talk about ending the engagement to Lord Gremory. They might take it easy because lady Gremory was against it after seeing Risers behaviour."

Lady Phenix: "Claude why don't you help me take Ravel to her room and after she wakes up you can talk to her and get to know her."

After that, I carried Ravel in princess style to her room and gently put her on the bed after that lady Phenix left the room to talk to my mother about the paperwork of the engagement and to decide when to host the engagement party. After a few minutes, Ravel woke up and we talked about what happened during the battle and she asked me about the skill used to stop the phoenix regeneration to which I said I'll tell her when we go on a date next time. Then we talked about our favourite food, movie, book and future occupation. I told her that maybe ill be a Mao to her surprise. After that, we met with our parents and greeted them and went back home.

Mio: "Seriously why was I even there?!"

____________________________________________________________________________

My final Haki Levels

<-Haki:

-Conqueror's Haki LV 73

-Armament Haki LV 94

-Observation Haki LV 86>

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