The Rating Game and Aftermath

POV Rias

I sat in my chair waiting for the Rating Game to start. The last week we had spent a lot of time training, working to get everyone as strong as possible before the game.

'We can win this, I know we can.'

I felt the change as the battlefield was made. It looked identical to Kuoh High, but I knew we were in a section of the dimensional gap.

Standing up I turned to my peerage, my family. They were here to help me get out of my marriage, and I appreciated all of them for it. Asia wasn't able to be here since she wasn't a devil, but she was on hand in case anyone needed healing afterwards.

"Okay, you all know the plan. Everybody ready?" I asked.

"Are you sure you don't want to hang back and wait till we've cleared out the members of his peerage?' Kiba asked.

This was something that we had discussed while we were training and I had decided that I wouldn't sit back. Normally, it would be best for me to stay in the club building and wait for everyone else to eliminate as many as possible to conserve magical energy, but in this case we were vastly outnumbered. I only had three available members of my peerage. I might be able to handle Gasper now, but it wasn't worth the risk of him accidentally freezing everyone, including our side. With only three members against Riser's full peerage I needed to be on hand to help out and prevent as many people from getting eliminated as possible.

"Yes, it's best that I'm close. I won't attack right away, but if one of you needs help I'll step in." I answered.

I heard Sona's voice acting as announcer for the game. "Rias Gremory's base is the Occult Club Building. Riser Phenex's base is the Student Council Room. Take out the enemy king or force them to resign to win. The match begins in 3,2,1."

As soon as Sona finished counting down we moved. Kiba moved into the forest while Koneko headed toward the gym. Akeno and I stayed together and moved towards the middle of the game field.

"There are four members in the gym. One rook and three pawns." Koneko said to us through the magic circle we all had for communication.

"Drawn them towards the middle of the gym and get out." I said.

"Okay" Koneko said and I spoke to Akeno. "As soon as you see Koneko leave the gym, blow it up."

"My pleasure." Akeno responded.

I continued to monitor the situation from our vantage point near the gym.

"Riser's three pawns retired." Sona's voice said.

"I handled the three in the forest, where should I move?" Kiba asked.

"Good work Kiba. Make your way towards us, those eliminations help now we should stick together."

"Understood."

"Coming out now" Koneko said and we saw her run out of the gym. The second she was clear Akeno formed a magic circle above the gym and sent a blast of lightning down, completely destroying it.

"Riser's three pawns and one rook retired."

Akeno licked her lips as Koneko moved to join us, but before she could she was suddenly hit with an explosion.

"Rias' Rook eliminated."

"Koneko, no" I yelled out.

Turning, I found Yubelluna floating across from Akeno and I.

"What a shame." Yubelluna said.

Looking around, I took note of the fact that the rest of Riser's peerage was moving towards us as well.

'He's trying to end it all at once.'

From the forest, Kiba emerged as well.

"Akeno, deal with Yubelluna. Kiba, I'll back you up, let's deal with the rest of Riser's peerage." I said.

Akeno send a lightning bolt at Yubelluna, but I couldn't pay attention to that fight as I flew down and met up with Kiba, both of us heading to where the rest of Riser's peerage had gathered.

"Why don't you just give up Rias? You won't be able to damage my brother." Ravel said in the group.

"We'll just have to see now won't we." I responded as Kiba formed two swords and ran towards the group.

He attacked and made short work of the last two of Riser's pawns, quickly eliminating them.

"Riser's two pawns retired."

The other bishop attempted to attack him while he was moving to intercept the rook, but I hit her with a blast of PoD and eliminated her.

"Riser's bishop retired."

Kiba was fighting with the rook, with her dodging and trying to get a hit in while he attacked her with his swords. Ravel seemed content to watch the fight while Riser's two knights went to assist the rook. I quickly eliminated them as well, while Kiba managed to defeat the rook.

"Riser's two knights and rook eliminated."

"Rias' queen retired."

'Akeno!' Looking up I watched as Akeno disappeared. Looking at Yubelluna, I saw an empty vial in her hand.

'Phenex Tears, she healed herself. All that's left is Riser, Ravel, and Yubelluna on their side and me and Kiba on ours.'

"You will regret that." I said and flew up to attack Yubelluna. Forming small, concentrated balls of PoD, I sent them at Yubelluna. She managed to protect herself at first by detonating the PoD balls away from her by sending an explosion at them, but I soon overwhelmed her and all it took was one hit.

"Riser's queen retired."

Looking down, I saw that Kiba was dodging fire blasts from Ravel. Flying down next to him, I looked at Ravel.

"Are you going to surrender?" I asked her. She didn't seem to want to fight this entire time and was seeming to send attacks at Kiba just for posterity's sake.

"It doesn't matter, you won't be able to beat my brother. I resign." Ravel said and disappeared in motes of light.

"Let's go Kiba." I said and we both flew up to the rooftop where Riser was waiting.

"So this is what it comes down to Rias. I'm surprised you managed to eliminate my entire peerage, but it doesn't matter. Us Phenex are immortal, you can't hurt me." Riser said.

"I'm going to enjoy this Riser. Kiba, let's go." I said and Kiba dashed across the rooftop to attack Riser.

Riser sent fire a fireball at Kiba, but he used his sword Flame Delete to freeze the fire and continue moving. I followed up behind him as Riser continued to send more and more fireballs as Kiba was getting overwhelmed.

'Come on Kiba, just a little more.'

Kiba arrived in front of Riser and sent a cut towards him, but Riser formed a fireball above his head and sent it crashing down.

"Rias' knight retired.'

I was now a short distance away from Riser.

"What are you going to do Rias? Everyone on both sides are eliminated. All that's left is us and you know you can't hurt me."

Instead of answering I began to leak PoD and formed it around my body into a layer of protection.

"So you learned some new tricks, it means nothing." Riser said.

I ran towards him as he sent fire blasts at me, which were destroyed by the PoD. I got right in front of him and manipulated my cloak, shifting it from coating me to coating him instead.

As soon as it touched him Riser's body started to get destroyed before reforming. Only his head was free, so that he would be able to surrender.

"This means nothing. No matter how much damage you do, I'll regenerate." Riser said.

'My own levels are going to get low soon. This is really magic expensive to do. I just need to bluff.'

"I can do this all day Riser. Let's see if Phenex's are really immortal." I said, not showing signs of fatigue as my trap continued to destroy Riser.

He continued for another minute to be destroyed, as his face started to grow a little worried. All that training in endurance had made me really sensitive to magic power levels. I could feel his getting low, it was just a matter of who ran out first.

I was almost out of magic power when Riser yelled "Stop, I resign." He disappeared in motes of light as I immediately stopped my PoD, falling to the ground panting.

"Riser has surrendered. Rias Gremory is the winner." Sona's voice sounded out.

'I did it, we all did.' I thought as I too was teleported to get healed.

--------------------------------------------------------------POV Change Harry

"After that Asia healed everybody." Rias finished.

'They did well. It seems I was right about the Phenex regeneration requiring magic power.'

"You all did well. So the marriage is completely off then?"

"Yeah, which reminds me. There was a party that was going to be held in celebration of our engagement if Riser won, but since he lost it's been changed to a celebration of my first Rating Game win, even if it was an unofficial one. I was wondering if you wanted to come?" Rias asked.

'I'll get to see what the underworlds like. It could be interesting.'

"Sure, when is it?" I asked.

"Today." Rias said with a laugh.

"Do I need to dress up for this because I don't really have anything that can pass for fancy clothes." I said.

"That's fine, we can get you something in the underworld, but we'll need to leave now to have time." Rias said.

"Alright, let's go." I said and stood up, with Rias forming a magic circle under us, teleporting us away from Hogwarts.

When my vision cleared I found myself standing in the sitting room of a mansion.

"Ordinarily you would have to take the train to get registered with the underworld, but since we're on a time limit and I doubt anyone is going to make a big deal out of it, I just skipped it. Follow me." Rias said.

Walking with Rias through the halls of the mansion, this was the first time I really understood how wealthy she was.

'My trust vault doesn't even have enough for all this. Actually, now that I think about it, how is my trust vault all my parents left me. At the very least there should be two vaults, one for each of them. I need to visit Gringotts when I head back.'

She lead me into a room with a wide variety of suits. "Woah, what's with all of this?"

"These are stuff my brother wore when he was growing up, but he doesn't use them anymore and he outgrew most of it. There should be something here that fits, lets see." Rias said and moved through the masses of clothes. I had no idea what made a good suit, so I stood back and waited as she searched. She came back with a normal black suit.

"I tried to find a green one that would match your eyes, but none of these are the right shade. This should do nicely, though, try it on." Rias said and handed me the suit.

"Am I supposed to change right here?" I asked when she just looked at me expectantly.

No, just head back the way you came when you're done." Rias said, laughing as she left the room.

'She seems a lot more lighthearted now that she's out of that marriage.' I thought as I put the suit on. Not really sure what to do with the clothes I had on before, I shrunk them and put them in my pocket. Walking out of the room and back down the hall I had come from, I entered the sitting room and took a seat to wait for Rias.

While I was sitting there, a brown haired woman appeared out of a magic circle in a fancy dress. "Oh, so you must be Harry then. I'm Venelana Gremory, Rias' mother."

Standing up, I said "Nice to meet you. I'm surprised you're her mother, you don't look much older than she does."

'Actually, now that I think about it I've never asked about Devil lifespans. I don't even know if Campione live longer.'

"Perks of being a devil. Is Rias getting dressed? It's about time to go." Venelana asked, but before I could answer Rias' voice sounded behind me and said "I just finished."

Turning around to look at her, I found her wearing a long red dress that matched her hair well.

"You look great." I said.

"You don't look so bad yourself." Rias answered and turned to her mother.

"Is Sirzechs already there?"

"Yes, we should be heading over ourselves." Venelana said and formed a magic circle under us, teleporting us out of one fancy building and into another. We ended up in front of a door.

"You two go on ahead, I'll be right after you." Venelana said.

"Well let's go then Harry." Rias said and took my hand, leading me through the door. When we walked in all eyes turned to us. Rias walked forward confidently, with me following her as I took a deep breath to center myself.

From there Rias and I made our way through the room and I ended up being introduced to a lot of devils. They all were congratulating Rias on her win and seemed to be somewhat wary of me.

'Oh yea, the last Campione they interacted with wiped out like half their population.'

Eventually we made our way to the drink table.

"Sorry about dragging you around to talk to people. I didn't want to do it by myself." Rias apologized.

"It's fine, it's amusing to see them all try to look calm while they're scared of me."

Rias laughed and said "Yeah, Devil experiences with Campione haven't been the best."

"Your experience seems to have gone pretty well so far Rias." A voice sounded behind me. Turning around I found Akeno standing next to a blonde guy, a small white haired girl, and a blonde haired girl.

"Nice to see you again Akeno. So this must be Kiba, Koneko, and Asia."

"Nice to meet you." Kiba said with a smile, but to me it looked somewhat fake.

"Hn" was all Koneko said.

"Hi, who are you?" The blonde haired girl asked.

"I'm Harry. I've heard you're pretty good at healing. I know who to come to if I ever get hurt." I said.

Asia looked somewhat bashful as she said "I'm alright, but if you ever get hurt I'll be sure to heal you."

"Ha, I appreciate it." I said, feeling a lot more comfortable interacting with Rias' peerage then the random devils. I knew I'd probably have to get used to interacting with high society eventually, but for now it was just weird.

"If I could have your attention." A voice sounded at a regular volume, but managed to carry and attract the attention of the entire room. Turning to the front of the room I saw a red haired man standing next to a silver haired woman.

'So that's Rias' brother then. The current Devil Lucifer.'

"This party is to celebrate my little sister's first win in a Rating Game. Hopefully this is evidence of future successes. Enjoy the party." Sirzechs finished.

He then slowly walked towards us. Once he arrived in front of us, he gave Rias a hug and said "I'm so proud of you Rias."

"Thanks brother." Rias said and although it sounded sincere, there was a tinge of bitterness in her tone.

"So you must be Harry the, the newest Campione. Nice to meet you." Sirzechs said and held out his hand. Taking it and shaking it I said "That's me, nice to meet you."

"This is my wife and queen, Grayfia." Sirzechs introduced the woman next to him.

"Nice to meet you." Grayfia said.

"I was wondering if I could steal Harry away from you for a second Rias. It will only take a minute." Sirzechs said and Rias reluctantly nodded. Curious as to what he wanted, I followed him out to the balcony while Grayfia stayed with the group.

"So what did you want to talk about." I asked.

"How do you feel about my sister?" Sirzechs asked.

"She's my friend, why?" I asked.

"I'm wondering how would you feel about entering into a marriage contact with Rias." Sirzechs said.

"So Rias just fought to get out of one marriage contract, with no help from her Satan of a brother, and now he wants to put her into another one?" I said, both annoyed on Rias' behalf and wondering where he was going with this.

"It's only a matter of time before my father tries to start another contract. I think it would be best if it was with someone she actually likes." Sirzechs said, but looking at him closely I could tell that wasn't the reason. Something had been bugging me in the short time that we talked and I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was.

"Rias won't let her father do it again. Even if he somehow does manage to do it, she'll just win again and get out of it. He'll get the message." I said, still trying to figure out what was bugging me.

"My father is a stubborn man, he will keep trying. I think you are the best candidate." Sirzechs said, but I finally realized what it was that had been bugging me. Everyone else I had interacted with seemed wary of me, even Rias when we had first met had, but Sirzechs was different. He wasn't wary of me, he was completely confident.

'Is he confident because he thinks I'm naive, or because he thinks he can handle me if I lash out?'

"I'll let Rias make that decision. It sounds to me like you're just trying to get me to side with the devils." I commented.

Sirzechs' demeanor seemed to change as he said "I just think it would be best if you aligned yourself with the devils. You're new to being a Campione, aligning with us would prevent yourself from being taken advantage of."

"I'll pass, I can handle myself. To me it sounds like you're looking down on me and trying to get a Campione under your thumb. This entire conversation you've been confident, and at first it seemed like you just thought I was naive, but that last comment could be taken as an insult. The last Campione your kind insulted wiped out half your population, so why even now do you sound confident. It sounds to me like you think you could handle me if I decided to lash out." I said.

"I'm sure it won't come to that." Sirzechs said, but I wasn't going to let it go. I wasn't sure what exactly his game was, but I was going to get one thing straight here.

"Maybe it's been too long and you've forgotten what a Campione can do, so let me spell it out for you. Whatever game you're trying to play with me and Rias, cut it out now. You might think you have a chance against me, but let me be clear, you don't. If we fought well..." I said and focused all of my pressure on Sirzechs. Sirzechs was magnitudes more powerful than Dumbledore, but this wasn't an unfocused blast when I didn't know what I was doing. This was me actively concentrating, so it was much more powerful than back then.

Sirzechs began to sweat and PoD began to leak from his body before I cut off the pressure entirely. "You would lose. Leave me and Rias out of whatever political games you're trying to play." I said and turned around, heading back into the party, leaving Sirzechs sweating on the balcony.

'What was he trying to accomplish? Getting me to marry Rias would have me tied to the devils, but I'm not actively against devils, so why risk it?'

Walking back over to Rias, when I walked up she asked "What did Sirzechs want to talk about?"

"I'll tell you later. Grayfia, I think your husband wants to see you." I said and Grayfia nodded, leaving us.

I spent the rest of the night talking with Rias' peerage members and Asia and keeping an eye out for Sirzechs, but it seemed he had left the party.

Eventually it was time to leave. Rias walked out with me and we made our way into the hall where she would send me back.

"This was fun Rias. It's good to interact with some more people again." I said.

"You know if you ever get tired of Hogwarts you could come to Kuoh." Rias said.

"We'll see how this year goes. I just might get tired of it." I laughed.

"Thanks for all the help you gave me Harry, I really appreciate it." Rias said.

"No problem, I'm glad I could help. I still need to fix Koneko and Kiba's pieces."

"Yeah, I'll see you soon. I think we could all use a break for a little while." Rias said and formed the magic circle below me.

"Good night Rias." I said.

Instead of saying "Good night" Rias moved forward and gave me a kiss, stepping back as the magic circle teleported me back to the Room.

Standing in the Room, I rubbed the back of my head and started to get undressed.

'Of course she had to go an make things more complicated. I'll tell her what happened with Sirzechs next time I see her' I thought as I got into bed. I went to sleep happy, but wondering what Sirzechs was trying to do.

--------------------------------------------------------------POV Change Sirzechs

Walking into Ajuka's lab, I found him studying something. When I entered Ajuka looked up and turned to me. "Did it work?"

"No, he turned me down." I said.

"You're hiding something Sirzechs. We need all the information we can if we're going to figure out how he managed to cut Rias' pieces off from the evil piece system. If the public found out there would be a revolt. The reincarnated devils outnumber us and not all of them are happy to be servants."

"He figured out I was trying to manipulate him, but I don't think he knows why. We can still salvage this. If we can figure out a way to reconnect Rias' piece to the system then no one will find out." I said.

"That is under the assumption I can figure out a way to do it, especially since he removed my ability to summon the pieces to me and only left the one that's linked to Rias." Ajuka said.

"You've got to try old friend. We can't let this get out, or the underworld might collapse." I said, but really my mind was focused on that pressure Harry had created.

'He should be a new Campione, he should still be manageable. If he becomes to much of an obstacle I need to take him out before he gets too strong. With my true form I should be able to deal with him, even if he can make that pressure.'

My sin had always been Pride. I was prideful in my abilities. Ever since I had changed my body into PoD I hadn't lost. No new Campione would scare me.