Chapter 16

Originally posted on 15/8/2018.  

Valian vs. Cana, Ladora, Misteeta, Himari and Chifuyu  

Time left in the Rating Game: 42 minutes.  

Valian grinned under her Scale Mail armour, as she looked around, seeing who her five victims for the match were. 

'Imogen's Queen, daughter of Gildarts Clive...' she mused. 'The sole remaining member of the Buné Clan, the two people who took out Rias and Asia, and the wielder of the White Knight Shirokishi, an armour-type Sacred Gear. Shouldn't be too hard to take out.' 

"The White Dragon Empress..." Misteeta whispered, before pointing his staff at her. The same blue markings appeared on Valian's armour, but Valian didn't even flinch. 

"What did you suppress, Misteeta?" Himari asked, curiously. 

"Her ability to Divide." Misteeta replied. "Now everyone here can face her with all our- agh!" Before Sairaorg's Bishop could finish, Valian had flown forward at great speed, and smashed her armour-clad fist against Misteeta's face, sending him flying away, in a haze of blue light. 

As the blue markings on Valian began to disappear, she turned on Ladora Buné, who had transformed into an average-sized Western Dragon with black scales, and flew right at him, latching onto his head. 

["Divide!"] Albion called, inside Valian's Gear. ["Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide!"] 

The black Dragon that was Ladora shook for a moment, then expired from his Dragon form, quickly reverting to his human form, and landing on the ground, on his hands and knees, shaking. 

"Hehe." Valian chuckled, summoning two balls of the Primordial Power of Darkness through the use of the gained demonic energy. Looking down at Ladora and Himari, she threw the balls at them, one each. When they made their marks (Himari was unable to run away from the ball of darkness) they were both retired as quickly as Misteeta was. 

Hearing a growl of anger from behind, Valian turned around, in time to grab the gigantic blade of the broad-sword that Chifuyu Orimura, inside her Shirokishi armour, had swung at her. With a quick jerk of her hand, she pulled the sword from its owners' grasp, tossed it into the air, caught it on the hand on the handle, and threw it far, far away like a javalin. 

Finding that she was unable to really defend herself, Chifuyu tried to fly away, but Valian was, again, too quick for her. 

Accelerating to just under the speed of sound in under a second, she swung back her fist, infused it with Holy Energy, and punched Imogen's helpless Pawn so hard that her armour (Shirokishi was only a low-tier Sacred Gear, after all) was destroyed, leaving the black-haired woman totally defenceless. 

Not that that mattered, as it seemed that the impact of Valian's punch was enough to knock her out, given that Chifuyu was Retired, seconds later. 

Twisting her body around to look at Cana, who was shaking in fear on the ground, Valian made to attack her, and give her a peaceful end to the Rating Game, but she found herself interrupted by the fact a gigantic blast of Holy Lighting flew at Cana from behind, and Retired her in one shot. 

Valian held up her hand to shield her eyes from the dust that suddenly rose as a result of such a strong blast, but when the dust cleared, she saw that Akeno Himejima, hanging on eight white Devil wings, was there, looking as fine as ever. 

"Hey, Akeno." Valian greeted Roxas' sole Bishop, while deactivating her armour. 

" Well, damn." Raven's voice came from the commentary box. "The daughter of Baraqiel, a formerly Stray Nekoshou, the legendary Vampiress Akasha Bloodriver, and the host of Albion himself, the former and latter of whom seem to both be Nephalems, given their uses of Holy Energy, who just destroyed a large-ass chunk of Sairaorg's and Imogen's force, that being Imogen's second Knight, third Pawn, and Sairaorg's second Rook and first Bishop, on his own. Not to mention Akeno striking Cana down from behind. Roxas' peerage is a lot of things, but it certainly isn't boring."  

"Damn right." Valian muttered, as she descended to the ground beside her close friend. 

Line Break  

In Imogen's and Sairaorg's hut, both Kings looked at each other when they heard the announcement from Raven that Roxas' Queen, the host of Albion, and Roxas' Bishop, Akeno Himejima, had just destroyed what was essentially half of their remaining force in the Rating Game. 

If they were correct (and most times, they were), their remaining force included themselves (obviously), Kuisha Abaddon, Sairaorg's Queen, Coriana Andrealphus, Sairaorg's half-Succubus Bishop, Beruka Furcas, Sairaorg's Knight, and Regulus, Sairaorg's sole Pawn, who was stood by his Master. 

"I think now's a good a time as any to get out into the game ourselves, eh Sairaorg?" Imogen asked. "There's only one group of our force left, and it's all members of your peerage." 

"Yeah, it is, Imogen." Sairaorg replied, putting a hand on his chin and thinking for a moment. "Yeah, I think we should come out now." 

"Shall I accompany you, Master?" Regulus asked. 

"No." Sairaorg replied, to his Pawn. "Stay here, until I call you to me." 

Regulus silently nodded, and watched Sairaorg and Imogen leave their hut, and begin walking out into the woods. 

"Oh, my!" Naud's voice came booming over the crowd, who were watching in the Agares Stadium. "Sairaorg Bael and Imogen Belial have decided to step out of their base and into the Game themselves. Roxas' peerage, wherever they are on the field, had better prepare themselves! Not many Devils can claim, with proof, to be stronger than either of these two exceptional Devils, let alone both of them!" 

"I'm gonna go on ahead." Imogen muttered to Sairaorg, spreading ten leathery Dragon wings, and flying off on them. 

Line Break  

Time left in the Rating Game: 38 minutes  

Valian and Akeno, who had been walking for a while, came into a small clearing, with the sun (the in-Rating Game sun, to be more exact) shining through a gap in the trees, and casting a rather beautiful atmosphere across the area. 

"Man." Valian remarked to her friend. "If we weren't in the middle of a forty-minutes-left battle, I'd sit down and take a nap here." 

"Me too." Akeno replied, looking around. "This place is really cool." 

"You said it." Valian replied, looking up. "Though it's about to get a lot less cool." 

Akeno looked up, and saw three individuals, two females, one horse-riding male, coming into the clearing, directly opposite them: Kuisha Abaddon, Coriana Andrealphus and Beruka Furcas. 

"Damn." she muttered. "Shall I try my luck with the Bishop and Knight, Valian?" 

"If you're up for it." Valian replied. "Since you took down Imogen's Queen, I think I'll take down Sairaorg's." 

["I don't think so."] A deep voice came from above. ["Why don't you try and come and fight me, Albion? Or are you saving your gay ass for Ddraig's fiery cock?"] 

["I see you're just as vulgar as you were in your glory days, Vritra."] Albion replied, inside Valian's Sacred Gear (which automatically activated), as Valian looked up, seeing Imogen Belial floating on ten Dragonic wings. 

There was a small black bracer in the form of a small, cute black chameleon-like lizard with violet eyes and a deformed face on her hand, as well. 

["Did losing to Indra not teach you anything?"] Albion asked, sounding slightly smug. 

["Shut the fuck up!"] Vritra growled. ["That sarcastic, arrogant, warmongering, deceitful piece of shit cheated!"] 

["Well, you can be sure that my host and I won't cheat in this fight."] Albion growled back. ["Valian?"] 

"Got it." Valian replied, equipping her Balance Breaker armour and flying up to meet Imogen. "Akeno! Why don't you deal with Kuisha instead?" 

"Will do." Akeno replied, spreading her eight white Devil wings and facing Kuisha, who hung on six Devil wings. 

Valian and Imogen  

Once she reached her level, Valian flew straight at Imogen, stretching her arm out and preparing to Divide her power. However, Imogen just floated in place and let Valian try, and fail, to Divide her energy. 

"The hell?!" Valian cried, before Imogen swung around and kicked her in the abdomen, sending her flying back in the air for a second before she righted herself, and flew back at Imogen, throwing punches at her. 

"I nullified your ability to Divide my strength." Imogen explained, simply, while either dodging or blocking Valian's punches. When Valian tried to headbutt her, she grabbed Valian's armour-clad head in one hand, and focused a large pulse of mixed demonic and dragonic energy into it, which was enough to send Valian flying back, putting some space between her and Roxas' Queen. 

"I'd nullify your entire Sacred Gear," Imogen remarked, conversationally. "But I'm not trained enough in my Worthlessness ability to nullify more than one ability at once. Plus..." Imogen waved her hand, and a large ball of black fire appeared above her head. 

Imogen snapped her fingers, and the ball split into five smaller balls, which she mentally commanded to fly at Valian from different angles. Valian was forced to quickly fly downwards to avoid the first two and up to avoid the third. She was unable to prevent the fourth one from hitting her (even if it only did minor damage to her) and she thrust out her hand when she saw the fifth one flying at her. 

["Reflect!"] Albion cried, and a white shield that looked like a Dragon's scale appeared, which the ball of fire impacted. The fireball flew back the way it had came, and out into the distance. 

"Well, shit." Valian muttered, as she flew out of the range of a dark, shadowy aura that made to restrain her movement. "Time for a change of strategy." 

Flying upward, and then changing direction to fly straight down at speed, Valian clashed with Imogen. 

Akeno and Kuisha  

Time left in the Rating Game: 36 minutes  

"This won't last long." Akeno remarked to Kuisha, lifting her hand up and creating a large bolt of Holy Lightning, and firing it towards Sairaorg's blonde-haired Queen. Kuisha, to her slight surprise, didn't move, or make any attempt to try and avoid the attack. 

Instead, a number of black holes, of varying sizes, appeared around her, which seemed to pull the Lightning into them. 

"You're right." Kuisha replied, casting a look up at Valian and Imogen, who were both giving everything they had into their own right, for a moment, before looking at Akeno again. "It won't." 

The same number of holes that appeared around Kuisha appeared around Akeno, and before she could react, she was impacted by the immense force of her own Holy Lightning. 

Kuisha chuckled to herself, before she saw that, rather than shrieking in pain and falling to the ground, Akeno seemed to shatter like glass from the impact of her own Holy Lightning. 

"What?!" Kuisha shouted. That was the only thing she could shout before she felt a splintering pain in her back, as she felt a large attack from Akeno hit her in the back, and send her to the ground. 

"Heheh~" Akeno giggled. "I heard from Kuroka before you got here about what happened with her and Neo. "Are you ever going to not fall for that?" 

Getting back up, groaning in pain, Kuisha made to cast a powerful ice-based spell at Akeno, but before she could fire it, she felt something else impact her back, but unlike before, this attack pierced her back, and impaled her through the stomach. 

Kuisha gave a (louder) groan of pain, and tried to look around to see what had impaled her, but she couldn't, before she collapsed to the ground, and was retired. 

Akeno looked down, and grinned at the sight of Neoplitan standing over where Kuisha's body had been. 

" Seems that Imogen and Sairaorg's peerages aren't the only ones with tactical expertise." Ruval surmised. "Neopolitan creating an illusion of Roxas' Bishop while Sairaorg's Queen was distracted, enabling Akeno to get behind her and send her to the ground, where she was finished off from behind. A very well-done method of retiring an opponent who, otherwise, could've caused Roxas' peerage some serious trouble with her Hole ability."  

Line Break  

Time left in the Rating Game: 35 minutes.  

"Kuisha!" Beruka shouted, at the sight of his Queen being knocked out so easily. Cracking the reins on his horse, Altobrau, he tried to run at Roxas' pink and brown-haired Pawn, and run her through with the spear in his hand. 

Key word: Tried. 

It was a second after he'd given Altobrau the command to go that Beruka Furcas found that his horse didn't seem to have the energy to move as quickly as he did. 

"Albotrau, what's wrong with you?" he shouted. Sairaorg's sole remaining Knight looked around when he heard a female giggle, and his eyes fell on Kuroka, who was holding her hand out. 

"It seems your horse doesn't have the energy to go as fast as it usually does." Kuroka grinned, as up above, Akeno was charging up another blast of Holy Lightning. "What a shame." 

Kuroka closed her hand into a fist, and right on cue, Albotrau fell down to the ground, seeming to have lost the energy to even stay upright. Beruka didn't have the time to even shout out, before Akeno's Holy Lightning engulfed him, and both he and his Horse disappeared. 

Kuroka grinned, as her golden eyes fell on Coriana Andrealphus, who had spread six Devil wings, and who had conjured up a spear, made of ice, in each hand, and was flying up to Akeno. 

The black-haired Nekoshou turned on Coriana, and made to use Senjutsu to interrupt her ki flow and render her unable to find the energy to even move, so she could be easily defeated, the same trick she had pulled on Beruka's Altobrau, but she found that she couldn't. 

Because Sairaorg Bael himself had appeared out of fucking nowhere  and punched her so hard in the face that the unfortunate Nekoshou flew through four trees before coming to a stop, and being retired. 

Two seconds later, before she could cast an illusion to protect herself, Neo met the same fate. 

"Kuroka?! Neo?!" Valian "Kuroka?! Neo?!" Akeno cried, looking down. She had barely raised her hands to create a magical barrier before Sairaorg jumped up into the air, and swung his leg so hard into her abdomen that she went flying backwards out of sight. Those around swore that they heard a sonic boom going off from Sairaorg's kick. 

"Coriana." Sairaorg spoke to his sole remaining peerage member (sans Regulus). "I'd leave, if I were you. The only remaining members of Roxas' peerage left could snap you in half like a toothpick, and I don't left could snap you in half like a toothpick, and I don't want that for you." 

Coriana nodded, and left, in a haze of blue light, Retiring herself, right as Sairaorg turned around to see Akasha Bloodriver stepping out of the forest, drinking from another jar of blood. Once she finished the jar, she silently looked at Sairaorg, while twirling the empty jar on her finger. 

She then proceeded to throw the glass jar at the black-haired youth, as hard as she could. The jar hit Sairaorg in the face and shattered on impact. 

Hissing in pain and shaking his face rapidly to get the glass shards out of his face, Sairaorg raised his fist, his face mildly bleeding, just in time to block Akasha's flying kick. 

Akasha vs. Sairaorg  

Time left in the Rating Game: 33 minutes.  

Akasha, who had been pushed back by the force of Sairaorg's punch, dashed towards Sairaorg and tried to roundhouse-kick him, but Sairaorg jumped up into the air, flipped over, and landed behind Akasha. 

His attempt to punch Akasha missed, and more attempts by him were blocked by Akasha's skilled arms. However, one got through Akasha's guard, which sent her flying backwards. 

Sairaorg back-flipped away from Roxas' sole Rook (he had heard that her power was of legendary status, so the Bael Heir had quickly decided to take a more cautious approach in fighting her). 

Akasha raised her legs and began kicking, while sending softball-sized shots of blood from her feet through magic-circles at Sairaorg's position, which he was quick to dodge. After a few of these, Akasha jumped forward, up into the air, and tried to axe-kick Sairaorg from above. 

Sairaorg raised his fists to block the attack, and pushed Akasha up and away from him. The pink-haired Vampiress landed on her feet, and ducked under Sairaorg's attempted punch, countering the attack by back-flipping from her position on the ground, her right foot connecting with Sairaorg's chin with a satisfying crack. 

" And the first blood of the fight between Sairaorg Bael and Akasha Bloodriver goes to Akasha!"  Naud annouced, to the excited crowd. "...Get it? Blood? Because she's a Vampire?"  

" No, Naud."  Raven stated, in a deadpan tone. "Just... no."  

" At least I'm not as bad as your daughter." Naud muttered. "Or your first Bishop."  

" There's a time and a place for jokes." Raven replied.  "This is neither."  

Sairaorg landed on his feet from the kick Akasha had delivered him, and ran back at him, throwing rapid punches, all of which were either directly blocked, redirected away from his target by said target, or just missed. 

When he tried to kick her, Akasha raised her leg to block Sairaorg's attack, then jumped into the air and tried to axe-kick Sairaorg again. However, Sairaorg just rolled away from the kick, and tried to punch Akasha while she was low on the ground. 

Despite this, Akasha leapt gracefully into the air, span over, landed on her right hand, and using that to keep her balance, kicked Sairaorg twice in the abdomen, and pushed up with her hand to land back on her feet. 

Sairaorg dodged the initial kick, aimed at his face, that Akasha followed up with, as well as the follow-up to that kick that went straight into the ground, though that didn't stop him from feeling the shockwave from the force of Akasha's kick. 

Sairaorg blocked Akasha's next kick. 

Akasha dodged Sairaorg's next kick. 

Sairaorg dodged Akasha's neck kick, blocked her follow-up, and when she jumped into the air and tried to kick his bloody face, the (officially) Strongest Young Devil raised his hands to block the kick, but the force of the kick was such that he slid back, his guard momentarily broken. 

Akasha rushed forward, kicking Sairaorg in the abdomen again, but was left open to a harsh uppercut from Sairaorg, making her groan in pain. Sairaorg followed up by elbowing Akasha in the stomach with enough force to send her flying to the ground. 

When Sairaorg dashed forward to try and finish the fight, Akasha used her hands to get back in the air, and back-flipped away from Sairaorg's further attempts to punch her, but one time, she got unlucky, and was hit in the face, sending her flying out of the clearing and into the forest. 

Sairaorg barely had a second to catch his breath and wipe the sweat and blood from his face when Akasha came jumping back, her nose bleeding, and caught Sairaorg off-guard, prompting him to go into defense-mode. 

Akasha came at Sairaorg with a few quick kicks aimed at his legs, which Sairaorg blocked with the combat-boots he wore. Akasha then switched to aiming kicks at his stomach, most of which made their mark, before she swung her other leg around and kicked Sairaorg in the back, making him give his own groan of pain. 

Despite this, Sairaorg leaned back to dodge Akasha's follow-up kick, tried to punch Akasha and missed, tried to punch Akasha again but his kick was directed away from Akasha's chest by her leg and ducked Akasha's own kick, aimed at his head. 

However, he was unable to stop Akasha from swinging around him and kicking him in the back of the head, sending him flying a few feet away and having to kiss the floor. 

He was back in his feet in a second, and just in time to dodge the blast of blood that Akasha sent at him from her foot. Keeping her leg in the air, Akasha started kicking in rapid succession, sending out a flurry of the same blood-balls with each kick, and also spinning around as she kicked. 

The blood-balls, rather than homing in on Sairaorg (who was forced to either take them head on or dodge, as she was kicking too fast for even him to think about approaching her), stayed in the air and orbited around Akasha, while she continued to keep kicking, until the orbiting balls of blood almost blocked sight to the outside world entirely. 

It was at that moment when Akasha jumped into the air, and swung her leg down at Akasha, and by her mental command, all of the blood-balls that had gathered around her froze solid, were infused with golden Holy Energy, and flew right towards Sairaorg, who had to let out a shriek of pain from being barraged by such a strong attack. 

" I-is that it?"  Naud asked the crowd, who were loving the fight that was going on (along with the fight between Valian and Imogen (the latter seemed to have the upper hand) that was going on up above). "Did Akasha just take out the Strongest Young Devil, just like that?"  

Right as Naud posed that question, he was proven wrong, as Sairaorg jumped up into the air, bruised and battered but no less determined to win, and cried out "REGULUS!" 

Landing on the ground, he dashed towards Akasha, and the two traded blows faster than most of the audience could see for a few seconds, before an enormous golden lion, four to five meters tall, with a jewel on its forehead, came bounding into the clearing, ready to aid its master... 

Before an arrow of white Light whizzed through the air, struck the mid-air Regulus squarely between the eyes, and Retired the Nemean Lion within an instant. 

"Wh-what?" Sairaorg cried, just as he saw Regulus fading away and Ruval calling his retirement. 

"Well, that was something." Akasha remarked, getting back into a combat stance. "Looks like- ugh!" 

Sairaorg, who seemed to be coated in a bright aura that Akasha barely had the time to recognise as Touki, dashed at Akasha and punched her once, twice, thrice, four times, five times, six times, seven times, eight times, and a ninth and final time, in less than three seconds, before the pink-haired Vampiress, blood flying from her face, went flying, and crashed into a tree... knocked out. 

"Hah... hah..." Sairaorg panted, pulling a Phoenix Tear out of his pocket and using it on himself as Akasha faded away in a haze of blue light, while Naud called her Retirement. "That was the best fight I've had in a very long time." 

"I'm glad my Rook was able to give you such a fight." 

Sairaorg looked around, and standing in the entrance to the clearing, with a bow in his hand, and his shining silver hair let down, was Roxas Gremory. 

"Hello, Sairaorg." Roxas greeted his first-cousin once-removed, transforming the bow back into a golden headband, and tying his hair back up. "Fancy seeing you here." 

"Right back at you, Roxas." Sairaorg replied. As his body fully healed, as a result of drinking his Phoenix Tear, the two fighters got into combat stances (while Sairaorg amplified the Touki around his body), and rushed at each other. 

At around the same time, as Valian and Imogen duked it out, Vritra cried out ["EBONY ENVELOPMENT, BALANCE BREAKER! SCALE MAIL!"], which coated Imogen in a black Dragon's armour, exactly the same as 

Roxas vs. Sairaorg  

Time left in the Rating Game: 28 minutes.  

Music: Speed of Light – Iron Maiden  

The two fighters' fists clashed with their faces at the same time, while in the stadium, the sound of the cheers of the crowd seemed to amplify tenfold, at seeing Roxas Gremory himself come out to play. 

Roxas and Sairaorg pulled back, and tried to punch each other again, but this time, their fists collided with each other, and they began to struggle, fist on fist. 

"Ngh...!" Roxas growled, as he pushed as hard as he could with his fist against Sairaorg's own, but he was all too aware that slowly, surely, Sairaorg was pushing his fist back. 

Eventually, he had to give, and let Sairaorg push his fist away, and follow up with a punch to the gut that sent Roxas stumbling back a few feet. 

"Nice punch, Roxas." Sairaorg grinned, as Roxas wiped blood from his nose. "That was very good. However..." he grinned. "Can you keep this up for the whole match?!" 

"All that and more!" Roxas yelled, as Sairaorg ran at him. He blocked Sairaorg's punch with his arm, tanked Sairaorg's second punch, blocked his third and fourth, flipped away, and dashed at Sairaorg again. His black-haired cousin tried to uppercut him, but Roxas ducked under the punch, swung around Sairaorg and kicked him in the back, sending him stumbling forward. As he turned around, Roxas smirked, and Sairaorg smirked in return. 

"You're holding back, Roxas." he stated, bluntly. "I know you are." 

"Huh?" Roxas asked, before having to dodge Sairaorg's punches. "No, I'm not!" 

"You are." Sairaorg replied, as his fist connected with Roxas' face, which was repaid in kind by Roxas punching him in the gut, and following up with a harsh kick. "I heard what happened after I left that party we were at together. You pulled out the Holy Sword Excalibur Galatine during a confrontation with your father." 

"I did." Roxas replied, delivering an uppercut of his own to Sairaorg's face, sending him flying upward. He then spun around on the floor and kicked upward three times, all three kicks connecting with Sairaorg's chest and sending him away. As he got back to his feet, he asked. "So?" 

"So..." Sairaorg replied, as he landed on his feet, and looked at Roxas. "Since you're a Devil, if you were a Devil/Human Hybrid, you wouldn't be able to wield that sword, the fact that you physically CAN'T become a Devil/Human Hybrid notwithstanding." 

"And?" Roxas asked, reaching up behind him and playing with his headband. 

"And..." Sairaorg replied. "That can only mean one thing. You, Roxas Gremory, are a Nephalem. A Devil/Angel Hybrid." 

The crowd went mental at this revelation. Roxas, the King of his Peerage, being a Nephalem was a perfect explanation for the members of his peerage, particularly Valian and Akasha, being able to use Holy Energy during their respective fights in the Rating Game. 

"Which, unless I'm much mistaken." Sairaorg smirked. "You're able to use Holy Light." 

"I am." Roxas replied, glaring at Sairaorg. 

"Well, come on, then!" Sairaorg, shouted, getting back into a combat stance, and glaring back at Roxas, a battle-hungry grin on his face. "Come at me with everything you've got! Including that Holy Light!" 

"Well, you asked for it!" Roxas shouted back, his hands beginning to be covered in their own dense, white aura, and dashing at Sairaorg faster than he could see. 

Before Sairaorg could try to punch Roxas, the centuries-old Nephalem swung his Primordial Light-infused fist at Sairaorg with everything he had, and crashed it against his face. 

Sairaorg, who could feel his face bruising under Roxas' fist, yelled out in pain from the Light impacting his body, but smiled as he punched Roxas back, with his Touki-infused fist, which had the same physical effect on Roxas, but didn't hurt him as much. However, another punch from Sairaorg was enough to send Roxas, despite his physical durability being greater than his, backwards and onto the ground. 

Jumping back to his feet, Roxas ran at Sairaorg, ducked his punch, an attempt to stop him from coming, and punched him in the chest once, twice, thrice, up to TEN times, before Sairaorg slid back, clutching his chest. 

"Man..." he groaned. "That really hurt, Roxas. Well done." Despite the obvious pain he was in, Sairaorg ran at Roxas, and attempted yet another punch. 

'This guy won't give up, will he?' Roxas thought, as his right fist clashed, again, with Sairaorg's, while he used his left fist to punch him in the lower chest once, twice, three times, four times, before delivering a final punch to Sairaorg's midriff, leaving him open. 

Roxas took full advantage, rushing forward, spinning around, and delivering a devastating Light-infused kick, right above where Sairaorg's liver was. Before Sairaorg could even react, Roxas decided to finish the job, and delivered another harsh punch to the same spot he'd just kicked. 

And right there and then, Sairaorg, clutching that spot on his body, keeled over, and fell to the ground, incapacitated. 

"Hahh... hah..." Roxas panted himself, as Sairaorg began to fade away, in a haze of blue light, the sign that he was retired. "One down, one to go. I guess not even Devils that've trained themselves to their absolute physical potential for decades on end don't have full immunity to liver shots." 

["Well, no shit!"] Vritra cried, from the fight between his host and Roxas' Queen that was going on above him. ["It's probably the most vulnerable vital organ in the human body, and we all know what happens when any of those get hit hard enough."] 

"Death, if untreated." Roxas replied. "Good thing there's free medical attention given to participants at the end of every Rating Game." 

A few seconds after he said that, Roxas widened his red eyes as Imogen lifted her armoured leg up, and axe-kicked Valian with such force that her armour simply shattered, like Valian had done to Chifuyu a quarter of an hour ago. 

Along with that, Valian flew backward, but Imogen was hot on her tail, catching Valian with another hard punch to the face. Valian let out a scream of pain, and flew downwards. She landed on the ground, bounced a few times and crashed through a couple of trees before landing on the ground, and moving no more. 

A second later, she was Retired. 

"Shit." Roxas muttered. "I was hoping that I'd at least make it through this game with my Queen." 

"No such luck, I'm afraid, Roxas!" the armour-clad Imogen replied. "Looks like it's you or me for this Rating Game." 

"Damn straight." Roxas replied, spreading his ten wings, and flying into the air, so he was on a level with Imogen, while healing himself via magic to the point that he was in as good a physical condition as he could ever be, at present. Now." 

The former Gremory Heir regarded the current Belial Heiress with confident eyes, and made a 'come on!' motion with his hand. 

"Bring it." 

Line Break  

At the Avengers Tower (formerly known as Stark Tower), in Manhattan, New York, three individuals sat in a living-room type place, talking casually to each other: two men and one woman. 

One of the men was a rather tall guy, with short blonde hair and blue eyes. He had a very toned body, and was wearing casual clothing, coloured red, white and blue. 

The second of the men was a bit smaller than the first, with short brown hair and matching eyes. He seemed to look rather shyer than the first man, and wore a buttoned shirt and pants. 

The sole woman amongst the three was, in a couple of words, stunningly hot. Her hair had a slight curl to it, and was coloured dark red. Her figure was also one that most supermodels would trade their souls (not that the general public considered them to have souls in the first place) for. She wore a pair of combat boots, dark skinny jeans, a red t-shirt, black sweater and brown leather jacket. 

"Anyone know where Thor is?" the blonde guy, Steve Rodgers, also known as Captain America, asked. 

"Asgard." the brown-haired man, Bruce Banner, replied. "Visiting his ancestor. Of the same name." 

"Right." Rogers replied, nodding. "What about Hawkeye?" he asked, to the red-haired woman, Natasha Romanoff. 

"Hunting a Stray Devil a few miles east of here." Romanoff replied, calmly. "It's a Low-Class one, so only he went. 

Rogers made to ask something else, but someone, a middle-aged man of average height, black hair and wearing a Black Sabbath t-shirt and jeans, came walking up to them. 

"Hey, everyone." Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man, a self-proclaimed billionaire, genius, former playboy and philanthropist, spoke to his three comrades. "There's something you might want to see." 

"Stark, no-one wants to see what hair-brained mechanical scheme you've come up with." Natasha Romaoff replied. 

"No, it's nothing like that." Stark replied. "Seriously, come on." 

He left the room, and after looking at each other, Rogers, Banner and Romanoff all decided to get up and follow Tony into his office, where there was a seventy-inch plasma-screen TV (which Netflix, of course). 

Also in Tony's office with him was an African-American man with black complexion. He was bald, and had only one eye (which was his right eye. His left eye was covered by a black eye-patch, and it had a couple of scars visible across it. He wore a leather coat, and black clothes underneath. 

"Okay Stark, what's this all about?" Rogers asked. "Oh, hello, Director." 

"Tony, here, has just stumbled across a live broadcast of a Rating Game." Nick Fury, current Director of SHIELD, replied, referring to the competitions between Devils and their peerages that he and Thor (the actual Thor, the ancestor of the man that Asgard had sent to help humanity stop Loki from attacking New York (even if the attack from the Norse God of Mischief had been stopped by a certain someone who all the original six Avengers had a bit of a grudge against)) had informed everyone about. "And one of the participants in the game is someone you might know pretty well." 

Steve, Natasha and Banner all looked at the TV, where, flying on ten white bat-like wings, and clashing with a woman in black armour (all five individuals in the room could tell that the armour-clad individual was female), was... 

"Roxas?!" Steve and Natasha both called, at the exact same time. Steve was more shocked than anything to see the face of the centuries-old Nephalem again in his life, while Natasha sounded legitimately pissed-off (which was surprising, considering how, given that she lied and tricked people for a living, she, 90% of the time, she seemed to put up a stone-cold, fearless front) to see Roxas' face again. 

After all. He was the one responsible for rendering her out of action for a good few months with a very well-placed blow to her nether regions. 

Though even she had to admit that she had, in a sense, asked for it. Or at least Director Fury thought that way, given how, after learning what had happened, he'd yelled at her for a good hour. 

"Well, at least we know he's in the Underworld, and we, therefore, can't track him." Nick replied, sounding slightly annoyed himself, as he had authorized some agents to keep an eye on Roxas Gremory as best they could, in the aftermath of a certain event a few years ago. "Yet." 

"Doesn't he still live in Spain?" Banner spoke, for the first time since entering the room. 

"No." Fury replied "He moved to Greece about a month ago. He might have found out that we were monitoring him, given that we haven't been able to get any info on him beyond that he moved." 

Tony, however, was taking very great interest in the Rating Game, as he saw the black-armour-wearing woman opening her hand and letting a large stream of fire fly towards Roxas, who flew up and dodged the attack. 

"Okay, I'm putting $25 on Roxas winning this match." Tony remarked. "Given how soundly he kicked our asses a few years ago, and since he has ten wings now, instead of eight. Who else wants to bet?" 

Natasha was fast to bet on Imogen. 

Roxas vs. Imogen  

Time left in the Rating Game: 24 minutes.  

Casting a barrier using Angel Magic fractions of a second before Imogen's armoured punch could hit him, Roxas flew back, snapped his fingers, and several magic-circles appeared around him. 

Waving his hand, Roxas sent a barrage of spells, from a mixture of types of magical classifications (those classifications being Devil Magic, White Magic, Black Magic, Vampire Magic and Norse Magic, to be exact) at his armoured opponent, mentally redirecting the shots of magic away from Imogen at the last second, in order to confuse her, and then directing them back at her from different angles. 

"Goddamit!" Imogen growled, under her armour, as she tried to use magic to invade Roxas' mind and see what his next move would be. 'He's defending his mind via magic! What was that called again?' 

["Occlumency."] Vritra deadpanned, in Imogen's mind. However, his host wasn't paying attention, as Roxas rushed right at Imogen, and began throwing a barrage of mid-air punches and kicks at her, with some hitting, some being blocked, and some missing. 

Imogen returned in kind, though none of her punches and kicks were able to make their mark on Roxas. Some came close to hitting, some would have hit, had Roxas not redirected them away with magic or by using his body to physically move her limbs away from him. However, her first punch made its mark against Roxas' unguarded torso, and Roxas, like Sairaorg, earlier, groaned in pain, and would have keeled over, had he not been in the air. 

Smirking, Imogen raised her armoured foot, and axe-kicked Roxas so hard in the head that he flew down to the ground (a shockwave emanated from where he landed), slightly dazed. 

"Uurgh..." Roxas groaned, getting back to his feet, and shaking his head in order to clear it. "Doloris Vim, I presume?" 

"Yup." Imogen replied, as the head-portion of her armour disappeared, revealing her face, as she smirked down at Roxas. "One of my seven Sacred Gears, that holds one seventh of Vritra's soul. Amplifies the amount of pain an attack causes, as long as it causes pain to them in the first place." 

"I see." Roxas replied. "Yeah, I remember. I read Valian's report on you and all your Gears. Well, then." 

Roxas jumped back, into the thicket of trees, where Imogen was unable to see him. For a few seconds, he stayed in there, but before long, he came flying out of the trees, darkness-spear in hand, and wearing what looked like plates of ice, all over his body. 

Roxas gave a yell, and thrust the darkness-spear at Imogen, who thrust her hands forward and negated the Primordial Power of Darkness out of existence, but as she began to negate the attack, Roxas let go of the darkness-spear, flew around to the back of Imogen, and delivered a pair of swift punches to her back, followed up by a kick that sent her spiralling through the air, until she caught herself in mid-air. 

"Not bad." Imogen praised Roxas. "But Doloris Vim isn't the only trick up my sleeve!" She opened her armoured hand, and let out a large ball of black flames, Blaze Black Flare, sending it straight at Roxas. The flames attatched themselves to Roxas' ice-armour, and began to melt it away, at a rapid rate. 

Growling, Roxas teleported himself out of his ice-armour (which the black fire melted away, seconds after he left the armour, equipped a new armour, and flew towards Imogen, rolling in the air to avoid the fire that she sent at him. 

Once he reached Imogen, Roxas swung his fist at her, but she blocked the attack. She jabbed her fist out, but Roxas dodged the attack, and returned fire, punching Imogen in the face at the same time as Imogen used her other fist to punch Roxas in the face. 

However, she found that she could not amplify the pain the damage dealt to Roxas... because the armoured Roxas didn't feel any pain, under his armour! 

'Clever little dick.' Imogen thought, as she tanked a punch from Roxas to the chest, and another one to the face, before she delivered a one-two right back at him. 'Armouring himself to the point that my physical attacks don't do any damage, to render the Gear I rely on the most worthless. Heh, I guess this is what it feels like.' 

Roxas punched Imogen's armoured face, but Imogen was fast to counter with a punch to Roxas' armoured abdomen, which made him keel over via reflex, given the force Imogen punched him with, but he felt no pain. Roxas himself returned with a punch to Imogen's face, blocked Imogen's headbutt with his own armoured face, punched her in the abdomen, and was forced to tank another punch to the face. 

" HOLY SHIT!" Naud, forgetting that there were children in the audience (it didn't matter, the microphones that were used to broadcast his commentary over the loudspeakers in the stadiums (as well as to the people watching on TV at home) were laced with spells to automatically censor any foul language he uttered. And a good thing too), shouted. Even though he could barely hear himself over the immensely loud chants from the fans, either in support for Roxas or in support for Imogen. "This has to be the most intense fist-fight we've ever seen in a Rating Game like this! A fitting finale for a Game that will surely be remembered for centuries to come!"  

Roxas blocked a punch from Imogen with his arm, and deflected it away from him, before floating backward to avoid Imogen clasping her hands together and swinging them downwards with such force that Roxas felt the wind generated from such an attack fly across his face, even though the attack missed him by about a metre. 

He counted with a punch to Imogen's open chest and tried to follow up with an uppercut, but Imogen dodged it, and countered with a punch to Roxas' face, which he took, and pushed away from him with his head, before returning in kind. 

"Imogen..." Roxas growled, as he tanked another punch to his stomach from Imogen. 

"Roxas..." Imogen gave a dragon-like snarl, as she tried to punch Roxas in the face. However, he swung his body to the side, took the chance to grab her arm, and throw her into a tree. 

"I will kick your ass, no matter how hard you try, and I will win this fight!" both combatants shouted, as Roxas flew towards Imogen, ready to punch her in the face. But Imogen blocked Roxas' punch, directed his punch upwards, away from her, kicked his armoured crotch, then used another kick to put some distance between her and him, as she got to her feet. 

'Even if...' both armoured fighters thought, as Imogen flew upward, extending her hand out and letting loose four moderately-sized black tentacles, which extended from her arm and flew towards Roxas. 'This is...' 

Roxas quickly created a sword of light, and tried to cut the four tentacles. However, he was only able to sever three, and the fourth one attached itself to his armoured chest. 

'THE BEST FIGHT I'VE HAD IN A LONG-ASS TIME!' Roxas and Imogen finished their respective thoughts as Imogen focused a pulse of black fire into the tentacle that attatched itself to Roxas' chest. A strong enough pulse that Roxas' icy armour instantly melted, leaving Roxas dripping wet and completely vulnerable. 

Imogen capitalised on her golden opportunity, and opened her arm, firing a large laser of black fire at Roxas. However, the silver-haired Nephalem pushed his hand forward, and to Imogen's surprise, a moderately-sized hole, similar to the ones that Kuisha Abaddon used, but this time, coloured crimson instead of black, appeared in his hand. 

This hole seemed to absorb the entirety of the black fire that Imogen fired upon Roxas, and at the same time, two more crimson holes appeared above Roxas' head. 

Line Break  

In the private booth, that housed the relatives of Roxas, Sairaorg and Imogen, those relatives being Sirzechs, Grayfia, Millicas, Zeoticus and Venelana for Roxas, Zekram Bael, the first head of the Bael Clan, and Sairaorg's grandfather, for Sairaorg, and Diehauser Belial, Imogen's adoptive father, and Caroline Belial, Diehauser's wife and older sister to Sean Sitri, Sona Sitri's father, Sirzechs' eyes widened. 

"Is that Amalgamation?!" he cried, out loud. "How- how can Roxas even use that ability? I failed to inherit it from Father, so there's no way it could pass onto him!" 

"Looks like it skipped a generation in your case, Sirzechs." Zekram, one of the three male Satan-Class Devils, lightly remarked to his oldest grandson. He was a middle-aged looking man with black hair and peaceful violet eyes, and wearing noble attire. Even as he sat, looking very calm, he still had an aura of strong dignity exuding from him. "I have to admit. It's been a while since I've seen anyone use that ability. Even you, Zeoticus." 

"Yeah." Caroline, a beautiful woman who appeared to be in her mid-thirties, with dark blue hair and matching eyes, wearing a white shirt, replied, looking over at him. "Or are you still too busy fawning over your wife's Power of Destruction, even over 1000 years since you first saw it and fell in love with her at first sight?" 

"Caro!" Diehauser, though he privately agreed with his wife, whispered to her. "Don't!" 

Zeoticus, who had not spoken one word for the entirety of the Rating Game so far (he had been quietly seething with anger ever since Sirzechs had revealed to him that Roxas had had the marital contract between him and Seekvaira Agares destroyed), looked up at the screen that broadcasted his oldest grandson, and he was, inwardly, just as surprised as Sirzechs to see Roxas making use of the Amalgamation, the ability that those of the Gremory clan were well-known for, before Sirzechs' abnormal talent with the Power of Destruction came to light, and effectively eclipsed the Gremory Clan's own power, in terms of popularity. 

Amalgamation was a power that allowed the user to combine special powers (such as magic, though as Roxas demonstrated, the powers that came from Sacred Gears (like cursed black fire, for instance), as well as powers that came from Devil Clans, could be pulled into the Amalgamation as well. 

Zeoticus himself recalled his mother, Alice Gremory, using her own Amalgamation during a spar with Mestipho Pheles, a former lover of hers, to combine Mestipho's Power of Darkness (the ability of the Pheles Clan. It was simply a lesser version of Lucifer's Primordial Power of Darkness) with her own ice-magic to create a devastating blizzard that was so cold that Mestipho's attempt to douse himself in boiling water to warm himself back up resulted in him cracking his head open from such a large amount of ice (the boiling water he had conjured up had frozen solid before he could douse himself in it) falling on his head. 

It was hilarious to watch. 

"Hm." Zeoticus looked up at the screen, as the other two crimson holes appeared around Roxas, and spoke, for the first time of this game. "Seems my oldest grandson can create three holes to employ his Amalgamation. Compared to my five." 

As much as he, at the moment, disliked Roxas, with his flippant, rebellious attitude towards him, the Head of the Gremory Clan... maybe Roxas hadn't thrown away all of his pride as a member of the Gremory family, if he had trained himself in the ability that made him such (it was only because of Sirzechs' great amounts of demonic power and even greater talent in the Power of Destruction that he hadn't been discriminated against by the other Noble Devils). 

"I will admit, it is nice to see Roxas using the power that defines him as a Gremory." Zeoticus continued to speak. "Although, I just want to point out that if he were to employ the Power of Destruction in his move set, he could become an even more powerful Devil-" 

"Nephalem." Grayfia was fast to correct her father-in-law. "If you want any chance of my oldest son caring even the slightest bit about what you want to 'point out', I'd acknowledge that he was a Nephalem instead of a Devil, if I were you." 

"Also apologize for what you've done, and tried to do, to him, while you're at it." Venelana added. 

Zeoticus did not reply, as he focused his full attention, for the first time, on the Rating Game. 

Line Break  

Time left in the Rating Game: 21 minutes.  

Music: Feel Invincible - Skillet  

"Alright, Imogen." The armoured Roxas smiled, as, by his mental command, a large gathering of Light appeared in one of the two crimson Amalgamation holes, while in the other one, some sort of magical force appeared. Imogen couldn't tell what it was from where she was floating, but all she felt was that from where she was, she could feel a shiver going down her spine. 

["Imogen!"] Vritra called to her. ["That magical force in the third Amalgamation-circle! That's Dragon Slayer Magic! Avoid it at all fucking costs!" 

"Wait, Dragon Slayer Mag-?!" Imogen widened her eyes under her armour, as the three crimson holes seemed to combine into one, combining her own black fire, Roxas' Light, and the Dragon Slayer Magic together. 

Before she could do anything else, Roxas fired the Amalgamated product of those three elements at Imogen in the form of a gigantic laser, and it made its mark perfectly, before Imogen had any chance to try and negate the effects of the attack. 

Imogen gave an uncharacteristically loud shriek of pain, as she felt her Scale Mail armour cracking. Ignoring that, she glared at Roxas, who was flying right at her, infusing Light into his ice-covered fists. 

Growling, Imogen attempted to punch back, and succeeded, as she got in two extremely harsh punches, one on Roxas' face, and the other right where his liver was, like he did when he knocked out Sairaorg. 

However, the only thing that resulted from that was Imogen cracking Roxas' own armour. And even then, she was wholly unable to capitalise on the opportunity, as Roxas punched Imogen right where her armour was most cracked (on her right shoulder, and broke through it, destroying her Scale Mail armour. 

Roxas followed up by axe-kicking Imogen straight to the floor, which created an immense shockwave, and a crater three metres wide and a meter deep, with Imogen in the centre of it. 

Looking up, the Belial Heiress saw Roxas, who had decided to shed his armour, coming down, his hair let down, and Excalibur Galatine in hand, fully intent on stabbing her with it to end the match. 

"No!" Imogen yelled, thrusting her hands up and creating a magic-circle shield, which was imbibed with her Worthlessness ability, right above her. When Roxas' sword impacted the shield, the Holy aspect of the sword was negated, and Roxas, as the two fights he had gone through in this Rating Game had done a severe number on his stamina, didn't have the strength to push through the barrier with Excalibur Galatine. 

Imogen, after a few seconds, decided to pull a trick. That trick being she rolled out of the way of Roxas' downward stab, and kicked her opponent in the chest, sending Roxas backward. He rolled on the ground for a bit, but was back on his feet in a second, and after creating a silver spear, flew towards Imogen, who tried to pull the same trick as before. 

However, it was not to be. 

Though Imogen created the same shield as she had done before, she found that it didn't work. The silver spear passed straight through her magic-circle shield, and... pierced her stomach. 

The Belial Heiress didn't even have the energy to cry out, though she tried, as she looked down. 

"H-how?" was all she could sputter out. 

"Power of Twilight." Roxas leaned forward and muttered into her ear. "Power of my own creation. Combines my Primordial Powers of Light and Darkness. It seems you could only negate the Darkness-portion of it." 

Imogen looked down, and saw that rather than the silver spear that Roxas had been holding earlier, it was a normal light-spear. 

"And since your magic-circle shield was the kind a Devil would use, and you're only Ultimate-Class, in terms of how powerful you are as a Devil, it wasn't enough to stop me." Roxas continued to mutter. "Something to work on in the aftermath of this match, hmm?" 

Imogen nodded, and gave a soft "Aagh." as Roxas pulled the light-spear out from inside her stomach, and tumbled to the ground. 

A second later, she faded away in a haze of blue light, and Roxas Gremory... had won. 

And meanwhile, a certain Natasha Romanoff was seething because she lost a bet with Tony Stark. 

Line Break  

" And for only the fourth time in her Rating Game career, Imogen has fallen!" Naud shouted.  "The winner of possibly the best Rating Game we've ever seen, and possibly ever will see... is Roxas Gremory!"  

From where they were in the stands, Palutena, Yasaka, Kunou and Medea were the ones that applauded the loudest for Roxas' win. Akame, who wasn't applauding, also had a smile on her face, as she enjoyed watching the Game, too. 

The three older women all grinned at each other, as Yasaka, Akame and Kunou stood up. 

"Well, we should be getting back to Kyoto." Yasaka told Palutena. "Tell Roxas that Kunou and I say congratulations." 

"Same from me." Medea replied, looking at her phone and standing up as well. "I should go. The leaders of Grauzauberer have a meeting in an hour, and I should head off and change now." 

"Fair enough." Palutena replied. "I'll make sure to pass it on." 

As Yasaka, Akame, Kunou and Medea left, Palutena smiled as she looked at her husband, on the screen. 

'First it was getting your fourth pair of wings.' Palutena thought. 'Then becoming a Nephalem and training in your Angelic abilities. Then it was your fifth pair of wings.' She wiped a tear away. 'You've come so far, Roxas.' 

However, in the stands several rows up, a certain blue-haired woman was trying extremely hard to orgasm in her seat. 

Esdeath Partas, one of the most eligible bachelorettes in the Underworld, who had taken interest in Roxas ever since she'd felt his power for the first time, felt herself more interested than ever, given the power he'd shown during this Rating Game. 

Being a Nephalem with ten wings would've already been enough to make Esdeath take notice, but defeating the two Strongest Young Devils in the Underworld, one after the other? 

That was just further reason for Esdeath to take interest in Roxas Gremory. As well as a good enough reason for the sole remaining Partas Clan member to think about trying to taste that power for herself. 

Line Break  

It was a couple of hours later. Everyone in Roxas', Imogen's and Sairaorg's peerages (including Roxas, Imogen and Sairaorg themselves) had been transferred to the nearest Sitri Medical Facility, which was barely a couple of miles away, and were receiving treatement. 

In the ward that housed Roxas' peerage, Valian, Akasha, Akeno, Asia and Kuroka were sat in their own beds, propped up and chatting to each other. They all looked well (apart from some bruises on Akeno, Kuroka and Neo (who was silently eating some neapolitan ice-cream)), and were all in good spirits, as they (referring to Akeno, Kuroka, Neo, Akasha and Valian) had been informed by one of the doctors that they had emerged as the winners of the Game. Asia and Rias were the only ones who came to before the end of the Game. 

The only one who didn't look happy was Rias. She was sat, silently looking at the sheets of her bed, looking rather despondent. 

The doors to the ward opened, and everyone (sans Neo and Rias) looked up, and saw Roxas Gremory himself, looking as cool as ever, walking into the room. 

"Roxas!" Valian spoke up. "Hey." 

Everyone else in Roxas' peerage, sans Rias, greeted him in similarly high spirits. Neo also silently greeted Roxas by waving her spoon at him and smiling, before returning to her ice-cream. 

"Hey, everyone." Roxas walked over to Valian and delivered a gentle kiss to his first-cousin once removed. "You all did great. Seriously, I'm proud of the lot of you." 

"That's nice of you to say, nya~" Kuroka replied, smiling at Roxas. She, along with Akeno and Neo, had some magical cream on her face to treat the bruises that had been caused from Sairaorg going all Saitama on them. 

"It's only true, Kuroka." Roxas replied, looking over everyone in his peerage, before his eyes rested on the sole temporary member of his peerage. 

"Rias." Roxas spoke, walking over to his aunt. "What's wrong?" 

Rias looked up at Roxas, but for some inexplicable reason, couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze. 

"Roxas..." she whispered. "I'm sorry..." 

Roxas blinked. 

"What for?" he asked, waving his hand to create a barrier around the bed, giving him and Rias some privacy. "What reason do you have to apologize to me?" 

Rias looked at Roxas again, and felt herself tearing up. 

"I couldn't make any impact during the Rating Game!" she whispered. "I could've beaten Misteeta and Himari, I know I could've, but-" she took a breath in an attempt to calm herself, but that attempt was in vain. 

"But I couldn't." she whispered. "I couldn't do it. Everyone else managed to knock out at least one person during the Game, and I couldn't even do that." she looked down, and whispered. "I'm useless. I couldn't make any sort of impact. I might as well have not been in the Game at all." 

Roxas let Rias talk, and once she was done, he said one word, one word that made Rias look up. 

"Nope." 

"...No?" Rias repeated. 

"Nope." Roxas reinforced, squatting down so he was on a level with Rias. "You weren't useless, Rias. Everyone makes an impact in some sort of way. Whether big, small, good or bad. And you did the first and third things." 

"But..." Rias paused. "How did I make an impact? Aren't you-?" 

"Nope." Roxas cut her off before she could finish the question he knew she was going to ask (he didn't know the exact wording, but he was pretty sure it would have been something along the lines of questioning his sanity). "Stop. Rias. Let me tell you exactly why what you said was wrong." 

The tone that Roxas spoke with was enough to make Rias stop talking. 

"You said you were useless, Rias? That you didn't make an impact? That you might as well have not been there?" Roxas chuckled. "Rias, you simply being in the Game, volunteering to temporarily join my peerage as my second Bishop, when you had absolutely no obligation to, that was more than enough of an impact. Maybe not on the Rating Game, but in another way. A far more important way. You want to guess on what? Or, to be more exact, on whom?" 

"Uh..." Rias blinked. She closed her mouth and licked her lips for a moment. Roxas chuckled. 

"Rhetorical question, Rias… the answer was me. You being here and fighting alongside me and my peerage, doing what you could, that was a damn good thing to do. What I'm trying to say is... it made me happy. Thank you, Rias." 

As Rias listened to everything Roxas said, it dawned on her that Roxas was absolutely right. And after that fact set in, the crimson-haired beauty felt herself tearing up more than she had done before. She looked over at Roxas, who had his arms open, and a gentle smile on his face. 

"Come here, Rias." 

Rias didn't need telling twice. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her nephew in a hug, and, purely on impulse, pressed her lips against his. 

Roxas, fully prepared for the kiss, softly returned, and he and his aunt continued to kiss for a full minute, before coming up for air. 

"You better?" Roxas asked, dispelling the barrier around him and Rias. "You calmed down?" 

"Y-yeah." Rias replied. "I'm much better." 

"Good." Roxas replied. "Anything else you want to ask?" 

"Yeah." Rias replied. "What was that power you used against Imogen? I've never seen anyone use that power before, but it looked kinda similar to the Abaddon Clan's Power of Hole." 

"You wouldn't have been the first person to make that comparison, Rias." 

Everyone looked up, and saw Sirzechs, followed by Grayfia, Palutena and Millicas, walking into the hospital room. All four individuals, including Grayfia, had a smile on her face. 

"Hey, Dad." Roxas replied. "Oof. Hello, you." he added, as Millicas hurried towards his big brother, and hugged him. 

"Hey, big bro." Millicas replied. "You were amazing!" 

"You certainly were, Roxas." Sirzechs replied. "I must admit, I was sceptical to the idea of you facing down one of the, physically, strongest Devils, period, and a Satan-Class Devil/Dragon Hybrid, who is also the first being in history to unite all seven portions of Vritra's soul. You were phenomenal." 

"Heh." Roxas grinned. "Thanks." 

"You using the Amalgamation power was awesome as well!" Millicas piped up. "I can do it too. I can create four Amalgamation holes." 

"Good for you." Roxas replied. "I'll admit I've been focusing on my Dark and Light powers a lot, while I trained away from everyone. Maybe I should start focusing on the Amalgamation power. 

"I'm sorry, but can someone explain what Amalgamation is?" Rias asked. "I've never heard of it. Ever." 

"It's the Clan Power of the Gremory family." Sirzechs replied. "Allows the user to combine special abilities together and expel the result as a single attack. It was given to the original Gremory by Lucifer when he created the original 72 Pillars, but popularised by our very own grandmother, Rias: Alice Gremory." 

"Grandma?" Rias blinked, in surprise 

"Indeed." Sirzechs replied. "Anyway, I should get back to the Underworld. Millicas, come on." 

"Bye, brother." Millicas left Roxas, and left the room with his father and mother, leaving only Palutena in the room with Roxas, his peerage, and Rias. 

"Well. Roxas." Palutena sat down beside Roxas and kissed him on the cheek. "That's gotta be one of the most intense fights you've had in years. Since your battle with the original Avengers, I bet." 

Everyone (except Asia and Neo) tensed up when they heard that word. 

"The… Avengers?" Rias asked. "I've heard of them. The superpowered team of humans? The Heroes of New York? Those Avengers?" 

"The very same." Palutena replied, looking cheekily at Roxas. "My husband here had a bit of a run-in with Earth's so-called Mightiest Heroes a few years ago." 

"Really?" Rias widened her eyes, looking at Roxas. "What happened?" 

"I'll tell you later." Roxas replied. "It's a long-ass story, and I don't have the energy to tell it right now. Plus, someone's coming, and I don't like being interupted." 

"Wha-?" Rias began, but right as she spoke, the door opened... and Zeoticus Gremory walked in, looking very slightly awkward. 

Everyone (including Asia and Neo this time) tensed up when they saw Zeoticus walking in. They'd all heard about what had transpired between him and Roxas, either from Sirzechs (in Neo's case), Palutena (in Asia's case) or Roxas himself (in the case of everyone else, sans Roxas, Palutena and Rias, who had all seen first-hand. 

"...Father?" Rias greeted Zeoticus slightly cautiously, as she was worried that he was going to go off on her like he did on her (and Roxas) at the celebration party. 

"Hello, Rias." Zeoticus replied, nodding to his daughter. "I want to speak with Roxas." 

Everyone in Roxas' peerage traded looks with one another. 

"...Why?" Valian asked, standing up out of her bed. Her legs trembled slightly, as she was still feeling slightly dizzy from the ass-kicking Imogen delivered her. 

"What do you want, Zeoticus?" Roxas asked, bluntly. "Have you come to try and rage at me in a foolish attempt to convince me into submitting to your will to marry Seekvaira, someone who, though I think she'll find someone who likes her eventually, I have no personal interest in?" 

"Well, no, but-" Zeoticus spoke, but Roxas interupted him again. 

"Ooh, ooh. Don't tell me. Is it... you want to try and drag me to Ajuka and have him rip my Angelic side right out of me?" 

"No!" Zeoticus replied, a bit more insistently. "Roxas, I-" 

"Well, what is it then?" Roxas replied. As he opened his mouth to take another guess, Zeoticus cut him off, this time. 

"Roxas, I wanted to apologize." 

Roxas' words, which were on the tip of his tongue, died as he heard Zeoticus' declaration. Or rather... he thought he heard it. 

Maybe he'd gone slightly deaf from all the heavy metal music he'd been listening to over the years. 

"What?" the silver-haired Nephalem replied. 

"I..." Zeoticus looked even more uncomfortable. "wanted to apologize to you, Roxas." he repeated. "For everything that I did. Sticking you into an engagement with someone you barely knew, I'm sorry. Threatening to take you to Ajuka so he could try to take the Angelic side out of you, I'm sorry, and... I acknowledge that you're a Nephalem." 

"Where the hell is this coming from?" Roxas asked, now confident that he wasn't hearing things, and now not sure just WHAT the FUCK could have caused Zeoticus to pull such a Heel-Face turn like this. 

"Well, during the Rating Game, Venelana suggested that I apologize to you." The current Gremory Head replied. "And after the game, she explained exactly why, and after thinking it over, I find that I agree with what she said. I am genuinely sorry. To both you..." he turned to Palutena. "And your wife." he bowed. 

"Apology accepted." Palutena replied, having an inkling that somehow, Venelana giving Zeoticus a big 'Reason you Suck' speech wasn't all that got him to consider apologizing to his grandson. "Somehow, I think that apologizing wasn't the only reason you came here, Lord Zeoticus." 

"No, it wasn't." Zeoticus replied. "Roxas, I saw you using the Amalgamation ability that you inherited from me, and I wanted to offer you the chance to be taught in that ability. By me." 

"Hey!" Rias spoke up, slightly indignantly. "What about me?" 

"I concurr with Rias." a new, female voice spoke, outside the door. It was a rather mature voice, that everyone in the room identified as a female voice, and Palutena in particular thought its tone sounded very similar to the tone Roxas spoke in when she had turned him into a female, for some of their... kinkier, times together. 

The doors to the ward opened, and a new woman, who Roxas hadn't seen before in a very long time, walked in. That new woman, who Roxas hadn't seen in a very long time, happened to be Alice Gremory herself, Roxas' great-grandmother, and Zeoticus' mother. 

Alice Gremory had the appearance of a middle-aged woman in her forties, and despite this, she was probably tied with Palutena (in Roxas' eyes) for being the most beautiful woman in the room. She had long, straight crimson hair that, like Rias', reached down to her thighs, green eyes, and an incredibly voluptuous figure. Just one of her breasts would have been larger than Roxas' own head. 

All she wore for clothing was a plain-red short-sleeved t-shirt that had a portion of it cut open, in order to reveal some of her enormous cleavage, and a pair of black shorts that were so short that it could have been illegal (and probably WAS illegal, in some underdeveloped countries of the human world). 

"Though I admire your enthusiasm to try and repair relations with your grandson, Zeoticus," Alice remarked to her son. "Wouldn't it be better for him, AND your daughter, to be trained by Amalgamation's best user, hmm?" 

She raised a crimson eyebrow at Zeoticus, who looked very much like he would like to argue back, but he couldn't argue with the logic of his mother. 

"Y-Yes. You're right." he replied, before turning to Roxas. "Your grandmother and I hope that we can repair our relationship with you, Roxas." 

And just like that, he left the hospital without another word, leaving Roxas' peerage, Roxas, Palutena, Rias and Alice together. 

"Good to see you again, Roxas." Alice greeted her great-grandson. "And you, Rias. Nice to see you too, Palutena." 

"Good to see you too, Alice." Palutena replied, nodding and smiling. "I hear you've got a new place, is that true?" 

"It is." Alice replied. "It's a two-story penthouse in Quebec City. You really should come over and take a look at it, it's amazing." 

"Wait, you know each other?" Roxas asked. Palutena looked at him. 

"Yeah, we do." she replied. "I thought I told you this, Roxas. While the Great War was going on, I lived with your great-grandmother, who refused to take part. The pair of us lived in hiding together." 

"Oh... heheh." Roxas replied. "I guess I forgot..." his mind wandered to what someone would naturally think when confronted with the revelation that two hotties such as Palutena and Alice Gremory lived together for a long time, and that triggered blood to start oozing out of his nose. Which Alice noticed after a second. 

She started laughing a second later. 

"Oh, Roxas!" she giggled. "Though I wouldn't mind having some fun with your wife, as she's grown quite a bit from the teenage girl into an immensely beautiful woman, we weren't lovers during the time we lived together." 

"No." Palutena added, waving her hand and cleaning up Roxas' nose with magic. "Just friends. We've kept in touch ever since." 

"That we have." Alice replied. "Anyway, Roxas, I came here after the Game finished on TV, and I have to say. It was a wonderful match." 

"Thanks." Roxas replied, as Alice began giggling again. Palutena pulled out her phone and opened it, read something on the screen, and stood up. Muttering something about Heaven, she left the room, kissing Roxas goodbye. 

"And it's a nice surprise to see that you got Zeoticus to apologize to you for something." Alice added. "That's something even I had trouble with, centuries ago, when he was still a little brat." 

"Hehe." Roxas chuckled, remembering why he liked his great-grandmother so much. She was a lot more easy-going than pre-apology Zeoticus. "Didn't you say something about training Rias and me in Amalgamation?" 

"Oh, yes." Alice replied. "Like my son said. I saw you using Amalgamation during the Rating Game, and I thought I'd offer to train both of you." she replied. "Since you, Roxas, to be blunt, aren't nearly as skilled as you could be with Amalgamation, no offence meant." 

"None taken." Roxas replied. 

"And Rias." Alice continued. "I have no idea why, but your parents just decided to completely neglect you training in your Amalgamation." she shrugged. "But it doesn't matter much. I'll make sure to rectify that. If you wish." 

"Sure." Roxas and Rias replied, together. "We'll do it. 

"Great." Alice replied. "And by the way. In case you want to know how good I am with Amalgamation..." 

Right before everyone's eyes, Alice clapped her hands, and SEVEN crimson holes appeared around her. 

"Any questions?" 

Roxas and Rias shook their heads. 

"Good." Alice replied, as the holes disappeared. "Now, what day are you both good to come over to my place and train?" 

Line Break  

A few hours later, after everyone in Roxas' peerage was cleared to leave the hospital, everyone in his peerage (sans Neo, as Sirzechs had called to order her onto another espionage-type mission against the Old Satan Faction), including Rias, and Roxas himself, appeared through his silver magic-circle in the living room of his house. 

Palutena was sat on the sofa, talking to Penemue, along with someone who Roxas didn't really expect to see. This person looked up, and smiled at the sight of him. 

"Oh, Roxas." Gabriel greeted him, standing up. "Hello." 

"Gabriel?" Roxas asked, stepping forward. Gabriel nodded, walked over to the silver-haired Nephalem, and enveloped him in a hug, that Roxas hesitantly returned. 

"Palutena was telling me about your Rating Game." the blonde Angel of Revelation informed Roxas. "Congratulations on your victory." 

"Thanks." Roxas replied, as Gabriel let him go, but held him by the shoulders, looking him over. "But what're you doing here?" 

"Michael told her to come here from Heaven." Penemue replied, from the sofa. "To spend time with her future husband. Or something of that description?" 

"Wait, future husband?" Rias blinked, and stared at Roxas. 

"Yeah." Roxas replied, shrugging. "I'm engaged to Gabriel." 

"I... I see." Rias replied, eying the busty blonde Angel with caution, before walking out of the room. Roxas' peerage also dispersed, to go and (presumably) go and do their own thing. Like take a nap as a result of the Rating Game. 

Palutena and Penemue also left the room, with both Goddess and Fallen Angel/Succubus Hybrid delivering kisses to Roxas' cheeks as they walked out, leaving him and Gabriel alone. 

"So..." Roxas said, thinking fast, as he was rather good at doing. "You wanna watch a movie or something?" 

"Sure." Gabriel replied, her smile seeming to warm Roxas' heart, as it always did whenever he was in her presence. 

"Cool." he replied.