Chapter 1 - Part 3 - Be Judged By the Seven Stars

Akeno Himejima's Soliloquy

— ○ ● ○ ─

A week has passed since our graduation trip. The new school year has started for everyone. Rias, Aaron, Kiyohime, Ingvild, Sona, Tsubaki and I have started to enjoy our college life. However, Aaron has mostly focused on his restaurant and it's been quite popular and even had people coming from different towns to enjoy the food there.

What we didn't expect was for him to work the floor, cook and…hire Lavinia to sing for everyone. In a small corner of the restaurant was a stage for anyone to go up and sing. Lavinia was the one to usually do it. However, her time there was few and far between as she only sang at various points of the day (typically at peak hours).

One week from now, the opening ceremony for the Rating Game World Tournament will take place, and everyone has been slowly getting ready for it. Everyone in Rias' peerage are also ready, she created the team called [Team Rias Gremory], it wasn't anything fancy, but it was simple enough to understand.

We also managed to gain a few new members for it, we have all (8) pawns solely on one person. We filled the [Rook] position with someone else that's powerful and we have a single reserve member, but someone else has offered to be part of the reserve members, but is still unsure.

So far through Aaron, we learned that around 1200 teams have registered for the tournament which was quite shocking, so the preliminary rounds will be long and may last till summer.

Currently, it was after school and we were in a different space thanks to Aaron, and we as [Team Rias Gremory] were training, but earlier…we saw a fierce battle taking place in another subspace that Aaron created.

His [Queen] position has slowly decreased in participants, the ones that wish to occupy that position have been fighting for it quite fiercely, it started to become even more heated right after the trip.

And as of now, there were only three people left and they were all ridiculously powerful. As far as I could see, fire and ice mainly clashed. I love all three of them, but cheering for all three left a strange feeling in me, so I decided to silently watch from a distance and they understood my decision.

Apart from that, there were two, maybe even three teams that were participating for Aaron. The first was Aurelia-san, or [Team Golden Rakshasa], and the other was Cao Cao as [Team Spear of the Draconic Emperor]. The last one which is unofficial was the team that Hirokazu-san and Caeda the Eradicator were part of, but I believe their team's name was [Team Phantastic Dragons].

According to Aaron, Hirokazu-san's team had grown a lot because of the thing she did to the Sacred Gear system in Heaven. So it helped Hirokazu-san grow, but his teammates also grew a lot thanks to Caeda-san's harsh training and the use of the [Hyperbolic Regenerative Chambers].

"Let's stop our training for today. Good work everyone," said Rias. All of us, minus our [Pawn] trained today. However, he told us that he was training in his own so we left it at that. He was quite powerful after all.

"Your Eminence, thank you for your advice today," said Yumi. She, along with Xenovia had fought with Vasco Strada, one of the strongest exorcists and wielders of [Durandal].

Vasco Strada had changed a lot—he had accepted being Aaron's subordinate and he looked very young. According to him, he was in the prime of his life and would slowly age there. To him, Aaron was apparently the second coming of the God of the Bible, and wished to follow him, and so Aaron made him an offer…

And that was to have an extended life. He would also give him his youth and prime strength back, and from there, he could become even stronger. That was what Aaron told him, and it took him some time to think about it, but in the end…he chose to join. Aaron didn't change his race, he is still human, but he gave him an extended life (10,000 years) and his youthful appearance back.

His Eminence Strada now looks like a late twenties man with white hair and he's even more energetic than ever—no, probably more.

"Hmm. Both of you are adapting quickly and learning the things I taught you at a rapid pace. I look forward to seeing both your growth in the future. However, I am the [Rook] of our team, so I won't have that speed trait when we have our matches in the future, so as you two are the [Knights], I will leave that to you," he told them.

"Yes sir!" both Yumi and Xenovia answered seriously.

"They're enthusiastic, aren't they?" Rias asked me as she came to my side.

"Yes. Especially Xenovia since she's being taught by the strongest wielder of [Durandal]…although…" I muttered and looked at the weapon by His Eminence Strada's side.

"Yes, who would have thought Aaron would gift him such a terrifying weapon. [Durandal X], which is a replica of [Durandal] but can only be wielded by His Eminence Strada…," said Rias.

Terrifying is an understatement. The destruction he causes with it by just swinging it casually is mind boggling. Even Xenovia who holds back her full strength is shocked by it, it was nearly the same as when she used her strength against him back during the rebellion—before the final battle.

But His Eminence Strada has also been training in Aaron's [Pocket Dimension], as his new subordinates. He treats them equally and gives them plenty of advantages. We don't mind since it benefits us as well.

Suddenly, a magic circle appeared to our right and Grayfia came out of it.

"Grayfia? Is something wrong?" Rias asked.

"It's over. His [Queen] has been chosen," she said and we were surprised by this. Everyone looked at Rias and we all went back to his home.

— ○ ● ○ ─

Once we got there, we left Aaron's aura upstairs in the infinite hallway of bedrooms. We followed it and found him in…Suzaku-nee-sama's room. When I looked at her, she was asleep.

"Um…"

"She and Velgrynd lost the final fight. They were all quite injured at the end of it. If I didn't have my new barrier installed there, they would have definitely destroyed the omniverse many times over due to their clashes," said Aaron while looking at Suzaku-nee-sama.

He then started stroking her head and the pained expression she had while sleeping instantly relaxed. I could feel some kind of energy from his hand, so he must be healing her…

"So does that mean…?"

"Lavinia won. It was her and Suzaku fighting at the end. Velgrynd did her best, but couldn't keep up with the two—it was the difference in raw power that knocked her out. It felt like universes were colliding every time they struck each other, you know?" he said and sighed.

"Anyway, I'll go check on the other two. Are you staying, Akeno?" he asked me.

"Y-yes. I'll go and check on Velgrynd-san and Lavinia soon…!" I replied and he smiled before leaving the room. He spoke with His Eminence Strada and he also joined him.

I sat on the chair that Aaron was on and held Suzaku-nee-sama's hand. I wonder how hard they fought each other…? He said that it felt like it, but we didn't feel anything. Are his new barriers that powerful? Will he enclose the areas we fight in with those from now on? So does that mean we can fight using our full power?

…Probably not since we still have the rest of Team [DxD] to avoid from hurting, but we'll have more liberty in using our powers which was kind of relieving.

"She's fine, Akeno and what Aaron said was true. I watched it with him," said a voice and I turned to look at them and found Cúntóir.

"Cúntóir…"

"It was a fight for that position, so it got very harsh at the end, but please understand that they don't hate each other after it. They actually grew closer during the fight, actually," she told me. She then poked my head and I saw everything…

Suzaku-nee-sama, Lavinia and Velgrynd-san were all bloody and bruised. Velgrynd-san's arm was missing and she was the first one to fall and pass out. Aaron immediately brought her to him and healed him.

After that, it was a clash of Suzaku-nee-sama and Lavinia. What I didn't expect was for them—for that dimension to wrap and change. The places that it changed to were different planets and different locations in space, and other realms—all of them were obliterated with a single clash of their auras.

Even when they started using their fists, just the shockwave of each hit destroyed many stars in that dimension's universe. In the end, they relied on their powers (Lavinia's [Tempest Extinction] and Suzaku-nee-sama's [Zhuque]).

The ending was…strange, Lavinia was mostly covered in light while I saw Suzaku-nee-sama in her [Spiritual Symbiosis] or [Spiritual Synthesis] as she fused with [Zhuque] and tried to fight Lavinia with it, but…in the end, whatever that new Balance Breaker Lavinia had, she rendered even Suzaku-nee-sama's flames useless, and in the end she lost.

"At least they didn't—"

"…Suzaku was missing her left leg; did you not see? It was mostly in the form of a flame though since she was fused with [Zhuque]," said Cúntóir.

I was shocked and looked back at the memory and indeed she was. When I took a peek at her leg by moving her blanket, I saw it was already back. Why did I think Aaron wouldn't restore it? I sighed in relief and looked at Cúntóir again.

"What about Lavinia…?" I asked. I was also worried about her and wondered what kind of injury she had received.

"She suffered a missing right arm and part of her stomach. Aaron hated seeing it all, at times he had to physically stop himself from intervening, but he watched it all, he didn't look away for even a second, and once it was over, he healed them all instantly," she told me.

Well…that's just like Aaron, right? No wonder he looked distraught when we came in. It must have been painful to watch. He even told me that he still has flashbacks of when Lavinia was injured by Azrael, and it always bothers him. However, this time it was an official fight for his team's [Queen] position, so he couldn't stop it until it was over.

"W-what about the other positions?" I was also curious about that. There must have been some competition for it, right?

"It's mostly dealt with, those two (Velgrynd and Suzaku) requested to be put into different positions if they lost, the same with Lavinia," said Cúntóir. "Velgrynd wishes to be a [Pawn] and Suzaku didn't mind any, so she may be any of the pieces."

If it's Suzaku-nee-sama, she can fulfill any of the roles. She's a jack of all trades, master of many!

Cúntóir suddenly smiled and said, "There will be an interesting announcement during the opening ceremony, so look forward to that."

"An interesting announcement?" I repeated.

She nodded again, but didn't say anything. After that she also vanished. I wonder what announcement was going to be said during it…? Maybe the grand prize? But…everyone has already been informed about that, and that's why there are so many participants in this tournament.

Whatever it may be…a lot of people will become interested once it's announced tonight…

— ○ ● ○ ─

Yumi Kira's Soliloquy

— ○ ● ○ ─

It was already slightly past mid-April and it was currently after school for me. I was officially in my third year now, and this year I would also graduate and join Rias-nee-san, Akeno-san and Aaron in Kuoh Academy college division.

However, for now, we were in our club and doing our club activities. President Asia has gotten used to be the new president and has assimilated quite well. I was the Vice President and we had quite a lot of new members.

Princess Kunou, who was in the middle school division as a first year, Le Fay-san, as a first year in the high school division, Bennia-san another first year, and Tosca who's in the middle school division.

Xenovia officially left the club too since she became the new Student Council President. There were also some new members for the new student council, such as Ouryuu (Ryuuta) Nakiri, Millarca Vordenburg and Tadami Kamo. Momo-san and Tsubasa-san left the student council and are now just normal students.

They did mention something about hoping to be employed in Aaron's future empire if it does take off. A few others also wished for its success so that they could work for him. I don't know if they wanted to because it'll be they'll be close to him, or for the pay that he mentioned to us.

Either way…

"Today's activity is investigating a report of a youkai that's been spotted wandering around the outskirts of Kuoh. It hasn't entered Aaron's barrier, so he hasn't done anything about it, but he has mentioned it in passing, the same with Lianne-sensei and the Stahlritter," said Asia.

"Youkai, huh? I heard that some kind of rapper youkai was here last year but also moved away. I wonder what this youkai is," said Tosca.

<<I've been wandering the place from time-to-time, but haven't seen it personally. But there is a chance they may be hiding their identity and powers as a human,>> said Bennia.

"When it comes to youkais, you can count on me! I can help!" Kunou said happily while drinking from her tea.

I glanced at Tosca who was being helped with school work. Aaron gave her the [Language] ability so she didn't need to worry about learning languages and not understanding other people, this also included the supernatural languages. Aaron also did this for Aoife, his mother, and Cindy-san.

Though he did this for others who didn't want to keep on using magic to interpret other languages like Kanami-san and Natsume-san.

"…Rias-nee-chan, Akeno-san and Aaron-nii aren't here yet," mumbled Gasper. Everyone looked at their empty seats because of what he said.

The former members of the club said they would come by today and watch over our activities and also tell us about their college life. Although Aaron said that he wouldn't attend college much and just use his avatars.

Aaron also said he'd inform us about other things concerning the tournament. However, he has also started training his team, but he's been using a different dimension for it. He's also busy going to a place called [Sanctuary], and the Dimensional Gap because his base there was complete and wanted to speak to Antares-san there about security and other things.

After graduation, he became even more busy. His job as the Middleman, Oppai Dragon, college student, owner of a growing restaurant and business, and the ruler of the Omniverse. It's a lot of things to take care of for someone his age…although he is around 10,000+ years old, so maybe it's not…?

"Kunou, Aaron's probably preparing for the tournament, the same with everyone else who said that they'd come—"

"Oh, we're here," said a voice and we turned to it. Aaron and everyone else were there. "Sorry for the delay, I had to hand over some responsibilities to my avatar while we came here."

Rias-nee-san, Akeno-san, Ingvild-san, Kiyohime-san and even Sona-san and Tsubaki-san were there too.

"Let's talk about the tournament, shall we? The opening ceremony will be starting tomorrow after all and…a special announcement will happen too," he said and sighed. Aaron looked tired after he said that…does that mean the announcement was something he didn't really like…?

— ○ ● ○ ─

A day later and it was time for the opening ceremony of the tournament. All the teams were in a stadium around four times larger than the Tokyo Dome, and it was located in the Satan's territory. Every team had to be here, but only the [King] and [Queen] were required to attend, so not all members had to be here.

However, we [Team Rias Gremory] were all in attendance! …Well, partially. His Eminence Strada and Mr. Black weren't present as they had other things to attend to. But the rest of us, including our reserve member, were also here. But…

"What's the holdup…?" a person asked.

"Yeah, we should have started around two minutes ago. Did something happen?" another asked.

The stadium was getting restless. According to Aaron…he was the one responsible with starting the ceremony, but he himself wasn't here. He told us this morning as well as yesterday that he'd be bringing his [Queen] with him along with Tiamat-san for the speech. But they weren't here at all, nor could I feel their auras.

"Iyaaa~ there sure are a lot of people, huh?" said our new member. She was Lint Sellzen. Yes, she was related to that bastard Freed, but their personalities were worlds apart.

I'll briefly explain the general outline of this tournament. It's what Aaron explained to us yesterday. The first is participation eligibility. There aren't many restrictions on the participants, and devils are able to participate in teams that aren't the peerage they belong to.

The only one who is essential for the registration is the core of the team, the [King]. As for the rest of the team members, all they have to do is finalize their registrations before the beginning of a match, and at the same time, changes to team members are also allowed. (Although there seems to be a limit on the number of members who can be changed at a time), but only the [King] cannot be changed.

It's also forbidden for players to participate in two different teams. If such a thing is discovered, they will be immediately disqualified. There's also a penalty for the team the player belongs to. In addition, team members can be constantly replaced in this tournament, and new members can additionally be added to the team. Our team had no vacancies, so it was mostly complete.

Next are the tournament's rules for team formation. Like the Rating Games, there are at most one [King] and [Queen], there are at most two [Rooks], [Bishops] and [Knights], while there can be a maximum of eight [Pawn] positions. This caps the maximum number of team members at sixteen. Players are registered according to their respective roles.

As mentioned earlier, the composition of a team is not restricted, so the [King] can register their players for roles in accordance with their preferences. Although a devil might have originally been a [Knight], he can have the option of being a [Rook] in the tournament if they so desire.

According to the original [Evil Pieces] and the rules of the Rating Game, the value, and number of pieces used to turn someone into their servant varies based on their natural qualities and abilities. But this concept has essentially been abolished under the current tournament rules.

The special characteristics of each of the chess pieces will activate at the beginning of a match. Even for people who aren't using the Evil Pieces, as long as they are registered as a [Knight], they will gain the characteristic of increased speed at the beginning of a match. As for the devils who use the Evil Pieces, if they are registered under a different piece from their original, their inherent piece's characteristics will be overridden by their tournament piece's characteristics at the beginning of a match.

For example, if I were to participate as a [Rook], then I would lose the characteristics of my [Knight] piece during a match, and instead gain the characteristics of a [Rook] piece. Aaron along with Rias-nee-san explained this yesterday.

Secondly, the value of the [Pawn] piece has been changed in this tournament. Even if a servant originally possessed multiple pieces, it would become equivalent to having one unless they were a God-class being. A simple example would be Saji-kun, who possesses 4 [Pawn] pieces, but according to the rules of this tournament, he is counted as having only one.

For God-class beings, a single God-class being takes up two [Rook], [Knight], or [Bishop] pieces. For those who are regarded as powerful Gods, if they were considered in a one-to-one ratio with others, the competition would become too unbalanced.

As such, under most circumstances, one God-class being is considered equivalent to two [Rook], [Knight], or [Bishop] pieces. Of course, for people whose strength is comparable to that of a God-class being, they are also judged according to this standard.

However, there is a limit to the conversion of a piece's value. The limitations for [Pawn] pieces are very strict. It's because a [Pawn] piece can be promoted to a [Queen] that such limitations are in place. Otherwise, many [King] players would register their strongest players as [Pawn] pieces. Therefore, the outcome of the Game would depend entirely on the pawns.

If there were eight Ultimate-class devils registered as [Pawn] pieces, who were all then promoted to [Queen], the Game would become rather unbalanced. Similarly, when God-class beings are registered as [Pawn] pieces, there are many limitations.

What follows are the so-called 'basics', which have essentially been abolished. Even though the number of God-class beings participating is less than ten percent, they are still opponents who cannot be underestimated.

Among the gods participating, the most famous one is Sakra. He is one of the most watched figures. He was also attending the opening ceremony and occupied a corner of the stadium. There was no one who dared approach him.

When Sakra announced that he was going to participate, there were many other Gods who gave up on the tournament. He was the leader of the magnificent Four Heavenly Kings, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Virūḍhaka, Virūpākṣa, Vaiśravaṇa. He had immediately become the most favorable candidate to win.

The last piece of information regarding the tournament was the qualifying rounds. Each team starts with 1500 points and they would accumulate more points by playing matches. Winning against teams with higher points would lead to an incremental increase in the points. However, losing to a team with lower points than their own would result in their depletion.

Matches like this will last until summer. At the end of this period, the sixteen teams with the highest score would progress to the final tournament. Since there are more than a thousand teams participating, with even Gods also participating, the threshold to progress to the finals is incredibly high.

In addition, participation in the qualifying rounds was decided exclusively by each team. If they wanted to fight, and if they wanted to gain points, then they would register with the organizers, and they would then be matched to a team that also wanted to fight. In other words, the management of a team was entirely dependent on the team itself.

"Akeno-san, do you know where Aaron is? He's quite late…" I asked. But Akeno-san shook her head, also looking confused and worried. But suddenly the entire arena became even more noisy.

"H-hey! Look at that!" someone shouted and pointed at the sky. Even though we had no idea who shouted that, everyone turned to look and…

"Oh…my…Satan…" Rias-nee-san muttered in disbelief. Akeno-san and many others who we were friends, comrades or even acquainted with started laughing at what we saw.

It was an enormous dragon, bigger than anything we'd previously seen, although some people had seen it before because it was Aaron. His enormous eye turned to use and he winked. The cameras in the stadium turned to it and began taking picture or started filming it. However, it suddenly vanished and a silver pillar replaced it and it hit the large stadium stage.

"Hahaha! He certainly knows how to make an entrance!" Sakra shouted and howled with laughter.

After the silver pillar disappeared, three people were left in its place. At the very front was Aaron, with his new silver hair and eyes. He wore a near jet-black general's attire with a few silver, blue and gold accents around it. A symbol of a dragon was near his chest.

Beside him was Lavinia-san. She wore her usual witch attire and on his other side was another tournament organizer, Tiamat-san, one of the Dragon Kings. However, that wasn't all. Two others joined them and it was Azazel-sensei and Avezza-san. The tournament was also called the [Avezza Cup].

"Sorry for the delay, I had to deal with something…anyway, let's keep this short, shall we?" Aaron said into the mic. "As you're aware, the grand prize will be handled by me. I will grant any wish you desire. Of course, there are rules and limitations, but if it's acceptable enough I will fulfill it."

This created another round of excitement and then Aaron looked at Azazel-sensei who smirked.

"Many of you may have read on the website about a special announcement for today!" he shouted, and the entire dome became quiet. This was the effect Azazel-sensei wanted. He raised his arm up and pointed to the sky. "To start off this tournament we'll be hosting an exhibition match! A team consisting of powerful fighters and even a few gods versus…the Middleman himself and his own team!" He pointed to a giant monitor and added, "and here it is!!"

— ○ ● ○ ─

Team Dragon Legacy:

King – Jin Skyward

Queen – Lavinia Reni

Bishop – Layla

Bishop – Faythe

Rook – Celestin

Rook – Yoichi Nasuno

Knight – Amaris

Knight – Elsha

Pawn (8) – Elyscia

— ○ ● ○ ─

Team Transcendent Time:

King – Hachiman (God of War)

Queen – Raijin (God of Lightning, Thunder and Storms)

Bishop – Mahatma Gandhi (Clone)

Bishop – Bekas Vassago

Rook – Crystella Beaver

Rook – Matteo

Knight – Eres Tannin (Second Son of Tannin)

Knight – Babitar

Pawn (8) – Martin Luther King Jr (Clone)

— ○ ● ○ ─

Everyone was left speechless at that lineup! There were clones of famous historical figures! They were so famous that even people outside of their countries knew of them. Not only that, but two gods were leading the team too! Hachiman the God of War and Raijin the Goddess of Lightning! Not to mention Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and the second son of Tannin the former Dragon King!

However, I also noticed that a devil was also part of that line up, Bekas Vassago, a devil from the 72 pillars. But 'Babitar', 'Matteo' and 'Crystella Beaver' were all a mystery to us. I wonder what kind of people they were? They must be powerful since they were picked to be part of that team.

But…I don't think anyone on that team for Aaron was part of his original team…did he randomly pick them, apart from Lavinia-san? He looked at me and smirked. I think he just read my thoughts…

I looked around and everyone shared my shock and excitement. This exhibition match was before the start of the tournament…depending on how it turns out, it will really make everyone even more excited…

— ○ ● ○ ─

Aaron Toole's Soliloquy

— ○ ● ○ ─

"That's correct, the only one that's part of my 'real' team is Lavinia. Everyone else is part of the reserves, but I also wanted to give them some play time, so…" I told them. Everyone had approached me since we got home. It was night and we had finished eating dinner an hour ago.

"Um Aaron, do you know who Babitar-san, Matteo-san and Crystella Beaver-san are? They're the only ones I'm not aware of," asked Yumi.

I nodded. "I do, to put it simply, they're humans. You're aware of the changes I made to the Sacred Gear system, right? Two of them have new Sacred Gears that are just below the threshold of me adding them to the [New Longinus], but Crystella is a magician with a unique power. That's all I'm saying."

I can change the members of my team, and I'll adjust it based on who reaches me in the final…though I already know and I can't wait to make that suggestion when the time comes. The thought of it made me a bit giddy.

"The match is tomorrow, and after that, the tournament will begin. So make sure you either train, relax or watch. Ah, the rules for this particular one aren't anything complex. It's the standard rule set to make it easier for everyone watching for the first time. But as you know, during the preliminary stage various types of Rating Games will be played, but on the main stage, it'll be the standard rule set again," I told them.

After speaking with everyone for a little while longer, everyone scattered, either to relax, train or do something else. But everyone was excited about the match tomorrow. The ones left in the living room were my team.

"Alright…let's go to that dimension and train. I want you to get even stronger, Yoichi."

Yoichi who joined us nodded seriously and we finally left. Everyone there except for Lavinia and Yoichi were [Outer God – EX], so I wanted Yoichi in particular to become stronger so he could face everyone that's on the other team. Most of them were at least Ultimate-class to God-class in strength.

In this exhibition match, the rules were altered slightly to make sure the entirety of the supernatural world as well as the other teams become hyped and fired up at the prospect of playing the games. Although it will only last twenty minutes since I want them to entertain the crowd watching for that time…and after that, we'll end it.

The Rating Games are for entertainment after all.

— ○ ● ○ ─

The next day came, my team spent around 200 years in that dimension and the two I wanted to get stronger did. Yoichi was High-tier God-class, so in terms of raw power he could keep up with Raijin and Hachiman. Lavinia went up one rank so she's [Omniversal – C] and she worked quite hard for it. The rest were mostly training them or trying out new abilities thanks to [Food Chain].

"I'll be cheering for you, Aaron~!" my mom said and hugged me. Aoife pouted a little since I didn't choose her, so to rebel, she became part of Aurelia's reserved members, sheesh…

"I know, thank you, mom," I replied and hugged her back. "We'll get going then, I prepared a lot of food for all of you as well as snacks just in case you wish to watch it."

"Where's it being held at?" Danu asked.

"Azazel Stadium in the Underworld in the Fallen Angel's territory. Anyway, we'll see you guys later," I told them and we waved at them as we left.

— ○ ● ○ ─

[It's the exhibition match that everyone has been waiting for! Today, will mark the start of the Rating Game World Tournament! Today, it's [Team Dragon Legacy] led by none other than the Middleman! Versus! [Team Transcendent Time]! Led by the God of War from the Shinto Pantheon, Hachiman-sama!]

In the field stood both teams. My team was on the west side while Hachiman's team was in the east side. We stared each other down; Raijin wasn't trying to hide her excitement since in a way it was a revenge match for her since I beat her not too long ago.

[Today! We're going to be joined by a guest commentator! He belongs to the devil's side, Princess Rias Gremory's father! Well then, Sir Gremory, thank you very much for joining us today!]

[No, no, it's my pleasure. Thank you for having me. From a personal perspective, I want to cheer for my daughter's fiancé, Jin Skyward. However, I will also provide a serious and non-biased commentary for today,] said Zeoticus.

[In today's game, it's the basic and simple rule set! We aim to ease the new watchers into the Rating Games by doing so. To simply put it, there are no special rules, and the team's objective is just to take own the [King]!]

[With that said! In less than one minute, both teams will be transported to a different space provided by the Middleman! As soon as both teams are transported, the match will officially begin!]

Hachiman and I walked towards the middle and we both shook hands.

"May the best team win, Jin."

"Likewise, Hachiman. Good luck."

As our greetings finished, both our teams were transported away.

— ○ ● ○ ─

As soon as we were transported to the field that this Rating Game was going to be played at, I sighed. I know I left the decision to Azazel and the other organizers, but I didn't think they'd pick this damn place.

"You gotta be kidding me…"

— ○ ● ○ ─

Third Person Point of View

— ○ ● ○ ─

The place that they were transported too was—

[Today's field is…! The Middleman's previous home in Ireland, a small little town called Dun Laoghaire! However, its size has been increased at least two times making it a little larger than normal! Both teams have been teleported to the opposite end of the field. The Middleman's to the west, near some cliffs, while Hachiman-sama is to the west, near an intersection!]

"You weren't expecting this, Aaron?" asked Lavinia.

"No…I left the decision to the rest of them. All I did was reinforce it and covered it with a powerful barrier, so even I can go wild if I wanted," he replied. In other words, anyone, regardless of power could go full power and the universe would be safe.

Aaron sighed and turned to face the direction of Hachiman's aura. He could feel a certain goddess rushing towards their direction.

"…Let's execute our plan then. Go," he ordered. Everyone disappeared while he and Lavinia walked over to a certain elevated area.

"We're waiting here?" she asked.

"Yeah. I doubt Hachiman will start picking fights, so when Raijin gets here, can I leave her up to you?" Aaron asked.

Lavinia smiled and agreed. "Leave her to me! I'll let her play with Alo-chan and Cyuno-chan."

Seconds after they had that conversation, a very excited and powerful goddess arrived near their area. She looked up at them as her entire body was covered in purple lightning.

"Jiiiiiin! Come fight me!!"

"No…"

Raijin did not expect that response as she stared at him in shock. Lavinia put her hand forward and summoned an ice bird and kitsune as well as two other ice dolls.

"Hoho? [Queen] versus [Queen] then? Very well, I'm fine with this too!" Raijin shouted as she pulled out a sword and faced off against the two creatures Lavinia created.

— ○ ● ○ ─

In a certain area of the town, two people came across each other. These two were…Elyscia and Martin Luther King Jr. Both people stared at each other before they started conversing.

"I didn't think I would come across such a person as yourself," said Elyscia.

"You're also quite well known, Miss Elyscia. You're one of Sir Jin's subordinates after all. However, since we're in this match, we must fight—although I am but a mere clone, I will do my best in our bout," said Martin.

The area around Martin began to tremble and the rocks and debris around began to float. A powerful aura coated his body and he suddenly lunged at Elyscia. The woman in question easily dodged his strike and countered using her own hands.

Martin Luther King Jr had covered himself in a powerful and dense aura of touki. As a clone he was given the best treatment and training opportunities. As such, he could rival God-class beings, but he was also given several abilities by the ones that resurrected him.

Martin spread his arms open and several thousand magic circles appeared, each with a different type of magic, and Elyscia was quite surprised by this.

[Ooooh! A fight broke out between both [Pawns]! Martin Luther King Jr versus Elyscia! How will this duel end?!]

Martin unleashed the barrage of magic towards Elyscia who summoned her sword and slashed them apart surprising him. However, he didn't stop there as he continued his assault and also joined it and closed their distance. Elyscia defended using her own magic and only had to deal with Martin and his close-quarters combat.

Elyscia increased her speed to a point where Martin couldn't follow it and aimed a palm strike at his chin. Her attack connected and Martin was temporarily stunned. She followed it up by kicking him in the chest and sending him away.

Martin crashed to the ground, but quickly got up. To his surprise a woman's knee was right in front of him and he was hit again and crashed through several buildings. Several swords of different colors and elements appeared above Elyscia and she launched the attack towards Martin.

The man somehow pulled himself out of the debris and avoided many of the swords that Elyscia sent at him. But he also noticed that she wasn't taking this fight seriously, but he himself had to use everything he had to not be killed.

'The Middleman's women are crazy! But I'm enjoying myself!' he thought, and a large smile spread across his face. "Let's do this you craaazy woman!!"

Martin's power increased even more—he was pushing past his body's limits and charged back at Elyscia who smiled at the man.

— ○ ● ○ ─

In another part of the town, where there were various shops around them, two people stared each other down. One of them was a humanoid dragon. They resembled the Blazing Meteor Dragon, Tannin—this was Eres Tannin, the second son of Tannin. He was around thirteen meters tall and produced a powerful dragon aura.

In front of him was a woman with beautiful pale skin with hip-length silver hair that had bangs hanging over her face where it mostly hangs over on the right side and clear sky-blue eyes. She wore a jacket-like trench coat, with a white button-up shirt and black skirt. She also wore a blue pendant gemstone with red ribbons, and also had golden chains looped around her left shoulder.

This was Amaris Eunhwa a former wielder of [Divine Dividing]. She like Elsha, Belzard and Garrett were resurrected by Aaron and now were living normal lives again, and also became his subordinates.

Amaris smiled and put her hand forward. When she did a pair of light wings appeared on her back—they resembled [Divine Dividing].

[Eeeeeeeeeeeeeh?! Player Amaris just summoned the Sacred Gear [Divine Dividing]! What an unexpected turn of events!]

"It's not real though…" she muttered. "Half Dimension."

The area around Eres Tannin began to get halved and the dragon had trouble moving, but he slowly took steps forward. Amaris expected this, so she didn't panic. However, she used another [Half Dimension] on the dragon which slowed him down even more significantly.

Amaris charged towards Eres and touched his shoulder. At the same time, Eres tried to attack her, but she easily dodged his attempt and landed behind him. Once the suppression around him relaxed, Eres flew towards Amaris, but she put her hand forward again.

"Divide…" she whispered and Eres felt his power get halved.

However, he kept going forward and tried to bite her shoulder, but again, she dodged it swiftly. Eres turned around and punched the ground in front of him which made it explode, and various debris started firing everywhere. Amaris dodged the debris, but Eres suddenly appeared behind her and he sent a straight punch toward her back.

She quickly turned around, and deflected the punch aimed at her. Once Eres missed his punch, Amaris quickly elbowed him in the gut, launching him away.

If they were to compare themselves—the sons of Tannin, the first born would be the strongest, after that would be Eres and finally Bova. However, after Bova received training from Aaron, as well as the various dragons he's close with, currently Bova Tannin even stands above his own father.

This information was not known to the public yet. However, Bova wasn't the only one to get stronger, as both his siblings also grew in strength. Eres as of now matched his father's strength, but did not have the same respect he had. That is why he joined this team. During the tryouts for [Team Transcendent Time] Eres was beaten by everyone, including the three humans that joined the team, shocking him greatly.

After that day, he quickly sought after new strength that would surpass his old self as well as his siblings and father. Since the conception of the Rating Game World Tournament, Azazel and Sirzechs wanted this exhibition match to happen, and the formation of [Team Transcendent Time] had long since started back then.

Those fights that Eres had were before the war, or the attacks by the Wizards of Oz, so he had plenty of time to increase his strength.

Eres Tannin stood up from the place he crashed at. He felt pain all over his body, but at the same time he couldn't help but feel happy. His views on the world weren't shallow nor small, but he heavily overestimated his own abilities because of his parent, Tannin.

After being beaten by various people at different difficulties, he had broadened his horizons. "Woman, state your name. I am Eres Tannin, second son of the former Dragon King Tannin."

Amaris tilted her head and said, "I'm Amaris Eunhwa, former wielder of the Sacred Gear [Divine Dividing]. I was brought back to life by Jin."

Upon hearing this, Eres began laughing for a few seconds. He then looked at Amaris with a grin. "I see, a former wielder, is it? Fufu, then with our battle, I will reach new heights in strength like in the past. I will put my honor and name on the line! Here I come!" he declared, and his power rose significantly.

Amaris smiled, and her body started to get covered in the Scale Mail of [Divine Dividing]. "It's nothing but ordinary armor though…but I'll accept, son of Tannin."

Eres sent another straight punch at Amaris. The young woman didn't move and took it straight on. When their fists collided, a powerful explosion ensued.

— ○ ● ○ ─

"Sir Mahatma Gandhi, it's an honor to fight you," said Layla.

The clone of Gandhi smiled at the angel and nodded. "I, too, am honored to exchange hands with an angel from Christianity's Heaven. Let us have an honorable fight."

Mahatma Gandhi wore a simple white dhoti. He was in an Indian style seating posture, eyes closed and facing Layla.

"Yes, of course," replied Layla as she brought out her sixteen golden feathered wings.

"Magnificent…" muttered Mahatma Gandhi. He himself also began floating, and multiple rings appeared behind his back and head.

Next, millions of magic circles began appearing behind him that summoned various spells and items. He then fired them at Layla who brought out her sword-and-scales staff. With this weapon she deflected and destroyed the attacks that were aimed at her.

Powerful lightning attacks rained on Layla who casually destroyed them too. Mahatma Gandhi kept up his assault as he summoned a scroll and began reading from it. Various new symbols appeared around him and the buildings around Layla and him began to grow various trees, vines, and roots.

Seconds later they also began going towards her. Layla increased her aura which disintegrated the new trees and roots that were going towards her. But to her surprise they quickly regenerated and attacked her again. She maneuvered in the air while flying towards Mahatma Gandhi, she summoned two light spears on each, she threw one of them at the roots that were following her, destroying them and the rest of the area with it, and the other at Mahatma Gandhi.

Mahatma Gandhi sensing danger dodged on the last second, but he didn't escape unscathed as the attack grazed the left side of his face, taking a large chunk of it. Mahatma Gandhi smiled and touched the missing part of his face and began healing it.

"My, to think a lady like you would have such destructive power…" he muttered and looked at the enormous crater that was left by Layla's attack.

"If it's the will of my master, I will strike down even gods," said Layla.

"And very loyal to their master. I hope this body of mine won't break down before the end of this match. Even if I am a clone, I wish to enjoy this as much as I can," said Mahatma Gandhi.

— ○ ● ○ ─

Yoichi sent multiple attacks towards the man named Matteo using his new bow that he was gifted by Aaron. At the same time, Celestin and Crystella Beaver were also fighting in the distance. Both team's [Rook] were fighting together against the other teams' [Rooks].

Celestin dodged various magic spells that were fired at him by Crystella. The woman looked like she had an infinite pool of magic as she kept on firing the attacks endlessly.

Crystella Beaver was an American magician who was born into a normal family. She got into contact with the supernatural by accident when she read a book of spells she found, and tried to mimic what she read and accidentally used a fire spell.

She was around 5'7" in height, long brown wavy hair, emerald green eyes and wore a more modern 'witch' outfit so she wouldn't stand out. It consisted of a short black and green shirt, a long black skirt and a small witch's hat.

From the day she found out about the supernatural, she dove straight into the deep end and joined the supernatural world. She was an independent magician working for herself, but would occasionally accept mercenary work. Eventually she joined the Grauzauberer for a brief time and was enamored by both Lisa and Lavinia's talents.

Just like Lavinia she had a natural affinity for magic, and she grew stronger and created her own magic circle formulas to benefit her.

"You're quite talented, ma'am. Are you in any magician's organization?" Celestin asked while deflecting magic attacks away with his hands.

"I used to be part of Grauzauberer but I left to pursue my own magic. No other magician's organizations really interested me," replied Crystella.

"I see," said Celestin as he charged at her and sent a barrage of punches her way. Crystella created several defensive magic circles which blocked some of Celestin's attacks, but in the end she couldn't defend against all of them and was hit at various parts of her body and was blown away.

Celestin made a signal and he switched places with Yoichi, who fired several more shots of his arrows at Crystella. To his surprise the woman had defended herself, but not by the use of magic…but by…

"E-ew…is that…t-tentacle manipulation…?" Yoichi asked while backing away in disgust.

"Kukuku~ I pleasure myself with these babies you know? At first, I was disturbed by it, but they're quite useful, not just because of how they can pleasure me," said Crystella as she got up.

"No, just…no" replied Yoichi and aimed his bow at the woman again and fired a volley of magic arrows. The woman blocked it with her arrows and defensive magic circles. The combination was enough to stop the attacks.

In the other side, Celestin had started a battle with the other [Rook], Matteo. The young man was around 5'6", had an athletic build, short blonde hair and brown eyes. He had several tattoos all over his body and he was using his Sacred Gear on Celestin.

"Hmm…interesting," muttered Celestin.

Matteo kept blinking around the place every time he blinked, at the same time the places he disappeared from, left afterimages that would become solid and attack the nearest opponent in its vicinity. Those solid afterimages could also use magic themselves which Celestin found fascinating.

"Young man, what do you call your Sacred Gear?" Celestin asked after quickly dealing with the afterimages.

Matteo stopped blinking around and stared at Celestin. "[Bypass Blink Pass], I'm shit at naming things, so if you come up with a better one, tell me!" replied the young man and laughed. He then started his assault again on Celestin.

'Good grief what an energetic child,' thought Celestin as he dodged the young man's attacks again. He looked at Yoichi who didn't seem to have any problems facing Crystella, however, he did look uncomfortable avoiding the tentacles that were being sent his way.

'Benkei is definitely watching and she's definitely going to make fun of me when I get back home!' Yoichi shuddered at the thought and sighed. 'I may as well look cool then…I'm in front of millions of people who are watching this right now!'

Yoichi looked at Celestin who nodded in agreement. Both of them disappeared and both Matteo and Crystella were suddenly hit on their sides and were forced closer to each other. They glanced at each other in confusion, before their movements were halted by an invisible force.

"Perhaps…just weaken them, okay?" Celestin told Yoichi.

"I know, Jin told us as much," replied Yoichi. His bow instantly changed into a large bow that was pure purple, its curves were smooth and then he started to charge it with his own powers.

A large amount of magic poured into the bow and a purple aura with purple electricity streaks started to discharge around him. Crystella and Matteo tried to escape, but the invisible force did not let them.

"This is…string…?!" shouted Crystella. "It's almost invisible to the naked eye!"

"Fufu, I copied a certain fellow subordinate of mine. She likes using such things after all," said Celestin with a calm smile.

Yoichi released his attack towards the two [Rooks] of [Team Transcendent Time]. The arrow he created was much larger than his previous ones. It looked more like a giant missile was rushing towards them. Even if they couldn't run away, both Matteo and Crystella created multiple layers of defensive magic circles.

Matteo wasn't as skilled as Crystella at magic, but he still was taught by her and he quickly picked it up. In combination with his Sacred Gear [Bypass Blink Pass], he created copies of those magic circles, doubling the amount that he made.

He himself also discovered his Sacred Gear by accident and became a sort of vigilante in his town. He wore a costume and called himself by the superhero name 'Blinkman'. He knew it wasn't original, but he also made fun of comics for their usually boring names too, so he just copied them.

However, he was soon contacted by the DxD Alliance and he was told of the bigger world ahead of him and it shocked him. He learned everything that ha happened over the last few months, and how things would be. Even though Matteo was cynical, he liked the idea of peace and unity that Aaron pursued since he knew that humans would never achieve it even if they tried.

So he wanted to figure out what kind of person this 'Dual Dragon Emperor' was, and he did his own independent research, and what he found shocked him. His initial thoughts were: 'This pervert wants to do what?!', but his opinion slowly changed the more he read about him. And in the end, his current opinion is: 'He's a pervert, but he's doing good…so who cares.'

"I like Rating Games," said Matteo. Crystella looked at him like he was insane, as their defensive circles were destroyed by Yoichi's attack and they were hit.

A small explosion in the shape of a mushroom suddenly appeared in that area to which many on the field saw. When it eventually ended, both Yoichi and Celestin saw that both [Rooks] were injured, but not to the point of being forced to retire.

"That should do for now. Let's wait until we're given the signal," said Celestin.

"Right…"

— ○ ● ○ ─

The [Bishop] Bekas Vassago and [Knight] Babitar of [Team Transcendent Time] were facing off against the [Bishop] Faythe and [Knight] Elsha of [Team Dragon Legacy]. Bekas Vassago was from the Vassago clan that was part of the 72 Pillars of the Underworld while Babitar was a human that hailed from a European country.

Elsha, much like Amaris had a 'fake' [Boosted Gear] on her left arm and fought Babitar as both of them wielded a Sacred Gear (Elsha being a former wielder).

Babitar had medium length black hair that reached to his shoulder. He was around 6'0" and had an athletic build like Matteo. He wore very baggy clothing that suited the country he lived in as it was mostly cold all year round. His eyes were deep blue and he had Sacred Gears that related to his feet as blue armor-like boots that emitted blue lightning from them.

Babitar like Matteo accidentally discovered his Sacred Gear. However, in Babitar's case it was due to a life-and-death situation that led him to awaken them. In its normal form it gave him increased speed while also protecting him from being hurt because of that increased speed.

When Aaron found this out, he compared him to 'Savitar' from the DC Comics. He also saw that his Balance Breaker in the future would resemble Savitar's armor to make the man reach ridiculous speeds in the future.

"You can't catch me if you don't take me seriously, [Knight]," said Babitar. Elsha fearlessly smiled at the provocation but did nothing about it. This annoyed Babitar as he ran towards Elsha and sent a kick towards her face. To his surprise, Elsha dodged his attack again and he backed away.

'How can she still react? Even that dragon couldn't react to my attacks…although the only ones who could really counter me were the two gods…' thought Babitar. It then hit him. 'Don't tell me…she's at least a God-class being…?!'

Elsha's gauntlet gem glowed before she appeared in front of him. Babitar put his arms up to guard but to his utter horror, her punch that she threw at him passed his arms and hit him on the nose! Babitar was blown away, but Elsha's assault didn't end there, as she appeared beside the flying Babitar and she locked both her hands together in a tight fist before she swung it down onto his chest, smashing him to the ground.

"Argh?!" Babitar shouted as he slammed into the ground shattering it. He felt a few of his ribs break and the wind knocked out of him. But fortunately for him, Elsha jumped away after the brief assault he received.

He shakily stood up and stared confusedly at the woman. He gritted his teeth and decided to go and attack her again. He didn't want to believe that he was only at that level. Instead, he was picked to be on this team, even if it was only an exhibition match. He wanted the world to see that he was amazing—that he had potential.

"Not yet…" he muttered before dashing around Elsha with even more speed than earlier. Babitar did a few fakes, creating afterimages of himself and then attacked Elsha from behind! But to his surprise, his fist passed through her and he hit nothing.

"You're 10,000 years too early to make me fight seriously!" Elsha shouted before appearing behind him and firing a point-blank dragon shot at his back, flinging the young man into a building.

"That's what happens when I'm paired up with amateurs…," said Bekas as he saw Babitar crash into the building.

"He is your teammate, be nice," chided Faythe. As a dragon and created by Antares, she like many others were strong. However, after formally joining Aaron's side and spending time with many of his comrades and other [Electa], she changed…slightly.

"He is a human, and I'm a devil. We are worlds apart. I'm also part of the 72 pillars, just below the Agares. It wouldn't be strange for me to look down on him," replied Bekas. He then summoned two demonic balls on both his hands and added, "This is also a Rating Game and he was picked for this team. You have to have a certain level of power, or potential."

Faythe dodged the attacks that Bekas threw at her. She could see that Bekas and Babitar were only around the low end of Ultimate-class, so it made her wonder why they were chosen for the team. She could argue that Babitar was selected because Aaron had said that his Sacred Gear, like Matteo's is close to being called one of the [New Longinus]. As of now, it's not enough, Babitar and Matteo needed to achieve their Balance Breakers and they would be added as candidates.

Bekas clicked his tongue and began to attack Faythe more, and the woman calmly avoided all the attacks. In the meantime, she watched Elsha's and Babitar's fight continue.

The young man had pulled himself out of the rubble and walked towards Elsha who stood still waiting for him. Babitar created two magic circles on his hands and then sped towards Elsha. Just like earlier he did a few fakes and instead fired magic attacks at Elsha. She simply put her hand forward and absorbed the attacks as the gem on the fake [Boosted Gear] glowed.

Babitar was stunned by this, but he couldn't stay still for long as Elsha lunged towards him and sent a punch towards his chest. He prepared to block it again, but remembered what had happened earlier and instead purposely fell to the ground to avoid it. The shockwave produced by Elsha's punch destroyed the surroundings behind him.

'That was stronger than earlier. If that hit me, I'd die! This woman is insane!' he thought and quickly created distance between them.

"Well? Are you going to stand there or continue with our training?" asked Elsha, confusing the boy.

"Huh?" Babitar was confused and stared at her. Training? He didn't expect that, but then it clicked for him…she was holding back the entire time, and letting him use his Sacred Gear as much as he wanted, while also giving him ample opportunity to fight back.

Babitar couldn't help but laugh. When he was done, he looked back at Elsha and said, "Many thanks, [Knight] of Skyward. I will gladly accept this opportunity then!" he shouted and charged at Elsha.

"Training? That's ridiculous…" Bekas said in disbelief.

"I would say the same thing, devil of Vassago, that's the only reason I haven't defeated you yet…well, not entirely, fufu," said Faythe.

"I don't need training…I was born with this power," he said and covered his body with a powerful aura.

"And if you trained and cultivated your power, you would become even stronger. That's what most new generation of devils are doing. Especially the 'Rookies Four', you're surely aware of that, aren't you?" asked Faythe.

The Rookies Four were Rias Gremory, Sairaorg Bael, Sona Sitri and Seekvaira Agares, out of the three they were involved with Aaron and reached new strengths. As he let them train and get stronger in his own dimension.

Of course, Bekas Vassago was well aware of that fact. Those three, and Seekvaira herself started training to get stronger, and the results spoke for themselves as many of their peerages were promoted from low-class devils to high-class devils in just a space of a year.

"Talent, if one has that, there is no need to train, power will naturally come to oneself," he said and powered up even more. "I am part of that exception! For I haven't trained once since joining this team and I'll prove it today!" he declared and fired more attacks at Faythe.

— ○ ● ○ ─

Powerful and loud explosions transpired all around them. Lavinia Reni and Raijin were fighting each other in the distance with lighting, thunder, storms, ice, and snow covering everything in their vicinity.

Aaron stood on the elevated platform he was on and he also felt that Hachiman had no intentions of moving from his own spot. He could see that he had taken residency on top of a building and both men stared at each other from that distance.

Aaron then looked beside him, and saw that around fifteen minutes had passed. He planned on finishing the game at the twenty-minute mark, so he waited patiently. He knew that the crowd around the supernatural world was enjoying the show they were getting and that's what he had aimed for from the start. He also knew that Hachiman knew that fact…and he would also move when Aaron did.

"Kufufu, even though I also occasionally train in that space, I still can't reach you! Interesting, are you saying that you're a god-class being, Lavinia Reni?!" Raijin shouted at her in delight.

[Both teams are going at each other's throats! However, neither [Kings] have made their moves yet. When will it happen?!] the announcer shouted, also very excited.

Time…slowly ticked on by, and the aforementioned twenty-minute mark finally arrived. Lavinia and Raijin's legs collided.

"I didn't think you would know any kind of martial arts or use your body to defend yourself, Lavinia Reni. Did Jin make all his comrades 'All-rounders'?" Raijin asked.

Lavinia simply smiled at her without saying anything. She, and everyone else noticed Aaron raised his right arm and pointed to the sky with his index finger—the signal, they received it and Lavinia increased her power to the point it was above Raijin's and blew her away.

Raijin crashed through several buildings, but quickly regained her balance and looked at Lavinia who had joined up with Aaron. She tried to move but noticed her body was incredibly numb.

"A simple kick left me like this? Fufu, I can't wait to train more in that place, Jin…" she said with a trembling voice—it was out of excitement, she wondered—no, she knew she would reach that height of power in the future.

"Are we doing that?" Lavinia asked Aaron.

"Yeah, let's start," replied Aaron. [Get ready,] he told them through their transceivers.

Lavinia nodded and flew back to Raijin, and Aaron flew towards Hachiman. As soon as he arrived, their fists clashed and the shockwave destroyed the buildings around them.

"You're finally moving?" Hachiman asked.

"Yeah, we have to end it now," replied Aaron. Hachiman smirked and both men disappeared.

They began fighting everywhere on the field, and each place they arrived at was blown apart. Aaron made sure that their clashes were near the other participants of the games. At the same time, Lavinia and Raijin did the same thing. Both gods noticed this, but didn't understand why they did it. However, unknown to them, both Lavinia and Aaron were creating…a little pattern.

"Didn't you say you'd end this?" Hachiman asked.

"Oh, I am," replied Aaron.

[Both [Kings] are now fighting! Incredible! Both of them are tearing through the battlefield! Not only that, but both [Queens] are doing the same thing! If this keeps up, the entire field might be left entirely flat!]

Lavinia and Raijin's clash mostly took place on the ground, while Aaron's and Hachiman's took place in the sky.

Hachiman created a powerful ball of divine energy and fired it at Aaron who slapped it away, and it hit the ground creating an even more powerful explosion. But to his surprise the ground didn't get destroyed.

"The buildings and everything else can be destroyed, I just reinforced the ground and sky so they won't shatter like them," said Aaron as they continued their mid-air fist fight.

"That's the same thing for the other fields you help create?" Hachiman asked.

"Yeah." After a full minute…Aaron's preparations were complete. He increased his power and kicked Hachiman, who defended against the attack by putting his arms up covered in divine energy.

However, the god was blown away, and crashed at a certain location. To his surprise he also found Raijin there.

"What a coincidence. I didn't think we'd see each other again during this game," said Raijin as she dusted herself.

"That's true…but what are they up too?" asked Hachiman.

All of [Team Dragon Legacy] gathered behind Aaron and Lavinia at the same spot they had been at previously. Suddenly…incredibly large magic circles appeared on the field's ground and sky. The pattern they created almost resembled a constellation. They then glowed intensely and an indescribable amount of magic poured out of them.

[Oh my goodness! What is this?! The amount of magic power coming from those circles…did Player Skyward and Reni create this?!]

Hachiman and Raijin became alarmed at this and looked all around them—there was nowhere to run, the field had become barren, and the magic circles covered all of the dimension. Hachiman now understood why Aaron forced them to fight all over the Rating Game field. Raijin also came to the same conclusion as Hachiman.

"They played us," said Hachiman.

"Haha, I like it. But it's not the end yet!" shouted Raijin and she flew towards the other team.

"Ready?" Aaron asked as he put his left hand forward and opened his palm.

"Mmm!" replied Lavinia as she put her right hand above the open palm and made a peace sign. The magic circles around the dimension intensified even more.

— ○ ● ○ ─

"…Dammit! I'm so jealous…they're doing that now…?!" Aoife asked while hugging her knees.

"What do you mean, Aoife?" Ingvild asked.

"They're just showing off…" muttered Velgrynd with a sour expression of her face.

"Hehe, Lavinia did mention it last night," added Danu.

Suzaku put a hand on Aoife's shoulder and said, "I can understand that frustration…" she then looked back at the TV screen.

Everyone else in the living room was confused, but decided to keep watching.

— ○ ● ○ ─

"Be judged…" said Aaron as his eyes glowed.

"By the Seven Stars!" finished Lavinia, her eyes also glowing too.

"Grand Chariot!" they shouted in harmony.

The magic circles glowed even brighter and pillars of yellow light began emanating from all the circles—the ones on the ground and sky connected together, and the pillars of light increasingly expanded as the other circles (7 on the ground and 7 in the sky) connected together.

"Defend yourselves!!" Hachiman roared as he created his own barrier around Raijin and himself. He knew he couldn't reach them on time.

Once all the pillars connected, they became one and a powerful explosion shook the entire dimension that the field was built in. The only thing that the viewers around the supernatural world could see through their TV screens was just a bright yellow light that encompassed the entire field.

When the attack ended—

[1 [Pawn], 2 [Knights], [Rooks], and [Bishops] of [Team Transcendent Time] retire!!!]

[Oh my goodness! The only ones left are the [King] and [Queen]! But they're severely injured!!]

On the field were both Hachiman and Raijin, both injured and were seconds away from passing out. However, both of them were also grinning like idiots because they managed to survive the attack.

"…Well, I sort of expected this," said Aaron.

Aaron stepped forward, bowed down and pointed his hands downwards, with all the fingers closed except the index and middle fingers. He then began to slowly move his right hand until it pointed upwards. This caused the space above them to begin circling around, forming a cyclone as the space darkened.

From the center of the swirling formation, a glowing orb began to form, growing in size until a humongous meteor the size of the field emerged from it.

[Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhh?! A-a-a-a-a meteor?!] screamed the announcer.

[I didn't expect that…] muttered Zeoticus out of shock.

"Are…you…serious…?" Hachiman muttered as he raised his arms up in a last-ditch effort at defending himself. Raijin did the same thing as both gods created another barrier.

The enormous meteor crashed against their barrier, but it quickly shattered.

"True Heavenly Body Magic: Sema," said Aaron as he stood back up. "That meteor has been enchanted by me, so unless you can match my power…you won't be able to break it."

"…Give me a break…man…I didn't get to fight that much…" muttered Hachiman tiredly.

"…I lost again…haha…!" said Raijin as the meteor finally crashed into them, engulfing the entire field in an even bigger explosion.

Aaron created a barrier around them and the platform underneath them so they wouldn't be affected by the attack. After the explosion ended—

[B-both [King] and [Queen] of [Team Transcendent Time] retire!!! The winner of the Exhibition match is Jin Skyward of [Team Dragon Legacy]!!!]

The ground beneath them had been obliterated. Nothing was left except the small platform they were standing on. The exhibition match finally ended. Everyone that was watching became excited or terrified at the prospect of facing Aaron's team in the future. But one thing was for certain…

All the teams that were going to participate in a day, they were fired up after witnessing that match.

— ○ ● ○ ─

Aaron Toole's Soliloquy

— ○ ● ○ ─

Before the match started, I made sure to have some slime pills near [Team Transcendent Time] beds so they could quickly heal up after the match. After we were teleported out of the battlefield, we ended up in the room we were previously in.

"How were your opponents? And the Sacred Gear wielders?" I asked.

"They have potential," said Yoichi as he leaned against the wall. "But Matteo still has a long way to go before he can use it well."

Celestin nodded in agreement. "The same with Crystella Beaver, she has great affinity with magic and her own unique…[Tentacle Manipulation] can be very effective…against women and potentially men if she masters it."

"It's like you said, Aaron. Babitar also has good compatibility with his Sacred Gear, but he's not used to it yet. He awakened it later than Matteo after all. But near the end of our short training session, he started being a bit more creative with it. He even created [Speed Bullets] and started using them at me!" said Elsha proudly.

"Martin Luther King Jr was also a surprise. He utilized touki and magic, however, he mostly used his magic to enhance his physical strength and he used an unorthodox boxing style and occasionally used magic to fire some spells at me," added Elyscia.

Beside me, Lavinia and Layla were hugging my arms and Layla said, "Mahatma Gandhi-sama was also formidable, for someone his age, and also a clone like Martin Luther King Jr. He could utilize a lot of magic, as well as some unique abilities. It made me wonder if it was artificially given to him as a clone or was part of his personal arsenal before his passing."

Some were given to him as a clone, while some were part of him during his life as a normal human. Mahatma Gandhi was part of the supernatural. That's why he stepped away from his normal profession of law and pursued what he did. He also had other reasons, but that was part of it.

"What about the devil of Vassago?" I asked Faythe.

"I believe he is torn with following the typical path of a devil from a noble household. The things he said to me seemed forced, as if he was trying to uphold tradition for the sake of tradition and family. His eyes told a different story and he does want to get stronger by training, but probably fears what his family will say," explained Faythe.

The Vassago is just below Agares, and above them is the Great King Bael. They must have close ties to Agares, if not, then probably the Astaroth since that's what I remember…

"Eres Tannin was also quite powerful. His raw power is comparable to Tannin, the Former Dragon King. However, their experience is probably worlds apart for now, but if he keeps training and spreads his wings…then he'll definitely become stronger than his father," said Amaris.

"I see…how are those replicas fairing for both of you?" I asked.

"Replicas…? Wait, they're not just fakes?!" Elsha asked in surprise.

"Hmm? I never said they were fakes, though I never specified what they were, that's my bad. But yeah, they're replicas. I plan on adding both Albion and Ddraig's voices to them soon, so I'll call you two for that in the future," I told them.

"Anyway, let's go, there's probably going to be a lot of cameras pointed our way and a bunch of questions to be asked," I said and left the room.

— ○ ● ○ ─

Sure enough, once we arrived at the front of the stadium, there were reporters everywhere. [Team Transcendent Time] was already being hounded by reporters and being forced to answer questions. Shortly after they saw us, they also rushed over and started asking various questions. However, I only answered one.

"Middleman-sama, is this your final team for the exhibition match at the end of the tournament?!" a female reporter asked. The area became silent and they all waited for my answer.

"The only one that's part of my final team in today's one is my [Queen], Lavinia Reni. The rest were reserve members or members I picked from my subordinates or friends I asked to participate. So…my final team will be kept a secret."

There were many other questions after that, like what that move I did with Lavinia was. In addition, there were other things like how I expected the tournament to turn out. I gave them vague replies and we eventually moved to a different section and the reports were held at bay.

"I want a rematch!" Raijin said and pointed at Lavinia and me.

"Denied," I replied and karate chopped the goddess on the head. "Anyway, I can see that all of you are fine, so how was it?"

"How was what? Being annihilated by that attack of yours? Yeah, I feel great," replied Babitar sarcastically.

I nodded. "I'm glad you're all fine then. I would have liked to fight you more, Hachiman, but I set the time for twenty minutes before I ended it. So if you made a move before then, you could have fought more."

Babitar's mouth twitched at being ignored, but Hachiman let out a defeated chuckle.

"If I knew that, I would have done that. You could have given me a heads-up, Jin. Well, it matters not, what's done is done. However, I will be participating in the tournament with my own team, so perhaps there will be a rematch in the future," he told me.

I nodded and raised my hand for a handshake. "I will look forward to it then, do your best. The same with all of you, if you plan on entering the tournament in different teams."

"Hachiman, put me in! I need to get my revenge match!" demanded Raijin. The God of War was troubled by this and they left as Raijin hassled him to let her join. The rest of the former team left one by one after they spoke to me briefly.

"I remember her—Crystella, she had a going for her when she was still in Grauzauberer, I always wondered why she suddenly left. Even if she said that she wanted to be independent, most of the time they usually turn into rogue magicians causing trouble for everyone," said Lavinia while staring at Crystella's figure.

She just had her reasons, not even has to have a deeper reason to abandon or leave things. Some simply just don't want to anymore. I knew why, but…it wasn't my place to tell them, so I said nothing about it.

"Let's go home then, everyone's waiting."

— ○ ● ○ ─

"Do it with me now!"

As soon as we arrived back, that's what Aoife shouted at me. I, like everyone else stared at her. It took her a few seconds to understand, and she quickly corrected herself.

"I mean the move with Lavinia!" she said and glared at me while blushing.

"Ah, that. Well, we can try later, for now…" I looked around. "I'm hungry…"

— ○ ● ○ ─

A few hours passed since then and I was in a different dimension with the Fated Ones, Azathoth, Aoife, Mom, Cindy, Rossweisse and…Göndul for some reason. She came over a few hours after the exhibition match and said that even Asgard was quite hyped for the game starting tomorrow.

"Why is our one a different color?" Aoife asked.

"It's dependent on whom I'm doing the move with, so with Danu it's probably going to be green, with Lavinia earlier it was yellow, though some others will have the same color as others, so…"

"So it's unique-ish enough for all of us…interesting," concluded Aoife.

The 'Grand Chariot' that Aoife and I performed was mostly silver. I tried it with Velgrynd earlier, even though she was against it and it was pure blue and gold. In the end, she was satisfied with it. The next person I was going to try it with was Rose, but…

"How about me? I'm quite interested in it," asked Göndul.

"E-eh? W-wait, granny it's my turn…" Rossweisse tried to intervene, but a quick glance from her grandmother made her back away.

Göndul quickly grabbed my hands and said, "Well? What are you waiting for?"

"…Just a quick question, what about your husband? I haven't seen Rose's grandfather yet…" I asked.

"He passed away a couple of years ago. He was fighting a battle. Odin-sama had ordered a few of the older generation to assist the newer one, and that man, knowing his personality—he must have charged in there and sacrificed himself," she said looking sad.

"I travelled there with Odin-sama and Brynhildr to look for him, and we found him on top of a mountain of corpses. He had managed to kill them and even won, but succumbed to his injuries quickly after—that's what we concluded," she explained. "Are you planning to offer to bring my husband back to me?"

I stayed silent. I would have if he hadn't already reincarnated in another universe. I looked away and sighed. "If it was possible, then yeah."

"…Ah, I see, I heard about that from Rose too. I just hope he's living a peaceful life this time around," she muttered sadly. "Rose, I'll do this another time, come here."

Looks like I brought down her mood quite a bit. I shouldn't have mentioned that, but what's done is done. I'm also confused by her actions—but at the same time, if I keep moving towards 'that' future, then…

[All the generations, huh? No one is safe…literally. Who's next? Her mom? Her aunt?]

'Shut up. That's literally not my intention!'

— ○ ● ○ ─

Nighttime, again, I couldn't sleep since the tournament starts tomorrow and I was curious how it'll all turn out. Well, I knew how it would turn out, but I try to not think about it too much and live day-to-day if I can, but I do have the more meaningful events planned out for, so nothing bad will happen…

"Finally, I found you. Do you have any idea how big this house has become?"

I turned around and saw Penemue and Raynare standing there together. That combination has become very common over the last few months. Perhaps it was due to the fact that they lived together, and they also worked at Grigori before Penemue moved to Kuoh Academy as a teacher. Although she does still go back there to help, but she gets in trouble for skipping classes as a teacher and they have to use magic to correct it.

"Raynare and Penemue…what do you need?" I asked.

"Wow, we're not wanted, huh? How heartless, Toole-sama," said Penemue as she arrived by my side. She was on my left and Raynare on my right.

"That wasn't my intention, my bad."

"Also, you already know why we're here because of your 'all-knowing powers', right?" asked Penemue. "And it's true, Ro-Ro (Róisín) told us you apologize a lot, but this is getting silly."

Ro-Ro…? What kind of nickname is that, mom?

"…Well…" I also couldn't deny that, but as I said I won't constantly use it in my day-to-day life, otherwise it would be pretty boring. "Okay, I'll bite. So where do you two want to go?" I asked.

"I want to get laid in Spain," Penemue said bluntly. "Raynare-chan doesn't mind where we go. I've already convinced her to seduce you at the end of the night, so get ready for that—you'll get two fallen angels at once."

Fucking hell, talk about being direct, Penemue. When I glanced at Raynare she had already turned beet red and was staring down at the ground. We were out in the back garden, so she was just looking at the grass.

"It wouldn't hurt you to be a bit more discreet, wouldn't it?"

"I've waited long enough, Toole. I want a boyfriend—no, propose to me after you fuck me. The same with Raynare, got it? So you'll get two new fiancés after your date with us!" declared Penemue.

Bewildered by this, I just agreed with her demands. There was no point in arguing with her when she's this riled up, but Spain, huh? I remember I went there for a trip during my secondary school…although I don't 'really' remember it since Aoife died that year. It was all a blur.

"Sure thing, we'll go as soon as I have some free time…and that's in two days. How does that soun—"

"Yes! Let's get ready!" shouted Penemue before she dragged Raynare away.

It feels like Penemue has a bigger childish side than I initially thought…well, it's fine. It's not like it's hurting anyone, though Raynare seemed flustered by it all.

Cúntóir: Answer: Aaron…

"Yeah, I know," I replied. Looking up at the sky, I felt it—my avatar in the Phantasm just defeated a powerful monster there, and it's causing chaos right now…

In the universe of Evie Etoulde too, Kei and Yanuyo had taken down a few Shepherds too, the 7th and 9th commanders. They sure are hard workers, but it works in my favor…

My aim is to have them wipe out at least half the nuisances of those universes before I and Team [DxD] go there and hopefully, the Resistance (in both universes) at that point would be big enough to join Team [DxD], so all we need to do is do one final sweep on the universe to take over and win.

[Boss…do you want this thing as a shadow soldier?] My transceiver from my ring activated and I heard Laeronia through it.

[Yeah, store it for now and I'll retrieve it when we go there,] I replied.

[Roger that.]

— ○ ● ○ ─