Chapter 56

The people accompanying him to meet the two competitors included only his team, along with Sirzechs and Grayfia. Serafall had gone to visit her family, with plans to meet him later at the Gremory residence for the party. Grayfia then teleported them to the lower floors of the coliseum where the rating games were held, and where the teams would reappear after the games concluded. She led them through several rooms until they heard yelling from one of them.

"You tricked me with that contract! Your parents never called it off. This contract is null and void," Riser's voice echoed.

"What reason did I have to trick you? Deception is something we devils excel at; it's practically in our blood. If you hadn't been so feeble that you couldn't last more than ten minutes against my peerage, none of this would have happened," Rias retorted. It wasn't one of the lines Eden had given her, but he was pleasantly surprised to hear her embracing her devilish nature.

Entering the room, Eden hung back a bit, allowing Grayfia and Sirzechs to go in ahead of him. The room was spacious and well-furnished, with members of both Rias and Riser's peerage present.

"Riser, as a devil, contracts between parties are above the law, provided you weren't violently coerced into signing it. You must abide by the terms laid out in the contract, just like every devil before you," Sirzechs stated calmly as he entered the room.

Riser, realizing he had no valid argument, clenched his teeth. "So, Rias, which members of my peerage would you like me to give to you? Even if you asked for half, you don't have enough room in your peerage."

"I won't be adding them to my peerage. The contract states that you shall transfer them to me as private property, which means I don't need to include them in my peerage."

"So, you intend to use my peerage members as slaves."

"That seems to be the only purpose they serve."

"Which ones do you want, Rias?" Eden had given Rias a list of names earlier, so she simply read them off.

"Mihae the bishop, Karlamine the knight, and your pawns Ni, Li, Mairon, Burent, Shruiya, Mira, and your sister Ravel Phenex."

"You would take my sister as a slave!" Riser shouted, almost bellowing, causing a burst of mana aura to flare around Sirzechs. When it subsided, three more individuals entered the room: Lord Phenex Raslit Phenex, Lady Phenex Nora Phenex, and their eldest son Ruval Phenex.

"Father, they intend to take Ravel as their slave," Ruval said.

"Is this true?" Raslit growled deeply.

"By the terms of the contract, I have the right to take any of Riser's peerage members, including Ravel," Rias responded.

"Riser, hand me the contract," Lord Phenex instructed.

"Yes, Father." Riser retrieved the contract, which was a substantial stack of around fifty pages. "It should be on page 23, paragraph 2," Lord Phenex said as he found the page and carefully read it, then read it again, directing a stern gaze at his son.

"What can I do to make you reconsider?" Raslit implored.

"Lord Phenex, the decision isn't mine to make," Rias replied firmly.

Realizing that Rias would likely mention him soon if he didn't reveal himself, he saturated the room with his magical pressure. He increased it enough to affect all the Phenex family members, but it also had an impact on everyone else in the room, making them feel lightheaded, as expected from Sirzechs and Grayfia. Some of the weaker individuals almost passed out.

"The person who made the decision in me, nice to meet you. I am Eden Tsubakihara, Witchknight, and master of all things magic. It is nice to make your acquaintance," he greeted.

The Phenex family members were taken aback by his subtle intrusion, but Raslit was the first to speak. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean exactly what I said. In exchange for training Rias, I had her sign a contract that granted me permission over the slaves she obtained from Riser," Eden explained.

Raslit had many questions about who this person was, and whether he was even a devil. However, seeing that no one, not even Sirzechs, was calling him a liar, Raslit had to accept his words at face value.

"What do you want in exchange for not taking our daughter?" Raslit inquired.

"Well, I'll need some time to think about it, and I have other matters to attend to, so let's discuss this, perhaps on Monday night. I'm sure you can talk to the Gremorys to figure out the specifics," Eden suggested.

He had intentionally not negotiated for Ravel before taking her. He knew that if her parents experienced the absence of their daughter, they would be even more eager to negotiate, potentially resulting in better terms.

"I won't allow a mere human, whoever you think you are, to lay his hands on my sister. You won't leave this room with her," Raslit declared with determination.

In response, Eden cast the spell {Polymorph}, and Riser was transformed into a chicken. Eden then turned his attention back to the elder Phenexes. "Is there any problem?"

Raslit looking at what Eden had did to his son was on the verge of speaking, but his wife intervened. "While this pains me, since you've outlined your terms, we will abide by them. Please, just don't hurt our daughter." she reluctantly conceded.

Eden had hoped to extract more concessions from them by putting up a tougher fight, but he realized that his intentions had been perceived.

she conceded.

Eden had been hoping for them to put up more of a fight so he could squeeze more value out of them but he guessed his little plan was seen through. 

Seeing that Riser was now a chicken, he released his new servants from Riser's {Soul Severing} and {Mass Mental Dominance} He cast two spells, severing the connection and temporarily turning them into mindless puppets.

"Raynare, teleport back, and when the domination wears off, inform the girls of their new duties. Mittler, lock Ravel in a guest room and ensure she's taken care of by the unseen servants," Eden ordered mentally. Afterward, he gave the puppets a command to follow the fallen angels and left the room with a nonchalant wave to the two Phenexes before heading into the hallway as his two servants left through teleportation with his prize.