Chapter 169: Rias Gremory vs Rizer Phenex

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The rating game was interesting to watch.

Rias Gremory had taken the opportunity to show off the skills of her peerage members. Yuuto Kiba, the avenger knight, fought and won against the two knights of Rizer Phenex. While using his mastery over his Sacred Gear, the boy used his abilities not just to create swords to swing around, but to launch them at his enemies like they were projectiles. The idea had come from Akeno when she was telling her peers how Fallen Angels usually fought. He had not come out of the battle unscathed but still managed to walk back to base using his own feet.

Valerie Tepes and Gasper Vlad, as expected, fought together against the little army o pawns under Rizer Phenex. Gasper Vlad protected Valerie with his Sacred Gear powers while the Devil-Vampire Princess used the domain over life and death that was granted to her to summon an army of skeleton soldiers to drown the enemies in numbers. Of course that all of that was done with minimal usage of her Sacred Gear true powers since she didn't want to damage her soul while using it. The fight had been a piece of cake for the duo since every time that an enemy managed to reach them, Gasper Vlad would freeze time in the area and just move together with Valerie Tepes to another place, throwing the attackers into a loop about how they were escaping.

Issei Hyoudou had been the match's black horse since nobody believe that the brown-haired boy had any redeeming quality because he was a just recently reincarnated Devil. But they were proved wrong. The boy managed to sneak through the match's chosen field and, after arriving at the enemy's territory, got a promotion to Queen. With his newfound boost in his overall stats, Issei Hyoudou then started to hunt for the enemy's Rooks. When he found the two girls, he quickly dispatched both of them to the land of dreams in an incredible burst of speed and power. The only thing that his victims heard as a warning of the incoming attack was a cacophony of 'BOOST' words being said by a somewhat mechanical voice. The Red Dragon Emperor of this generation had made his debut.

Akeno Himejima's holy lightning was not something that any Devil would like to feel in their bodies and Rizer Phenex's Bishops and Queen could attest to that. Initially, the 'Nadeshiko', garbed in a traditional Japanese priestess outfit, had found only the two enemy's Bishops. Ravel Phenex, Rizer Phenex's little sister, was one of them and stood behind as a support to the other Bishop. Their original strategy was to just distract Rias Gremory's Queen while Rizer Phenex's one took potshots at the other pieces with the use of her explosive magic. The strategy was perfect. That is until Akeno Himejima shot the first holy lightning while showcasing her mismatched Fallen Angel and Devil Wings. The spell tore through the unnamed Rizer Phenex's Bishop barrier and fried the poor girl into the unconscious. Luckily for her, the 'Nadeshiko' had learned how to finely control the output of her power and she just received some minor burns that would heal with time. That was certainly not something that Ravel Phenex was expecting. While being the strategist of her elder brother's Peerage, she would normally research every member in the enemy's peerage before a match and enumerate their strengths and weaknesses to the peerage. But this time, due to her's elder brother's overconfidence in winning the match, she had not been allowed to research anything and managed to only get her hands on photos, names, and races of origin with the little resources that she had on her own. Just as she watched the other Bishop being retired from the match, she started to hear, a plethora of other announcements. Sadly for her, all of them had been about the retirement of an ally. As the announcements ceased, she looked at the smiling Queen in front of her and unconsciously gulped.

"Don't worry, Ravel Phenex. I normally like to play a little with my prey, but since it is the future of my friend that is in play, together with mine since I am her Queen, I will make your retirement from the match a fast one. I just can't promise it will be painless."

Akeno Himejima said to Ravel Phenex while still smiling and making some holy lightning dance on her hand. The 'Nedeshiko' then just pointed her hand at Ravel Phenex and fired her shot. The little blonde girl stumbled back, afraid of the incoming spell, but, at the last second, she was saved by an explosion that managed to change the holy lightning path. Ravel Phenex looked around while searching for her savior and found an airborne Yubelluna looking with a concerned face at the enemy's Queen.

"Ravel, stay back. She is way out of your league."

Yubelluna said and landed in front of Ravel Phenex's form. The little girl just nodded her head and left the place flying while showcasing her fire-shaped wings. Akeno Himejima watched the scene without losing her smile. She knew that Yubelluna was the real danger in Rizer Phenex's Peerage aside from the man himself, and that's why she let Ravel Phenex go. With Yubeluna here, she at least expected to have some 'fun'. But she was disappointed in the end. Even after using a drop of Phoenix Tears to recover from her wounds twice, Yubelluna didn't manage to put much of a struggle against her holy lightning and was retired from the match with some burns caused by the holy electricity.

*sigh*

Akeno Himejima let out a sigh while thinking about the absolute advantage that she had in the Rating Games due to her heritage and flew in the direction of their headquarters to reunite with her peers and King.

A minute before, in a room that had been deemed the headquarters of Rizer Phenex, the man himself was furiously seething while remembering what he had just heard. His entire peerage, aside from his Queen, Yubelluna, and his Bishop and sister, Ravel Phenex, had been retired from battle while Rias Gremory had not lost a single piece of hers. His thoughts were interrupted by the figure of his sister entering the room with a pale complexion.

"Brother, it is bad."

Ravel Phenex said, making Rizer Phenex scoff at the obvious remark. Even so, ignoring her brother's reaction, the little blonde girl continued.

"Rias Gremory's Queen can use holy lightning to attack."

Ravel Phenex announced to her brother, whose expression changed to a shocked one and then to a frown.

"There were some talks some time ago that said that Barakiel of the Fallen Angels had married a human woman, but I thought that to be just rumors."

Rizer Phenex said in a low voice and Ravel Phenex nodded her head at that.

"It must be his daughter then because she had shown a mixed pair of Devil and Fallen's wings. I just managed to escape because Yubelluna protected me."

Ravel Phenex said, adding to her initial report. And, just as to spite on them, a voice was heard through the entire match field announcing the retirement of Rizer Phenex's Queen piece, Yubelluna. That had thrown Rizer Phenex's mind into disarray. He knew that his Queen was not a weak Devil and her explosive magic could do some serious damage, having earned her the nickname of 'Bombing Queen' through the Rating Games scenario. It was then that it hit him. He was alone in this match. His little sister was still with him, but her power was not enough to do any damage to the enemy in front of them if they had managed to wipe the rest of his entire peerage. Rizer Phenex, for the first time in a while, took a decision that didn't involve him gaining something.

"Ravel, retire from battle. I will go and face Rias alone."

Rizer Phenex said to his little sister, making the blond girl widen her eyes at that.

"But brother-."

Ravel Phenex started saying but was interrupted by Rizer Phenex.

"No 'but's, Ravel. It is an order from your King."

Rizer Phenex said. Ravel looked at her brother's eyes and saw in them something that she thought he had lost long ago. She saw determination.

"Good luck, brother. I… I forfeit."

Ravel Phenex said and was soon enveloped into a cocoon of white light, disappeared from the match's field in the next instant. With Ravel Phenex gone, only Rizer Phenex remained from his side while the enemy had its entire peerage available. Steeling his resolve, Rizer Phenex stood from his seat and exited the room with Rias Gremory's headquarters as his destiny.

Minutes later, Rizer Phenex stood in the air flying just a small distance away from the enemy's headquarters. He was betting the victory on his next move.

"Rias! Let's end this! Come out a fight me. One on one. King versus King."

Rizer Phenex said while enhancing his voice with his demonic energy, boosting its volume. Seconds later, Rias Gremory exited her headquarters by the front door while being followed by her peerage. She looked at the flying Rizer Phenex and rose into the air with the help of her wings. Her peerage did the same and followed their King's lead. They rose until they were at the same height as Rizer Phenex. Rias Gremory then looked the man in front of her in the eyes.

"You must be confounding something here, Rizer. We are not playing a chess game, even if the Evil Pieces we use are inspired by it. This is a battlefield."

Rias Gremory replied while on guard for any surprise attacks. Rizer Phenex sighed internally, without giving any sign of it on the exterior. He knew that he could face Rias and her peerage alone. He had the strength for it and his bloodline powers made him almost immortal. With 'almost' being the keyword here. Few things could halt the Phenex fire-based regeneration, with holy-based attacks being one of them. With the discovery that Rias' Queen could use holy lightning to attack, his odds in this fight were low. His only option to win now was to retire Rias' Queen first. And with that in mind, Rizer Phenex yelled while releasing his demonic energy and being engulfed in fire.

"Let's fight then, Rias!"

As if that was the bell sign for the start of a round, Rizer Phenex flew in the direction of the enemy.

"Formation eight!"

Rias Gremory yelled as Rizer Phenex started to fly in her direction, making her entire peerage move like a well-oiled machine and assuming a pre-determined formation for the incoming battle.

'Smart Devil!'

Rizer Phenex thought before clashing with Rias' peerage.

What followed was a battle of attrition where Rizer Phenex made the impossible to dodge all the incoming attacks from Akeno Himejima while counter-attacking when possible. Rizer Phenex managed to retire Rias' Knight and Pawn piece, before falling victim to a combined attack from Valerie Tepes, Akeno Himejima, and Rias Gremory after being frozen in place by Gasper Vlad. With the blonde Devil's movements paralyzed from the holy-based electricity running through his body, and the same blocking his fast regeneration, Rizer Phenex found himself being knocked out by a strong red spell, throwing the win of the match to Rias Gremory.

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