Kuoh Town

Drako pulled out his Noble Phantasm [Golden Drive], and Valina was surprised to see Drako pull a motorcycle out of thin air.

"You have the ability to manipulate space? Unbelievable!"

That was the only conclusion Valina could come to. Still, she hadn't seen Drako open up the space to get the vehicle out, it was like [Golden Drive] came out of nowhere.

Drako didn't bother to explain anything to her and got on the bike, not forgetting to gesture to Valina to get on behind him. She did as he instructed.

"Hold on to me, we're going to go pretty fast. If you don't, you're gonna fall off the bike." Drako warned Valina.

"It's okay..."

To Drako's surprise, Valina did not argue with him, and she put her arms around the young dragon's waist. Then she rested her head on Drako's back.

"Valina?"

"This position is the most comfortable, the descendant of Lucifer cannot make a trip feeling uncomfortable."

Valina gave that excuse as she pressed her hug. Drako could only smile wryly and get his Noble Phantasm working.

Although the top speed of Golden Drive was 2500 kilometres per hour, Drako wasn't going to use that top speed. First, because even if he could hold that speed, Valina might not be able to. And second, because continuous use of Golden Drive consumed a lot of MP. It was okay if he maintained a moderate speed. Still, it was impossible to hold off on the distance they were going to travel while going at maximum speed.

Drako finished starting the bike and headed off towards Kuoh City.

"Aaaaah! You're going too fast!"

Valina shouted in surprise when Golden Drive accelerated to speeds that a bike shouldn't reach.

"Don't be surprised, I'm only driving at a moderate speed," Drako said as he laughed. Valina could only squeeze Drako harder, for fear of falling off the bike.

Drako could feel a couple of soft objects against his back. Though Valina was only thirteen, she had already begun to develop. There was no doubt that she would be a voluptuous woman in the future, so Drako was already licking his lips as he thought about what he would be able to enjoy after a few years.

"If this is moderate speed, my strength is greater than Great Red's!"

Drako could only laugh nonstop at Valina's desperate voice. He did not expect her to react in this way, knowing that she could run at speeds beyond what the human eye could grasp. She should be able to handle a "moderate speed" of Golden Drive.

Of course, a moderate speed was about 500 km/h.

To get to Kuoh from the city where they lived, they had to go through a 300km. This is a journey that should take about 3, 4 or even 5 hours, depending on several factors, including the roads chosen and the traffic density.

Everyone knew how annoying a truck was when you were in a hurry.

After a few minutes, Valina got used to the speed of the vehicle and began to enjoy the thrill of high speed. This was a new and exciting experience, and she could use it to hold on to Drako.

Before, Valina respected Drako because he had managed to defeat her in the past. That's why she had been considering him her older brother, but there weren't many romantic feelings involved. But... after today's incident, Valina had developed a feeling of attraction to Drako, even though it was unconscious for her.

By now, she knew that Drako was a person she could trust.

It was okay if she trusted him with her past, right?

They arrived in the city of Kuoh within an hour's drive. Drako parked his bike right at the entrance to the town.

"Well, here we are."

"Kuoh Town? Is this the town where my destined rival resides? It doesn't seem to be very special, just an ordinary human city." Valina commented upon arrival.

"Well, this is a city that's under the jurisdiction of the devils. If I'm not mistaken, the ruler was a woman of the House of Belial, although she was murdered a few years ago."

Drako spoke from his knowledge. If he was not mistaken, there should be about 4 years left for the main events to take place. Everything that happened in DxD started in 2008, and right now it was 2004. Cleria Belial had been killed along with Masaomi Yaegaki in 1998 for various reasons.

"Does anyone dare kill anyone from the Belial house?"

Valina seemed shocked to talk about this.

"Surprised?" Drako asked her.

"Of course! Who dares to harm a member of the Belial family? The Emperor is very famous not only among the devils, but in the whole supernatural community. I've seen some of his Rating Games, and I can tell you he's impressive. Totally worthy of being called a genius, his demonic power rivaling that of a Maou and his use of power his clan has crowned him as one of the most powerful powers of the devils. It is said that only the current Lucifer and Beelzebub are superior to him in terms of power. Still, with his use of [Worthless] he may be able to confront them without problems."

"Diehauser Belial, huh..."

Drako was lost in thought for a moment.

Diehauser Belial was a mighty powerhouse, there was no doubt about it. He was the Emperor of the Rating Games, number one. He had been since he had come to that position many years ago, and he was literally immovable. That's right, Diehauser Belial was undefeated.

The top 5 of the Rating Games had powers comparable or superior to the original Maou and are described as Ultimate-Class Devils of Ultimate-Class Devils. However, at least 2 of them reached that position by using the forbidden [King Piece]. But this was not the case with Diehauser Belial. He was described as a "monster" by Bedeze Abaddon, the third in the rankings at this time. Without the use of the "King Piece", he has destroyed each and every one of his rivals in the Rating Games, with Rudiger Rosenkreutz being the only one capable of giving him some trouble.

This supernatural power, which had the potential to defeat and kill gods, was to be one of the antagonists in the future. But... he was one of the ones that Drako didn't want to kill.

He wants to recruit him.

Valina interrupted Drako's thoughts.

"You seem to know something about what happened to the Belial girl, don't you? Tell me!"

Drako could only smile when he saw the puppy-dog eyes Valina was giving him.

"It's okay, but you have to be clear that what I'm about to tell you is confidential information. Even Azazel may not know the real reason Cleria Belial died."

Valina was surprised to hear from Drako. There was little that Azazel did not know, especially given Grigori's intense spy network. Her interest in what happened grew exponentially.

"Six years ago, the ruler of Kuoh was Cleria Belial. As a member of the Belial clan, she is the cousin of Emperor Diehauser. She had a quiet life in Kuoh, but she made a fatal mistake."

"What happened?"

"A delegation of the Church had a residence in this city, surely to control the movements of Cleria. The Church and the Underworld have maintained the Statu Quo for some time, and they did not confront each other on the surface. With no excuse to act against Cleria, they could only monitor her movements. But..."

"But?"

"A member of that delegation fell in love with the Belial girl, and the Belial girl fell in love with the exorcist. This, of course, is something neither side could accept, and they were both killed."

Drako told her the shallow reason why both of them had been killed. He looked to see what Valina's reaction was, expecting a boring look at the typical Romeo and Juliet impossible love story.

"Ugh... such a tragic love story... Damn the Church and damn the Underworld!"

Valina seemed to have gotten sentimental. She even looked like she was going to shed a tear.

"But... that's not the real reason Cleria Belial was killed."

"Huh? Wasn't she killed because she had a relationship with an exorcist?"

Valina seemed surprised.

"As much as she was in a relationship with an exorcist, she was still the Emperor's cousin. Also, her relationship with Diehauser was very close. At best, she would be stripped of her title and territory and sent back to the Underworld."

"So... why kill her? There's a deeper reason, isn't there? Maybe... she knew something she shouldn't have?"

"Exactly. What I've told you, while true, is just a cover-up created by the old bastards who control the underworld government. The Old Devils of the Great King's faction."

"The political rivals of the New Maou faction..."

"Exactly. Cleria Belial discovered information about the unknown King Piece, and how the Old Devils were using it to control the Rating Games."

"What?!"

Valina couldn't believe what she was hearing. If what Drako was saying was true, wasn't the Rating Games a fake?

"Yes, the Rating Games are corrupt. Actually, I know of two people who are definitely using the King Piece. The number two spot and the number three spot. Of the top 10, I'm sure Diehauser Belial, Ruval Phenex, Rudiger Rosenkreutz and the Great Dragon King Tannin do not use that piece. Of the rest, I'm not sure, although it's not something I'm interested in either."

Once again, Drako paused to observe Valina's expression. She looked a little depressed as if she had taken a blow.

"Is something wrong?" Drako asked.

Valina recovered after listening to Drako. She sighed slightly and shrugged.

"All the members of the top 10 are people I admire, and I want to fight and beat them in the future. This is especially to Roygun Belphegor. I... I admired her. She's a girl on par with Maou, but I didn't expect this to be because she was cheating..."

Valina had grown up in Grigori these past few years watching videos from Roygun's Rating Games. In particular, she admired her ability to use the [Crack] skill. Knowing that one of her idols was cheating was a blow to her.

But she had suffered worse in this life, so this was nothing. Whether Roygun was cheating or not, that wasn't Valina's problem. Roygun's strength was still there, so Valina hadn't lost the will to defeat her.

"By the way... where is my destined rival? What do you know about him? He has to be someone impressive like me, right? In fact, he or she may be more talented than I am. That would surely make our battle interesting."

Valina seemed particularly excited to talk about the wearer of Boosted Gear. It's a shame Drako had to disappoint her once again.

"Nothing like that. For a start, no one could be more talented than you, Valina. If you want to have a decent rival... he'd have to create numerous miracles in order to reach your level."

Valina's face darkened. From Drako's tone, it seemed that the wearer of Boosted Gear was someone who was not up to the task.

"By the way, Albion, do you detect your rival Ddraig?"

For the first time since Drako had met Valina, he went directly to the dragon that resided within Lucifer's descendant.

[No, are you sure he's here?] I can't detect him at all.]

"Then you can't detect it, that's problematic."

"Albion? Drako?"

Valina was surprised at how casually Drako spoke to Albion. Was it really the first time they spoke?

And... what about Drako? Didn't he say he had information on the Red Dragon Emperor?

"You haven't woken him up yet, at least that hasn't changed from my information," Drako muttered.

Drako was careful. If Vali was a girl in this alternate reality, Issei could change as well. From what Drako had discovered, the vast majority of events remained the same, but there were slight differences.

The reason Drako was more concerned at this point, however, was that he did not yet know where he had obtained one of his Fate Points.

When he rescued Shuri and Akeno, he changed the fate of the two girls. But, he received three Fate Points instead of the two he expected. At first, he thought that extra point belonged to Raynare, but now he was sure that was not the case. That point would belong to Raynare if, for example, he had left her to die. However, he had not changed the fact that she was going to Kuoh and die at the hands of Rias Gremory.

So who did this Fate Point belong to?

Drako did not know, but his suspicions were directed at Issei Hyoudou. That's why he was careful right now.

To begin with, they were in "enemy" territory while being uninvited, so they couldn't cause a scandal and draw unwanted attention to themselves. But, if Albion could not detect Ddraig, that meant that either Issei was not in Kuoh, or Ddraig had not woken up. And the second was the most likely.

......................................................

Once again, I'm sorry it took me so long to upload chapters.

I didn't intend to prepare for the university entrance exam, so I said I would be more consistent, but I finally changed my mind.

Now I can say that I have passed that exam, so I have time off and vacation until September/October.

My idea is to spend at least four to eight hours a day writing, but that depends on the support I get from P@treon obviously. You know that I do this because I like it and not because of the money, but this is always appreciated.

I will leave the goal on every chapter's [Author's Thought].

Well, you can say that the mission "At least one chapter a day" begins.