Chapter 55

As he glanced at the panels, he spotted Rias' peerage. The screens displayed the battle from various angles, including third-person views of all of Rias' peerage members, as if they were characters in a video game. As soon as the battle began, Issei, Akeno, Kiba, and Koneko sprang into action, forming a tactical formation. Issei and Kiba took the front, with Akeno in the middle, and Koneko guarding the rear. Meanwhile, Rias and Gasper took to the sky, hovering over the battlefield to get a bird's-eye view.

"They're quite aggressive," Grayfia remarked from behind Sirzechs.

"The best defense is a good offense," he replied. Another voice chimed in, "They're not the only ones being aggressive," as Ajuka pointed to the tactical display. All eyes turned to the screen, where Riser's peerage was also moving rapidly toward the center of the high school, where they would encounter most of Rias' peerage. Riser, Ravel, and Yubelluna took to the sky, intent on finding and eliminating Rias.

"This is going to be boring. They're charging to their deaths," Eden commented, observing the display.

"You're really confident," someone noted.

"Of course. If they've gone through my training and can't handle this, then they're talentless idiots, which they're not," Eden replied. He could criticize every member of Rias' peerage, including Rias herself, for various reasons, but one thing he couldn't call them was talentless. During Eden training, each of them had more combat experience, had at least one stat around 4000, and had one skill in the low expert tier, something that would take the average person if but through the same type of training as they were more than triple the time.

"It looks like the battle in the sky will happen first," Yoko observed. Indeed, the first contact occurred between Rias and Riser, and this battle had the potential to decide everything quickly.

"Rias, you little girl getting a bit of po…" Riser's taunt was cut short as Gasper used the power of Balor's Eye to freeze him in time. {Crush}. Gasper then release Riser from the grip of the Balor's Eye , allowing time to flow again. The spell took hold, crushing Riser's head with space manipulation. Before it could regenerate, Gasper sent multiple shadow projectiles at the other two.

To be honest, if Gasper used Balor's Eye correctly, he had a 44% chance of winning the fight against all three by himself. He would at least take Ravel with him and injure Yubelluna. But Rias made the less fun but definitely the right move by immediately using castling to bring back Koneko. Her disappearance signaled Akeno to take to the sky and assist wherever possible on both fronts.

"Rias is already losing tactically," Ajuka observed.

"No tactic matters if you're too weak," Eden replied.

"True," Ajuka conceded. The battle in the sky continued for a few more minutes, much to Eden's displeasure. Riser and his strike force held their ground against the combined efforts of Akeno, Gasper, and Koneko. It was actually three separate fights in the sky: Akeno versus Riser, Gasper versus Ravel, and Koneko versus Yubelluna. Surprisingly, the fight that favored Rias the most was Koneko versus Yubelluna. The queen couldn't use her explosive attacks in such close proximity, and Koneko, while in the sky, was on her not giving the mage any distance, forcing Yubelluna to rely on her magic defensively. Koneko's Gloves of the Mage Killer, given to her by Eden, were also instrumental in piercing or destroying most of the magic Yubelluna attempted, making the fight one-sided. Unless a close-quarters fighter emerged from the ground to help Yubelluna, her defeat was all but assured. 

Riser not able to stop a defeat of his Queen had to use casteling to bring his rooks to his side keeping one beside him to help and the other one going to help Yubelluna. It was a good decision with the limited knowledge that Riser had but it would spell his doom. "It's over" Eden watched as everyone appeared quite confused until, for the first time during the Rating Game, Rias made a move. "Strings of Destruction," she chanted, and magic circles appeared around her, with small strands of string seemingly moving on their own, weaving through the air. They crisscrossed the sky, creating what looked like lines cutting off different battle zones and leaving thousands of small black lines in the sky.

Yubelluna, still trying to escape from Koneko, attempted to halt her flight as one of the thin strings appeared before her. However, she was kicked into the string by Koneko, who was in hot pursuit. The moment she made contact with the string, it exploded, triggering a chain reaction as the entire strand followed suit. Then, a mechanical voice echoed, "Riser's Queen has been Retired."

A similar situation unfolded on the side where Gasper and Ravel were battling. Gasper used Balor's Eye to freeze Ravel in time, just as a string came dangerously close behind her. It too exploded when Gasper released her from the stasis. "One of Riser's Bishops has been Retired."

Simultaneously, the spell placed Riser's Rook, Isabella, in a precarious position, surrounded by numerous strings. Observing this, Rias manually detonated all the strings near her, leading to her defeat. "One of Riser's Rooks has been Retired."

Everyone in the VIP room appeared surprised, especially Sirzechs. "Did you teach her that?"

"Of course. While simply conjuring Destruction Projectiles is a straightforward and effective way to fight, Rias is more tactically minded and often fights as part of a group. So, instead of being the main attacker, she can now use her power of Destruction to assist when needed. I'd compare her new role in her peerage to something like artillery, but much more versatile," Eden explained. Afterward, he returned his attention to the screen, where the battle had already concluded. Riser and his rook Xuelan were the only ones left, and they were quickly surrounded and defeated, leading to Riser's defeat and the end of the rating game.

Eden hadn't paid much attention to the ground battle after the rooks were removed from play. Issei and Kiba had managed to defeat the two knights and five pawns in a relatively short time frame between the rooks' removal and Riser's defeat.

"It took longer to set up than the battle itself," Eden commented with a hint of disapproval. He had expected Riser not to underestimate Rias and put up more of a fight, but the entire rating game had lasted only about seven minutes.

"Eden, there's a victory party at the Gremory Estate if you'd like to come," Sirzechs offered, which surprised Eden considering their somewhat argumentative meeting the day before.

"Levi, are you coming too?" Eden asked.

"Absolutely. My sister and parents will also be there. I can introduce you to them, and my two favorite people in the world will be in the same room," Serafall replied. Eden exchanged a look with Asia, who nodded in agreement.

"I'd love to, but first, I need to claim my prize. Do you know where Rias and Riser are?" Eden inquired.

"Yes. By the way, why did you want Riser's peerage?" Sirzechs questioned.

"Well, you can never have too many servants," Eden replied casually. "And I'm still human; how am I going to bind them to my service?" Ajuka chimed in.

"The contract I gave Rias to have Riser sign for the rating game was to transfer half of Riser's peerage to Rias as servants, not peerage members. So Riser will simply release them from his service, and then I can use fate magic to bind them without resorting to any evil plots," Eden explained. Ajuka nodded in understanding.

Once Eden acquired the members of Riser's peerage, he'd have enough resources to send them on raids once a week. They would also be tasked with exploring dungeons, with the RC generated being used to fund their raids. While he didn't anticipate needing them for anything other than RC generation, training them to reach high-ranking devil strength would make them more valuable. With that in mind, Eden expected Sirzechs to guide him to the location where Riser would hand over his servants to Rias.