Chapter 7

Upon arriving back to the student council room he noticed that everyone is back there again but something that is different is that there is what looks like a board game, set up in the middle of the room with two lavish chairs on each side of the board game.

"Sephiroth have you ever heard of a game called chess?" Sona asked while she proceeded to sit down on one of the lavish chairs right behind the black game pieces.

"Yes and no, I probably have but I don't remember it at all but from the board that is set up it is a two player game of some kind right?

"You are correct, would you be interested in playing against me for a bit. I'll teach you as we play a few practice games, what do you say?" Thinking about what Sona asked him, he figured that he didn't have anything else to do and maybe this could be fun.

After getting Sephiroth to agree to play chess, Sona spends the next half an hour explaining how each piece works and the basic rules of the game. Even went as far as some simple strategy that one can use. They played two practice matches afterward and Sona was impressed with Sephiroth's rate of progress in the game.

Granted she isn't going all out but he is already giving her some difficulty the longer that they keep playing against each other to where she finally gets to the reason that he invited him here.

"Sephiroth what do you think of devils?" Sona asks while sipping some tea that her queen handed her during their practice chess matches.

"I don't have a problem with them as long as they don't try to manipulate me, why do you ask?"

"I'll get straight to the point then I'd like for you to join the student council and as well as my peerage? Sona says staring intensely into Sephiroth's eyes waiting for his answer.

"I'll say the same thing that I told Rias Gremory, I am too powerful to join your peerage even if I wanted to in the first place, which I don't. I am a peak tier 4 being or a peak high class devil." Sephiroth says while releasing some of his power upon the room showing everyone in the group that what he says is the truth.

Sona and her peerage reacted much the same way that Rias' group did and tensed up getting ready for battle but as soon as they thought that he would possibly attack the pressure disappears like it was never even there in the first place. You can see Sephiroth calmly drinking his tea like nothing happened just now, showing the group how he doesn't see them as a threat which is the truth if anyone asked him.

Strong as Sona and her peerage might be, they are not at his level be it in physical aspect or magical. He has enough battle experience to where he could disarm them and use their own weapon against them and his perfect magic control combined with his spells make magic all but useless against him unless you can overpower him and no one here could do that.

"I see that she tried to ask you as well then already and I am not surprised now because what you said is true we would need to be stronger to be able to reincarnate you" Sona says with disappointment in her voice about not being able to get someone as strong as Sephiroth a part of her peerage. From what she has seen so far, she likes his personality thus far and wouldn't mind spending some more time with him.

"As her best friend I probably shouldn't be saying this but be wary of Rias now that you said no to her."

"She doesn't take rejection well and is use to getting what she wants"

"I understand and thank you for informing me I'll be on the lookout then" Sephiroth finished his tea now that Tsubaki had gotten him. He is now ready to ask what he came for from Sona.

"Sona I have a deal for you that I think that you would like" Sona looks at him with a curious expression waiting to see what he has to say to her.

"We play one game of chess and the winner gets one favor from the other that they can use for anything within their means, what do you say Sona Sitri up for a game of chess?"

"I see *adjust her glasses* and what would you use your favor for if you were to win against me Sephiroth Crescent?" Wondering what he could want from her and hoping that it isn't something unreasonable.

"It's simple Sona if I win I want to visit your library at your home this summer break, I know that someone with your family background has lots of information on different kinds of spells and general information. As they say knowledge is power and I seek this power" Hearing this Sona is surprised because he could have asked for almost anything and all he wanted was to look at her family library for general information and some magic related topics. Seems a waste of a favor when she thinks about it but maybe she can get something else out of this situation.

"Regardless if you win or lose you may come and visit my home, my parents would love for you to visit I'm sure. Just so you know you won't be able to look at anything that me and my family deem sensitive and restricted. Anything else though you are free to browse and can keep your favor for future use, that is if you win. You may use that favor for something else in the future." Sona says with a small smile at the end and really impressing Sephiroth in her sincerity to help him, much better than Rias if anyone was to ask him.

"I appreciate it, Sona know that if you ever need my help you need but ask and I'll help you to the best of my abilities." Sephiroth promised Sona showing her that he values her as a friend now.

The reason that Sephiroth and Sona are getting along so well is because they have very similar personalities. Professional and strict most the time but can be gentle towards people that they recognize as friends or family.

"Back on to the game, as for my favor I'll just save it for when I need it. I hope that is fine Sephiroth?" Sona asks Sephiroth who just gives a curt nod back to show that it is okay with him.

"Shall we start than Sona, I'll take the black pieces for this game" Surprising Sona and her peerage because white has a small advantage by going first and everyone thinks that Sephiroth will need it because Sona has never lost a chess game before. I mean Sephiroth just learned or relearned how to play chess there is no way that he is at Sona's level already.

"I'll take the white then if you're going to be so generous" Sona was going to learn real soon that Sephiroth is a quick study and a monster because of it.

Once they started playing the game everyone in the student council watched with curiosity the game and were shocked as the game progressed. While they started out evenly as the game went on, Sona was taking more time to take her turns to the point where it was taking her 10 minutes each turn to figure out where to move and who to sacrifice to get some breathing room.

Sephiroth was slowly surrounding her on the board and every move he made gave him at least two other options depending on how Sona moved which always resulted in her losing a piece or getting back into a corner on the board. She was losing and there was just nothing that she could do but watch as she basically died a slow death.

If one was to look at each player one was calm and collected the whole time like this was what was expected to happen while the other was getting cold sweats from the pressure she was getting from the situation on the board. What Sephiroth didn't know was that if he won against her he would be engaged to Sona and become her fiance. She took this bet mainly because she thought that she would win it. He just learned the game today so there was no way he could have beaten her, at least that was what was supposed to happen.

Then it happened, Sona Sitri, heiress to the Sitri clan lost to someone in chess. The worst part was that he had just learned how to play the game today and beat the best chess player among all the young devils. Everyone was stunned into silence after Sephiroth checkmated Sona and wondered if what they were seeing was real.

"...."

"...."

"...."

"Rematch" Sona finally said after getting over her loss, she couldn't afford to lose to him because of her promise that she made to the whole underworld.

"Sure, if that is what you want Sona" Sephiroth said in a calm tone completely unaware of what he just won.

This time Sona went all out in the beginning because she needed to win this round, but fate had other plans for her. She lost but not like last time at all or no, she lost even faster this round. She was tricked by Sephiroth from the very beginning, he sacrificed his queen and both knights and a bishop just so that he could checkmate her king in the back. When Sona moved her queen to take his last knight she left her king open to his last bishop who couldn't move out of the way because of him being stuck in his starting position still.

If you were to look at Sona right now you would see a storm cloud over her head and slight tears on the corner of her eyes because of the outcome. She went all out and it made her do even worse than the first game, something she didn't even think was possible. She double checked all her moves and she didn't know what happened till it was too late.

"One more game Sephiroth PLEASE" Sona asked with what could be heard as a begging tone.

"Normally I wouldn't mind but we have been talking and playing for a while now and I'm tired. If we were to play again you would mostly win because of me being tired is that something that you would want Sona. A hollow victory like that?" Sephritoh explained to Sona hoping that she would let him retire for the night. While he wasn't physically tired he was mentally tired. He may have looked calm and collected on the outside he was thinking hard on how to beat Sona the whole time that they were playing.

"I'm sorry Sephiroth, I wasn't thinking straight why don't we call it a night and we can play another time. I hope that isn't a problem?" Sona said embarrassed that she lost her cool for a bit there in front of him.

"It's fine Sona, I enjoyed playing with you and hope to do it again soon. I'll hold on to my two favors for now so don't worry about that, if there is nothing else I wish you all good night." Sephiroth then got up and gave a wave to Sona and the other girls in the room before walking out and flying home since it was dark now no one would see him.

"President what happened, I thought that he just learned how to play chess today?" Tsubaki asked her King Sona hoping that she would explain how she lost not just once but twice.

"He is a monster is all I can say Tsubaki, no matter what I did he was thinking so many steps ahead of me I didn't know what to do and was dancing to his tune the whole time. It was like he knew what I was going to do before I did which is what scared me the most." Sona said, shaking a little bit, thinking about those green cat-like slits staring at her watching and waiting for her to move like a predator stalking its prey.

Hearing what Sona said the rest of the student council was shaken, they came to the decision that they didn't want to play against him if that was going to happen to them, no thank you they rather give up right away.

"President what are we going to do about your engagement to him then?"

"From the sound of it you won't be able to beat him anytime soon meaning that you will lose more and more and owe him more and more favors as well" Tsubaki asks hoping that Sona had a plan but she was going to be disappointed.

Shaking her head "I don't have a plan Tsubaki, all I can do is try again and again."

"I can't force him with power because he is stronger than me and I won't force my sister to act when all he did was win fair and square in a chess match."

"I'm simply going to keep trying and if that doesn't work only then will I bring up this matter and see how he reacts to it" Sona said while she was thinking something else with a blush on her face "I wouldn't mind being his wife at all. I like his personality, he's very powerful, and his looks and body are something mama likes."

"I understand president, we won't bring up the matter again" Tsubaki bowed acknowledging she and the rest of the girls understood her king's order.

Off a distance away from Kuoh academy, while Sephiroth was flying in the air he suddenly got a shiver down his spine like a predator was staring him down for some reason. Where he was wondering what that was about, but just decided to ignore it and head home for the night.