Chapter 5 - Part 3 - The Golden Rakshasa (Idiot) vs The Great Dragon King (Idiot)!

Alternate Title: Stronger Than That Time, Further Than Now

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Third Person Point of View

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Tomoe Meguri, Sona's other [Knight] smiled as she faced the two [Knights] of [Team Golden Rakshasa], Yoru and Haru. They had been at a standstill since Tomoe was using her Sacred Gear, [Blazer Shining or Darkness Samurai Sword] and her Counter Balance, [Blazing Samurai of Darkness], much like Yumi's [Glory Drag Troop]. It created four samurais made of darkness and attacked anything or anyone she ordered.

The dragon sisters were forced to fight those samurais as well as Tomoe herself, and all of them were much stronger than the two sisters. So they struggled quite a bit, but by using their teamwork and certain tactics, they had survived until now. However, they also knew that Tomoe could always end their fight at any time she liked.

"I saw your guys' training before—well, Team [DxD] did, but you've improved a lot. I feel like an older sister watching the young ones grow," she said and wiped a fake tear from her eye.

"Hehe, thanks for your support!" replied Yoru while Haru remained silent.

Tomoe smiled and pointed at Haru. "I cut you earlier." In response both sisters tilted their heads. "Now…stop moving," muttered Tomoe.

Yoru's eyes widened in shock. She tried to move her body but it wouldn't. Tomoe ordered her samurai to attack both sisters. However, as Haru jumped away, she saw that her younger sister couldn't move so she jumped back to help her.

"Can you get rid of it!?" Haru inquired as she began fighting all four samurais by herself. She was having a hard time and was receiving more injuries as time went on.

Yoru wasn't sure but said, "I'll try." Inside, she was panicking as she saw her sister being outclassed by the samurai. However, to her relief Tomoe hadn't jumped in to attack her or join the assault on her sister, so she did her best at destroying the technique used on her.

"This Artificial Sacred Gear was made by Azazel-sensei a long time ago, but thanks to Aaron-senpai a few things changed about it—one of them was giving me [Aeon Balor]'s time-stopping ability. Although it has its own limitations, it's still quite useful," explained Tomoe.

'Sacred Gear…no, one of the [New Longinus]!? H-how am I meant to dispel that kind of ability? Especially one that can stop time…!' Yoru thought and continued to panic. However, when she glanced at her sister, Haru smiled at her as she continued to defend herself against the relentless assault from the samurai.

She closed her eyes, and calmed herself—with her usual stoic expression she looked at the situation in a calm manner. They trained hard, much like Ouryuu Nakiri and Bova Tannin. They had their weaknesses shown to them and they had to face them.

She, like the future 'Fist' and 'Fang' of the Dual Dragon Emperor wanted to become stronger since she didn't want her past to repeat, much like her sister. Yoru had always relied on Haru for many things, including decision-making. She would just follow everything her sister did.

In the back of her mind, she knew that this would inhibit her growth. However, since it had become so natural for her, it made it difficult for her to break it. So the time away from each other was beneficial for both of them.

Yoru calmly activated her newly named [Dusk Drive], if the Valkyrie's were named [Walküre Drive] then she'd name her one after one of her monikers. Her body was covered in a deep blue and her eyes glowed.

'Aaron's ability also allows others to create miracles for themselves—even if it isn't as potent and powerful as his own powers, it should still be enough for critical moments.' She remembered the words of Azathoth, she had explained that to them while they were in Aaron's Dimensional Gap's home.

The former ruler of the Omniverse was usually silent—always observing them, but she would also answer them honestly when asked a question. Even Aaron was surprised by it, but after they stepped away for a few minutes to chat, they came back with a sort of understanding of each other.

Yoru…decided to trust in those 'miracle-like' phenomena and focused her power as she tried to destroy the time-stopping ability. As Yoru did this, Haru also activated her own drive—her [Radiant Drive], just like her personality, her naming senses reflected it.

Her body was covered in a crimson-orange aura and she blew away all four samurai with a single punch, surprising Tomoe.

"Wow~ so you're using that 'Drive' of yours, huh? Hehe, now that's more like it! Let's fight by ourselves then, it seems like your sister is making progress~" said Tomoe as she rushed towards Haru.

Haru smiled in return and ran towards her too. With draconic energy covering her body, Haru sent a punch towards Tomoe. In return, Tomoe slashed her sword covered in demonic energy at Haru. The two attacks collided creating even larger auras behind them as their attacks continued to slam against each other.

"Do you have a new form like Coriana-san?" asked Haru.

Tomoe smiled and replied, "Hehe, I wonder~?"

The two jumped away from each other before they dashed back towards each other and began fighting again. However, even with her [Radiant Drive] activated, it was clear that Haru was outmatched. Even with the single slash that Tomoe sent her way, she would receive multiple small cuts around her body. Some were deflected or blocked by her draconic aura, although barely, and the rest bypassed it and hit her.

But what confused Haru was that Tomoe didn't use her time-stopping ability on her. She came to two conclusions: she couldn't use it on more than one person at a time, hence why she said that it had limitations, or she simply chose not to use it on her.

Haru wasn't sure, but she continued to fight her. She sent a crimson-orange breath attack towards Tomoe who to her surprise sliced her attack in half with her sword. However, she used that time to get behind her and kick her. However, again she was stopped by Tomoe as she also countered Haru's attack with her own kick.

"I can use hand-to-hand too, you know? I just don't use swords," said Tomoe.

Haru smiled and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Tomoe was surprised by this and felt a punch land on her back, sending her away. Haru had used a clone to attack Tomoe as she killed her presence, knowing that Tomoe was stronger than herself. She may also be a bit cocky, even if she doesn't actively show it.

Using that to her advantage, she sneaked away after she used the breath attack earlier, and hit her from behind.

Tomoe got up and laughed. "Sona-sama will scold me if she finds out I was underestimating you. I guess that's what happens when you get strong. I'm sorry!" she said and bowed. "Let's get serious then!"

In the blink of an eye, Tomoe vanished and the blunt end of her sword was about to slam into Haru's back when she was forced to stop and dodge an incoming attack. Tomoe backed away as she stared at the now free Yoru.

"Haru!"

"I'm fine. I'm glad you're out, let's fight together then," said Haru.

"Mmm!" replied Yoru as both sisters synced their auras and stared at Tomoe.

"Ah, familial love, how adorable. I'll fight you two myself, I don't need my samurais!" shouted Tomoe as she rushed toward the two. She arrived a few meters away from them and stabbed her sword into the ground and the two sisters jumped away from their spots.

At that place, several katana-shaped swords made of darkness protruded. She had used the darkness that the Artificial Sacred Gear had, which was also enhanced by Balor's darkness to use that technique.

However, Tomoe didn't stop there, as two clones of hers appeared behind both sisters and kicked them back to the ground, but landed on their feet although they felt a lot of pain on their backs. They couldn't rest as Tomoe charged at them and did a single horizontal slash and appeared behind them. Both sisters had coated their bodies with draconic energy and summon some defensive magic circles in front of them, but Tomoe slashed through them all.

It did defend them as their arms didn't get sliced off. However, both sisters could clearly see their flesh and bone as blood squirted from their wounds. Haru quickly healed them using a technique she had developed years ago. It wasn't as effective as Asia's [Twilight Healing] or Valerie's [Sephiroth Graal] healing abilities, but it did its job at closing their wounds.

"Healing, huh? I didn't know you had that, Haru. Did you keep it a secret?" Tomoe asked.

"I used it sparingly when we fought against Ezeri-san and others, so no. Maybe you just didn't see it?" replied Haru.

Tomoe shrugged and continued her fight with the twins. She wanted to beat them using her own sword style and not to rely too much on the time-stopping ability since it consumed her stamina. She also hailed from the Meguri clan that was known for exorcising demons using Spirit Swords and their unique sword style.

However, since she along with her parents were exiled, she didn't want to rely on it anymore and started creating her own style. She used to hold a grudge against her clan, but after spending her happy days with the Sitri peerage, it eventually disappeared. Her parents' lives were also prospering since they were under the debt of Sona Sitri and her clan, so they received jobs from the industries that they held over.

After speaking to Gasper about her own circumstances, she also decided to let go of several over things that held her back. While she didn't want to rely on the Meguri clan's style, she wasn't against using their Spirit Swords. However, she didn't possess one.

'I'll be copying you, Yumi-chan!' she thought and vanished from her spot which also created a powerful shockwave, destroying some of the ground behind her. Tomoe appeared behind the two sisters again, and several hundred slashes appeared all over their bodies.

Haru lost her right arm while Yoru lost her left. Tomoe Meguri had used her own version of 'Sandanzuki'. A famous sword technique performed by Okita Souji during his time as a samurai among the Shinsengumi. Yumi uses this with her speed. She slashes her sword at godspeed, unleashing a total of three slashes in a single movement.

However, as this was Tomoe's version, and using her new strength and power, she performed hundreds of thousands of slashes in a single swing. When she turned back around, she saw both sisters on the ground, panicking, but not retiring much to her surprise.

"You know you should—" The two sisters appeared in front of her and slammed both their fists into her stomach, blowing her away. She hadn't expected this and let her guard down. Tomoe landed on the ground as she didn't feel any pain from the attack the two sisters did.

"Jeez…I'll take that as a no in retiring right now. Fine, I'll end this now!" huffed Tomoe, but was also impressed by their dedication to continuing.

Even though both Haru and Yoru were shaken up by the technique and obvious power difference, they weren't going down without at least delaying her. This was to allow their other teammates to win their fights—to them, for now, that's all they're worth.

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Tsubaki Shinra could no longer stand upright. Even though she was much stronger than the woman in front of her, the damage that was dealt to her, and the continued damage being done to her by her new technique was turning the tables around.

Roygun Belphegor, the former second-ranker of the Rating Games had outsmarted her and now was a single blast away from beating her. However, Tsubaki refused to go down yet. She wanted to at least take Roygun with her.

She raised her hand and with the little amount of demonic energy left, she fired at Roygun. Her attacks were significantly weaker, and Roygun used her [Crack] ability to scatter their momentum and then destroy them with her own attacks.

Roygun herself fired countless demonic balls towards Tsubaki, and at the same time flew towards her and started attacking her with her fists. The [Queen] of [Team Sona Sitri] was surprised by this as she hadn't expected Roygun to rely on her own fists to attack her.

"Many of our members like using their fists to fight, the same with our [King], so I got various lessons on how to improve my close quarters combat," she explained and punched Tsubaki in the cheek, knocking her away.

The demonic attacks she fired earlier hit Tsubaki. Roygun had exemplary control over her demonic powers, so after firing her attacks earlier, she made them temporarily stationary in the air while she attacked Tsubaki herself, and once she punched her away, she ordered them to hit the [Queen] of Sona's team.

With a few chunks of her flesh missing, Tsubaki Shinra stood there shakily. Roygun was amazed at her tenacity. Normally, most other players right now would have retired, but the Queen of the Sitri team defied all odds.

As Tsubaki breathed heavily, memories of her life so far played in her head.

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'I'm Sona Sitri. I think you can make that power of yours into a wonderful and powerful ability in the future. Won't you follow me?'

The meeting of a lifetime after being shunned by her own clan—the Shinra Clan. After reconciling with them during her and Aaron's visit to Kyoto, she, like Akeno Himejima started to visit the Shinra clan more often. Rebuilding past relationships and building a new and better future with everyone.

Tsubaki remembered the time she spent with everyone. She remembered the time that Sona, her [King] slowly gathered up all the members of her peerage up until Bennia Orcus and Loup Garou, making her peerage complete.

'Sup So-tan, how have you been?'

She remembered the day that she met Aaron. At the time, she was shocked to know that the famed Middleman and current Red Dragon Emperor would be going to school with them. But she didn't know at the time that the entire supernatural world at large would go through a lot of changes because of him.

'—He didn't care about norms; he didn't care about your background or your species. Even if he seemed like a pervert at the start for just wanting a harem as his goals for peace…he…'

Tsubaki remembered her final year in Kuoh Academy high school division, all the happy and sad times she had, the new friends she made since then—her current life was happy and she wanted that to continue.

'Peace this, peace that. I know everyone might get sick of what I say, but wouldn't the world be a better place? How many more people have to suffer because of people like in the Khaos Order? If I'm hated by a small few, I'm fine with that—even if they're not content with peace…I'll force it on them. If 1000 are angry with me, I'll accept 1,000,000 being happy with me. That's the kind of world I want.'

She heard those words from him. She was only asked by Grayfia to fetch him since they were having dinner. They had been inside his [Pocket Dimension] for around 57 years at that point.

'Peace…peace…' she thought.

'This might be what you call peace, but there are people who have suffered as a result.' She heard him repeat those words. 'That's what Vali told me. There is truth to it. I mean, if it was really possible, don't you think the 'good' people out there might have already achieved it, right?'

After a grueling few days without Aaron, he had finally appeared after millions of people had died due to Lapis' attack.

'—I…I don't care what I am! My entire existence is beyond that—and I'll use it to protect the ones closest to me!!'

When Tsubaki heard that, she couldn't help but question him about it—so during those twenty days after the war, she asked him a question in private.

'If you dedicate your existence for just other people, can you really be happy? Don't you think it's unhealthy?' she asked.

Aaron smiled like usual and laughed. 'I was just…a bit emotional back then. While in a way, it'll become my 'job' in the future, I won't just be constantly helping people. I'll live my life how I want while keeping some things in check. A small helpful push here, destroying annoying bad guys there, you know, the usual.'

He put a hand on her head and stroked it. 'So don't worry too much, Tsubaki. I'll be fine. I have you guys with me, right?'

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Tsubaki Shinra wanted to scream out her feelings, but she thought that it would be out of character for her, so she kept it in. However, her next move would be her last and she knew that. With her vision slowly closing, she aimed her hand at Roygun one last time and fired her last ball of demonic energy and fell to the ground.

'…Please win, everyone.' Those were the last thoughts of Tsubaki Shinra before she retired from the game.

Roygun, instead of using her [Crack] ability, moved out of the way as the attack was considerably slower than the ones she had to dodge earlier. It hit the ground behind her and exploded—even the explosion was much weaker, and then…the [Queen] of Sona's team…

[1 [Queen] of [Team Sona Sitri] retire!!]

"Nice fight, Tsubaki Shinra. If I didn't use that 'help' from Aurelia-sama, then I definitely would have lost," said Roygun as she flew back towards Scathach as she had been fighting Bennia and Momo by herself.

"Hmm. You two have improved quite a lot, but you still have a long way to go. Improve your technique and mastery over your powers more, it seems 100 years in the [Pocket Dimension] wasn't enough," said Scathach.

Neither Momo nor Bennia liked what they heard, but the facts were in front of them. Scathach was unharmed while both of them were badly beaten and smacked around by her and her spear. In a life-or-death battle, they would be dead—that's a fact they can't deny.

"Well, we can do that another time, Scathach-shishō, but we have to win this game, so we'll use everything we have right now!" said Momo. She then looked at Bennia and nodded. "Balance Adjust…"

The two bracelets on Momo glowed and…nothing seemingly happened, confusing both Scathach and Roygun who had just arrived. But Bennia suddenly ran full speed towards Scathach and began swinging her scythe at her. Scathach responded by deflecting and parrying her attacks. Once she saw an opening, she thrust the blunt end of her spear at Bennia.

To her surprise, a small translucent blue wall appeared and blocked her attack. When the Queen of the Land of Shadows looked at Momo, she hadn't activated her Sacred Gear as she stood there with her arms crossed.

"Hooo? Is this your Counter Balance? How interesting…" mumbled Scathach. She thrust her spear in quick succession and the small translucent blue wall appeared at each spot she aimed it at.

"I see, so those walls appear at any spot I attack at—in a way, it's like an automatic defensive barrier. Now…how much can it take?" she asked and grinned.

As she was about to attack Bennia again, the little grim reaper raised her scythe and swung it down using the boosters on it. Scathach dodged it—or so it seemed, but she felt something hit her on the side and she was blown back much to her surprise.

Bennia and Momo grinned. "Our first hit!" they cheered.

Scathach landed on the ground and looked at Bennia with interest. 'Is that an ability of her scythe that Lord made, or…is it part of Momo's Counter Balance's ability? I'll need to experiment.'

"I'll deal with Momo Hanakai, Scathach," said Roygun.

"Do as you wish. I will face little Bennia," replied Scathach. Both women glanced at each other and nodded before they rushed towards the two young women.

Roygun fired demonic lightning bolts at Momo, who had the same thing happen to her. The translucent blue walls appeared in front of her and blocked the attacks. Roygun arrived in front of her and delivered an uppercut, but it was also blocked.

She didn't think she could use her [Crack] ability with it, but she still tried, but…she had no idea where to aim it at, so she stopped. She couldn't use the same technique on Momo as she did on Tsubaki since she only had use of that power boost once and since Momo was superior to her in terms of raw power—she was out of luck.

Momo formed blades of flames and water before shooting them towards Roygun. The former second-ranker fired her own elemental attacks, but knew they wouldn't be able to match against hers, so she flew up to avoid Momo's attacks and flew towards her—in Roygun's mind, after her victory against Tsubaki, whoever she faced afterward...she would lose against.

With that in mind, she wanted to at least find out how Momo's Counter Balance operated. As she tried to punch Momo in the face, her barriers stopped her, in turn Momo herself punched Roygun, but she also felt multiple other 'things' hit her at once and was sent away.

Luckily for her, Momo didn't use too much strength and she stayed conscious, but also came up with a hypothesis with her Counter Balance.

'…Does it create physical afterimages that also attack the enemy she faces? If so, there's a slight delay and you can probably counter or even dodge it, but…if you do, does it create more if Momo herself counters that counter?'

She didn't know, so she decided to relay Scathach her hypothesis and use herself as a guinea pig. Scathach tried to tell her it was unnecessary, but also told her that she would be useless for the rest of the match since she didn't have the raw power to fight back the other members of [Team Sona Sitri].

[Fine, but show me it in a short amount of time, otherwise I'm going to brute for it,] said Scathach.

[Fufu, very well,] replied Roygun as she continued her experiment with her own body on the line. She fired shots, and used close quarters to determine how Momo's Counter Balance worked. During that time, Momo also understood her intentions and didn't say anything, except—

"You may already have an idea, so I'll end this. Thank you and I'm sorry, Roygun-sama," said Momo. She raised her and created a barrier using her Artificial Sacred Gear around Roygun and discharged a point-blank demonic ball at her.

A powerful explosion occurred in the ball and—

[1 [Bishop] of [Team Golden Rakshasa] retire!!]

"…Well, thank you for your work, Roygun. I think I understand how it works," said Scathach. She thrust her spear towards Bennia and the girl didn't finch as the barriers blocked the attacks again.

Scathach nodded to herself and jumped backwards. "That barrier doesn't only block my attacks, it also absorbs the energy my attacks create further increasing the power of those barriers, right? As for its other ability, it can create afterimages that are physically there and can attack us with a very small delay."

Momo smiled and clapped. "As expected of Scathach-shishō, it seems that Roygun-sama's theory was correct. My Counter Balance does just that—it used to be only used for defense and support, but now I can utilize it a bit more offensively. It can also be given to my teammates, but has a limited range at the moment. Aaron and I discussed some upgrades in the future."

Scathach pointed her Gae Bolg at Momo and said, "However, there is always a limit to how much those things can block and absorb, and we'll find out soon."

[1 [Rook] of [Team Sona Sitri] retire!]

[1 [Pawn] of [Team Golden Rakshasa] retire!]

[The [Rook] Player Loup Garou and [Pawn] Bova Tannin have simultaneously knocked each other out! What a fierce brawl they had!]

[Hmm. It looked like Sairaorg Bael and Cao Cao's most recent match. The youth sure are rowdy this generation—many have been inspired by the Oppai Dragon,] said Lugh.

"There is, but I can always train to increase it. For now, it's enough to delay you," said Momo.

Scathach didn't wait any longer as she rushed towards Bennia and attacked her in quicker and stronger succession. The blue translucent barrier repeatedly appeared while blocking and absorbing her attacks. However, during her relentless assault, the first crack appeared. All of them became aware and Bennia jumped away but Scathach followed her and she was forced to block the goddesses' attacks instead of just relying on the barrier.

Bennia hadn't used [Calagami] for too long nor did she experiment too much with it since the teams that they fought before [Team Golden Rakshasa] weren't that strong except for one, and even then, the game types they played required more strategy and planning—in a way, they were lucky since they didn't need to fight people head on even if they had the means to do so.

Their other opponents also didn't destroy the entire field, as previously, [Team Sona Sitri] used the environment to their advantage, but in today's game, they couldn't. Ravel knew this and asked Aurelia to wipe it out.

Bennia pulled her scythe back and three more blades appeared from it. Even if she didn't experiment too much with the scythe, she accidentally found this out during one of their training sessions, along with the boosters. She then swung it towards Aurelia horizontally while also activating the boosters.

Scathach pulled back and seemingly dodged it, but when she looked up, the afterimages appeared and forced her to block them. She grinned, slammed her left foot on the ground and created a rune circle that appeared beneath Bennia and fired a ball of flames at her. But it was also blocked by the barrier—however, it created another crack in the barrier.

"Well, it's been fun, but I can't stay here forever," Scathach suddenly said surprising both of them. With a grin on her head, she jumped back and into the sky as her spear began to glow intensely. It quickly shone brighter and brighter.

"Bennia!" Momo shouted and rush over to her. Both girls created defensive barriers in front of them and Momo applied her regular barrier in front of them using her Sacred Gear.

"Gae…Bolg!!!" Scathach threw her spear towards the two members of the Sitri peerage was an indescribable amount of divine energy wrapped around the spear and was heading towards them.

[Player Scathach has just used her finishing moooove! Will the [Knight] and [Bishop] of [Team Sona Sitri] survive?!]

The spear hit the visible barrier first, and it shattered it in a matter of seconds. Next were the defensive magic circles. They were blown away too, after it was the Counter Balance barriers. Initially it stopped it—but a small crack appeared on it…and it only grew bigger and bigger until it shattered! The spear slammed into the ground and exploded!

An enormous purple-crimson red dome-shaped explosion enveloped the area where they were fighting. The attack was powerful enough to shake the field and disrupt the other fights because of it.

Scathach landed back on the ground and the spear appeared in her hand. With it by her side, she stared at the spot and waited for the explosion to subside. It eventually did and—

[1 [Knight] of [Team Sona Sitri] retire!!]

The only one left was Momo, who looked worn out and seconds away from collapsing. She shakily raised her arm and unleashed countless elemental attacks towards Scathach. The woman, with her usual smile on her face, tapped the air in front of her and negated the attacks. Upon doing that Momo collapsed on the ground.

As she faded away in the light of retirement, tears fell from Momo's eyes. 'I'm sorry, I couldn't keep my promise,' she thought.

Before the game today, she approached Aaron about something. She asked him to propose to her if they win the game—if not, then if she could defeat someone from the other team. At first Aaron was surprised by the sudden request, but he also accepted—although he never specifically said he'd propose to her if she fulfilled those conditions or not.

Momo herself also wanted to defeat someone from [Team Golden Rakshasa] as they were all well-known to a certain extent, while she wasn't. Like many others—she wanted to make a name for herself because the one she was dating was insanely popular. She kept it a secret since she knew Aaron would just tell her not to worry about it.

"Nice fight, Momo Hanakai. Your Counter Balance was certainly interesting; however, we (trainers) will need to increase all your previous training regimes!"

A smile appeared on Momo's face as she left the game field. "Yes…shishō…"

[1 [Bishop] of [Team Sona Sitri] retire!!]

— ○ ● ○ —

The various masks that Reya Kusaka used were burned by Ravel's flames, but that didn't destroy them as Reya had asked Aaron to upgrade them with as much resistance to elements as possible. Currently, both [Bishops] were at a standstill.

Reya couldn't defeat Ravel because of the Phenex's immortality, and Ravel couldn't defeat Reya because of her Artificial Sacred Gear's versatility.

Ravel floated at a distance from Reya and sighed to herself. 'If I do 'that', I would essentially take myself out. The power I'd need to use is on par with Reya-sama…'

Ravel touched her transceiver and said, [Everyone, I'll take out Reya-sama with me. So please win!] Ravel then flew towards Reya while increasing the flames around her body. She kept increasing them until the ground beneath them and the clothes on them began to melt.

Reya ordered her masks to attack Ravel, and she added her own attacks towards the flaming woman. But they simply passed through her and didn't affect her—some even melted due to the heat that Ravel exuded. Reya's clothes began to melt and she covered her body with her arms. Ravel's body was covered with flames, and she was on a mission right now and did not care about her own nakedness.

"Ara…I might be in—!?" Reya's eyes widened as she suddenly found it hard to breathe and understood what Ravels' plans were. 'Limiting my breathing while also fighting me—how long can you last with that, Ravel-chan? Or do you plan on taking us both out?'

Using one of her other masks, she created a shield around her head that protected her a bit from the heating that Ravel was exuding from her entire body. Although it was still quite hard to breathe, this made it easier, but it also meant she'd have one less mask to use.

Ravel hurtled large flames that were enchanted by her wind manipulation. Reya tried to block the attacks with her shield again, but since Ravel was using her flames to their maximum output, they were nearly instantly melted down! Reya used her own demonic attacks instead, but the results were the same.

Reya flew away, but Ravel as in 'hot' pursuit, and quickly caught up to her. Ravel arrived in front of Reya who shielded herself using her a defensive barrier and masks. However, as soon as Ravel put her hand towards Reya, her masks began to melt which forced Reya to back away even more. At the same time, Ravel shot another powerful blast of [Hell Fire] at Reya, destroying her defensive circles and engulfing her body in the flames.

The [Bishop] of [Team Sona Sitri] crashed to the ground in a ball of flames. The way that Ravel was using her flames, quickly depleted her stamina, so she wanted to at least finish it now by taking them both out or taking Reya out and leaving herself vulnerable.

Gathering more [Hell Fire] above her, she created a ball the size of the sun—the output that Ravel was using turned her flames from the regular red-orange to blue-white flames much like Kanami's [Ashen Burst].

As Reya stood up with burns on her body, she tried to move away, but noticed that she couldn't move. When she looked down, she saw…demonic magic circles around her ankles.

'Gravity magic…!? When did Ravel-chan learn that?! Did she mix it with her flames from earlier and forced a delayed activation?' Reya panicked as she tried to move her body. However, she had been injured quite a bit by the attack, and the constant use of her Artificial Sacred Gear had taken its toll on her.

"Checkmate." Ravel threw her attack downwards and the area beneath her was turned into a sea of flames. The ground melted, and the white barrier was the only thing left there once her attack subsided.

[1 [Bishop] of [Team Sona Sitri] retire!!]

Ravel fell to the ground and panted. She had used quite a lot of her stamina up and demonic power, but she could still move. So she slowly but surely began walking towards where Aoife and Ruruko were.

"I'm glad I didn't need to sacrifice myself…those [Gravity Flames] were a lot more useful than I thought," she muttered to herself.

[Gravity Flames]. A unique type of flame that Ravel Phenex made while training in Aaron's [Pocket Dimension] she mixed her families [Hell Fire] and [Gravity Manipulation] that was gifted to her by Aaron.

"I wonder how Aoife-sama is doing…?" As Ravel made her way towards Aoife Murphy and Ruruko Nimura, she felt powerful vibrations come from that direction and from a distance she could see two figures clashing against each other.

— ○ ● ○ —

It took her some time, but once Ravel Phenex arrived there, she saw their only [Rook] on their team, Scathach watching the match unfold.

"Scathach-sama…"

"Hmm? Ah, Ravel. I'm glad you could make it. Good job on winning your fight, although it looks like you suffered some exhaustion on your part. Come, come, this fight will conclude soon too."

Scathach looked back at the fight and Ravel stood beside her and the Witch of Dún Scáith supported their [Bishop].

In the distance, an extremely fatigued Ruruko used her demonic power to release several elemental attacks at Aoife. The young woman easily deflected them or sliced them apart using her sword, [Fragarach]. The difference in strength was tangible.

Parts of Ruruko's Counter Balance armor were already falling apart or missing. Innumerable cuts were all over her body and she looked like she was going to fall over and pass out at any time. Both women stood at opposite ends as Aoife slowly walked towards Ruruko.

"Aoife-sama boasted about having power comparable to Lavinia-sama. Do you think she—?"

"Did you check with your ring?" asked Scathach. Without another word, Ravel brought her ring up and checked.

"…It seems that she is, although I'd like to believe Lavinia-sama is slightly stronger now since Aaron-sama occasionally goes in there with his team," said Ravel after dismissing her [Appraisal] ability.

"She's a natural. Perhaps she's a descendant of ours? Fufu, I jest. I only said that because 'Aoife' is the modern version of the name 'Aífe'," explained the Witch of Dún Scáith. "As Ddraig said, she summoned a sword and fought him evenly with no prior training. Maybe Lord made her like that—especially with that body."

"…We're talking about her potential and adaptability when you're talking about her body, right?" Ravel asked skeptically.

Scathach laughed. "I am talking about both. Yes, Lord may have given her a body that had could grow strong in a short amount of time. However, I also mean it in a different way—he has told us he likes ponytails, she has that, and her body proportions are just right, in my opinion."

Ravel was stunned by the strange conversation, but could also see a hint of jealousy in the older woman's eyes.

"I liked our fight, Ruruko, but let's end this now since the climax is near," said Aoife as a silver aura covered her body.

As Ruruko panted heavily she gritted her teeth. 'Dammit…I lost to someone who was just recently revived. I'm sorry, Sona-sama, Gen-chan!'

Ruruko calmed her breathing and pulled out the last remaining drops of her stamina and power. "Not yet, I still have one last trick up my sleeve!" she shouted before sprinting towards Aoife. To all their surprise, it seemed like Ruruko began to 'glitch' out as she created 'afterimages' even though she wasn't going as fast as she was like earlier.

Small amounts of light-blue electricity began to flow around Ruruko's body. In her vision everyone had slowed down significantly. She was using her newly developed time-based abilities in her Artificial Sacred Gear. She had approached Aaron about giving herself new abilities after she saw the match between Sairaorg and Cao Cao.

In the end she was inspired by the Sacred Gear that Babitar had used during the exhibition match between [Team Dragon Legacy] and [Team Transcendent Time]. She wanted to increase her speed even more when she used her Artificial Sacred Gear.

The afterimages disappeared as Ruruko had reached an unprecedented level of speed and circled around Aoife. Even Scathach was surprised by this and laughed.

"Fufu, it seems like Ruruko is slightly faster than me now with whatever she's using right now. But it's putting a huge strain on her body," said Scathach.

"Does that mean she'll have a chance at beating Aoife-sama?" asked Ravel. Scathach shook her head and simply pointed at the white-haired female.

Ruruko was shocked as she circled Aoife, but the young woman was clearly following her with her eyes. 'Y-you're kidding me, right!? She can follow me?!'

In one swift motion, Aoife appeared in front of Ruruko and kneed her in the chin. Once she was flying through the air, she pulled her arm back with her sword, gathered some energy around it and thrust it towards the flying Ruruko. A powerful and invisible blast hit Ruruko in the middle of her chest, destroying her armor and retiring her.

[1 [Pawn] of [Team Sona Sitri] retire!!]

At the same time another fight concluded.

[2 [Knights] of [Team Golden Rakshasa] retire!!]

Scathach suddenly blocked an incoming attack from hitting Ravel with her spear. Both of them turned around and saw Tsubasa Yura there. She had used her shield to try to retire Ravel.

She rubbed the back of her head and said, "I thought I could get a sneak attack in, I guess I was wrong. Scathach-shishō is as sharp as ever."

In the back, Tomoe Meguri also arrived and she and her samurais were fighting Aoife already. Ravel Phenex was the outlier here as she was useless right now as she had near zero stamina and demonic power.

"Wow~ you beat Ruruko, you're amazing, Aoife-san~" said Tomoe as she started to wildly swing her sword at Aoife along with her samurais.

With a calm demeanor and an elegant smile on her face, Aoife parried and blocked all the attacks thrown at her. "I'm just lucky that Aaron spoiled me so I could have this level of strength. I feel guilty since all of you had to work a little harder than me," she said. With a single flick of her free hand, she dismissed Tomoe's samurais much to her surprise.

Aoife followed it up by kicking her in the stomach, sending her away. Aoife jumped towards Ravel and healed her up as her Phenex's healing powers had slowed down due to her fatigue and low demonic power.

"Thank you, Aoife-sama, but I won't—"

Aoife put a finger on her lips and winked. "I'll fight while defending you. We still need you, strategist-sama~!"

Ravel smiled and nodded. "I'll do my best."

Tomoe came back, and the two began a dance after Aoife kicked her away again. Anytime Tomoe tried to attack Ravel with her samurai, Aoife simply destroyed them again and forced Tomoe to fight her instead. The more Tomoe tried to create the samurais the more her stamina was used up, so she stopped and focused on her fight with Aoife instead.

Tomoe swung her sword down vertically and created a wave of darkness that shot towards Aoife. Aoife swung hers horizontally and created a blade of silver energy and the two attacks collided and destroyed everything at the point of collision. An enormous crater was left behind after their attacks ended.

Aoife raised her sword and several ethereal swords appeared behind her, she then pointed her swords towards Tomoe and they quickly flew towards her. Tomoe tried to defend herself against it and saw that the darkness around her sword had drained away.

'Purification…? No, it's different, it's just sucking it away…' she thought and instead of using the darkness to coat her sword, she applied her demonic energy, but the same thing happened. 'Does it just drain anything it touches? What kind of technique is that?'

"Ugh!?" Tomoe glanced at her left calf and found that one of the ethereal swords had stabbed her. 'I thought I had deflected them even after being drained! Dammit, does she control them? I should have kept an eye on them! But they vanished after I deflected them and after they drained the darkness!'

Tomoe jumped back and saw the ethereal swords flashed from being visible to invisible. "Dammit Aoife-san!"

Aoife laughed and dashed towards Tomoe and appeared above her. "I invited Ruruko out for food after this. Let's bring both teams out!"

"How's that relevant!?" Tomoe shouted back at her, confused about the situation. Aoife didn't respond but instead drop-kicked Tomoe into the ground and stabbed her shoulder and jumped away.

"Ugh…I hate this. I already messed around for too long with those two dragon sisters…" mumbled Tomoe. 'Maybe I became too cocky? Ugh, how does Coriana and Gasper do it…?'

As she was about to continue fighting—

[1 [Rook] of [Team Sona Sitri] retire!!]

Upon hearing that announcement, Tomoe glanced back at Scathach and saw that Tsubasa was consumed the retirement light.

"…Jeez, you broke my shield so easily, Shishō," said Tsubasa as she left the field.

"Hmm. You need to strengthen it more, I'll teach you later," said Scathach. She glanced back at Tomoe and added, "Don't take your eyes away from your opponent."

In a panic, Tomoe turned back around and saw a spear coated in lightning inches away from her. She bent backwards and avoided the attack, but when she looked up at the sky, she saw a giant bolt of lightning was about to hit her.

"Ah, shit—" An enormous explosion erupted from where Tomoe stood and she was also knocked out of the game.

[1 [Knight] of [Team Sona Sitri] retire!!]

"Good work, Aoife," Scathach said as she walked over towards Aoife while carrying Ravel like a bag of potatoes.

With a smile on her face, she showed her a peace sign. "Thanks, Super-shishō. All that's left are…Sona and Genshirou-kun, huh?"

Ravel said, "Whoever wins those matches will win the game for us. If Rossweisse-sama defeats Sona-sama then we win. If Genshirou-sama defeats Aurelia-sama, then Sona-sama wins."

"And neither will let us help, will they?" Aoife chuckled and put away her sword.

"No, no they won't," said Scathach as they began walking in different directions.

"Um, can we please go towards Sona-sama's fight?" Ravel asked and Scathach nodded before she changed the way she carried Ravel, and carried her bridal-style.

"I'll go watch Aurelia and Genshirou then," said Aoife and both parties disappeared from their spots.

— ○ ● ○ —

"Hoho? Now that's interesting," said Scathach as she arrived at the location where Sona and Rossweisse fought. The rest of the ground around them had vanished.

Both women panted as they had several bruises and missing parts of the flesh. The fight between the [King] of [Team Sona Sitri] and the [Queen] of [Team Golden Rakshasa] had been fierce. Neither of them utilized much of their [Ultra Instinct Sign] since it had a large consumption of stamina.

Nevertheless, they had mostly resorted to using their magic and demonic powers. Even still, Rossweisse was overall stronger and had the advantage for most of the fight. Sona had to resort to small and petty tricks and catching her off guard, as well as using her [Ultra Instinct Sign] at very crucial moments to avoid being taken out.

"Both are very tired, but Rossweisse-sama has the edge in terms of stamina," analyzed Ravel.

"Hmm. She does have regular sex with Aaron now since they've taken their relationship to the next level," Scathach said while nodding sagely.

'That's not what I meant…' thought Ravel.

Scathach smirked at Ravel and added, "Your stamina does increase when having sex, Ravel. You'll understand soon, so make sure you put your foot forward when dealing with Aaron. He's quite busy, but he won't mind if you become a bit more aggressive."

Ravel looked troubled by this advice, but also blushed. She didn't know what to say, but also took the advice since she wanted to become more physical with Aaron who she was interested in. Although she already received a few kisses from him, so she wasn't that bothered by it.

"T-that…that isn't something you're supposed to put in food!!" Rossweisse screamed and fired a powerful blast of magic at Sona.

Sona also matched it with her own demonic attack. "I-it provides nutrients for it! It should be normalized!!" the two attacks slammed into each other, creating a large explosion in the middle.

"…What are they talking about?" Scathach asked, confused by their sudden angry conversation.

"You can't just add performance-enhancing pills and protein powder to food! Didn't Raiko-san, Grayfia-san and Aaron teach you that?!" Rossweisse shouted, stunning both Ravel and Scathach.

"I will admit, I was taught that, but the benefits—"

"That's not the poooooint!!" Rossweisse screamed and thousands of magic circles appeared behind her and were fired at Sona.

Sona created various creatures using her water manipulation and sent them towards the magic attacks. Both attacks collided creating another explosion.

It's as it sounds—the topic they were arguing about was…cooking and what was acceptable to put in as ingredients. At the start of their fight, it was mostly silent. However, both felt it was a bit awkward, so they started conversing about various different topics.

The most recent one was about food, and after Sona told Rossweisse of her desires of adding unnecessary items to the things she wanted to cook, she told her calmly and kindly not to do that—but as Sona kept insisting, Rossweisse became frustrated, and their exchange of attacks became even more heated…until it came to this.

The two exchanged countless more attacks while arguing fiercely with each other. Rossweisse had to scream over the explosion of their attack while Sona would wait until those explosions stopped and would speak.

"…I'll side with Rossweisse on this. I prefer the more traditional cooking, and what Raiko, Inaie, Grayfia and Aaron make is much more delicious. While I don't mind having protein when appropriate…shoving them into food is just…strange," said Scathach.

Ravel nodded in agreement. "Adding something to the food even if it is beneficial on paper doesn't make it tasty, in fact, I would say it would spoil the food and make it quite disgusting. I will have to be on Rossweisse-sama's side, Sona-sama."

Sona Sitri, who had heard them looked at them in surprise. 'W-why? …I'll just ask Aaron about this later…' she thought and continued her fight with the Valkyrie.

— ○ ● ○ —

Genshirou Saji and Aurelia Le Guin's foreheads slammed into each other. The impact created a powerful shockwave on both sides and destroyed the ground beneath them.

"What happened to all that bravado from earlier, Saji!?" Aurelia asked and punched him in the stomach.

Saji coughed up blood, but also punched Aurelia on the cheek, but it didn't do any damage to her. "It's still here, Aurelia-sensei!!" he shouted.

As the two continued to clash, it was clear that his small boost earlier had given him enough to fight a bit more against her. However, overall, Aurelia was still winning by a significant margin. Genshirou shot lines towards Aurelia and attempted to pull her towards him, but she resisted, instead she pulled him towards her.

Genshirou used his boosters to increase his speed towards her, much to her surprise. At the last seconds he dismissed his lines and vaulted above her and fired black-purple flames at her from above! Aurelia covered her right hand with gold energy and punch towards the black flames.

The two attacks collided and pushed both of them away from each other. Genshirou landed on the ground and charged back at Aurelia who also did the same thing, the two of them began a fistfight, with each hit, everything around them shook. However, it was clear that Genshirou was the one suffering damage from said fight as his armor began to crack and shatter at an increased pace.

His stamina was running low, as well as blood—the more Aurelia hit him, the more he would need to use to repair his armor, even with the help of Vritra, it was hard on the young man.

'—Genshirou…Saji, I'm a second-year and part of the Student Council.'

He remembered the first time he met Aaron, and he was forced to properly introduce himself to him because of his [King].

'Allow me to introduce to you, Jin, the newly appointed middleman and the… The Red Dragon Emperor.'

The revelation hit him like a truck, and he couldn't believe such a person was with them at that school.

The memories of the past year flooded his mind as he and Aurelia kept on punching each other. He was aware of it, he was the only one truly being damaged right now, yet…he continued. If—if he somehow could defeat her then it would have been amazing—otherwise they would lose. He heard of his teammate's retirement earlier, and knew that he and Sona were the last ones left.

If he could take down Aurelia Le Guin—the [King] of [Team Golden Rakshasa], they could make this one of the biggest upsets of the tournament so far, even if it was only the preliminaries.

"Ooooooooooooh!! Aurelia-sensei!!!" Genshirou screamed as he slammed his fist into her stomach and blew her away—at the same time, Aurelia had kicked him in the stomach and he also flew backwards and crashed into the ground.

Aurelia quickly got up and laughed. "Ha-ha-ha! The passions of youth, it's amazing, isn't it?" she asked the downed Dragon King.

Genshirou felt excruciating pain all throughout his body, but he still continued to struggle up. He managed to pull himself up to one knee and panted heavily. 'This…this isn't my limit; I can keep going…!'

"Fight-o! Ge-n-shi-rou!" Aoife shouted in the distance. "Oh and Aurelia too!"

"Hmm, I feel power surging through me thanks to Aoife-sama's cheer!" Aurelia said jokingly and laughed.

"Aoife-san…!" muttered Genshirou. He didn't think an enemy would cheer him on, but he was thankful.

[Ah, excuse me, t-thank you…Gen-nii!!!] A familiar voice screamed from the mic. Genshirou was shocked and looked up at the cameras.

'Kaho?! W-what the heck are you doing in that place?!'

"Oh? It seems your little sister is there," said Aurelia. A smirk appeared on her face as she jumped back and waited for her little sister to continue.

[Gen-nii…can you hear me? In the kindergarten today, I heard the teacher say that Gengo won a fight. He won against the boy who bullied him!]

In the room where the two announcers were, tears welled up in the eyes of Genshirou's younger sister, and they eventually streamed down her cheeks.

[Gengo already won! You'll look horrible if you keep lying on the ground there, Gen-nii! Stand up! Stand up, Onii-chan!]

His sister's voice resounded across the entire field. And the next moment, little by little, Genshirou gradually stood back up. He himself was crying, his emotions overwhelmed him. Even after he had already endured so many blows from Aurelia, normally he would have already been knocked unconscious.

Yet, in the depths of Genshirou's swollen eyes—a flame ignited. A grand conflagration of black flames ignited across Genshirou's entire body and reformed his shattered armor.

'—I think Gen-nii wants Gengo to see the path that mom and dad used to walk in life. I think Gen-nii is trying to act cool to make up for the roles of both mom and dad.'

His sisters' words echoed in his head.

'Jin-senpai, I want to be a teacher.'

His dreams echoed in his head as he told his close friend and senior.

The flames around his body began to pulse and grow larger and then—

[Genshirou!]

His heart stopped—no, to him, to Genshirou Saji, the entire world just froze.

'Eh?' he thought, unable to process the voice he had just heard.

[Genshirou! Win! I want to see my own son win this match! My throat is sore after screaming so much today!!] his father—Kento Saji shouted through the mic.

[That's right, Gen! Win for yourself and your friends! Be the greatest Dragon King that ever lived!] his mother—Manami Saji shouted into the mic as well.

[Onii-chan fight!!!] Gengo screamed into the mic too, earning a chuckle from the announcers.

Vritra, who was inside of Genshirou Saji's Sacred Gear chuckled. [Hehe, it seems the invincible Middleman created a personal miracle for you, my host—no, Genshirou.]

Genshirou's heart overflowed with emotions as even more tears fell from his eyes. 'Mom…Dad…Kaho…Gengo…!'

'Why…did he…? When did he…? ...Aaron-senpai! Dammit!!! How am I supposed to do anything if you keep doing things like this!?'

With a shout that came from his very soul, the black flames around his body erupted in a spiraling vortex that pushed Aurelia back due to its force and melted everything around it. Once the spiraling vortex ended, Genshirou Saji stood there with his completed armor.

[W-what is this?! The Great Dragon King Genshirou's armor has changed!!]

Genshirou's helmet gained two spikes and his eye sockets glowed purple. His armor which had been mainly black, had turned into a mix of black with purple highlights and accents. Various parts of his arms, shoulders hips, legs and knees had added layer of spikes as protection metallic tail came out of his back. Various lines also wriggled behind him and Genshirou stood there with his chest out.

"…Aurelia-sensei…here I come," he muttered.

Genshirou Saji suddenly appeared behind Aurelia Le Guin and sent an astronomically stupid fast punch to her back! But the Golden Rakshasa herself reacted in time and turned around while matching his punch! As the two punches collided, two powerful auras clashed against each other.

On one end was Aurelia's golden colored aura, on the other, Genshirou's black-purple flames. Genshirou suddenly jumped back and raised his left hand.

"Be resurrected! The [Prison Dragon] that dwells inside of me!" he shouted and a flash of light left him and behind him…a large black eastern dragon with violet eyes, and a third eye on his forehead with seven light purple tentacles growing at the back of his body appeared behind him.

"It's just like his [Vritra Promotion]," muttered Aurelia as she summoned her greatsword.

[I-i-i-i-it's the legendary Evil Dragon and Dragon King, Vritra!!! He's been summoned forth by Genshirou Saji!! W-wait, how do the organizers feel about this ability?! Please wait a moment!]

[No need to wait,] said Aaron voice. [I've discussed this with the other organizers, since I have the ability to bring out both dragons from within me, it's been recognized as an ability from the Sacred Gears, so this is allowed.]

[You heard it here, folks! The Middleman has confirmed it validity!! Let the match continue!!]

[Genshirou…] muttered Vritra.

"Let's do this, Vritra!" shouted Genshirou.

A smirk appeared on the dragon's face and a number of lines appeared all over his body. [Very well, let's defeat her together!]

"Come!" shouted Aurelia as both Dragon Kings rushed towards her. Both Genshirou and Vritra sent their lines towards Aurelia, who covered her greatsword with her golden aura and slashed them apart.

Genshirou and Vritra fired their black flames towards Aurelia. Aurelia herself brought her greatsword back and swung it vertically creating a golden slash that slammed against both flame attacks. To no one's surprise, her sword slash overpowered both Dragon King's attacks. However, the two of them quickly appeared on either of the woman's side.

Genshirou with the help of his boosters slammed his mechanical tail towards Aurelia, Vritra also did the same thing with his own tail, and the woman threw her greatsword into the air and caught both of their tails.

"Seriously?!"

[There are bigger monsters than us—!]

Both of them shouted before Aurelia threw them away and both crashed into the ground again. She jumped into the air and fired several aura slashes towards both Genshirou and Vritra. Genshirou evaded the attack using his flame boosters and Vritra used his flames to counter the attacks, forcing them to explode.

When Aurelia landed on the ground, tentacles came out of them and grabbed a hold of her legs. Vritra breathed out another batch of black flames, but instead of incinerating Aurelia, they wrapped around her body and tied themselves down to the ground too!

Genshirou stood back up and jumped forward at Aurelia. He ignited his tail with flames and began to spin, eventually turning himself into a spinning ball of flames. He further shot out flames from the chest of his armor and knuckles. Vritra himself covered the woman in a barrier that negated the use of her abilities, but she could still use her brute strength.

However, the dragon could only do this for a limited time as Aurelia herself was stronger than both of them combined. With a grin on her face, Aurelia stopped Genshirou's tail spinning attack and stopped the momentum by grabbing his tail and slamming him into the ground.

Vritra had begun to slam his tail towards her when she threw Genshirou towards it, forcing the Dragon King to stop, but she then punched the ground beneath her, shattering it along with the barrier around her as she jumped towards both Genshirou and Vritra.

Both fired black flames at her again, but she swung her sword with increased power and blew away the flames.

"Shit!" shouted Genshirou as he covered his body with lines, black flames, touki and summoned defensive magic circles in front of him. Meanwhile, Vritra used his tail to brace for the attack.

Aurelia's attack blasted through all their defenses and the two Dragon Kings received multiple cuts around their bodies. Genshirou's armor was damaged again, but it quickly repaired itself, while Vritra's wounds healed themselves with relative speed.

Vritra suddenly linked several lines of his to Genshirou's back, and a bright flash of light consumed the area. After that, Vritra disappeared.

"Wha—!? Vritra?!" Genshirou shouted in panic, however, seconds later his power surged even higher than before.

[I gave you my remaining power in that form. It would be better for you to have it. I don't see a reason for me to stay for too long as Aurelia would be much nimbler than me,] explained Vritra.

'Jeez, and I just summoned you! Well, thanks, Partner!' said Genshirou as she flew towards Aurelia at an even faster speed and slammed his fist that was ignited by black flames into her greatsword.

"Fufu, it seems like I can use a bit more power now. Shall we?" asked Aurelia.

"I'll keep going until I run out of energy, Sensei!" replied Genshirou. The two of them disappeared and clashed at various points—every time they did, large pillars of golden and black auras engulfed the entire area they were in.

"They're certainly having fun," said Scathach as she joined Aoife.

"Eh? Where's Ravel, Sona and Rossweisse?" the young woman asked in confusion.

"Ravel is watching their match, although it's overshadowed by the [King] and [Pawns] all-out brawl. "Fufu, who would have thought Genshirou Saji would make it to that level? Even though Aurelia is still holding back, she gets to use more of her power and is enjoying herself."

Black-purple translucent dragon heads formed around Genshirou's arms as he began to pummel away at Aurelia's sword, but the woman didn't back down to this new power, as she also deflected or slammed her sword into the Dragon King's fists.

The stadium where the audience were also shook as the powerful vibrations reached the Dimensional Gap, the crowed over there went wild as they got to witness two over-the-top games at close dates from each other.

"Did this power-up give you some confidence, Genshirou!?" Aurelia asked as she sent a kick to his face, but he blocked it and countered by bringing up his tail and letting lose his [Blaze Black Flames] from it.

"I don't know!!" screamed Genshirou as Aurelia blocked his attack with an invisible force when her eyes glowed gold.

"Ha-ha-ha! Make this even more enjoyable for me!" Aurelia thrust her foot towards Genshirou and he attempted to block it with his arms. However, the force was much more than he anticipated and he flew backwards.

[Genshirou, this is the first time we entered this 'complete' state, and the time limit on it was short, so at best you have around a minute more before you leave your Balance Breaker. It would be longer if you didn't summon me too…]

"Aaaaahhh!! Whyyy!?" complained Genshirou as he landed on the ground. "Let's just make it count!" he screamed and charged back towards Aurelia who had already dashed towards him with a maniacal grin.

Genshirou shot out lines towards Aurelia who cut some of them down, but noticed that some of them passed through her sword. He had mixed in some illusion magic and the real lines to confuse her. In that split second, he managed to grab her waist with one and pull her towards him. Using his boosters, he arrived in front of her and slammed his fist into her stomach—but Aurelia had blocked it with her sword.

"Let me hit you, sensei!!" he shouted in frustration.

"Work for it!" replied Aurelia, as another short scuffle ensued.

In the distance Aoife cheered for both loudly while Scathach observed silently.

"He's going to run out soon and lose," muttered Scathach.

"Mmm. I'd say forty seconds at most," replied Aoife as she kept on doing strange hand gestures. "Ah, will you join us for food? I'll ask Aaron if it's okay with the others," she asked.

Scathach glanced at her and smirked. "It will be below the quality we have at home, but I don't see why not?"

"Yaaay—" An ear-splitting explosion disrupted their conversation and when they looked back, they saw Aurelia had pierced Genshirou's shoulder with her greatsword. She was standing on top of him while he was kneeling and desperately trying to prevent her from driving it deeper into her shoulder.

"What's wrong, Saji!? Is this it!? Is this where you fall?!" Aurelia asked, almost sounding like a crazy person.

Genshirou only grinned before blowing out black flames from his mouth directly into her face! As Aurelia jumped back, a giant fist made of his lines had fused together and slammed against her, forcing her backwards. Genshirou dashed forward while coughing up blood and formed a spear with his black flames and threw it at Aurelia.

[Twenty seconds!!] shouted Vritra.

Aurelia managed to dodge the spear and even catch it, to Genshirou's horror. She slammed her head against the giant fist and destroyed it, she then threw the spear towards Genshirou at a faster speed than he could follow and it pierced his stomach. He touched the spear and made it disappear, and kept running towards her.

Even more flames erupted from Genshirou as he knew this would be his final attack. As he charged at her, the body of a translucent purple eastern dragon formed around him. Aurelia stood her ground and smiled at Genshirou. Genshirou leapt forward and did a jump kick towards Aurelia.

A large golden aura erupted from Aurelia and she brought back her greatsword back. She waited until the last second and swung her sword towards Genshirou as both their attacks smashed against each other!

An even larger explosion—larger than the previous ones that everyone had made during the match had just consumed the entire game field. Sona and Rossweisse, who had fought at a distance were also blown away by the shockwave it created.

[Oh my goodness! We can't see anything!! It's so bright!!]

[However, I can feel that a winner was just chosen…] muttered Lugh.

Once everything had concluded, and the dust had settled, they saw Genshirou Saji lying on the ground, panting heavily and his right leg missing. That was the one he used to kick Aurelia with. His armor had also vanished as he was forced out of his Balance Breaker. Aurelia herself wasn't damaged at all, although her cap had become undone during it. That was the extent of damage that Genshirou Saji did.

"Dammit…" cried Genshirou from the ground. "Even after another evolution—another change, I couldn't win against you, Aurelia-sensei."

"Hmm. You managed to blow my cape away. Be proud of that, Genshirou Saji."

He let out a defeated chuckle. "Are you trying to console me or something, sensei?"

"I was serious," replied Aurelia which made Genshirou burst into a fit of laughter.

"Well…I'll take that as a win, I guess?" he said before being retired.

[1 [Pawn] of [Team Sona Sitri] retire!!!]

"Nice job, King-Kong-sama!" said Aoife as she arrived beside Aurelia.

Aurelia grabbed her cheek with her hand and squished it. "Don't call me that," she told her and got a giggle from the young woman.

"All that's left is Rossweisse and Sona, and they'll reach their own conclusion soon," said Scathach.

"Right." Everyone looked towards the two and began walking over there.

— ○ ● ○ —

"I'll…g-gift you appropriate cook books, Sona-san…" panted Rossweisse.

"…I'm fine, I didn't like being lectured by at least three people about my cooking…" responded Sona tiredly.

Rossweisse held her hand up, and Sona got ready for some kind of attack, but to her surprise, Rossweisse fell unconscious and began falling to the ground.

'Did I win—?' She suddenly felt pain on her back and then she crashed to the ground. When Sona looked back up, she saw Rossweisse at the spot where she was previously at. 'She…faked it…!?'

As she tried to stand back up, she found it difficult as her legs gave out. Frustrated, she punched her thighs, and somehow forced herself back up. Sona wasn't one for doing such things. However, she knew she wasn't winning, but still wanted to take down the Valkyrie in front of her.

She created two enormous dragons made of water and they began to spit out countless needles, breath attacks and stakes towards Rossweisse who dodged them, but was still hit by a few of them. It was clear to both of them that their fight was going to conclude soon. As to who would win, they weren't sure.

'…It's all or nothing, let's end it. If I lose here, then the rest can take care of Sona-san,' thought Rossweisse.

Her body was engulfed in a silvery aura, and her pupils turned silver. Sona knew what was coming, but as she started to prepare herself, the creatures she made out of her clan's water manipulation suddenly exploded beside her, and she felt a powerful blow to her stomach.

Sona responded with her own activation of [Ultra Instinct], but it didn't work as she was too exhausted, and she felt another attack hit her and she was blown away. Rossweisse followed her and kicked her to the ground.

While panting above her, she aimed her wand at the heiress and asked, "Is this, checkmate, Sona-san?"

Sona who couldn't move her body anymore smiled. "…It may be." Sona closed her eyes as she was hit by Rossweisse's attack and was retired from the game.

[1 [King] of [Team Sona Sitri] retire!!]

[The match has concluded! The winners are [Team Golden Rakshasa]!!]

As the announcement was made, Rossweisse began to fall but was caught by Aoife. With a smile on her face, she hugged Rossweisse from behind. "Good work, Rose!"

"…Thank you, Aoife-san…I'm going to sleep for a bit…" mumbled Rossweisse as she also fell unconscious.

"Jeez, you look like a baby right now." Aoife patted her head as the rest of their team was teleported back to their waiting room.

— ○ ● ○ —

Aaron Toole's Soliloquy

— ○ ● ○ —

When turning around to look at the group in my VIP room, Gasper was already gone, he had left earlier when Tomoe was retired from the game and Coriana had joined him.

"Fuhahaha! It seems Genshirou Saji grew in this match too! I'll go speak with him," Sairaorg announced and was accompanied by the rest of his team.

Cao Cao remained silent, but seemed to come to his own conclusion before excusing himself and his team. I also got up and stretched my body.

"Aoife said we'd go have lunch at a nearby restaurant she saw earlier. I'll pay for everyone so let's go," I told everyone and we left the room. As we did one of my shadows contacted me.

'My King, [Team Slash Dogs] and [Team Shinto]'s match has just concluded. It was a fierce battle, and the game type was [Object Break]. However, the winners were [Team Slash Dogs], but it was quite close.'

As we walked away, I summoned a hologram in front of me showing the aftermath of the Rating Game between [Team Slash Dogs] and [Team Shinto]. Much like the [Team Lightning] and [Team Golden Rakshasa] match, there were only a few points difference and the only one that was retired in Kanami's team was their other [Pawn], Koga Hyousuke, but it seemed he lasted for quite a long time fighting the members of [Team Shinto].

"Kanami-chan and Natsume-chan won their match too, huh?" Lavinia said beside me.

"They haven't lost a single match yet, like many other teams like [Team Vajra] and [Team Asura]," said Raynare.

"Most of those are God-class teams so it makes sense, but there are others like—"

"Uwaaaaaaaa! Get off of me, you crazy lady!"

We suddenly heard a scream coming from [Team Sona Sitri]'s waiting room, and Genshirou came running out of it with someone clinging to him. That someone was a fallen angel and it was…Asbeel.

"Genshirou-sama! You were so cool!" she said and began trying to kiss him.

"W-w-what the heck?! Who is this woman?!" Ruruko asked out of shock and began to pull her off Genshirou.

As we approached them, Asbeel saw us and she immediately got on all fours and shouted, "Jin-sama welcome!"

"…Hey…Asbeel, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in Grigori?" I asked.

With a triumphant look she said, "I convinced Azazel to bring me here since I wanted to see the match in person!"

Azazel probably felt pity for her and decided to let her have this once chance at an outing since she would be stuck in Grigori for a long time. I shook my head, sighed and explained to the confused Sitri team who this woman was.

"S-someone that was previously part of the fallen angel faction of the Khaos Order?" Saji repeated. He looked at her with some contempt, but she began to rapidly explain her situation to him making him even more confused.

"A-anyway! G-Genshirou-sama, I heard y-you said…" she began fidgeting and acting shy. "Y-you wanted a harem, right?"

When we all turned to look at Genshirou, he had frozen on the spot. It was obvious that the gears in his head were beginning to turn and reality finally hit him. Ruruko on the other hand stared at Asbeel in horror.

"I do!!!" he screamed, startling everyone else.

"W-wait Gen-chan!!"

"D-didn't you say it was fine, Ruruko-chan?!" Saji asked excitedly.

"Fuahaha! It seems one of your dreams is coming true, Genshirou Saji!" shouted Sairaorg. The rest of his team was in the Sitri's waiting room and looked quite awkward too.

Ruruko looked conflicted as she looked between the excited Genshirou and the desperate Asbeel. After repeating the action a couple of times, she marched over to me.

"Please heal me more. I'm going to fight her," she said. Everyone there was shocked, but she turned back around while I healed her and she then pointed at Asbeel. "I have given Gen-chan my blessings in having a harem…but I want to make sure they have the resolve in staying, so I'll fight them before they join!"

The declaration of the first girlfriend, Ruruko Nimura stunned everyone there. However, I laughed at the situation and Genshirou looked at me and silently asked 'Help me!'. But before I could respond Asbeel got up and pointed at Ruruko too.

"Very well, as the main wife you have say on many of the rules, I will fight you with everything I have! …Even if I can't really fight!" she declared. A few of the girls around me looked at each other…

The two walked away with a few others following them. "There's a small area behind one of the shops where you can probably fight!" I shouted at them.

"Genshirou!"

When we heard that voice, we turned to it and found the Saji family there. As if remembering that they were alive again, Genshirou ran towards them before the two hugged. His mother, Manami and two siblings also joined in the hug, and Genshirou began to ugly cry on his father's shoulders.

"…We're home," Kento muttered.

"…We…lcome back…" he mumbled between sobs.

Sona, who had stayed behind watched on a little teary-eyed. Would it have been better if Ruruko stayed? I mean quite a large chunk of our groups just left to watch those two fight…

"When did you even do this?" Sona asked.

"A little bit after I evolved, so…after our graduation trip," I replied.

She just sighed again and shook her head. "Even though we lost, I don't feel that bitter about it. Seeing Saji like this feels like it was all worth it."

Genshirou suddenly turned around and dashed towards me. I stepped forward and caught the fist he threw at me.

"I'm not stopping here, Aaron-senpai. I—we'll definitely reach the main stage," he said and pulled his fist back.

"…Yeah, do your best," I replied and looked behind me. "It seems like the 'fight' is already over too. So let's go have some lunch. Will your family join us?" I asked.

On cue, Genshirou's stomach growled loudly and he blushed. "W-well, it is around the time for lunch! Let's go!" he said, ran back and picked up Gengo.

As everyone began to walk towards the front entrance of the venue, Sona stopped me and gestured for me to bend down to her level, and I did so. She suddenly kissed me and said, "Thank you. But like Saji said, we're not going to stop here."

"Heh, well I expect as much," I replied before we joined everyone else hand in hand.

— ○ ● ○ —

Later on that night, we were in my home in the Dimensional Gap as we were in the stupidly humongous living room. Antares apparently installed some kind of 200-inch flat-screen TV and it felt really weird watching from it.

What was being played on the TV were the highlights of the match between [Team Sona Sitri] versus [Team Golden Rakshasa], [Team Shinto] versus [Team Slash Dogs] and other matches that were scheduled during that time.

Much like the exhibition match, the one leading [Team Shinto] was Hachiman, the God of War, while the [Queen] was Raijin herself. The rest of the Shinto team consisted of either Gods or the historical figures of the [Yamaūjin], minus Raiko herself since she's also part of my team.

[Team Slash Dogs] consisted of the new Slash Dog Team, along with Tobio and Sae as reserved members. Even though they're labeled as such, they said they may not join the tournament at all, but they're not entirely sure yet.

In Tobio's own words: 'They're strong enough as they are. Honestly, whatever you did to my team made them insanely strong. So if Sae and I joined, it would be overkill.'

On the screen, Kanami in her Balance Breaker for the [True Longinus] faced off Hachiman, and it looked like both of them were insanely into the fight, since they mostly ignored everything else around them, even after Natsume told her through the transceiver to calm down.

Meruem was [Team Slash Dogs] [Queen] and he faced off against Raijin. With those fights, the rest of the team mostly focused on the game and getting points. Although [Team Slash Dogs] won in the end, it was rather close with just a two-point difference because of both team's [Kings] and [Queens] just fought each other.

"See!? You literally ignored me when I called out to you!" Natsume shouted at Kanami who awkwardly looked away and scratched her cheek.

"Fiancé shield activate!" Kanami shouted and hid behind me…well, she curled up into a ball on my lap and buried her face into my chest, further annoying Natsume.

"…Well…we won, so it doesn't matter that much, Natsume…" muttered Meruem.

Natsume sighed and shook her head. "That's beside the point! We're a team, and that game type will need a lot of coordination to win. Although we were lucky that the other [King] and [Queen] were itching for a fight with you two, the next time we won't be that lucky!"

"I get it already! I couldn't really just say no to a God's challenge, you know!? People would call me a coward, the same with Meruem!" Kanami said trying to defend herself.

The two continued to argue as we watched the TV, until they announced a few upcoming matches that would be held. Summer was also nearing us, so many more matches would be played during it, and most people wouldn't need to worry about school, and college so they could thoroughly prepare for it.

But the fights that caught everyone's eyes were three in particular.

[Team White Dragon Emperor of the Morning Star] vs [Team Rias Gremory]

[Team Leisure of the Kings] vs [Team Golden Rakshasa]

[Team Trump Card of Heaven] vs [Team Black Satan of Darkness Dragon King]

Not including the match where I would substitute as the lone [Pawn] for Aurelia's team, Vali and Rias would face off first before ours, and after ours…Dulio's team would be fighting against the team with the Artificial Super Devils, Balberith, Verrine, Gressil and Sonneillon. As well as the other Grim Reapers on the team.

<<I heard that Zeno is the [King] of the Black Satan team. He's a high-class grim reaper as far as I could remember,>> said Bennia. <<Ah, he also serves under old man Hades…>>

"The rest of their team consists of Grim Reapers, but they do have a lot of reserve members that haven't played yet," said Rias.

"They're the Artificial Devils of the Khaos Order," I told them. "…Originally there were only four notable devils that had unique traits, but…"

It seems like all the members apart from Zeno are going to be all Super Devils. Even after the blood was removed, many of them had been modified while they were in the Phantasma or Evie, so they're quite stronger than their 'canon' counterparts.

"Shouldn't we stop them then?" asked Sona.

"As far as I can tell they haven't broken any rules, nor are they acting as part of the Khaos Order. The reason for their participation is to train the Artificial Super Devils and let them mature," I explained. "Also don't worry, if they do anything they'll be apprehended immediately. Anyway, just focus on your matches and I'll deal with any unforeseen circumstances behind the scenes."

Rias sighed. "If you say that then there's definitely something happening during one of the matches. Like how the fallen angel faction attacked during Hirokazu-san's and Dulio-san's match."

I couldn't really deny it and I just smiled at her making Rias sigh even more.

"Don't worry Rias-chan, we'll stop anyone from interrupting yours and Vaa-kun's game!" Lavinia said while clenching her fist. She wouldn't want anyone interrupting her little brother's Rating Game after all…

"T-thank you, Lavinia…"

For the rest of the evening, along with several other people in my home, including the Saji family, we enjoyed ourselves in my new home in our new home. Although I had already started a few things to prepare for Rias and Vali's match.

— ○ ● ○ —

The girls along with mom were knocked out on my bed in the humongous new bedroom. I couldn't sleep so I went to my new office to file through some other paperwork since I had spoken to Amaterasu about expanding my business to Takamagahara and Uwabami's Inn.

Since I already had the plans for the upgrade, we just sent a text to each other, confirming the date on when it'll start and various other things. As I did this, the door to my office's door opened. Looking up I saw Tsubaki there in her night gown. An unexpected guest indeed.

"Oh, evening. How can I help you?" I asked. Tsubaki smiled and came over to my desk and I summoned a chair for her.

She sat down on it and looked at my desk before she began to help me. With her help I finished sifting through them relatively quickly. Once we were done, she went back to staring at my desk for two minutes straight. During that time I summoned some milk for us and I drank mine while I put hers on the desk.

"…I've been contacted by publishers in the Underworld and I'll soon debut as an author down there," she suddenly said and looked at me.

"…Y-you're not making BL, right…? You weren't inspired by that weird doujin—" She covered my mouth as I began to speak about the weird BL manga that was made between Yumi and I, or should I say Kiba and I when he was still a guy?

Yura, Lisa, Ruruko and I stopped the circulation of that before we left the school, but I have no idea on its status now. Well…I used to, but since I brought it up, I became curious, and it's circulating online, and I hate myself for reminding myself…

"N-no! It's regular writing!" she shouted, losing her composure. I laughed and said I was joking which made her glare at me. "…As I was saying, I will debut soon, so…"

"I'll support you, Tsubaki. I promised your parents, Kiyotora and Rakko Shinra when we travelled back to your clan, remember?" I said.

She blushed and nodded along. During that visit I spoke to a number of clan members, including Tsubaki's parents that she hadn't spoken to for a long time. I also spoke to Rakko about several things. At the time, I hadn't brought back Chiyo yet, so Rakko spoke to me about that mostly, but we should probably visit them again after I…

"So what's it about?" I asked. She told me in detail about the novel she managed to write while the whole world went to shit during all of last year. I'm more impressed than anything since she found the time to write.

What she described to me was just 'Guardians of the Galaxy' and I was again surprised that she managed to think of that herself. Although someone did draw that Luffy vs Kaido thing and I had no influence on it.

"There's going to be a signing event in a few weeks, so I was wondering if you could join me…?" she asked.

"Sure thing! Sounds like fun. Should I invite some other Shinra's too?" I asked and she turned even redder.

"N-no! They don't know anything about my status as a writer!" she immediately shot the idea down and kept shaking her head while mumbling about something.

I laughed and agreed not to tell them yet. After that, we fell back into silence. When I looked back at her, she was glaring at me again. "Is something wrong?" I asked.

"…You already know why I'm here, right?" she asked, her face turning even redder.

"I might, but it would be better to hear it out of your own mouth, Tsubaki Shinra," I replied while taking the glass of milk from the desk and handing it to her. As if it acted like a magical drug for her or something, she immediately jugged it and stared at me.

Reaching out to her face, I wiped the stain left over by the milk and let her speak.

"I-I…" she took another deep breath and said, "I wuv yeeeew—ah…" tears welled up in her eyes as she heard herself screw up.

'That was cute…' I thought and stopped her from running out of the room. Pulling her back I hugged her and chuckled.

"It's not funny…" she mumbled.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, but I understand what you were trying to convey. You already know my circumstances, but if you're fine with me then I love you too, Tsubaki," I told her. She turned back around and we shared a short kiss.

Looking back up, I put my hand up and said, "Yo, Sona. Are you coming in or are you staying out there?"

Startled by this, Tsubaki looked back up and saw the door to the room open up and Sona stepping in. Since everyone decided to stay the night—like many others who came here for the game, the hotels here are relatively cheap, so a lot of people could afford to stay the night or a few days.

"…There's something I'd like to talk to you about," she said and approached us. "It's…something about my sister, Serafall."

"Hmm? Serafall? Sure thing, I don't mind."

"Tsubaki, you can stay, you already know about the topic," said Sona and her [Queen] agreed.

She already knows? …Interesting, I wonder what it is…?

— ○ ● ○ —

Check the chapter comments to see images of certain characters.