Chapter 31 - Rizer's Invation

[Hey, sorry about taking the break. I was thinking about the future of the novel and which direction I want it to go. It took a bit of time. I wrote a bit of another short novel as the future plans for this one or a maybe interconnected. Basically to figure stuff out.]

[As of now. I have completed the second volume in Highschool of the Dead World, introducing the deuteragonist for the novel. And there are 76 chapters on my page. Chapters here will be regular and I have a good plan for volume 3 and volume 4.]

[Volume 3 will be mostly set in DxD, with the Conference, Chaos Bridage and Sitri Peerage. And partially follow the deuteragonist and Aransae in Naruto.] 

"Things are starting to settle down."

"Kiba-senpai?" Koneko raised her head to ask. They were all sitting in the clubroom, the vampire was hiding in the cardboard box, Akeno-senpai and Rias-senpai were getting used to their new evil pieces. While Issei and Asia were doing their homework. Everyone was doing their own work, which explained what Kiba-senpai said about settling down.

If anything troubled them, then it was the behaviour of their Master. Even right now, he was lying on the floor, happily resting his chin on the palm of his hands, reading the textbook in front of him. It was simply the chemistry book, but he had been reading that one over and over again.

"Does that mean Kiba wants to go back to the Dungeon again," Rias stopped using the magic circle with a troubled look on her face, "Not that I don't think it is a bad idea…only…"

"We are going to have trouble on our hand soon enough," Akeno narrowed her eyes.

"That's exactly what I meant," Kiba closed his eyes, "I have been having this sense of uneasiness since this morning. It has to be that, right?"

"That? What that?" Issei raised his head from the books. He didn't think becoming a Devil would mean doing homework in the clubroom. He'd rather go on contracts.

"Well…the thing is," Rias was going to explain to him when a magic circle appeared in the room, along with blazing fire. Though at the level that they stood, none of them felt the heat from the fire. The fire blazed in one corner of the room when a few embers dropped on the book.

POOF

The book burned from the few embers, and he could see the ghost of the book started rising. He grabbed the poor soul, which turned back into the book, 'safe, safe.'

He curiously raised his head from the book, seeing the young man in his early twenties with short blonde hair and blue eyes, which were covered in anger, "Rias! Tell me it is not true!!"

"Rizer," Rias furrowed her brows. She glanced towards her master, seeing him do something absurd like remaking the book from its soul, 'no, to begin with, do books have a soul…did he…?'

Though, there was an intrigued look in his eyes, almost childlike as he watched Rizer, 'No, I should tell Master. Not Rizer.'

"What is not true?"

"Don't—! Don't take me for a fool! I heard you gave up being the King of your Peerage and became someone else's Queen?!" Rizer shouted, looking around the room when his eyes fell on the handsome man lying on the floor. It ticked him off, the smile on his face, the good looks or the look like he was watching some kind of play.

"That's true. I did do that," Rias gently nodded, not hiding it. If anything, she took pride in the fact that she was his Queen.

"Why! Moreover, submitting to a lowly human! Do you hate the idea of marrying me that much!! Do you know what people are saying about me?!"

"Lord Rizer! He is my Master. You better watch your tongue," Rias stood up. Just hearing him insult their master made her angry, and she wasn't the only one. She could tell that the temperature of the room dipped down several degrees despite the blazing flames.

"Or what?! You think this human could protect—"

"Phenex, does that mean you truly have powers like Phoenix?" He sat up a little, at the same time, Rizer coughed up blood, feeling intense pain in his chest. He looked towards his chest, seeing a palm coming out of it, holding his heart. He widened his eyes, using all his energy to look over his shoulder seeing the boy that looked very much like the one from Rias's peerage, only, his hair was golden, there were golden flecks in his green eyes, and his height was taller.

"Why…" Rizer coughed up more blood. He was trying to heal himself, but it didn't matter how much he tried, he was healing really slowly.

"Master! Please don't kill him!" Rias was the first to react to the situation. She thought he was teaching Rizer a lesson, and she knew Rizer would heal. But the flickering flames that kept disappearing and the blood that kept dripping on the ground made it clear that he wasn't healing.

"Yes, Master. He is from the Phenex Clan. You are already on thin ice with the Demon Lords. You can't keep causing trouble," Akeno hurriedly raised her voice.

"Master…isn't it going too far…? Killing him?" Issei whispered in shock. He was protecting Asia behind him from the flames, but even she couldn't stomach it.

Aransae tilted his head. He controlled Kiba's body and put the heart back inside Rizer's body. Abruptly, his wounds started healing, letting outers sigh in relief, "they can't heal their soul."

"Is that what you were checking," Rias whispered, "Please don't treat others like experiment materials."

"Hm," Aransae sprung up to his feet, looking at Rizer who was panting. Since healing of soul required an astronomical amount of magical power for someone who was him. Rizer barely had any left, "Phenex, they are a House. Is he their only child?"

"No, there must be more. Could it be that Master is interested in the power of Phenex?" Akeno curiously looked at him, only to see him put his palm and fingers together as he gave her one of his brilliant smiles.

"Yes, there is something I would like to try. Please get me one of those."

"Hah, to think Master is asking for Phenex as if he were ordering chicken," Akeno sighed with a smile on her lips.

"Hehehaha," Aransae laughed at her joke. He patted her head, "Haha…that was a good one."

Rias nibbled her lip to hold back her smile. She rolled her eyes at them, turning her attention towards Kiba, who returned to normal, "Kiba, bring him to—"

Before she could complete her order, another magic circle appeared in the room, this time it was silver, carrying the logo of Gremory Family at the centre, and the silver-haired maid graded them with her presence. She darted her eyes around the room, taking in all the information available in front of her, and she nodded.

She fixed her gaze on Aransae, "we need to talk."

"About?"

"Lord Rizer and his current condition," Grayfia nodded towards Rias, moving past her as she caught Aransae off guard and pulled him along with her. She disappeared in a flash along with him.

"Was that a code for…" Akeno muttered.

"Is she was worried about Rizer, then wouldn't she be taking care of him or bringing him back," Rias rubbed her forehead, "Kiba. Take Rizer to another room. Let him rest until he regains some energy. And next time Master asks to take over your body at times like this…"

"I'll refuse," Kiba wiped the blood off his hand, "which is what I am worried about. Isn't master a bit unrestrained?"

"He is," Koneko was silently listening to everything since there didn't seem to be any place for her to interject. But she agreed on that one point.

"Hm," Rias closed her eyes, thinking deeply, "I should take time to talk to him. But, if it doesn't lead to any situation, then it is our job to keep him out of trouble. He is truly walking on thin ice with the Demons, there are different factions breaking out. Especially those who are getting in over the head because of their newfound power from the Dungeon."

"Are we going to raid Dungeon again?" Kiba asked again, "Just now. Master used my body…I think it was because he is currently weak. To the point if he fought against Lord Rizer, then he would lose. Shouldn't we be working on letting him regain his power? Even if it is equal to that of the Third or Fourth Floor, it should be far stronger than Lord Rizer's."

"No…wait, I don't understand something," Issei held his chin, noticing something strange about that conversation, "if Master has lost his powers. Then how does him being able to take over Kiba body make Kiba stronger?"

"Uh…" Rias, Akeno and Kiba turned their eyes towards Issei, who backed away, hurriedly explaining.

"I mean! It is like in the shows right! If you think fuse, then their powers are combined! But if Master's Level is Low and Kiba's is nearly in 1000s, then! You know! It doesn't make sense that Kiba can kill that flame guy so easily!"

"Certainly, if we assume that is how it works," Akeno narrowed her eyes.

"Then my power just now is the proof that is not how it works, right?" Kiba commented.

"Exactly," Rias smiled at Issei, "Nice catch, Issei. It seems that master's powers are something different…it is another thing that we need to know before our rating game against Rizer. Since Master showed his hand, we likely won't be allowed to use his Takeover."

"Haha…that's because I play a lot of games," Issei scratched the back of his head when a lecherous smile appeared on his lips, "Rias-senpai…is that maid…and master…ummu…I think Master is calling me!"

"Wah, that's more like pervert-senpai, and here I thought you have changed pervert-senpai," Koneko shot daggers at Issei.

"Issei-san," Asia looked at him with a disappointed gaze.

"No! Asia! Don't look at me like that! Just—!!!"