In just half an hour, Grayfia had already gone through at least ten places where the Lords had previously appeared.
Except for when Kaito and his subordinates appeared, who simply moved far too quickly and efficiently, the others had left behind too many magical traces that Grayfia recorded very easily.
After a while, having confirmed that most of them were heading to the same place, Grayfia was ready to go and finish them all.
Such was the efficiency of the most powerful Queen of the Underworld, someone at the level of a Maou even without the title.
KRRRSH!
As soon as she arrived at the location, the most powerful queen did not allow them to notice or react. She immediately activated her magic and froze the entire abandoned building.
She made sure to especially freeze the places where she sensed human presences, leaving only the most powerful one free.
Then, with a jump, she rose to the top floor and used her wings to propel herself inside the building, breaking through all the ice with ease thanks to her strength.
"W-what?" The long-haired blond leader tied in a ponytail, Clade, did not even have time to process what had happened before being grabbed by the neck and slammed against the floor.
Of course, he was not dead. Although Grayfia could have easily killed him, she made sure not to do so so that she could interrogate him.
"You have five seconds to start talking if you don't want to die" she said in a cold voice and with a frigid gaze that made it clear she was not joking.
But Clade only laughed mockingly as he looked at her with disdain.
"Kill me, bitch. You think I care?" he mocked without a hint of fear.
Grayfia sighed mentally. Based on what she knew about these people, who according to their own words did not seem to die but instead return to some place where they would all resurrect together, she had already expected that response. But even so, once it happened, it was just as annoying as if she had not expected it.
But since she had expected that, obviously Grayfia had not come here without a plan to make them talk.
"Then what about Lucifer?"
"W-what?" Clade asked in confusion.
"You and Lucifer come from the same place, right? You appeared at the same time, so it is impossible for it to be a coincidence.
You act separately and are not together, so you are definitely not companions, and judging by your reaction upon learning of his presence, you might even be enemies.
More accurately, you have similar objectives, and with him here, it is impossible for you to accomplish yours, isn't it?" Grayfia explained everything she had analyzed, adding the information from the previous night to everything she already knew.
"H-how do you know that?"
"I just know" Grayfia said, with no intention of wasting words on explanations. "He is your enemy, so why don't you tell me what you know about him? Even if you die, you still don't want him to succeed in his objectives, right?"
The blond man in her hand thought about it for a moment, a moment so short that it seemed like he had been waiting for this opportunity his entire life, before nodding and deciding to speak.
"Alright, I'll talk!
Lucifer is a Lord, just like us. We are people who travel between worlds, completing missions in each one to become stronger"
'Another world' Grayfia frowned, doubting whether to believe him, but this fit so well with everything she already knew that it became impossible for her to deny it.
"All the impossible-to-affect people who appeared recently are Lords, right?"
"Yes, exactly" Clade nodded firmly.
"What about the mission? What is your mission?"
"Our mission is... to conquer an entire faction"
"Conquer a... Are you insane?" Grayfia asked in astonishment. With their strength, did they seriously think they could accomplish something like that?
"M-maybe not us. But Lucifer... he... he is the number one of all the Lords. If it is him, then it is possible. Maybe we have overestimated ourselves and it is impossible to accomplish, but for him? Piece of cake"
"Do you know what race he is trying to conquer?" Grayfia ignored his words about Lucifer's strength. She only cared about what she wanted to know.
"Devils! I'm sure!" Clade immediately said. "Actually, this isn't the first time we've come here. We came once before, and our mission was simply to interact with a faction.
After that, Lucifer summoned someone from here who belongs to the demonic faction. In our world, we can only summon people close to us from other worlds, so he must have gotten close to them.
Our mission this time is to conquer the faction we approached the last time"
'A simple demon from another world wants to conquer our entire race?' Grayfia could not help but laugh in her mind.
"What about last night? Explain what happened"
"Y-yes. Actually, the person Lucifer summoned the last time is Koneko, the cat girl from the Gremory peerage, so..."
Clade did not finish speaking. The moment he pronounced Koneko's name, Grayfia had already connected all the missing points in her mind and unraveled the mystery.
She applied a little more force to his neck, killing him instantly before flying back to Rias.
Behind her, the ice disappeared, causing the already structurally weak building to collapse in on itself and attracting the attention of everyone around it.
Normally, Grayfia would not be so careless in the human world, but she had no time to worry about those details now.
...
"Now that that annoying maid is gone, how about we talk a little, dear Rias?" Riser asked, wrapping an arm around Rias's shoulder familiarly and bringing his hand toward her chest.
Before he could reach her, Rias moved away and pushed him back in annoyance.
"I'm not your dear, Riser. Not now, not in the future, and never"
"Jajaja, Rias, you're as funny as ever..." Riser mocked as he sat on the sofa with the naturalness of someone who already considered it his home, not offended by Rias's attitude. His peerage quickly surrounded him while Riser possessively hugged the two closest to him.
"But you know that resisting is pointless. Our marriage is something decided by our families and benefits both of them"
"I don't care. I'll find a way to break off this engagement"
"Ah! Riser-sama" his Queen moaned when she felt Riser shamelessly fondling her breasts in front of Rias.
"Oh? And how will you do that?" Riser asked with a disdainful smile.
"I... a Rating Game! Let's have a Rating Game, and if you win, I'll be your wife. If I lose, the engagement is canceled!" Rias declared, not knowing what else to say.
"A... what?" Riser was shocked for a second before laughing. "Pffftjajajaja, Rias, you must be joking.
Do you know what a Rating Game is? You're just a girl who has never participated in one, while I am someone who has won every single one I have participated in.
And you intend to defeat me with what? A simple swordsman with a Sword Birth? A half fallen angel? A Youkai who doesn't use Youki? The vampire who never leaves?
Or perhaps you'll use those two newcomers over there. Some kind of weak Sacred Gear, probably, and a... Lineage of Adam? Jajaja, Rias, it seems the quality of your peerage keeps getting worse"
"No, I'm not part of her peerage" Kaito corrected, making Riser look at him with annoyance.
"Then who are you?"
"I'm just her hired cook... just temporarily" he made sure to add at the end.
"Pfft, Rias, did you hear that? Your subordinates aren't even loyal to you" Riser mocked, making Rias frown.
"Hey, Kaito, how can you abandon the President in this situation? Listen, fire chicken, we'll defeat you in a Rating Game and free the President from your clutches!" Issei suddenly intervened, declaring his intentions.
"F-fire chicken?" Riser took a moment to understand the insult before becoming angry. "How dare you call the noble lineage of the Phoenix a 'fire chicken'?"
"A Phoenix is nothing more than a fire chicken, what's wrong with that?!" Issei mocked.
"Fine, fine" Instead of becoming angrier, Riser simply smiled disdainfully before looking at Rias. "It seems you don't teach your subordinates manners. I'll have to do it for you"
With a snap of his fingers, one of the members of Riser's peerage, an athletic cat girl with short blue hair, moved and struck Issei directly in the stomach, making him spit blood before falling to the ground while clutching his stomach in pain.
"Issei!" Rias shouted worriedly as she ran toward him.
The cat girl turned toward Kaito.
"Stop, I like people who understand their place" Riser stopped her.
"Okaaay!" The cat girl nodded with a slight pout and returned to his side.
"Riser, how dare you hit my pawn?" Rias snapped as she helped Issei get up from the floor.
"What kind of world do you live in that you think a simple low-class demon can insult a Phenex and get away with it?" Riser laughed disdainfully. "Much less a simple pawn"
"I... I'm not a pawn!" Issei roared furiously as he charged toward Riser while summoning his gauntlet. "Boost!"
"Oh, so a simple Twice Critical" Riser said without interest. "Ni"
"Yes, master!" This time, a cat girl identical to the previous one but with red hair and blue eyes advanced and lightly struck Issei, slamming him into a wall with ease.
But Issei did not stop.
"Boost!" he repeated.
"'Boost!'?" Riser repeated, noticing that something was wrong.
This time, Issei did not advance but instead waited in place for ten seconds before speaking again. "Boost!"
With his strength multiplied by eight, he confidently advanced toward the cat girl, but this was useless. Before he could even take two steps, Ni was already in front of him, moving so quickly that he did not even notice her until her fist was already centimeters from his face.
"Ni, stop" Riser stopped her before she could hit him again. "The Boosted Gear, Rias, you were keeping such a treasure with you? I see where your confidence comes from.
Fine, it seems fun. I'll accept your proposal so..."
"Wait" Before Riser could finish accepting, someone stopped him.
A slightly short girl with blond hair tied into two drills and an appearance similar to Riser. His sister, Ravel Phenex.
"Even if we don't accept this, you would still have to marry my brother. There is nothing to gain from this game"
"True. Rias, it seems my little sister has a point" Riser agreed.
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
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(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)