After Kunou came to visit and the holiday break passed, the third semester officially began. For now, there wasn't anything special to do in the club, so it had turned into a casual chat time. Originally, the club also functioned as a cover for demonic activities, and since there was no cultural festival coming up, it wasn't unusual for them to spend days like this in a relaxed atmosphere, even back in Rias-senpai's time. Asia-senpai wasn't the type to say, "I'm the leader now, so follow me and do this!"
Today as well, Xenovia and Irina were apparently in another empty classroom discussing ideas for the student council election. Meanwhile, the club president Asia was also actively giving input whenever she had time between classes. Well, not just Asia, since the entire "church trio" was gathered, their conversations tended to veer into strange territory like, "Let's sing hymns together!" or "We'll give everyone who listens to our speech a Bible as a gift!" or even, "We should anoint people with holy oil!" Thankfully, Kiryuu-san was constantly steering them back on track. Seriously, good work.
"And so! My brother's Rating Game comeback match has been officially set against none other than the reigning champion, Diehauser Belial!" Right now, Ravel was happily reporting that her brother Riser's first official match after recovering from his reclusive phase had been set against the most popular top-ranked figure in the Underworld.
"Seriously!? How did they even manage to arrange a match between the champion and a rookie like Riser-san?" Issei was clearly shocked, but technically Riser had only participated in about ten official matches. So calling him a veteran was a bit of a stretch.
"Yes. To be honest, it is nearly impossible for my brother to win. The difference in ability, or rather rating points, is too vast. Normally such matches are never arranged, but this is a special exhibition combining my brother's comeback and the popular program 'Emperor Belial Ten Battles' hosted by Diehauser Belial-sama."
"'Emperor Belial Ten Battles'? Ah, come to think of it, I've seen Rias saying she needs to record that show a few times." Rias-senpai's dream was to become the champion of Rating Games. And since Rating Games were basically the Underworld's main entertainment until recently, it made sense. The Great Satan Sirzechs was said to be the strongest along with his peerage, but as a Great Satan he couldn't participate in Rating Games. So perhaps Rias admired Diehauser Belial and started aiming for the championship because of him.
"From our Phenex family's perspective, there was no better opportunity to promote my brother's return. Father and brother immediately agreed when the offer came."
While they were talking, Yuuto turned toward me, noticing I had gone quiet. "Ikki-kun. You've been quiet for a while. Is something wrong?"
"Ah, no, it's just that I already heard about that match last night directly from the man himself." That wasn't a lie. Riser had called me for nearly three hours, bragging about things like, "It is an honor to face the absolute champion." "Even if I cannot win, I will show my pride as a Phenex until the end." "Also, I will become more famous than you."
"That sounds exhausting," Yuuto said with a sigh.
"I deeply apologize for my brother's inconvenience," Ravel bowed her head. If Ravel hadn't stepped in, I probably would've been stuck listening for another two hours.
But that wasn't what bothered me. In the original storyline, during Riser's match, both he and Ravel, along with the champion, were supposed to disappear during the game. The truth was that the champion intentionally committed foul play during the match to contact Ajuka Beelzebub, and to analyze their abilities in order to neutralize fake Phoenix Tears circulating in the Underworld, ultimately disrupting one of Rizevim's trump cards.
Considering that, the safest choice was to simply stay out of it and pretend not to notice. Besides, there was no guarantee it would even happen in this timeline. And more importantly, there was nothing I could directly do about it.
"But about Riser-san, didn't he not have a 'Bishop' piece filled yet? What's going to happen with that?" Issei asked.
Ravel shook her head. "No. My brother will enter the match one member short. Even for high-ranking devils, selecting peerage members is extremely important. If no suitable candidate was found, it cannot be helped. There was even a suggestion that I temporarily return to my brother's peerage, but I am now a member of 'D×D'. Even if it is family, such a move would look inappropriate externally."
"Yeah, a temporary transfer like that would probably look weird. Even in devil society, transfers happen, but for us D×D, with other factions watching, it'd be complicated," Issei said.
Yuuto calmly sipped his tea. "Yes. Normally, pre-match transfers are prohibited. However, there are exceptions, mutual agreement from both sides, or a large gap in rating. Still, it is rarely approved."
So that was that. The temporary return proposal for Ravel had been considered, but ultimately rejected due to her current status in D×D and her increased offensive capability.
I should've felt relieved. But instead, I felt a strange discomfort. If things followed the original story, something would still go wrong during that match. And yet, I couldn't intervene. Frustrating. No matter how I thought about it, I couldn't find a clean way to improve the situation. My so-called "knowledge of the original story" felt more and more useless. I'll just take this irritation and throw it at Rizevim later. No one would complain about that.
As I was thinking that, the door to the clubroom opened. Azazel-sensei, Rossweisse-san, Rias-senpai, Akeno-senpai, Sona-senpai, and the Sitri peerage entered all at once. The atmosphere immediately tightened.
Xenovia and Irina, who had been in another classroom discussing the election, were called back as well (Kiryuu-san was asked to step out briefly), and Azazel-sensei spoke heavily. "Alright. Sorry to start the semester like this, but I've got two pieces of news. One bad, and one worse. Which do you want first?"
"Isn't it supposed to be good news and bad news!? Why are both options negative!?" I couldn't help but shout. That's not a choice, that's just suffering with extra steps!
Azazel shrugged. "Don't glare at me. It's not my fault. Anyway, I'll start with the lighter one. At the end of last year, warriors within the Church staged a coup. Their reason was simple, they no longer have enemies to fight after the alliance. And now that executions of supernatural criminals aren't as straightforward as before, they're dissatisfied."
Ah, I see. For "Stray Devils," immediate execution rules still existed, but for criminals who weren't classified as such, punishment had become more complicated. If corruption or bribery allowed them to escape punishment after being handed over, yeah, I could see why warriors would explode with frustration. So even peace has its side effects.
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100 Power Stones = Bonus Chapter
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