Although the rest of the battles seemed completely different from what Blaze knew, the battle between Sairaorg and Zephyrdor went exactly the same way as in the anime, with Sairaorg defeating him so completely and utterly that he lost confidence in himself and retired from the rating games
So who do you think will be our next opponent?" Blaze asked Rias as they had breakfast
"I'm not quite sure" Rias responded "we were supposed to be battling against Aremic from what I have heard but I'm not entirely sure whether it will still be like that"
"How come?" Blaze wondered
"Well apparently there are rumours that the demons in charge are annoyed with Sairaorg for taking out Zephyrdor, as although he was a bit of a wild card, Zephyrdor aligned better with what they believe a devil should be" Akeno chimed in
"As such it has been said that they are going to try and use the rating games to punish him" added Kiba "and because of this it could lead to a change in who is fighting against who, the announcement is supposed to happen later today"
"Unfortunately politics was always destined to get involved when the children of prominent families are involved" Caspera commented whilst drinking tea
"What do you think they will do?" Xenovia asked as she stuffed her face "I hope nothing that interferes with our matches"
"It is unlikely that they will do anything too severe" Rias explained "if they were to go overboard with their plans it could lead to backlash, most likely they will make it so that Sairaorg is put in a disadvantageous position in order to make it so that whoever faces him has a greater chance of beating him, by doing this they will show off that following the path that they deem correct of using the power of our bloodlines will always produce a more powerful devil than someone who is a failure who wasn't able to even do something as simple as inherit a bloodline, as they would most likely put it" she sighed
"Older devils are too stuck in there ways" Koneko commented quietly as she finished a third plate of food
"Too true" giggled Akeno as everyone finished up
Later in the day the announcement of the next set of rating games and who would be who's opponent would be revealed
"Greetings devils, fallen, angels and all the other species of the underworld, today we will be revealing the next brackets for the rating games" proclaimed the announcer "now unfortunately, due to his opponent being to heavy handed in the rating game, contestant Zephyrdor has had to retire from the tournament" he sighed
"Wow, they're not even trying to be subtle" Blaze muttered
"Due to this the amount of contestants still remaining has become odd, as such one of the teams would get a bye for this round, but that would not be interesting and it would mean that the crime of severely injuring one of the relatives of one of our great Maou would go unpunished, as such the higher ups have decided to spice things up a little" continued the announcer
"It's a rating game, people are bound to get hurt, just because the Zephyrdor couldn't take Sairaorg on in a fair fight doesn't mean that Sairaorg should be punished for it" Xenovia shouted, slamming the table with her fists
"I heard that Zephyrdor was only hit a single time during the entire battle" added Caspera "and that after seeing the difference between him and Sairaorg that he ran and hid for the rest of the time until he ended up surrendering, if he was able to run away he obviously wasn't that badly injured" she sighed
"As such it has been decided, the battles shall be as follows, Rias Gremory and her peerage will be fighting against Aremic Astaroth as planned, but in a first in rating game history, the other battle will be Sairaorg Bael vs both Sona Sitri and Seekvaira Agares at the same time, in a 2 on 1 battle of the ultimate brains vs brawn"
"Ok, I'm not exactly happy about Sairaorg being slandered" complained Blaze "but I will say a 2 on 1 does sound pretty cool" her voice slightly excited
"I think the same way" Xenovia agreed "an all out brawl where Sairorg is out numbered and has to fight with all his strength, showing his power and wits to be able to fight against some of the smartest devils that I have ever known will be incredible"
"Now, I'm sure that everyone is excited to see Sairaorg be taken down a peg" continued the announcer
"Still slandering" sighed Kiba
"But I'm afraid you will have to wait, as the first match will be Rias vs Aremic, and it will be taking place next week with a set of special rules that you will just have to wait to see what they are, so make sure you mark your calendars, and now that the announcements are finished, it is time to return to our regular show, the rating game between...."
The TV was turned off as we had got the information that we needed
"Well then, we now know our opponent, as such we can be more concrete with our counter measures, Caspera, is your bat familiar ok with eating bugs? because if so we have a way of depleting our enemies scouting units"
"Yes, Sebastian does like a bug or two every so often" Caspera confirmed, a small bat appearing on her shoulder "but she is still young and won't be able to eat to many"
"That's fine" Rias smiled "and benefit we can get, Koneko, is shiro able to do the same with the mice?"
"No problem" Koneko replied with a thumbs up, the small white cat appearing and curling up on her lap
"Akeno, Kiba, I have a plan for you to be able to help deal with the extra bugs, I will tell you the details of it, but let's just say that metal and electricity makes for a good bug zapper" Rias smiled
"Got it" they both nodded
"Xenovia, Blaze, since you are both suited to dealing with larger animals, I'm afraid that the plans that I have for you two is for both of you to study, learn the strengths and weaknesses of as many animals that exist in the underworld as you can in this next week so that you are ready for whatever comes our way" Rias informed them
"Not very exciting training, but it makes sense, so you got it" Xenovia shrugged
"Well at least we get to fight the beasts that are easier to hit instead of just flailing around trying to hit the smaller ones" Blaze remarked placing a hand on Xenovia's shoulder with a chuckle
"Then my cute servants, lets get to work" Rias proclaimed as each member separated to go to where their training would be best done.