It had been two weeks since the start of the Azazel cup, and in that time Alex had won three matches. The first two were easy wins, while the third was relatively close. The third wasn't a normal fight match like the others, it was a rampage ball game, meaning that their fighting capability didn't really matter much. Since Alex didn't want to reveal Mister Black and Miss Sapphire in such a minor match, it was just him and the six others vs a whole team of sixteen.
As the opposing team was used to working together, and with their superior numbers, they quickly had a lead in points. It wasn't until Alex decided to "fight dirty" and injure them that he managed to take the lead. The rules were that normal retiring didn't work, meaning that when one retires they get sent back into the game after a penalty time, with their injuries. Once the other team started slowing down with their injuries, he managed to overwhelm them. This however led to many criticisms about how his team played, on top of how little Alex actually participated in his matches.
Alex was trying not to participate personally as much as he could, because he wanted to take he chance to experience commanding others in battle instead of just fighting all the time. His thoughts were that if a leader always had to personally fight, then he failed as a leader. He also wanted Bina, aka Grayfia, to retire as many of the opponents herself as possible, in order to level up her job as much as she could. Rias and Kuroka were told the same thing even though they were on other teams, because Alex placed more importance in preparing for the other worlds than winning the tournament. Because of this, Grayfia already had a job change, Kuroka was about to get another one, and Rias was on her way to one as well. Grayfia's new job was Mage maid, as she thought it would suit her best, and she didn't want to pick the vulgar sounding naughty maid, or the somewhat insulting maid terror.
They were now sitting in the dorms living room with the rest of the residents as they announced the next major games. Alex was sitting on the couch with Rias on one side, and Sona on the other, while the rest of the girls were sitting around them, and Grayfia was standing behind him. Though he never said anything about being her master, Grayfia had insisted on acting like it, and after "officially" starting her new position only referred to him as master, even when they were in bed. He had to admit, he liked the "bedroom skills" skill, something that scared Rias and Kuroka. Suddenly the tv said,
"And here we see the next match ups for the Azazel cup." They then went through a list of various teams that put their names in for the matches, eventually they also showed Rias's and everyone else's names for matches, but they were against various high class, or ultimate class Devils he didn't know. Finally the list reached the bottom, and the two names Alex was waiting for appeared,
Red Dragon Alex's team vs trump card of heaven Dulio's team.
Everyone except Alex was surprised, though he was moderately surprised as well, as he wasn't sure if the same match ups would happen since he hadn't faced Barakiel yet. Seeing it was confirmed that he would face Dulio however, Alex felt more than a small amount of anticipation.
"This is quite the match up." Ravel said in surprise. She had actually been doing better than anyone expected, which Alex thought was due to something he recalled her mother said to issei at one point, that Ravel had the nature of supremacy. She had all wins as well, and the critics were even saying she handled her brothers team even better than he did. Everyone except Alex agreed with her words though, as they thought that the major match ups would be later in the tournament. Another match up revealed was Sairaorg vs Cao Cao, leading them all to think that the higher ups were starting to get serious with the match ups. Irina then said,
"So we're facing my fellow Angels next, may The lord forgive me for turning my blades against them, but I don't intend to hold back!" What Irina said was kinda all over the place, but Alex agreed with her statement. As everyone started discussing the next matches, the person himself showed up not long after it was announced.
"Forgive my intrusion Rias, Alex. I just wanted to come talk before the match in a couple days." Dulio said as they all sat on the couch, drinking tea Akeno brought them . Alex waved away his words and said,
"Don't worry about it, we were all part of dxd together. It's interesting that we'll have a chance to test each other soon though." As Alex said that he had a glint of anticipation in his eyes. Dulio's eyes matched his, as they both anticipated the fight. Alex then asked,
"Oh yeah, have you decided what you want to wish for if you win the tournament?" The main prize of the tournament was a wish to the king of the winning team, if the wish wasn't something large then the other members would get to have their wishes granted as well. Alex knew Dulio's wish had something to do with modifying the sacred gear system, but was feigning ignorance. Dulio looked surprised at his question for a moment, then laughed slightly before saying,
"I'm planning on wishing for the tastiest food I can. I'm sure you've heard about how I travel to taste good food a lot." Alex smiled at his words, with a knowing glint in his eyes. They talked for a while along with Sona and the rest of the dorm residents, before Dulio had to leave. Later Alex called a meeting with his members to discuss their next match. He was discussing the different concerns with fighting Dulio's team. He turned to Irina and Lint,
"I'd say the two of you need to be the most careful, it's possible that you can be used in a brave saints formation even though you're not on their team." Everyone started muttering at his words, while Irina looked concerned, and Lint looked interested in what he said. He then continued,
"I've also heard that they're being advised by one of the top ten in rankings in the rating games, Rudiger Rosenkreutz. We should expect that they'll use specialized tactics for each of us, and try to unbalance us in every way they could." They continued the meeting until Ravel called Alex away,
"Um Alex, there's someone here to see you." As Alex returned to the living room, he was somewhat surprised to see a certain someone waiting for him. The woman with bright pink hair and horns on her head stood, and said,
"It's nice to meet you red dragon Alex, I am Roygun Belphagor, the former number two of the rating games."