Irina was finally able to talk with Sakura and managed to get almost the whole picture. The thing she still didn't know was about why the grey-haired loli who was Ophis' playmate knew her. Sakura told her that it wasn't the time to know about her yet.
Cleria and Masaomi were informed that Irina made contact with Sakura, but both of them decided to not to tell her their true identity in fear of it being leaked.
A few more days passed and both Oppai Dragon and Magical Girl Levia-tan became big hits in the Underworld, they were especially popular with the kids. As both of them were 'Superhero' shows, debates would often come up about which one was better. Fortunately for everyone, it was a healthy type of debate as everyone supported the shows.
Various media outlets in the Underworld also started a character popularity poll regarding this season's shows and as one would expect, Issei's character, the Oppai Dragon came first, while Serafall's Magical Levia-tan came in second. The third, however, came from an unexpected contender.
Unlike what most analysts predicted, Rias' Switch Princess didn't come third, instead it was another character from the Magical Levia-tan. A mysterious character who helped the protagonist in her times of need from the shadows. His features only consisted of the shadowy figure of a man and the only one identifying trait was his green bucket hat. He didn't have a name in the show, but the protagonist called him, 'Mr. Hat'.
Even though he didn't speak and only a silhouette of him was shown, his cool and mysterious character captured the hearts of many, landing him on the third spot of the popularity poll.
Of course, some people knew the origin of the said hat, but not one of them said anything as they were sure that it was Serafall's soft method to ease Kisuke's image to the masses for the time when he would reappear again.
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It wasn't long after that, when it was finally officially announced that the next Rating Game opponent for Rias' Peerage was going to be one of the Devils whom they met at the party, Diodora Astaroth. A devil belonging to the Household of the current Beelzebub.
It was also around this time that Diodora was spotted around the town, where he was trying to meet Asia. He also gave out his intention to invite Asia to his peerage and it was also revealed that he was the Devil who was healed by Asia and the reason she got kicked out of the Church.
Before their Rating Game, Diodora kept pestering Rias, urging her to do a 'Piece' exchange with him. Furthermore, Akeno received a warning from Le Fay, telling her that she needed to be careful around Diodora.
On the day of the game, everyone from the Occult Club, Azazel, Rossweisse and Irina were gathered in the clubroom.
"Have a good trip~.", said Irina and waved at them.
"Just do your best." Rossweisse also added a few words of her own.
Rias' entire peerage then disappeared and teleported towards their battlefield.
"Well then, we should head out ourselves." Azazel stood up from his chair and prepared another magic circle for teleportation.
Irina faced him and asked, "I received direct orders from Michael-sama to go to the Underworld and cooperate with you. But why are we keeping our involvement a secret?"
Rossweisse also nodded at her question, "I'm curious about it too. That old geezer sent me an order after leaving me all alone for so long."
"If nothing happens, we'll just show up as a surprise. But if something does happen, then we'll take care of the things that shouldn't be there.", answered Azazel with a grin.
"So you're using them as bait. I can't say that I'd approve something like this.", replied Rossweisse.
"Well, there's no other way since we don't have any concrete evidence against him. All we can do is to prepare for the worst."
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After appearing at their assigned battlefield, everyone looked around and saw that different from their first Rating Game, the 'chessboard' this time was enormous. From a distance, Rias' group could see some elevated platforms with castles built on top of them.
But a few seconds later, Rias frowned, "How strange, the referee should have announced our arrival by now."
Akeno recalled Le Fay's warning and increased her magic output.
A few more seconds passed and numerous magic circles manifested around them, both on the ground and in the sky. "That's not the crest of Astaroth. But I've seen it before.", muttered Rias, when Devil soldiers started appearing one by one through the magic circles and completely surrounded them. "That's the crest of Beelzebub. We can safely assume that they are from the Old Satan Faction."
"Then, are they from the Khaos Brigade?", asked Issei.
But before Rias could answer him, one of the Devils that were surrounding them suddenly said, "To the despicable usurpers of the false royal house of Gremory! We are here to take back what is ours!"
But as they were listening to them, Asia suddenly shrieked and it was already too late when they turned towards her. "Asia!", shouted Issei to Asia, who was being pulled up by magic and got caught by their supposed competitor, Diodora Astaroth. "You bastard! What are you doing!?"
"Greetings. Asia Argento will be coming with me," said Diodora with a large grin on his face.
"What are you going to do to her, you douchebag!?" Issei started charging his boosted gear, but it would still take some time to release his Balance Breaker.
"Diodora... What's the meaning of this? I demand an explanation!", asked Rias while gritting her teeth.
Diodora's grin grew larger and he replied, "These Devils from the Khaos Brigade will murder each one of you. Is that sufficient?"
"So you've allied yourself to these criminals, you traitorous dog!" Rias' magic power then started rising up and she counted his crimes, "First you defiled the sanctity of the Rating Games which alone deserves death. And second, you dare lay your filthy hands on Asia!"
"Well, if you wanna do something about it, then you'll first have to fight my friends here. But while you're doing that, the two of us will get to know each other." Diodora then bombarded them with his magic.
Without waiting for any command, Xenovia dodged through the bombardment of magic and lunged towards Diodora. However, he unexpectedly used Asia as a meat shield to stop Xenovia's assault which enraged her and made her scream, "You dirty bastard!"
"Hehehe, whatever you say." Diodora teleported away and took Asia with him.
Issei blamed himself for his weakness and inability to do something when Asia was in danger. But it was not just him, Akeno was also blaming herself. She already received a warning, but she still wasn't able to do anything.
All they could do now was to defeat these hundreds of Devil soldiers surrounding them before they could follow Diodora.
The situation was bleak, but Azazel already sent Odin to their location to help them fending off the Devils. Rias and the rest finally understood that they had acted as bait for the Khaos Brigade. What he didn't expect, however, was the fact that Asia was kidnapped. With some hesitation, Azazel allowed them to venture into enemy territory.
Various battles were occurring around the enormus game field, but the highlight was without a doubt the fight of Sirzechs and Michael against one of the Old Satan's descendants, Creuserey Asmodeus. He was a good looking man, wearing the clothes of a noble. They were black and decorated with dark red belts and motifs.
Sirzechs tried to convince him to stop what he was doing but Creuserey, like the late Katerea, wasn't having any of it and started attacking Sirzechs. Knowing that it was impossible to talk to him, he eliminated him in an instant through his overly powerful Power of Destruction.
Meanwhile, Issei and the rest of the crew got entangled with Diodora's peerage. They also discovered that all of his peerage members consisted of nuns who were expelled from the Church and were brainwashed to follow Diodora's orders.
After defeating Diodora's peerage, the group immediately went to the deepest room and saw Asia tied in the middle of the room with some magic equipment. It was then that Diodora explained everything to them.
And they finally understood why Diodora was so obsessed with Asia. It was due to his fetish for 'Holy Maidens' and corrupting them. He also revealed that him appearing injured in front of Asia long ago was a deliberate plan to get her kicked out of the Church. Unfortunately for him, Rias managed to 'snatch' her first.
Of course, hearing all of this together with some insults and provocations, made Issei furious beyond belief and Ddraig felt that his power was almost on the verge of going berserk. He immediately went into his Balance Breaker mode and started assaulting Diodora.
Diodora even bragged that he received the power of Ophis. However, it didn't even take a second for him to go down with one punch from Issei. Even after bombarding Issei with magic, Issei only took it head-on while walking slowly towards him.
Panicking, Diodora tried to increase his power output but still failed to put a dent in Issei's armor. Issei, on the other hand, started beating the shit out of him and specifically aimed for his face and balls.
After not being able to take the pain anymore, Diodora used all of his power to create the strongest barrier he could make, between him and the Red Dragon Emperor. However, that was also useless after Issei boosted himself multiple times and resumed beating Diodora again.
After he was done with him, he immediately went to Asia to free her.
But even in his Balance Breaker, he failed to untie her. While watching him struggle, Diodora finally explained that the seal was made by someone with a Longinus and it wouldn't lose to the Boosted Gear. It was set to free Asia after it all ended, but in case of Diodora's defeat, the seal was set to absorb Asia's magic power and vitality, slowly killing her in the process.
Issei and the rest could see that Asia was slowly weakening, but Issei wasn't giving up yet. Since it was a seal, there was one magic he could try. The one and only original magic of his that he didn't forget to practice every day.
"Asia, please forgive me for this.", whispered Issei to her before casting his magic. "Heighten, my delusions! My worldly desires!"
And according to his will, his Sacred Gear started boosting his strength again. Ddraig understood what he was about to do and could only sigh.
With the green lights coming from his gems, Issei shouted, "Dress Break! Balance Breaker Boost Version!"
Red light emerged from his hands and covered Asia's entire body before destroying everything around her, including her clothes.
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Editors:
28th00: So, that happened. Issei doing Kisuke's training made it so he's literally a walking tank for anyone below Ultimate-class, huh? Side note, Issei truly has insanely overpowered magic that is never utilised this way in canon, it sucks. It works so damn well on things that count as restraining the target, like clothing, or bindings… Or a seal as it appears. Now, how do we skip to events 5-6 volumes later? Because that's when Kisuke appears, during the Underworld Invasion(lol). It's also where both sides had the wonderful ability of "No-selling" the other side's powers.
Alexander: Oh, he did use this in the canon. But you're right, it was basically overpowered. However, don't forget that most of the end bosses were men and he can't use his magic against them.