Hiro arrived in the living room to find Tiamat chugging down the beer from a can. She slammed the can on the table filled with a bunch of cans and turned his way.
"Hey, brat! Glad that you kept your promise. Care to join this lady for a drink?"
He sat on the couch before her, picked up a can, and gulped down the entire can of bittersweet beer.
"Happy now?"
Tiamat stared back with an amused glint in her eyes. "Impressive. You know this liquor is the strongest one could find in the Underworld."
"Hah? It's pretty weak compared to Jotünn's tears."
"Fufufu. You don't understand your alcohol tolerance. Fine, tell me what you wanted to say."
"King piece."
Tiamat's eyes widened a bit, before she quickly hid it.
"What king piece? The chess one?" She asked with a smile that wasn't her usual self. "Though I am bad at chess, I will accompany you if you want."
The slight panic in her voice was inescapable to his sharp senses — this dragon failed miserably in her act. What else could he expect from someone so proud?
"Stop lying Tiamat." He commanded with his most solemn voice. "As much as I hate to do this, I have no other choice. I won't let anyone get in the way of Sona's dreams. Not even you."
Sona tried so hard for the rating games to fulfill her dream of opening a school for rating games, so that low class devils can get a chance to learn more about it and participate. How would she feel if she discovered that the so-called 2nd ranker, her idol cheated?
Tiamat released a deep sigh before her lips formed a faint smile. "You won brat. Are you sure you want to learn about one of the darkest secrets of rating games?"
"I won't be able to live with myself if I can't support Sona."
"You really love her, don't you?"
"I do."
"Okay, so. You know that I help Ajuka Beelzebub, right?"
"Yes."
"Ajuka showed me his research, so I decided to help him to repay this gratitude. My job is to secretly administer the rating games and I only interfere when the situation is unsalvageable which only happened once in the past."
Her answer sounded almost unbelievable. The Chaos Karma Dragon, the same dragon who wrecked the Underworld every few years, was the secret administrator of rating games? No devil would believe it.
However, her voice contained no falsity.
"Then?"
"The king piece of evil pieces." She said solemnly. "A piece that grants an immense boost to anyone's powers ranging from ten times to hundred times. However, if the power becomes too much, the user dies."
"Hundred times?!" He blurted out. "That's too unfair."
"That's what she said." Tiamat coughed. "The government I mean. The higher ups banned the king pieces since that much power could potentially backfire and flip their asses."
"In that case, why is Roygun Belphegor still using it?"
"She was the one who told you? No." Tiamat shook her head. "That woman won't go and reveal it on her own… After all she wants to compete more than anything."
"...I used one of my skills on her." Hiro confessed.
"You can even do that? I assume God Class beings won't see any incongruity. Then how did you...? Forget it. It's Hiro after all…"
"..."
"To summarize it, only nine king pieces exist and all nine of them are currently possessed by the old devils, who give to devils from 72 Pillars in exchange of commercial rights."
"They get the money and the devils get the fame and power." He clenched his fists. "These corrupted old bastards will always favor the so-called pure blood devils. There is no hope for Sona if she can't find a peerage full of monsters."
The truth might just break Sona and crush all her hopes...
"Currently, in top 10, only the Champion Diehauser Belial reached the top with his efforts. The rest has a king piece to boost their strength and the rankings are entirely manipulated behind the scenes. Despite being ranked as Ultimate-Class, the top three equals Maou-Class."
"I know. I saw Roygun Belphegor. She herself confessed about her power."
"That woman…"
He ignored her bitter smile. "Who else is involved in this manipulation of rating games?"
"Entire upper echelon of the Underworld. No one says it though, unless they want to earn the ire of foolish bastards."
"Why are the Maous letting this corruption continue?"
"Their hands are tied. The most they can do is politically push each other on the surface or an all-out war will break out with the Great King Faction that hoards much of the political power in the Underworld."
"The house of… Bael?" He asked since only Bael household held the title of "Great King".
"Yeah. Surprising isn't it? Two Satans holding power enough to easily rank in the top 10 of the entire world and the other two capable of fighting Gods."
She rose from the couch, and leaning closer, she lifted his chin. "Yet, they can do nothing to retaliate. They are just figureheads dancing in the palm of Zekram Bael and his followers."
He gritted his teeth. The name reminded him of the past he never cared about.
'I think it is time to face my past…'
He took a deep breath to regain his composure. Or he might fall for her trick. It was all so obvious she wanted to test him — his determination to confront his past. With her connection with Ajuka, it was easy to find his past.
"So the stalemate is going on?"
Tiamat winked playfully. "And it will keep going unless a certain someone decides to intervene."
He pushed the hand holding his face. "Maous are probably afraid of the collateral damage this will cause. A fight between the two factions will at the very least destroy half of the Underworld."
"Indeed. The very reason Crimson and Green Maou chose to ignore the corruption."
'Then I need to hasten my preparations.'
"Tiamat onee-san, can I ask for a favor?"
"Go ahead. My answer will depend on how much chaos it causes?" She sat back and crossed her legs.
Hiro's lips lifted up into a grin as he leaned back on the sofa.
"The chaos would be enough to dwarf the civil war that happened ages ago."