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Chapter 417: The Dragons of Babylon
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With Grayfia's help, it didn't take much time to find and secure a seat near the person Neji was searching for. Ingvild was sitting near a bunch of strangers; she was the only one Serafall allowed from the Leviathan Clan to be here, so she didn't know anybody.
"Hey,"
Neji walked over and took the seat to her left, while Grayfia came and sat to his left. Ingvild blinked when she heard his voice and turned over, flinching backward when she saw him. The devils around them took a look at Neji too, but he ignored them and let Grayfia's glare handle them.
"I-it's you from back then…" Ingvild said, as Neji nodded, facing the arena instead of her face.
"It is me. It's been a while, how have you been?"
"Uh…"
The girl was understandably a bit awkward around him given their circumstances. He suddenly appeared near her last time and eavesdropped on her singing, and when he tried patting her head he was attacked by her crazy aunt who was later arrested and then returned humbled.
Neji didn't plan to keep things awkward, though. After all, he wanted her to sing for him again.
"This is your first time watching a Rating Game, right?"
"Yes. I was unaware of my devil heritage until recently, and I have been sleeping for a hundred years, so…"
"Understandable. It's my first time too. Oh, and I slept for a hundred years too that one time." Neji recalled. "Hmm, it was actually 153 years, now that I think about it."
"O-oh?" Neji turned to look at her now as she blinked. "Wait, really? I- I didn't know that."
"Yeah, it was a worrying sleep. Once I woke up everything was in shambles. My world seemed empty because so many people I knew were gone."
Ingvild's eyes trembled at her, and her lips shook. As a half-devil who had lived in the human world before, she could relate. She fell asleep, and she'd periodically wake up, finding her friends old, their previous bonds weakened. When she went to sleep again and nearly a hundred years had passed in one ago, she woke up to find all her old friends and human family gone. A hundred years was a lot for humans, and she didn't know about her devil side until recently when Katerea went to pick her up after her Sacred Gear was revealed. Now, she was basically all alone in this world.
She didn't say any of that though, she just said she was sorry to hear that. Neji laughed at that, he didn't know why and reached out a hand to ruffle her hair.
"Nice dress, by the way. Looks cute on you."
"Oh."
Ingvild blushed a little and nodded. She did look cute, with her white dress wrapped around her body tightly. The side of her modest breasts was visible, and one of her thighs too was out for everyone to see. She had golden rings around her wrists, which matched her golden eyes. Perhaps because they were inside this massive colosseum, she looked like a Roman princess.
[Image Here]
"Uhm, you look good too."
"Do I? I'm trying to look average,"
Neji tilted his head at her, looking into her confused eyes. Before she could ask what he meant, he shot his CHA to max for just an instant before bringing it back down. Ingvild's eyes shot up to her forehead as she gawked at him.
"Are you a celebrity? It was bewitching just now…"
"I'm not. It's a secret, I can't tell you about it here in public. How about you come join me for dinner tonight, I can tell you there."
Neji put a hand around her shoulder, his hand moved from behind her head to turn her chin up and look at him. She paused as she looked up at him; she may have been sleeping for a long time, but she wasn't a child, she understood he was hitting on her.
"And I really want to hear you sing again. I mean it when I say it." He said, "You are trying to discover your powers right, I can help you test it out if you come home with me. I can manage it with your aunt Katarea, you just have to say yes."
"I-"
She began to answer, but Neji put a finger over her lips and shook his head.
"I don't want to hear your answer yet, tell me about it when this Game ends. It's just about to begin right now."
Ingvild stared into his eyes and then gave a slow nod. Neji nodded back, ruffling her hair, as he turned his head to the arena. He shot a look to Grayfia by his side, who kept a straight face because there were too many eyes nearby for her to show any emotion.
* * *
There were no plot twists Neji noticed from Riser's side. There were no hurdles either. It looked like Hinata changed the group's plan at the last minute, and now party Rias was moving according to it.
Riser had 13 people in his party, while Rias had six. She just barely had the number of people that were recommended for a party, yet she moved according to an attack strategy. A few devils in the audience scoffed at that audacity but the wiser ones watched in silence.
After that, destruction ensued. Everyone watched with a dropped jaw as the brand name that was Power of Destruction took the lives of one after another of Riser's girls. Nobody actually died of course, because once killed inside the arena they returned safely outside, but the more that happened the closer Riser was to losing.
People were flabbergasted seeing the PoD being used for its intended purpose. From devils of the lowest rank to the highest, all have heard about the PoD, but few have had the chance to witness it — after all, it didn't leave any witnesses when used. So everyone was awed as Rias, Hinata, Koneko, and Issei ran around the arena, looking for Riser and his people, and KO'ing anyone they encountered.
In a matter of minutes, ten of the thirteen peerage members were out. Now only Riser himself, his sister Ravel, and Yubelluna – his Queen remained.
The one to approach this group of four was Yubelluna, the Bomb Queen. "You ignorant fools. Die!" Saying a cheesy line like that, she began to bomb everything in sight. The ground exploded, the air caught fire, and the area sang with the sound of explosions.
However, explosions were nowhere close to what the Power of Destruction could do. It only took one clean hit from PoD for this woman to cease to exist, as she reappeared outside the arena.
"That's it," Rias puffed and panted as she said. "My mana reserves are almost empty. The remaining two are up to you. Koneko, Issei, you take care of Ravel. Hinata, you do your thing."
Riser Phoenix was standing with his hands in his pockets, a deep frown on his face, as he looked at them furiously.
"Why do you resist so much, Rias? Foolish girl, you'll regret ever resisting the moment we get in a room together." Riser said, "The moment we spend our first night together, you'll be in love. Why struggle now?"
"Back off, Rias-san. I'll take care of him right away." Hinata stopped Rias from replying to Riser and stepped forward.
Riser scoffed, "Who is this? Eh, at least you got a new girl for me. Not bad. I'll make sure to enjoy her the night after I taste your Queen, Akeno. I-"
"[Lightning Strike]!"
Hinata yelled as rainbow-colored lightning crackled, it traveled through the air towards Riser, leaving fumes on its trail, as the temperature of the arena grew. Lightning rushed towards Riser, strong enough that it tore through the air with the sound of space breaking apart, and he was too slow to dodge it.
Light engulfed his form, his skin burned away in unarranged spots. He screamed; he was used to pain and barely reacted, but this hurt on a different level. He screamed his lungs out for three seconds until all of his wounds healed.
"T-this bitch." He panted out a curse, his eyes shining in rage. "Fuck, I got warned she's strong, but this is too much."
Hinata was frowning by then, fast on her feet, as she rushed towards him with her palm raised. She knew about his special regeneration but it was different seeing it work in person; it was impressive. The only way she could win now, she hoped, would be to block his mana channels that should hopefully stop or slow down his healing.
Hinata rushed towards him, appearing in front of him in no time, as she prepared to launch her palm strike on his abdomen.
"Dammit, looks like I have to use that!" Riser yelled at the last moment, but Hinata didn't stop.
Her palm strike went ahead, but it wasn't his abdomen that she hit. No, he took out a golden amulet and held it right against her palm.
It was the Inferno Crest Amulet, a treasure of his family. His father handed it to him before coming here, apparently he heard from Rias' father about this new girl that joined her peerage who could pose a threat to Riser. Riser did receive a warning though, that he shouldn't use this casually, this was a strong artifact; it was the amulet of the Original Phoenix, the founder of the Family. If it killed the person in the Rating Game, it'd kill them once and for all, there wouldn't be any returning outside the arena.
Riser felt regret using this. He really would have liked to feel this girl on his bed, but it was a pity, a man couldn't get everything. Sacrifices were necessary, and this exotic girl made a fine one. The moment her palm would touch the amulet; he knew she would be burned to ashes. Her soul would burn.
Yet, the palm never connected with the amulet.
No, all that happened was that he found a large hand that came out of nowhere and raised him in the air by his throat. He was looking down at two chilly blue eyes, as the attacker held the amulet with his other hand.
"You bastard," the man growled like a beast. "Where did you find this Amulet?"
Huh?
…
Neji thought there was not going to be any plot twists, but here he was. He wouldn't have recognized this Amulet if it wasn't for his Observe, but he knew now.
[Inferno Crest Amulet: A small, intricately carved golden amulet that houses a swirling ember-like gem at its center. When attacked, it erects a barrier of fire around the user and shoots out a flesh and soul-destroying pillar of fire at the attacker. The pillar is stronger if the user is stronger.
– The barrier range is limited now because the amulet was damaged, now only when an enemy directly comes in contact with it does the Amulet activate.
– {!} Warning! Master, Master, this is a dungeon item. Our dungeon item. From the mana signature, I can tell it's the amulet that you once gave to Momo Yaoyorozu; she was wearing this on her neck when you sent her off with dimensional teleportation!]
Momo's Amulet was all Neji needed to see before he found himself holding Riser in the air by his throat. He didn't even care that this brat was about to kill Hinata just now, the fact that he had something that should belong to Momo was the only thing that mattered.
"Answer me," Neji demanded, even though he was aware the fool couldn't speak due to the pressure around his throat.
It wasn't hard to see what was going on even if he didn't have the full picture. Riser was from the Phoenix Family, and going by the situation of the other two girls he found, given Momo had the power of the Phoenix, it meant she was related to this family in some way. He didn't know what way, but he would know now.
Sadly, these devils weren't just going to watch him interrupt a Rating Game and not do anything. The sky brightened as a figure teleported in there and landed on the ground. It was a figure that made Neji pause even in this situation.
Perhaps because he saw the similarities between this woman and Eurynome, that mad woman. He immediately knew why.
[Tiamat – Dragon – High Tier 48]
"You there, you Abzu lookalike!"
The woman yelled, like a maddened wife, not at all like the gentle nature that her Fate counterpart had.
"How dare you interrupt the Game, you blockhead Dragon!"
Neji was forced to throw Riser away, but he did manage to put the Amulet into his inventory, as the woman kicked the ground and rushed at him like a tornado.
The Chaos Karma Dragon's chaos energy shimmered in the area, the woman left a trail of red aura behind her, as she rushed at him. Tiamat threw a lethal punch at Neji, and he fully matched it while flaring up his transformations.
The entire arena collapsed, space shattered, as the two Babylonian Dragons clashed.
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