Inside the Rating Game Arena
After Rias and her peerage were teleported by Grayfia into the rating game arena, they looked around the vicinity of the room. Upon checking it thoroughly, they realized they were in the ORC room—or more precisely, a replica of the ORC room within the rating game arena. To confirm their suspicion, Rias summoned a small winged familiar and let it fly outside of the room to get a better view and verify if the arena was indeed a replica of their prestigious school, Kuoh Academy.
When Rias's winged familiar reached a vantage point with a view of the entire arena, it hovered while surveying the scene. Using the eyes of her familiar, Rias confirmed that the entire arena was a perfect replica of Kuoh Academy. She relayed this information to her team as she walked casually towards the door.
"Rias, do you have a plan?" Akeno asked while following behind Rias. The rest of the peerage followed suit, scanning the surroundings for any potential ambushes.
"I do have a plan," Rias said with a smile, planning to answer Akeno in a cheeky manner, not fully considering the enemy they were about to face and underestimating their abilities and power.
"And that is...?" Akeno asked, raising an eyebrow while looking at Rias curiously. She thought to herself that they might not need a plan as they were already quite strong.
"Plain and simple," Rias stopped before turning her head to Akeno. "We are going to let Kiba, Gasper, and Koneko attack while we wait for the bigger fish to come to us." She explained her plan with a smirk. Though she intended to be cheeky, she realized her plan was quite straightforward.
"Ara, Rias, you're getting cocky now," Akeno said, laughing softly but realizing she was being a bit hypocritical. She coughed lightly to mask her own confidence.
"Not really, I just want to see the growth of my precious peerage," Rias said casually, though her smirk betrayed a hint of arrogance. Her desire to see her peerage's growth under Oreki's training was genuine. She was unaware of the specific abilities they had gained since Oreki had trained them individually in different rooms, or "time chambers" as he called them.
"What about me?" Valerie asked, pouting at Rias and looking confused about being left out. She wondered if Rias was underestimating her capabilities to fight. "But I already experienced so much back in Rome," she inwardly thought as she awaited Rias's answer.
"After hearing what you did in Rome, I think having you attack now would be overkill," Rias explained to Valerie with a sigh. "That would prevent my precious peerage from showing off their newfound abilities." She looked at her other peerage members with a proud smile, except for Akeno and Valerie.
"I agree, but not because I might overkill them. Those vampires I killed were weak," Valerie said with a smile. She agreed to hold back after seeing Gasper looking at her with pleading eyes, even though he was currently blindfolded. She was also curious about the abilities Gasper had gained from Oreki's training.
"Valerie-neesan is so cool!" Gasper exclaimed, fanboying over Valerie while nodding proudly. He imagined her valiant figure fighting and killing vampires in the Tepes Castle in Rome, which made Valerie rub her nose in pride and stand up straighter. "Of course, but this is thanks to Oreki," she said, not forgetting who had given her the ability to accomplish all of that.
"Idiots," Koneko muttered playfully under her breath while looking at them with an envious gaze. She thought to herself, "If only Nee-san was here, maybe she could be a cool sister to me too, just like Valerie-san." However, she shook her head to dismiss the thought, knowing her sister was a wanted criminal.
"Where are they now?" Rias asked Valerie for information about the enemy's location, recalling that Valerie had done something to Riser earlier before they were teleported to the arena. Valerie explained that she had put a minuscule amount of her blood on Riser and would be able to track him if he was within her range.
Valerie nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating to sense her own blood that she had placed on Riser. The devils watched in anticipation, particularly the ones set to attack, ready to rush toward the enemy.
"Don't let your guard down, okay? Even though we're stronger than them, don't underestimate them," Rias reminded them, trying to appear cool and mature in front of her peerage. "You can never control the unexpected," she added sagely.
The trio of attackers nodded, taking Rias's words to heart. They understood that no matter how powerful they were, there could always be someone stronger who could easily dispose of them. They briefly glanced upward, thinking of their protector, but shook the thought away, knowing he would only protect Rias, Akeno, and Valerie.
Valerie opened her eyes with a sigh. "Riser is in the assembly hall, and we can assume some of his peerage is with him," she said.
"I see... so they're quite far from us, but it doesn't matter." Rias shook her head with a smile before staring at the trio of attackers. "You three, go and show them what you've got," she shouted confidently.
"Yes, Lady Rias," the trio shouted, bowing before leaving the ORC room replica with confident strides, ready to kick some ass and secure a flawless victory. They were determined to make both their trainer and their king proud.
After the trio left, Rias turned to her two other companions. "We are leaving this place," she said, starting to walk towards the door.
"Why?" Akeno asked casually, following Rias, with Valerie doing the same.
"It's much better if we're in an open field, so Riser can come to us as soon as possible," Rias said, heading in the direction of the baseball field. "And if we trust Oreki's training, I doubt Riser will get past those three if they gang up on him and win this game for us." Rias smiled, imagining Riser's sorry state against her peerage, though she seemed to be forgetting that Riser was a Phenex and could regenerate as long as he had sufficient mana or magic power.
"Ara, isn't that much better though?" Akeno asked as they walked through the woods of the Kuoh Academy replica.
Rias turned her head to Akeno with a smirk. "Oh, I know you've been itching to test your skills on our enemy just like Valerie and me. That's why I want to be in the open field so they can come to us easily." She turned her head forward again, seeing the baseball field fence.
"Ara, it seems you read my mind," Akeno said playfully, holding her cheek. "Then leave the other Queen to me." She had a glint in her eyes, excited to show the power her mother should have received in the past.
"Then Valerie will handle Ravel and the other bishop if they're still in the game," Rias said with a smile to Valerie, who had more fighting experience than them.
"Leave it to me," Valerie replied happily, nodding.
"Then I will face Riser myself," Rias said with a smirk before turning to Akeno. "Did you bring tea, Akeno?"
"Of course, and it's sponsored by Oreki," Akeno replied, casting a spell to create a wooden chair and table for them to use.
"Oh, that must be good tea then," Rias praised, creating a bunch of winged familiars and ordering them to follow her peerage. The familiars flew off in the direction of the trio.
Rias and Valerie sat in the wooden chairs while Akeno boiled water nearby. Rias then said, "Now, let's watch the game."
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