- Observation Room –
Rias watches as Shin plays a Dvd of a new anime. Shin was really…..unique. He was not someone who would take lightly of this game so this meant that he was really that confident right?
The show starts as buildings starts blasting off. A massive crater forms and in the middle of the crater is…..is that a blue Piccolo? Is that a new version of Drag-so-Ball. Why hadn't she heard of it yet? She watches as bald man with a white cape and yellow coloured suit goes out. Is he the protagonist of this anime?
"Hahahaha, he looks like Fabium-chan. doesn't he Ajuka-chan. He doesn't have the beard though." sounded the voice of Serafall-sama in the background.
She will have to agree with that. He really looks a little as the current Asmodeus.
Siaraorg looks quite excited, she didn't know that her cousin had taken an interest in the wonderful world of animes.
"I am just a guy who is hero for fun."
She couldn't help but let a smile form on her lips even as Serafall-sama falls from her chair laughing at the said Hero's face.
This was really fun. Wait what.
"Not again, all it took was one punch. Damn itttttttttt."
What was that about, isn't it a good thing that he is so strong. Why is he so upset about it all?
"Oh, he looks at least Satan-class strong. This is good stuff. I wonder if I can fight a guy like that." Rias rolled her eyes at her cousin's comment.
"As if some common low born human can be a match for a noble devil. You shouldn't degrade yourself to their level young Bael." The arrogant voice of Lord Phenex abruptly cuts off her excitement all of a sudden. She can see where Riser gets his arrogance from. Lord Phenex was as arrogant if not even more than his son. "The foolish boy, is just trying to delude himself with distractions while waiting for Riser to crush him dust, then again Riser might just burn him to cinders."
She had to ruthlessly suppress the urge to throw a sphere of destruction at the elder Phenex. That won't be good for anyone here.
"We will just have to wait to see that don't we Lord Phenex." Siaraorg's reply does a large part to soothe her anger as she watches further.
Wow, this animation is really good. She will have to check the anime later herself. What was the name of the show again?
"I am the strongest. So, what if I am. I feel empty. Right? Having overwhelming strength is ….. pretty boring "
"This show is really good. I wonder if I can get Fabium-chan to wear this costume for my Magical Girl show and do a special episode. Magical Girl Miracle Levia-tan and One Punch Baldy" Serafall-sama is as excited as ever. But really this anime was quite awesome. Shin really has good taste.
Maybe the two of them could watch this anime together later. Yes, that's a good idea.
The next fight with the Subterraneans was really cool. She could see this anime being a major hit. It was really surprising that she hadn't heard of it yet. Why did no sites promote such a cool anime? Was it taken from a manga or was it a light novel? She will have to thoroughly search it though, or she could just ask Shin later. The fight ends up being a dream while Saitama defeats the enemies again.
"I've become too strong. THE STRONGEST MAN"
"That was pretty cool. I wonder where I can get the rest of the fight. I have wanted to watch Drag-so-Ball to learn Ki blasts like Shin, but this show is really cool to watch too." She suddenly hears Siaraorg saying something incredible.
Shin can do Ki Blasts. She didn't know that. Can she learn that too? Now she really wanted to see what this Rating Game will show her about Shin.
Before she could ask Siaraorg more about it, she sees Shin making a move.
"CLAP."
- Shin –
"Alright playtime's over we have 10 minutes for the game to start. Meredith please put up security barriers so that no one can hear us." I start taking command with my serious Game face on.
"I don't think people can spy on us. It's not allowed in the rules." Replies Meredith sounding confused even as she puts up the barrier and takes her seat.
"Rules mention that we cannot go outside our designated areas during the waiting time. Aside from that we cannot cause health damage to the other peerage. Other than that nothing else is prohibited. We can always be spied on after all I have been doing the same for the last 20 minutes."
"WHAT? When, how? You were sitting here with us all this time. How did you spy on them from here." Come one Meredith, I wouldn't say my secrets in a live show now would I?
"I have my ways. Anyways, I have mapped the area of the Rating Game field." I say as I use my Magic weapon creation to make a shadow model of the rating game field. I then divide the field into 8 rows and 8 columns as a chess board.
This will help us mark the areas much better and co-ordinate our moves with far more accuracy than otherwise.
"We need to secure our base from points A3 and A6. These are the only two probable routes which the enemy can take to our base. Be prepared for the group of 5 pawns and 3 pawn and 1 rook. Other groups will consist of two bishops and 1 rook, 2 Knights and the queen will be independent. This is my analysis of the opponent King's game patterns in his previous Rating games. They will try to overwhelm each of you before taking you out individually before coming after me to 'make an example of me' if my predictions are correct."
"We need to intercept them at point A3 first. Sakuya will take this point while Morgiana will take point A3. Meredith will remain hidden at point B2 and wait for my signal before attacking back. Sakuya you are to keep them busy. I repeat only busy and not retire them until I command you to. The queen of the enemy Peerage is known as the Bomb Queen, she will try to ambush you after you have defeated the pawns."
"What kind of uncreative name is that? Bomb Queen? What will they name us then, Knife Knight, Nail Bishop and Kicking Pawn. Seriously can't someone think of some cool names" Meredith complains as I explain them the layout of the map.
"Ughh, let's pray that they don't do that. Anyways, Sakuya you are not to use 'that' until I give you the command or you are at a danger of being retired. Keep them busy and bait the queen. At my command, finish them at once while Meredith will attack the queen." I command getting serious again.
"Yes Master." Ah, Sakuya is just perfection. No other way to define her.
"Morgiana will engage the second team at A6. Keep them busy. How many power ups can you handle at maximum and how many of them can you keep up without getting tired." I enquire Morgiana about her progress with the Boosted Gear.
"16 maximum and 5 without getting tired." She replies to the point.
"Acceptable, keep rotating between 0 to 5 every minute and reset by the end of it. Engage them but do not finish them up before I give the order."
"Okay." Good Girl, I am really starting to like her. She is cute and obedient. Perfect subordinate for me.
"When the queen reveals herself, Meredith take her down. Sakuya will dodge the ambush and will join you. Speed is of essence here. Do not hold much back. Only make sure she doesn't die." I don't want people dying today. It will put a damper on my name if there are deaths in my first Rating Game.
"I will handle the two Knights before I catch up to the third team of Bishops and Rook who will be distracted until then by my bishop." I reply with a smile.
"Wait, what bishop. I thought that I was your only Bishop. When did you get another one? Why didn't I know of it?" she really asks a lot of questions.
"Well I recruited one just now." I point behind her at her shadow as I use create a Shadow Servant in shape of Meredith. Throwing her a cloak which is identical to Meredith's own, I continue "She will distract the Bishop's team."
Ignoring their hanging jaws, I continue "Now, after Sakuya takes down the pawns, the ream game starts. No interruptions of what I am going to say next, ask any questions when I am finished." I order seriously leaving no room for interruptions "When you finish the 5 pawns team, the queen will have a high chance to go through her attack trying to finish you, Sakuya. You have to look her in her eyes right then and then dodge that attack. You are permitted to use 'that' freely from the moment you attack the pawns."
"The queen will panic when you dodge the attack and move back to C4, there she will be engaged by Meredith and you will join her and finish the queen at the fastest possible pace." I turn to Meredith for the questions.
And sure enough she has one for me "How are you so sure that she will move in that direction, why not any other. If she moves in the opposite direction, we would be stuck with chasing her for a long time."
"In the 10 Rating Games she had been on the backfoot for a total of 17 times, 15 of those times she moved to her 5 o' Clock direction, the other 2 cases were when that direction was blocked. In case she does move in the opposite direction, I have set traps, in the cell A2. It will blow up if she enters that area." I explain calmly. I have already rigged the field with my magic bombs using my shadow servants using shadow walk all over our area. It was not noticeable because no one would pay attention to my sleeves. I was constantly feeding them the bombs from my inventory.
"When did you do that? We didn't notice anything." She asks looking shocked.
"It was around the time Saitama was buying crabs. Next part, when the queen gets taken down immediately after the pawns, Ravel their tactician will panic. She will divide the team into two and send the other bishop and rook to check the path the pawns had taken which she herself will take the area the queen was at. Any other option will be prevented by the second bishop." I explain the further steps of my plan.
"Meredith is to intercept Ravel and make her retire. If she is being stubborn, you are permitted to use 'that' to threaten her." I speak looking at Meredith who calms down and nods at me.
"Sakuya will take the other bishop and rook, where you will be joined by Morgiana. Again I repeat. Take them down with your fastest speed. DO NOT PLAY WITH THEM IN ANY WAY." I am not going to fail my bonus objective because my peerage members were feeling high and started behaving like cliché villains.
"In that time I will have taken down the Knights, the only one left will be the other peerage's King for us to take down."
"Now, Riser Phenex is truly a common case of a spoiled kid with the flair for dramatics. His reaction to his entire peerage being eliminated will be blowing up his own base to show his anger and thus wasting around 13% of his demonic power in the act. Next he will fly above the burning base and Blast off the H7 cell losing another 5% before flying to G5 to look down on us all the while spewing crap like 'You have made Riser mad , Riser will make you pay for it'. It's basically his version of 'HULK MAD' with same intelligence and anger, just not the same power. Any questions"
"Why wouldn't he destroy any other cells with his 2nd attack? How do you know the exact amount of power he will waste?" This girl really finds a question every time she opens her mouth, doesn't she?
"Have you seen a kid go a kilometer away from home just to throw a tantrum? I measured his demonic power last time I saw him and judging by the wards around our base which I presume will be the same as his, it will take at least 13% of his power to break. " I give her an obvious look. "Morgiana will go to the opponent's base and promote to queen, while I engage him in a fight, while others wait for me to complete the game. It won't take long." I finish my plan there.
My peerage let out a breath when I finish talking. The 1k WIS perk gives me the ability to analyse and predict opponents movements based on previous data. High- grade calculations. Basic stuff.
"What happens if any of their pawns reach our base while we are absent?" Sakuya asks raising a valid question.
"The Base will blow up. While the base is kinda seen as my throne and I'd rather not lose it if possible, if it becomes a liability then….." I leave the statement unfinished.
A period of silence settles over the room.
"With the amount of information you have on them, I wouldn't be surprised if you knew what colour their underwears were either." Meredith makes a comment while taking a sip of water from her glass while trying to lighten the atmosphere.
"Well, Yubeluna makes purple lace with white string look quite good." I pass off the comment casually.
The silence that followed was biting to say the least.
"Did you peak under their skirts?" Meredith's voice was soft but it gave me shivers for some reason. I'd rather not joke here.
"I was not peeking. I was …..collecting information." I complete nodding to myself at the close save. It was a perfectly safe reason.
"And why would her underwear's colour matter to anything?"
"Not her underwear's colour, I was checking them for any hidden weapons or items. They can change the results of my predictions by a high degree. Heads up, Yubeluna is hiding a vial of Phenex tears between her breasts, Ravel has one in her right pocket, Xuelan the rook has a flash bomb in her clothes. If any of them reach for their clothes, blast them to pieces. On a side note Mihae, the bishop is going commando with a dagger in the sleeves of her kimono." I try to break the silence with extra information.
It did not work.
"1 minute left till the start of the Rating Game."
Thank you Grayfia. You really are the best support one can ask for.
Not my fault that The Eyes of Darkness is an OP skill. Our clothes cast a shadow on our body too. Figure out the rest.
"Did you peek on us?" was Meredith's last question as she calms down. I knew she will see reason. She is a smart girl.
"No, why would I do that, you are my peerage. No point in doing that…..though don't you think that you are a year of two too early to pull of black lace. Not that I am complaining. You would no doubt look awesome in that."
"YOU BASTARD, why do you know that. You said you didn't peek."
"I didn't, you just have to stop marking your underwear with the days of the week. They were in my bag after the shopping you girls had and…what can I say, I have an eidetic memory. I didn't peek on you and no changing red for Mondays won't change anything."
"The Rating Game starts."
I take off before she can throw a holy nail through my skull.