A/N:
" " : Dialogue,
' ' : Thought,
"Italicized text" : Telepathy,
[ ] : Spells, Techniques and Sacred Gear Casts,
"Bold text" : Ddraig & Albion.
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Narrator POV
In a room in the medical facility, Sona's eyes fluttered open. Beside her was Haruki on a chair, dressed in a slightly baggy red shirt, blue jeans and black sneakers, deftly slicing a red apple with his thumb, which he had turned into a steel blade. On a plate beside Sona's bed, multiple small apple bunnies were waiting for her, still cool and juicy, thanks to Haruki.
"Hey, you're finally awake." Haruki said, looking at her with a soft gaze. "How long was I out?" Sona asked as she sat up. "Not long. Just about two hours." He said, then set the newly sliced apple bunnies on the plate.
After the Rating Game concluded, Asia made her way to the medical facility and healed everyone apart from Sona. Haruki had taken over her healing, and made sure that she stayed asleep for longer than the others so that she could have some time to herself, while still being there to talk with her.
Sona leaned back and sighed, looking up with her eyes distant. "We really lost, huh?" She said, almost as if the impact of their loss against Rias and her peerage just hit her. "Yeah, you did. You tried the best you could with what you had at the time, and you lost." Haruki said calmly, as he took off her blanket and folded it.
His words made him sound cold and callous, seemingly uncaring of the mental pressure that Sona felt from losing the Rating Game. But he wasn't done just yet. After folding the blanket, he softly grabbed Sona's head and turned it to face him. "So what will you do now?" He asked her as he looked into her eyes.
Sona clenched her hands, depreciation eating her from the inside, and turned her eyes away from him, feeling like he shouldn't look at her now. "Are you going to let this stop you?" Haruki asked, tearing her from her self-deprecative thoughts. "You lost, had your plans turned over, and you feel frustrated. Are you going to let that stop you?" He asked her again, and this time, her thoughts became more introspective.
Sona had prided herself on her intelligence and strategic thinking, but as she looked through her life, she found something that was undoubtedly another key part about herself – her sheer stubbornness to get what she wanted as she wanted, by her efforts. It was after all, the main reason why she made the conditions for her engagement. But even so, a subtle fear had begun to take root in her mind.
"Do you think that they won't trust your judgement anymore?" Haruki asked her, pointing out the greatest fear she had developed from this loss. "Do you think that a single loss is enough for them to suddenly stop relying on you?" He asked her, and after a few seconds of silence, she let out a laugh, almost amused at the fact that she, even for a moment doubted her peerage's trust in her.
"No. No, I don't. And I can't let this stop me. Otherwise, Satan knows Rias won't ever let me hear the end of it." She said dryly. Haruki smiled, because even if she hadn't entirely get over her frustration, she had made progress. "Well, now that you've recovered somewhat, open up." Haruki said as he began feeding her the apple bunnies.
After she finished them, he helped her dress up in a fresh set of Kuoh Academy's female uniform, seeing as the one she wore in the Rating Game had been so heavily damaged in her battle with Rias. Haruki then gave her a massage, using senjutsu to relax her body and clear her mind.
Now having gathered her bearings, Sona took a breath and walked out of the medical facility with Haruki beside her. At the courtyard of the medical facility, Rias and her peerage were talking and exchanging pleasantries related to the Rating Game. Issei and Saji began an amicably competitive rivalry, same with Yuuto and Tsubaki, and Xenovia and Tomoe.
In a pleasant turn of events, Ruruko had powered through her feelings of embarrassment and confessed her love to Saji, much to his and everyone else's surprise. Since he was used to pining over Sona – who was now with Haruki, he hadn't expected any girl to come to him with similar feelings, let alone one of his fellow peerage members.
To add onto that shocking piece of news, Momo did the same in a clearly competitive manner, saying that she had fallen for him after seeing how hard he had pushed himself against Issei, even if he had lost the fight. Sona and Haruki stumbled on them right at the moment that Ruruko and Momo had begun possessively pulling on each of Saji's arms.
Sona and Haruki smiled at the interaction, hopes that this would help Saji let go of his crush on Sona ignited in their hearts, more so in Haruki than Sona, as he remembered that Saji ended up with his feelings going unrequited in the novels. He hoped that Ruruko and Momo's forwardness would pull Saji's love life out of that agonizing limbo.
As everyone else noticed that they had come out of the medical facility, Koneko rushed up to Haruki and hugged him tightly. "Thank you." She said with a small voice. "Anything for you." He responded and kissed her forehead. In the few hours since the end of the Rating Game, the Satans had made good on their deal with him and rescinded Kuroka's fugitive status away from the public eye, with the caveat that she had to keep away from the Khaos Brigade.
So while he hadn't released Kuroka from her confinement in his pocket dimension, she could now move about without the tedium of being chased by any devils, fallens or angels. Haruki would have released her, but he had other commitments to attend to. He had come across Ravel Phenex shortly after the end of the Rating Game, and she had asked him to visit the Phenex territory to, in her words, help them fix Riser.
Since he already intended to do so, he agreed, and said that he would meet up with her after Sona had woken up. But Ravel seemed a bit impatient, as she was already waiting for him outside the premises of the medical facility, with a carriage close by. He explained the situation to the Gremory and Sitri groups, and was met with grumbling.
"Why the hell are you even thinking of helping that damn chicken? He deserved what you did to him." Issei said. "That is true. But I want to see if he's actually learnt from that. If he's still a shitbag, I'll leave him the way he is. If not, I'll give him the privilege of reintegrating into devil society." Haruki replied, then bid them farewell as he walked into the carriage, which began heading to the Phenex territory.
…
Haruki POV
I know that devils model their society on aristocracy, but the unnecessary degree they go to just to show how rich they are is starting to feel more like an annoyance now. The Phenex territory is a perfect example of this. It's just barely larger than the Gremory territory, and the castle is obscenely large, even larger than the Gremory castle.
"It's good that you chose today to visit us. Ruval-onii-sama chose to visit home for a while, and he'll be leaving tomorrow. He said he had some business to attend to, but he never specified what exactly." Ravel says, nervously fidgeting her hands. "Ruval? Who's that?" I ask, feigning ignorance.
"Ruval-onii-sama is the eldest of us, and the next head of the Phenex family. When he heard about what happened to Riser, he… wasn't exactly pleased." She says, still fidgeting. "At first, he wanted to also go ahead and challenge you, but then I told him the details, and he got a lot angrier, at Riser, that is." She says, a bit calmer now.
"Ruval-onii-sama reprimanded Riser, telling him that regardless of your presence, he should have shown some respect for the Gremory name, if nothing else. When he heard about what Riser said in the Rating Game, he got even angrier… and beat Riser." She said, teetering between caring about Riser as her brother and laughing at him for being a douchebag.
"I see. You know, it's starting to look more and more like Riser's the only one of the Phenex family that has a chicken's head on his shoulders." I say, and she momentarily snickers, before putting her hand over her mouth. She then removes her hand, showing a glum expression. "You know you don't have to nurse his ego, right?" I ask her, and she sighs, shaking her head.
"It's not that at all, Haruki-sama. It's just… I was instructed to make sure that Riser didn't make things messy with his usual posturing… but I failed at that. I let the victories get to my head, and forgot my main mission as a part of his peerage." She says, self-deprecation seeping into her words. "I understand. But it was Riser who made the mistake of pissing me off, not you. So, don't sell yourself short, Ravel Phenex." I tell her, and she nods.
After a few more minutes in silence, we eventually reach the main castle of the Phenex family, and it was just as large as I thought. Seeing it from afar was one thing, but seeing it up close was a whole different beast. It was large and imposing, oozing aristocratic pomp, just as intended by the Phenex heads.
"Please, follow me, Haruki-sama." She says and begins guiding me through the castle. As we move through the halls of the building, I spread my senjutsu throughout the environment, and soon lock on to Riser's aura. It's dark, but not in the 'I'm going to kill everyone in a mad rage' dark. It's more 'I'm deeply traumatized and depressed' dark.
We keep walking, heading to Riser's room as we pass maids and butlers on the way. But as we get closer, a more powerful aura appears close to Riser's room. It carries the familiar tinge of the Phenex bloodline, but it wasn't Lord Phenex, who is a lot more powerful than his wife. That meant that it was very likely Ruval Phenex, the heir to Phenex.
While talking and exchanging banter, we eventually reach Riser's room, and standing in front of the door is someone I can only describe as the quintessential image of an aristocratic noble. Like Riser and Ravel, he also has blonde hair and blue eyes, while emanating an aura of wind and fire, much like any other member of the Phenex bloodline.
Like any other devil, his appearance was top-notch, without any blemishes on his skin. And although he wasn't as built as Sairaorg, he was still fit, which was definitely better than Riser. Just like I had expected, it was none other than Ruval Phenex, who happened to be waiting for me.
"Ruval-onii-sama!" Ravel calls out to him, and he turns over to us. His eyes spark with recognition as they land on me, then he walks up to us and politely greets me and puts his hand out for a handshake, proving once again that Riser really was the only one of the current generation of Phenex that needed an attitude adjustment.
"Hello, Ruval. Pleasure to meet you too." I say as I give him a handshake. "I'm here for him." I say, pointing to Riser's room. "Ah… of course. If I may… please don't be lenient with him. Although he technically can't face punishment for losing a Rating Game, his attitude and actions towards you and Rias Gremory have been nothing short of discourteous." He says, causing me to smile. 'You're alright in my books, Ruval Phenex.' I think to myself, then push open the doors.
Within the large room, mumbling incoherently at the foot of the Alaskan King sized bed, was Riser. His hair was disheveled and his skin was letting off tiny flames – a clear sign that he was recovering from small wounds, which most likely came from him scratching himself. It seems that I scarred him far worse than Issei did in canon, causing him to become borderline mad.
Ravel told me that he didn't really go overboard and do something like hitting the maids or butlers, but he apparently loathed the idea of leaving the castle, because, in the middle of his ramblings, she was able to pick up a few clear words – "Dragons are there.". Yeah, his trauma extended from just me to dragons, just like it did for Issei in the canon timeline.
I walk up to Riser, letting him hear my footsteps as I approach, and he turns to face me. His eyes land on me, narrow in recognition, then widen in fear. He backs away while only being able to let out gasps of fear, his words not even making it out of his throat.
As I get closer to him, I bring out my horns and turn my arms draconic, my emerald scales glinting in the light of the flames that keep his room alight. "Hello, Riser. I see you still remember me." I say with a smile, and he drops to his knees with a look of terror in his eyes, like his nightmares had come into real life to catch him. "Let's talk." I say, then put a clawed finger on his head, and using a combination of soul and mind magic, dive into his mind.
…
Narrator POV
As Haruki delved into Riser's mind, Ruval and Ravel watched on as their brother's eyes turned glassy, the hold of mental magic tightly gripping him. Although he was definitely flawed, they knew that beyond his brash, devil-may-care attitude, he was someone who was heavily concerned for the continuity and prosperity of not just the Phenex family, but also the devil race as a whole. It was just unfortunate that he had the same view of reincarnated devils as the other bloodline purists.
Meanwhile, within Riser's mind, Haruki burrowed deeper, ignoring Riser's memories and eventually coming across his conscious. "NO! NO! Stay away from me!" Riser's conscious shouted out, but was unable to actually mount an effective defense or assault against Haruki, who eventually grasped it.
Once he had gotten hold of Riser's conscious mind, Haruki finally chose to look around to the rest of Riser's mind and noticed that it was fractured. And although he had ignored it, he was hearing sounds that were very familiar to him. He heard the familiar squelches of flesh getting stabbed and pierced through, slashed and ripped apart, all with an intense pressure pressing on the mind. It became clear that Riser's mind was so badly affected by the events of the Rating Game, that even now, he felt like he was still living through them.
Haruki knew that he couldn't just clear out the memories, as Riser could very likely relapse to his former attitude without that lesson. As he moved to properly begin his work on Riser's mind, he noticed something that surprised him. In the parts of Riser's mind where the damage was the worst, he felt slivers of his own power deeply rooted in.
"Looks like using senjutsu to intensify your fear back then left a little more than a mark." Haruki said as he inspected Riser's conscious. "You're lucky that your family actually cares so much for you, otherwise I'd have lobotomized you." He said, then pulled in the remnants of his power, which would have required more effort if he was still as powerful as he was when he faced Riser in the Rating Game.
Once he was sure that no remnants of his power were still left within Riser's mind, he moved out of his mind, and as consciousness returned to his body, he removed any lingering traces of his power in Riser's body, leaving Riser's recovery unimpeded. Taking into account the level of damage he saw, he decided to help expedite Riser's recovery by channeling a good amount of life magic into him.
As he did that, Riser's eyes refocused, then his pupils shrunk to a pinprick as he backed away in fear and threw a wave of flames at Haruki. Riser hyperventilated, drawing in large breaths and letting them out just as quickly, as the realization of what he had just done dawned on him. "Glad to see that you're energetic. But maybe you should cool down a little, 'kay, Riser." Haruki said as he extinguished Riser's flames.
As the flames were cleared, Riser got a proper, lucid look at Haruki's appearance, and his eyes widened in what could only be described as awe. The black horns that grew diagonally to the back of Haruki's head, the dark green scales that adorned his hands and face, the black claws that replaced nails, and the green eyes that gleamed like emeralds. While the fear that he had towards Haruki was still present, for the moment, the awe he felt towards a humanoid dragon took greater priority.
Of course, this was a result of Haruki using senjutsu to shift the atmosphere of the room to be more comforting, but he wasn't going to tell them that. "Here. Take a picture, it'll last longer." Haruki said as he pulled out his cellphone, snapping Riser back to reality. If it was Riser before the Rating Game, he would have taken offence to Haruki's actions, taking them as an insult. But now, Riser had a palpable fear of Haruki that had been literally beaten into him, so he instantly quashed any rising thoughts of lashing out.
"Well, seeing as he can at least think coherently, I'd say my work here is done. So, I'll be taking my leave." Haruki said, then began walking out of the room. "Ah, Haruki-sama. Let me guide you…" Ravel began, but Haruki put up a hand, stopping her. "I can get back on my own, so don't worry yourself, Ravel. Besides, you've got your brother to take care of." He said, looking at Riser.
"Hey, chicken." Haruki called out, and Riser stiffened, then looked up at Haruki. "It'd be best for everyone if a repeat of this doesn't happen, don't you agree?" Haruki said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, causing Riser to shiver in fear. "Y-yes. I'll try my best to make sure it doesn't happen again." Riser said, bowing his head in fear, not wanting to make eye contact with Haruki.
"Well, I'll be seeing you later… hopefully." He replied as he left the room, with the three children of Phenex still inside. Using Shundō, he sped out of the castle, onto its large courtyard, then with a smile, he turned into his full dragon form and took to the underworld's purple skies, headed to the Gremory territory.
…
It had been a few days since the Gremory and Sitri peerages returned to Kuoh, and quite a few changes had occurred since their return. The most impactful of these changes were brought on by the activities of the supernatural world, specifically those of the Abrahamic factions and their allies. The more mundane things took place in Kuoh Academy.
Issei came to find that Matsuda and Motohama were currently under suspension for their excessive sexual harassment, to which he simply facepalmed, disappointed that his friends hadn't made any effort to go beyond being hopeless perverts, especially when they saw him going through that change. But as they say, old habits die hard. That and he couldn't just pull them into the supernatural world arbitrarily.
Saji was still working through the shock of Momo and Ruruko confessing to him, as well as trying to finally unhook himself from Sona, as he didn't want to hurt either Momo or Ruruko's feelings. He also had a conversation with Azazel on how to increase the power of his Sacred Gear, as he didn't want to fall any further behind Issei than he already had.
Kuoh Academy had received two new 'transfer students', those being Irina Shidou and Angela Strauss, who had been sent there as ambassadors of Heaven, as the angels wanted some presence in Kuoh. At least, that the official reason for their presence in Kuoh. Much to the surprise of everyone, save for Azazel and Haruki, Irina and Angela were now actual angels, who had been turned using the angels' new Brave Saints system, which was derived from the devils' Evil Pieces technology and the fallen angels' (Azazel's) Artificial Sacred Gear technology.
The Brave Saints system is represented by the suits of playing cards, with each suit having the standard thirteen cards from Ace to King, with a Joker aside from the four suits. Irina mentioned that she was the Ace of Michael's Spade suit, and Angela was the Jack of Gabriel's Hearts suit, with a stylized A and J on the back of their respective hands.
Back at the Natsuhiko residence, they had gotten two new cohabitants in Kuroka and Tiamat. Kuroka was there so that she would be monitored, and Tiamat because she had not only wanted to be closer to Haruki, but also wanted to make sure that Issei would put some measure of his efforts towards recovering her treasures.
Kuroka didn't have any problems with the arrangement, as she could now be with Koneko without the threat of being hunted, even if her movements were restricted to Kuoh or the immediate watch of the Natsuhikos, preferably with Haruki also being there. As for her desire to return to the Khaos Brigade, that was shockingly low, as she felt that the few friends she had there would do well without her presence. In her own words, they're grown and don't need her there.
It had been decided that Irina would live with the Hyoudous and Angela, in a bid to show her gratitude to Haruki for sparing her life, decided to live with the Natsuhikos. Haruki didn't have much of an issue with it, as he was interested in analyzing how her Take Over magic worked. Hanabi and Nadeyoshi weren't against it, as they learned that most of the members of the clergy they had issues with had either gone astray or been retired, and they didn't have any issues with the angels themselves.
Rias, Akeno and Koneko didn't have any overt issues with Angela's presence, but they noticed that she was particularly eager to please Hanabi and Nadeyoshi with good behavior. This made them feel that she wanted to show her gratitude with a lot more than an angel would normally be allowed to.
While all of these changes were definitely substantial, especially to the supernatural students of Kuoh Academy, the school was currently going through one of its most important events, the Sports Festival.
In Issei and Haruki's class, Irina had enthusiastically put herself up as one of the candidates to represent them in the item-borrowing race, while Issei, falling for one of Aika's tricks, ended up being chosen for the three-legged race along with Asia. Haruki had taken up their class's slot for the male long-jump, and the anchor runner for the 400m relay race.
So right now, the students were training ahead for the events, with Irina and Xenovia competing for the representative position of class 2-B, with Xenovia beating her out with a considerable margin, much to Irina's displeasure. While that was going on, Issei and Haruki happened upon Saji, who was moving around to ensure that the apparatuses being used were in good condition and properly measured.
"Yo, Saji." Issei called out to Saji. "Oh, Hyoudou. What are you doing?" Saji asked after greeting Issei and Haruki with a short fist bump. "Just cheering on Xenovia." Issei said, then looked at Saji's right arm, which was bandaged. "What's up with the bandage?" He asked. "Oh, this?" Saji said, then slightly unwrapped it, revealing marks that looked like a black snake.
"What… is that?" Issei asked. "I asked Azazel-sensei about it, and he told me that it happened during our fight in the Rating Game." Saji said, then rewrapped the bandages. "Kaichou's intention for having me fight you in the Rating Game was to have me drain your blood with Absorption Line until you passed out from blood loss. So, in the short while that I had connected Absorption Line to you, the little blood I had drained from you influenced my body. Like I absorbed some data from you, and now, it's really showing up on my body. Like this." Saji said, then showed Issei a purple gem on the back of his hand.
Issei was surprised to see the gem, as the only other Sacred Gears he had seen with such gems were his Boosted Gear and Vali Lucifer's Divine Dividing. "Interesting." Issei said as he tapped on the gem. "This doing anything to you?" He asked, genuinely concerned for Saji. "Nah, as least, I hope not. Especially since Vritra didn't exactly leave any good legends." Saji said with a laugh and a mildly disturbed look on his face.
As he continued talking with Issei, a pulse of magic rippled out from the Natsuhiko residence, going by unnoticed by everyone, except for Haruki. With a quick use of Shundō, he left Kuoh Academy's premises and sped towards his home. By the time Saji and Issei noticed his departure, he was already four-fifths of the way back to his home.
When Haruki reached the neighborhood, he came across a barrier, one that he was familiar with. It was one of the defenses that his mother had enchanted onto their home, and was meant to act like a Bounded Field, except with greater effect, making it so that any damage that occurred while it was active would be reversed when it was eventually deactivated.
While this was undoubtedly an impressive feat of magic engineering, Haruki had no intention of admiring it, as his attention was focused on something of greater urgency, which just happened to be the reason that this defense had been activated. He walked into the barrier with gritted teeth, and as soon as he crossed the outer edge of the barrier, he shifted into his draconian form, his horns, claws and scales out.
"What the hell do you think you're doing at my home, Vali?" He said with a low yet audible voice, as he laid his eyes on the great-grandson of the now deceased original Lucifer, who had the Divine Dividing active. "What's the matter, Haru? Am I not your aniki?" Vali asked with a sly smile on his face and an intent to battle flaring from him.
Chapter End.
Word Count: 4,464
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Thanks for reading.