Living For Another's Sake

"You did what?" Rias was stunned as Julian told her about his deal with Riser.

"It's not that I don't believe in you guys, but I have a personal vendetta and some resources I need from him. Him canceling your marriage is just the cherry on the cake as you would say." Julian shrugged off the relieved yet slighly betrayed look from everyone.

"But, what if you lose? High-Class devils can only receive one set in their lifetime. You shouldn't..." Rias bit her lips with a guilty look.

"Ouch!" Rias cried out as Julian flicked her head.

"It was my decision, so stop worrying your pretty head about it." Julian smiled at Rias' pouting face.

Turning his back on them, he left her with parting words. "Anyway, didn't I promise you that you wouldn't marry Riser? Now just let me fulfil it..."

"One last thing, you guys did a good job out there. Better than I thought you would." Julian complimented them and teleported away, but not before winking at Koneko and mouthing out in a voice only she could hear that he had a reward for her performance.

~~~~~

Julian was currently in the Gremory library, reading some very old looking books about souls and rituals.

Ritual was a very ancient sort of magic, coming from before the time devils even existed. It basically consisted in sacrificing an object to obtain a certain result. The materials that could be sacrificed varied to something with real value and rarity like magical trinket and part of magical beasts to something of spiritual value like an heritage.

Why was he reading about this? Because he was certain that Ajuka had used ritual magic in his creation of the peerage piece.

After all, there was a definitive connection between the king's soul and his peerage members. Else, how could the king use the innate power of his peerage members?

Julian, after reading more about the concept of soul in this universe. Dared say a king could do as such because of a one way channel between his soul and the soul of every other members.

It was a fact that every piece in a peerage, upon joining, were binded in a profond way to the king. Though what the binding entail was totally determined by Ajuka, as proved by the fact peerage member had no compulsion to follow every single order of their king.

Julian closed the book carefully, his brows furrowed in thought.

Evil pieces were a piece of work alright, capable of turning anyone into another completely different race and bringing them back from a recent death.

It was no wonder Ajuka was hailed as a super genius.

Despite thinking that, a satisfied grins slowly rose on his lips as the puzzle that was the evil pieces fell in place in his mind.

Julian was made King the moment his hand touched the black monolith. There was no king piece in his set of pieces, yet he was still the king of his set.

That meant the monolith was probably the very thing that was creating and supervising all that was related to the evil pieces.

All hinted to that as they were both of the same material. And to be frank, there was simply no way Ajuka was creating all set of evil pieces himself. There was, after all was said, what? Thousands? Maybe tens of thousands of High-Class devil?

Yeah, no chance Ajuka had the time to waste to create all these sets personally.

The only thing he needed to have all the thing necessary to create his unique set was a renewable power source, which some of the alchemical material he demanded of Riser in their bets could serve as.

Of course, it wouldn't be perfect. To have all the same fonctions and more than the evil pieces, it would take more than a bit of reading and speculations for his unique set to be perfect.

But for now, with the actual research he had made on his pieces. Julian had at least the basics down.

Feeling a small presence drawing closer to the library, Julian sent a glance to a nearby clock and sighed.

Millicas was coming his way. In normal circumstances, he would be happy to finally meet him. But his match was literally on the corner, and he wouldn't want to have their first encounter be a short one.

So, he wrote a note and left it on the table. Telling Millicas that he should watch his match with Riser and ask Grayfia to take him with her, as she would be the judge for his match just like she had been for Rias'.

Then, putting back the books he was reading to their place. Julian teleported back to the ORC.

~~~~~

"So, do you have a plan against Riser or..." Issei trailed off, eyeing Julian as Akeno's served everyone tea. His gaze occasionally dropping to Koneko who was sitting sideway on Julian's lap.

Julian took a sip of his cup and hugged Koneko closer before shrugging. "Well, firstly, I can only use the power of my demonic side during this fight. So I spent some time refining some spells as well as some PoD techniques. Not only because it will raise eyebrows if I don't use it during the fight, but it's also simply one the most powerful tool in my arsenal."

"Yeah, that's a good thing and all..."

"But what I meant is... Do you have some sort of insane strategy to take him down in the most efficace manner?" Issei leaned forward, eager to learn more about planning and strategies.

Julian seemed thoughtful for a time before he answered with a tilt of his head. "I mean, depend if you consider hitting him really hard until either I or he drop dead a strategy."

Seeing Issei opening his mouth repeatedly and everyone else dumbfounded expression, Julian chuckled. "This isn't a game of chess where every pieces are essential for victory like your match was. This is a fight for supremacy between me and Riser. A drunken brawl where the winner take it all."

"This mean that I absolutely cannot lose unless I'm prepared to never appear in public again, and ready to go back on my promise."

Just as Rias and company faces became grim, they were startled as a sufocating pressure rose from Julian, cutting their breath short and shallow. Only Koneko seemingly wasn't affected as she was in her Nekomata form.

"Pressure, that's what make it fun. And also what I need." Julian grinned before he calmed down as Koneko made him know that she wanted him to feed her another one of his batch of freshly made cookie by poking his cheek.

Julian could only happily oblige as he promised he would pamper her as a reward for her performance in the rating game. After all, it could be said that the match would have taken a wrong turn way faster if it wasn't for her fulfilling her role to perfection.

Nekomata were — who would have thought — as needy as cats in relationship.

~~~~~

"So, it's official Koneko-Chan? You and Julian?.. I want to know the details... How is he in a relationship?" Akeno's immediatly prompted Koneko with a teasing smile.

Issei and Kiba decided to go outside and spars while they waited for Julian's game to begin.

Now that there was only the girls present, she didn't hesitate to open the subject as she was very curious herself.

Seeing Rias and Asia also tuning themselves in for her answer, Koneko blushed. "Well, he's very accomodating. Patient, gentle. We didn't spent much time together yet. But I already feel comfortable with him, safe. Like I don't have to worry about anything."

Koneko wanted to say more, but it would enter the domain of the personal for Julian. She wasn't dumb, she knew that when Julian told her of his past. He laid himself bare before her. His loneliness, his motivations, his personality, he gave her the context needed to know him for who he really was. And she would never betray that kind of trust. Not even to Rias and Akeno who she considered family.

"It don't surprise me that much that he's very dependable, but now he's accomodating too? How envious." Akeno sighed dreamily, a faint blush creeping up her cheeks as she remembered how naturally domineering he could be, despite Koneko description.

"How did it start? Who made the first move?" Akeno pressed further, a glint in her eyes as she asked how their romance began.

"I-I huggef him, and he hugged me back." Koneko blushed even more under their intense gazes, she wanted to hide in a hole, but at the same time she was so happy each time she remembered back the memory.

"That simple?"

Koneko nodded lightly.

"You're in an envious position Koneko. Though, you better stay on your toes. Else someone else manage to carve a piece of his heart for themselves. Julian is the perfect man for a lot of girls after all." Akeno smiled innocently.

At that, Koneko shrugged, her answer making Akeno speechless. "I know that, he already told me that there was another girl he thought he liked and that he had made a promise to."

...

"So?" After some time staying silent, Akeno spoke again.

"He told me that he was sorry and if I was willing. When his powers become stronger in the future, I could have him for myself for as much time as I want, without any time passing in the outside..."

Koneko lowered her head, her face twisting every which way before it settled on complicated.

"Well, this is quite the deal." Akeno muttered with a frown, there was something uncomfortable underlying such a promise.

"Julian said that?..." Rias perfectly resumed all their feelings as she felt this statement made her take a peek at his true self.

~~~~~

Julian cracked his neck, rolling his shoulders. He forced himself to losen up a little.

He always looked nonchalent no matter what situation he was in, seemingly uncaring of the result. But the truth was that he truly only cared when the consequences of his action affected someone he considered close.

For exemple, his trip to re-zero had been intense and unfruitful for his initial purpose of curing his father. But it had lead to his encounter with Mikan, and his subsequent rebirth. It had put things into perspectives.

Because as much as he was indifferent toward death in general, he hadn't been indifferent to the death of someone he knew for only a day like Subaru. Even when he was aware that he wouldn't really die.

The more he frequented people like Rias and company, and with his newfound feelings of affection for Koneko. The more he found the idea that if he couldn't really find a good personal goal besides finding happiness, then he should just live for those arround him until he found one. Though that's not like he wasn't already doing that, after all, his priority number one right now was fulfilling his various promises. Second was find it in him to let go of the guilt and just forgive himself.

These two were tied anyway.

Not that he didn't know it was unhealthy, he did in fact know. But it didn't matter when his whole psyche was toxic.

He didn't come to all these conclusion just now, he simply couldn't help but think about these things whenever nothing needed his undivided attention.

Like now...

His fight with Riser?

Julian grinned, it would be just perfect to scratch the unbearable itch in his back for good.

~~~~~

"So, same map uh?" Julian eyed the purplish undulating sky above him and commented.

The map they got for his and Riser game was the same they used for Rias' one. The school territory.

'Where's the cameras?' Julian discretly scanned his surrounding for any hidden devices but found nothing. He dismissed it as the entire dimension being the camera itself.

He pondered on what to do for a brief instant before shrugging and directly making a bee-line toward Riser's territory.

This fight wasn't private like Rias' one, but broadcasted through the entirety of devil's society.

Thus, Julian wanted to make sure to give them a proper show. Lest people keep annoying him by thinking he was an upstart because they couldn't properly sense his magic.