Chapter 121: Sensibly

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"You mean we aren't going to be training?" Raynare demanded in bewilderment.

"Of course we will," Rias answered dismissively. Intertwining her fingers and putting her chin on her hands, she explained, "We'll be training very hard. Even harder than we have been in the past. I simply feel that strategy and planning will play a larger part in this battle than what improvements we can make in ten days. This group has been training more diligently since Naruto-kun joined. We've already got the advantage in skill. Now we need to make sure we've also got the advantage in strategy. As I said though, we'll still be training. We need ever bit of help we can get. I'm just going to make it that we spend no less than an hour everyday discussing strategy and technical info about Rating Games."

"Okay. So what exactly will we be learning?" Yuuto questioned curiously.

Rias nodded and walked over to a stand she had set up. She removed a plank board to show she had created a sort of graph. She quickly explained to them, "First some basics on Rating Games. Generally participants are classified into four different categories. Power, technique, wizard, and support."

"Akeno and I are firmly placed as Wizard-types. We use magic in general to fight. Yuuto is a Technique-type. He uses speed and technique in a fight. Asia is a Support-type. That is self-explanatory. Naruto is a Power-type. He overwhelms his opponent with power and ferocity," Rias explained to the group. She then gestured at the graph again. They all looked and saw it was designed where both the x and y axes were divided into four, each one of the designations. She elaborated for the group, "You can go into greater detail by assigning secondary designations. Like Naruto-kun. He is mainly a Power-type, but he is a minor Wizard-type as well. A warrior with access to magic."

"Akeno and I are likely pure Wizard-types at this point, Yuuto is probably a pure Technique-type, and Koneko is a pure Power-type. I already explained Naruto-kun. Raynare-san, you are a Wizard-type, but you are also gradually edging into a minor Technique-type as well. Asia, you are a Support-type, and are rapidly advancing into a Wizard-type too," Rias announced, placing a small picture of each person's face where they fit on the graph. Once they were all set, she looked at the group and asked, "Now tell me what you notice about our group?"

Akeno quickly pitched in, "We have an abundance of Wizard-types."

Rias nodded and replied calmly, "Yes. The only two members of our group that are exclusively physical fighters are Yuuto and Koneko. Naruto-kun seems to prefer close combat, but he had access to longer range attacks. Akeno, Raynare, Asia, and I all rely on ranged combat almost exclusively. Not necessarily bad, but it is important to note. Next?"

Asia raised a hand as she answered timidly, "I'm the only Support-type."

"Exactly, Asia. That is probably our biggest weakness at this point. We are all front-line combatants besides her. Support-types make everyone around them better. This means Asia might very well be the most important member of our group, besides myself. Her healing ability is essential to restoring others back to fighting condition. Asia's survival for at least the first three-quarters of the game is crucial. Afterwards is probably the closing battles, where her abilities will become less useful. That means Asia absolutely needs to be protected till that time. She either needs to stay away from the main battlefield or have a bodyguard."

"So overall we're a combat focused team, with little support capabilities," Naruto summed up their situation bluntly. Leaning forward, he asked seriously, "So what does that mean for us?"

Rias matched his seriousness as she answered, "It means we have to take the offensive against Riser. We need to seize the initiative, pick and choose our battles. Swing the momentum in our favor early. Thankfully this will be easy as Riser seems to prefer a defensive approach. He lets his opponent come to him, and uses his peerage to wear them down. By the time they reach him, they are too exhausted to withstand him."

"So wouldn't going on the offensive be playing right into his hands?" Raynare remarked critically, frowning as she considered the situation.

Sighing, Rias reluctantly admitted, "Yes. That is a risk, but it is still our best chance. We don't have the manpower to defend a base. They'll simply attack to distract us, and slip pawns in through the cracks in our defense. If even one or two of his pawns manage to infiltrate our base and promote, our chance of victory almost completely evaporates. We need to control the flow of the battle or else we let Riser play us as he desires."

Yuuto was thinking hard as he commented, "Offense then. We can think of Riser's peerage as a wall surrounding him. I can only think of two options. We can concentrate on a single portion of the wall. Force our way through and try to finish Riser directly."

"Considering his immortality, that isn't a smart idea. He'd just stall till his other servants arrive to help him. We'd be surrounded," Akeno pointed out. "The better option would be a-"

"A systematic destruction of his entire peerage. We then confront him with whoever remains at the end," Rias finished for her queen.

"Once again, we'll just be playing into his hands. If we remove Asia, then we only have six combatants. Five if we keep Buchou out of harms way.

That means we'd each have to take out three opponents before fighting him. Even if we all survived, unlikely, we'd be exhausted.

Considering how strong this guy appeared in the clubroom, one big attack would probably remove all of us in such a state," Raynare stated sensibly, troubled by the situation.

"Once again, that is a risk we'll have to take," Rias said with a frown, equally troubled.

"Our chances?" Koneko asked blankly.

"Grayfia stated we'd only have a ten percent chance considering numbers and statistics. She's definitely underestimating us though.

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