Chapter 38: Game On

~Yuta Yukimura~

I looked at the ceiling, doubting and questioning all of my life choices that somehow led to this point.

So... yesterday I fucked Grayfia, and I just got a Feng Shui Engine and THE goddamn Devil Trigger out of it.

Do I regret it? Not one bit, yesterday night was the highlight of both my lives so far. I was afraid manga had overhyped sex but after yesterday? I think they undersold it.

Right now however, I wanted nothing more than to both crawl into a hole and disappear and to also turn on Devil Trigger and tear apart some beasts. Very conflicting thoughts.

But as I was immersed in my thoughts I felt Grayfia rouse awake next to me, I briefly entertained the thought of Void Traveling away to avoid any consequences I might face but I refused the notion. I was going to take whatever happened on the chin.

Grayfia got up, and I dug my fingers into my palms in order to not pop yet another diamond-shattering erection at the sight of her dishevelled and naked appearance, looking away from her I looked through the window, though I changed my mind and faced her properly, she rubbed her eyes, then looked at me, then at herself, immediately she blushed a little and quickly tried to regain her composure.

"Good morning Grayfia...?" Ah fuck, I forgot to add san again. Well, this life was nice while it lasted. I watched as Grayfia coughed into her fist and looked away from me pointedly.

"A-Ahem, good morning to you too Yuta-san."

Tiamat's tits this was awkward. I could cut the tension in the room with a knife or my Natural Weapons. I guess it was up to me to break the tension since I bent Grayifa over last ni- my Tiamat can you just shut the fuck up!?

"So..."

Grayfia seemed to understand the questions packed into my brief verbalization and quickly rectified them, as expected of an expected of an elite maid.

"You do not have to worry about a thing from l-last night Yuta-san, I was the one who propositioned you after all. I cannot blame you for a-acting like that last night. Ahem! Was our efforts from yesterday enough? Have you acquired another ability?"

She quickly tried to change the topic, her eyes briefly darting to the tent that I had inevitably pitched. And I was grateful for the change in topic, she looked quite glad when I nodded.

"Yes. Quite frankly, I think I could absolutely take on Riser now, almost certain that I crush him. But I want to test it a little first."

Grayfia nodded, but I could still tell that her attention was on my erection while she was still sitting on the bed. My mind ran in circles. I knew I was stupid, I have never doubted my less-than-stellar intelligence and situational awareness.

But it won't hurt to try right? We already crossed way too many boundaries last night. Even if she refuses she probably won't beat me to death. Besides, with how she keeps staring at my bulge and blushing I don't think she would want to refuse.

I cleared my throat as Grayfia jumped in place just a little, clearly being caught off guard staring.

"So, before you leave could you please care of this for me before we leave Grayfia?" I knew I shouldn't speak so casually to the powerful devil in front of me but after last night I couldn't look at her the same way, and my worries proved unfounded as Grayfia nodded her like a creaking rusty machine.

"A-alright, but I will have to ask you not to bring this matter up later after we leave this bedroom Yuta-san. Yesterday was simply for Rias' sake alright?"

I nodded but inside I felt an unfamiliar twinge of frustration. I couldn't exactly solve what feeling I was feeling but I was still happy with Grayfia's attention.

"Alright, please take care of me Grayfia."

♢—•♧•—♤—•♡•—♤—•♧•—♢

~Yuta Yukimura~

After that fateful night and that rather terrifying morning coupled with my own existential crisis I started doing some last-minute, or I should say last-day training to prepare against Riser. There wasn't much time so everyone was busy trying to cram as much progress as possible.

Grayfia moved us to a different location for me to be able to test out Devil Trigger and... wow. It certainly was fitting of its name if the shocked expression on Grayfia's face when I first used it was anything to go off of.

To put it as a simple comparison, if I turned on Devil Trigger, I could probably kill at least 50 of me if they did not use Devil Trigger. Grayfia herself compared it to a Balance Breaker. But its drawbacks were also very noticeable.

It had a hefty stamina and magical power drain, I couldn't maintain it for over a minute if I wanted to be able to walk afterwards, I could push it to 2 minutes but I would pass out afterwards.

But still, I was confident I could defeat Riser with it. Especially after watching videos on Dewitter of his rating games, I had come up with multiple methods of attack. Although it certainly would not be easy I was not scared of Riser anymore.

No, rather than scared, I was actually quite looking forward to fighting him now.

Yes, I would be paying everything back to him a hundredfold.

After two more days of training the day of reckoning had finally come. Rias had us pack our bags and return to the Occult Research Clubroom. As we all waited I couldn't help but feel a twinge of excitement. I had already studied his peerage, his moves, and his weaknesses. I was ready for this, as ready as I was for fighting Freed anyway. And I remember how well that went.

As I idly checked my phone a blue magic circle lit up on the floor, catching me by slight surprise before Sona and her right hand whose name I did not bother to memorise stepped out of it, their eyes swept over us appraisingly, briefly stopping on Asia and yours truly respectively before meeting Rias' eyes, who, to her credit looked about as calm as one could be in such a situation.

"Hello Rias, before the game starts I thought I should give you my regards. I volunteered to manage the viewing of this game after all. I came here to wish you luck on your first game Rias." That was right, from what Rias told me beforehand, this fight was being viewed by both the Gremory and Phenex families, with Sona in charge of managing the viewing, doing live censors and camera shots etc.

Rias giggled, resting her chin on her hand.

"I see, were you so worried that you wanted a first-class seat to watch it yourself, Sona?" Sona sighed and shook her head.

"Think of it what you will, but it is your first rating game, I do not know where your confidence comes from but be vigilant, Riser is an enemy you can't afford to underestimate."

"Thank you for your concern Sona, don't worry, I don't intend to lose this early my rival. Besides, I have one of the most wonderful pawns in the world by my side." I blushed a little and looked away, wow that is certainly an embarrassing way to word it. Sona seemed to agree as she was taken aback for a moment before righting herself. Worst part was, even by looking I couldn't tell if Rias was serious or not.

"I see Rias, still, good luck, Riser and you would make a pretty poor pairing after all." With those last words, I watched Sona and her queen leave the room, leaving us alone again before the carpet on the floor lit up once again with the Gremory Family magic circle, with only Grayfia emerging from it this time, from what I was told she was going to be serving as the judge for this game.

"Everyone, are you ready?" Grayfia said, her voice did not betray a hint of emotion, she was fully in work mode. But I did notice that she did not look in my direction at all.

Everyone looked at each other and exchanged a nod before Rias turned to Grayfia with a resolute expression.

"Yes, we are." With Rias' words we all grouped around Grayfia as she created yet another teleportation circle, a brief flash of light overtook us before we were seemingly deposited into the ORC once again, just without Grayfia in tow this time. But a quick look out of the window proved that notion wrong with the twisting weird green fog in the sky above. After Asia asked in confusion if the spell worked or not Akeno helpfully explained where we were.

We were currently in a pocket dimension made for this rating game, an exact replica of Kuoh Academy that was 5km x 5km in diameter. As we settled in I heard Grayfia's voice, it didn't sound like it came from speakers but basically as a voice in my head.

<<"Everyone, I am Grayfia, Servant of the Gremory family. Appointed judge between the Phenex and Gremory families for this Rating game.">>

<<"As per the requests of both participants of the rating game, we have prepared a replica of the Human High School that Rias-sama attends as the battlefield.">>

<<"Rias-sama's chosen base is the Occult Research Room in the Old Schoolhouse.">>

<<"Riser-sama's chosen base is the Principal's Office in the new Schoolhouse.">>

<<"The rating game starts now.">>

As the announcement rang, I noticed with some humour that Rias flicked her hair and gestured when her name was gestured, likely for the camera. Her love of theatrics persisted even here. It was cute.

I looked toward Rias who sat on the couch with her legs crossed, though there was some unease in her posture she did not show it to demoralize her peerage.

"Rias-san, are we keeping to our original plan?" Rias nodded from her position making me smirk. We had already fleshed out plans beforehand.

Basically, Koneko and Asia would stay behind in the old schoolhouse and guard it to prevent it from being ambushed by pawns who would turn into queens thanks to being able to promote here. Kiba and Akeno would go on the offensive from the front school entrance to draw attention and deal with the mooks while I was tasked with taking care of the other mooks.

But before that, I had Operation: Smooth Criminal to pull off. We waited for a few minutes for the truce period to end so that I wouldn't be caught lacking the moment I went off by myself and had to face the entire peerage I wouldn't say I'd lose but I really did not want to pop Devil Trigger so early.

"Alright, I'm off." I stretched a little, preparing to take off but before I went Rias stopped me, pecking my cheek with a quick kiss.

"Here is a quick good luck kiss for you."

"Ara~ maybe I should give one too."

"Me too."

"I-I will also do it."

After Rias, the other girls also joined in giving me a good luck kiss on the cheek, resulting in the entire female population of the peerage giving me a quick smooch to me while Kiba watched from the corner, chuckling and shaking his head fondly. As I was still a little stunned by the slightly overwhelming display of affection Kiba snapped me out of it.

"So? Do you expect one from me too Yuta-kun?"

I gave him a flat stare that made him laugh.

"Kiba, you are an alright guy but don't say that. If you try to I am sending you to the shadow realm." He held his hands up and shook his head as I chuckled a little too before facing the window. "Speaking of the shadow realm, I suppose I should really be off now. With all the luck you ladies gave me, this will be a breeze."

I put one foot on the windowsill and leapt out before combining Void Travel with Ghost Form to get Void Shift, slipping into the void realm as I fell. The moment I was in the void realm I opened my wings and flew with fast speed towards the main school building, before even 20 seconds had passed I had arrived inside the Principald Building while looking around the scenery, noting where everyone was. Once I was inside I slipped out of the void realm and took a deep breath, then smiled.

"Promotion please."

As soon as the words left my mouth I felt a change happen inside me, I felt invigorated and powerful as the bonuses from my piece turned from that of a pawn to a queen piece, I even saw an imaginary crimson pawn piece turn into a queen one for a second.

"Nice, promotion complete."

And I immediately slipped back into the Void Dimensions just like that.

Now, I could actually start picking off his peerage. Right after entering his base and promoting into a queen under his very nose.

Riser won't know what hit him.

A/N: Grayfia is cooked, she may be out of Yuta's clutches for a short while but not for long. Yes, I stopped her conquest short a little but I wanted to write some more juicy scenes, plus completing her route in just the training camp didn't make sense.

Also, Yuta is a smooth criminal, not even 10 minutes in and he is already promoted to Queen, if Riser was cooked before, now he is getting seasoned as well. I hope you guys are looking forward to how the Rating Game goes. What did you guys think about the start and the little scene of Yuta's harem(?)? I'd love to know.

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