Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
February 13 - Bellatrix Black.
"Welcome to another exciting Rating Game match!!" The announcer shouted, causing the audience to roar in approval. "Today is a special match! Today, my dear audience, we have the honor of introducing a newly promoted Devil to the ranks of High-Class Devils for her first-ever Rating Game match!!"
"Let's give a round of applause for Lady Serena Prince!!" The host exclaimed, causing the audience to erupt in cheers. That was the signal for me to enter the arena, and Sera noticed; she started walking, and I quickly followed two steps behind.
"She's a born devil! A low-class devil who managed to climb up to High-class by her own strength at the age of 18! And the most important thing of all! She's a succubus! Yes, gentlemen, you heard right! The first succubus to become a high-class devil! What kind of demonstration will she make in her public debut?! I don't know, and I'm excited to find out!!
"Next to her is her queen! Bellatrix Black, the Princess of Wallachia!! A mage from Grauzauberer!! "
"These two are the only ones competing in this match!! Are they being overconfident? Arrogant? Are they just testing the waters for the first time? Or are they underestimating their opponents?! We'll find out when they face their opponent!!"
"Give a round of applause to the rising star!!! With six games won in a row!! Today will we see the seventh?! He is RISEEEER PHEENEEEEXX!!!!"
"There's not much I can say about him that you don't already know!! So I'll just keep going; I'm so excited for this game that I'm bursting with anticipation!! "
"Behind Riser is his Peerage!! A full Peerage of 15 demons!! That would make a total of 16 demons to fight against just 2!! Will it be a crushing victory for Riser!? A massacre!? Or will the newly promoted Serena Prince surprise us all!? We'll find out soon!! I, your trusty host, will be the referee of this Rating Game!! I promise a fair game for both sides!! "
"Now, the rules of this Rating Game match!! As you know, it is tradition that the first match you play as a High-Class Devil is a traditional Rating Game. That is what you will see tonight, public!! "
"As a first-timer, Lady Prince has been given the honor of creating the battlefield for this match!! And… this is the battlefield chosen for today!" The announcer pointed to the sky, towards the enormous holographic screens.
"As you can see, the chosen battlefield is quite simple! There are only two castles on the terrain, one for each group. The surroundings of the castle and the center of the terrain are completely barren, with no obstacles in sight, nothing to cover or hide behind, so the battlefield is empty!! Perfect for a confrontation!! "
"Or maybe Lady Prince's strategy is to entrench herself in her castle!! What does she have prepared for this fight!?!? We won't know until we see it in action!!
"Let's continue! The rules are the same as always! Once you've teleported into your respective areas, you'll have 15 minutes to devise a plan. The first one to defeat the enemy king is the winner! Pawns can only be promoted within the enemy castle and its surroundings. There are marks on the ground that will delimit the areas; be careful! Safeguards are in place as usual, so both groups can give it their all!
"Good luck to both of you!"
Once we were both teleported, I started looking around. Sera did the same; she seemed satisfied with the place.
"So, how do we plan to do this?" I asked simply, I had a feral, eager smile on my face. She nodded.
"Exactly as planned, have fun, Bella." She said with a smile, and I quickly turned and went out the nearest window. My wings immediately sprouted from my back, and I began to fly away. I saw Sera out of the corner of my eye shake her head as she sat comfortably on one of the couches, but I ignored it. I had work to do.
"Planning time is up!! Begin!!" The referee's shout was heard throughout the pocket dimension. I had been anxiously waiting in front of the castle in the air, facing the direction of the Phenex group's castle. And I waited for them to arrive.
Just as I had expected, all of Riser Phenex's nobility arrived 15 minutes later. The only one who wasn't there was Riser Phenex himself, but that wasn't a problem. In fact, it was expected.
Even when I saw the entire Phenix' Peerage approaching, I didn't move. I just kept waiting. And waiting. Until the last member crossed half of our territory. Luckily for me, all of them were running on the ground, too bad for them. I reached into my trench coat and pulled out Kazikli Bay from the inventory. According to Sera, it wasn't really necessary to hide the inventory, but it was better to keep it a secret for the time being. So all the theatrics were required. It was easier to say and show that they were pockets with undetectable extension enchantments.
Leaving that aside, I pointed towards Riser's group, who stopped and looked at me warily. I smiled bloodthirstily before shouting and pointing towards them.
"Come, you barbarians who trample upon my domain!
It's time for your punishment!
My mercy and fury shall transform into blazing stakes and skewer you all!
These stakes are infinite, so despair and gorge in your own blood!!
KAZIKLI BEY!! "
Two thousand stakes were created instantly and rose all around. Dozens and hundreds of stakes chased all of Riser's Peerage at the same time. All of the pawns were immediately impaled. The bishops were the next to be impaled successively. The rooks held out the longest, but were easily overwhelmed by the numbers and gave way just as quickly. The knights were the quickest to react and dodged the first wave of stakes, only to be impaled by the second and third waves.
The only one who wasn't turned into a pincushion was the queen. She soared into the sky as she looked in horror at the sight below.
"Ooo-eight pawns, two rooks, one bishop, and two knights of Riser were defeated and eliminated from the battlefield." I watched as 13 people were transported off the battlefield. Only the queen in the sky and the bishop, who was still impaled, remained, but she was completely fine; her form was slightly enveloped in fire. She must be Riser's sister.
I retracted the stakes holding the Phenex girl, and she immediately rose into the air and approached her brother's queen.
"Are you okay, Lady Ravel?" The queen asked worriedly. The Phenex girl nodded.
"I'm fine, but w-what was that!? They came completely out of nowhere." screamed the Phenex girl.
"I don't know, maybe a Sacred Gear? I don't know of any called Kazikli Bey or one that can create stakes in that quantity." The queen said worriedly. Ravel's eyes widened slightly.
"Kazikli Bey, The Lord Impaler. Vlad the Impaler!! Do not go near the ground!! We need to get out of their territory right now!!" The Phenex girl's scream was frantic as she looked at me. I smiled just as hard as before as I pointed my spear in her direction. The Phenex girl had already been impaled at least three times by my stakes. She had 'already been pierced'.
Ravel's eyes widened as the stakes protruded from her body from her heart. Blood exploded from her body and mouth as she watched in horror as the stake stabbed into her brother's queen standing nearby. One stake pierced her stomach and another pierced her shoulder. Too bad, only two stakes.
"Y- Yubelluna! The tears! Get away from me! Get away from their territory!" Ravel shouted through gritted teeth. Smart Girl. The Queen quickly broke the stakes that were piercing her despite being severely injured and promptly took out a small vial. Phoenix Tears. I was able to stop her, but I stood still for the moment.
I watched as the teardrop shed on the queen immediately began to heal the queen's wounds. Truly, it was an almighty cure. Once she was healed, the queen flew back out of the territory. I created a honeycomb of stakes once again, high enough to make it look like they wanted to pierce through the sky.
But this time, the queen saw them coming, she cast her explosion magic on them, destroying hundreds of them at once, leaving a clear space for her to retreat. I let her go momentarily, and my attention turned to the Phenex girl. I pushed back the stakes on her body and began to approach her. She frowned and looked at me. Curiously, without a hint of fear. I really must applaud that. She was either reckless or she really trusted her regeneration.
"Give up." I said simply. She narrowed her eyes before ruffling her hair.
"Never, I'm a Phenex! You may have managed to wipe out most of my brother's Peerage. But you still won't be able to defeat him," she said confidently. I placed my hand inside my white trench coat, pulled Casull out of inventory, and shot her in the leg. The 13mm bullet destroyed the Phenex girl's leg.
"Gah!" the Phenex girl let out a cry of pain as she leaned over. " A-a blessed weapon!?" she exclaimed in panic. Before her fire regenerated her leg, she sighed in relief." Th-that doesn't change anything, it won't even tickle my big brother!" she announced with false arrogance. It was good to know, but it just hurt. Jackal could make a difference. But it wasn't necessary at the moment.
"Alright, you don't need to give up," I said simply before approaching her at high speed. My body lost its shape, and a cloud of mist was created. Ravel looked confused, her eyes widening when she saw a blue hand emerge from inside my body. The Koloss grabbed Ravel by the waist before dropping to the ground.
"W-what is this?! Make it let go!? Brute! " Ravel exclaimed as she tried to break free from the Koloss. Her body engulfed in fire, but the Koloss didn't even flinch. Its skin and flesh were burned, but thanks to being my familiar, it immediately began to regenerate and simply started walking towards the castle. As planned, if she couldn't get the Phenex girl to give up, she would take her to Sera.
And my work was not yet done, I still had one more prey to capture. My gaze turned to the queen, who was glaring at me. Still, she did not approach our territory, but instead stayed firmly flying over the neutral territory in the middle of the field.
I smiled widely at her. I put Casull away once more, miming putting it away in my trench coat before sending it to my inventory, and grabbed my spear firmly. I launched myself flying towards her in a straight line. She raised her staff in my direction, and I exploded. Weak, much weaker than Sera's fire. Still, it had blown a large part of my body in several directions. The queen looked thoroughly pleased with herself.
Until she saw me still flying in her direction, I could feel my maniacal grin that had grown as I began to regenerate. She looked at me in disbelief before she let out another blast. The same thing had happened. She looked at me in horror as I regenerated again, the closer I got.
He kept firing off explosions in succession with no tangible result. I grabbed my spear, wrapped it with my Gura Gura no Mi, and struck towards the queen. She dodged my spear by a few centimeters. But still, Kazikli Bey tore through the air, and the sky could be heard fracturing before it took effect. The entire pocket dimension shook violently, and the ground began to crack. Fissures began to spread from where I was to the entire present territory.
It was good to be able to free myself; I hadn't used the full power of the gura gura no mi, but it was rare that in our missions I could even use it outside of the most discreet and least destructive uses. Hence, I was elated, if only for this demonstration of use.
The queen looked at me in utter horror, pale as a sheet. I reached out my hand, which quickly turned into black mist once more, and from it came the head of a dragon, the Hungarian Horntail to be precise. The queen was still in shock, so my familiar was able to land its blow. It precisely bit the entire torso of the queen, its teeth piercing through her whole body, before the queen rapidly disappeared.
"Riser Phenex's queen has been defeated and removed from the battlefield!" The referee's announcement was heard throughout the field.
Well, only two more left.
"What did you do to my Peerage? Where's my sister?" I looked down; that must be Riser Phenex, with blonde hair and a red suit. He seemed to have Malfoy's attitude, but more arrogant and lustful. He was standing on the ground with a frown.
"Riser Phenex, I suppose." I said as I landed in front of him. Riser didn't even flinch; he just stared at me. "I wiped out all of your Peerage, quite a few… weaklings, I might mention. I found myself… disappointed in the lack of challenge that posed." I said mockingly, and I could see his face twitch; I could also feel the heat starting to emanate from him. I moved before he could make a move.
I nailed Kazikli Bey in his chest; he looked surprised, and I used the Gura Gura no Mi. I liquefied all of Riser's internal organs without hesitation with my vibrations. Riser coughed up blood in my direction with his eyes slightly widened before he frowned, fire erupted from him, and I could feel him regenerating immediately.
I smiled widely at him as I wiped the blood that had fallen on my cheek with my thumb and licked his blood away. My taste buds dilated immediately.
"Wow, your blood tastes delicious, nothing compared to the humans I feed on." I said bloodthirstily. And I wasn't lying, Riser's blood tasted way better than any human I'd ever tasted. In fact, any magic creature as well. I guess the demonic power in their blood made the blood taste way better than it should. But obviously, it couldn't compare to Sera's blood. Still, I could feel my fangs grow in anticipation.
"A vampire." Riser frowned in disgust. Without hesitation, I pulled out Jackal.
BANG, BANG, BANG!! three shots, Riser's entire torso and head disappeared into a pool of blood before catching fire and beginning to reform.
"That hurt, slightly, blessed bullets?" Riser asked, still with his hands in his pockets.
"13mm armor-piercing explosive rounds. They are encased in a blessed Macedonian silver casing and have an explosive tip containing a charge of blessed mercury." I shrugged and put Jackal back away.
"Good weapon, ' Jesus Christ is in Heaven Now '?" I smirked at him.
"It seemed appropriate," I said vaguely with a shrug.
"So, will you let me pass, or do I have to defeat you?" Riser asked as he raised an eyebrow. I simply swung my spear faster than he could react and decapitated him. His head looked almost disappointed as his decapitated body moved. A fireball erupted from his palm in my direction. I didn't bother dodging it.
The fireball wiped out my entire upper body, but I began to regenerate immediately. Riser stopped and looked at me with a frown. I raised an eyebrow.
"You're not the only one who can do that," I said mockingly, before firing a bone-breaking curse in his direction. The curse hit Riser directly, but he merely clicked his tongue as he regenerated again.
"Is that all you have?" Riser asked boredly. I still had a few options left, but after considering them, they weren't worth it. Sera had her plans for Riser, so I used my wings to fly away towards the castle.
I flew away towards our territory, with Riser following close behind. Once he crossed our area, Stakes emerged from the ground and stabbed him a few times, momentarily stopping him from being impaled further.
"You'll have to do better than impale me!" Riser growled as he snapped the stakes, freeing himself from his temporary prison. I began to hurl curses at him, starting with the weakest ones and working my way up.
"Sectumsempra!" I exclaimed in his direction. The cutting curse hit him right in the arm, separating it from his body. Riser began to regenerate it once more, only to stop and frown at his arm. The fire on his stump grew stronger for a few seconds. Nothing seemed to happen until the arm formed once more. He clenched and closed his fist a few times.
"Interesting magic, it took me a few seconds to remove it." Riser said, and I just sighed.
Actually, Serena was right, fighting a regenerator was a pain. I went down to the ground.
"You win, I'll take you to my king." I said simply. Riser shrugged, but nodded. I turned around and started walking. Our fight had stopped right in front of the castle. So in no time we were in front of the gate where Sera should be -
"aahh! M-more! " The muffled moan stopped me stiffly.
I was going to kill Serena.
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