Well, once the peerage has been decided, it’s difficult to redo it, so you need to be careful. Having said that, it is Raiser, so compromising on having the girls he likes is one of the reasons. Hmm! I understand your heart’s troubles, Raiser! Compromise is truly difficult; after all, it is a member of his harem! At this time, I suddenly thought of a question. It was related to trades. “Say, is it possible for last minute trades?”
I asked Kiba. “Basically, trades which happen after a match is decided need to fulfil certain conditions to be recognised, so it can often lead to cancellations. If the trade happens after the match between the two was decided, then it could go on forever. If the trader was indecisive, or there were constant changes in strategy, the whole peerage could be traded within ten matches.”
That was his response, if you did make a trade after the match was decided, then it would be endless. It wouldn’t be surprising if the entire team was replaced. As a result, their peerage — the [Evil Pieces] and the Rating Game would have no meaning. Ravel continued and said
“This time, it was because onii-sama’s peerage was not full, I was originally a member of his peerage, the Rating Game prediction score is not largely affected, it was agreed to by the side predicted to win the game, and various other conditions.”
So their opponents also allowed it. To begin with this match was quite one-sided, even though Diehauser allowed the new member, it doesn’t change much. “…How much is the predicted winning side’s ranking currently ahead by?”
I asked everyone. A Rating Game was like the ranking of pieces in human chess, to Rate — points were used to determine ranking. As I had forgotten Emperor Belial’s current points, I asked everyone. Koneko-chan was the one who replied
“…It seems like it’s around 3500 points. Even the Top 10 who are ranked over 3000 points are called unknowns.”
Unrivalled. Well, I did hear that he’s been the Champion for some time. “So, what about Raiser?”
I wondered about the points of the one I fought with, Raiser’s points. “…Not even 2000 points. And he’s still regarded as one of the promising young competitors…”
Ravel timidly said. …The difference is more than 1500?! Hey, hey, hey, that’s quite ridiculous! This isn’t even a competition! “T-There isn’t a problem with such a large difference?”
I asked with a stiff voice. Kiba tilted his head and said
“Normally speaking, a game with such a large difference wouldn’t be held. This time’s game is Raiser Phoenix-san’s return match, and also a chance for the underworld which has constantly been attacked by terrorists to watch his match against the Champion; it’s more of an exhibition match.”
An exhibition match! So it’s just for show. Well, with such a large ranking difference, it would turn into this situation. Although I feel a little sorry for Raiser about saying this, but this match probably won’t be a serious showdown. Ravel continued to tell me more information. “If I had to say it, this is actually a special event known as [Emperor Belial’s Ten Matches], and one of his opponents is onii-sama.”
“Ah, so what Rias was talking about at the end of the year, ‘The Ten Matches which must be recorded…’ was actually this.”
During her free time, Rias had suddenly thought of the same thing and said that. So what she was referring to was actually this. “Because there are many combinations that you wouldn’t normally see, Rias-zenbuchou also thought of the same thing, this is because the battles apart from the Phoenix battle are just as interesting.”
Kiba added. So that’s how it was. Ten matches! That was the special event that the Champion would be participating in. And Raiser was also one of the people who would be in it. In a sense, this would be the glory of a young devil. After all, not only would you be able to compete against the Champion, it would also be an excellent experience, and simply being chosen to participate in a match would be a great honour. Even if it was me, if I was able to have such an opportunity, I’d be extremely happy. With a proud look, Ravel then said
“A-Anyway, this is a great honour to onii-sama, as well as the Phoenix family, despite only being an exhibition match, to be selected as one of Emperor Belial’s opponents, it makes us very happy. There’s absolutely no reason to refuse.”
Hehe, although she rarely talks about her brother, she’s actually very concerned about him. That’s one of Ravel’s good points, being so cute. Ravel continued speaking about the previous topic. “So because of these reasons, I will be temporarily returning to the Phoenix household.”
As everyone expressed their understanding, more than ten people entered the clubroom. Rias, Akeno-san, Azazel-sensei, as well as Sona-kaichou’s household. Everyone had a serious expression on their face. Seeing their appearance, everyone in the new Occult Research Club had a premonition that something significant had happened. Asia called for Xenovia and Irina in the other room to return as well. Whereas the ordinary student, Kiryuu, waited in the other room. After being certain that everyone had gathered, Sensei looked at everyone and said
“Although it’s the beginning of a new school term, I regret to say that there is some bad news. Well, it’s not the worst, but I should at least tell you first.”
Not the worst of bad news…. Well, these days it’s always been bad news. Sensei continued
“Some of the Church’s followers — in particular the warriors under its control are rebelling, I mentioned this last year didn’t I?”
That’s right, the Church’s warriors are currently the people who are at the centre of this rebellion. After the Three Factions joined forces, ever since they had to follow the [Prohibition of Devils and Fallen Angels as enemies], they’ve been dissatisfied with their lives. Not to mention that everyone had their own reasons, originally they didn’t have a good impression of Devils nor Fallen Angels, and then the Peace Treaty from the upper echelons appeared out of the blue. Even so, they were still disgruntled about having to stop their old job, instead going to hunt vampires and monsters. Now, however, it is said that even the vampires are moving towards the same direction as the Three Factions with a peace treaty. Whilst some of the soldiers feel at ease, naturally, there are a lot of people who feel dissatisfied. Thus, the outcry of dissatisfaction by these warriors has caused them to start a rebellion together. Putting yourself into their position, it would be like taking away their reason to fight — their chance for revenge, it’s like taking away their food, the very reason that they live for. Regarding this matter, Xenovia had previously said “It’s not difficult to understand.”
“For the Lord, for the Church, for the fight against the existence of evil, the reason that they were fighting had suddenly been taken away from them….