Rias and Sona-zenkaichou also thought that they seemed familiar, and their expressions seemed confused. In this situation, Beelzebub-sama told us an even more shocking truth. “The people shown here are all top ranked Rating Game contestants. What they have in common is that they’re all from the original 72 Pillars — pure-blooded high-class Devils. Furthermore, they — are all users of the [King] piece. This was the idea of the higher-ups in the Underworld. It hasn’t been publicly stated. As a result, the users of these pieces are known as ultimate-class Devils, and it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that they’re even Maou-class.”
[“—What! ?”]
…Everyone was left speechless. They were all too surprised by Beelzebub-sama’s words. After gasping, Sona-zenkaichou asked Beelzebub-sama
“…Well, the true power of those shown here in the top rankings is…?”
“Ah, them, the majority of them are using a power which can’t publicly be stated as ‘their own power’ to continuously climb the ranks. Most of the Game’s management executives are also people who are on their side. By retaining the [King] piece, using bribery to obtain the commercial rights, along with the ideas of the higher-ups, they conspire beforehand to manipulate their games. They’re constantly involved in unfair and dishonest competitions. Even so, there are people who have used their own power to become top ranking players. For example, people like the former Dragon King Tannin, and Rudiger Rosenkreutz. It’s a trend mainly seen with reincarnated Devils.”
…The unbelievable confession caused everyone to listen quietly. It was confirmed that the information which appeared there didn’t have anything to do with Tannin-ossan. Indeed, that ossan’s true power as an ultimate-class Devil was genuine. Beelzebub-sama shrugged. “Well, it’s the same as competitions in the human world…the Rating Games in the Underworld have a similar flaw. I was just the initiator, and didn’t manage the actual system itself. There may even be other [Cannot be touched], and [Cannot be spoken] things which are being used. As the initiator, no matter what the era, simply taking a step away from producing things will cause things to get out of hand.”
After the Rating Game system was completed, most of the rights were transferred over to the current Game managers. I didn’t expect it; Ajuka Beelzebub-sama obviously created the Game, but when the Rating Game combined the ideas of other people it could actually become so repulsive. I had also heard that for the creators of a work, when they mixed in the ideas of other people, it would feel very annoying. “That is to say, although the competition is quite fierce, as long as one has true strength, anyone can obtain fame in the Rating Games. To the people in the higher-ups, it’s not a sham…but the players who are able to break through the status quo are only the exceptionally special cases like you guys. For other people, it’s an impossible task.”
A half-baked awareness and ability would make it impossible to overcome the higher-ups who created this. “The reason why the top ranked contestants don’t have much change in rank is because…?”
Kiba, who often watched Rating Games continued to ask Beelzebub-sama
“—This kind of tug-of-war state is because there are perfect adjustments to balance it. It’s just the old Devils who are secretly controlling things in order to reap the benefits. It’s really just a competition for the for the old Devils’ top ranked players so that they can generate a lot of money. As long as they’re able to control the competition, the profits that they receive will simply increase. No matter how eye-catching a reincarnated Devil is, as long as they use the [King] piece, the challengers to the top ranked players who are controlled by those old Devils will undoubtedly face an unfair challenge.”
Beelzebub-sama’s words caused Sona-zenkaichou to fall to her knees on the spot. “…How can this be…! ?”
For Sona-zenkaichou, who planned to build a Rating Game school that anyone could attend, this information was like a deadly poison to her… —The [King] piece. The top ranked players were in control of the rankings. It was a cruel fact. “…All of this is a concealed truth. If the people knew about this, it would dramatically shake the values of the Underworld…”
Saji, who was supporting Sona-zenkaichou revealed an expression of anguish. “…Sirzechs can’t do much about them either, right?”
Azazel-sensei asked Beelzebub-sama. “For now, this is how it is. On the surface, it’s just a political front that they’re pretending to actively deal with, but if they act rashly, the balance of the Underworld will collapse. With the issues related to the survival of the race and internal strife on top of that, both the young and old are in a heated situation where everything could collapse in a single instant. Moreover, the opponents are the numerous cunning old Devils; for their own interests and the sake of their aristocratic society, they’ll do anything. To some extent, they’re even more troublesome than the Old Maou faction as they harbour an even deeper darkness than them. Even for Sirzechs and I who are known as Super Devils, we can only appear to push back and forth on the surface politically.”
The Rating Games were tied together with politics and economics…. Behind the scenes, those powerful Devils were manipulating the competition for their own interests. Right now, we found out about an incredible situation…I could no longer seriously look at a professional game! In the battle between the Gremory and Bael Houses, it could also have been considered a contest between the Maou faction and Great King faction behind the scenes, which was why a different type of contest could be displayed. The match itself was truly honest. It must have been due to Sirzechs-sama’s effort in making a deal in secret so that our match wouldn’t be manipulated. With a grim expression, Rias continued to ask Beelzebub-sama
“But, why are you telling us this information? Wasn’t this extremely confidential information something that only the higher-ups — and Maou’s knew about?”
Beelzebub-sama quietly closed his eyes. “The person who shouldn’t know about this, or perhaps I should say, the person who can’t be allowed to know about this, does know about it. —That person is Emperor Diehauser Belial. He knows the truth about this.”
—What! …The Emperor’s name was actually mentioned here. And it seems he also knew about the truth of the Rating Games. “Is Diehauser genuine?”
“Well, he is pure in his virtue as he used his own talent and ability to become the Champion of Devils. Without using the [King] piece, he was able to reach the very top. That’s the reason behind the incident which occurred the other day. —Rizevim Livan Lucifer was able to successfully snatch Agreasdue to the assistance of the Emperor. It was all in order to pursue the truth of everything.”
[“—WHAT! ?”]
…How could it be!? We were surprised once again by this information.