—Ise-senpai, since we’ll have to fight, I’ll fight head-on!”
Gasper-kun also fearlessly declared that to Ise-kun. Ise-kun replied delightedly
“Yeah, Gasper. That’s right, us Gremory males have to show our talents.”
I also frankly declared to Ise-kun
“Me too, Ise-kun. I’m also looking forward to a serious match against you from the bottom of my heart.”
I — am Rias Gremory’s sword. Even if the opponent standing in front of me is Ise-kun — I will still cut though him. Ise-kun thrust his fist towards my chest as he said
“Kiba, wait until that time. There’s no need to worry. —Fight me with your true skill!”
After we told each other our true thoughts, our rivals who have fought side by side with us gradually gathered together. “It looks like we’re all here. Well well, it looks like this competition will become quite interesting.”
“Ufufu, I won’t lose. Rias, Ise-kun.”
“Rather than the [Rookies Four], it would be better to call this a competition between the elites of every faction.”
“Since you’re here to participate, that’s better than anything.”
Dulio-san, the Sitri team, Seekvaira Agares-san, Ikuse Tobio; the members of [DxD] had all gathered together. And then, the official announcement for the opening ceremony was broadcast. [The time has come. The Rating Game World Tournament, the opening ceremony of the [Azazel Cup] is now officially starting. Would the teams please—]
Just like that, our short and long final high school life began with the opening ceremony of the World Tournament. Council President and Club President respectively. A multi-purpose squarish stadium in Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward, with a width of approximately 216m. Śakra goes by various names, such as Indra, The Heavenly Emperor, and Taishakuten. The romanised Japanese names and their meanings respectively: Jikoku-ten (he who upholds the realm), Zōchō-ten (he who causes to grow), Kōmoku-ten (he who sees all), Bishamon-ten (he who hears everything). Part 1
Ten days had already passed since the beginning of the World Tournament—. All of the members of the [Sekiryuutei of the Blazing Truth] team were gathered in the Hyoudou household — in the room that belonged to me, Hyoudou Issei. Everyone showed a bitter expression. All of us were watching the news program displayed on the television screen which was being broadcast from the Underworld. —The news program was introducing us. This section was introducing the events of the World Tournament which had just started not long ago, which is why there was also some commentary on us. “The highly anticipated hope of the Underworld, the [Sekiryuutei of the Blazing Truth] team has a proud record of three straight wins since the beginning of the qualifying round, but they always seem to have their flaws and loopholes exposed by others during the competition, and this surprising outcome has led to the emergence of disappointed opinions. Regardless of whether this is from the general public or critics, they have been on the receiving end of some harsh judgement—”
The video that was played back was of our situation during the matches. We had won three straight times to date, but…. In the recording of me that was shown, the opposing team had just revealed one of our flaws, causing us to receive an unexpected counterattack, so to be precise, we did not achieve total victories. For now, we have won matches against teams of Devils, human special ability users, and Orcs. The television program was playing back one of the areas where we did not perform well, and it was actually quite ridiculous. Playback of scenes where my attack missed, Xenovia was attacked from her blind spot, Irina was penalised for violating special rules, and so on were shown one by one. The cameras turned towards the general public who were in the audience. They also seemed to show complicated expressions on their faces. “Since he’s had a very early promotion to become a High-class Devil, we’ve all been looking forward to a lot. After all, the [King] Princess Rias who allowed him to grow and develop truly is incredible.”
…Other teams had also been penalised for breaking the rules, and also appeared to have losses in a few aspects. My team was the only one to be presented in such a manner. The next section was an interview of a mother and her child. The child was holding a figurine of the ‘Oppai Dragon’ in its hands. “My child is a fan of the ‘Oppai Dragon’, so we came together to cheer him on, but it feels as though every match is rather disorganised…. Watching the matches of the other young Devils is actually somewhat more comfortable.”
This time it was time for the child who was a fan of mine to speak—
“I want to say that the matches of the ‘Oppai Dragon’ don’t feel very interesting. That’s because if they’re not running all over the place, then they’re releasing super gigantic light beams. Also, the Oppai Dragon doesn’t even say oppai oppai.”
That really is some merciless criticism. …They specifically chose people who cared about us, and then criticised us to such an extent. I really hate these media reporters. They even went as far as to show the criticism from the child…. The stream then returned back to the news room. The host was listening to the critics’ opinions. “Under ordinary rules, Hyoudou Issei-shi  relies on sheer power to supress his opponents with light blasts, but under the special rules, his actions are actually unfavourable. It is evident that Hyoudou Issei-shi, who has attained various honours in actual combat does not actually have a very good understanding of the Rating Game as it is an entirely different thing.”
The critic sighed, and then continued onwards. “After all, he was formerly a player who was a symbol of strength for the Rias Gremory team that tends to rely on power to win. When put in the position of commander like this, it’s no wonder that he is unfamiliar with the rules and is unable to adapt. Not to mention that the same power-type contestant Xenovia—”
Ravel simply switched the television off, without any intention of listening to the rest of the critic’s opinion. “Even if the situation is evident, it can’t really be helped.”
Xenovia said bitterly. “…Are they planning to talk about my situation next?”
“Yes, it certainly is a very ruthless critique of us one after the other.”
Irina also nodded silently. Ravel summarised what had just been stated on the television program. “What they’ve said is the truth. But it won’t help even if we concern ourselves with the public’s evaluation of us. We need to cheer up. I believe I said this before the start of the qualifying round, in order to progress into the final group, the number of wins is not an absolute condition.”
“The important thing is the number of points, right?”
Ravel nodded. “In order to enter the finals of the tournament, we must be one of the top sixteen teams by the end of the qualifiers. Points are ordered from highest to lowest, we gain points by winning, and we lose points by losing.