The week passed by too quickly for the ORC members. And it was not only them, even in the underworld everyone was eagerly waiting for the day as it became quite the topic there; that to annul her engagement with Riser the crimson-haired ruined princess had chosen a representative to fight on her behalf. The news spread like wildfire because of a certain arrogant loud-mouthed Phenex. But no matter what, no one was able to learn the identity of the mysterious representative.
And today was the day of the engagement party. Rias and her members just arrived at the Phenex estate, where the engagement party was being held.
"Holy crap! Not only is this place huge, but look at all these people." Issei said in a surprised tone when all of them entered the ballroom.
"You mean devils, Issei-san, and yes there are way too many of them it seems. My guess would be that it is because of Riser and Haruto-san's match." Yuuto replied though he whispered the last part.
"Is he here?" Issei looked at Yuuto and whispered back.
"Yes," Rias replied without looking at them, "He is with my brother."
Rias wasn't looking at anyone as she was heading directly toward the waiting room where she knew Haruto and her brother were. She wanted to come with Haruto but Grayfia notified her that he left early with his peerages, because he had to follow some protocols. But Rias' journey to her brother was cut short when someone came from the side, "What's with all the hurry, Rias-chan?"
He took Rias by surprise but when she saw who he was, without a word she hugged him, "Sairaorg, it has been so long."
Sairaorg laughed as he returned the hug, "That it has, so how the little princess is going to entertain us this time?"
Rias grinned, "Just wait, I am sure you won't be disappointed." Then she looked back to her friends, "Everyone, this is Sairaorg Bael, my cousin."
"Yo." Sairaorg waved cheerily.
"Huge." Issei, Yuuto, and Koneko thought at the same time as it was their first time seeing him.
"How have you been, Sairaorg-san?" Akeno asked politely.
"Good, good. So is Rias causing too much trouble?" Rias pouted when she heard her cousin's words.
"You will see soon." Akeno giggled.
But their conversation was interrupted by a voice coming from the main stage of the ballroom, "Greetings everyone, I would like to personally thank all of you for coming to this wonderful event." Sirzechs beamed, he had his usual cheerful attitude and was wearing his traditional majestic robe.
"Today was supposed to be the engagement day between Rias Gremory and Riser Phenex, a decision made by their parents for their wellbeing." Sirzechs then looked at Rias and smiled softly, "But Rias wants to choose her own path, create her own destiny by her own two hands. That is why Rias asked for the withdrawal of her betrothal contract. But Riser doesn't want to back down, and I don't blame him," Sirzechs made a fake sorrowful face and continued, "I mean who doesn't want to marry my lovely and beautiful Rias-chan?"
Rias blushed at how her brother was embarrassing her but she kept quiet, later she would just ask Grayfia to punish him. But the stares from all around her were getting a bit uncomfortable for her.
"So, a deal has been made and I am pretty sure you all know about it." Seeing the crowd whispering amongst themselves, Sirzechs grinned, "All of you are thinking she should be the one fighting Riser herself but let me ask you, will it be a fair match?"
And the whispering stopped. Even Rias was surprised to see her brother's tactics. Sirzechs didn't belittle Riser, even though she knew that he wanted to do it badly, nor did he compliment Rias one-sidedly. Instead, he put them in the same position and then pointed out to the audience, the major fault if Rias were to challenge Riser directly. Rias was inexperienced in rating games whereas Riser was a seasoned player.
Sirzechs released a satisfying smile seeing that his tactics were working. After all the devils cared more about a flashy and an engaging fight rather than a boring and obvious match. And that was exactly what would happen if Rias would fight Riser. He didn't mean to belittle his little sister but the world adored the strong. That one law was true in every faction, "I will not make you wait any further. The match is going to start in ten minutes and there I will properly introduce our mysterious king."
With that, Sirzechs left the stage, but not before giving Rias a meaningful look.
Rias understood the signal, "Let's go, everyone."
Rias and Akeno blushed when they saw Haruto's getup, though the latter was able to cover it. He was in his casual clothing. He was wearing a golden colored jacket which had furs as a collar along with a white t-shirt, black pants, and those unique cross-shaped earrings. And somehow they had a feeling that this wasn't the Haruto they used to see at the academy. His posture, his outfit and his expression, they were giving a different kind of vibe but they couldn't pinpoint the difference.
Tearing her eyes away from Haruto, Rias looked around to see his peerage members and she had to admit she was slightly disappointed. Not because she had any doubt of their strength seeing how each had a powerful aura surrounding them but it was because of their number.
"Don't worry about the number. They are more than enough to handle the chicken-head and his bedmates." Haruto said without even looking at Rias who blushed furiously getting caught like that.
With a sigh, Haruto got up, "Well you already know Asia," Haruto ruffled Asia's hair who let out a small smile, "So let me introduce my other peerage members."
"This is Haku, and yes even though his face a bit girly, he is a guy and he is my bishop." The said person was wearing a long, light blue kimono adorned with small snowflake symbols, and a pair of dark grey pants underneath, with a dark blue sash. The kimono hung loose, showing his t-shirt which looked somewhat like a chainmail.
"Nice to meet all of you." Haku bowed politely.
"Next is my knight who goes by the name Battousai." Haruto pointed at the person who was leaning on the wall. His dressing was somewhat old-fashioned. He was wearing a men's kimono which was crimson colored with a white umanori hakama, zori and white tabi. He had a big straw hat that hid the upper part of his face and the lower part was covered by his long orange scarf. But the striking part was his long red hair which was tied in a ponytail. It had a lighter shade than Rias's.
The person touched the front of his hat and bowed his head slightly, "It's a pleasure meeting all of you."
"Now next is Shukaku, my other knight." Everyone looked at him who was standing furthest. Although no one could see his face as he was wearing a tanuki mask, his short red hair was clearly standing out. He was wearing a long-sleeved crimson coat and full-length dark trousers with a pair. He was wearing a grey vest over the coat and had a strange looking small gourd which was held in his waist by two buckled belts.
He bowed politely but didn't say anything.
"Last but not least, my pawn, Matou Sakura."
Out of all of Haruto's peerages, she was standing out the most. Her clothing and stance were not only radiating mysterious and mature kind of aura but also showing off her marvelous beauty and voluptuous figure. She was tall, maybe a few inches shorter than Haruto, making her one of the tallest women Rias had ever seen. And she was standing right behind Haruto and was moving accordingly. This was something Rias saw countless times, it was how Grayfia would act when she and Sirzechs would be in a formal meeting.
For some reason, Rias wanted to know if this pawn of his was special to him.
"Umm, Haruto ..."
"So, there you go." Haruto finished the introduction with a grin.
Shaking her head, Rias put that thought aside for now. If Haruto could pull this off the way she wanted, then she knew what she had to do next. She came and put her hands on each side of his shoulder and grinned cheekily, "Haruto if you lose, I will tell my brother that not only have you taken my chastity but also you have corrupted me. And then I will tell Serafall-san, who is another Maou and a bigger siscon, that you also did the same with her sister."
Then she backed off and smiled brightly, "So no pressure."
And then she left with her members.
"She is a lively one," Shukaku said with a slightly amusing tone.
Minutes later Grayfia entered. She looked at everyone before speaking, "Before we begin the match I will tell you about the rules and regulations and I will answer any questions that you may have. So are you and your members ready?"
Haruto looked at his members, everyone nodded back at him.
"Yeah, we are."