The spectators divided themselves equally, the older members of the Gremory and Phenex family grouped together whereas the normal guests were just staying wherever they were. As for Rias and her group, they were with Sona and her members along with Sairaorg, watching the large plasma screen that was projecting the battle arena.
"Greetings renowned devils of the underworld, I would like to have your attention please." The voice immediately attracted everyone's attention, "First of all, thank you for your patience. The rating match between Riser Phenex, another rising star of the renowned Phenex family and Haruto Belial, son of deceased Cleria Belial and nephew of Diehauser Belial, is about to begin now."
The bomb was finally dropped.
Everyone who didn't know about this was shocked and immediately the whole ballroom became hectic because of the whispering from the spectators. The general devils did not know much about Cleria other than the fact that she was Diehauser's cousin and died in an unfortunate accident. She wasn't well known as she never participated in any rating games, but the fact that her son, an unknown entity, was going to have his first rating game excited everyone. Because at that time all the audiences were having one simple thought,
Will Haruto be as good as his uncle, The Emperor?
"My name is Grayfia Lucifuge and I will be the mediator of this game. The rules have been set and both teams are now inside the arena. The Arena will take place in a rural town. Riser Phenex and his group were teleported to the Town-chief's house whereas Haruto Belial and his members were at the Townhall. This match is free for all battles and will follow standard rating game rules."
There was a pause before Grayfia continued,
"The rating game has now begun."
The moment Haruto and his members were teleported at the Townhall,
"The rating game has now begun."
Haruto looked at his members and spoke in an unenthusiastic manner,
"I believe you guys got this, just leave the chicken head to me." With that, he went behind the only desk in the room and sat down. Then he motioned Asia to come to him, who was the only confused one here.
"Asia, you will monitor them. We all have the communication earpiece so they will be sending back all the information that they will gather." Haruto told Asia in an instructing manner.
"I will not be joining the fight?" Asia asked, a bit downfallen.
"Do you want to go out there and hurt people or conserve your strength and heal your friends when they will need it?" Haruto chuckled, he knew exactly what his foster sister would prefer. She was not a fighter but a healer in heart and soul. And just like he predicted, Asia beamed and smiled back at Haruto at his suggestion.
"Also you will be trying to make a map and navigate them from here with all the information they will be passing to you. Think of it as a training program, okay?" Haruto instructed in a gentle tone. Asia didn't question him as she took out the few papers and ink with a determined look. Those were the items Haruto gave her before the start of the match.
Haruto couldn't help but let out a small chuckle when he saw the firm expression on Asia's face. "At least she will get some valuable lessons and experience," and with that, he proceeded to make himself comfortable in the chair.
"Rias …"
"Don't Sairaorg, just watch." Rias had never wanted to facepalm so hard in her life than at that moment.
She could feel the disappointment rolling out from everyone. Although Riser was seen fondling two of his pawns' breasts, his queen and his sister laid out the plan and everyone was following the order to the letter. The discipline and the teamwork were clearly outstanding in Riser's group.
And for Haruto, he just waved off his team and his members just lazily walked out of the place without a plan and without even saying a word to one another. It was as if their heart was not in the fight.
"Let's hope for the best, shall we?" Akeno gently said it to Rias who just sighed and nodded back.
And while they were having a chat with themselves, Sirzechs, who was watching the match from a different place, had a visitor.
"I didn't think you would be coming, Ajuka," Sirzechs told his friend. He and Ajuka were watching the tournament from the judge room. In order to make sure that the match is judged fairly, the Phenex family asked one more high ranked devil to come and evaluate the match, and surprisingly Ajuka volunteered.
"And I didn't think you would be putting the fate of your sister in an unknown and unpredictable individual's hands," Ajuka replied back.
Sirzechs turned to the screen and his gaze solely focused on Haruto.
"Then can I talk to Haruto alone?" Sirzechs asked.
The Crimson-Maou didn't think that his day was going to turn out like this. He knew Rias would challenge Riser but he didn't think she would ask someone else to fight for her, someone who just popped out of nowhere. He knew his little sister too well and so he could clearly see she was smitten by Haruto.
And if what Haruto said were true then in the future too many problems would come. So he just needed to make sure of a few things.
Seeing Rias giving him an alerted look, he smiled sheepishly, "Don't worry I just want to confirm a few things, man to man."
Grayfia understood her husband's hidden words as she came forward, "Come on Rias-sama, we should give them some time."
Rias pouted and slowly left before giving Haruto an apologetic look who just smiled back at her reassuringly.
The moment they got out of the room and locked the door, the energy and the pressure coming from Sirzechs skyrocketed. And Haruto could sense that he was keeping his powers limited inside the room so no one outside had a single clue what was going on here. And the power increased by another tenfold, making Haruto bow his head involuntarily.
"Haruto Belial, what do you want from Rias?" Sirzechs asked, his voice could freeze the ocean and his power could melt the even the underworld
The strongest devil stood up and went around the desk to stand in front of Haruto who started to shake, "If you are truly her son then I am sure you know what actually happened to her. And that makes me wonder, do you have an ulterior motive? Are you going to take advantage of my little sister to…" Sirzechs stopped when he noticed one thing.
Haruto wasn't shaking because of his power rather he was shaking because,
"Hahahahaha." Haruto started to laugh out loud, making Sirzechs to actually look at him eyes weren't focused but he was making an expression as if he just hit the jackpot. Haruto's laugh slowly decreased as he looked at the Maou like a bloodthirsty predator that just found an equal, "You really are strong."
With that Haruto got up, Sirzechs didn't let his power down and so he was genuinely surprised to see Haruto walking around like it didn't affect him one bit. He came to Sirzechs and stood straight in front of him, their faces were inches apart.
Sirzechs was beyond shocked to see the look in Haruto's eyes. It was not azure blue, like what he saw before but it was like a crimson void. The intensity of that gaze alone could make even a high-class devil flee in fear. He knew this look very well. It was the same look he used to see every day at the time of the civil war, in the morning when he would look in the mirror. The haunting hollowed gaze that saw too many deaths and too many battles, the eyes that could only promise absolute destruction if anyone were to oppose them.
" Sirzechs," The Crimson-Maou was pulled back from his thoughts, "Yes, I have ulterior motives because I do know what truly happened to my parents. But if there is one thing I utterly loathe that would be backstabbing. So, no; I would not be backstabbing Rias in any way or shape." Haruto backed off and looked at Sirzechs amusingly.
"Then let me rephrase my question." Sirzechs looked at Haruto with equal intensity, he wasn't a Maou for show, "Will you harm her in any way, directly or indirectly?"
"She is innocent." That statement made Sirzechs to quirk an eyebrow, "And I would rather like her to stay that way. So if I believe that any harm might come to her in any way, directly or indirectly, I will cut my ties with her." Haruto paused before continuing,
"Does this answer satisfy you, Sirzechs Lucifer?"
There was a pause as Sirzechs was looking at Haruto, trying to see through him to confirm his statement.
" /Guess for now I will believe you. But tell me, Haruto Belial, what do you truly want?" Sirzechs lowered his power but he was still looking at Haruto with an intense calculative gaze, making sure not to let any slip or lie pass by him.
Haruto looked back at Sirzechs with the same intensity. The stare went down for a few seconds before Haruto shifted his gaze toward Sirzechs's chair. And then his facial features softened,
"Keep that chair warm for me, will you?"
"Oh-ho," Sirzechs chuckled, "You think you have what it takes to reach here?"
Haruto didn't answer through words. He answered through his power. The thing he showed Sirzechs made the Maou to drop his power in surprise and to gape at him like a fish.
"He is an interesting guy and I am sure he can pull it off," Sirzechs answered vaguely.
"He sure is." Ajuka's words made Sirzechs quirk an eyebrow.
"What makes you say that?" Sirzechs asked.
"Remember when you sent him to me because I needed to check his evil pieces and register him as a legal king." Ajuka looked at his friend.
"Yes, he was a bit reluctant." Sirzechs rubbed his chin.
"He had the reason to be. Would you believe me if I say that he figured out all the hidden secrets of the evil pieces and on top of that he readjusted the settings of the pieces himself?" Ajuka calmly told Sirzechs whose eyes went wide.
"Is that even possible? Wait, is it even legal?" Sirzechs asked anxiously.
"It would have been illegal if he would have used a third party or power to do that but he didn't. Using the most basic fundamental concepts, he used his own powers to adjust the pieces." Ajuka actually grinned slightly when he saw the irritated look on Sirzech's face.
"Will you stop saying these in a riddle manner?" Sirzechs's patience was really getting low.
"Simple, he used the concept of 'King's Boost' and 'Unused Evil Pieces' to evolve his normal pieces." Seeing the confused face of his friend, Ajuka openly chuckled this time, "King Boost is a feature in the king piece that will increase King's power if he or she undergo trials of some sorts, the more trials and hardships the person will go through the more boost he or she will get. And Unused Evil Pieces is a feature that will make the normal evil pieces to undergo changes according to the master's growth."
Ajuka then looked at the screen to see Haruto dozing off in his chair, "He combined those two features and used them to make his normal evil pieces almost as strong as a mutation piece."
"What?" Sirzechs almost screamed.
"Yes, he doesn't have a single original mutation piece but all of his pieces can be considered as pseudo mutation pieces."
"How is that even possible?" Sirzechs looked at Haruto tiredly.
"Sirzechs, what does a devil do when they get their evil pieces?" Ajuka asked, his eyes glued to the screen.
"They start searching for their peerages?" Sirzechs didn't see where Ajuka was going.
"Exactly, without even understanding what are the evil pieces or what is their role as a king, they start their peerage hunts immediately as if the evil pieces are a means to collect valuable objects or to gather servants to win a game." Ajuka sighed, his voice was full of disappointment, "In their mind, a reincarnated being's value depends on how many pieces he or she needed to be reincarnated. They don't even bother to see that maybe it is their own weaknesses or maybe there is more to the evil pieces than they think."
Then Ajuka smiled, "But he is different, a breath of fresh air if you'd look at it from my perspective. If my hunch is right, when he got his evil pieces, instead of looking for peerage members like what every devil does, he evolved himself, he thrived to become stronger. And the more powerful he became, his unused pieces became that much stronger with him. And not just that, he also did one revolutionary change in the evil piece, although I think he believes that I didn't figure it out."
"And that would be?" Sirzechs asked, readying himself for another big impact.
"I will tell you about it later," Ajuka smirked and it only increased when Sirzechs groaned.
Shaking his head and putting the discussion aside, Sirzechs looked at the screen and smiled,
"Let's see young Belial, what more surprises you have in store for us?"