Chapter 15 - The absence

3rd Person POV

The lacking of something woke Rias up, her eyes are closed by her hands are already searching for something next to her, they move up and down the empty space on the bed before they touched something that was much softer than what she was looking for.

Opening her eyes groggily, Rias saw the position of that giant hugging pillow is now empty, her hands are touching Akeno at the other side of the empty space, her Queen is still sleeping, taking that pillow in the middle as her own plushie.

And it hit the heiress of Gremory clan, her innovator Arto Abyssgard is gone, he left earlier than usual, towards his work deep underground in the basement of the clubhouse to build Simulation Room.

And the lack of his warmth and the firm presence of his figure woke her up, he has become a part that was so casual of her life his disappearance made her feel... empty.

Pulling the blanket up, Rias tried to sleep again, but the memories of the battle last night inside Dark Arena flushed back into her mind, his murderous dreamscape, one made out of his own desperation to survive, the living enemy that inherited his ingenius mind in learning and countering.

She has been with him, fighting alongside him in that dreamscape of endless war that requires continuous developments, one that sounded like a nightmare to anyone, but to him, it was just a dream, a long endless dream where he fought his own subsconscious for his body to rest.... for 3000 years.

And she has been there with him, only a fraction of the lifespan of him and Dark Arena, but she was there for him, fought with him, sit with him, enjoying his company in by the blue bonfire made by the flaming sword once the battle was done.

Looking back at it, more than a month by his side, she was never the same anymore, she has become more powerful, knowledgeable, and politically hardened under his tutelage, training and most important of all, his care.

Taking a quiet, steadying breath, Rias swung her legs out of bed, her bare feet meeting the cool hardwood floor. She stepped over to the full-length mirror leaning against the wall and paused.

In the pale early morning light filtering through the curtains, she stared at her reflection. She barely recognized the girl looking back at her. The soft, unblemished elegance of a sheltered high-class devil heiress had given way to something far sharper, forged in the fires of back-to-back battles. 

Her shoulders were more defined, her core locked tight with lean, functional muscle, and small, fading bruises traced her knuckles and forearms—the proud badges of Arto's relentless hand-to-hand drills.

"Power is a multiplier, Rias. If your form is a zero, the result is still zero." His gravelly voice echoed in her head, clear as day.

She ran a finger along her shoulder, a small, affectionate smile touching her lips. He had reshaped her body, sharpened her mind, and stripped away the paralyzing fear of her family's political mountain. 

Beneath his stoic, living-weapon exterior lay a man who carried three thousand years of war on his shoulders, yet still took the time to adjust her hip alignment so she wouldn't throw a weak punch.

Rias looked over his room, one neat and clean, only his desk is messy with books, tools, a tablet, designs, schematics..... And among the chaos of his wisdom, Rias noticed a box standing out on his desk.

She knew that box, that's the one she placed inside his desk drawer in class yesterday, the one contained the test her mother gave him after meeting where they discuss his recovery plan document for Gremory.

Coming towards the desk, she noticed a written note Arto left on the box 'Artifact fixed and upgraded, check inside, the drive contains the production line'

Her eyes widened before the note, but more on the content inside, the artifact of Venelana's original clan, Bael, one essential for the clan's internal works, but the technique of making it was lost to time and wars, now the clan only used sparingly on the remaining units, that are running out without any way to repair or reproduce.

A sample of the rushing orders of Bael clan that has been sitting idly for centuries, one that they would pay a fortune to see them fixed and replenished inside their vault. And from the note, Arto did not just fixed the thing, he upgraded it along with a production line design.

She lifted the lid of the dark wooden box. Nestled securely inside on a bed of plush black velvet rested a polished obsidian sphere, intricate silver runes shimmering softly along its surface like living starlight. Beside it lay a small hard drive with the socket similar to the one on her tablet.

The object resting in the center was a relic of the Bael clan—her mother Venelana's original house. It was an ancient mana-funneling core, once vital to maintaining the high-density training grounds and ancestral wards of the House of Bael. 

Putting the hard drive into the socket of her tablet, Rias saw the screen flared up with a new document added. one of the production lines, and inside it, there is a record of his. 

She opened it "Hello, Rias, you might have seen what I left you before my departure, this is the process of manufacturing the artifact your mother sent me. You can hand the artifact to your mother to test, I bet it can work better than it used to be." He said warmly.

A silence for his words to be absorbed by Rias, then "But the production line, the R&D division won't be able to understand what I used, it contained a lot of magical constructs of Systematic Magic, meaning it can only be explained to them by a students of mine, either it's you, or Robin, or any other, it's a way to stall the accountants of your clan as well as Sitri from pressuring on Nami by shifting their attentions towards this, remember to show this to her, okay?"

Rias nodded, like he is standing before her to give those instructions, then "Now, be well, eat, sleep, train, this month will the most intense, but it won't last long, I promise. Until we meet again by the end of this week, my princess" The last word was said with more affection than most

A deep, vivid flush spread across Rias's cheeks. She pressed the cool wooden box tighter against her core, a soft, helpless smile breaking across her face. For all his stoic, battle-hardened discipline and tactical coldness, he always knew precisely how to disarm her with a single phrase

"Stalling the accountants... and shifting their attention to it..." Rias murmured, her mind rapidly piecing together the sheer genius of his strategy. The move was to turn their attention towards the immediately need before their eyes, the artifact of Bael.

The R&D Division would need clarifications to explain to those in Bael clan when asked, because they are the ones being turned to when the clients need knowledge. And Financial Department, they need to understand this to calculate the price of materials, the completion and delivering time frame, along with the payments of Bael clan, which will be a lot, and where those money will go to help Gremory recover.

Meaning an attacking piece out of two on the board was removed immediately with Arto's action, their information to move forwards relies heavily on the mind of Rias and other students of Arto, but there is still one attacking, Sitri, they are not in the rush for recovery like Gremory, they have all the room to start pressuring on Nami

Rias checked the drive to find no other files or records he left behind, meaning this is it. Getting out of the room, still in her silk robe, Rias made her way downstairs, expecting to find Nami and Robin.

[ORC Clubhouse - Living Room]

When she reached the base of the staircase, she saw Nami is sitting in the living room and studying early with a cup of coffee and a plate of simple breakfast with eggs, bread and avocado.

And her teacher is Robin, who is having a cup of coffee as well and a plate of pancake of Russian style, Syrniki. "Good morning, Rias, care to join us for breakfast and early lesson?" Nami greeted with a yawn while taking down notes of what Robin said.

Robin turned the attention from the board and the CFO to the redhead with a gentle nod "I see his disappearance woke you up early" she said sweetly before gesturing towards the seat next to Nami "You can have what Nami is having or mine"

Rias smiled "I'd love to, but there is something you both need to see, something Arto left behind before going underground" she sat down next to Nami and placed the tablet on the desk to turn on the message of their innovator before he left

Robin tapped her lower lip with her pen, her blue eyes scanning the detailed schematics with practiced efficiency, while Nami swallowed a piece of egg and stared at the projection, her mouth slightly open.

"He... completely bypassed the lost crafting techniques," Robin murmured, her voice carrying a rare trace of genuine awe. "Instead of attempting to reconstruct the extinct Bael spell-formulas, he converted the entire power intake into a standardized, Systematic Magic logic gate. He turned an irreplaceable ancestral heirloom into a repeatable, modular product."

"And more importantly," Rias interjected, her red hair swaying as she pointed to a specific node on the layout, "he left the assembly process completely locked behind our new magic system. The Gremory family's internal R&D division and financial department are going to be completely paralyzed the moment they receive this box. They won't be able to calculate raw material costs, manufacturing timeframes, or delivery schedules without asking us to translate the operational parameters for them."

"That takes one of their attacking pieces completely off the table," Nami analyzed, her voice sharpening into that of a seasoned CFO. 

"Precisely," Rias agreed, nodding. "Arto just neutralized the internal pressure from the Gremory clan. But..." Her expression grew serious as she leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "...that still leaves the second piece on the board. The Sitri clan."

The atmosphere in the living room shifted. Robin quietly took another bite of her Syrniki, listening while Nami pulled a blank ledger toward herself.

"Sona's family isn't in a state of economic collapse like mine," Rias continued, her crimson eyes serious. "They aren't desperate for a immediate financial miracle. Lord Sitri has time, resources, and a massive team of elite mana-engineers who have already identified the power distribution limits of the Stabilizer. 

Since they aren't distracted by an urgent Bael contract, they have all the freedom in the world to focus their full attention on pressuring Nami during the upcoming audit to extract the magic-tech machinery licenses."

Before the unresolved pressures of Sitri clan's Financial Department, Robin thought for a moment before giving the 2 other girls an answer "Nami, Rias, you don't have to mind Sitri any longer, I'll take care of it"

Nami looked at her teacher "How? They don't have the rush that Gremory is in, they are still powerful, a Prince-rank house. What could you possibly do...."

"They are like Bael at a point" Robin interrupted Nami's complaint "They have their own rush orders to deal with, some medical devices of theirs are in the same shape as Bael, running on limited reserves without any reparations or replacements."

The eyes of Rias and Nami went wide hearing that, their eyes brightened like seeing the light at the end of a dark tunnel "Oh, right, you know secrets" Nami joked, taking another bite of her avocado toast. "But if it's the same move, why didn't Arto do it?"

Robin looked at the ceiling, wondering something "I have 2 theories.

- One, he had no ideas about the rushing orders of Sitri, well, he has only been here for a month, we can't expect him to grasp everything.

- Two, his knowledge about medic is quite limited, the chapter he wrote about medical spells in Spellcrafting Formulas is quite thin, most about emergency first aid on battlefield, no deeper mentions about deseases, healing methods. And that field... is a pool for a Nico clansman like me to swim"

"But you haven't been a doctor for a long while, would it be too confident...." Robin summoned a slab of papers and placed them on the table before them, a load of doctor licenses in countless fields "In many years doing spying things, I was in many occupations, and doctor has the most aliases of mine. And with that, I have the most doctor licenses, even reached doctorate in some fields. So believe me when I say Nico was born to be doctors"

She pointed at her temple "I've had all the medical legacy of family stored right here, and I dare say I can do what Arto did with Sitri's medical devices. Maybe he left it intentionally for me to deal with, you know him, always plans. But maybe, because his medic knowledge is truly terrible, we don't know. But I know that..."

She tapped the Spellcrafting Formulas "With Systematic Magic, I can fix Sitri's medical devices, and halt their entire attacking Financial Department"

Rias and Nami stared at the glowing stack of physical licenses spread across the table like an open hand of impossible cards. Robin picked up her coffee cup, taking a calm sip as the silence stretched through the living room. She looked up at Robin, her jaw slightly slack. "Just how many lives have you lived, Robin?"

"Enough to know where a noble family's true panic lies," Robin replied smoothly, setting her cup back down on the saucer with a gentle click. "The Sitri clan prides itself on being the premier medical power of the Underworld. Their political influence isn't built on raw military might like the Bael house, but on the fact that every high-ranking devil house relies on their hospitals, specialized healing conduits, and diagnostic artifacts."

Nami let go of her pen in relief "Oh, thank the gods you're a Nico, now the second wave is finally neutrailized, here I thought I was on my own in all this" She placed her forehead on the table, sighing like a ton was lifted from her back. 

Rias pointed at the artifact "Arto said I should hand this to my mother to check, but when should I do it? Would it affect the shield over Nami's work?"

Both Robin and Nami turned towards the obsidian sphere inside the box "We don't currently know which side your mother picked" Nami commented while touching the sphere "We don't know wether she is siding with the clan's Financial Department to pressure on me to undervalue Arto's works, or she is having other intentions, so giving this thing to her without verification is dangerous." 

Meanwhile, Robin is focusing on another matter "I think the most important thing is which side Rias is on, she is the bridge between Arto and Gremory, meaning her decision would make the most impacts. So Rias," Robin called out, voice serious "Which side are you on?"

Rias looked at Robin, then at Nami and the artifact, finally at the Gremory crest "I'm on the side of my family, of course, I want it to heal, to grow, to gain what's lost 20 years ago" She answered.

Taking a deep breathe "But I am still Arto's ally by the first contract between us, and I want to uphold it too. This means if I assist my clan in exploiting his absence, I am violating my deal with him. If I help you, I am betraying my clan, and for an heiress like me, it's more than unacceptable. So politically, I think I should stay put and not moving at all"

Robin listened, she saw a girl being dragged between 2 big forces at once, one of personal relationship with Arto, the man who made her stronger, wiser, tougher. The other is of the duty of an heiress to her family, hard choice like walking on a string, but not impossible to move.

"I see, so that's your choice. But did you know you can exercise that neutral choice by just a simple sentence?" Robin asked. Rias' face turned confused "I can... do that?"

The Spy nodded "Yes, by giving it your mother and say 'Arto will be back by tonight to check the feedback', it sent a message that she has to consider no matter which side she was on: Arto Abyssgard, the creator of magic-tech, is still around even if he is building Simulation Room."

Robin wrote the diagnosis of the move on the board "If she is siding with Financial Department, pressuring on Nami when he is around is not smart unless she wants him to unplug everything. If she has other intentions, it signals he is still online, meaning she can reach out to him, and you can be that channel"

Rias stared at the tablet resting on the coffee table, her crimson eyes reflecting the faint blue light of the standby screen. The realization of Robin's tactical brilliance hit her with stunning clarity.

Robin stepped over to the chalkboard to write out a quick flow chart linking the Gremory family, the Financial Department, and the basement vault. "The moment you hand Lady Venelana that upgraded core with those exact words, you aren't choosing a side, Rias. 

You are positioning yourself as the sole, indispensable bridge between two immovable forces. You maintain your loyalty to your family by delivering the key to their salvation, while simultaneously honoring your agreement with Arto by keeping his authority absolute."

Nami sat up straight, her eyes sparkling as she looked at the diagram on the board. "It's a bluff that isn't even a bluff! If your mother tries to squeeze us through the Financial Department, she risks angering the creator who can cut off the tech feed with a single command from downstairs. But if she cooperates, she gets direct access to the most valuable innovator in the Underworld through you."

"And if she insists on contacting him immediately to verify?" Rias asked, playing out the worst-case scenario in her head.

"Then you use the line," Robin answered smoothly, tapping the tablet's screen. "Arto may be working in the deep vault, but he isn't blind. A single ping from you showing that Lady Venelana is taking the bait will take thirty seconds out of his schedule. He will give her just enough of his cold, terrifying composure over the audio link to confirm he is fully aware of everything happening above ground, then go right back to work."

A soft laugh escaped Rias's lips, the tension completely draining from her shoulders as she reached down and picked up the dark wooden box containing the Bael artifact.

"You really are a terrifying spymaster, Robin," Rias said, a bright, confident smile illuminating her face. "You just turned my political tightrope walk into a complete position of power."

"It is simply strategic framing, Rias," Robin replied gently, offering a warm smile as she took another sip of her coffee. "Now, finish your breakfast. Once you present that box to your mother with Arto's message, Nami and I will handle the Sitri clan's advance team."

Nami grabbed her pencil once more, humming a cheerful tune as she finalized her revised terms. "I can't wait to see the look on those noble accountants' faces when they realize they've been outmaneuvered before the meeting even started."

[Timeskip: Brought to you by chibi Rias sending the artifact away]

By 4:00 p.m., the afternoon sun cast long, golden shafts of light through the high stained-glass windows of the ORC clubhouse.

The ten members of both peerages filed in with their usual quiet routine, taking their designated seats around the enlarged study tables. Rias and Sona sat side by side at the head of the group, their posture sharp and attentive. Akeno and Tsubaki shared the table beside them, while Momo and Reya took their spots opposite Kiba and Tomoe. At the far end, Koneko sat beside Tsubasa, her small hands resting neatly on a brand-new, thick notebook.

Standing at the front by the large chalkboard was Robin. Her posture was poised, holding a piece of chalk with the effortless elegance of a seasoned scholar, though the subtle shift in her aura commanded absolute focus from everyone in the room.

"Good afternoon, everyone," Robin greeted gently, her blue eyes sweeping over the ten young devils. "Before we begin today's lesson, I have a brief update regarding our schedule. As you may have noticed, Commander Abyssgard is currently underground securing the baseline infrastructure for the new Simulation Room. He will be indisposed for the next week."

A slight murmur passed through the lower-year peerage members, but Robin raised a hand, her smile calm and reassuring.

"This upcoming week will be the most intense period of your education so far," Robin continued, turning to write the words Chapter 1: Intention across the top of the board in precise, sweeping script. "Our objective is to completely master and clear Chapter 1 before Arto returns from the vault."

She turned back to face them, resting her hands against the podium. "Based on the homework diagnostics I reviewed this morning, your progress with spell visualization through physical effects is exceptionally solid. Arto's foundation work has taken root. Moving forward, I will be guiding you through the remainder of physical phenomena, and if our pace allows, we will begin integrating fundamental chemistry and organic biology into your mana-shaping formulas."

Robin paused, her expression softening into a serious, earnest look.

"However, I must emphasize one rule above all others," Robin said, her eyes meeting each of theirs in turn. "I may be standing at the front of this room, but like all of you, I am merely a student of Arto's system. Because my background allows me to process information rapidly, my speed can easily lead to wide-spanning conceptual errors if I misinterpret a core principle. 

Therefore, I expect you to listen carefully, answer politely, and—most importantly—doubt everything I say until it is thoroughly argued, tested, and understood by your own logic. Do not accept a formula simply because I wrote it down."

Sona nodded slowly in sharp approval, her glasses glinting in the light, while Kiba and Tsubaki exchanged intrigued glances.

"Now, before we open Chapter 1: Intention," Robin said smoothly, stepping to the side and gesturing toward the table beside Rias. "We have a formal addition to our class. Please welcome your new classmate—and the chief financial officer of our expanding magic-tech venture—Nami."

Nami, who was sitting beside a fresh stack of textbooks with a shiny new notebook and a pen held like a weapon, gave a sharp, confident wave. "Hi, everyone," Nami said with a broad, businesslike grin. "I'm the new student, so go easy on me during the math parts—unless it involves interest rates, in which case, I'll be teaching the class."

A light chuckle rippled through the room, cutting through the initial academic tension. "Now," Robin said, tapping her chalk against the board with a sharp clack. "Open your manuals to page one. Let us begin with the conversion of abstract intention into mechanical work."

[Timeskip: Brought to you by the a notebook being filled with notes by invisible hand]

By 9:00 p.m., the soft, continuous scratching of ten pens across paper finally drifted into silence.

Around the long, oak tables of the ORC clubhouse, a strange, collective stillness settled over the ten young devils. For a few seconds, nobody moved. Kiba sat with his fountain pen hovering a millimeter above his notebook; Sona remained frozen with her fingers lightly resting against the bridge of her glasses; and even Koneko held her pencil suspended in midair.

It was a sharp, rhythmic tick-tock from the ancient grandfather clock in the corner of the room that broke the trance.

One by one, they blinked, turning their heads toward the clockface. The golden hands pointed straight to nine.

A wave of disorienting shock rippled through the room as the realization set in: they had been sitting in those exact chairs, completely immobile and utterly absorbed, for five straight hours without a single break. There had been no restless fidgeting, no checking of phones, no stray glances out the window, and not a single yawn.

Under Arto's instruction, absorbing vast amounts of complex information was a familiar, albeit painful, routine. His teaching style was like a battering ram—direct, unforgiving, demanding absolute martial focus as he physically and mentally hammered the foundational principles of spell visualization through mechanical physics and basic thermodynamics into their heads. They were used to leaving his lectures with sore hands, throbbing temples, and a deep sense of exhausted accomplishment.

What Robin had just done, however, was something entirely different—and infinitely more terrifying.

She hadn't broken down their mental walls; she had simply dissolved them. Taking the springboard of mechanical physics that Arto had spent weeks building, Robin had accelerated through the rest of the physical sciences at a blinding, impossible pace. 

In a single evening, she had guided them through fluid dynamics, structural stress analysis, wave mechanics, electromagnetic field interactions, and quantum particle behaviors—concepts that should have taken longer to understand.

Yet, as they looked down at their own notebooks, every single page was filled with pristine, flawlessly organized equations. None of them had struggled. None of them had hit a conceptual wall. The dense, multi-layered mathematical barriers of high-level physics had slid into their minds with effortless, unnatural clarity, settling into their subconscious like pieces of a puzzle that had always belonged there.

Kiba stared down at his parchment, his fingers trembling slightly as he traced a complex wave-particle duality formula that converted raw mana into localized kinetic friction. "I... I understood all of it," he whispered, looking across the table at Tomoe, whose eyes were wide with equal parts awe and disbelief. "Every single line."

Sona Sitri slowly pulled her gaze away from the board, looking down at her own meticulously kept binder. Her sharp, analytical mind was running diagnostics on her own learning speed, and the results were almost unnatural. "She didn't just teach the formulas," Sona murmured, her voice carrying a rare, breathless edge. "She structured the logic in a way that bypassed our natural cognitive resistance entirely."

The magic hadn't just been in the curriculum; it had been in the instructor herself. Throughout the entire five hours, their eyes, ears, and minds had been completely captive to the woman standing at the front of the room. 

Robin stood by the chalkboard in her simple, elegant attire, her dark hair falling over her shoulder in a loose cascade, her calm blue eyes radiating a profound, timeless intelligence. She was, without question, the most breathtakingly gorgeous teacher any of them had ever laid eyes on—a presence so captivating that simply looking away felt like a mistake.

But it was her voice that had bound them. Smooth, rich, and layered with a gentle, hypnotic cadence, Robin's tone seemed to vibrate at the exact frequency needed to quiet the stray thoughts of the human—and devil—mind. 

Listening to her explain the mathematical decay of thermal energy wasn't just an academic lecture; it was an intoxicating experience that pulled them deeper into her rhythm, locking their focus so intensely that physical fatigue didn't even dare to manifest.

Nami leaned back in her chair with a long, dramatic exhale, stretching her arms high above her head until her joints popped. "Holy revenue streams," she muttered, staring at her own densely filled notebook with a breathless, satisfied smirk. "I think my brain just got retrofitted with an industrial supercomputer. If this is how fast we're moving, we're not just going to clear Chapter 1: Intention by Thursday—we're going to be rewriting the entire Underworld curriculum by next week."

Across the table, Rias closed her leather-bound manual, her lips curving into a warm, deeply respectful smile as she looked at the Nico clanswoman. Where Arto was the stoic, immovable anvil upon which their spirits were forged, Robin was the silent, irresistible tide that swept their minds across vast oceans of knowledge before they even realized they had left the shore.

"Thank you for today's lesson, Robin," Rias said, rising gracefully from her chair. Prompted by their King, the rest of the peerages stood up in unison, bowing politely to the front of the room. "Thank you very much, Lady Robin!"

Robin set her piece of chalk back in its tray, using a small handkerchief to wipe a trace of white dust from her fingers before turning to face them with a warm, maternal smile.

"You all performed exceptionally well tonight," Robin said softly, her voice carrying that same soothing, hypnotic warmth that made their minds feel alive and clear. "Make sure to review the electromagnetic field equations before bed. Tomorrow at four, we move into organic chemistry and biological mana-loops."

"Now then," Robin said, placing the lid back onto her fountain pen with a soft click as the last of the students finished zipping their bags. "Given that it is already nine o'clock, returning home for a proper dinner is hardly practical. I believe a late-night meal is in order, and it will be my treat."

A collective murmur of appreciation rippled through the group. The five-hour lecture had left their minds sharp, but their stomachs were beginning to protest the sudden burn of consumed calories.

Nami's eyes instantly lit up. "Did somebody say free food? I'm thinking high-end steak or a nine-course seafood tasting menu—"

"Unfortunately, Miss CFO," Robin interrupted with an amused, apologetic smile, "most of Kuoh's fine-dining establishments closed their kitchens at eight. Our options at this hour are quite limited."

Nami's shoulders slumped dramatically against her chair. "Defeated by local business hours... the tragic reality of late-night academia."

"If I may offer a suggestion," Rias spoke up, stepping forward as she draped her light coat over her arm. She shared a knowing glance with Akeno, Kiba, and Koneko. "There's a small, local ramen shop just a few blocks from the station. It stays open until midnight. My peerage and I used to drop by quite often after stray hunting missions ran longer than expected."

"A stray hunting staple?" Sona mused, adjusting her glasses with a curious tilt of her head. "I didn't know you frequented commercial eateries, Rias."

"When you've been fighting in the rain until eleven at night, nothing in the Underworld compares to a steaming bowl of rich pork bone broth," Rias replied with a faint, fond smile, her eyes sparkling.

Robin nodded approvingly. "A local ramen shop sounds ideal. It is warm, efficient, and well-suited for a late gathering. Lead the way, Rias."

[Kuoh Town - Ramen Shop]

Within fifteen minutes, the group of twelve had left the Kuoh Academy grounds and navigated the quiet, lantern-lit side streets of the city. Tucked away down a narrow alleyway, the warm, golden glow of a traditional red noren curtain cut through the cool night air, bearing the hand-painted kanji of the small noodle shop.

Inside, the rich, intoxicating aroma of simmering tonkotsu broth, roasted garlic, and seared chashu pork immediately hit them as they pushed past the curtain. The shop was small, cozy, and run by an elderly couple who gave Rias and her peerage a familiar, welcoming nod the moment they walked in.

With Robin picking up the tab, the two peerages packed into the long wooden counter and corner booths. Piping-hot bowls of ramen—laden with thick noodles, tender pork belly, soft-boiled marinated eggs, and fresh scallions—were placed before them in rapid succession.

Nami took her first bite, her previous disappointment completely vanishing as her eyes went wide. "Okay, fine! I take it back! This is worth way more than five-star caviar right now!"

[Timeskip: Brought to you by a ramen shop filled with people and steam coming out of its door]

By the time the last bowl was cleared and the bill settled, everyone left the shop thoroughly satisfied, the heavy warmth of the broth keeping the late-night chill at bay. The group bade each other goodnight outside the station, Sona's peerage heading back toward their respective residences while Rias led her group back toward the Kuoh Academy grounds.

Upon returning to the ORC clubhouse, the quiet routines of the evening resumed. Rias and Akeno excused themselves to head upstairs, eager to wash off the day and complete the Spellcrafting Formulas homework Robin had assigned before heading to bed.

Downstairs, however, the living room had been tidied up, the lecture equipment safely stored away to restore its quiet, comfortable ambiance. Robin and Nami remained behind, taking their places at the main table.

"You've captured enough foundational knowledge today to understand the core schematics of his magic-tech blueprints," Robin offered softly, pouring a fresh cup of tea. "How about we discuss them together while we wait for the girls to finish their showers?"

"I don't see why not," Nami answered without hesitation, pulling her authorized tablet from her bag. Arto had granted her full administrative clearance to access his magic-tech machinery specs, blueprints, and operational logic documents. 

As Nami tapped the screen, holographic renders of standardized spell-engines, low-cost mana-conduits, and biological stabilization matrices flared to life above the wooden table.

"Here is how we divide our roles," Robin said smoothly, pulling up her own notebook containing years of cataloged market intelligence on the Underworld's economy. "You digest the engineering parameters and cost efficiencies of Arto's designs. I will provide real-time data and market records of the competing products currently produced by the high houses."

"Perfect," Nami smirked, her eyes reflecting the blue light of the blueprints. "You give me their inflated production costs and failure rates, and I'll calculate exact market valuation for Arto's intellectual property."

And so the session started, but the more Nami read and compared, the more she saw how serious this situation has become and why Arto stalled so long for someone like her to arrive in his team.

These weren't just innovative devices; they were market-shifting anomalies that threatened to rewrite the entire economic topology of the Underworld.

By working and energy efficiency alone, if these machines performed anywhere near Arto's design parameters, they would put every established noble product to absolute shame.

"Look at the energy draw..." Nami whispered, her eyes wide as her finger traced a primary power line on the diagram. "They don't need external mana-capacitors or high-grade power grids. The internal Stabilizer filters ambient, raw mana directly from the atmosphere. They can operate literally anywhere without any prior infrastructure."

"And it gets worse for our competitors when you look at the supply chain," Robin pointed out softly, tapping a section of the production specs. Because the Simulation Room's power doesn't just stop at simulating production lines for products, refining raw materials is another kind of production line"

Nami put a hand over her mouth as her brain calculated the financial potential of all this, the production cost was cut off once more, they can just import dirt-cheap raw materials, and have Simulation Room refine them to make not just another sale category, but the supply chain for their main products

A slight breathe came out of Nami's mouth "This is..... absurd, the production cost is slashed down to almost zero, the only meaningful cost was the budget for the materials, and it's not even the expensive ones." She turned to the woman sitting next to her "Robin, do you know what this means?"

The Spy shrugged with her cup of tea near her lips "You can keep going, Nami, I know you've realized that the man in the basement is a freaking genius"

Nami's attention shifted towards the tablet as she tapped it, releasing the indexes of the market into 3D state "Look at this, look at the products on the market" She pointed at the list of products with the same function as Arto's designs, specifically the mana engine he made.

And she started "The price the current market is being defined by Agares clan, with their products being the pinnacle on efficency and price, but what's their problems? They are running on mana ores of their own refinement, leading to the dependence of buyers on a supply chain that they control only until....."

Nami moved the engine Arto design towards the ranking chart and immediately when the indexes are shown, others turned.....tiny and irrelevant "We have no pre-defined market to this engine, making it one of a kind, but when we compare them to categories of products that share the same function, it's not even close"

But the terrifying things are not stopping there "By sheer efficiency, nothing could beat it, even the best models of Agares, but when you put the low production cost into the calculation. The margin, Robin.....the freaking profit margin"

Nami put the calculated amount of cost needed to create one unit of it into the comparison with the price on efficiency of the product "It's too wide, the gap between the cost to make it and the price we can sell it are the sky and the ground. The cheap price of production + unparalleled efficiency and utility, it's unfair for the market!"

"Yep, now we know why the Financial Departments of both clans are rushing to compress the licenses of his inventions" Robin commented while pointing at the graphs "If they succeeded in buying his licenses with cheap price, this margin will be entirely theirs"

Nami slapped her tablet onto the wood, the holographic displays of the Agares and Sitri market indexes floating above the table like glowing tombstones of traditional Underworld commerce.

"Excluding the initial capital for the base machinery, our cost to produce a single industrial unit is literally pennies," Nami said, her voice dropping into a fierce, protective rhythm. "They wanted to pay a flat, low-tier licensing fee and pocket an astronomical markup for themselves. They aren't just trying to buy technology—they are trying to pull off the economic robbery of the century."

Robin took a slow, deliberate sip of her tea, her calm blue eyes reflecting the vibrant red and gold profit-margin projections hovering in the air. "And that is precisely why Arto left the entire economic flank to you, Nami," Robin said softly, setting her porcelain cup down with a quiet clack. 

"Arto understands his own limits better than anyone. He is a living weapon, an absolute master of strategic warfare, and a brilliant engineer, but he knows he lacks the context of this world's long-established corporate politics. He didn't bring you onto this team just to manage accounts; he brought you here to be his absolute shield on a battlefield he doesn't have time to fight on."

[Timeskip: Brought to you by chibi Akeno cuddling with Robin]

Later on, when Robin and Nami were talking shower, Rias was in her room, having a call with her mother "Mom, how was the testing today?"

A gentle giggle came from the other side "Rias, something.... happened, the artifact you sent, it performed so well it spitted in the face of Bael clan's R&D Department."

Rias can feel herself standing in that room, watching Venelana operating the artifact that has taken her uncle, or the current leader of Bael clan, centuries and countless financial resources to achieve nothing but failures.

And now, witnessing it in his little sister's hand, a work from the house that was on the brink of collapse like Gremory, his awe, and his rage...she could see it all.

Then Gremory's matriarch continued "My big brother was demanding a death sentence for his current team, ones he called 'worming idiots', they have consumed so much, yet delivered nothing" that melodic voice came from the other side of the line.

"I see, that's my uncle for you, but, are there anything else?" Rias asked, it can't be that simple, a King house witnessing an essential artifact being restored and most insulting of all, inproved, by a Duke house after centuries of shortage, rage at their own shortcomings is the last thing Rias expected to happened.

"There was" Venelana confirmed "Some questions were raised regarding the weird glyphs appearing on the artifacts, ones that was said by the mouths of the mages of Bael clan to have improved the performance of the thing."

Rias understood it right away, it was Systematic Magic glyphs, ones of the alphabet Arto made to standardize magic "Are they....questioning its origin?" She asked in a slight worry that Bael might try to dig up the author, Arto.

After a short moment, Venelana answered "They didn't, you know magic, sweety, each mage has their own magical alphabet, it's no big deal to them as long as they could understand how it works. All in all, it was a good presentation. But it's not done"

I knew it' Rias mind clicked after the 'not done' part, relaxation after the news of the success test was turned off right away. "They want to know the production line" An obvious demand.

"You picked up quite quickly, my daughter, it seems Arto taught you well. But yes, they demanded an explanation of how we could restore it and how the production works, that's when you and other students of Arto have to jump in, because I, as well as R&D and Financial Department have no clue either"

Rias looked at the hard drive Arto left behind for her, one that contains the production line for the artifact. Taking the hard drive into her hand, it's down to her and other learner of Systematic Magic to explain to the R&D Department of Gremory clan about the process of restoring the artifact so that they can explain it to Bael clan.

It's also them who must explain the production line Arto made to the R&D Department for evaluation and to Gremory Financial Department to calculate the material cost, completion and delivering time and the negotiation regarding the price of the commission with Bael side "I know, mother, I'll work with Robin to prepare the documents for the explanation as soon as possible, how much time do we have?"

"Four days," Venelana replied smoothly through the line, her tone shifting from motherly affection to the sharp, calculated weight of a matriarch. "My big brother's patience is notoriously thin, but the sheer performance of the sample has bought us enough breathing room. The House of Bael has already authorized an advance hold on the commission, but our internal committees are currently running around like headless chickens."

A brilliant, confident smile spread across Rias's face. Everything Robin and Nami had anticipated this morning was playing out step by step. Arto's deliberate decision to lock the operational schematics behind Systematic Magic had stripped the Gremory family's old guard of all their leverage. They couldn't push, they couldn't dictate terms, and they couldn't bypass her.

"Tell them they will have their documentation by Friday evening," Rias declared, her voice firm and undisputed. "Robin and I will draft the technical translation layer for R&D, while Nami will hand-deliver the cost analysis and commission terms directly to the Financial Department."

Venelana went quiet for a brief moment before letting out a pleased, deeply satisfied sigh. "You sound different, my daughter. Sharp, decisive... commanding. It seems Arto has done far more than just upgrade an ancestral relic."

"He gave us the foundation, Mother," Rias said softly, holding the metallic drive tight in her palm. "We are simply making sure nobody tears it down."

"Then I will leave the committee in your capable hands," Venelana said, her voice laced with pride. "Oh, and Rias? Give my regards to your innovator when he returns from the vault. Tell him the House of Bael sends their... reluctant admiration."

After the matter about the artifact, there came another question "Mother, I want to ask you something"

"Yes, dear, go ahead" Venelana said softly. "About the negotiation regarding Arto's inventions license, which side are you on?"

"It's quite obvious that I am on the clan's side" Venelana answered without hesitation, making Rias feel a bit down, but that answer was expected "But," The mother added. "I'm not siding with the Financial Department to press on Arto, not this time"

Rias' eyes widened "You.... don't?" A small laughter came from the other side "I want to keep Arto with us for a long time, meaning I must give him enough breathing spaces, and enough benefits. And the Financial Department is going too far from their original purpose of existing in the last 20 years, in the name of the clan's benefits, they have, in some cases, overridden our authorities as the clan's leaders. I think it's about time I teach them a lesson about their position in this Duke-rank house"

"So, you're assisting Nami?" Rias asked in sheer awe "So that's the name of the new financial consultant Arto recruited? To answer your question: we'll see about that, but do let Nami know that she is not alone in her stand"

[Robin's Room]

After the talk, Rias came to Robin's room to see the other 3 women are already there, Nami is working on her own plan like usual, Robin is teaching Akeno something on the bed and somehow, they look.... intimate, giving this mother-daughter vibe, both are smiling warmly like they are genuinely happy with this settlement.

'When looking at it, it's not hard to guess Akeno would take Robin as her mother figure, her mother passed away at the age around Robin's' Rias thought to herself while heading inside the room "Everyone, I have good news, and a new deadline"

Nami's head snapped up from her desk, her eyes immediately zeroing in on the red-haired heiress. Robin and Akeno both looked up from the bed, the warm smiles remaining on their lips as they gave Rias their full attention. "I just spoke with my mother," 

Rias said, walking over to set the metallic drive onto the edge of the desk. "The Bael artifact test was an absolute success. Lord Bael is throwing a fit over his own R&D department's incompetence, and the House of Bael is already demanding the production line."

"I knew it!" Nami pumped her fist into the air, a brilliant smirk spreading across her face. "What's the deadline, Rias?"

"Today is Monday, meaning we have four days from now," Rias replied, looking between Nami and Robin. "By Friday evening, we need to hand over the technical translation layer to Gremory R&D and Financial Department for their assessments on possibility, cost and materials import planning, along with the negotiation with Bael side on the time frame of the commission and of course, payments" Rias made that money hand sign with a wink

Nami nodded before adding that schedule into her own tablet "Four days from now, that can be managed, but what is our payments?" She pointed at herself and at Robin.

Rias thought for a moment before answering "I think it'll be the matter discussed in the first interaction between you and the Financial Department of Gremory clan after our presentation, the license fee for the artifact's design and its production line though won't be written into the official documents due to Arto's secret existence clause with the clan, it's a matter worth discussing because I think they want to test you before Arto returns, by then, their advantage would drop instantly"

Nami's stylus tapped a sharp, rhythmic beat against her tablet screen, her brown eyes narrowing into two thin, calculating slits. "So they want to move fast and strong to preemptively attack me to startle the newcomer before Arto returned, because they think they can move on me instead of him, that's the best course of action they could do, I would do the same if I were them" she said.

Robin nodded from the bed "Meaning we are having something to focus on instead of general machineries that we have viewed tonight, it's now down to you to come up with a good enough negotiation strategy to secure a good price for the licenses"

Nami's digital pen were moving on the screen of her tablet suddenly stopped, downright dangerous smile spread across her face.

"They think they're cornering a lone, rookie CFO while her boss is buried in the basement," Nami said, leaning back in her chair and lacing her fingers behind her head. "They're operating under the classic assumption that a fresh face without local noble backing will crumble under the sheer weight of bureaucratic jargon and institutional intimidation."

Rias crossed her arms, watching Nami with a mix of relief and intense admiration. "Mother also dropped another hint during our call. She isn't siding with the Financial Department's old guard. She's planning to use this exact negotiation to put them back in their place for overstepping over the last twenty years."

Nami let out a low, appreciative whistle, tapping a quick memo into her schedule. "A green light from the top brass, that would make things easier for me"

After the briefing, Rias yawned and plopped on the bed where Robin and Akeno are sitting together, she can see from this angle Akeno's face, that genuine smile when Robin guided her through the homework, it's like a bonding moment between a mother and her child.

That reminded her of Akeno's mother, Shuri Himejima, murdered by her own clan, leaving Akeno an orphan, and now, it seems she found that warm haven in Robin. "Getting cozy, aren't we?" Rias started with her teasing voice "If I hadn't known any better, I might have thought Robin is your mother"

This got Akeno's face going as red as Rias' hair "Buchou, very funny, It's not like that...." Robin's giggles cut in "Oh, Rias, I don't mind it at all, I've had experience being mother...."

Nami twisted her chair back to the group on the bed "Hold on a minute! Robin.....being a mother? You've had children already?" Her hands started shaping figuratively around Robin's body. "Who is that lucky bastard? Where the hell is he when his gorgeous wife is staying here? Lastly, where is your children?"

Robin raised her palms to calm Nami down "Hold your horses, Nami, I'm still single at the moment, no man has ever taken my interest anyway"

"Except for Boss Ar...hmph!" Nami's sentence was cut off as a hand manifested by Robin covering her mouth. Robin sighed calmly before continuing "About being mother, I.....have an orphanage where I took children in and take care of them. To them, I am their mother"

Akeno's surprised face was hard to hide, this situation was like a coincidence of fate, a orphan like her, now sitting cozily with the woman who took in lost children....

"An orphanage..." Akeno whispered, her violet eyes wide with a mix of wonder and deep, emotional resonance. She looked up at Robin, the contrast between the fearsome spymaster and the gentle woman holding her becoming even clearer. "You... you take care of children who have nowhere else to go?"

"I do," Robin answered softly, her fingers gently smoothing a stray lock of hair behind Akeno's ear. Nami plopped onto the bed as well with her tablet "So, you sell secrets to feed your children?" her fingers are still tapping the screen, but her mind is already on Robin's orphanage.

"Well, yes, where else would my money go? I can't spend them all, so it's only natural, but to be honest, it's quite cheap comparing to what I make, even if I give the children everything they need, it's only the frequent revenue of governments, aristocrats and foundations to keep their secrets hidden" Robin answered calmly. "It's also quite cheap when it comes to paying for the medicine for my soul"

Akeno turned to the Spy, head tilting "Medicine for your soul?" Robin nodded and rubbed her hair gently "When you saw too much of this world's ugliest parts, it changes you, but for the bad side. I could have gone insane seeing how depraved parts of humanity have become."

Robin took from her magical vault a photobook "Only in that darkest hours of my life, they are the light, those children" She opened the book "The purest, the most innocent, the most kind, they are abandoned, but never darkened because of it, maybe because they were too young to understand how cruel life was to them"

She turned the pages, hands tracing the photos she took with them, their smiles when the gathered around her, holding onto her like she is their birth mother, Rias, Akeno and Nami were drawn in like moth to fire "They are like lotuses, living in the mud, but never tainted by its scent. They are the reason why I could smile until this point of my life, when I've known too much"

The photographs showed a modest, sunlit estate surrounded by green fields and wild gardens. In every frame, Robin was surrounded by children of all ages—some clinging to her skirt, others sitting on her shoulders, and a few younger ones cradling wooden toys as they laughed up at her. 

In those pictures, the sharp, calculating spymaster who could dismantle noble houses with a single whisper completely dissolved, replaced by a mother whose eyes held a warmth so profound it made Akeno's heart ache with familiar nostalgia.

A quiet warmth settled over the bedroom. For Akeno, who had spent years carrying the suffocating guilt of her mixed heritage and the lingering grief of losing Shuri, Robin's words felt like a soft blanket wrapped around her heart. It wasn't just mentorship—it was a motherly sanctuary she hadn't felt since the day her home was destroyed.

"No wonder you're so good at handling us," Rias murmured, her teasing tone softening into genuine affection as she shifted closer on the mattress. "You're already used to managing a house full of energetic kids."

"Hey! Speak for yourself, Rias, I'm a fully functional CFO!" Nami protested, though a soft smile betrayed her amused mood. "Though... I guess that explains why you're so patient when I demand higher budget allocations."

[Timeskip: Brought to you by chibi versions of Rias, Akeno, Nami and Robin sleeping together]

By 7:00 a.m., the crisp, cool morning air in the forest surrounding Kuoh Academy was broken only by the rhythmic breathing of the ten young devils. Spread across a multi-kilometer training course designed directly into the woods, both peerages stood lined up in their athletic training gear.

Over the past three weeks under Arto's uncompromising Abyssgard Legion Military Training Regimen, every single one of them had experienced a staggering transformation. Their physical power, endurance, and reflexes had sharpened at a pace none of them would have thought possible prior to his arrival. The grueling circuit of weighted drills, combat reaction exercises, and high-intensity stamina runs had turned what used to be casual noble peerages into a cohesive, disciplined unit.

They were just about to divide into their usual functional pairs—Kings, Queens, Knights, Bishops, and Rooks heading to their designated zones—when a calm, melodious voice echoed through the clearing.

"Hello everyone. I see you are quite early birds today." Robin stepped out from between the tall pine trees, her posture light and effortless as her blue eyes swept over the ten assembled devils.

The group immediately snapped to attention, pausing mid-stride. "What is the matter, Robin-sensei?" Rias asked, stepping forward while adjusting the collar of her crimson training blazer. "Are there any news from Arto?"

Robin shook her head gently. "There is none. He remains deeply focused in the vault. I came to inform you all about the upcoming shift in your training regimen once we complete Chapter 1: Intention. I refrained from mentioning it last night, as it was late and your stomachs were far more interested in ramen than future academic restructuring."

A few sheepish smiles broke out among the lower-year members, but the tension quickly returned as Robin's expression grew serious.

"To begin," Robin explained, her hands folding neatly in front of her, "once you have fully mastered Chapter 1 of Spellcrafting Formulas, your learning paths will no longer remain identical."

Sona narrowed her eyes behind her glasses, her analytical mind immediately seizing on the phrase. "What do you mean by that?"

"It means you will no longer pursue the book in a linear progression—moving sequentially from Chapter 2 to Chapter 3, and so forth," Robin answered calmly. "Instead, your curriculum will branch into specialized tracks designed specifically to hone your individual strengths, your tactical roles within your peerages, and eventually, your personal interests. Given our limited timeframe before regional political shifts occur, this non-linear approach will drastically shorten your learning curve and concentrate your skillsets into what truly matters on the battlefield."

Silence fell over the clearing as the ten young devils absorbed the weight of her words. "Branching tracks..." Kiba mused aloud, looking down at his hands, his mind already envisioning how sword-crafting logic would diverge from mass-energy manipulation.

"Correct," Robin continued, turning her gaze toward the group. "I'll outline it for you all, have a short seat, I'll show you" The 2 peerages followed her instruction and sat down at the resting zone of the training course. 

Robin started drawing on the air like there is a board and her mana made the blue letters appeared clearly in the space "After Intention, the 2 peerages will divide their training docus into pairs, King with King, Queen with Queen, Bishop with Bishop, Knight with Knight, Rook with Rook. Let's start with the 2 leaders first, because despite they are all training leadership, their specialties are on 2 different front based on their strong points"

Rias and Sona both concentrated on the flying board as Robin continued "Let's start with Rias, whose fighting prowess and reflex are much higher than Sona, her leadership training will focus on being what I call a Micro Leader" Robin wrote highlighted that word.

"That's the one handing the front, leading the pieces in the frontline to the battle like generals you saw in films, it requires some fighting power along with leadership focusing on dealing with direct variables, something Rias has already possessed under Arto's direct training" Robin explained the role, Rias noted that into her tablet while looking at the teacher.

Robin turned toward Sona, the blue mana letters shifting softly in the air as she began writing out the companion track beside Rias's profile. "In contrast to Rias, Sona's greatest asset lies in her macro-tactical vision, absolute composure, and deep administrative control,"

Robin explained smoothly, highlighting the term Macro Leader. "While Rias commands the vanguard directly, Sona's training will focus on high-level theatre management—calculating large-scale battlefield variables, managing logistics, coordinating multi-unit movements, and dictating the overarching strategy from the command center."

Then Robin connected the 2 highlighted terms "And to make this work, the coordination between the 2 leaders must be perfect with no egos or conflict sparked between them, because....."

She crossed the connection, severing it "If there is any, the whole formation will fall apart, and the enemies will notice and seperate them, the brain lost the hand and the hand lost the brain"

Rias and Sona turned to each other and Robin said "It means Rias will have to learn to trust Sona's strategic decision, even it means retreating a hold, or stop pursuing the running enemies. And Sona, on the other hand, must learn to understand the situation at the front where Rias is, the overall strategy is important, but it would mean nothing if there are no one executing it"

Rias and Sona exchanged a long, weighted look, the silent understanding between them deepening by the second. They had grown up as childhood friends and academic rivals, but this was the first time their roles had been framed as two halves of a single, unified war engine.

"I understand," Sona said, her finger adjusting her glasses as her sharp eyes tracked the glowing mana letters floating in the morning breeze. "A strategist in the command center is only as effective as the field commander's ability to execute orders without second-guessing the overarching objective."

"And a vanguard general who charges blindly without trusting the retreat call gets her entire unit surrounded," Rias added softly, a resolute smile touching her lips as she looked back up at Robin. "Sona has always been the better planner. If she tells me to fall back, I'll pull my line back without hesitation."

Robin smiled warmly, nodding at the two heiresses before her mana stylus shifted across the air, wiping the board clean to write the next pair.

Queen Track: Akeno Himejima & Tsubaki Shinra

"Next, our Queens," Robin announced, drawing two parallel lines under their names. "In traditional chess-style peerage tactics, Queens are treated as versatile powerhouses tasked with filling whatever gap appears on the board. And by what I saw, you're executing your roles perfectly" She gave them both a thumb-up for approval before going deeper into their skillset

"Both Akeno and Tsubaki are able to combat both close-quarter and at range, their fighting using naginatas is really beautiful and deadly at the same time. And the fact that Tsubaki has been training Akeno in using that weapon made you two easy to synchronize in battle. Even your skillsets support each other well" Robin started outlining the strong points she noticed about the Queens duo.

Robin bound two names together into a whole "Tsubaki has Mirror Alice, an attack reflecting Sacred Gear while Akeno possesses devastating lightning spells. That is why I want you two to focus on synergy with each other on the battlefield as the hybrid main force of the entire unit"

Robin drew a bold, glowing arc connecting the names of the two Queens on her floating ledger.

"Think of it this way," Robin continued, her eyes shifting between Akeno and Tsubaki. "In traditional peerage combat, a Queen often acts as a lone roaming agent, rushing to wherever the frontline buckles. But when the two of you deploy as a synchronized pair, you become an inescapable trap for enemy units."

Tsubaki tilted her head slightly, her gaze sharp and focused on the blue mana glyphs. "An inescapable trap?"

"Precisely," Robin smiled, tapping the shield icon beside Tsubaki's name. "With your naginata techniques forming a flawless defensive rhythm alongside Mirror Alice, you possess the absolute ability to dictate spatial engagement. You don't just reflect attacks, Tsubaki—you force the enemy into predictable movement paths to avoid their own reflected force. And the moment they dodge..."

Robin tapped the sword icon beside Akeno's name, causing a stylized streak of jagged lightning to burst through the visual diagram.

"...Akeno closes the pocket. Her high-density lightning strikes don't need to hunt down agile targets if those targets are being funneled directly into her kill zone by your spatial control. Akeno provides the absolute, crushing momentum; you provide the absolute, unyielding structure."

Akeno looked over at Tsubaki, a fond, subtle smirk playing on her lips as she recalled the endless afternoon sessions they had spent practicing spear forms together behind the school. "So instead of me throwing lightning from the backline while Tsubaki holds off heavy hitters, we advance side-by-side... a dancing wall of blades, mirrors, and thunder."

"A hybrid vanguard," Tsubaki agreed, her quiet, serious demeanor brightening with a touch of rare excitement as she wrote down the tactical flow in her notebook. "My defense creates the opening, and your lightning seals it before the enemy can even adjust their footing."

"Exactly," Robin said, nodding with deep satisfaction. "By coordinating your naginata footwork with Arto's physics-based magic equations, you won't just cover each other's blind spots—you will act as a singular, fluid force that neither brute strength nor high-speed agility can breach. You two are the vanguard shield and the executioner's blade."

Rook Track: Momo Hanakai & Reya Kusaka

Robin drew two overlapping magic circles above the names of Momo Hanakai and Reya Kusaka, filling the central runes with dynamic shifting formulas.

"For Momo and Reya, your path as Bishops is arguably the most academically intensive out of everyone in this clearing," Robin stated, her calm voice carrying a firm weight. "In standard peerage doctrine, Bishops are often relegated to simple backline support, throwing out predictable elemental blasts or basic healing spells. Under Arto's framework, that approach is completely obsolete."

Momo and Reya straightened their postures, their eyes glued to the complex equations expanding in the air.

"Because your primary combat contribution comes from raw magical application rather than physical weapons or Sacred Gears, your mastery of Spellcrafting Formulas needs to be absolute," Robin explained, writing out three distinct sub-categories: Environmental Rewriting, Kinetic Buffs/Debuffs, and Adaptive Suppression.

"You will spend more hours in the classroom than anyone else, learning to construct and edit spell scripts on the fly," Robin continued, pointing her stylus at Reya. "Reya, your focus will be real-time tactical control. You won't just throw fire or water; you will alter the localized ground friction under enemy advance lines, siphon heat from enemy mages to stall their incantations, and synthesize immediate air-density pockets to shield your allies from projectile fire." 

She then shifted to Momo. "Momo, your specialty will be structural amplification and field suppression. You will be responsible for applying real-time force-multiplier scripts to Tsubaki and the vanguard, boosting their kinetic output while simultaneously flooding enemy mana channels with noise-interference formulas to scramble their spellcasting."

Knight Track: Kiba Yuuto & Tomoe Meguri

Robin moved on the duo of Knight, Tomoe and Kiba, her hands glided down the training report on her tablet "Your training result with Arto has been well, you are improving quickly under his tutelage as he constantly exploited your weakness when sparring with him. But he is not here with you, so I want you to replicate the same process, but against each other."

Kiba and Tomoe turned towards the other one "We? Sparring against each other?" Kiba asked and Robin nodded, "Indeed, it's the best way for you two to improve, constantly exploiting each other's errors and improve"

"Precisely," Robin confirmed, her fingers tapping a soft cadence against the side of her tablet as she observed the two sword users. "When you spar with Arto, he reads your kinetic intentions several steps before your blades even move. That high-pressure environment forces growth, and his absence doesn't mean you lose your standard that is him, but you can always find new aspirations from each other, when you look at how they fight. Also, inside the book there is a chapter that is really interesting...."

The 10 members of 2 peerages were suddenly flashbanged by something they didn't see, the suprise burst of light blinded them for a fraction of a second. But the moment they regain their vision, they are seeing spells are facing directly at them and from what they learned in Intention, these are lethal spells.

Robin put on a smile "And by normal battling situation, you'd be dead by now" She said calmly before disarming the spells. Everyone rubs their eyes uncomfortably while Robin continued "Anyone knows what I just did and where that flash of light came from?"

And no answer came as they were busy regaining their visions. So Robin waited for them to get back to normal to reveal what she found in Arto's book "It's in Chapter 5: Compression, Formula COM-3, used to tied a spell to a gesture of your choosing and I choose..."

She raised the little finger of her left hand "This gesture to render you blind by a light spell while I executed that rest of what you saw, quick and deadly. That's exactly what I want Tomoe and Kiba, as well as other students to look into, this can be really useful in battle"

After hearing that, Rias and Akeno remembered something, when they were fighting with Arto inside Dark Arena, he used the same technique as well with his hands forming countless hand signs, but it was too fast for them to fully grasp what he did, only assumed that his casting speed is out of this world

Rias and Akeno exchanged a wide-eyed look, the memory of their harrowing sparring match with Arto against the Dark Arena flooding back in vivid detail.

"He did that back in the Arena..." Rias murmured softly, her fingers subconsciously brushing her chin as she recalled how Arto had chained devastating spell scripts together at impossible speeds. "We thought it was just raw, inhuman casting velocity... but he was firing pre-scripted triggers tied to micro-gestures."

"A silent, physical keybind," Sona added, her eyes gleaming with intense academic fascination behind her spectacles. "Instead of reciting an incantation or constructing a complex circular array in real-time, you pre-compress the entire spell code into a single, discreet movement."

"Precisely," Robin confirmed, lowering her left hand as the residual magic dissipated entirely from the air. "In a high-speed duel, the moment your opponent sees a magic circle manifest, they begin calculating their evasion or counter-measure. But a twitch of a pinky finger, a subtle shift in foot stance, or a flick of a blade's hilt? They won't notice it until the flash blinding them is already burning their retinas."

She turned her gaze back toward Kiba and Tomoe, whose hand was already resting on the hilt of her training katana, her mind racing with the tactical possibilities.

"As Knights, speed is your primary currency," Robin said, addressing the two sword users directly. "If you tie structural weakness-detection formulas or kinetic friction-reduction scripts directly to your sword stances—or even to the moment your steel clears its scabbard—you eliminate the lag between spellcasting and swordplay entirely. Your blade becomes the magic, and your magic becomes the blade."

Kiba looked down at his own hands, a sharp, fierce smile slowly spreading across his face. "Formula COM-3... If I bind an instantaneous friction-zeroing script to my forward dash gesture, I can breach an enemy's guard before their brain even registers the air displacement."

"And if I bind an impact-shattering frequency to my parry stance," Tomoe continued, her eyes bright with sudden realization, "the moment their sword contacts mine, my magic will crack their weapon before they can reset their posture."

"That is the power of combining martial discipline with Systematic Magic," Robin said, giving them an approving nod. "You don't fight with magic; you turn your entire physical methodology into the trigger mechanism. When you spar against each other today, I want you both to experiment with binding basic light, wind, and kinetic triggers to your natural sword movements. Force each other to read the subtle body language, not the spell circles."

"Understood, Robin-sensei!" Kiba and Tomoe answered together, stepping out toward the center of the training ring with their wooden practice swords drawn, eager to push each other to their limits.

Rook Track: Koneko Toujou & Tsubasa Yura

Robin gestured towards Koneko and Tsubasa "Alright, the last duo of today, the Rooks, their coming training won't be honing their power any longer, they have been doing it everyday with weighing spells Arto placed on them to increase gravity pull on their body. How much was it again?"

Koneko moved her arms around in normal pace like there was no weigh at all "2 tons" She answered flatly, making everyone look at them in sheer awe, they both have been carrying 2 tons with them everyday and still able to live normally.

Tsubasa nodded "Yes, it's been difficult at first, but now I'm getting the hang of it" Robin nodded before casting a spell towards them, lifting the weight off their body "Make a jump for me, both of you"

Koneko and Tsubasa blinked as the heavy, suffocating pressure instantly vanished from their shoulders. For weeks, every single muscle fiber, bone, and joint in their bodies had been fighting against a relentless two-ton gravitational pull placed upon them by Arto's localized weighting formulas.

Without hesitation, both Rooks bent their knees slightly and pushed off the forest dirt. BOOM!

The ground beneath their feet didn't just kick up dust—it literally erupted in a localized shockwave, sending cracks firing through the soil. In a fraction of a second, Koneko and Tsubasa shot upward into the sky like artillery shells, clearing the massive pine trees and launching over fifty meters into the open air.

Gasps of sheer astonishment broke out from the rest of both peerages below. Robin cleared the dust with a wave of her hand before gesturing them to sit down.

Robin started "That's the power honed through weighing yourselves down, but it also raised a problem that Arto wrote here as 'Tiger Beetle Effect', your processing speed can't follow your own speed, making you almost went blind when moving, just like a tiger beetle, and that's what I want you both to work on"

Robin gestured toward the two airborne Rooks as they hovered at the peak of their arc before descending, their bodies cutting through the air with terrifying velocity.

"The Tiger Beetle is the fastest running insect on Earth relative to its size," Robin explained, her voice easily projecting over the roaring wind as Koneko and Tsubasa plummeted back toward the clearing. "It moves so fast that its eyes cannot process visual information in real-time, effectively rendering it blind while sprinting. It has to stop periodically just to let its brain catch up with where its body is."

CRASH!

Koneko and Tsubasa hit the earth simultaneously, their landing absorbing the massive kinetic force through pure muscle control, though the sheer air pressure blew back the hair and blazers of everyone standing nearby.

"When you shed that two-ton weight," Robin continued, stepping toward the cratered soil as the dust settled, "your physical acceleration vastly outpaces your brain's natural reaction time. If an enemy steps slightly off-center during your charge, you won't see them move until you've already overshot your target by thirty meters and slammed into a mountain face."

Koneko dusted off her sleeves, her usual stoic face betraying a subtle glint of shock as she looked down at her own hands. She had felt it during that jump—the terrifying sensation of her vision blurring into sheer streaks of green and brown, her reflexes lagging behind her body's raw velocity.

"So..." Tsubasa said, wiping a bit of sweat from her brow, "our new track isn't about getting stronger or faster. It's about training our perception to match our physical output."

"So..." Tsubasa said, wiping a bit of sweat from her brow, "our new track isn't about getting stronger or faster. It's about training our perception to match our physical output."

"Precisely," Robin confirmed, her eyes sparkling with sharp instructional authority. "Arto built a specific sub-routine in Chapter 4: Sensory Overclocking. As Rooks, your next track will focus on binding localized spatial-awareness formulas directly to your nervous systems."

She tapped her tablet, bringing up a schematic of a devil's neural pathways.

"Instead of relying purely on your eyes to track targets while moving at blinding speeds, you will learn to project a micro-sonar field—a high-frequency kinetic radar that feeds spatial data directly into your brain," Robin detailed. "When you charge, your mind won't just see the enemy—it will calculate their mass, wind displacement, and movement vector before your foot even leaves the dirt. You will become living, guided missiles that cannot be outmaneuvered."

Koneko let out a quiet, feline hum of satisfaction, a small, confident smirk gracing her lips. "Guided missiles... I like that."

"Good," Robin smiled, clapping her hands together to draw the attention of all ten assembled devils. "Now that everyone understands their specialized tracks, the morning briefing is complete. Kings, Queens, Bishops, Knights, and Rooks—any questions?"

Sona raised her hand "Sensei, what is the end goal of our training regimen?" A critical question aiming directly at the purpose of the entire program they are following, they have been doing it because they are getting stronger, but for their entire commitment, a better goal is in order.

Robin nodded to that question "Good one, Sona, let's start with the short-term goal of you all, that is preparing yourselves for when the Simulation Room, what Arto is building, is online, you'll be the first people to test out its function inside the first sector of the facility, Sector 1: Adaptive Training Ground"

Aside from Rias and Akeno who have been familar with the term due to their daily life around Arto and exposure to his blueprints, the rest seems clueless about the sector.

"I know most of you are confused, so I will explain further" She started drawing demonstration on the floating board "You're all familiar with Simulation Room's basic definition, but when it comes to Adaptive Training Ground, it's quite different...."

Robin's hand glided on the board, drawing the sketch of the room "When other sectors will use data from the concentrated database to conjure simulations, Sector 1 drew data from another place outside of the server, which is called Dark Arena"

Once again, only Rias and Akeno seem to know this place out of 10 people of 2 peerages, because they have been fighting it with Arto for almost as long as his presence in this world.

To make them comprehend the place, Robin started reading the documents Arto left behind "To put it simply, Dark Arena is the sole dreamscape of Arto Abyssgard, born from his traumatized past, imitating the process of his growth as a subject forged to be a living weapon"

The definition made everyone shiver, especially when Robin read the word 'living weapon', the one who shuddered the most is Akeno, she saw a fraction of that process when she witness Arto's past in his dream and it made her sick thinking about it.

Robin continued "The place is a highly adaptive battle zone with monsters being spawned endlessly following an extreme countering effects, monsters, strategies, and terrains will be made to counteract anyone or anything who defeated it with the pace of Arto's own mind as you're facing his subsconcious and his ability to learn and adapt" 

The last words dropped and everyone was at a lost of words, they are not facing some preset training program, they are facing a traumatic nightmare of a man whose information speed and precision are on par with Robin herself.

The last words dropped and everyone was at a lost of words, they are not facing some preset training program, they are facing a traumatic nightmare of a man whose information speed and precision are on par with Robin herself, and that process speed will be used against them.

"It sounds like a nightmare," Kiba admitted, his hands laced together with tension, thinking about what's going to happpen when he and his friends step into that place. "A meat grinder designed to never let you win the same way twice."

"It is a nightmare," Robin agreed without a single drop of sugarcoating, her tone grounded and uncompromising. "It is the exact crucible Arto survived to become what he is today. But that is precisely why it is the short-term goal of this entire regimen. 

Conventional sparring matches with soft boundaries and merciful instructors will never prepare you for the true horrors of high-level warfare. If you can survive and adapt inside Arto's mind, no enemy in the Underworld, Heaven, or the Fallen Angel domains will ever surprise you again."

Tsubaki raised her hand "So, how long is a session?" Robin answered almost immediately "8 hours, you'll be fighting for 8 hours straight inside Sector 1 before it ends and you're marked as pass, if you have to be extracted early from the battleground, you showed your efforts, more training will be in due, but you do your best"

8 hours, 1/3 of a day, everyone expresses certain level of nervousness thinking about how much they will have to adapt and prepare in an environement that evolves from every small victory they claim.

Even Rias and Akeno, who have been spending many nights inside the Dark Arena with Arto by sleeping by his side, their experience won't guarantee victory because they know a fact, they were with Arto, the one who knows the arena like the back of his hand.

But for the upside, the place won't scale as hard as when Arto was there because normally, Dark Arena would scale to Arto's level, this means this version of Dark Arena will likely be slower than what they fought

Seeing the heavy atmosphere, Robin eased them down "But it won't mean you're heading in there without help, you'll be armed heavily for your long training sessions like protection suits mana crystals for replenishment, healing potions for your staminas, even time-limited usage of Stabilizer, and many more, that logistical aspect will be taken care of by Arto and me before you head into Sector 1"

A collective sigh of relief swept through the forest clearing as Robin's reassuring words dispersed the suffocating tension. The Rooks stopped digging their heels into the torn earth, and the Knights loosened their white-knuckle grips on their sword hilts.

"You see?" Robin said, her lips curving into a gentle, fond smile as she tucked her tablet under her arm. "Arto may be an uncompromising drillmaster, but he is not a murderer. He understands attrition better than anyone. The goal of Sector 1 is to forge your tactical adaptability under pressure, not to grind you down until you break physically or mentally."

"Anymore questions?" Robin asked, looking around for a raised hand, and she got one from Tsubaki "Yes, Tsubaki?" The Queen of Sona's peerage started "What is the long-term goal of this entire operation, you just mentioned only the short-term one"

Hearing that, Robin wiped the board clean before drawing again with the images of 2 clans Gremory and Sitri standing alone, and other factions of supernatural world surrounding them "The long goal is to prepare you all for a war, one of shadow, one waged beneath the peace"

To show her points, Robin drew arrows from factions like the Church, Grigori, Heaven and Underworld's aristocrats towards Gremory-Sitri "The announcement of magic-tech would draw attention as it will change this world's power structure, and attention...."

The arrows turned from gentle blue to crimson danger "knows no friends nor foes. Probing attempts will eventually come, to pry, to breach, to steal the secret of magic-tech"

Momo chimes in "Are you talking about an intelligence war?" Robin shook her head slightly "Partly, it's a counterintelligence war"

Robin drew a circle around 2 symbols of Gremory and Sitri "And in that kind of war, precision is the most important factor, a strike must be hard enough to draw the line and keep the infiltrators out, but never hard enough for the enemies to have a cause for an all-out war on your clans."

She drew the peerages as the shield of the alliance "And because it's that demanding, we need you, as the protectors of respective clans, to be prepared because your action won't just affect the infiltration, it will affect a bigger political war both clans are playing to stay afloat while keeping their technical advantage against countless hungry vultures"