Riser, eyes bloodshot, came charging in through the front door, staring straight at Takumi.
He wasn't mad because Ravel was crying. He was mad—purely—because of what happened earlier.
Right now, he couldn't hear anything else.
Takumi's voice… he'd never forget it as long as he lived. That voice—constantly urging Rias to lift her ass higher—kept echoing in Riser's heart like a curse.
"Go die!!!"
He roused every last ounce of demonic power in his body. The surging aura ignited into flames and gathered over his right fist.
All of Riser's rage and resentment poured into that single blow.
In that instant, the power he erupted with shot up—so close it was practically brushing the level of an Ultimate-Class devil!
"Big brother!!"
Ravel was terrified by her brother, who looked like a vicious demon in human skin. And yet, the fist Riser threw didn't even care that Ravel was standing right in front of Takumi.
Just as she shut her eyes in fear—Takumi calmly lifted his gaze.
Before Riser's punch could even get close, Takumi—moving after him, yet arriving first—swung a slap.
Smack!
A crisp sound rang out, and the air itself detonated.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!!
A chain of sonic booms exploded in the room like a bundle of high-yield grenades! A violent gale blasted outward, nearly tearing the entire attic to shreds—but with a light press of Takumi's palm, a vast wave of telekinesis howled out, pinning the shattered aftershock in place, locked to the spot where Riser stood.
BANG!!!
Riser, caught inside, burst like an overinflated balloon. In an instant, his entire body exploded into scattered sparks.
Inside the telekinetic cage, even the leftover shockwaves alone were enough to kill him six times over.
Flickering embers gathered back into flesh.
When Riser regenerated again, his eyes were crystal clear—so clear it was almost tragic.
He dropped to his knees, trembling as he looked up, not even daring to meet Takumi's eyes.
That one slap was enough to make him understand the difference between them—heaven and earth.
If the man in front of him actually wanted to kill him…
He'd die.
He would absolutely die.
Every cell in Riser's body was screaming the same warning.
Riser had never been afraid in his life. But now, he was so scared he couldn't even move.
…
Everything had happened too fast—so fast that Ravel didn't even process it.
And at this moment, her mind was a total mess because she was being held in Takumi's arms, pressed tight against his chest.
The sharply defined muscle lines—along with that overwhelming presence—made her heart pound.
And he smelled… really good.
Sniff, sniff… sniff, sniff—
Ravel subconsciously breathed him in again and again, two tempting blushes blooming on her cheeks.
After a few seconds of getting lost in it, she jolted back to reality. No—this wasn't the time to be sniffing him!
She hurriedly looked at her brother and saw him kneeling there, completely wrecked.
And Riser, seeing Takumi's face clearly, recognized him instantly. "Takumi!! So it was you!"
Riser roared even while kneeling, his fury still spilling out. "What did you do to Rias?!"
Takumi, amused, casually pinched Ravel's cheek as she sat in his arms.
Then he replied like it was nothing. "Do I really need to spell it out?"
"AAAAAHHHH!!!"
That one airy sentence instantly snapped Riser's last thread of sanity, but under the crushing weight of telekinesis, he couldn't even stand.
He got mad once. Then he got mad again. Then he got mad again—and after getting mad a few times while still stuck kneeling, he finally collapsed even lower, faceplanting to the floor in pure humiliation.
"Huff… huff… huff…"
He was panting so hard he didn't even have the strength to be angry anymore.
Riser had fully accepted the truth: In front of Takumi, he was nothing—just some random nobody you'd step over on the sidewalk.
…
Having finally pieced together what was happening, Ravel turned to Takumi, who'd been openly messing with her.
Her face was flushed and gorgeous, and she got mad—by gently pushing him.
She didn't move him at all, so she just stayed right there, nestled in his arms anyway.
But she still spoke with righteous seriousness. "Y-you can't treat my brother like that! You're the one who beat Katerea, right?"
"You're that strong, and you're still bullying my brother… th-that's not right!"
The bratty young-lady act from earlier was gone. Now Ravel looked soft, wronged, and weirdly adorable.
Seeing that pouty, aggrieved expression, Takumi nearly blurted out something like, "That's what the strong do—humiliate the weak."
But he held it in and didn't get too cocky.
"Let's be clear: your brother attacked first. I just hit back."
Takumi said it, then lifted a hand and ruffled Ravel's twin drill-curls. They were springy—ridiculously satisfying to mess with.
In no time, Ravel's cheeks turned even redder.
"Stop picking on my sister!!" Riser, seeing that, immediately panicked and shouted. First you cuck me, then you tease my little sister—how much more are you going to do?!
"Big brother, stop talking. This… is your fault."
After thinking for two seconds, Ravel quietly made an excuse for Takumi.
"—Ghk! PFF—!!"
Riser's face went green. He couldn't catch his breath, spat out a mouthful of blood, and passed out on the spot.
"Uh… don't look at me. I didn't touch him." Takumi raised both hands, completely innocent.
Akeno couldn't hold it anymore—her smile was trying to escape her face like it had a mind of its own.
This was emotional execution. Pure and simple.
"Big brother?! What's wrong?!" Ravel looked anxious, seeing Riser go down.
Takumi didn't care at all. "Your Phenex 'immortality' is famous. Coughing up a little blood is nothing."
"…."
Ravel froze. After two seconds of silence, she felt… like he had a point.
"Where do you live? I'll send your brother back."
Takumi spoke at the perfect time, already forming a teleportation circle. Ravel immediately gave him the address.The next moment, the magic circle opened under Riser, and he was teleported away.
Takumi casually tossed out a cleaning spell too, wiping up the blood on the floor in one go.
"Um… thank you, for sending my brother home. I don't know what's wrong with him today… maybe he's just been in a bad mood lately."
Ravel straightened up into a refined young-lady posture and bowed to Takumi in thanks.
Even though she'd been spoiled into being a bit of a brat, she wasn't actually a bad person at heart.
And after Takumi's repeated lessons, her attitude had turned downright… gentle.
Hearing her say thank you, Akeno turned her head away—her laughter finally broke free.
Koneko also looked over with a strange, complicated expression. Ravel didn't notice either of them. Instead, she started roasting her brother.
"My brother's probably that mad at you because of his peerage. He'd picked out a bunch of female candidates, and he was already getting ready to recruit them… but before he could, every single one of them went to join your Clan, Takumi-sama. So now he's stuck picking from backup options—male candidates—and he's been sulking all day."
As she talked about it, Ravel didn't even try to hide how much she looked down on him.
Getting furious over something like that was seriously embarrassing for the Phenex Clan's dignity.