The clubroom was utterly silent, save for the low, otherworldly hum emanating from the five fruits now cradled in my arms. Their bizarre, swirling patterns seemed to shift in the light, each radiating a distinct, overwhelming aura that made the air feel thick with potential.
Rias stared at the azure-scaled fruit I offered her, her sapphire eyes wide with disbelief. "Issei... what is this? This power... it feels ancient. And alien."
"They're called Devil Fruits," I explained, my voice low and urgent. "From another world's cosmology. They grant incredible powers, but with a cost: the user loses all ability to swim, and sea water saps their strength. For Devils who can already fly and rarely swim, it's a manageable trade-off."
I began handing them out. I gave the crackling, yellow-patterned Goro Goro no Mi to Akeno. "This is the power of lightning itself. You become lightning, Akeno-senpai."
Her violet eyes widened, a flicker of her usual playful intrigue returning. "My, my... becoming the very thing I wield?"
The frost-veined Hie Hie no Mi went to Koneko. "Ice. Control, defense, and a perfect counter to fire." She took it, her amethyst eyes analyzing it with intense focus.
The brilliantly glowing Pika Pika no Mi went to Kiba. "Light. Move at the speed of it. Strike with the speed of it." Kiba's hand tightened around the fruit, a look of awe on his face. "Lightspeed... with a sword..."
Finally, I looked at the last two fruits in my hands. The magnificent Uo Uo no Mi, Model: Seiryu for Rias. And the replica fruit. But as I focused on it, a system notification flashed.
**[ Item Detected: Uo Uo no Mi, Model: Seiryu - Replica (Pink Dragon). ]**
**[ Host's Unique Status: Devil/Boosted Gear Holder detected. ]**
**[ System Proposal: For 500 Points, reconfigure replica fruit's genetic matrix. Fuse with Host's demonic/draconic signature. Create Unique Variant: 'Uo Uo no Mi, Model: Seiryu - Obsidian Scale (Black Dragon)'. ]**
**[ Synergy with Boosted Gear potential: High. ]**
My heart hammered. A Black Dragon. Not a copy, but a unique variant for me. A fusion of this world's dragon and another's. "Yes," I thought instantly. "Do it."
**[ -500 Points. Reconstitution in progress... ]**
The pink, scaled fruit in my hand shimmered. The color deepened, darkened, bleeding from a rosy hue into a deep, abyssal black. The swirls became like patterns of obsidian and smoke. Its aura changed from whimsical to something profoundly deep, shadowy, and fierce. It felt... right.
I looked at Rias, then at the newly transformed black fruit in my hand. "There's been a change, President. The system... adapted this one for me. I'm taking this one. The Azure Dragon is yours. It's regal, powerful, commanding—it fits a King."
Rias looked from her beautiful blue fruit to my ominous black one. The fear and exhaustion in her eyes were being burned away by a rising tide of hope and ferocious determination. She reached out and took the Azure Dragon fruit.
"Then we eat them together," she declared, her voice regaining its full, commanding strength. "As a peerage. And we show my family, and that insufferable Riser, what true power looks like."
Akeno smiled, a real, fierce smile. "A new power to play with. How delightful."
Kiba nodded, gripping his fruit. "For our King's freedom."
Koneko simply said, "Fuu," and held her fruit ready.
Asia watched, hands clasped, praying silently for our safety.
"On three," I said. "One... two... THREE!"
We all bit into the fruits at the same instant.
The taste was indescribably, revoltingly awful—like chewing on a sewer soaked in burnt hair and despair. I heard Akeno gag, saw Kiba's face turn green, watched Rias's regal composure crack for a second as she forced herself to swallow.
But as the horrible pulp slid down my throat, the world exploded.
For Rias, a torrent of azure light erupted. She was lifted into the air, her form shimmering and expanding. Crimson hair flowed as sapphire scales flashed. There was a sound like a celestial chime, and where Rias Gremory had stood, now coiled a majestic, awe-inspiring Azure Dragon, its presence filling the room with a sense of stormy, divine power. She let out a roar that shook the very foundations of the old school building, a sound of liberation and immense power.
Akeno dissolved into a cascade of brilliant, crackling lightning, her laugh echoing like thunder within it. Koneko became a beautiful, terrifying statue of living ice, the air around her dropping to arctic temperatures. Kiba vanished in a flash of light, reappearing instantly on the other side of the room, his sword drawn in the time it takes light to travel.
And for me... it was different.
A dark, silent smoke began to pour from my skin. Not the brilliant crimson of the Boosted Gear, but a deep, shadowy obsidian. My bones ached, not with pain, but with the strain of transformation. Black scales, darker than midnight, erupted across my skin. I felt my form expanding, growing, my consciousness stretching to encompass vast, draconic instincts. Wings of shadow and scale burst from my back. I didn't roar like Rias. I let out a low, deep, rumbling growl that seemed to swallow sound itself, a vibration of pure, dark potential.
I had become a Black Dragon. The power of the Mythical Zoan thrummed through me, a physical, primal strength that felt completely different from the escalating, explosive energy of the Boosted Gear. This was raw, elemental dragon power. And I could feel it... buzzing in harmony with the red dragon slumbering in my arm.
The transformations receded, and we all stood—or floated, in Akeno's case—in our human forms again. But we were changed. Our eyes held new lights: Rias's now had a faint azure glint; mine, a flicker of obsidian shadow. Akeno's fingertips still crackled. A faint chill emanated from Koneko.
Rias looked at her hands, then at me, at her peerage. The despair was gone, burned away in the dragonfire of new power. She smiled, a fierce, Kingly smile.
"Riser Phenex wanted a game," she said, her voice ringing with absolute authority. "Let's give him a game he'll never forget."
I looked at my system balance. **Remaining Points: 8,370.** We had the power. Now, we needed a plan. The Rating Game wasn't just a battle; it was a statement. And we were going to make it in fire, ice, lightning, light, and the roar of two dragons.