Everyone was in a tense state as the day passed and midnight approached. Neither Rias nor her Peerage had been allowed to move out of the Occult Research Clubroom due to the current state of affairs. With the immense loss that the Phenex family had suddenly suffered, they were out for blood, and their target was the Gremory Family. The only reason that things didn't devolve into an outright war between the two families was the mediation of Sirzechs. Ultimately, when her elder brother came by an hour after midnight, Rias was the only one awake. Issei and Kiba were sound asleep on the couches while Koneko was still nestled in Rias' arms as she napped in the comfort of her King's warmth.
"I'm guessing the situation is very bad," Rias said the moment Sirzechs appeared in the room.
"Worse," he said. "If we can't bring Ravel back before the end of the month, they will start actively acting against the Gremory family."
"How did Riser die?" Rias asked. "Everyone else only disappeared. Why did he specifically die?"
"The reason behind his death is why we even have a month of leeway," he said, taking a seat at the only free armchair in the room. "There were traces of Chaos on his corpse. That's what destroyed his internals and suppressed his healing."
"Chaos… The Oroborous Dragon," Rias said with a sigh.
[You seem to have expected this.]
[Remember the thing I told the original Rias that belonged to this reality before I took over?]
[About a rogue Ophis planning to attack this reality?]
[It wasn't a complete lie.]
"I'm surprised you connected the dots so quickly," Sirzechs seemed surprised. "Yes, we surmised that this was a plot of the Khaos Brigade and bought some time to let things settle down."
"What now?" Rias asked. "Are we going to sit on our hands for the next month? It's not just Ravel who disappeared."
"I know," Sirzechs nodded solemnly. "I will be visiting Ajuka after this to find a solution. Let's hope he can come up with something after analyzing the duplicates among Riser's Peerage."
"Sounds good," Rias nodded. "Are we out of house arrest now?"
"I'll suggest that you keep your actions limited to Kuoh for now," Sirzechs said. "There's no telling if he will keep his word or not. Ravel was clearly doted upon by the entire family."
"Unlike a certain someone in our family…" Rias said, snidely.
"Grow up, little sister," Sirzechs said with a comforting smile. "We all have to make a sacrifice or two for the greater good. Even the strongest ones. If it were all up to me, I wouldn't let you endure the slightest inconvenience in your life. But circumstances… Goodnight, I'll keep in touch regarding a solution."
[That's why we are running earlier than expected…]
[Yes. I wasn't sure when Riser had just died, but with the confirmation that it was Ophis… We can't risk staying here for too long. Once Ophis breaks in, all hell will break loose.]
[No pun intended.]
Rias made a face at him and shook her head before creating two different magic circles.
[You know…because hell is an actual place. If it were just hell breaking loose, it wouldn't be that big a deal because the higher-ups would contain everything…]
[Don't explain a bad joke, Orion. That only makes it worse.]
When Rias activated the spells that she had prepared, all three of her Peerage members were teleported away, leaving her alone in the slightly dark room. Seeing his chance, Orion immediately extricated a part of himself from Rias and took his human form beside her.
"Finally," he exhaled. "So, how are we doing this?"
"You seem relieved to be out here?" She said.
"You're imagining things," he said, waving his hand. "How long will it take for you to locate your angel candidates?"
"I know where she will be tomorrow night, with a companion. We'll just meet them there," Rias said, pushing her chair back and standing up.
"What do we do in the meantime?" Orion was aware that she was talking about Irina and Xenovia and wasn't surprised by the addition of a companion.
"Right now? Have an actual meal and get some real sleep. I've been up for a whole week, surviving on nothing but those shitty energizers. This woman needs some real food."
"Great, it's a date," Orion nodded. "I know just the place."
"Wait…" Rias didn't quite get the time to process the words before she found his hand slipping into hers as he led her to the door.
"Yeah, I'd rather that you keep this cute albeit slightly dumb look reserved for me," he said, pushing open the door and pulling her out of the room.
"I never agreed to a date," she said, frowning at him. Yet her feet didn't stop, and she continued stepping forward, keeping up with his pace. "And you're the dumb one." She turned her head away and mumbled to herself.
"You're a great actress, Rias," Orion praised. "But it's not good enough. Let alone your microexpressions, I have a constant view of all of your internals. From the slightest twitch of a muscle to the rhythmic beating of your heart. I can't read your mind, yes, but you can't lie to me."
"You don't want me to act cute around you, you don't want me to be cold around you, what do you want?" She asked flatly.
"Don't you know, Rias? I want you," he said with a gentle smile. "You, in all your busty, if slightly nihilistic and single-minded, glory. That mask of emotions you wear holds no use in front of me."
"You're terribly naive," she said flatly, all traces of her previous expressions disappearing from her face as a sense of numbness replaced everything.
"No, I'm just trying to make the best of my situation," he said. "Whether I like it or not, we're stuck together. Permanently. And I would much rather talk to the true, numb, and unfeeling version of you than the mask that pretends otherwise, throwing me off because I can feel the insincerity behind it."
"If you want to try fixing me, good luck," she said. "I do this voluntarily. Helps keep me shielded from dealing with the fact that everyone around me will constantly die while I keep running. If anything, this is how you will find yourself in a few years with me… if you can stay along for the ride, that is."
"I'm definitely staying along for the ride," he said, chuckling. "In the meantime, I'll get my fill of both emotional and carnal satisfaction through the women that you throw at me. Once I figure out a way to bring someone along, that is. The situation with Akeno has already left a bad taste in my mouth."
"Then what are you going to do with Irina and Xenovia?" Rias asked. "I definitely can't take them with us. Are you going to abandon them to their deaths here as well?"
"Trying to guilt-trip me?"
"I'm trying to show you the reality around here," she said. "If you can't take it, there's always the other route. A million or so people should be enough for our energy requirements."
"That has to be an exaggeration. You said you can cast the spell with your own magic."
"That's factoring in my natural regeneration and the naturally greater quality of my Demonic Energy," she said. "You don't think that it's all a quantity game, do you? The amount of Demonic Energy Akeno uses to cast a single lightning bolt would allow her to cast more than twenty of the same spells if I were the one supplying energy to her. Don't forget to consider the quality factor in Demonic Energy."
Doesn't that mean my dumb system scammed me by boiling everything down to numbers… If it's a quality thing, then the numbers mean jack shit. My twenty-two units could be equal to just barely two units of Rias' energy or twenty thousand units. Maybe if I can actually learn the theories behind magic, it might automatically update or something…
"By the way, when are you going to teach me about magic. You said you'd do it after the Rating Game. I know the whole Ophis thing has come up, but an introduction never hurts, right?"
"First off, tell me what kind of magic you want to learn?"
"How many kinds are there? I've seen Devils use magic that is based on family crests; the Angels and the church folk seem to create consistent golden circles of holy light. Norse circles are the most varied as I recall, with many different shapes and shit," he said. "I can tell by your expression, no need to belittle me. I know shit all about any of this whole magic stuff."
"I'm hungry," she said. "How much further is this food place we're going to?"
Orion blinked at her sudden change of topic and had the same dumb expression on his face that he was teasing her about just a little while ago. He realized that, holding her hand, he'd led her all the way out of the school, and they were casually walking through the street in the complete opposite direction of the place he was planning to bring her.
"Hey, Earth to Orion," Rias waved her hand in front of his face. "Why are you zoning out?"
"Turns out we need to go that way," Orion said, walking around her and casually continuing to walk in the other direction.
"You forgot about my food, didn't you?" She said coldly. "Let me tell you the most important thing about me. Do not mess around when it comes to my food. Period. You can do whatever you want, but food is my bottom line."
Rias stopped, tugging Orion's arm, but still not trying to separate from his grip as she formed a teleportation circle under them.
"Yeah, all right, this one's on me," he said. "I got distracted talking to you. I'll make it up to you. You can use my lap as your seat and make me feed you. I accept my full punishment."
"That's a reward," her blunt words brought a chuckle out of Orion as he observed the ramen place that she had brought him to.
"How about we get back to my magic thing?" he said.
Rias didn't respond and first ordered two servings of the same ramen before leading him to a booth.
"You know as much as someone who has only seen people cast magic and hasn't received any formal magic education," she said flatly. "Truth be told, even I never got any actual formal magic education beyond Demonic magic."
"Is there a difference?"
"A world of difference," she said. "Demonic magic and the whole family crest thing is essentially a crutch. One that I'm still stuck on and unable to free myself from. Let's leave it here for now. We'll get to magic in a few weeks, preferably in the next reality."
"Huh? Why?"
"Because I need to prepare a lesson plan," she said. "I'm not a teacher, but I don't want you to get stuck with the crutch like me. For that, I have to consolidate the things that I have learned over the past five years."
***
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