The area of the estate that Ruto and Haru really needed to be in, but couldn't be further away from, was alive with activity as Devils of the higher classes mingled and drank, talking about all kinds of things from family relations, business, power and other stuff.
Somewhere off in the crowds of Devils, Rossweisse, Akeno, Kiba and Koneko stood sipping their drinks. They were dressed for the occasion, Kiba in a tuxedo, Akeno in a black kimono, Rossweisse in a short silver dress and Koneko in a pink dress.
Not too far from them stood Riser's peerage headed by Ravel Phenex, his younger sister and Bishop. She was holding a hand fan in front of her face while she boasted of her brother's victory over Rias' Peerage.
"Did you hear how my extremely talented brother bested that Peerage of Rias'? Won himself a bride and more honour for the house of Phenex." she informed a group of Devils that were gathered around her, drinking in all the attention she was receiving. "He absolutely demolished them, and there was no doubt in my mind they'd lost before it even began."
The Gremory Devils heard everything she said, much to their chagrin. "She's… delightful..." Kiba said with strained politeness. He couldn't be sure who could be listening.
"Indeed. That one certainly does have quite the mouth on her." came a voice from off to the side. Approaching them was Sona Sitri, adorned in a blue dress and nursing a drink of her own.
"Oh, Sona, what's up?" Kiba greeted.
"Despite the outcome of the match, I'd say it was rather well played on your Peerage's part. Honestly I wouldn't mind if the end result had been a little different." she said with well hidden bitterness. Rias just had to make one last push with Haru and Ruto's help, and it would have been a clear win. So close, yet so far.
Akeno's small but almost permanent smile widened a little. "While we appreciate the support Sona, we can assure you that this thing isn't even close to being over. Not if we have something we can do about it."
Sona made a small grunt of confusion. "We'll get another shot at them." Kiba said confidently. "But next time, their tricks won't work. We'll be ready."
Koneko nodded and sipped her drink. "Screw that bunch of douchebags." her monotone just made it seem a little more scathing.
"The next time we fight, I won't go throwing myself into explosions. And I guess using some of my magic wouldn't hurt either." Rossweisse added.
The caw of a phoenix and the roar of rushing flames came from the back of the hall where Riser emerged in a pristine white suit, again with the chest exposed and several tails cut into the overcoat.
"Good evening esteemed Devils of the underworld. I wish to thank each and every one of you for coming today." he announced grandly. The Gremory Peerage collectively rolled their eyes. "This is a moment to be recorded in Devil history. The two proud Noble Houses, Phenex and Gremory will become one. I thought it only proper that our dear guest to be the first to know."
He then swept his arm to the side. "And now I present to you my beautiful bride, Rias Gremory!"
A crimson magic circle appeared in the air and so too did Rias, wearing a white engagement dress that hugged her body, accentuating her curves. This caused her to be a source of desire and envy throughout the room. Her expression was one of annoyance, but she remained beautiful all the same.
Suddenly, the large doors of the hall burst open as a couple of guards were sent hurtling into the room.
Unknown room, minutes before
Ruto and Haru panted as they leaned against the stone wall in what appeared to be some kind of sub-basement. Since exiting that hallway which spooked them with the randomly opening doors, they'd been attacked by living suits of armour, Basilisks, skeletons, bats, zombies, lost pizza delivery guys, Jehovah witnesses who were also extremely lost, and other spooky shit. They'd just finished navigating a dungeon with boulder traps, fire, spike pits, wall spikes, spiders, spiky spiders, pendulum blades and more methods of horrible death. To say they were exhausted was a gross understatement.
"I swear Ruto… you.. have the… shittiest… sense of direction." Haru berated between pants. Ruto, while unable to deny it, glared at Haru.
"Oh fuck you… it's not like… you… offered any… better ideas." he rebuked tiredly. He stood straight and walked further through the room and found an old wooden door with light leaking through the edges. He took the iron ring handle and pulled. It didn't budge. Then he pushed, and it still remained shut. He sighed and kicked the door off its hinges. It flew into the servants quarters with muffled thud as it hit an unsuspecting servant.
Ruto checked his corners and then beckoned Haru to follow. The two entered the room and looked around. There was a door at either end of the room, and the two realised they'd cover more ground if they split.
"Alright Haru, I'll take right, you take left." he commanded. He made for the door when he was suddenly jerked backwards by the back of his armoured collar.
"Oh no. I'm not following your directions again. I'll go right, and you take the left." Haru said, and without waiting for a response, he took off towards the right door and left without hesitation.
"Huh, well then left it is." Ruto casually walked towards the left door and also left the room.
"Haru!" Rias called across the room, the onlookers were stunned into silence by the sudden intrusion.
"Rias!" Haru responded in kind. He'd abandoned wearing his Scale Mail to save his strength for whatever would come from this.
A small section of the ceiling collapsed into the room and Ruto stood tall out of the debris and dust.
"Me!" he shouted.
Riser was not amused. "Just who do you two think you are!?" he bellowed furiously.
"Who we are isn't important, Riser." Ruto spat in disgust. "What is important, is why we're here."
"We're here to bring Rias Gremory back where she belongs, and I'm gonna make sure no one ever takes anything from her that she doesn't wanna give!" Haru added resolutely.
Ravel stared incredulously at them. "What the hell is wrong with them? Are they lunatics or something?"
"You insolent pieces of trash." he growled. "Guards, seize them!"
Akeno, Rossweisse, Kiba and Koneko knew this was the time to get involved. "Looks like this is our cue." Akeno said eagerly.
"Yup, let's go." Kiba added.
Two groups of guards surrounded Haru and Ruto. Ruto found the guards to be pathetic. "You guys help Haru out, I got these." Ruto had been itching to test out his new boost in power, and so thought this was the best chance he'd get so far.
He held out an armoured hand at the guards, spread his hand open and channelled his mana flow. I think a little bit of strong wind wouldn't hurt. he made the air in the room rush around the feet of the guards surrounding him until mini cyclones were around their legs. Suddenly the cyclones exploded upwards as Ruto clenched his hand shut, sending the guards on a collision course with the ceiling, some going into the hole Ruto had come through. They fell back to the ground with loud thuds. They wouldn't be getting up any time soon.
I love wind magic sometimes. Ruto thought with a grin.
The other guards were dispatched with Akeno's lightning, icy blows from one of Kiba's many swords and powerful punches and kicks from Rossweisse and Koneko.
"Are you not entertained!" Ruto bellowed at the crowds of Devils.
"Haru, go get Rias." Akeno said to the Red Emperor.
"Right." he nodded.
Riser was glaring fiercely at the Emperors who had intruded so brazenly. "Lord Riser, what is the meaning of this?" a noble off to the side asked.
"It's just a little entertainment I prepared. I hope it's to your liking." the crowds gasped and Riser struggled for polite words as Sirzechs and Grayfia had made their presence known.
"Yo, Sirzechs" Ruto called, waving at the Lord of Devils. Sirzechs smiled and waved but then returned to his serious demeanour.
"My brother's here?" Rias asked in surprise. Ruto was also surprised, but for a different reason entirely. It seemed that Grayfia had played along with Ruto's question from earlier, and was wearing an elegant dark blue evening gown with a large slit in the side of the lower part which showed a lot of leg.
Grayfia could feel Ruto's eyes on her and looked in his direction, smiling slyly at him. He slowly nodded in approval and gave her two thumbs up.
"What exactly do you mean by entertainment?" Riser questioned critically. Sirzechs held up a hand as if placating a child.
"I watched the Rating Game Riser and honestly I found your performance quite underwhelming. Not only did you lose most of your pieces to basic stratagem, but also were nearly brought to your knees by a first time competitor. It was only by them making beginner mistakes did you mange to win." Sirzechs said, a mocking undertone to his voice.
Riser scowled deeply. "I think you and I both know it's the final result that ultimately counts, my Lord." he struggled to remain polite and level toned.
"Oh so now he sticks to first person." Ruto mumbled. He was now stood next to Grayfia to more closely observe the conversation. Grayfia was startled by his sudden appearance but heard his mumbling. She chuckled quietly as not to disturb Sirzechs.
"You really need to stop doing that." she whispered.
"All in good fun." he said with a smirk.
Sirzechs kept his cool demeanour as he responded to Riser. "In the past. But the games don't mean what they used to. Besides, if it wasn't bad enough that you nearly lost to my sister, you're family are far from pleased with the way you performed. Your arrogance nearly cost you." he then gave a subtle grin.
"But in light of that, I think you should be given another chance." Sirzechs offered. "Besides, celebrations like this don't occur very often, so I think a little flare is needed. Wouldn't you agree?" he asked condescendingly to the still scowling Riser. He turned his heavy gaze to Haru, who snapped to attention once he realised that the Lord of all Devils was looking at him.
"You there." he directed to Haru. "They say you possess the power of the Dragon, and I would like to personally see what you're made of. That's the reason I had Grayfia bring you here this evening."
Riser caught on to the challenge being thrown his way and was all too ready to accept. "I see, you want to see a fight. Well I'd be happy to oblige."
"Dragon versus Phoenix, yes. I believe that would be quite the spectacle for this evening." Sirzechs said in a satisfied manner. However, he wasn't aware that another spectacle would unfold that evening.
"I would also like a fight." Ruto spoke. Sirzechs turned to Ruto who was still stood by Grayfia.
"Oh? There's only one opponent, seeing as you also have a grudge against Riser. You have a suggestion?" Sirzechs asked.
Ruto smirked and breathed in deeply. "I'm calling you out Ruval! I know you're in here!" there was silence throughout the hall for several tense moments.
"Are you really sure you want to fight Ruval Phenix? He is the heir to the House of Phenix." Grayfia asked him in concern. She didn't doubt his abilities, but Ruval was very strong, and awaiting promotion to Ultimate-Class.
"Indeed boy. You would be wise to recall your challenge to my brother. As loath as I am to admit it, he's far stronger than myself. If you were beaten by me, then you stand no—" Riser was harshly cut off by Ruto.
"Shut it you perspectively challenged ass hat. I wanna fight him, so I'm gonna." he said icily.
"We haven't yet heard your terms. For what reason do you want to fight?" Sirzechs asked, which was a question on everyone's minds.
"I want Siris, Knight of Riser Phenix freed from her bond to his Peerage." he announced. Riser gave him a dry look.
"If you want the traitor, you can have her. My Peerage has no room for such trash." he sneered. Ruto scoffed at him.
"If it was that easy it wouldn't be worth it. I've got a point to prove, so even if I didn't want Siris, I'd still fight to prove it."
A sudden burst of blueish-orange flames erupted from behind Riser and two immense wings of flame bathed the room in intense heat and the glow of powerful demonic flames. Stood tall with wings of flame was Riser's older, stronger brother. He was Ruval Phenix, Heir to the House of Phenix. He had blonde, well kept hair, dark blue eyes, but a completely different aesthetic and overall presence to Riser.
"Did one of you call me? If you did I must apologise for being late." Ruval said politely. He was dressed in the attire of what one would expect of a noble, his posture was proper and poised and he had a general nice-guy aura about him.
"You're Ruval, right?" Ruto asked. Ruval nodded.
"That is my name yes. Who might you be?"
"Name's Uzumaki Ruto. I'm the White Dragon Emperor. On a side not, just call me Ruto." he then let some of his mana permeate the air. It felt like the air became thicker and heavier, and it was so concentrated it was hard to breathe for some Devils. "I've called you here to fight. I'd fight Riser but my friend here has already called it. So you're the next best thing."
Ruval sighed. "So I'm here because of one of your blunders Riser?" the elder brother asked.
"These peons do not know their place! They presume they can best me, so I will oblige them with another crushing defeat." Riser said heatedly.
"Fool. I too watched that Rating Game, and had Ruto been able to fully access his powers, your victory would have been pyrrhic at best, had you even won. Namikaze would have given you quite the fight himself had he more time to develop his power. You sorely underestimate who you're dealing with Riser." Ruval lectured.
"Enough of this." Sirzechs declared. "You will take your aggression to the arena. Riser and Namikaze Haru will fight, as well
Ruto and Ruval. However, I wish to weigh in on the format of this match." Sirzechs smirked widely as a fittingly Devilish glint appeared in his eyes. "It will be a two versus two tag match."
The Devils in the room gasped. A tag match had not occurred in the arena before, as it was tradition that Devils would face each other in one on one duels of honour. But a two versus two scenario, especially given the incredible powers involved would cause untold devastation.
Rias took a step forward. "Please, you two stop this. Don't fight for my sake. Not like this." however despite her pleas, the Devils and Ruto's competitive spirits would not be denied the challenges set before them.
"That sounds dope as fuck. Good call Sirzechs." Ruto and Sirzechs fist-bumped.
"What can I say, I'm a sucker for a good show." Sirzechs replied with a grin. He cleared his throat and looked at Haru. "Well then Haru, what will be the boon I bestow upon you. A title? A woman of great beauty? Anything I can give within reason should you win, will be yours."
Haru looked Sirzechs dead in the eye. "There's only one thing I want. I want Rias Gremory!"
"Very well, then I say we start this show."