LIGHTNOVELONLINE Rating Game (Finale)
(At Riser’s side…)
Riser Phenex was having a bad day.
No, that wasn’t exactly accurate.
He hasn't been feeling well since that damned HUMAN appeared. At first he hadn’t thought of him much when they first met, only a tiny bug that could be eliminated at any time.
However, Riser was wrong, WAY wrong.
He had noticed it when his pawn was easily countered and sent flying. But as a member of the Phenex clan, Riser couldn’t show any weakness to anyone, every devil had their own pride after all.
Since that day, Riser had a feeling of dread that a tragedy was about to befall him. If it wasn’t for his parents wanting him to marry the redhead devil, he wouldn’t do it! But now it reached this point, Riser couldn’t just tarnish the honor of Phenex. So he had used his contacts to get information of the young man Touma Kamiya, but no matter how hard they searched for something useful, it was all in vain, everything they got about him seemed no different from ordinary.
With no other choice, Riser instructed his peerage a few days prior Rating Game to take care of the human while he along with his Queen dealt with Rias and her peerage. He hoped the unease in his heart would go away.
However, as the same as before, Riser was wrong.
Not only had Touma eliminated his entire assigned peerage, but Rias and her group proved more troublesome than he had anticipated.
'Dammit, what exactly happened during those two weeks? Riser cursed in his mind. His demonic power reserves were lower than he would have liked, not to mention that his gut kept telling him to get the hell out of there as soon as possible ever since that human had suddenly appeared. 'Where did someone like that show up?
"I-It's impressive that you have defeated all my peerages, but so what? You are still no match for me!" Riser knew he sounded ridiculous, but he could not think straight at the moment, not when his instincts were constantly screaming at him. Even then, he could not show weakness.
And for some reason, the human did not respond to his provocation. Instead, he had put on a sinister smile that sent a shiver down Riser's spine.
(General POV)
Touma ignored Riser’s provocation and land next to Rias and her peerage gathered around him.
“Are you okay? Are you injured?” Asia spoke first in a concerned tone and was ready to use her Sacred Gear to heal him, however he brought his hand up and stopped her.
“Don’t worry about me, they weren’t that much trouble to begin with.” Touma said with a reassuring smile before turning to Rias. “What’s the current situation?”
“We managed to hold off and even exhaust Riser to the point we could injure him, however his Queen healed him with a drop of Phoenix Tear.” Rias told him a summary of what happened.
“Good, but how about you?”
“*Sigh* Kiba And I are exhausted during the confrontation with Riser, but I can still fight.”
“I can still fight just fine.” “Me too.” Akeno and Koneko said respectively.
“I can–” Asia tried to join in, but it was immediately denied by everyone.
“No, you are still not ready to fight anyone yet.” Touma countered in which the blond girl just dropped her shoulders. Seeing her like this, Touma couldn’t help but pat her head.
“Keep training and one day you might join us in the battle.” Touma said and retracted his hand.
Asia nodded and then all of them turned to Riser.
“Now…Chicken Nugget, it’s time to end this Rating Game.” Touma said and turned to the remaining Phenex.
“C-Chicken Nugget…?” Riser muttered dumbstuckered as no one ever called him that. He gritted his teeth in anger and clenched his fists. “There will be no ashes when I am done with you!”
Touma chuckled and stepped forward. “Rias, I am leaving his Queen for you.”
“Roger.” Rias said along with her peerage.
Looking at Touma who ignored him completely, Riser grew more annoyed. “Do you think you can do whatever you want–!?” The devil didn’t finish speaking when a fist suddenly hit his stomach. “Buwah!”
The force was great enough to send him flying from his place in an instant.
‘How is it possible? How is he so fast?’ Riser thought and stopped mid-air. ‘This is bad, I need to get out and re…cover…’ His thoughts were interrupted by a foot approaching quickly his face.
‘[Time Magic: Epitáchynsi Chrónou (Time Acceleration)]’ Touma chanted silently, making the time around his body accelerate greatly and did a roundhouse kick on Riser’s face.
*Booom!*
Riser’s body crashed on the ground at high speed, creating a crater on the ground. The devil coughed and groaned in pain as his clan’s trait tried its best to heal him.
‘Why does it fucking hurts so much!’ He thought and tried his best to stand up, but his knees weren’t helping much as it kept shaking. Then he saw Touma appear in thin air in front of him and glared at him with hatred.
“Bastard…I will fucking murder you…” Riser muttered under his breath as he was breathing heavily at this point.
‘I didn’t even need to use [Crest of Stars] to beat this guy up. Is it that unique skill that I got from Masayuki, where every one of my attacks are critical hits?’ Touma thought and he took a mental note to create a fighting style that combines most of his abilities and use them effectively.
Touma crouched and looked directly at Riser’s eyes.
“Tired already?” He mockingly asked.
“You…!” Riser clenched his fist and tried to punch him, but he was too slow for Touma. The black haired young man simply side stepped and dodged the blow easily.
Riser stumbled on his own feet after failing to deliver the punch and fell on the ground again.
“It’s useless. There is no chance for you to win, Riser.” Touma said and extended his hand. Then a comically pink colored gun appeared in his hand and pointed at the devil in front of him. Touma had to use all of his willpower to grin like a madman at his little mischievous plan.
[The Queen of Riser’s peerage has been disqualified.]
"W-Wait! Do you know how important this marriage is for the future of the entire Devil society? This is a union between two high-class devils, from which the strongest devil of all times can emerge! So why is a powerful human like you interfering with it!?” Riser said as he retreated a little away from Touma.
“You are asking for my reason?” Toma questioned and stopped for a second. “If I had to pick one, it would be for my own interests and also to lend a hand to a friend. Also, do you really think that just because the union between Gremory and Phenex Pillars will give birth to a devil with both of these traits? It’s not even guaranteed and with how awful the fertility of devils are I doubt you would ever succeed.”
“B-But there is a possibility!” Riser countered immediately. “And don’t be ridiculous! After humiliating us and interfering just for that mere reason?” He asked indignantly while buying time to recover.
“That’s right. While I won’t tell you my objectives, I will let you know that I don’t care about that tiny possibility of the strongest devil or some bullshit. Whatever your or your clan’s plans may be will just disappear along with your genitals.” Touma said as he put index finger on the trigger.
“*Tsk* You are mad!” Riser didn’t understand what he meant by that, but he felt that Touma wouldn’t listen to him anymore. So he used the remaining of his demonic power to create a torrent of flames at Touma’s direction with Phenex’s flames and wind magic. “[Hell’s Fire]!”
*Sigh*
“I already told you it’s useless.” Touma muttered and accelerated himself in time and reappeared behind Riser in an instant. "Farewell, miss Phenex.” Touma pressed the trigger and it shot a pink beam at Riser.
Then Touma immediately punched ‘him’ and knocked Riser out with a punch.
[The King Riser Phenex has been disqualified. The winner of the Rating Game is King Rias Gremory.]