Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Socialize with the guests
"So, who are you going to ask for your Peerage first, besides Rias-chan?" Beelzebub asked loudly as he and Momonga teleported back into the conference room from which they had left but minutes ago, causing Rias to jump as she had apparently been catching up with her brother.
"Lady Phenix requested me to take in, hm, Riser's Peerage, after that I'll just add Rias's Peerage and we'll see after that."
"That's quite a few Pieces already, not to mention two Queens, are you sure you'll have enough points left for all of them?" Beelzebub asked and Momonga shrugged.
"Ah well, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Well, I guess we're done here, correct?" Momonga asked the two Maous and offered his hand to Rias while grabbing the case containing his Evil Pieces. "Shall we?"
"Quite so, quite so." Sirzechs leaned back on his chair. "Oh, Tannin wasn't happy by our little discussion about Red, as you might have noticed, so I asked him to return to his home until he can get his rage in check… Honestly, if I didn't know better, I'd say that he is jealous of you getting a chance to speak with the Great Red and that for once the Red actually said something other than breathing fire on a trespasser. Speaking of which, I expect you to tell me if the Great Red contacts you again, specifically if it concerns the Undead situation."
Rias breathed out to calm herself before accepting 'Issei's hand and lifting herself up.
"Thank you, Sirzechs-san. Anyway, since I've now become a raid- I mean, a Peerage leader, er, King, I'd like to ask you to become my Queen, Rias." Momonga considered putting the whole case of Evil Pieces to his personal inventory and then to a trophy rack as his collector's instincts were warring against a more rational part of his brain. He made a conscious effort to open the case and pull out the Queen Piece before 'the collector' could win.
The collector part was crying blood for giving up rare artifacts that he could otherwise hoard. The rational part of him was telling him that he should use the Pieces to make a decent raiding group, so if he had to go against one or more raid bosses or world enemies that seemed to be everywhere then at least he would have a number of bodies between himself and them. Hopefully, with enough grinding, and assuming experience worked even remotely the similar way as it did in YGGDRASIL, he could get some of the party members to the point they wouldn't be flattened by a single attack from a level 100 enemy.
Of course, that led to a second problem, which was about figuring out how to keep his party loyal to him. Having a shield that could decide to just walk out on you or turn on you wasn't ideal after all, but there was only so much he could do alone. Momonga figured he'd try to do the same he had done with Ainz Ooal Gown and attempt to forge friendships, or if that doesn't work, he could use one or more of his spells and items to take a more… hands-on approach to ensuring loyalty.
'Hm, since 'Momonga' has become an enemy of the Underworld I could theoretically summon a bunch of the undead and have them attack something, and my Peerage could grind experience while defeating the undead attack… They'll need some serious grinding if that fiasco with Death Knight was anything to go by. That, or I'll have to find some sufficiently weak enemies for them to fight against. I'll have to eventually reveal my nature to them, but I might be able to perform a switcharoo and pretend I'll defeat 'Momonga' and absorb his powers like these guys think I did to that 'Riser'. I still haven't found out how he died though, there may be assassins or hidden Players in the area, or perhaps Riser just ran into one of the high-level enemies that seem abundant and was stomped.' Momonga thought as he offered the Queen Piece to the stunned red-headed girl, his thoughts wandering elsewhere to keep himself from thinking about the fact he was giving away a rare artifact. In a way it reminded him of a child tying a thread between a milk tooth and a rock and letting the latter fall out of a window. 'Hmm, normally summoned creatures don't give out experience, but ever since that whole maid incident I've come to wonder how much of what was true in YGGDRASIL holds true here as well? Would spells that cost experience still cost it here?'
"I- I can't accept this!" Rias's eyes were full of tears. "If I take this, then Akeno, she'll… she'll…"
"Ah, no worries, I have a plan." Momonga waved her off while pointing the Queen Piece towards her chest. "Also, it's actually really important I'll get at least one uh, Peerage member first. To make sure they work for me as intended."
"...Really?" Rias's voice was shaky as she took the Piece. Seeing 'Issei' nod at her, she placed the Piece against her chest while closing her eyes. "A-alright, I'll believe you, Issei…"
'Haah… I'm starting to see what Lady Phenix meant.' Momonga sighed as the girl placed her trust on someone that no longer existed, at least as far as he was aware, and wondered if she'd still place her trust in him if he went by a different name, or face. A magic circle of unknown type formed under Rias and it seemed that he'd just have to wait for it to finish casting. 'Seeing that Rias is Lucifer's sister, she should have decent enough potential to justify the Queen Piece. Although I feel I should have been able to just use a Pawn on her as far as power rating was concerned. According to Beelzebub the Piece's points requirement for claiming someone goes down if the power difference between a King and a Piece is too high. However, being promoted to Queen should start her on a journey to gradually move her allegiance towards me... Still, Riser's Queen and Rook were able to 'betray' Riser after he died somehow and was resurrected as a Elder Lich by me, so I'll have to be careful… Then again, at that point Riser was no longer 'Riser', so did they actually betray him?'
Rias opened her eyes and took a step forward, the magic circle disappearing into red particles and waning out of existence altogether a second later. "Huh, so this is what it feels like… Well, I said I'd believe you, so please don't let me down, okay?"
"Sure." Momonga was more focused on the magic circle and his thoughts than her words so he just grunt out the reply half-heartedly. 'Hm… I'll have to find someone who teaches that magic. Interrogate them and figure out what kind of spells exist in this world. All battles are won before either side has thrown a single attack, so it would be reckless of me to not research the abilities the enemy might use… While YGGDRASIL technically has forced teleportation as well, it obeys a whole different set of rules than here, and if even such a simple ability was enough to throw me off the loop when I couldn't understand its limitations I dread what happens if I encounter this world's version of [World Break] or something like it… I wonder if I could stage an attack somewhere with stronger Undead and see if I can force the locals to use more of the abilities, possibly revealing some of their trump cards? If I find a way to grind experience effectively I could summon one of my highest-tier undead and...'
"Hah, Bold, Issei-kun!" Momonga broke off his musings and turned towards the source of the sound, Sirzechs. The Maou was looking at 'Issei' and Rias with a amused but slightly annoyed expression while he had what looked like a modern phone in his hand. Sirzechs still sat at the end of the conference table but had lifted both of his legs on it and was leaning back on the chair without the slightest hint of caring about tipping over. "My, I thought you were quite bold but I didn't think you'd take my sister in front me. Or perhaps I should call you foolhardy?"
Momonga felt sweat drop down his back. "Ah, umu…"
"I'll have to send this to Grayfia, she'll want to see the moment her cute Rias became a real Queen… Ohoho, I think Grayfia had a maid uniform that would fit you, Rias. I could dress up Issei-san with some of my clothes. We could cause so much gossip and outrage at an official meeting between the Pillar families!" Sirzechs seemed to ignore Momonga's weak objection.
"Grah!" Rias let out a roar of embarrassment and threw a chair at the Lucifer, who dodged the object fluidly without taking his eyes off the phone. Beelzebub had disappeared somewhere between the chair taking flight and hitting the wall, and Momonga considered doing the same.
"Look, the hopeful and trusting look in your eyes when you take the Piece, if one ignores the circumstances then it looks so cute!" Sirzechs turned the phone to show a picture on the screen, causing Rias's rage to up one notch.
"RARGH!"
.
.
Akeno jumped on her seat as the door to the cushy 'relaxation' room was practically blasted open and a red-haired hurricane entered it. "Ah, it looks like Rias is back to her normal self… ufufu, I was starting to get worried."
"Akeno…" Rias's rage seemed to flicker as she looked at her now ex-Peerage. She then tossed herself at the raven-haired girl who was practically smushed into the cushy chair by the hug. "Everything will be alright, Issei has a plan."
"And now I'm more worried than ever." Akeno rolled her eyes while patting her ex-King's head. "Ara, you're making me nervous by acting so subdued, I'm starting to think Issei and Lady Phenix have fed you something funny."
"N-no, at least I don't think they have…" Rias groaned. "But if you don't join Issei's Peerage, Lady Phenix threatened he'll have you cast out as a Stray!"
"Please, Rias, I don't think of myself so highly that I'd be worried about that. I'm more a stray than a proper devil either way." Akeno shrugged and then let a choked breath as Rias hugged her so tightly all air left her lungs. "I'm a mixed-breed, one part human, one part fallen angel, two parts devil... "
"You keep rattling on like that and I'll slap you." Rias growled, causing Akeno to stop talking. "Akeno is Akeno, and Akeno is my dear friend, my family and a valuable member of my P- oh… Y-you get the point!"
"Ah, Akeno-san was partly Fallen Angel?" Asia piped quietly and blushed deeply when Akeno looked at her. The nun gripped the hem of her dress nervously, albeit by this point the dress was in dire need of a repair or replacement thanks to the Rating Game and the battle against Undead that followed it. She had refused other clothing though, so she still wore her, thankfully cleaned, battle-scarred church outfit. "I-I mean, the Lord- ow- teaches us to embrace others despite who they are as long as they are good people… er, not literally but I guess that's the meaning rather than wording, erm… besides, Akeno-san is a good person, if scary at times..."
"I don't think any of us really mind Akeno-san being part Fallen Angel." Yuuto condensed Asia's speech and Koneko nodded her agreement. "Still, the fact you've revealed something you've kept hidden from us for so long, specifically like this, means you're steeling yourself for the possibility that Lady Phenix goes through with her threat?"
"...Ara, Yuuto-kun was always the sharp one." Akeno lifted the sleeve of her shrine-maiden's dress over her mouth.
"...So, Lord Issei has decided to have me as his Queen?" a foreign voice entered the conversation, causing Rias to glance at the violet-haired woman who had once been Riser's Queen. The woman had almost eerie ability to escape notice now that she had been robbed of the bombastic and headstrong attitude she had displayed in battle and the eye-catching submissiveness she had displayed when talking with Riser. The ability to escape notice was even more impressive considering that the woman herself was quite eye-catching, both due to her looks and due to her choice of violet-themed dress which was both stylish and left little room for imagination in regards for her shape.
"Ah, Issei, um…" Rias's expression turned complicated. "Issei made me his Queen."
"...Ah. I see. I understand. I presumed too much." Yubelluna's voice was calm, lifeless and flat. The woman leaned back on her chair, for some strange reason making Akeno think of a doll whose strings had been cut.
"My deepest apologies, I was asking the service personnel to give us some space." the voice of the newly-made King entered the room, causing Akeno to shiver unconsciously. "I also asked miss Xuelan to join our company as this conversation concerns her as well."
Issei Hyoudou, or rather, Issei Phenix entered the room with Riser's ex-Rook in tow. The calculating, calm and dignified look on the boy's features clashing spectacularly with Akeno's previous experiences with him. The change was even more noticeable as he was still clad in the fairly stylish red-brown suit similar to the one worn by Riser Phenix, but with the exception that the brown-haired boy wore it with the official no-nonsense air of a businessman whereas the blonde man had worn it like a punk.
There was something in Issei's eyes that caused a cold feeling to crawl up Akeno's back whenever she looked at him, and after the last day's experience with the undead, the boy was straight-up frightening Akeno.
'Yesterday… Old Issei would have probably taken advantage of the situation yesterday to at least fondle the maid's boobs to his heart's content when she forced herself on him, and even though she was an enemy, he'd have at least tried to save the maids. He looked so horrified at first, tried to fight her off… and then all of a sudden he just became perfectly calm and disposed of the maid like so much trash… I can't blame him for toying with an opponent, I do that as well, but there was just something so wrong about the way he did it… ' Akeno shivered against her better judgement, causing Rias to look at her curiously. 'Just… who are you now, and what are you planning, Issei?'
"Right, I've been instructed by Lady Phenix to take in, um, Riser's Peerage into my own. Because the Evil Piece system no longer considers him, er, us, to be a King, I've gone to an undisclosed location to renew my Kingship." Issei put a case he had been holding on to the table which was surrounded by cushy chairs now occupied by members of two ex-Peerages.
He opened the case and everyone saw the almost-full set of Evil Pieces within.
"I've already taken Rias as the Queen of my newly-formed Peerage. Due to your existing Pieces I'll take most of the people in this room with your current roles, just changing the Piece for mine. Assuming, of course, that you'll accept to become my Peerage." Isse's tone was the epitome of matter-of-fact delivery, and left little room for anyone to argue against it.
"I don't see any issues with it, personally speaking. Specifically considering that the alternative is to become a Stray and be killed." Yuuto eyed the case warily. "...What are you planning on doing about Akeno-san, Issei-kun?"
"I'll get to it. Before that, could I trouble you to take these Pieces?" Issei took out a Rook from the case and handed it to Xuelan, who stared at it for a long while. It looked almost as if the girl would rather pick the second option but as soon as Issei was starting to pull his hand away she snatched the piece.
"Fine. Sure. Just… don't get any funny ideas." Xuelan's expression was complicated as she pressed the Piece into her chest, the now-Kingless Piece Riser had used to resurrect her falling from her chest and landing in her hand. She hesitated for a minute before handing the inert Piece to Issei who put it to his pocket.
"Right, next?" Issei looked like the avatar of a calm leader as he started handing out Pieces to other ex-Peerage members.
"...You've changed a lot, Issei." Akeno whispered to no-one in particular as she looked at the boy who was acting less like a teenage pervert and more like an experienced battle-leader handing out ammunition and gear before a battle. That, and making deals they couldn't refuse. Akeno wasn't sure which one was the scarier thought.
"Beelzebub-sama told us that part of Riser's soul had been imbued in Issei." Rias reminded her with a deeply pained voice. "Plus, it seems like the Great Red also imbued something in him… I… don't think there's a lot of the Issei we remember in him anymore."
"Good, now then… Yuuto, can I borrow one of your swords?" Issei asked after Rias's ex-Peerage had accepted the Pieces handed to them, one Piece each of their respective classes, and after receiving a wordless confirmation from Rias, the ex-Peerage had used them and handed their now-unlinked old Pieces to Issei.
"Borrow… a sword?" Yuuto blinked in confusion before using [Sword Birth] to create a shortsword and giving it to his new King. "What are you planning on doing with it?"
"Oh, just testing a theory." Issei took the shortsword with two hands, a palm under the flat of the blade and another palm under the grip of the sword. It was more like Issei displaying the sword with two hands rather than holding it. He then grasped the sword's grip and made a small practise swing towards the door- or would have, except his fingers seemed to cramp around the grip. The blade fell out of his hands and the sharp tip buried itself on the floor. "Tch. Figures I couldn't use blades..."
"Issei? Is everything alright?" Rias asked while Koneno had retreated behind Yuuto and the room's other occupants were looking at their new brown-haired King with varying levels of wariness. Koneno specifically was staring at her new King with fright, her cat-ears on full display.
"Ah, I was just making sure my theory would, uh, work. Or rather, I was looking for a tool to use for it." Issei appeared a bit flustered over the answer but pulled the blade out of the floor and handed it back to Yuuto with the same two-handed display hold. "Thank you, that concludes my test. Now, to the issue of the Queens."
Yuuto took the blade and dismissed it while Issei turned towards Yubelluna. "Right, miss Yubelluna. Would you like to join my Peerage?"
"I… don't see many options for me. I'd prefer not to be declared a Stray and killed. And if what I've heard is correct, you hold at least a piece of Riser within you so… yes, I'd like to become one of your Peerage." Yubelluna seemed resigned as she stood up from her chair. "But, I'm a Queen and you already have a Queen. I don't see a way for me to join you?"
"Good, and your current role won't be an issue. I think it'll take a long time to convince everyone if I explain this first, so I'll just do this and explain later. Don't worry, everything is within my calculations. Yes. Definitely." Issei nodded in good nature, albeit his tone carried a hint of uncertainty, while he took a Pawn piece out of the case. For some reason the simple act carried an aura of finality that caused the hairs to stand on ends in Akeno's neck.
He then turned towards Yubelluna with certainty in his posture and then pointed a finger at her.
Akeno's eyes went wide and Rias froze completely, while Yubelluna's eyes turned glazed and lifeless in realization. She closed her eyes.
"[Fireball]"
Yubelluna's body crashed against the cushy chair with a burning crater the size of a football in her chest, and then slid down to lie on the floor.
The woman let a horrible, gurgling sound before going still.
Xuelan screamed and fell on her knees while looking at the dead body of the violet-haired girl, her hands grabbing the sides of her head in despair.
Rias's ex-Peerage stared at Issei in pure shock.
"Ah, good, the Piece dropped like Beelzebub said it would." Issei seemed to be talking to himself as he walked over to the smoking corpse, completely unfazed, and took the inert Piece which had fallen out of Yubelluna. He placed it in his pocket before turning his attention back to the corpse. "And let's see if the other claim holds true too…"
Issei placed the Pawn piece into the dead woman's chest, quite literally as he pushed it into her exposed, charred heart. A magical circle started to form around the corpse, slowly knitting the flesh and bones back towards their previous shape.
After a few minutes the circle disappeared, and Yubelluna took a ragged breath.
Issei turned the woman over, allowing her to vomit out the contents of her stomach on the floor. "Easy, easy. Resurrections are always a bit exerting. The loss of leve- umu..."
The boy froze and a drop of nervous sweat seemed to run down his neck. "I mean, I've heard that to be the case. From other people."
Akeno vinced as Rias's grip around her chest turned strong enough to crack the ribs of a regular human. "Ara, Rias-chan, are you trying to do Issei-kun's job for him by hugging the stuffings out of me?"
"Ah…" Rias seemed to notice her mistake and eased her grip. Then the grip returned in full force as Issei turned towards Akeno. Rias placing herself on Akeno's lap so she was between her and Issei almost instantly afterwards. "No. Issei, no. Bad. Stay. Hold."
"Woof?" Akeno added her two cents, causing Rias to blush up to her hairline as she realized she had basically used dog-commands to halt Issei.
It seemed that the combined plea had caused something to destabilize in Issei's head as he paused and blinked at the pair. "Ah, right. I was led to believe that the Pieces could resurrect just about anyone except for gods or primordial beings, that Pieces of different kinds couldn't be mixed, and that a Piece would drop upon death if the King of a Piece holder was unregistered or dead, I figured I could just remove the old Piece and use the new one to resurrect the old holder."
"Y-Y-You could have said that before!" Xuelan screamed with barely controlled rage. Issei turned to presumably answer her but before he could get a word out of his mouth the chinese-dress wearing girl charged and kicked Issei in the stomach with enough force to cause the boy to lift two feet off the ground and bend him into a bow, before she ran to help the violet-haired woman into her seat.
"...Well, I guess I deserved that. They were guildmates after all." Issei was still for a moment before he straightened himself out after landing on his feet and sighed, appearing completely unfazed and unwinded from getting kicked by a Rook in the stomach.
He seemed to mumble something under his breath afterwards, but Akeno couldn't quite pick out what he had said. It seemed that Koneko could, however, as the cat-girl curled into a ball up behind Yuuto, her face completely pale.
'Wait, guildmates? Did he mis-speak?' Akeno gulped as Issei turned back towards her and picked a Bishop piece from the case, seemingly business-as-usual, as if he hadn't executed an unresisting ally without so much as blinking just a minute before.
The Issei they had before had been perverted, goofy, and while annoying at times, great fun to be around and even more fun to tease.
The Issei they had right now was positively terrifying.
'Do my 'playthings' feel the same as I do now when I torment them?' Akeno looked at the Piece as Issei walked almost lazily towards her while she unconsciously moved Rias to the side so she'd protect the red-head with her body. '...No, my targets feel only pain and anger… this is worse. This is so much worse… this uncertainty, despair… it's like seeing a skinned face of a friend stapled on top of the skull of someone else.''
"So, Akeno, would you like to become my Bishop?" Issei asked, causing Rias to break out of her stupor while Akeno (and Rias) stood up from the couch-like chair they had been occupying until then.
"N-Now, Issei, wait a moment!" Rias objected.
"Ah, don't worry. The procedure, while not exactly safe, works in the end. This way everyone gets what they want…" Issei began to explain to Rias but she interrupted him in turn.
"No, it's just… I have- er, had a second Bishop already." Rias explained while placing herself between Akeno and Issei.
"Ah, should I presume he or she is not with you currently?"
"No, he's, um, in the human world. I didn't take him with me… uh, he's… he's too strong and unstable, I thought things would get out of hand if I brought Gasper…" Rias rattled out in quick succession. "And, he's not exactly a people-person, he tends to freak out when he meets new people…He's actually stronger than any of us was at the Rating Game but he can't really control his power all that well..."
"Ah, I see." Issei seemed to calculate for a moment, nodded, then responded mildly and good-naturedly in a way that made Akeno think of a fox that dropped a stolen egg from its mouth to snatch the whole chicken. "Oh well, a Pawn will do."
The boy put the Bishop back to the case and brought forth a Pawn.
"...Is a single Pawn really enough? It was enough for Yubelluna but..." Akeno asked, slightly worried as she looked at the single Piece. She placed herself instinctively between Rias and Issei. "Rias had to use eight Pawns when she resurrected you… she could only barely resurrect me with a Queen."
"I imagine so, but as it happens the number of points taken by each resurrection is affected by the respective strength between the King and the person who is about to become part of said King's Peerage. I asked Beelzebub about it personally and a rule called [Unused Pieces] apparently allows strong users to resurrect weaker subjects with less Pieces." Issei explained with a calm expression, which Akeno would normally have no problems with, except that the boy was pointing his finger at Akeno which was causing her heart to beat faster out of fear and uncertainty. "So, would you like to join my Peerage, Akeno-san?"
'Just how strong are you then if you can resurrect someone who took a Queen Piece as a Pawn?!' Akeno wanted to ask, but she dread both possibilities- that he wouldn't tell her and would discard her, or that he would tell her and reveal to her something she didn't want to know. She had long since learned that the world contained secrets that sometimes were best left unburied. "A-alright. I'd like to join your Peerage, Issei-sama."
"Sama?" Issei asked with a good-natured smile on his lips that seemed too genuine. "Ah, please don't bother with the formalities. We're a raid- I mean a King and a Peer soon."
Rias went instinctively between Akeno and Issei from the declaration, forcing Akeno to step in front of Rias to protect her from Issei, and the protection-step-dance led the both of them falling on the couch-like chair behind them in a tangle of limbs.
"Ara?" Akeno tried to disentangle herself from the red-head to little avail, and froze as Issei's voice entered her ears.
"Now, in normal circumstances I'd be somewhat opposed to someone touching my 'wife' like that, but since this arrangement between Rias and me came quite suddenly, and truthfully without either of our consent, and by extension I wasn't aware of Rias-san's existing relationships, I won't begrudge either of you." Issei bowed slightly to Akeno and Rias. "And while I understand your desire to have 'one last time', so to speak, in case the resurrection doesn't work, I would have preferred if you asked for some time in privacy first. Please consider the rest of your teammat- I mean, Peerage members."
Akeno looked down to see that she and Rias were practically scissoring thanks to their tangled fall.
She blushed utterly red while glancing around and seeing that Asia had slapped her hands over her eyes, Yuuto was looking away politely while his cheeks were a little red, and Koneko was staring at them with wide open eyes and mouth. Yubelluna seemed more concerned with staying conscious after the resurrection and Xuelan just glanced at the two girls on the chair, rolled her eyes, and turned her attention back to the violet-haired girl.
"Oh, just kill me now." Akeno groaned.
"Very well, if you'd prefer."
Akeno opened her mouth to scream 'I didn't mean it literally!' but before she got out the first syllable something hot exploded in her chest.
'IT HURTS IT HURTSHURTS… ow.'
She opened her eyes to see panicked Rias kneeling over her with tears streaking on both her cheeks.
Akeno realized she was lying on the floor, then looked down and confirmed that both her breasts were in their correct places, realized that she was alive, again, and the red resurrection circle around her was currently dissipating gently.
Akeno barely heard the resounding slap that came from Rias showing her displeasure at Issei, likely for forcing Rias to cradle her best friend's dead body.
Akeno was too busy realizing that the current Issei wasn't just terrifying. He was also calculating, cunning, and somehow also strong enough to resurrect Akeno with a single Pawn.
The combination made Issei absolutely horrifying.
.
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