Late at night, inside the lavishly decorated activity room lounge of Kuoh Academy's Occult Research Club, only several ancient bronze-colored candlesticks emitted light, filling the dim space with an atmosphere of mystery and solemnity.
A voluptuous red-haired girl wearing a Kuoh Academy uniform skirt so short that her panties were visible sat on a sofa in the activity room. Her long, fair legs extended from beneath the skirt as she played chess with another beautiful woman who had black hair tied in a single ponytail reaching her knees.
Not far behind the two women, a handsome blond boy sat cross-legged on the floor, carefully wiping an unusually styled Western longsword.
Click-clack-clack…
The sound of joystick movements and button presses echoed continuously. A massive arcade machine stood against the wall, where a silver-haired petite girl focused intently on playing a King of Fighters fighting game.
Everyone here was busy with their own activities.
The single-ponytailed beauty, Himejima Akeno, smiled as she placed the final move on the chessboard. Looking warmly and teasingly at Rias across from her, she said,
"President, checkmate~"
Rias glanced at the checkmated board. She didn't show frustration or disappointment, only frowned slightly and looked at the clock on the wall. It was already deep into the night.
Seeing that Rias seemed distracted and said nothing despite losing, Akeno looked at her with confusion.
"President, is something on your mind?"
"…Too long."
Rias frowned slightly, then waved her hand and opened a crimson summoning magic circle. A moment later, a small red bat appeared before her. Its appearance wasn't ugly, and its eyes were extremely lively.
The red bat flapped its wings and landed on Rias's finger, tilting its head as it spoke,
"Did you call for me, Master?"
This red bat could actually speak human language. It was Rias's familiar.
"Did you give the devil summoning flyer to Issei like I told you?" Rias asked calmly.
At this point, there had been no summoning reaction at all, which made her increasingly irritated. After all, she had been keeping an eye on Issei, a Sacred Gear user, for quite some time.
She knew about the fallen angel dating Issei. Giving him the flyer was meant as a backup plan.
"I did. I even personally confirmed that he put the flyer into his pocket."
Seeing her master's serious expression, the red bat answered just as seriously.
She had transformed into human form to hand the flyer to Issei and personally watched him put it away. There couldn't be any mistake.
"President, something might've gone wrong," Akeno said, looking at the frowning Rias, already sensing that an accident may have occurred.
Those words made Rias stand up immediately as crimson magic power surged over her body. The silver-haired girl and Yuuto Kiba also noticed something was wrong and immediately stopped what they were doing to come over.
Rias gestured to Akeno with her eyes, then looked at her peerage members.
"Koneko, Yuuto, go check Hyoudou Issei's house. Akeno and I will investigate what happened on the flyer's end."
"Yes, President."
Koneko and Yuuto acknowledged, exchanged a glance, and leapt straight out of the activity room window. Their ghost-like figures flickered a few times in the darkness before disappearing.
Rias didn't waste time either. She activated her magic and opened a teleportation magic circle connected to Issei's flyer.
With Akeno smiling as always behind her, the two stepped into the magic circle.
A flash of magical light later, they arrived at their destination. The scene before them made Rias frown deeply.
They had appeared by a riverside bridge with very little foot traffic.
And Issei was nowhere to be seen.
"President, over here!" Akeno suddenly called out, pointing toward the riverbank.
A soaked devil summoning flyer was stuck to a small rock, not washed away by the current. When Rias saw this, her expression darkened slightly.
There really had been an accident.
Losing a preselected Sacred Gear user upset Rias greatly—not because she cared deeply about Issei himself, but because of her engagement issue.
Rias was engaged to Riser Phenex, the third son of the high-ranking Phenex clan of the Underworld. She disliked him and had openly stated she would not marry Riser.
However, this engagement wasn't something she could simply refuse. The number of pure-blooded devils had already reached dangerous low, and the conservative faction obsessed with blood purity would never allow her to act recklessly.
Thus, Rias had prepared to resolve the engagement through a Rating Game. The more high-quality peerage members she had, the better her chances—and Sacred Gear users among humans were the best possible choice.
Now that she had lost one she had already earmarked, her mood sank considerably. Sacred Gear users weren't easy to find.
"This area is… Chiba?"
Rias's emerald eyes glowed with magic as she turned her head and carefully surveyed the surroundings, finally confirming their location.
She hadn't expected the flyer given to Issei to appear this far from Kuoh Town. She remembered Chiba had previously…
"Akeno, I remember my brother once told me that the legendary necromancer had appeared in Chiba before, and that the daughter of the Dragon Emperor of Demise was also active in this area…"
Rias recalled her earlier conversation with her brother, who had warned her not to approach this region during her free time due to the complex power struggles here.
Aside from the legendary necromancer and the daughter of the Dragon Emperor of Demise, there were also magical garment girls of Velliers and vampire ninjas active in this area.
Most importantly, members of the infamous Khaos Brigade had also appeared here.
Not long ago, her sister-in-law Grayfia had received news from a friend from Velliers named Ariel. While trying to save her friend's daughter, she had nearly been killed by the daughter of the Dragon Emperor of Demise.
That green dragon had been in a foul mood recently. Anyone who unleashed even a trace of unusual power near this area would be treated as an enemy and annihilated. It seemed she had already claimed this entire region as her territory.
The smile faded from Akeno's face. Rias had told her before that this area was becoming increasingly dangerous. Watching Rias deep in thought, Akeno—her Queen and closest confidant—could already guess part of what she was thinking.
"Rias, we should leave as soon as possible. You know how complicated things are here."
Facing Akeno's advice, Rias stared expressionlessly into the distance, a bold idea forming in her mind.
Since this area was so entangled with powerful forces—and the legendary 'center of the world' was here—could she use this situation to break free from her engagement?
The chances were slim, but if she didn't try, there wouldn't even be a one-percent possibility. If that was the case, why not gamble?
She remembered that Kuoh Academy had recently been selecting exchange students to study at other schools…
---
Elsewhere, Raize was in just as good a mood as the system inside him. After Nep absorbed the Red Dragon Emperor's soul, the Red Dragon Emperor's Blazing Inferno Flame directly replaced his fire manipulation ability. Boost, Transfer, and Penetration—three highly practical abilities—were also handed to him by the system.
Originally, Raize's current strength wouldn't allow him to use the Red Dragon Emperor's Flame, but with Kirby's power, the inhale-and-copy priority overrode that special dragon flame, allowing him to perfectly accept it.
Beyond that, seven games suddenly lit up in his playable game list.
Looking at the system projection before him, Raize stopped by to buy daily necessities for the three women at home before heading back. After the system absorbed the Red Dragon Emperor's soul, seven new games were unlocked in his game list.
Minecraft, Iron Man, Ultimate Spider-Man, King of Fighters '96, Street Fighter IV, Bleach vs Naruto 3.3, Nekopara
These seven games… wait a second. Isn't that last one a bit too ridiculous!?
Raize stared at the final game icon with a strange expression. Nekopara was definitely there—so even games like this could appear?
But clearing it didn't really give many rewards. What, was beating it supposed to reward him with a catgirl?
[ Unlocked games are completely random. I didn't manipulate anything. As a system spirit of games, I uphold fairness—no insider tricks. ]
Listening to the pleasant voice in his head, Raize opened the game directory and browsed the text-heavy story games similar to Dies Irae. After searching for a while, he really did find quite a few yellow-tagged games.
Some classic Kaleidoscope-type titles, for example. In the past, he'd focused solely on power and naturally gravitated toward games that increased his strength, subconsciously ignoring these 'special' games.
[TL: 'Special' means R-18 games]
Playing games—don't forget that Raize could synchronize his senses. If he played these with sensory sync… heh heh.
Men prepare tissues when gaming. What should women prepare?
Thinking about it that way, the existence of these games also implied Nep…
"I didn't expect that even you, Nep…" Raize wore a knowing, perverted grin. Plenty of women liked these kinds of games too—he understood. He really did.
But before he could finish, a chibi version of Nep suddenly materialized above his head. Blushing furiously, she held a massive black iron hammer twice her size with "BONK" written on it, swung it in a full arc, and smashed it down onto Raize's head.
Bang!
The sound was like a temple wooden fish being struck. The blow felt as if it hit Raize's soul directly, and even his powerful body couldn't withstand it.
"That hurts!!"
A huge lump swelled up on Raize's head. The blushing chibi Nep plopped down onto the lump, causing secondary damage, then casually swung the hammer to smack away his reaching hands.
Although he wasn't injured, the pain was enough to bring tears to his eyes. Half-crouched on the ground, Raize's face twitched.
Chibi Nep sat atop the bump with her legs crossed. After the hammer dissipated, her fair little face puffed up angrily, looking extremely cute.
"Hmph~ I hate H! You deserve it, Raize!"
After giving the lump on his head one last embarrassed kick, chibi Nep disappeared.
"Tch—" Raize winced, sucking in a cold breath from the stinging pain. This really was his own fault—teasing a girl about something like that.
Admitting defeat, Raize silently apologized to Nep in his mind while walking home, using healing power to treat the bump on his head.
As Raize headed home, apologizing to his angry system, a panicked scream suddenly came from around the corner ahead.
He quickened his pace and turned the corner, only to see a beautiful foreign woman with silver-gray hair. She had been unlucky enough to step on an uneven, cracked section of pavement, lost her balance, and fallen by the roadside. The groceries she was carrying had spilled everywhere, and she clutched her right ankle with a pained expression.
"Hm?"
Raize was about to step forward to help her when he sensed a strange fluctuation nearby. He didn't turn to look—whatever it was had only appeared for an instant before vanishing. After a brief pause, he continued forward.
"Ma'am, are you alright?"
Raize tried to help her up, but after seeing her pained expression, he realized her ankle injury was serious. He didn't move her recklessly. Instead, he gathered the scattered groceries, held her shopping bag, and carefully supported her to her feet.
The silver-haired woman couldn't fully put weight on her foot, beads of cold sweat forming from the pain. She gave Raize a grateful smile and thanked him gently.
"Thank you so much, young man."
"It's nothing. Looking at your condition, you won't be able to walk properly for now. There's a hospital nearby—do you want me to call a car and take you there?"
Lowering his head to glance at her slightly trembling right foot, Raize knew he couldn't openly use healing power on a stranger. Taking her to the hospital, however, was no problem—this area was close by anyway.
Hearing the young man beside her, the silver-gray-haired beautiful woman looked down at her ankle. Walking normally was impossible for the moment, but when she heard that it would trouble him to take her to the hospital, she stopped Raize.
"Thank you, young man. My home is nearby, and I have medicinal wine there. Applying it should be enough. Could I… trouble you just a little?"
Her son, who rarely came home, would be returning today. If she went to the hospital, she might miss him.
Looking at Raize's young and handsome face, and remembering that he had just helped her, she felt reassured. He looked about the same age as her son and didn't seem like a bad person. With her son coming home today, she hesitated but still made the request.
"All right. Please get on—I'll carry you. Just tell me the way."
Using polite language toward an elder, Raize picked up her grocery bag and crouched down in front of her, gesturing for her to climb on.
The woman hesitated, glanced around at the empty street, then carefully and unsteadily leaned onto his back. After Raize lifted her up, she pointed the way home for him.
Feeling the softness behind him, Raize felt no strange thoughts at all. He had no such improper intentions.