The day was upon them. Nine days of intense training and coaching in the ways of the rating games had passed and now was the time to fight. The ORC and Ruto left the remote house they'd come to like and had returned to Kuoh academy's ORC clubroom. The scene in the clubroom was a familiar one. Rias stood leaning on her desk with Akeno at her left. Haru, Kiba and Asia occupied one sofa while Ruto, Rossweisse and Koneko occupied the other.
The breakthrough in Ruto and Rossweisse's relationship had remained unknown to the others, and would remain that way until the rating game was over. Everyone was at ease. Ruto had a small smirk on his face the whole time, one that hadn't gone unnoticed by the others.
"Alright, I'll bite. Why do you look so pleased with yourself?" Rias asked, growing tired of not knowing what was going through his head. He cast her a sidelong glance and grinned.
"I just wanted to let you all know that I've acquired some intel from the enemy team. Quite simply, one of Riser's Knights is my eyes and ears on his end. I believe you remember Siris?" Ruto asked devilishly. Aha, irony. "I've gotten in touch over the last 10 days and she's made our job a little easier."
Rias raised a curious eyebrow. "And how would that be?" she asked. She'd been wondering what kind of effect Ruto would have on their battle, and she knew whether he was directly involved or otherwise, he'd be devastating in whatever he did.
"Alright, so you've probably heard that Phenex uses a little thing called Phoenix Tears to make an instant recovery when they're beaten. I've had Siris replace their supply of Phoenix Tears with water, but not just any water. It's water spiced up with a little recipe developed by the Fuyuki Magicians sect's Alchemy division. It's designed to temporarily paralyse the one drinking it. Simple really, but it works exceptionally well on Devils." Ruto explained.
The group gave him a strange look. "What?" he asked, suddenly self-conscious.
"Well, it's just that… we expected something a little more, I don't know… lethal or sadistic from you." Rossweisse said. Ruto looked offended.
"What do you take me for? It's not like I didn't try looking for something with more kick to it." he pouted and looked away from them. It seemed he hadn't realised that wasn't what she meant.
"Either way, that removes one of their tricks." Rias said. "Anything else?"
"Nothing right now. Since an arena hasn't been decided on yet, I can't give any tactical information regarding your location, but I can have Siris relay information to me from her side of the field." Ruto offered.
Rias sighed, knowing this was the best he could do for now. "I guess it'll have to do. Are you sure Siris is reliable though?" she questioned sceptically. Ruto smirked.
"Of course. I'd tell you how she came into Riser's Peerage but that is a little bit, well… tragic. She doesn't even like the guy, she only follows him because of an oath she swore to his family. But lately her loyalty has been strained due to recent events." he defended. He wasn't about to have the reliability of a source he hand picked questioned.
"So why did you pick her? Surely you could have had your familiar scope them out." Rias asked, still curious about Ruto's methods. He rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Look, my familiar isn't exactly made for stealth. I'm sure even Riser would notice an 11 foot tall Ifrit following him around. Not to mention he's constantly on fire. Black flames to be precise." Ruto replied dryly. The eyes of the ORC widened, except for Haru's and Koneko's.
"Your familiar is—" Rias started, only to be cut off.
"The Black-Blaze Ifrit, Ashrahm. Yup, the very same." Ruto confirmed with a grin. Rias twitched in annoyance.
Again. He cut me off, yet again. Why did I expect anything different? she thought irritably.
"Uh, yeah not to be ignorant or anything, but who's Ashrahm?" Haru asked. Koneko nodded, conveying her own curiosity.
Akeno decided to explain in Ruto's stead. "Ashrahm is an ancient and powerful fire spirit. Legends in the Underworld say he's among the most powerful of his kind, but is pretty brutal with people trying to make him their familiar, pretty much like most powerful familiars. According to old Devil lore, he wreaked havoc on all three factions during the Great War, but was eventually subdued and bound to an object that symbolises fire. Apparently it changes form every now and then." She then looked at Ruto.
"Which begs the question. How'd you come across him?" she asked. Ruto shook his head.
"That's a story for another time, for now, we should get some rest, and meet back here in a few hours. In that time, I'll try to come up with some kind of plan that'll help you guys out." he said dismissively.
"And anyways, Akeno, since when did you become a walking wiki page?" Ruto asked.
"I have hobbies too, you know." she said with a small laugh. Rossweisse stood up and faced Rias.
"My King, I think it's a good idea if we all split and go home for now. It would do us some good if we relaxed without worries until the game." she suggested wisely. "I also have something to discuss with Ruto personally." she added professionally. Rias nodded to her as she rubbed the back of her neck from stress.
"I see your point. It's best we rest up and eat before we fight. Alright everyone, go home for the evening. We'll meet up here in five hours." Rias announced. With that, everyone dispersed and went their separate ways.
Ruto quickly entered his home with Rossweisse in tow. He didn't stop to greet anybody and immediately went to a small door under the staircase. Before he opened it, he turned to Rossweisse with a small grin.
"Wanna see something cool?" he asked. The Valkyrie raised an eyebrow at him.
"Knowing you, I'm gonna be both terrified and amazed, aren't I?" she replied dryly. Ruto gave a short laugh.
"That's down to how you interpret it. But seriously, you're gonna love it." Ruto said, giving no clues as to what was going to be in there. Rossweisse hated it when he did things like that. He opened the door, and instead of the average crawlspace or cupboard, was a dimly lit staircase leading into a hallway.
"What is this?" Rossweisse asked with wide eyes.
"You'll see. Come along Rossweisse, much to see, not a lot of time to see it." he said dismissively as he entered the long hallway. She followed him, not entirely sure what to expect. When it came to Ruto, that was a day to day thing, but she knew he had his secrets. Every Magician had their secrets, some greater and darker than others.
As they walked, she couldn't help but notice that the ceiling above them wasn't a ceiling at all. It was like the night sky was above their heads. Constellations, stars, galaxies and huge colourful gas clouds blazed with life in the expanse of darkness around them.
"I see you've noticed we're not exactly in Japan anymore." Ruto commented offhandedly.
"Well yeah… just what is all this? Where are we? Why is this under your house?" she rattled off.
Before she received an answer, they reached a junction. Off to the left and right were two ever stretching walkways with book cases lining them. In front was another eternal wall of books, with bridges in between the walkways. The floors were made of old oak that creaked when under pressure. Books floated from book shelf to book shelf, sorting and organising themselves. Below was an abyss, book shelves were down there with walkways, doorways and torches dimly lighting the darkness below.
"Welcome to Apocrypha. This is a pocket dimension that my family has exclusive access to. My ancestors made this place as a nexus for all of our gathered knowledge. There's stuff from lore, rituals, instructions, forbidden knowledge, old magic to picture books and good ol' dictionaries." Ruto explained.
"I named the place. I had a Skyrim addiction a while back." he said, rubbing the back of his neck as they walked.
"I'm pretty much the only one who uses this place now, you know, with my folks being dead and all." he said casually. Rossweisse didn't know the specifics of the deaths of Ruto's parents, but she didn't know how he could speak so easily about it.
"But anyways, that's not a problem anymore." he paused and turned to her with a smile. "I'm letting you use this place as much as you want, whenever. A little present from me to you." A small blush coloured his cheeks. He was never one to do something out of the goodness of his heart, so this was new to him.
Rossweisse abandoned respect for his space and wrapped him in a crushing hug. "You really mean it?" she asked disbelievingly. Ruto grinned and nodded as he returned the hug. He knew she loved learning, any secret or obscure bit of knowledge and she had to know it. Despite her odd moments when she gets a small case of the dumb, she was extremely intelligent. Ruto just knew she'd love his treasure trove of arcane knowledge.
Rossweisse detached herself from Ruto. "But why?" she asked quietly. Ruto raised an eyebrow curiously.
"Why what?" he replied. She looked around, taking in all of the sights of this otherworldly dimension. She couldn't fathom why he, a Magician, would give up so much of his family's knowledge.
"All this. Why would you let me have this?" she began to get slightly emotional. "This is a place where so much dangerous and ancient knowledge is kept, and you're giving it up like it's nothing. I just don't get it." she said with confusion. Ruto laughed loudly and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"It's simple really. I trust you with it." Rossweisse's eyes widened. "You have a dream to open a magic school right? Well, this is a pretty good place to get started, wouldn't you say?" He quickly moved off of the topic.
"Anyway, there's something specific that I'm looking for." he carried on walking along the oak walkway. Rossweisse followed close behind, still looking around in fascination.
"What are you looking for anyway?" she asked as she'd noticed Ruto was on a specific path.
"Looking for a codex regarding the rules of Rating games. I swear I heard about there being a rule about having a piece on the field that isn't part of the peerage of either side." he said with irritation at his inability to properly remember.
"Why would you need to know that?" she replied, growing ever more curious.
"Well you see, I want to help you guys out. So, rather than sitting on the sidelines, I wanna find a way to actually do something. Hence why I'm looking for the Rating Game codex. Maybe, just maybe, there's a loophole I can exploit to get involved in the game." he explained, scanning a bookshelf on his left.
"I doubt something like that exists. The rules are strictly in place for peerages." Rossweisse replied, feeling doubtful of Ruto's efforts. He hummed, signifying he'd heard her, but was too focused on searching to reply.
"R...R...R… Ah, there we go!" he exclaimed, hefting an enormous tome out of a slot on the shelf. It was covered in dust, but was otherwise in amazing condition. "Rating Games for dummies. This'll do."
Rossweisse gave him a deadpan look. "Rating Games for dummies? Really? You're serious right now? Of course you are." she said flatly.
Ruto smirked. "Of course. When am I not serious?" He held the book to his chest. "Alright, let's get back up to the house, otherwise this place starts adding your own knowledge to its archives."
The way he said that… It's like this place is sentient. Rossweisse thought. 'Then again, Magicians do make some strange things from time to time, but this is by far the strangest I've seen. What other secrets do you have here Ruto? she promised herself that she'd visit Apocrypha again when Ruto wasn't looking. She didn't want to sneak around him, but she wanted to know more.
Ruto and Rossweisse were soon in the kitchen. He placed the large tome on the table and opened its old parchment pages. The pages were stained yellow with age, but the text was still very clear.
"So where do you suppose we should start? This book is huge." Rossweisse said as she eyed the many pages that Ruto quickly flicked through.
"Hmm… Well, I'm stumped on where to start, but I've got a good idea of what we're looking for. Besides, this is a book for dummies." he replied as he stayed focused on the book. Just then, Tiamat entered the kitchen.
"Oh, you two are back. So rude, not even saying hello." she spotted the book, besides the irritated look on Ruto's face. "What's that?"
"It's a book on Rating Games. I'm trying to find a section in here that allows for people outside of a peerage to be summoned onto the field." Ruto explained. Little did he know that Tiamat was heavily involved in Rating Games, specifically the ones between the leaders of the most prolific Devil houses.
"If that's what you wanted to know then you should have just asked me. It's my job these days to know all there is to know about these things." she said with a grin. Ruto slammed the tome shut with a deadpan look.
"Speak." was all he said.
"What do I get if I tell you?" she asked slyly. She was up to something.
"I won't cut the cheese at an angle." Ruto said. A thing he'd noticed since Tiamat arrived was that she had to keep the block of cheese in the fridge level. Any time she found it cut at an angle, he swore she was going to go full Dragon and tear his house down. Dragons are strange creatures.
"So it's you who does that!" she yelled angrily. Ruto flashed her a wolfish grin.
"Yes. Yes it is I, the dastardly villain who cuts the cheese at an angle. And I'll keep doing it unless you spill your info. Thems the rules." he chuckled evilly to himself.
"Ugh, alright fine. It's called the Rogue Piece system. For the person wanting to join the battle, they'd have to have an Evil Piece applied to them. However, the piece has to be flooded with the person's magic or have it infused with their blood. It's only temporary, and limits the person's power depending on how strong the opposing team is." Tiamat explained clearly.
"So if Ruto does this, he'll be able to directly fight with us?" Rossweisse asked, sounding giddy with contained happiness and relief.
"I'll be nerfed?" Ruto asked disgustedly.
"To answer you both, pretty much." Tiamat replied. "It's a rule that's ignored, so I'll give you my sign of approval so you can join the game."
Ruto was grateful that she'd actually give him some verification, but at the same time was astounded that she'd actually be useful. "I'd never have guessed that you'd actually do something here Tiamat. I mean, all I've seen you do is laze around the house." he said offhandedly. Tiamat's left eye twitched.
"And just what's that supposed to mean?" she replied in a low voice. Ruto suddenly regretted his choice of words. Regretted saying anything at all, really. But alas, he'd find himself digging a deeper hole for himself.
"Um… just that, uh… well… I thought you'd just take up space, but you're being useful, which is really unexpected given how lazy you usually are."
Why do I say things? Can I just not talk? Why must I keep being snide at all the wrong times? he thought.
Fuck if I know. But hey, when she kills you, can I have your stuff? Albion inquired with humour in her voice.
Very funny. he deadpanned.
To his surprise and gratitude, Tiamat calmed herself, but a scowl remained. "I'll let that one slide. There will likely be limitations like having access to your power reduced, places in the arena you can and can't go, that sort of thing." she added. Ruto nodded his understanding, but annoyance made its way onto his face.
"Well that's inconvenient. But I suppose it's to ensure that the balance doesn't shift onto either side." he shrugged, deciding not to dwell on it. "I guess I'll do what I do best then."
Rossweisse raised an eyebrow. "That would be..." she trailed off.
"Improvise. How'd you think I got this far? By actually planning things out?" he asked incredulously. Rossweisse pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Anyways, wasn't there something you wanted to discuss with me Rossweisse?" he asked, garnering a serious nod.
"Yeah, it's to do with why I came to you in the first place. It's what Odin wanted to tell you." she said. Ruto felt like whatever Odin had to say wasn't something to be taken seriously. But he'd been wrong before.
Tiamat knew the look that Rossweisse was giving Ruto and gave a knowing grin. "I'll leave you two alone." she said before going upstairs.
"So what is it?" Ruto inquired. Something was unsettling Rossweisse, that much he knew. The information she had must have been disturbing. She stood awkwardly, not meeting his gaze. "Rossweisse, c'mon, whether it's bad or terrible, I need to know," he said.
She took a deep breath to relax. "Odin has called for an audience with you. He'd like you to come to Valhalla. Loki and Fenrir are threatening war." she said gravely. Ruto's eyes widened in alarm. He knew exactly how dangerous those two were. Loki himself was just a troll with a stupid amount of power, while Fenrir was a mutt with fangs that kill immortals. Not fun to fight. Not at all.
"Well damn. That's… inconvenient to say the least. Why bring this up now?" Ruto asked, suspicion creeping into his tone.
Rossweisse decided it was best not to lie to him. Knowing her and being around her as much as he was, along with his habit of watching the movements and mannerisms of his house mates. With an inaudible sigh she began. "You have so much on your plate already. You're helping Ophis, have Tiamat making demands, helping my Peerage, as well as dealing with your own life. I didn't want to add the extra burden, but I know you'd call me out on it eventually so I decided to tell you now." she said, sincerely hoping he wouldn't be angry.
Ruto looked out of the kitchen doorway, thoughts churning in his mind. Given the look on her face, she expected him to be angry, a reasonable assumption, but he was more appreciative of her consideration for him. He'd admitted to himself that the things he was tasked with were wearing him down, no matter how much he refused to acknowledge it.
"Alright, we'll deal with that as it comes, but first we've got a Rating Game to win. After that though, I think it'll be good to spend some time together outside of fighting and planning. Whaddaya say?" Ruto offered her with a genuine smile. Rossweisse smiled brightly in kind and nodded. She looked at the clock above the doorway to the kitchen.
"Three hours. There's gotta be something we can do to pass the time." she said. In her mind she imagined him offering her to cuddle on the sofa. But she remembered that it was Ruto she was dealing with. He didn't cuddle.
Ruto shrugged and went into the living room, turned on the TV, went upstairs, and came back down with the quilt off of his bed. "I gotta finish off this season of Game of Thrones, so three hours should be enough." He put the quilt on the sofa and sat down, patting the seat next to him.