Surely I must have been detected by now. Ruto thought in confusion as he made his way through the halls of the enemy base. He could sense the barriers that had been erected and the familiars stationed as surveillance. However, he'd had no choice but to go through some of the barriers and had triggered no form of counter measure.
You think it could be because you're a Rogue piece? Maybe it has its benefits, like being invisible to familiars and undetectable to barriers? Albion wondered aloud. Ruto gave it some thought and, while not apparent, would make sense. It would seem that being a Rogue piece had a little more credibility to it than one would think, and it allowed him to be more of a stealth piece.
You might be onto something. Maybe "Rogue" is a bit more literal than I first thought. I suppose an infiltration piece with the skills of a Knight makes me some kind of assassin. That's pretty cool actually. he thought excitedly.
Just don't get complacent. The last thing we need is you—
Oh, just as you say that, we've been seen. Ruto thought deadpan.
In the hallway were two Pawns, twin combatants called Ni and Li. Both had cat ears atop their heads, with red and blue hair respectively. They wore variants of school uniforms with martial arts gloves and shin guards.
"Oh wow, Riser's pets. Come here with some vague reasoning that involves my foot meeting your asses? Cos that would sound about right." Ruto said cockily. The twins shared a look and then glared at Ruto. Instead of speaking they went on the offensive, mirroring each other's movements as they dashed along the walls to get within striking distance.
Ruto panicked for a moment before dodging one twin and catching the other, swinging her by her leg into a wall. The impact winded her and left a crack in the plaster. Her sister growled and came in with a vicious flying kick that struck Ruto in the side of the head.
He stumbled and steadied himself on the wall beside him. "Damn, kitty's got a kick, eh?" he chuckled and reinforced his body, not wanting to make that mistake again. The red haired twin got back up and joined her sister.
"You're not getting any further, human." Ni said.
"And you're not gonna beat Riser, even if you do manage to escape." Li taunted.
Ruto rolled his eyes. "Go on, say something in unison just to solidify the fact that you're twins." he said dryly.
"And you're gonna regret coming here!" they said together before attacking again.
"There it is." Ruto muttered with a sigh. He ducked under a high kick and blocked a straight punch, then countered by twisting Ni's arm and kicking her legs out. Li brought her other leg around for a low kick. Ruto jumped over it, but failed to dodge her own counter which was a spinning back hand.
Ruto reeled back from the force of the blow, but remained standing. Li pressed her advantage and leapt forward, placing a foot on Ruto's thigh and kicked him in the head again, this time sending him careening into a wall and putting his head through it.
He pulled himself out with a pained grunt and held his head. Blood tricked from a gash on his forehead as it throbbed painfully. At this point, he was done playing with his opponents, and since a team mate must have been nearby, he would fight seriously for the rest of the match.
Who'd have thought Pawns would give me this much trouble? Hubris, a real curse. he thought before standing and dusting himself off.
"Alright, you two are in my way and are starting to piss me off, let's do this." he said as he cracked his neck. He readied himself for another barrage of attacks, and indeed it came. The twins attacked in fearsome synchrony, delivering kick after kick, punch after punch which Ruto was hard pressed to defend against in such a tight space.
However, being who he was, he began scheming and quickly found a way to win with minimal effort. He could still use his Trap seals to great effect, especially in an enclosed space. As he continued blocking and dodging the surge of attacks from the twins, he quickly slapped the walls next to him whenever he was in position.
After placing five spaced out seals along the hallway, he jumped back from the twins with a large grin.
"You just activated my trap card." he declared, garnering confused looks from the twins. "You know, trap cards. Yugioh? No? Ugh..." with a snap of his fingers, the twins realised that they'd been caught in his trap. The panicked as they saw the magic circles on the walls glow bright white, and then exploded. The hallway was torn apart and windows shattered. The entire base was rocked and the twins were no where to be seen once the smoke cleared slightly.
"And that's how you skin a cat." he said aloud with a smirk.
Really? Albion asked dryly. He could feel her sheer disgust at his bad joke.
Oh come on, that was the perfect time to say it. he retorted.
"Two of Riser's Pawns, retired." Grayfia announced once more.
"It seems that Ruto has finally done something useful. And here I thought he was just taking up space on the team." came the barbed words of Tiamat.
Bitch! Must have been for my comment back at the house. I'll let her have that one. he thought with a scowl.
Now he would carry on with his objective, find and secure Siris. He knew exactly where the principal's office was, having been ordered to go there on many occasions. So, with the others distracted and the two pests dealt with, he could continue unhindered.
"It seems as though Ruto has got the right idea. He's completely avoided the main battle on the track field and has infiltrated Riser's base." Sona observed as she watched the screens monitoring the battle with a critical eye.
Tsubaki had made her own observation. "He wouldn't be strong enough to participate in a fight of that scale anyway, so infiltration was definitely the best option."
Sona continued watching with keen interest. Rossweisse was quite easily fending off the remaining Phenex Rook and Knight, with the assistance of Haru and Kiba. However, she was apprehensive because the Phenex Queen was taking her time fighting Akeno. As the more experienced Devil, Yubelluna should have the definitive edge, but she was holding back. Maybe...
"They're being lulled into a false sense of certainty. Yubelluna is going to fight seriously at any moment now, especially with Ruto and Rias closing in on Riser." She said in sudden alarm. Tsubaki saw the reason in that.
"So she's going to make a last ditch effort to get back to Riser as quickly as possible. Damn." the Council Vice President clenched her fists. She'd been so certain that Rias was going to pull off a clutch victory, but with Yubelluna stalling for time and wearing Akeno down, as well as the Rook and Knight doing their parts, she'd be in a position to pick off the exhausted enemy devils.
"With Rossweisse on the field the odds should be at least a little better. She's very powerful, even among the Rooks of other Peerages. In any battle, she's not to be taken lightly." Sona informed, placing a liver of hope on Rossweisse' abilities.
"I hope you're right. After all, if Kiba and Haru go down, Ruto and Rossweisse will be the only real defence Rias will have left. And with Ruto being weakened, I don't see him having too much of an effect on the endgame." Tsubaki said gravely. All they could do from that point was watch and wait.