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The Occult Research Club room, located at the heart of the Rating Game's pocket dimension, was illuminated only by the soft crimson glow of a projection magic circle. In the floating hologram, Issei Hyoudou and Kiba Yuuto, covered in sweat and dirt, could be seen cornering the last Pawns and Rooks of Riser Phenex in the school courtyard.
But inside the Gremory base, the atmosphere had nothing to do with the tension of a territorial war. In fact, it looked like the lair of a spy-movie villain patiently waiting for the hero to fall into his trap.
Yugo Hano sat on the large black leather sofa in the center of the room. After returning to his human form, he had given his white dress shirt to Akeno—since the enemy Pawn's jacket he had put on her as Four Arms smelled burned and irritated her skin—leaving his torso completely bare.
Unlike the exaggerated physique of his aliens or the bulk of a bodybuilder, Yugo's torso was a map of his own hell. It was lean, compact, athletic musculature, crossed by countless pale scars, old burns, and claw marks that told the story of ten years of pure survival.
The professor had one arm resting on the back of the sofa, looking toward the window with the gray, bored, apathetic expression of a true final boss awaiting his turn.
The image of the "untouchable villain" would have been perfect, if not for the equivalent of his "white Angora cat."
Instead of a feline, Asia Argento was lying across the sofa cushions, her head comfortably resting on Yugo's bare lap. The little golden nun had her eyes closed and a smile of absolute, pure happiness on her face, humming an unintelligible melody while the retired assassin's weathered hands stroked her blonde hair in a monotonous and rhythmic manner.
For Yugo, this was simply repayment of a debt. Asia had demanded "emotional compensation" after finding him in bed with Rias the night before the Rating Game. Yugo knew from experience that arguing with the ex-nun would only result in destructive pouts and possessive healing auras, so, pragmatic as always, he accepted becoming her temporary pillow and dispenser of affection.
"A little more to the right, please, Yugo-san..." Asia murmured, settling herself closer against his stomach.
Yugo did not answer. He simply adjusted the angle of his hand and continued scratching behind her ear with the same expression as someone peeling potatoes.
On the sofa opposite them, Akeno Himejima watched the scene with a smile that mixed amusement and a hint of hidden envy. The Priestess of Thunder was wearing Yugo's dress shirt. It was huge on her, falling almost to her thighs and hiding the ruined remains of her uniform.
True to her nature, Akeno was not simply wearing the garment to cover herself; she was shamelessly burying her nose in the shirt's collar.
"Ara, ara..." Akeno purred, closing her eyes. "How curious. You always smell like black coffee and chalk at school, Hano-sensei. But your shirt... smells like gunpowder, ozone, and a very, very attractive danger. I think I'll keep it as pajamas."
Rias Gremory, who was standing beside the magical hologram monitoring the battle, felt a vein pulse dangerously at her temple.
The Princess of Ruin was trying to concentrate on her role as King. She was trying to calculate Issei and Kiba's remaining magical reserves. But it was biologically impossible to ignore the spectacle unfolding on her own furniture. Her Queen was shamelessly sniffing her "secret weapon's" clothing, and her Bishop was using the same man's lap as a private bed, receiving caresses while he displayed a scar-filled torso that Rias, much to her own displeasure, found hypnotic.
"Akeno, please behave yourself," Rias scolded, crossing her arms and forcing a tone of authority that sounded a little higher-pitched than normal. "And Asia... shouldn't you be preparing your healing rings in case Ise or Kiba return injured?"
Asia opened one eye, looking at her President from the comfort of Yugo's legs.
"Oh, I already prepared them, Buchou. Besides, Yugo-san said a healer must be completely relaxed so her magic flows better. This is... tactical relaxation training."
Yugo let out a slight snort through his nose, approving of the nun's shamelessness in using his own military jargon against him.
Rias blushed faintly, feeling a stab of territorial jealousy that her aristocratic pride refused to admit. She was the one who had opened her heart to him under the moonlight. She was the one who had hugged him in the darkness. And now she was the only girl present who was not physically interacting with him!
"Riser Phenex's Knight... Eliminated!" the magical voice of the system suddenly rang throughout the room, pulling Rias out of her internal frustrations. "Riser Phenex's Pawns... Eliminated!"
The hologram showed Issei panting, the Boosted Gear smoking, while Kiba sheathed his sword, surrounded by the particles of light from the defeated servants of House Phenex.
Silence fell over the Occult Research Club.
Rias looked at the magical board. All the enemy lights had gone out, except for a single bright orange flame at the center of the dimensional academy's athletic field.
"They did it..." Rias whispered, her eyes wide. "Ise, Kiba, and Koneko did it. They cleared the entire board."
Movement on the sofa stopped.
Yugo's hand stopped stroking Asia's hair. The relaxed atmosphere, Akeno's flirting, and Rias's comedic indignation evaporated in a millisecond, devoured by a killing instinct that chilled the temperature of the room.
Yugo Hano gently moved Asia's head aside, forcing the nun to sit up on the sofa. The retired assassin slowly stood, the muscles in his back tensing beneath the faint red light of the hologram.
"Pick up Hyoudou and Kiba, Rias. Tell them to fall back and heal," Yugo ordered. His voice was no longer monotonous or bored. It was deep, cavernous, and loaded with absolute authority. "Recess is over."
Through the projection magic circle, Issei and Kiba were already retreating under their King's orders, leaving the center of the academy field clear.
Riser Phenex waited in the middle of the athletic track, wrapped in his immortal flames, furious over having lost his entire peerage, but overflowing with the arrogance of someone who knew himself to be indestructible.
Yugo Hano looked at the hologram for a second and then turned his face toward Rias.
The Princess of Ruin, expecting the retired assassin to recite some cold military tactic or brutal contingency plan, was surprised by the expression on the human's face.
Yugo's cold, apathetic gray wells had disappeared. In their place, there was an unusual gleam, a spark that mixed a strange, almost childlike sweetness with the pure and unrestrained excitement of a monster about to be released from his cage.
For the first time in all the time they had known each other, Yugo did not look like a veteran tortured by war. He looked like someone who was finally going to enjoy his work.
"Rias," Yugo called her, his voice losing all monotony, sounding warm and vibrant. "Walking out the front door is boring. And you are not a princess waiting to be rescued."
Rias blinked, her heart lurching at the intensity of his gaze. "What do you mean, Yugo?"
Yugo's half-smile widened, showing his teeth in an almost wild gesture. He brought his right hand to the Omnitrix dial, turning it until he found the silhouette he was looking for.
"Let's make a kaiju-level entrance," Yugo declared, with genuine and contagious excitement that left the three girls speechless. "An epic entrance, worthy of a King who is about to change her own destiny."
Yugo looked up toward the club ceiling.
"You three. Rise into the sky. Go out through the windows or use your magic, but do it now. I need space."
Akeno, with a dazzling smile upon seeing this new and exciting side of her "secret weapon," did not hesitate. She spread her beautiful bat and Fallen Angel wings. Rias nodded, extending her own demonic wings, and grabbed Asia by the waist, quickly rising into the dimensional night just as Yugo raised his hand to strike the watch.
"Let them remember this night!" Yugo murmured with a smile.
FLASH!
The explosion of emerald light was so massive that it eclipsed the moonlight throughout the entire pocket dimension.
Rias, Akeno, and Asia, floating several meters above the old wooden building of the Occult Research Club, looked down.
The green glow inside the club became blinding. And then, the very structure of the building could not withstand the physics of what was happening inside it.
KRA-BOOOOOOOOM!
The entire roof exploded into pieces. The wooden walls splintered and flew through the air as if they were toothpicks. A cloud of dust and debris rose into the night sky, while the academy ground trembled with the force of a maximum-category earthquake.
From among the debris and the cloud of dust, a titan emerged.
It was not the five-meter Humungousaur the Gremory group had seen during training. This time, Yugo had released the Vaxasaurian's maximum size-altering capability.
An eighteen-meter-tall scaly colossus—as tall as a six-story building—stood in the middle of the club ruins. His skin was impenetrable armor, and the plates on his back rose like the fins of a prehistoric dinosaur. His mere presence darkened the moon, casting a terrifying shadow over the entire battlefield.
Issei and Kiba, far away, fell flat onto the ground, their jaws hanging open. Riser Phenex, in the center of the field, let his flames go out for a second, feeling absolute terror paralyze his immortality.
The gigantic Humungousaur looked up toward the three girls floating in the air. With a slowness and care that contrasted absurdly with his destructive size, the eighteen-meter titan extended his immense palms toward Akeno and Asia.
"The King goes on the crown..." Humungousaur's voice rumbled, a roar that made the air vibrate, yet preserved that strange tone of monstrous gallantry.
Akeno let out a delighted laugh and landed softly on the giant's immense right palm. Asia, still surprised but overflowing with excitement, descended onto his left palm, feeling as if she were in a fairy tale where the dragon was the good one.
Rias Gremory, crimson hair waving in the wind and heart beating a thousand times per hour, looked at the colossus. She understood exactly what he meant.
With a fierce smile and eyes misted with tears of pure adrenaline, the Princess of Ruin descended, landing directly on the broad and armored head of the Vaxasaurian.
Humungousaur straightened completely. With his Bishop and his Queen in the palms of his hands, and his King crowning his head, the eighteen-meter titan turned his heavy body toward the athletic field, where the "roast chicken" awaited his execution.
The Rating Game was not a chess match. It was a giant monster movie, and Rias Gremory had just obtained the front-row seat.