The Rating Game was over.
As everyone expected, Rias Gremory's side had taken the win.
Ryuichi's final blow had obliterated half of Riser's body in one strike. Of course, with the Phoenix bloodline's regenerative ability — and on top of that the ridiculous healing power of Phoenix Tears — the man was never truly in danger of dying. But judging by the hollow look on his face, whatever grew back on the outside wasn't enough to fix what Ryuichi did to him on the inside.
That punch had left a shadow.
Everyone who watched it land had the same thought:
This guy hits like a monster.
As the victors of the Rating Game, Rias was finally — at least for now — free of the engagement that had been forced on her.
She tried to keep her expression composed, but the relief and joy were impossible to hide.
After withdrawing from the artificial battlefield, she regrouped with Akeno Himejima and Koneko Toujou, who had been waiting outside with injuries already healed.
"Are you two all right?" she asked.
Akeno answered with her usual lilting smile. "We're fine. Just in time to watch someone make a very dramatic entrance."
Ryuichi gave a small, mellow smile of his own. With Rias's problem resolved, a weight in his chest had finally slipped off.
"Did anyone get a good shot of me looking cool?" he joked.
Akeno pressed a finger to her cheek and giggled. "Does committing it to memory count?"
"Then review it every day so you don't forget," Ryuichi replied, and the mood in the group lightened even further.
But of course — some people had not come out of this happy.
Ravel stormed up to him the moment she appeared in the open air, cheeks puffed with anger.
"You went too far!"
Riser was the one of her three brothers who doted on her the most, and now he had been beaten into trauma right in front of the world. She couldn't swallow it.
Ryuichi glanced at her, voice calm and unmoved.
"He tormented Rias for this long. I held back."
Rias stood at his side, and the look that bloomed in her eyes at those words said more than any thanks she could say aloud. If there hadn't been so many people around, she might have thrown her arms around him right then.
"My brother was under pressure too! You— you don't understand what Devils have to deal with—" Ravel protested weakly.
"I don't care to understand."
Ryuichi lifted his hand and summoned the silver Sealing Crest, his tone dropping to bored warning.
"It's over. Don't drag it back up. Keep pestering me and I'll strip you on the spot and throw you out."
The moment the crest appeared, Ravel blanched.
She knew better than anyone what that little silver sigil could do. She had watched it violate every last shred of dignity from her brother's servants inside the arena — there wasn't a single one of them who didn't grind their teeth at the memory of Ryuichi's "toy."
And she absolutely did not intend to experience a public explosion of clothing herself.
She fled without another word.
Ryuichi dismissed the seal and exhaled, watching her retreat with a faint shake of his head. After this battle, he suspected he had just earned the collective hatred of women in a certain circle…
Oh well. It worked, and he wasn't about to stop using it when it was useful.
And besides — watching pretty girls lose their outfits wasn't exactly painful on the eyes.
"Rias. Let's go."
He signaled that they should leave, but Rias hesitated, lips pressing together.
"My brother may want to speak with you."
"…Your brother. Sirzechs Lucifer?" Ryuichi's brow creased. He could guess the reason. "Because of the Dual-Class issue?"
"That's the biggest reason, yes. But he also cares about me."
She sounded resigned. She'd known the moment Ryuichi's Dual-Class identity became public, it would cause a storm in the Devil world.
"You examined it yourself — you couldn't figure anything out about it," he sighed. "And I'm not interested in being gawked at like a specimen."
"Then ignore him."
Rias laced her fingers around his hand, a rare, almost spoiled smile rising on her face.
"From now on, your time belongs to me alone."
Only beside Ryuichi could she ignore even the will of Lucifer himself.
Only she was allowed to get away with it — because she was Lucifer's sister.
"We should go before they chase us down," Rias said, calling Akeno, Asia, and Koneko in close as they disappeared via teleportation.By the time Rias and the others vanished, Grayfia had already finished reporting the situation to Sirzechs Lucifer.
"They have all left the area," she announced with a bow.
Sirzechs let out a quiet, half-amused sigh.
"That girl… she really never gives anyone peace of mind."
"Shall I retrieve them?"
"No. Let her have this. She earned the right to be happy for a while — it would be cruel to drag her back immediately."
He smiled faintly as he imagined Rias basking in the freedom she had fought for.
For so long she had lived under the shadow of that arranged engagement — the weight must have been suffocating.
"And as for the young man under her command…" Sirzechs murmured, eyes narrowing in thought. "It seems I will have to visit the Human World myself, sooner rather than later."
…
Back in the Human World — Kuoh Academy.
Inside the Occult Research Club's familiar activity room, the group held a small celebration.
"Cheers!!"
Glasses clinked together. Not only had Rias finally cast off the engagement that had haunted her, this had also been her first official Rating Game — and she had won it against Riser Phoenix, a fully-grown Devil with multiple matches' worth of experience. In the Underworld, this victory would not go unnoticed.
"This win belongs mostly to Ryuichi," Rias said with a gentle smile, her gaze fixed on him, the warmth in her eyes impossible to hide. "You were right — you've never once let me down."
Ryuichi touched his glass to hers with a quiet, confident smile.
"And I never will."
"Ara ara~ keep that up and Rias won't be able to stop herself from offering her body on the spot," Akeno teased with a low, melodic laugh.
"A-Akeno!" Rias snapped, color rising in her cheeks.
"Did I lie?" Akeno's eyes sparkled with mischief. "Even I'm tempted, you know. Are you telling me you didn't feel a thing, Rias?"
She leaned in toward her King with a loaded smile.
"If you don't want him, I'll confess to him myself."
Rias met her stare head-on with a small, proud smile.
"Dream on. Ryuichi is my most precious servant — he belongs to me."
Akeno's gaze shifted back to Ryuichi for just a second too long. Her expression dimmed slightly, as though her thoughts had slipped somewhere deeper.
Ryuichi seemed to sense it and met her eyes. She snapped back to herself and offered him a soft, practiced smile — warm, elegant, faintly seductive.
But in her chest, she let out a silent confession meant for no one else:
She had meant every word she said a moment ago.
Watching the way Ryuichi devoted himself to Rias… there was a flutter of envy, and something more intimate than envy. Something she didn't quite want to name.
Yes — she liked this Ryuichi too.