The next day, training continued as normal.
While Rias tried to act as if she hadn't seen anything, Kozue could still sense the redhead sometimes glancing at her back before shaking her head.
Of course, thanks to her Observation Haki, Kozue also sensed Koneko's gaze shortly after her encounters with Akeno began.
Thinking about Koneko's race, Kozue knew she could smell the scent that Kozue and Akeno shared after each encounter.
But since Rias's tower said nothing, Kozue also acted as if nothing was happening.
Akeno, for her part, walked around with a huge smile on her face all day long, and only Rias, Koneko, and Kozue knew the reason.
The good Kiba ignored everything around him as he concentrated on his sword training and practiced with the ideas Kozue gave him.
While Kozue felt Rias and Koneko's gazes, the 10 days passed quickly and the training camp ended.
"Alright everyone, let's show Riser he shouldn't have underestimated us!" Rias said, and the girls cheered.
Kiba and Kozue, on the other hand, just nodded.
Soon, the group disappeared above a teleportation circle and appeared in the occult research club room.
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When they arrived at the school, the group split up with plans to meet up that night for the next battle.
Kozue said goodbye to the group and teleported to a place near her shop.
Within minutes, Kozue entered a group of people.
"Kozue!" Asia shouted when she was the first to see him arrive.
"Hello Asia," Kozue said as she approached and rubbed her head.
The blonde smiled as she felt Kozue's hand on her head.
"Kozue" The next to arrive was Robin, who immediately came out when her 'eyes' saw Kozue's figure.
Kozue smiled when she saw Robin coming and was pleased that the woman took her surveillance job very seriously, as her Observation Haki was able to detect her eyes and ears appearing and disappearing outside.
They hugged, and Asia felt a little strange when she thought she hadn't received a hug.
"How have things been around here?" Kozue asked as the girls accompanied him inside the building.
"There haven't been any problems," Robin said, and Kozue smiled in relief.
Inside the building, Kozue met up with the rest of the girls and Mikita quickly took her lap when she sat down on a piece of furniture.
When his fallen angel subordinates reported that there was nothing wrong at the church, Kozue ordered them to remain vigilant.
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Kozue wanted to stay and have fun with the girls that night, but decided to postpone her meeting with the girls since she had a battle that night.
At almost 11 pm, Kozue arrived at Kuoh Academy.
"Kozue"
"Kiba"
Kozue was greeted by Kiba when he arrived at the occult research club and both young men nodded in agreement.
In a short time, the girls arrived and soon went out to wait for Grayfia, Rias's sister-in-law.
The group only had to wait a few minutes before a magic circle appeared and revealed Sirzechs Lucifer's maid and wife.
"Are you ready?" the woman asked, and Rias nodded.
"We're ready," said the redhead, and Grayfia formed a teleportation circle to travel to the place where the battle would take place.
With a burst of light, the group found themselves in a place that was a replica of Kuoh Academy.
[Welcome to the Rating Game between Rias Gremory and Riser Phenex…]
Suddenly, Grayfia's voice was heard, and they heard that she would referee the battle while the families of both young fighters watched everything from a VIP area.
After Grayfia explained the reason for this battle, she gave both groups a break before the battle begins.
"Kozue, are you sure about this?" Rias said.
Rias hoped to fight Riser and his peerage with a plan, but Kozue stated that she wanted to fight Riser's peerage alone so that they would save their strength for her fight against Riser.
"Yes," said Kozue, with his arms crossed and very sure of his decision.
While he would show some of his strength and might attract attention, he still won't be able to hide when Kokabiel appears.
It would be very suspicious if his power 'grew' enormously by that time and he could get into trouble.
Kozue decided to show some of her power so that when Kokabiel appears, her victory against the fallen angel won't be so surprising, although it will inevitably attract attention anyway.
The group listened to Kozue and said nothing more. They all knew Kozue's power, so they didn't think she'd have any problems unless she faced Riser or his queen.
Later, when Grayfia announced the start of the battle, Kozue stood up and said goodbye to everyone before leaving the occult research club room.
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Elsewhere, in a VIP room, were the Gremory and Phenex families.
"I regret this, I hope my daughter's actions do not offend you too much," said Zeoticus Gremory, the chief of the Gremory clan.
In the VIP room were Zeoticus Gremory, his wife Venelana Gremory, the head of the Phenex clan and his wife.
The marriage of his daughter to the third son of the Phenex clan was something Zeoticus eagerly wanted to happen, as it would give his family a stronger alliance with this wealthy family.
Phenex tears were a strategic resource of the demon race, and the Phenex clan has become very rich selling these tears capable of healing all physical injuries.
With this marriage, Zeoticus hoped to be able to buy these tears at a lower price, or at least have some priority.
But there was something else that excited Zeoticus.
The possibility that the immortal lineage of the Phenex clan could be born in your Gremory clan.
Thinking about that, Zeoticus would dance with radiant joy if that happened.
"Don't worry," said the Phenex clan chief, smiling.
The truth was that the head of the Phenex clan was no longer so keen on the idea of marrying his son to the Gremory heiress.
Very different from the beginning when this marriage was arranged.
Although his son would not gain any power from the Gremory clan by marrying the heiress, his clan would gain significant support.
Although the Gremory clan only held the rank of Marquis, they were close to the Bael clan, due to Venelana Gremory who was from the Bael clan.
The Bael clan was the leader of the demons, and this was one of the reasons why the Phenex clan chief accepted this marriage.
The second reason was Sirzechs Lucifer, son of Zeoticus and Venelana, and older brother of Rias Gremory.
The Phenex clan chief smiled with satisfaction as he thought about having a close bond with the strongest demon in the Underworld.
But this last thing caused the leader of the Phenex clan to suddenly wake up.
Sirzechs Lucifer.
Formerly Sirzechs Gremory, he is the strongest demon due to his great destructive power.
But there was a problem with this last point. The power of destruction was a bloodline of the Bael clan, but Sirzechs Gremory inherited this bloodline from his mother and became the strongest demon thanks to this destructive power, easily taking the position of Satan Lucifer and becoming one of the leaders of the demon race.
Although attempts have been made to create demons with two bloodlines through marriages between pureblood demons, this has not been achieved so far, as a demon would only inherit one bloodline.
The father's lineage... until Sirzechs Gremory was born.
The Phenex clan's accent still recalled the surprise and scandal that shook the Underworld when Sirzechs Gremory proved to have awakened the power of destruction.
Many guessed that Sirzechs would change his surname to Bael, but surprisingly that did not happen.
A law was passed shortly afterwards.
The lineage was unique and all the clans would protect it tooth and nail, so everyone wondered what the then leader of the Bael clan, Zekram Bael, was thinking.
Of course, they later learned that the descendants of the original Satans used their power to pass a law allowing the Gremory house to keep Sirzechs and openly defied Zekram.
At that time there were already frictions between the descendants of the original Satans and the
faction led by Zekram, with the descendants of the original Satans taking the lead due to the power and prestige of their clans and were able to pass that law.
The head of Clan Phenex recalls that this law started a political struggle at the time, and along with the debate about whether to start a war against the angels and fallen angels, it caused many murders and led to the civil war.