The Light Lance pierced Riser's chest.
Not a glancing blow. Not a wound that Phoenix flames could seal. A perfect strike, Battle Surge-enhanced, aimed with every borrowed instinct I possessed.
Through his heart. Out his back.
Riser looked down at the golden spear of light embedded in his chest. His mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.
"I..." he managed. "I yielded..."
Phoenix flames rose. Tried to seal the wound. Tried to regenerate the destroyed tissue.
Failed.
The flames guttered. Dimmed. Died.
[PHOENIX ANALYSIS: COMPLETE]
[Regeneration: 0% remaining]
[LIGHT LANCE: IMPACT]
Riser: "I YIELD! I - "
[ECHO INFLUENCE DETECTED IN FINAL STRIKE]
[SOURCE: Dohnaseek combat memory - Light Lance origin]
[INFLUENCE: 73%]
Light Lance. Maximum output. Through his chest.
The flames tried to rise. Tried to heal.
They couldn't.
Riser Phenex didn't get back up.
[RATING GAME: CONCLUDED]
[Winner: Rias Gremory - Technical]
[Note: Victory achieved through rule violation]
[Note: Enemy King eliminated after yield]
[WARNING: MAJOR CONSEQUENCES INCOMING]
[TRUE COST OF PHOENIX ANALYSIS: REVEALED]
"You could see his weakness. So you exploited it."
"Even when you didn't have to."
"Was this your choice, little thief?"
"Or mine?"
"Does it matter?"
```
Riser Phenex died.
Not dramatically. Not with a final speech or a curse or a promise of vengeance. He just... stopped. The arrogance faded from his eyes, replaced by nothing at all. His body crumpled, the Light Lance dissolving as my power ran out.
He fell.
He didn't get up.
Silence.
The Rating Game dimension held its breath. No announcement. No victory fanfare. Just silence so absolute it felt like pressure.
I stood over the body.
Battle Surge faded, the 60 seconds of borrowed power draining away like water through sand. My Power Level dropped: 112 → 88. Still elevated. The fight had pushed me further than I'd ever gone.
But that wasn't what I noticed.
I noticed my hands. Steady. No trembling.
I noticed my breathing. Even. Controlled.
I noticed the complete absence of horror in my chest.
I just killed a man.
The thought came clinical. Distant. Like observing someone else's memory.
I just killed a man who had already surrendered.
Still nothing. No guilt. No regret. Just... observation.
"Interesting," the Fragment said. "You feel nothing."
Should I?
"Most humans would. Most devils, even. You killed an unarmed opponent who had yielded. By every law of the Rating Game, that was murder."
He deserved it.
"Did he? Or is that the Echo speaking?"
I didn't have an answer.
"Ryder."
Rias's voice. Behind me. Careful. Quiet.
I turned.
Her face held shock. Not gratitude. Not relief. Pure, unfiltered shock.
"What did you..." She looked past me, at the body. At Riser Phenex, heir to one of the seventy-two pillars, lying dead on the stone. "Ryder, he yielded."
"I know."
"Then why - "
"I don't know."
The words came out flat. Honest. I'd asked myself the same question as the Lance had flown, and I still didn't have an answer.
The Echoes had wanted it. The Fragment had allowed it. And I... I had done it.
Which thoughts were mine?
I didn't know anymore.
The Rating Game dimension began to collapse.
Reality fractured around us, the artificial world destabilizing without the game's proper conclusion. Colors bled together. Distances warped. The familiar pull of teleportation magic gripped us.
"No - " Rias reached for me. "Ryder, wait - "
The world shattered.
And then we were back.
The observation chamber materialized around us.
Underworld nobility. Devils in formal attire. Servants and lords and everyone who had gathered to watch Rias Gremory lose her freedom.
They'd gotten something else instead.
For a long moment, no one moved. No one spoke. They stared at the Rating Game's viewport, still showing the final image: Riser Phenex, dead on the ground. His killer standing over him.
Then the screaming started.
"RISER!"
Lady Phenex materialized beside her son's body as it appeared in the chamber. Her hands pressed against his chest, feeling for heartbeat, for breath, for any sign of the Phoenix flames that should have brought him back.
Nothing.
"No." Her voice cracked. "No, no, no - "
Lord Phenex appeared beside her. His face cycled through confusion, denial, and finally -
Rage.
"MURDERER!"
The word echoed through the chamber. Every noble, every servant, every devil present turned to look at me.
"You killed my son!" Lord Phenex's power flared, Phoenix flames erupting around him. "After he yielded! After the game was over! You MURDERED him!"
I should have defended myself. Should have explained. Should have done something.
I just stood there.
The Echoes were silent now. The Fragment observed without comment. And I... I felt nothing. Not fear. Not regret. Not even the satisfaction of vengeance.
Just emptiness where something human should have been.
"Lord Phenex."
Sirzechs Lucifer stepped between us.
The Satan's power pressed down on the room like a physical weight. Phoenix flames guttered in his presence. Nobles stepped back. Even Lady Phenex's screaming faded to sobs.
"Your son is dead," Sirzechs said, his voice carrying no emotion. "This is a tragedy. But violence here will not bring him back."
"Violence?" Lord Phenex's eyes blazed. "Your sister's PAWN murdered my heir! By every law of the underworld, he should burn!"
"By every law," Sirzechs agreed, "there will be a trial. Justice will be served. But not here. Not now. Not in rage."
He turned to me.
For a moment, I saw something in his eyes. Not anger. Not disappointment. Something closer to... calculation. Like he was seeing something he hadn't expected.
"Ryder Cross," he said formally. "You are hereby taken into custody pending investigation. You will not be harmed. You will not be questioned without representation. But you will come with me. Now."
His hand closed on my shoulder. Gentle, but immovable.
"I understand."
My voice came out steady. Too steady. I sounded like a stranger.
"Ryder."
Rias's voice stopped me.
She stood where she'd been since we returned - frozen, caught between her peerage and her brother and the chaos erupting around her. Her expression had shifted from shock to something I couldn't read.
"What did you do?"
The question wasn't accusation. Wasn't anger. It was genuine confusion. The same confusion I felt.
"I..." The words stuck. What could I say? That the Echoes had wanted it? That the Fragment had allowed it? That I didn't know where they ended and I began?
"I don't know."
Her eyes searched mine. Looking for something. The boy who'd joined her peerage. The Pawn who'd fought for her freedom. The person she thought she knew.
I don't think she found him.
"The engagement is broken," Sirzechs said quietly. "Rias, you're free. That much is true. But the cost..."
He didn't finish. Didn't need to.
The Phenex matriarch cradled her son's body. Cold now. The flames that had burned for centuries, extinguished. By a Pawn. By Rias's Pawn.
"You will burn for this," Lord Phenex whispered. Not shouting anymore. Worse - controlled. Certain. "Every devil in existence will hunt you. Every ally we have will demand blood. You will never know peace."
Sirzechs's hand tightened on my shoulder.
"We need to go. Now."
Teleportation magic wrapped around us. The chamber faded - Rias's face, the Phenex family's grief, the horrified nobles.
The game was won.
And everything was about to get much, much worse.
"Interesting outcome," the Fragment observed as reality blurred.
I killed him.
"Yes."
I didn't have to.
"No."
Was it my choice?
The Fragment's laugh echoed in my skull. Dark. Pleased. Hungry.
"Does it matter? The choice was made. The Phoenix is dead. And you, little thief..."
A pause.
"You're becoming exactly what I needed you to be."