Capítulo 176: Rivalry

After finding Yue, Alex and his group decided to make camp for the night, which Yue passed out pretty quickly. It was understandable given that she was more active physically and emotionally today than the last three hundred years altogether. Seeing her asleep, Alex started quietly making his way back towards the room she was sealed in after warning the girls to be quiet. There he quickly collected the stone she was sealed in, and a crystal hidden there as well. The crystal was a message from her uncle, explaining the real reason why he sealed her all those years ago, that it was to protect her. However Alex felt that she wasn't ready to hear it yet, so he stored both in his personal storage alongside the god water crystal, Ascalon, his staff, and the jewels holding the divine power of Loki, Hades, and Nyx, along with Hades and Nyx themselves. He then returned to their camp, to find the girls silently examining the sleeping Yue. Hearing him approach, they looked up and Rias asked,

"So what do you plan to do with her?" Alex shrugged, and said,

"I plan to make her my other bishop, but I'm going to wait until we finish Orcus first so that she doesn't think I freed her just to enslave her." While Kuroka, and Grayfia nodded in understanding, Rias looked at the petite girl as if she was a rival, while Anne hesitantly raised her hand and asked,

"Um, what do you mean bishop?" Alex realized he hadn't explained the concept of evil pieces to her, and started explaining it. After hearing what they were and how he planned to use them, she then asked,

"Are you thinking of making me one of your peerage members as well?" With a shy yet half expectant look in her eyes. Alex however shook his head, and said to her,

"I'm planning on giving my evil pieces to those who can't already travel with me to other worlds, plus it would let them be benefitted by my system as well. Not only can you travel as well already, you have your own system to use." Anne looked depressed at his rejection, but understood the logic behind his words. Grayfia then asked,

"So how compatible is she as a potential bishop?" Alex smiled at her question, and started explaining about Yue's capabilities,

"Firstly she has the ability to regenerate any wounds she's inflicted with, to the point she can even survive with her head being removed. This also grants her immortality, even though she looks young she's actually over three hundred years old. Secondly she's something this world calls an atavist, meaning she can use magic naturally without chants or magic circles, which are always required for magic in this world. And lastly she's got affinities with all the elements, fire, water, lightning and so on. As far as this world is concerned, she's the physical embodiment of the word "cheat"." As they heard the explanation of Yue's prowess, Grayfia, Kuroka, and Anne trembled. Rias meanwhile now looked at her as a threat, worried that she might make her look bad.

The moment Rias first saw her, something about Yue made her skin itch. It wasn't as if she hated her, but was more along the lines of being threatened, something she didn't understand until Alex explained Yue's abilities. Rias had mostly started getting stronger since she had access to Alex's system, but Yue was way overpowered to begin with, what would happen when she also had access to the same system she did? The other thing that bugged her was that they would both be bishops, meaning it would be easy to compare them as they would be in the same roll.

With these thoughts plaguing her mind, Rias fell into an uneasy sleep as Alex took the first watch.

***

The next day Alex felt there was definitely something wrong between Rias and Yue, he didn't know how it happened, but it seemed like the two decided they were each other's worst enemy. It began when they encountered the first enemy of the day, Alex sent out his flame creatures as usual but still let some monsters through so the girls could also get some practice in and level up. When the first one appeared both Grayfia and Kuroka got into battle stances, but almost immediately a small sphere of destruction passed by all of them and went straight through the monsters head, sending it into an eternal sleep. They all turned back towards the shooter, Rias with her 'Reapers Ruin', to which she simply said to their gazes,

"I'm just doing my part." It seemed like a harmless enough statement, but Yue noticed that the words seemed pointed at her, and decided to take down the next monster. When the next one appeared Rias rose the scope of her 'Reapers Ruin' once more, but her view was blocked by a head of dirty blonde hair. With Yue blocking her view she either had the choice of shooting through her, or giving up. Rias knew she couldn't shoot their new comrade, even if she would simply regenerate, and gave up on this monster while Yue sent a blast of high level fire magic at it, instantly killing it. She didn't say anything, but gave Rias the briefest of looks as if to say 'I can do my part too'. Rias grit her teeth in frustration, and swore the next monster would be hers.

As the next one approached she once more raised her scope, but was blocked by a head of dirty blonde hair once again. Rias didn't hesitate this time, and angled the scope slightly to the side before firing. The bullet of destruction barely missed Yue, before Rias controlled it with all her concentration and hit the monster. A shiver ran through Yue's body as she rubbed the area of her head the bullet came close to, she may be able to heal but it didn't mean she liked getting hurt. Without even hiding it this time she threw a glare at Rias, who directly glared back, each silently daring the other to start the fight.

All while this was happening Grayfia watched with a happy expression, simply seeing her younger sister "getting along" with Yue; Kuorka on the other hand was smirking slightly at their interactions, seemingly unaware that they were acting almost exactly like her and Grayfia did. Anne looked slightly concerned at the apparent hostility, while Alex was somewhat confused, why did they act this way against each other almost instantly? A voice in his head then said,

'It might be the fact they're both main heroines, conflicting because they have stronger fates than those around them. I wouldn't assume they actually hate each other though, it just seems like they're butting heads.' Alex considered Lauren's words, and realized he didn't think of what would happen if several anime protagonists and main heroines met. Of course this might just be a small part of it, and the rest was that they were also in the same rolls so they feel like they would be compared to each other, or at least Rias would feel like this right now.

What didn't help matters was how Yue would cling to Alex as much as possible during the break times. She would sit in his lap, cling to his arms, or lay over his back while he was sitting to look over his shoulders while drinking his blood. The entire time Rias would grit her teeth, before recalling how "advanced" her relationship with Alex compared to Yue's, then she would relax. Like this the apparent rivalry between the he two continued, all the way until they reached the 200th floor five days later. As they entered the new floor Alex called out to the group, now consisting of a total of six people,

"Careful now, this is where we would meet the boss of the labyrinth. I'm not sure if there's a specific requirement to pass the trials, but just to be safe we all need to do damage against it. It'll be a hydra with several heads, I'll take the white, the silver, and the black colored head; Anne, Grayfia, kuorka, and Yue all take your own heads as well while Rias prepares her 'Extinguished Star' for the killing blow. Remember we all need to deal damage, so try not to go for the instant kill." The girls all nodded, taking this next fight seriously before finishing their first Great Labyrinth. Alex was also excited, he was just shy of both his job level maxing out and his main level reaching 200, it was fitting he'd reach it on the 200th floor of the labyrinth.

As they entered the floor all they saw was a splendidly decorated massive double door. They approached it with confidence, before a giant magic circle appeared between them and the door. The monster that appeared was the same as Alex described, a six headed hydra with a colored crest on each head, red, blue, green, black, yellow, and white, while the silver head was hidden. The girls all called out the head they claimed, before they all rushed it while Rias prepared her 'Extinguished Star'.