บท 84: The battle of the devil youths finally begins! Team Gremory vs. Team Sitri! Part 2

Forty minutes had passed since the start of the Rating Game, and both sides tied in member with who remained on the field. Six on Six, the team that maintained the most members would most certainly garner the advantage should they last until time ran out.

"Gaaagh!" Michael screamed after getting his neck punctured by an EpiPen.

Koneko shushes him as she pulled out the needle and dabbed the blood off of his neck before placing a small bandage on him. She was able to safely retreat back to the drug store and secure themselves in the backroom. Michael's condition was too severe to give him the medicine outside, the enemy could have attacked had they found him in such a defenseless state.

Rummaging through the shelves, Koneko searched for the proper medicine that Michael advised for her to look for. Luckily, she had managed to find some before he would pass out from his encroaching allergy shock. Although there was a bit of an issue when Michael was denying to take any of the pills since all of them were grape flavored, so Koneko, who wasn't in the mood to put up with Michael's behavior simply injected the medicine via an EpiPen that she found among the medical supplies.

Now settled in, Koneko laid Michael back to rest, he wasn't ready to move for quite a while. She felt how exhausted he was to keep himself conscious after his allergy began to take effect. Now with his breath calming down, he could finally heal and wait for his swollen body to settle down back to normal. Since they were devils, the process would run much smoothly, but it would still take some time and not even that was a luxury during this match.

Reporting in through her earpiece, she said, "…Buchou?"

[Ah, Koneko, how are things on your end? I heard the commotion from the base. Did Sona respond to our advance just as we thought?]

"Yes and no, Buchou, we came across Nimura-san as we advanced. She fought us alone." Koneko tried her best to tend to Michael's ailment as best as she could by wiping his sweat off with a piece of cloth that she found on the front desk.

[Alone? …Then I can only assume that Sona used her pawn as a distraction. Explaining why the sudden retiring of one of our [Knight]s.]

"Buchou, do you know, who was-?" Koneko asked.

[It's difficult to tell, but it was mostly likely Xenovia. Her feedback is disconnected, but I have still to hear from Yuuto either. Meaning, Sona's diversion was a success.] Not only did they take out one of her skilled [Knight]s at the cost of two servants, but she was able to level the playing field almost immediately. It was tough to say whether there was more to Sona's advancing team, so Rias prepared to take caution, [Though I am tempted to relocate to another position, I can't risk being surrounded while we're on the move. Should the remaining servants choose to engage us here, we'll be ready to retaliate.]

It was like being between rock and a hard place. Choosing the lesser of two difficult situations was equally as risky as either one resulted into walking into another one Sona's traps.

[Koneko? I'm curious, I have yet to hear an announcement for a [Pawn] retiring and yet you're reporting in with me. What happened?]

"…" Koneko glanced over Michael's weakened condition and sighed with a tinge of worry in her eyes, "Michael-senpai effectively weakened by the enemy."

[…!]

Koneko could just hear the utter shock from Rias' silence alone.

[Nimura was able to do that? How? Was her Sacred Gear to blame for this, and how is he? He isn't recovering now is he?]

"Her Sacred Gear was not the cause, but a vial of cinnamon was."

[Cinnamon?]

"Just like Gaspie, they used biological warfare to get the drop on us since Michael-senpai is incredibly allergic to the substance."

[They knew about Michael's allergies? That sort of information has never been leaked or even brought up until now. How would Sona even… Wait, was it…] An epiphany just hit, Rias at that very moment, [Saji?]

"Yes." Koneko solemnly nodded her head.

And that's when it hit Rias for real, for such a complication like this to have happened out of nowhere, no, she should have known about this from the start. The dodgeball game, dear maou, it may have been ages ago but that should have been the first sign for her to notice that young man's threat to her own [Pawn]. More specifically, their history and relationship as best friends. She had been focused on Sona's potential plans this whole time that she wasn't thinking any farther than that.

Of course, Sona would use that to her advantage, other than his status as a Red Dragon Emperor, Saji basically knew more about Michael than all of the gathered intel from all of their past battles. And if Michael knew about the security room, then it was a definite fact that Saji did as well, meaning they were aware of their plan the whole time.

[Koneko, how's Michael faring?]

"He's recovering, but he'll need more time, and there's still the fact that Nimura-san is still out there after him like this." Fighting and protecting Michael was a risky move that Koneko didn't want to take, it would either result in her tiring out and being forced to retire along with him, or worse, letting Michael retire amidst the chaos of the potential fight.

[Then I'll leave his wellbeing in your hands.]

Absolutely resolute in keeping her senior from harms way, Koneko nodded, "Hai, Buchou!"

[Good, and while you handle Nimura, we'll prepare for-]

"Buchou?" Koneko quickly cut her off much to Rias' surprise on the other line.

[Yes, Koneko?]

"Earlier, before calling you, I decided to scout out the number of participants on the field after hearing that we lost one of our [Knight]s, I quickly used my senjutsu to sense the number of presences on the field through their chi."

If Koneko had to begrudgingly give credit towards her mentor, it would be her teachings to further develop her senses while utilizing the nature energy of sage arts. By keeping a calm and coolheaded mindset, she was able to begin to naturally detect the presences of others a bit subconsciously without being too engrossed in the thought of actually doing it. Though it was a bit hazy at times especially after getting rattled from the temporary retreat, she was still able to notice a bit of a mysterious phenomena occurring.

"And I believed I felt around thirteen people in the building."

[Thirteen?] Rias repeated, the peerages should have been on equal footing with six to six and the announcements don't lie. But considering her [Rook]'s sensitivity with senjutsu, she decided to suspect it was another one of Sona's ploys, [Koneko, I want you to further sense the area and tell me more about this strange thirteenth presence.]

"Understood." She nodded once more.

[Now, I'll leave you to…!]

[No, Buchou!]

[Buchou, quick, it's fuka-kaicho-!]

A sudden gasp of surprise followed Rias' words as the sound of heavy footsteps could be heard along with the forewarning screams of Asia and Akeno in the background before the line got cut abruptly with the *ZAN* of a blade.

"Buchou!" Koneko gasped out of concern but was quick to slow the beating of her heart and lessen her quickened breath. She needed to stay calm if she hoped to fulfill her task, she just had to hope that the others would be fine. But first, she needed to keep on look out for Nimura should she find and attack them in such an enclosed space such as this, the sensing of the thirteenth presence will take a bit long while she's doing it during the lookout, but it will still kill two birds with one stone.

"K-Koneko-ch-*COUGH!*" Koneko quickly whipped her head back to notice the half-asleep form of Michael's body heaving grumbled words through his swollen lips. The sight was hard for the girl to watch, but a thumbs up and that same old stupid grin was enough to lift her spirits.

"I'll leave it t-*COUGH!* *HACK!* you, Hell Cat-chan…"

"…Lame…" Koneko heavily sighed, but her lips faintly crept up into a small smile as she gave her resting senior a less enthusiastic thumbs up. Michael's grin grew but then he fell into another coughing fit, she walked up and dabbed a few more beads of sweat off his brow with a frown.

"Take it easy, baka-senpai." Glancing at his bag full of his "equipment", Koneko groaned and rolled her eyes as she steels herself for whatever she's about to do by taking one of her senior's stupid toys before heading towards the door. She hated to admit it, but perhaps some of his buffoonery can help against his threat.

And she was quick to exit the room and quietly shut the door behind her with a relieved sigh.

"So, how's Hanamura-senpai doing?" Koneko's heart started pounding harder once more upon seeing Ruruko standing directly in front of her while leaning backwards against the back of the front desk with a smile.

"...*Hiss~*…" Though it was quietly built up, the low dangerous sound of Koneko's hissing upon her entering her Nekomata form slightly intimidated Ruruko, but the pawn quickly regained her composure with a confident smile. She knew it, and even Koneko wasn't even denying to acknowledge that she was literally backed into a corner.

Not to mention that she was the only standing defense preventing Michael from retiring.

"I was just worried was all no need to be so harsh. What? You don't want to share your senior with me? How selfish!" Nimura kicked the boots of her sacred gear, Sylphinion off the ground, launching her straight for the Nekomata. Koneko raised her guard and blocked the swift kick with her arm, her high defense as a [Rook] came in handy, but it still wouldn't be enough in this situation.

In an attempt to strike back, Koneko cocked her fist back, but found herself falling short as Nimura quickly jumped back before the hit could be thrown. Smiling rather confidently, the [Pawn] rushed in to assault Koneko with another series of quick kicks. The [Rook] took each hit with minimal damage, but just being on the defensive would prolong the fight into a battle of attrition. This would be enough time to give Michael a moment to rest, but it still left Nimura the chance to come up with a trick to retire the recovering teen.

Winding back another kick, Nimura strikingly whipped her leg into Koneko's torso before and despite the girl's lack of pain from the hit, she kept that confident smile on her face.

"Still not working, huh? Then I suppose going past you isn't an option." She smiled and took a few steps back. Raising a knee, she slowly breathed out, "Green Veil." Soon a pale green light shone from Nimura's boots as they emanated a gravitating pressure.

This came to Koneko as a surprise once she felt a light breeze brush past her which soon escalated to become rough winds as they gathered to a single point, Nimura's leg. The exerted pressure kept the winds spiraling around her leg like a green drill.

"Then going through you should be a better alternative!" Nimura grunted as she prepared herself to strike.

"…!" A kick imbued with a powerful shell of winds might not be strong enough to finish her for good, but there was no doubt that it could blow her away and right through the door behind her.

'I can't keep this position! Should I engage her? No, leaving too soon will give her an opening to directly attack Michael-senpai through the door! As long as she's stationary, I can't retalia-!' Suddenly, a plan came to the rook's mind.

Quickly, she raised her arms to guard.

"So you think you can take my attack head on? Fine, lets see if you can keep your feet on the ground after this!" Nimura used the boot on her standing leg to propel herself at Koneko as she prepared to fire her wind clad leg through the rook's guard.

But she gasped upon seeing the nekomata quickly lean in towards her with both of her arms lowered into a double open palm strike. No doubt to land a blow out of retaliation, the pawn panicked, she couldn't stop herself during mid-attack and learning from past experience, a head on attack from a rook is absolutely devastating.

Cutting her losses, Nimura raised her free leg up and used it's boot to create a draft of wind to slightly propel herself back a few feet.

'That was close, but now she's given up some ground!' Nimura thought as she prepared herself to take the opening once her feet touched the ground.

"…Too bad." Koneko lowly muttered.

"W-What!?" Nimura's eyes widened once she noticed Koneko's rising palms being enshrouded in a white aura that's being pressured into each hand.

"KIAI!"

"Kyaaaaaah!"

*CRASH!*

And with a rather loud shout, Koneko's palms released a powerful shockwave that caused the air before her to explode outwards in an unforgiving blast of wind towards Nimura, who was still airborne to stop herself from being blown out of the drugstore and slamming into a set of manikins in the retailer store across from them.

Now was her chance, Koneko made quick work to dash out of the drugstore and initiate the storefront's automatic security gate. The steel gate slammed itself shut, and even though Nimura could break through it easily, at least now, Koneko had more breathing space to defend herself and Michael.

Aware of her enemy's advantage as well, Nimura was struggling onto her feet as she quickly dispelled the green veil around her leg and rushed out to see herself being confronted by rook standing in front of the gated drugstore. She frustratedly clicked her tongue as she entered the mall's hall to face Koneko.

"I'll give you props for that, Koneko-san. Apart from the attack, I didn't expect someone as quiet as you to yell like that." Nimura complimented.

Koneko may have thought it to be a crude attack herself, but she had to thank her old guardian, Kai for teaching her that Kiai technique when he took her in. The move was for martial artists and it was one of the few moves that he could teach her before leaving her in Rias' care. Using her ki to affect the air currents around her to release a shockwave was an apt choice against an opponent that controls the wind.

"…You won't be getting past me, Nimura-san…" Koneko tightened her fists, "Baka-senpai's relying on me, so expect no mercy…" The hit that broke Nimura's ribs from earlier wasn't enough to quell what bit of ire that she held for her fellow 1st year. She was so close to retiring her idiot senior right in front of her before she could even show him the progress that she made.

"Ditto, I plan on supporting Kaichou and Saji-senpai with everything I've got too!" Ruruko widened her stance and leaned forward in order to press weight onto her leg as a stream of winds blew around her, "This match means more than anything to them, so I can't lose face and let this opportunity pass me by!"

"…" Raising her fists, Koneko growled, "…Come…!"

*CLASH!*

*BOOOOOOM!*

In a single bound, both girls leapt towards one another, with Koneko cocking back her fist to deal a heavy blow and Ruruko reeling back her booted leg to send her opponent flying. Both attacks collided and created a windy shockwave that caused the surrounding area to tremble. A full frontal attack that neither girl was willing to back down from led to the both of them being thrown back by the brunt of the collision.

*THUD!*

*CLATTER!*

"…" Unharmed, Koneko shook it off after she crashed into the drug store's security gate leaving a body shaped dent against the steel gating.

*THUD!*

*GACHIN~! GACHIN!~ GACHIN!*

"Grgh!" Ruruko winced in pain, as she crashed through another store but this time through its window. Picking shards of glass off herself, she took care to remove the jagged shards that penetrated her arm. It sure hurt tending to her bleeding limb, but after catching her second wind, she shook her head and decided to rush out of the store and back into the fray by shunting herself towards Koneko, who stood at the ready.

"Take this!" The girl screamed as she swung back her leg for another pressurized and momentum filled kick. Cloaking her hand in ki, Koneko prepared herself to counter the blow, but stopped herself upon realizing something with her senjutsu. It may have been hazardous, but concentration was extremely necessary during a fight, she still needed to make out who the thirteenth presence was, plus it gave her the advantage of always locking onto the presence of her current opponent.

"You're open!" Came Ruruko's kick as the fiercesome winds surrounding her leg went for Koneko's neck.

*SWOOOOOSH!* *BAAM!*

*PHASE!*

"…As if." Koneko raised her forearm and imbued it with chi in order to stop Ruruko's surprise attack to the side of her. Just as she thought, just before the pawn's frontal charge, she quickly moved in the mid-air to attack while making an afterimage in her place.

"…!" Eyes widening, Ruruko tried to propel herself back but found the leg that she kicked with quickly grabbed by Koneko in an unforgiving bind.

"You're not getting away this time…" Clenching her free fist, Koneko pulled the girl in and threw a ki cladded punch at her. Sadly for her, Ruruko used her sacred gear to create a burst of wind to release herself as she then proceeded to back flip away from the much stronger Rook's area of attack.

'Oh no you don't!' Koneko thought as she fired small compact blasts of ki after the back flipping Ruruko, who only continued to do so at the threat of being blasted to bits. The area was lightly damaged as she took into account the penalty from before the start of the match.

*DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!*

"Haaaah!"

*BOOM!*

Pushing herself upward off the ground, she took flight once more before the hail of blasts could hit her. But that wasn't the end though, as Koneko even decided to fire at the girl in the air. Like a ballerina, Nimura was able to aerially maneuver through the assault of blasts gracefully, but with a bit of difficulty as a few grazed and ruined her uniform.

'It's all or nothing!' Being on the defensive wouldn't do her any good, unlike Koneko, she wasn't trained enough to handle such battles of attrition. Thankfully, she was trained in better handling her sacred gear.

*WHOOOSH!*

"…What!?" Koneko was surprised by her fellow first year's dive down towards her, but quickly proceeded to fire more blasts of ki at her.

*DON!* DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *WHOOSH!*

"Tch!"

*DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *WHOOSH!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *WHOOSH!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!*

*WHOOOSH!*

It was no use, each volley of blasts would only miss by a hair with each planned burst of air that she used to propel herself out of the way. Such a risky move taking her attacks head on was paying off for the pawn as the distance between them was shortening.

"Haaah!" Using another burst of wind with both of her boots, Nimura quickly shortened the distance by only a few feet, "Green Veil!" Raising her leg up to the sky, rough winds then began to exert a powerful air pressure surrounding her legs once again into gyrating air kick.

Koneko was speechless, though it may not have connected before such an attack with so much built up enforcement was not one to trifle with. Even with her incredible defense, she may not be able to be able to fully guard in time at the close distance they're both at. Dodging wouldn't help either, should she even be able to move, Ruruko would still have the upper hand with mobility in the air and connect the attack either way.

Slowly raising her left fist, Koneko contemplated an attack, but soon realized that Nimura has her trapped there as well since the leg that she's using is her left, meaning her punch wouldn't connect before the long range of her kick hit her. Even when contemplating an attack, she couldn't even figure out a sane enough solution to her problem.

'Wait, sane solution?' In a moment's hesitation, Koneko gritted her teeth as she lowered her guard and stood in place.

Not one to judge getting a free hit in, Nimura swung the heel of her powerful wind pressured kick down upon Koneko.

"Vertigo Axe-Kick!"

"Haaaaah!"

*BAAAAAANG!* *POP!*

*BAAAAAM!*

During that split second, the built up pressure from Nimura's dug into Koneko's unguarded shoulder and with a disgusting pop, breaking her shoulder out of place. But before the pawn could celebrate, she the found herself reeling back from an extreme numbing pain that plagued the side of her body that she used to kick with. Eyes wide and pupils dilated from the pain, she looks down to see Koneko's free fist, well, half of Koneko's fist, landing a deep punch into the side of her gut.

"Uuuuuuargh!"

"Aaaaaaaugh!"

Both girls fell back clutching their pained shoulder and side in excruciating pain as they let out ear shrieking screams of pain that filled the halls of the mall.

"Grgh! Ngh! Ergh…!" Koneko let out quiet whimpers of pain as she clutched her broken shoulder in pain. Just after the attack landed, she quickly focused most of her touki into her opposite fist to attack Nimura while sacrificing her left shoulder to do it. Of course, this attack didn't fully carry the weight of her full punch as the blow of her fist landed half of its intended impact upon the girl's left torso due to the momentum of her fall.

It was such a reckless and stupid thing to do, but it was necessary. Until now, she hadn't landed a solid blow on her yet, and despite the punch only having carried half of its intended impact, it still gave her the much needed result.

"I-It hurts…uuaaa-*COUGH!* *COUGH!* Aaagh!" Nimura screamed and violently coughed blood while clutching her side which now held a deep imprint of half of Koneko's fist.

At the end of the day, Nimura was still a regular pawn against a Rook, she hadn't entered their territory yet so that undeniable fact will be her downfall during this fight. She wasn't going to be at full strength after getting hit like that, so her speed wouldn't be too much of a hindrance anymore.

Breathing sharply, the rook attempted to pop her shoulder back into place, but the few bones that were broken from the impact made it impossible not to feel the mind rattling pain from even touching it. She couldn't even make a fist with it, much less raise it up to actually use. All in all, this left them on equal footing once more.

"…Emgh!" Letting out a labored breath, Koneko steeled herself to tolerate the pain and get back onto her feet. She still needed to be on guard, the battle wasn't over until one of them retired.

Nimura still groveling on the ground still spat out some blood as she tempered her pain with fast, choppy breaths. Without even hesitating, Koneko started a quick pace towards her while minding her own broken arm. Hearing this, Nimura quickly knelt up and propelled herself a few feet from Koneko, the gap was widened once more.

"N-Ngh…!" Nimura began to take a deep breath, "S-Second Wi-!"

*DOOON!*

Before she could even try it, Nimura rolled out of the range of a large blast of ki creating a crater where she last was. And standing right before her was Koneko with her good arm raised right before her, the nekomata wasn't taking any chances with her opponent. The pawn clicked her tongue, getting out of close range was a given, but even long range would still be a challenge for her.

Taking a few deep breaths, she steadied herself back onto her feet. Almost keeling over as she grabbed at the portion of her crushed side, it hurt like hell, but she still needed to keep on going. She knew that it would be a long shot if the plan went awry to take out Michael especially with Koneko in the way, but she needed to keep pushing. If by some miracle, her taking out them both would drastically keep the tide of battle on their favor, she'd rather risk her own health to ensure that Sona would win, and most of all that Saji's faith in her was well met.

"…" Nimura quietly breathed out with a shaky smile as her boots began to glow in a bright green light.

'…What is this…?' Koneko thought as her senses picked up on something strange, 'Its not like before, I don't sense that much pressure, and the air…' The winds were blowing against her back and towards Nimura at an alarming rate, but they weren't giving her any signs of immediate danger not like that kick from earlier.

Forcing herself to crouch down, Nimura looked to Koneko as she coughed out some blood which dripped down the edges of her lips. The damage that she sustained was starting to dredge itself up, but she didn't even look to care. The winds flowing to her began to rise around her body like a twister.

"I hoped you savored these last few breaths…"

"…!"

*THWOOOOOOOOOOM!*

The threat wasn't lost to Koneko, who drew up her guard as soon Nimura kicked her feet off the ground and vanished. Expecting the impact of the brunt of her frontal attack, she stood at the ready by cloaking herself in touki. Except, there was no impact, save for a strong breeze. No, a breeze wouldn't describe the huge encircling hurricane around her!

*WHOOOOOOOOOOOSH!*

Focusing her eyes, Koneko looked to the sides of the twister to see the faint figure of Nimura running circles around her at top speeds.

"Urk…!" Breathing in, Koneko almost chocked on the lack air entering her lungs. She ceased her breath only for a few moments to adjust to the declining supply of oxygen that the speed of Nimura's sacred gear was sucking out through its vortex.

"L-Lets *COUGH!* see how you'll resist retiring when you run out of air!" Nimura's voice echoed audibly from the twister. The technicalities of the Rating Games and how players retired were numerous as this allowed the Sitri peerage a winning chance to beat the powerful roundhouses of the Gremory peerage. Whether it be by exploiting their personal ailments, blood loss or even air deprivation, even if the opponents hit hard and even know how to fight smart, the Sitri family would have to fight even smarter to claim victory.

"…Kch!" Koneko raised her arm to summon a large enough sphere of ki, contemplating the degree of destruction that the mall would take was no longer an option. Raising a manageable explosion can disperse of the twister and put a stop to Nimura's running.

"Don't even try it!" Nimura roared as she dashed out of the swirling vortex before even Koneko could react, and taking a big swing of her leg, she landed a speedy knee kick to Koneko's side. Of course, this did much to damage her, but the sudden impact of her quickened kick did leave her gasping a bit, and that was an absolute danger for the trapped nekomata.

Without enough air to breathe in, she was depriving herself of the needed oxygen to keep her brain active. Soon enough, Nimura retreated into the vortex, maintaining it through dashing inside of it at top speeds.

Now it was time for the pawn to whittle down Koneko's mental and physical defenses. The old hit and run tactic worked splendidly for this sort of technique, each hit would force the rook to desperately vie for air before finally passing out from oxygen deprivation. It irked Nimura a bit that she was basically suffocating a classmate of hers, but she shook it off and remembered how her senior was giving it his all to win with no hesitation.

'…Hard to breathe…I…' Koneko struggled to even make a thought as she heavily tried to stabilize her breathing.

"You're starting to get sluggish!"

*BAAM!* *CRACK!*Nimura screamed as she dashed out of the vortex once more and dirtily kicked Koneko's broken shoulder.

"Aaaaaaagh!" Koneko yowled out in pain, but gritted her teeth as she tried to use her good arm to punch Nimura. But the pawn was just too fast, no, it was Koneko who was getting to slow. Her body couldn't process anything as urgent as before leaving her completely open to Nimura's countless barrage of attacks. The pawn would keep up the assault with each fast kick landing on her chest, gut and most commonly, her broken shoulder.

Her rook defense could only handle so much and the fact that she can't anticipate each attack only lowered her chances of victory. Soon enough, the rook found herself on her knees near the verge of collapsing. Her desperation for air caused her to solely focus on the very thought of breathing and even that was difficult as less and less air was sucked out of the area.

"Koneko-chan, thank you for the match."

Though not seen from within the vortex, Nimura's serious yet sympathetic voice could be heard from within. It was the final words to an opponent, who was most certainly beaten but were words of gratitude for a hard fought battle.

"… … …" Sadly, Koneko could not even form the words to respond, though her eyes may have been downcast and almost lusterless, her trembling hands grabbed for a few objects that she stowed away in her pockets. Raising one hand, she mustered up a weak orb of fiery ki and lit all of their fuses before using the last of strength to them up into the air.

"…What the-!" Nimura catches sight of this from within the vortex and narrowed her eyes on one of the objects thrown into the air, "Are those-!?" Ceasing her running, Nimura propelled herself into the air after them. Sadly, her concentration was completely broken upon realizing what Koneko had thrown into the air that the twister immediately vanished.

Grabbing all five objects as fast as she could, she swiftly attempted to blow out all of the fuses for each of the stink bombs. Yup, stink bombs, and they were extremely dangerous around so much of the air being funneled by her through the vortex. The sheer amount and concentration of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide would have been extremely toxic to her if she sucked it out of the area.

Sadly the lit fuses wouldn't go out, the blue flames only continued to their descent into the dangerous materials inside. Panicking, the girl used her sacred gear to create fierce winds to blow them out, but still nothing could stop them.

*SNAP!*

But after one sharp snap, the flames went out much to Nimura's relief, but this soon confused her. If the flames were put out with that snap remotely, then that would mean.

*GAAAAAAAAAASP!*

"…Damn…"

*BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!* *CRASH!* *CRASH!*

Looking below, Nimura was slow to catch on to the fist coming at her from below before she could even react. Accompanied by a large gasp for that delicious oxygen, the almighty blow from Koneko's surprise punch sent the pawn flying through the ceilings of the first and second floor before smacking into the third floor's ceiling. Landing, Koneko frantically engulfed as much air as she could. She was cutting it close there, not just the vacuum sucking out her air, but the stink bombs, the smell would have hit her too, but only stronger due to her heightened smell as a nekomata. She questioned if Michael was planning to use this around her and if so, she was going to have a long talk with him after the game was over.

*THUUUUUD!*

Catching her bearings, Koneko quickly spun around to catch Nimura limply fall from the third floor and harshly slam back into the first floor's flooring with blood pooling out of her head and spewing out of her mouth. Upon gaining enough consciousness, she was able to leap after the girl in the midst of her confusion, but wasn't able to imbue her fist in touki. But thankfully, her rook strength still sufficed in defeating her.

"N-Not yet! *COUGH!* *COUGH!* *BUARGH!*!" Nimura forced herself back onto her feet.

Unfortunately defeating would take a bit more than that much to Koneko's surprise.

'She's still going?' Koneko thought as she prepared herself for more tricks, but slowly lowered her stance upon realizing that that was not the case. The pawn's legs were shaking, and she was coughing up more amounts of blood from simply forcing her body to move. Her body was already past its limit from receiving that much damage, right now she's using her very will to stand up once more.

"Y-You're lucky…" Nimura sputtered through her quivering lips with a quiet hoarse voice. It would seem that talking so lowly would prevent herself from coughing up anymore blood.

"…?" Koneko questioned the statement with a raised eyebrow.

"…I-I mean…egh…I'm just jealous of you is all. Your senior is so trusting of you and he always seems so happy too. Like before, you two fought together so naturally despite you usually bickering, but I guess that also speaks volumes about how close you two are." Nimura clutched her pained gut, but continued to talk, "Even now, you defend him with everything you've got even stooping to use his own tricks to win."

Along with Koneko, Nimura casted a glance at the many stink bombs scattered around the ground. The pawn knew how serious Koneko was and despite not interacting as much, it still felt way out of left field for her to even use such childish tricks from out of the blue.

"…You two do so much for each other that it makes me envious that I can't do much for Saji-senpai. Around the time of my reincarnation into a devil, I was basically screw up that couldn't handle her responsibilities as a member of the council and her devil jobs, but then Saji-senpai decided to help me. He was no better than I was since he became a devil before me a few days earlier, but he still helped me while struggling to accomplish his own duties."

Nimura lightly coughed as she took a few wobbly steps forward, "Senpai was always so smart, he got the hang of spells, was up to date on most knowledge about other mythologies and devil history and was even do fine work on his devil jobs. B-But despite all of that, he always felt himself inferior to Hanamura-senpai. No matter how much effort he put in to making great strides, he was always troubled that he wasn't good enough, not for Kaichou and especially not for himself."

The frustration was even welling up from within Nimura as she was on the verge of spilling tears, "It was hard watching him beat himself up, no matter what support I could give it wasn't enough to ease his burden. I couldn't even repay all that he did for me, but…Ngh!" Amid her walking, she almost fell over, but jerkily caught herself.

"Ever since he came back from training, he seemed happier and more confident along with the discovery of his newfound dream. It was then I began to wonder if I was even needed to show him support at all after that, but it wasn't until senpai finally entrusted me with the task to defeat Hanamura-senpai should I be given the chance that I decided to do my absolute best. After getting so much trust, I-I refuse to let him down now!"

"…" Koneko remains silent as she painfully forced herself to watch Nimura push her beaten body in her direction.

"B-Because now I won't have to feel like a hindrance to him anymore!" Her pace picked up albeit rather slowly, but she was no longer clutching her pained gut, "I-I can finally help him, s-so…So! I'll fight to prove myself worthy of that trust!" The look in Nimura's eyes, they were fierce, despite her battered form, she still held a resolute gleam to risk it all against her stronger opponent.

"…" All Koneko could do was engage the pawn by charging at her with a quicker pace than the battered girl. Nimura wasn't even balling up her fists as they limply waved about at her sides and based on the haggard way she was running, it was only natural to see that she was straining her body to only move. She was defenseless, but that also didn't seem to stifle her drive, she just kept running at her with that desperate glare of hers.

This feel of the pawn's seriousness even got to Koneko, but the rook also kept a serious air to herself too, she needed to put her down once and for all despite feeling a shred of empathy for her opponent.

'I-I completely feel the same way!' Those were the words that she really wanted to say. The urge to just scream that out was so strong, but she couldn't get too heated, she needed to stay focused, but the feeling of sharing such emotions with someone thinking the same as her only made it more unbearable.

Though her senior was much more hardheaded, reckless and childish, she was still able to garner so much confidence from him. They may argue a lot, his work as a devil and a study may have made his reliability questionable, and he's basically the biggest idiot that she knows, but was he always still placed himself in harms way to protect her.

He didn't even flinch once when she revealed her "true" self to him, he still gladly did everything in his power just to keep her safe even from her own crippling fears. And yet, he calls her reliable? After having someone do so much of that for her, how could she even begin to consider herself reliable compared to that? Which is why, she has to do everything in her power to at least prove to herself that she can live up to his expectations of her!

"FALL!" Nimura cried out as loudly as she could, swinging her head back for one painful headbutt.

Cocking back her fist, Koneko prepared herself to ram a touki infused fist into Nimura's face. The one punch would finally signify the end of the battle.

*SKRIT!*

*THUD!*

"Your done…" Koneko said solemnly as she halted her punch upon Nimura running past her and collapsing.

"N-No, I can still…" Face down, the pawn attempted to pick herself up on shaky arms, but fell down all the same. After a few more pathetic attempts at this, Nimura tried and tried and tried again before finally laying on the ground, motionlessly.

"S-Saji-senpai, I-I'm s-*SNIFF!*sorry…" A stream of tears puddled around her face before her body finally began to glow.

"…It was a good battle, Ruruko." Koneko didn't have much to say, against an opponent with just as much drive to win like her, she knew how painful the sting of defeat would have been for her if she had lost as well.

Ruruko remained silent as she slowly began to disappear.

Though she could not spare any more honeyed words to soothe the ache of defeat for the pawn, there was still one more thing that she personally had to do for herself.

"But…after becoming the cat of the underworld, Hell Cat, defeat is no longer an option for me!" Koneko confidently declared as she raised her good arm and clenched her fist.

"Hehe…what a lame name…" Ruruko weakly laughed.

"It is, but…" Koneko paused, looking around for anyone before whispering with a smile, "I kind of like it."

[One Sona Sitri-sama's [Pawns] has retired.]

And so, the Rating Game's retiring system claimed another fallen combatant.

Heaving out a deep breath of relief, Koneko took the chance to regain her stamina from the fight with a few calm and easy breaths. She would at least need to placate herself, she needed to hurry and detect who that thirteenth presence was before assisting Rias and the others in their battle against Tsubaki, plus, she really needed Asia to heal her arm.

Closing her eyes, Koneko felt out the presences of each of the combatants in the building. Counting each one again, she found herself at the peculiar number of twelve now. With Ruruko's retiring, it should have left them in the lead with Sona being left with four servants against Rias' own six servants. Now with the chance to calmly look into it, Koneko was finally able to focus on the presence, and once she did, she was immediately taken aback.

'…No…Did I?' She doubted herself before quickly comparing the thirteenth presence to another presence that felt all to familiar. It wasn't uncommon to come across those with similar presences like relatives by blood, but they too had distinct differences, not these two presences though. They felt too similar.

And that's when hit her.

"…She's on the-?"

*Zwooooooom!* *Pull!*

Just as she was about to contact Rias, a shadow slithered its way from the other side of the hallway to her own, thus keeping her restrained in a static position.

"Ruruko-chan, I'm sorry for not making it in time…" Stepping up from behind the restrained rook, the soothingly quiet and incensed tone of Saji's voice reached the rook's ears not to mention give her goosebumps. The pawn's aura was releasing so much subtle killing intent her way and that didn't even account for that sinister draconic aura that he exuded.

"I placed too much on your plate so selfishly, forgive me, but knowing you, you must have given her your absolute best. That's why please…relax knowing that your selfish ignoramus of a senpai will handle things from here…"

"Ngh! Grgh! Agh!" Almost as if her body had a mind of its own, Koneko was forced to turn around and face her next dreaded opponent. And unlike before, she felt that her chances of securing a victory against one of Sona's pawns would be extremely slim.

"Toujo-chan…"

*FWOOOOOOOOSH!*

Pushing up his glasses, Saji narrowed his one normal eye and his fierce purple dragon eye at the restrained rook as his enshrouding cloak of black flames slowly formed the silhouette of an eastern dragon. Koneko's eyes cautiously trailed down to Saji's black flames being focused into his leg into a fiery condensed layering of black flames.

"Please, allow me to be your next opponent."

XXX

"Resound, Thunder!" A stream of violent lightning shot itself at the dexterous Fuka-Kaichou of the Student Council as she took another one of many tries to get close enough to run the blade of her naginata into the opposing [King] or her [Queen]. Their battleground stood in the middle of the once organized food court that was now torn apart and ruined by Tsubaki's sudden ambush and Rias and Akeno's retaliatory waves of magic.

"Haaaah!" Akeno fired more blasts of lightning at Tsubaki, but each consecutive blast was nimbly dodged by the other queen. Her movements were elegant at best as she took each step into consideration as the volatile streams of lightning barely laid even a scratch on her. After dodging the first few streams of lightning, Tsubaki tightened her hold on her naginata and lunged herself at the opposing queen.

Seeing Tsubaki swing the bladed staff over her shoulder, Akeno quickly conjured herself a barrier that was sufficient enough to guard herself from the blow's damage, but not enough to negate the impact of it sending her back some. And that blow still wasn't the end of it.

*GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIIIIIIIN!*

After swinging that first hit, Tsubaki was able to gain more momentum to unleash a tirade of hits that continued to push the guarding queen back. Tsubaki was a natural talent when it came to wield the weapon thanks to being born to the Shinra clan, but the fact that she too was a Queen made Akeno's chances of retaliating even harder.

Though both Tsubaki and her may be the most balanced pieces on the field, they used their traits in exceedingly different ways. Tsubaki's strong hits were thanks to her better utilizing the strengthening rook traits of her Queen piece while Akeno was utilizing hers to heighten the defenses of her barriers.

*GIIN!*

'Now!' Akeno thought, as soon as Tsubaki's naginata hit against the barrier, it rebounded. Giving the Thunder Priestess just enough time to prepare a counterattack. Though this meant lowering her barrier, it gave her the opportune moment to retaliate.

"Roar, lightning!"

*BAKABAKABAKABAKA!*

A fierce lance of lightning shot through her deteriorating barrier and towards the staggering Tsubaki. A blast of magic that was timed almost perfectly, just what she expected from her rival queen, but Akeno wasn't the only one, who was well versed in magic.

"Kaen!" In a single spark, the blade of her spear ignited in a brilliant red flame, and upon taking one hearty swing of her weapon, the naginata disrupted the path of the lightning and forced it to disperse. Yet that wasn't the end of that, she used her the knight trait of her piece to quickly regain ground and take a swing at the surprised Akeno.

'My lightning still wasn't enough!?' Akeno thought out of frustration as she found the blade coming dangerously closer to her body.

"Akeno!" Hearing the call of her master, Akeno quickly jumped back a feet, which wasn't enough distance to dodge the naginata's blade, but the crawling thin wall of demonic power appearing between them begged to differ.

Tsubaki clicked her tongue out of annoyance as the top half of her naginata was caught in the middle of the attack and was completely erased by the Power of Destruction.

Taking a momentary breather, Akeno looked back to see the state of her master in panic, "Asia-chan, how's Buchou?"

"She's doing fine, but her wounds are taking much longer to heal!" Asia attentively stood at Rias' side, crouching next to the crimson haired woman now clutching the wound on her shoulder. Thanks to Tsubaki's sudden appearance, she was dealt a wicked blow, but nothing too critical that she couldn't withstand save for that burning feeling. Her expression was lightly contorted in pain, but it was slowly ebbing away thanks to Twilight Healing. A single glowing finger was pressed to the floor as it was connected to the wall of demonic energy.

Akeno smiled, even in that state, she was still placing her all into protecting her servants from harm. However, she soon had to let down the demonic wall of destruction in order to lessen the strain on her body while still receiving Asia's healing. Just in case of an attack as soon as it lowered, Akeno quickly raised her barrier, but nothing hit it. In fact, Tsubaki still stood in place gripping at her now damaged naginata.

"…" Without saying a word, she tossed the weapon away and summons a magical circle to dispense another one to her side.

It took no one by surprise that the Queen had a spare if not more in waiting but was surprised them was the vial of water that she pulls out and pours over her weapon's blade. Asia's eyes widened upon noticing that golden cross on the bottle.

"Holy water?" She gasped.

"A fairly poisonous substance to us devils, is it not?" Tsubaki then concentrated her demonic energy to contain the fluids on the blade, "Wounds laced with this would cause some staggering damage to us all…"

'That would explain the burning, and why its taking so long to heal…' Rias thought, 'First it was Michael's cinnamon and now this, Sona really planned this far ahead…'

[One of Sona Sitri-sama's [Pawns] has retired.]

The cold announcement soon reached all of their ears, though the Gremory group were relieved to hear some good news, they mostly scanned Tsubaki's face for any reaction.

"How unfortunate…" She said, calmly as she continued lace her blade with the blessed fluid. Though her tone of voice and expression remained constant, her trembling hand tightening its grip on the shaft of her weapon spoke volumes about her true thoughts about her fallen comrade.

'Good work, Koneko…' Rias smiled, it was the only logical conclusion that she would face Ruruko again in order to protect Michael. Now all that was left to do was wait until Michael recovered to gain some backup against Tsubaki with Koneko. Boxing in the enemy Queen was a sure fire way to retire her faster, but until then, she needed to give them enough time.

"Just where did you guys get that? From a store here in the mall?" Rias questioned.

"I find no reason to answ-…" Tsubaki took that moment to think of her response but shook her head, "I guess trying to be secretive of this would be pointless. No, we didn't get the holy water here. The ingredients to make it are here, but we would have no blessings to imbue into it. We received our holy water from our own sources just before the match." Presenting the vial to them, Tsubaki asked, "Do you believe that you were the only ones who received support from the Grigori organization?"

No, Rias definitely considered that possibility since it was meant to be a fair game between the two teams, they were actually in fact responsible for the implantation of Saji's missing sacred gears. But, she was rather concerned with the other sources that Tsubaki vaguely mentioned.

"Under different circumstances, I wouldn't have deigned myself to confront you all alone. You and your Queen possess high amounts of demonic energy which combined could retire me in a moment." Tsubaki wasn't going to deny the situation and humbly acknowledged her limits. Even her Mirror Alice couldn't redirect a full attack and fully protect her from it when against the two.

However…

"But thanks to the penalty against destroying the building. Your signature massive attacks won't be of any help to you, giving me the added bonus of an advantage."

*FLASH!*

"…!"

"Like so…" All it took was one step, and Tsubaki had already sped past Akeno's barrier and to her unguarded side.

*WHAAAAAM!* *CRACKLE~!* *THUD!*

"Mmngh!" Just in the nick of time, she was barely able to defend against the blow, but pushed back by the opposing Queen's overwhelming strength. Picking herself up, Akeno began to breathe heavily, she was all too aware of their disadvantage and she wasn't just referring to destroying the battlefield with too much power. Though well versed in magic, Akeno severely lacked any hand to hand combat skills, and when compared to a veteran naginata wielder like Tsubaki, she and Rias were in a real pinch.

All of their Wizard types were kept back at the base while the melee fighters were sent out to advance onto enemy territory. Without any melee fighters to keep the enemy occupied, they couldn't really focus their spells to hit Tsubaki. The bespectacled Queen continued her pursuit after her, and out of retaliation, Akeno raised her finger and fired a ray of blue light on the ground in front of Tsubaki. Using an ice spell to create a wall of thick frost.

*ZAAAAN!*

"Nice try…" With one cleave of her naginata, she was able to cut the thick wall in one fell swoop. During its fall to the ground, Tsubaki took advantage of the torn wall and knocked it in Akeno's direction by strongly shoving the butt of her weapon into it.

'She's using it as cover!' Rather than destroyed the ice and be met with the holy water covered steel of her weapon, Akeno quickly jumped a bit to the side and summoned a big stream of flames about the same size of the ice wall.

*SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU~!*

This resulted with the flames and ice making a thick fog of steam to cover the area as a smokescreen against Tsubaki, "Hn," the force of the impact forced Tsubaki to raise her arms and block the harsh winds beating against her.

'That should buy enough time…' Akeno thought.

Though this proved to only be a temporary inconvenience for the girl since they all still could sense each other with their magic, but it was still needed to move Asia and Rias away from the open area of the food court.

"…I see…"

Rushing her way through the stream, Akeno faintly heard Tsubaki's voice through the white steamy mist. It was hard to pinpoint her actual location but stopping to do so would be a huge detriment since the Queen could also make use of the steam to attack her from any direction.

Making it to their side, Akeno lowly whispered, "Buchou? Asia-chan?"

"Akeno?"

"Y-Yes?"

Rias and Asia whispered.

Akeno sighed out in relief and helped Rias up while Asia continued to heal her closing wound.

"Good work, Akeno…" Rias smiled at her queen, it wouldn't do to just be sitting ducks in the midst of their fight and should she get retired if Tsubaki focused her sights on her then they would meet an early defeat, "We'll use the food stalls for cover until the steam disappears, but should she clear it before I'm fully healed then…"

"I'll handle it." Akeno said, resolutely.

"…Are you sure?" After witnessing the fight, Rias was a bit skeptical to send Akeno to face Tsubaki. Sona's Queen had the obvious advantage with the holy water and mobility as a melee fighter but getting attacked all at once by huddling in one of the food stalls was a definite possibility. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place.

To be frank, Akeno wasn't too sure of herself. She couldn't pull off anything that the Fuka-Kaichou couldn't handle, her lightning spells from earlier were a great example of that, and not to mention she would have to be on the move constantly so making any attack would have to come secondary to defense. But for just a moment, her doubts began to subside after remembering the bits of courage that she scrounged up from Michael. To hesitate now would be a mockery to him after steeling herself to do "that".

And just like that, her beautiful ladylike smile appeared as she lightly laughed, "Buchou, I'm positive."

That confidence was just what she needed from her best friend before assuredly sending her to fight.

"Then I'll leave it to yo-."

"There you are!"

*ZAAAN!*

Without a moment's notice the cool steel of Tsubaki's naginata flashed by the trio, but thankfully they were able to spread out in opposite direction before it can completely hit each of them.

*Drip~!* *Drip~!*

'S-She-!' Akeno breathed out in pain as she clutched the fresh, steaming wound that ached her right torso. The pain was unbelievable, the holy water was a definite factor to the startling fatigue that was washing through her.

"Akeno-san!" Asia cried out.

"It took me a while, but I was finally able to detect you, it sure helped that you three were huddled together." Tsubaki then set her sights to Rias, who was left wincing at her current half-healed wound.

'Even when its nearly healed this searing sensation still lingers…' Rias bit her lip to dull out the pain.

"Now…" In a single bound, Tsubaki swung her naginata back in full swing in Rias' direction, "I'll be taking down your King if you don't mind."

*BAKABAKABAKABAKA!* *SHIING!*

"-! What in the world?"

Soon a powerful stream of pure white lightning shot itself at Tsubaki, so the Queen used the full strength of the swing to disperse of it, albeit with much more negative feedback than last time as her arm was momentarily paralyzed along with a burning sensation rushed through her.

*CRACKLE! CRACKLE!* *ZAPP~!*

"Getting to the King requires you to go through a certain order, Shinra-san." Akeno heavily breathed as she stood up clenching her wound. Unlike before, Tsubaki noticed a vast difference in the woman's aura, flashes of white lightning sparked around her body in quick bursts as the sparks gave off a different quality than they did before. The small sparks exuded lightly prickled Tsubaki's skin and stung like hot needles penetrating her skin.

'…So she's using it, we honestly thought that she wouldn't… No, even so we were still prepared either way to defeat each of their members knowing full well of their potential strengths used in this fight.'

In the midst of her thoughts, Tsubaki gasped as she realizes a blast of spiraling demonic energy being shot her way from Rias. A few jumps back to dodge the projectile proved useless as it kept snaking its way towards her through the steam.

'Should I use Mirror Alice?' She soon brushed such a plan aside upon better analyzing the attack. There was a certain degree of control placed into it, and any outlandish attacks that risked the integrity of the building wouldn't be thrown by Rias that randomly, 'No, if I were to use it like this, then I'd be left open for Himejima-san to attack me.' Not to mention the power placed in Rias' blast would be held back upon touching the mirror so the redirected attack wouldn't be that strong.

Pushing Tsubaki to a far enough distance, the reach of Rias' attack halted and disappeared. There, now they can keep her at bay as Asia focused healing their wounds. Thanks to her training this past month, she was more than capable of widening the range of her Twilight Healing's salving effects.

"Asia!"

"H-Hai, Buchou!" Clasping her hands together, the Priest concentrated and emitted a field of green lit aura like dome that began to encroach towards the wounded King and Queen.

"Heh…" Smiling, Tsubaki placed a hand to her paralyzed arm and began to use some healing magic to sooth the pain.

"She's not going to attack?" Akeno questioned, which was understandable due to the damage that her holy lightning had on her, but they were still hindered by their wounds. Just standing there in place even made her an easy target, so something was up.

"Is she planning to use Mirror Alice while she's like that?" Rias muttered to herself as she felt rather unnerved by the opposing Queen's bizarre approach. Was it some sort of ploy that Sona and Tsubaki had planned and did they have some sort of secret stratagem figured out? Not looking a gift horse in the mouth would apply now, but this was Sona that she was talking about, she must have planned something…

'All we can do now is heal our wounds and hope that…'

"Now!"

Just as Twilight Healing's healing field was about to make contact with them, Tsubaki immediately exclaimed her voice for all to hear in the steam filled food court. Following this, a pair of arms wrapped around Asia pulling her back into a warm embrace.

"E-Eh?" Asia yelped jumped about from the startling surprise.

"Asia-chan?"/"Asia!?" Both Akeno and Rias gasped at the sudden appearance of Momo Hanakai, Sona's Bishop.

"Kaichou, win… Reverse…" The Bishop peacefully smiled as tightly held onto Asia, soon enough a magic circle the size of Asia's healing field was summoned and turned the relaxing green aura of the field into striking crimson aura.

"Akeno, quickly get away!" Doing their best, the King and Queen duo backed away from the encroaching field before it touched them.

*Drip~!*

"…E-Eh?"

*THUD!* *THUD!*

Before she could even react to the blood spilling past her lips, Asia and Momo fell to the ground from the immense damage that the Bishop converted from her powerful healing.

"H-Healer down…*COUGH!* Gen-chan, good l-lu…" Momo weakly sputtered as her body began to vanish in a bright light.

"M-Michael-san…I-I'm s-sor-…" Asia weakly cried as she too began to disappear in the illuminating light of the retire system.

[One of Sona Sitri's [Bishops] has retired.]

[Rias Gremory's remaining [Bishop] has retired.]

The cold announcement hit both of the girls hard. That was why Tsubaki stayed complacent, and they were too preoccupied in the fight to sense approaching Bishop at all. But the loss of Asia weighed more heavier on Akeno than anything else, thanks to the steam ailing their sight, they couldn't catch on to Bishop creeping in not to mention see what Tsubaki was doing amidst the steam rising up.

'That weird response was probably her confirming Hanakai's position…' She thought as she bitterly narrowed her eyes in Tsubaki's direction.

"There…" Rolling her somewhat healed arm's shoulder, Tsubaki once again advanced towards the two wounded women, "Now shall we continue."

*SNAP!*

*WHOOOOOOOOSH!*

With a snap of her fingers, Akeno casted a wind spell to blow away the bothersome steam.

"That spell, what exactly did she do to Asia Argento's Twilight Healing?" The contempt in Rias' voice was only masked by her calm complexion. Losing composure in her current state wouldn't make the situation any better.

"Should be self-explanatory after hearing it."

"…"

Tsubaki sighed at Rias' unswayed expression, "During our one month of training, we received a bit of extra help from the Grigori organization. They suggested a new form of spell called Reversal magic. Anything that uses one form of magic gets inversed into its natural opposite, so the potency of Asia Argento's healing became a potent field of destructive damage."

"They taught you all something that…!" Rias covered her mouth, that was an incredibly useful ability, "So did Azazel…"

"He wasn't the one that offered the spell to us. No, there were other cadre that supported us, but Azazel was the one who issued the spell as unstable. The cost of changing the nature of one thing to its designated opposite is extremely dangerous. The effects of using such an incomplete spell leaves unknown adverse side effects on the user such as shaving off our lifespan or much worse." Tsubaki explained.

"Yet she allowed all of you to use such a dangerous spell?" She questioned the logic of her rival for actually putting the lives of her servants at peril for such a damaging strategy.

"Don't get the facts wrong, Rias Gremory-sama, she herself volunteered to learn the spell while prohibiting us from learning it. So naturally, a few of us decided to learn the spell in secret behind her back."

"…!"

"Why?" Akeno asked.

"…Even after learning of the consequences of using such a spell, she decided to do so anyways. For victory, she's willing to risk her own wellbeing just to take even one step forward to achieving her dream. Even after getting laughed at for even mentioning such a goal that meant so much to her, she still bravely used anything she could just to get closer to it. What servant wouldn't want to place their own life on the line for a master like that?" Tsubaki's hand clenched on her naginata, "The heavy burden that she bears for such a dream is too much, and the reason behind it all is something that you wouldn't understand Rias Gremory-sama."

The sharp comment took Rias off guard, but she continued to listen to the Queen's passionate exclamation. During this, the two proceeded to use healing magic to heal their wounds though the potency of the healing is way weaker than Asia's.

"Taking action, we all decided that even if it were a bit of that burden, we would carry it with her and help her attain said dream with her! Not just her, he also gave us the resolve to do step up as well. After all, he placed himself through so much hell just to help her and become someone who can…" Raising an eyebrow, Akeno noticed Tsubaki's cheeks tinging a light pink at the thought of something.

"No, his confiding stays with me…" Tsubaki lowly mumbled as she placed a hand to her chest.

"Tsubaki-san, you wouldn't happen to be talking about-?" Akeno questioned.

"That is my business and mine alone, Himejima-san." The Sitri Queen narrowed her eyes at her opponents. It would seem that she composed herself to focus more on the battle than her lingering emotions.

"Now, lets continue our fight… If you can last long before I can finish it that is…" Now rushing the two, Tsubaki prepared to a big swing at the both of them.

"Akeno!"

"Right, Buchou!"

The Gremory King and Queen duo looked to each other and nodded. The same thought ran through their head. Dispersing would leave either of them open for Tsubaki to pick off, so the natural course of action was to stick together. Standing back to back, the women directed their conjoined blasted of demonic energy imbued with the power of destruction and holy lightning at Tsubaki to momentarily drive her back.

Its not a perfect position, but it would have to do until help arrived. A crawling chill went up Rias' spine as she began to think about the path that Momo came through. But soon enough a charging Tsubaki took up her focus as retaliated with a few more blast of demonic energy. She only had to hope for the best and believe that Koneko and Michael were okay along with Yuuto wherever he was.

XXX

Everything was burning, from her muscles, to her blood, and even her bones. They all felt like they were melting from just that one kick. One Kick.

In a pained daze, Koneko laid motionlessly on the ground as a mixture of smoke and steam emanated from beneath her scorched midriff. Her mind once lingered on how worried she was when Momo Hanakai appeared after Saji did to box in Rias and the others, but soon found herself regretting that. Her one moment of laxness left her mentally unprepared when guarding the attack. At least, she thought so but doubted it once she felt the true nature of the flames that surrounded his legs.

The draconic energy seeping from it held a numerous amount of raw negative energy that it was even spreading throughout the very air around them. Just sensing it would make catch her off guard either way.

'It's too much…' She even got out of her nekomata form to not fully sense it anymore.

The pain was excruciating, from her broken shoulder, her lack of breath, and her entire body feeling like its up in flames. Taking on so much damage in one battle was too much for her little body to handle.

'I-I…' Her vision was going blurry, 'No, I can't fall unconscious now…I still have to…' Michael was still recovering and Rias still needed help with their situation especially now when there's two assailants flanking them. There was still so much to do, she can't just leave them all like this.

*Shine~!*

"Toujo-chan, thank you for the match…" Saji lightly bowed his head and began walking towards the closed gates of the drugstore.

"…S-Stop…"

*Thud!*

She tried to pick herself up but her wobbling good arm failed to support her body.

"Ruruka-chan fought you with everything she had and forced you to do the same so don't even think to shrug off all of her hard work and effort. After that fight of yours, I doubt you'd pull yourself together that quickly." Saji coldly explained, the thought of arriving too late for Nimura's aid still got to him. His anger wasn't fully directed at Koneko, but himself, "…" He stopped himself from apologizing to say, "Nothing personal…"

[One of Sona Sitri's [Bishops] has retired.]

[Rias Gremory's remaining [Bishop] has retired.]

"…N-No…" Koneko tensed up and whimpered.

"It looks like we weren't able to retire Gremory or Himejima-senpai with the plan, but we still got Asia-chan…" Saji muttered to himself, "Now all that's left is Mike…" Things were going smoothly and now-.

"N-No…"

"What?" Somewhat surprised, Saji looked back to see that rook was up on her feet just barely hanging on by a strand. The retiring system was no longer in effect for her as the light surrounding her disappeared.

"Not yet…" Her legs were shaking, and her broken arm dangled at her side and not to mention that her scorched midriff still seared from the last attack. Though her body was on the verge of collapsing, those of eyes of hers still held a burning look that wasn't about to extinguish.

"Toujo-chan, please, you're done." Saji warned, he prepared himself into a stance as his black flame coated leg was raised in immediate retaliation. He knew such words wouldn't deter someone with that look in their eye that was something he had to know if he wanted to face Michael. But it didn't hurt to try, at the end of the day, he still saw Koneko as a friend like the others before, and found no pleasure in gratuitously prolonging the fight and making them suffer.

To him, if she were to push her to attack, then he would be sure to end it as quickly as possible.

'…My body won't listen to me…I can't even move…but…' Koneko slowly entered her nekomata form, 'The negativity that his black flames are making, it's strong. If I were to take them in right now then…I could go berserk just like my…' Suddenly a flash of Kuroka smiling went through Koneko's mind, 'No, I won't be you…'

Raising her good arm's hand, Koneko makes a hand sign. Wary, Saji observes the girl slowly cloaking herself in touki, the amount of the white was barely able to fully enshroud her until after a single pulse from within it caused the aura to dramatically increase in size. Then again and again, and again, the aura continued to grow to incredible proportions. But…

'Her ki it's getting corrupted!' Saji eyes widened as the once pure white ki was glowing with a black tint that was soon about to engulf Koneko.

'If its for someone else…!' The signs of said corruption took form in her cat like features growing more feral such as the canines in her teeth and her once regular nails being sharp as knives along with her hazel feline eyes look much more sharper and rabid, 'If its for Baka-senpai and Buchou, then I'll gladly lose myself in this mome-!'

'I have to put her down!' He had no choice, if he didn't then she'd basically go on a rampage and do further damage to herself mentally and physically.

(My Alter Ego, Ddraig's…!) Vritra began upon noticing a sudden spike in dragon energy behind them.

'What, Vritra?' Saji gasped as he started to notice the power surge as well as he quickly spun on his heel to look at the drug store gates to see that they've been…opened?

And not even a moment later that he began to even detect the sudden rise in Koneko's power instantly stop.

*PING!*

"Uh…"

"Boo!"

"How did he-?" Turning back once more, Saji spotted Michael crouching down in front of Koneko with his hand extended out to flick her head. He barely even saw him move past him, hell, he didn't even hear him at all until now.

"…Ba-Michael-senpai?"

"See, told you I'd stop you from going out of control." The young man grinned and looked her up and down, "And…its looks like you've been busy." He frowned a bit as he took a closer looked at her injuries, "But, I'm feeling great now, so don't worry about me, okay?"

"R-Really?" Her feral features soon disappeared.

"Yup, thanks for being such a dependable kouhai, Hellcat-chan!" Michael laughed much to the tiring nekomata's annoyance.

"L-La-…" She soon fell out of her nekomata form.

"Y'know, I had my transceiver set to pick up your frequency the whole time, right?" He smirked, he heard everything and wasn't about to let her live it down for a long while.

"…Idiot…"

*PAF!*

Eyes closing, the young rook fell into his arms as he gladly caught her and laid her tired head to rest on his shoulder. Soothing her, he gently rubbed the glowing back of her body as he quietly chuckled.

"You fought well, Koneko-chan, leave it to your senior now, okay?" Though it was far too late for him to get a reply from her as she had already disappeared in his arms.

[Rias Gremory-sama's [Rook] retries.]

Silence soon filled the hallway as both young men quietly acknowledged each other's presences. Standing in place, Saji cautiously watched Michael crouch down in the same spot for those 5 painstakingly tense minutes. He emphasized with his fellow pawn and best friend at the loss of his kouhai, but wasn't foolish enough to forget that they were enemies on the battlefield. But that wasn't his reason not to attack the still teen.

'Vritra, do you feel that?' Saji asked.

(I do my Alter Ego, I do.) Vritra agreed.

Seeping out of Michael's body was a slowing surge of red draconic aura that only grew with each deep breath that he took. The sheer pressure from the aura's growth was staggering, but Saji stood through it all with a bit of difficulty as the fierce display of power blew harsh winds against his body. The raw emotions that flowed through it was a bit overwhelming, the anger, the sadness, the self-loathing.

Everything was rushing out in that one moment before it all stopped. The rush of draconic aura was stopped along with his body emitting it. He exuded no touki and dragon slayer aura. There was literally nothing felt from the teen as he fell on his knees and clenched the fists of his shaking arms. The same arms that once again allowed his kouhai to disappear in front him. The same arms that couldn't even protect Asia from retiring. All he did was sit on the sidelines and hear all of his friends drop out and do nothing about it because of his stupid allergies!

One moment, his arms were raised in the air, and the next…

*CRAAAAASH!* *RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMBLE!*

"DAAAAAAAAAAAMMIIIIIIIIIT!"

The sheer strength of his fists hitting ground caused the entire area, no the entire mall to violently tremble. Store windows shattered, products and goods get smashed by falling counters, shelves and tables, and the impact of Michael's fists on the ground creates two deep craters imprinted into the shape of each fist.

"Damn it…" The young man breathed heavily through grit teeth and quietly sniffled.

[Partner…] Ddraig didn't even need to say much as the young man began to take relaxing deep breaths to calm himself down.

"*INHALES!* It's okay…"

*DRIP!* *DRIP!* *DRIP!*

"My head's clear now…"

Standing up, the young man's knuckles dripped blood from the self-damage that he had inflicted onto them. Turning around, he looked back to Saji, who was visibly shaken by the teen's demeanor. He looked calm yet his eyes, they looked fierce even more so than Koneko's a while ago. Even the pain from literally smashing his fists that lack any aura to make a faux earthquake wasn't even making him flinch.

(My Alter Ego, it looks like you were right about Ddraig's possessor, but I'm afraid that you've just brought out something worse than you had planned for out of him.) Vritra explained.

'Yeah, I'm starting to realize that too. I may not be able to rile him up like before at dodgeball but,' Even so, he wasn't just going to be a push over, he needed to win, and he'll use any strategy that he could think of to win. And despite the fact that he's about to face such a monstrous opponent made him felt exhilarated, 'Now I can truly test to see if I can take him on head to head with everything I have, and win…'

"Alright, Saj…" Raising his bloodied hand, Michael balled it into a fist…

[Dragon Booster!]

"Let's go…"