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Rias Gremory's Perspective
The silence inside the Occult Research Club room was suffocating.
Rias Gremory sat alone behind her imposing mahogany desk.
The full moon, the same one that had illuminated the Familiar Forest hours earlier, now poured pale light through the large window, casting long shadows across the wooden floor.
In front of her, resting atop the desk, was a chessboard.
Her pale, slightly trembling fingers brushed against the head of the crimson King piece.
Her breathing was still shallow. No matter how hard she tried to calm herself, the image continued replaying in a grotesque loop inside her mind.
The buzzing of fifty white silicone creatures tearing apart a monster's eardrums.
The ghost's breath freezing the very air itself. The red fist of that colossus shattering a solid iceberg into glittering dust.
A High-Class Stray Devil and a swarm of forty beasts. A problem that would have required exhaustive tactical planning, the full destructive power of Akeno, Kiba's speed, and her own Power of Destruction... solved in less than three minutes by a single man.
A mere Pawn of Sona Sitri.
Rias withdrew her hand from the board and leaned back in her chair, rubbing her temples. The headache was monumental.
Less than forty-eight hours remained before Riser Phenex's arrival. The arrogant noble who was coming to claim her as his trophy. Rias had placed all her hopes on her peerage. She had convinced herself that the raw talent of her servants would be enough to challenge the immortal heir of fire.
But what she had witnessed tonight... what Yugo Hano had done... had shattered her fragile bubble of security.
"Calm down, Rias," she ordered herself, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Her mind, trained in the aristocracy of the Underworld, desperately searched for a logical foothold to avoid giving in to panic. "He's just an anomaly. A flaw in the system. Sona simply got lucky finding him, but a single Pawn doesn't define an entire clan."
She opened her eyes and looked at the crimson pieces before her, mentally comparing them to the blue pieces of the Sitri clan.
"If you remove Hano-sensei from the equation... my peerage is still stronger. Yes, it has to be," she told herself, trying to convince her own reflection in the window's glass.
She began evaluating the board coldly.
Akeno, her Queen, was the Priestess of Thunder. Her raw destructive power far surpassed that of Tsubaki Shinra, whose reflective mirror was merely defensive.
Kiba, her Knight, was the fastest and deadliest swordsman in the academy. Tomoe and Tsubasa could never keep up with his Sword Birth.
Koneko, her Rook, possessed physical strength capable of demolishing buildings, vastly superior to the capabilities of any standard Pawn.
And Issei... Issei had the Red Dragon Emperor. The Boosted Gear. A Longinus. Once he learned how to use it properly, Saji Genshirou and his Dragon King Vritra would look pathetic in comparison.
"You see? My family is superior. I have pure talent," Rias repeated to herself, feeling false relief attempt to settle in her chest. "Without Hano-sensei, the Sitri clan lacks firepower. I'm still stronger. Right... right?"
But then, the memory of the dodgeball match returned to her mind like an icy slap.
Inside that gymnasium, Yugo Hano had not used magic. He had not transformed. He had merely remained in the back, watching.
And yet, the Gremory clan had been completely wiped out.
Rias remembered the way Sona's peerage had moved. No hesitation. No fear. They coordinated with lethal military precision. Tsubaki covered blind spots, Momo and Reya fired with synchronization that seemed telepathic, and even Saji—the loud, useless Saji—dodged attacks as though his life depended on it.
And suddenly, Rias realized the fundamental flaw in her self-deception.
Survival.
Rias looked at her own pieces. She loved her servants. She spoiled them. She gave them a warm home inside the Occult Club and trusted their natural talent to solve problems.
Sona, meanwhile... Sona had handed her servants over to a monster. Hano-sensei had broken them, pushed them to the edge of suffocation and collapse beneath the school. He had taught them true cosmic terror.
"Even if you remove Yugo from the board...," Rias thought, feeling bitterness tighten around her throat, "...the Sitris are no longer the same. They have the discipline of survivors. They no longer fight to win—they fight not to die. And we... we're just children playing with magic."
The Princess of Ruin lowered her gaze, her blue eyes clouded with sharp frustration.
Issei still trembled at the sight of his own shadow. Asia was an easy target. Akeno... Akeno had looked at that man with a devotion Rias had never seen in her Queen, a warm smile that belonged to that apathetic human instead of her King.
And the worst detail of all... the final nail in the coffin of her rationalizations.
She could not remove Yugo Hano from the equation.
That man was Sona Sitri's Pawn. Yugo was not a mercenary nor a free spirit. He had willingly bent the knee before the heiress of water. If Sona Sitri wanted to raze a city, she did not need to devise a ten-step strategy; she merely needed to point a finger and let the history teacher check his watch.
Rias picked up her own King piece and clenched it in her palm until its edges dug into her skin.
Two days remained before Riser Phenex would arrive with his entire retinue of immortals, boasting of his invulnerability and demanding submission.
"What am I going to do?" Rias asked herself in the solitude of the clubroom, while a tear of genuine helplessness threatened to escape. "If my own strength isn't enough to defeat Sona... how am I supposed to defeat Riser?"
The shadow of defeat already loomed over the Gremory Clan, and the only person in all of Kuoh capable of burning the arrogance of the Phenex family to its very foundations... was mopping the floors of a convenience store for minimum wage, with absolutely no interest in saving a princess.
...
The afternoon sun filtered through the magical barriers covering the private training field on the outskirts of Kuoh Academy's territory. The place, a vast expanse of grass and containment shields, had been reserved by Rias Gremory for a "friendly match" between both clans.
In reality, Sona knew perfectly well there was nothing friendly about it. Rias desperately needed to measure her peerage's level in order to regain confidence before Riser Phenex's imminent arrival. She needed proof that her servants—her precious pieces—could stand against the overwhelming discipline the Sitri clan had developed over the past few weeks.
On one side of the field, the Gremory peerage warmed up. Kiba practiced thrusts into the air, Koneko stretched her legs, and Akeno chatted pleasantly with Asia.
On the opposite side, Tsubaki, Saji, and Sona's other pieces reviewed interception formations, moving with the precision of a tactical squad.
Only one member was missing.
The one who inspired the most terror in the opposing camp.
The heavy doors of the magical facility creaked open slowly. Everyone present stopped what they were doing and turned their heads.
Yugo Hano made his entrance. As usual, he was late, wearing his immaculate suit and that expression of existential boredom that seemed to absorb the energy of the entire room. But once again, his terrifying reputation was completely overshadowed by the absurd visual comedy that was his chosen method of transportation.
Ruruko Nimura, the hyperactive Pawn, sat atop the teacher's shoulders, using him as a watchtower while humming a cheerful tune.
But the real surprise rested in his arms.
This time, Yugo was not carrying Raynare upside down like a sack of potatoes. For some logistical reason only his apathetic mind could comprehend, the teacher was carrying the former Fallen Angel leader bridal-style, as though she were a princess from a fairy tale.
Raynare, dressed in sportswear, had an entirely red face, her arms stiffly crossed over her chest as she muttered inaudible death threats.
And to complete the humiliation, Tamal rested atop Raynare's stomach. The fat three-headed dog slept peacefully, using her as an orthopedic mattress while lightly drooling onto her jacket.
Issei Hyoudou, who had been about to punch the air, stumbled over his own feet at the sight.
"W-What the hell?!" the brown-haired boy shouted, pointing at the teacher. "Buchou, why is he carrying her like that?!"
Yugo stopped beside Sona, ignoring the Gremory peerage's stunned gazes.
"Good afternoon," the teacher greeted with a sigh.
"You're twelve minutes late, Hano-sensei," Sona reprimanded him, though her violet eyes revealed more amusement than annoyance upon seeing her Pawn's peculiar cargo.
"Tamal refused to walk, and Raynare refused to carry him because she said it 'damages her dignity.' So I had to optimize cargo space by carrying both of them," Yugo explained with clinical coldness. "Ruruko simply climbed onto my head in the hallway and decided not to get off."
"The view from up here is amazing, Kaichou!" Ruruko celebrated.
"Get down, gremlin," Yugo ordered, lightly tapping her ankle. The girl agilely jumped to the ground.
Then the teacher turned toward Raynare, but did not immediately set her down. Instead, his sharp gray eyes drifted across the field, fixing themselves upon Issei Hyoudou's left hand.
A red gauntlet adorned with a glowing emerald gem covered the boy's arm.
The Boosted Gear.
Yugo's analytical mind performed the calculations. In the original canon, Issei had manifested the complete gauntlet due to the agonizing trauma of watching Asia die before his eyes. But in this timeline, Yugo had destroyed that scenario. Asia had never been killed.
"He unlocked it through sheer physical training and hormonal screaming..." Yugo thought, feeling the faintest spark of approval. "He didn't need mind-breaking trauma. Good for him."
Yugo lowered his gaze toward the black-haired woman still cradled in his arms like a princess. Raynare was avoiding eye contact, clearly mortified by the position.
That old spark of dry, sadistic humor—the one that had begun surfacing after he accepted his new life and his new name—glimmered within Yugo's gray eyes.
"Tell me something, cashier," Yugo suddenly murmured. His voice was loud enough for the nearby devils, including Issei, to hear.
Raynare frowned suspiciously at him. "What do you want, human? And put me down already."
"Let's conduct a legal review of your history in the human world," Yugo continued, ignoring her request while adjusting his glasses with the hand supporting her knees. "When you called yourself 'Yuuma Amano' and went on a romantic date with Hyoudou... did you ever verbally tell him 'we're breaking up' before impaling his stomach with a spear of light?"
Silence fell across the field.
Issei froze in place, suddenly breaking into a cold sweat. Rias blinked, completely blindsided by the question.
Raynare stared at him as though the teacher had lost his mind.
"What? Of course not!" the former Fallen Angel hissed indignantly. "I just lured him to the park, revealed myself as a superior being, and killed him! I wasn't going to waste time ending a fake relationship!"
Yugo slowly nodded, processing the information with the seriousness of a Supreme Court judge.
"I see. Interesting," the teacher said. A half-smile loaded with lethal irony formed upon his lips. "You know, Raynare... according to human social constructs, first-degree murder does not count as a formal breakup. Basically, you applied the 'ghosting' technique in the most aggressive way possible. It was a communication failure, not closure."
Raynare's eyes widened. The blood drained from her face as she realized where the man's twisted logic was heading.
"S-So that means..." Issei muttered from across the field, his teenage brain struggling to process the information.
"What it means," Yugo concluded, lifting Raynare slightly higher to emphasize his point, "is that in the eyes of civil society, the two of you never officially broke up. Technically speaking, you're still a couple."
"W-WHAT?!" Raynare screeched in horror, staring at Issei with pure disgust. "NO! EW! I'D RATHER RIP OUT MY FEATHERS ONE BY ONE! WE'RE OVER! COMPLETELY OVER!"
From the other side of the field, Issei also panicked.
"Buchou, she's glaring at me! And the teacher is terrifying! I don't want my murderer to be my girlfriend!"
Watching the arrogant Fallen Angel squirm in disgust and panic within his arms sent a wave of genuine sadistic amusement through Yugo. His face remained impassive, but internally he enjoyed every second of his cashier's mental breakdown.
"I'm glad to hear your revulsion, Raynare," Yugo finally said, interrupting her shrieks.
With a careless motion, Yugo dropped his arms. Raynare landed on her backside with an indignant yelp, while Tamal gently rolled over onto his back without waking up. Ruruko hopped down from the teacher's shoulders and lined up beside Saji.
Yugo slipped his hands into his trouser pockets and looked down at Raynare, his "Discipline Demon" aura settling back into place.
"As your manager, supervisor, and official owner," Yugo declared, his voice echoing throughout the gymnasium, "my company policies are strict. Romance reduces productivity at the register and creates unnecessary distractions. You are forbidden from having a partner."
Raynare, rubbing her sore backside on the floor, stared at him with her mouth hanging open. Her anger over the fall mixed with a traitorous blush upon hearing the word "owner" spoken with such authority and possessiveness.
"A-As if I'd ever want to date someone, you cheap bastard manager!" Raynare stammered, looking away and crossing her arms as her tsundere side surfaced with pathetic force.
Sona Sitri released a sigh so long it seemed to completely deflate her. She approached her Pawn and crossed her arms while adjusting her glasses.
"Are you enjoying yourself, Yugo?" Sona quietly asked, her tone blending reprimand with restrained amusement.
"Far too much," he replied without looking at her, keeping his eyes fixed on the enemy line. "Rias needs to release her team's pressure. A little comedic terror pushes them out of their comfort zone before combat."
Sona gave a faint nod, recognizing the tactic. Then she looked ahead, where Rias Gremory was already organizing her peerage. The Princess of Ruin watched them with calculating intensity, ready to prove that her raw strength could overcome the Sitris' new and terrifying discipline.
"Very well, Hano-sensei," Sona murmured, her eyes shining with competitiveness. "Do not transform unless absolutely necessary. I want us to win today using the strategy you taught them."
Yugo smiled faintly as he removed his hands from his pockets.
The broken man had disappeared.
The Pawn was ready to play.
"As you command, President. Let's make royalty cry."