Naruto walked at a brisk pace that was only a little bit slower than a run. He was dressed in one of the outfits that he usually wore for spars against Kuroka. The mesh undershirt, loose pants, and unzipped jacket didn’t offer armor of any kind, prioritizing movement instead. His face was completely serious.
Rias met him outside a towering set of doors, still wearing her Kuoh Academy uniform. Her expression of concern partially melted into relief when she saw him.
“Naruto! You’re here!” Rias said. “I can’t believe it. Dad accepted the rating game a day ago, and they’re already ready…”
“My mom must have told him. I talked to my parents two days before you got back to the Underworld,” Naruto said. “They’re doing this on purpose.”
Rias nodded. “I was going to have a training camp. I planned to invite your peerage. If we could have prepared— Ravel is losing her mind. She thought she’d have more time to plan.”
“That’s why they did it,” Naruto said.
There was no more time to talk. The doors were opened by Fujimai.
She was wearing a pearly dress that was similar in color to her hair and tails. Looking at her serious face, it was hard for Naruto to associate her with the woman who’d been underneath him just a few nights ago.
“They’re ready for you,” Fujimai said. “If you will follow me…”
Holes had been cut in her dress for her tails to stick through. They walked into a lounge where Lady Phenex, Lord Phenex, Zeoticus Gremory, and Venelana Gremory were all seated together. In addition to those sitting, Sirzechs was standing in front of a humongous window that took up an entire wall. For now, it looked out on the rolling green landscape outside, however Naruto had seen it in use during some of Ruval’s rating games in the past. Once the match started, the window would turn into a massive screen that showed everything in exquisite detail.
Sirzechs turned around, leaning against the window. There were a couple of other people in the room, beyond the patriarchs and matriarchs of the two clans. Fujimai went to stand beside Lord Phenex’s Queen, while Grayfia Lucifuge stood on the other side of her, immediately recognizable in her maid outfit. Despite being Sirzechs’ wife, the strongest Queen in the underworld chose to stand with the other servants.
Naruto put his hands behind his back, standing straight, while Rias looked torn about whether she should kneel, the way that they had when asking their respective fathers for this arrangement. Her irritation at how abruptly the match had been sprung on them won out, convincing her to stay standing.
“You’re here,” Zeoticus said. “Good.”
Naruto had seen him a handful of times over the years, beginning with the visit where he and Sirzechs brought Fujimai to the Phenex household. He and Lord Phenex were best friends, so visits to each other’s households weren’t rare. That was where this marriage engagement sprung from in the first place.
“I wasn’t expecting things to move this quickly,” Rias said.
Her voice didn’t give away what she thought of it one way or the other. However, context meant that everyone knew.
Zeoticus smirked. “I imagine you didn’t. Your opponents will be arriving any minute now. We’ve picked them with the utmost care.”
Sirzechs made a noise that might’ve been a scoff. He was ignored by his father. Naruto was surprised that none of his own brothers were here. He thought Ruval would be present, at least.
“The wager is simple, as presented by you two,” Lady Phenex said, speaking for her husband. “A rating game will be held between you two and the two devils we have chosen. The match will last until all the participants on one team are unable to fight, or have surrendered. I’ve already explained these things to your opponents, and they agreed, as the gracious young men that they are.”
“And if we win, the engagement is annulled,” Rias said.
She shifted uncomfortably when their parents all smiled.
“That’s right,” Lady Phenex said. “If you win, the engagement will be ended there.”
Lord Phenex grimaced, leaning forward, and spoke in a tone of barely concealed irritation. “There is one matter that we didn’t anticipate…”
While Naruto and Rias looked confused, the window Sirzechs had been leaning against displayed its capabilities as a screen. Instead of showing the arena of the rating game that was to come, it showed stands that were absolutely PACKED with devils.
The stands were already full. Devils were making bucketloads of noise, the way that they would for a professional rating game match between popular competitors. In fact, it almost looked like the crowd for a match between two top ten ranking peerages.
“Word got out,” Lord Phenex said.
“How?” Rias asked. His tone had given away that this was the last thing he wanted.
“It was almost inevitable,” Zeoticus said. He crossed his arms and didn’t sound happy, but he wasn’t as irritated as Lord Phenex. “Although the two of you have made your disdain for it very clear, the marriage union between two of the Underworld’s most prominent clans isn’t a small matter. There are devils who are very interested in such things.”
“We would have PREFERRED to settle this quietly,” Lady Phenex said. “Someone who disagrees learned of the event and things spiraled out of our control. There is too much interest for us to hide it now. Perhaps a televised loss will teach a stronger lesson than a private one.”
“If we lose,” Naruto said.
His mom smiled, which he didn’t like at all.
“If you lose,” she said.
The door swung open behind them. Naruto looked back… But it was just Ruval and a boy around their age who Naruto vaguely recognized. He wasn’t big on social conventions and neither was this black haired boy, so the two hadn’t met much. Still, it was hard not to know the heir to the highest ranking of the 72 Pillars.
Sairaorg Bael didn’t seem like a bad guy, from the few interactions Naruto had with him. He was also the nephew of Venelana Gremory, making him Rias’s cousin. The blue vest he was wearing seemed designed to be viable in combat. Looking at him made Naruto look at his brother again.
He started to see things that hadn’t stuck out to him the first time. Ruval was wearing metal armor up to his waist and had knight’s gauntlets over his hands. The shirt he was wearing looked like a kind of gambeson. The only time Naruto had seen those on him was in the lead up to one of his matches, when the whole family came to wish Ruval luck against his latest opponent.
Sairaorg and Ruval stopped to the right of Rias and Naruto. The Phenex heir looked at Naruto from the corner of his eye and gave him a small, somewhat sad smile.
Rias had gone very still.
“You’ll be facing these two,” Lady Phenex said, doing an impressive job keeping her voice level.
Zeoticus didn’t try so hard. “As I said… You underestimate the importance of this marriage. In the future, when this matter is settled, you’ll thank us for going so far.”
“If we lose,” Naruto said.
Rias’s head whipped toward him. Zeoticus was furrowing his brow. Lord Phenex had put his face against his palm and let out a long sigh. Lady Phenex was just looking at Naruto…
However, others laughed. Sirzechs and Sairaorg cracked up, laughing boisterously, meanwhile Lord Phenex’s Queen had a meaner sounding laugh.
Sairaorg stepped around Ruval and held his hand out to Naruto.
“I like your spirit! I’ve heard good things about your character,” Sairaorg said.
Naruto wondered who he heard them from. He accepted the handshake. He still couldn’t resist saying: “You’re still choosing to fight us.”
“That’s because I’ve heard good things,” Sairaorg said. “There are worse devils out there for Rias to be matched with.”
“I’ll decide that for myself, thank you very much,” Rias said.
Sairaorg moved on and shook her hand, greeting his cousin with more familiarity.
“If that’s what you want, then beat us,” Sairaorg said, still smiling. Naruto knew that look. He was a battle junkie. “If you can defeat us, then your conviction is the real deal.”
Rias’s only reaction was to look sideways at Ruval. She didn’t say anything else.
Ruval moved to shake hands with them too. Naruto felt weird, shaking his brother’s hand. The look on Ruval’s face was apologetic.
“Sorry, ‘Ruto,” he said. “Mom asked me, and she’s right. This is the easiest way.”
Naruto was glad he hadn’t brought Kurama to this meeting. She might’ve gotten the rating game started early, if she heard a “puny” devil thinking she was an easy match.
Nothing Naruto could say would seem like more than a stupid, arrogant boast to the devils in the room. Ruval and his peerage were amongst the strongest in the entire Underworld. There were maybe a bit over ten peerages who could beat him, and he was lining up against two rookies. Even without Sairaorg, most people would expect that Ruval could mop the floor with his youngest brother and the young Gremory heir.
So Naruto finished shaking Ruval’s hand and took a step back. “How much time are we being given to prepare?”
Even this question made Zeoticus shake his head at the foolish young devil who thought any amount of preparation could help him.
“Thirty minutes,” Zeoticus said. “That’s the most that I’m willing to wait.”
Naruto nodded. “Let’s go, Rias.”
“I’ll walk you to the arena,” Sirzechs said, stepping away from the window. “Come on.”
The building they were currently in was a lounge designed for VIP spectators of rating games. It was the size of a small council and each of the extant pillars had their own private rooms. The meeting that just occurred was held in the Gremory viewing box. Now, Sirzechs led the way for Naruto and Rias to take them where their peerages were waiting, since they had only been in this building a few times.
“You could always back out,” Sirzechs said. His voice didn’t give away what he thought of this idea one way or the other.
“I would rather be beaten into the ground on live television,” Rias said. “That would be infinitely less embarrassing.”
Her voice was sharp and angry now that they left the viewing box. This was her idea and while she always knew that they could lose, she expected to face a completely different kind of opponent, like Riser Phenex and another peerage on that level. Professionals, who would be a hard matchup for her and Naruto… But not a monster like Ruval!
“Okay,” Sirzechs said.
There was still no judgement. He didn’t tell her if that was a good or a bad idea. Soon they got to what looked like the entrance to a locker room. This was where Sirzechs stopped.
“They’re just inside those doors. Prepare what you need to and make sure everyone is inside that room when thirty minutes are up,” he said, “because if anyone is outside, they won’t be teleported to the arena.”
Rias nodded and walked past him. The cold treatment hurt Sirzechs slightly. Not too badly, though, because he seemed to be expecting it.
When Rias had gone through the door and Naruto started to follow her, Sirzechs stopped him.
“One second, Naruto. Have a talk with me,” Sirzechs said.
Naruto was curious. He hadn’t actually seen Rias’s brother in person since the first time that they talked, way back in his mom’s flower garden.
Sirzechs was thinking about the same thing. He chuckled. “You’ve grown up a lot since the last time I saw you. I remember you being a promising young devil. In fact, you reminded me of myself in some ways…”
“Thank you, Lucifer-sama,” Naruto said. He hadn’t always had the most respect for authority figures but he respected those who backed it up, like the Hokage’s that he’d known. Even if his manners were sometimes off, he knew how hard it was to reach the position of a kage or a satan.
“Have you slacked off with your training?”
“Never,” Naruto grinned.
“Rias doesn’t think that the two of you can win,” Sirzechs said. “I can see it in her posture.”
“That’ll change,” Naruto said.
“What’s going to change it?”
“She’ll see what happens when the match starts,” Naruto said. “I told her that we’re not going to lose. So we’re not going to lose.”
Magical power swirled around the hallway. It grew oppressively heavy, beating down as if it was a physical weight.
Naruto stood still. His face didn’t change. Sirzechs stopped far short of letting out all the pressure he was capable of exerting. He grinned, ruffling Naruto’s hair. Even though this was one of the Underworld’s leaders, Naruto slapped his hand reflexively, and Sirzechs backed off.
“I’ll enjoy the show,” Sirzechs said.
Naruto nodded. He was going to follow Rias, until Sirzechs said his name:
“Naruto, do you remember what you told me in your garden years ago?”
“Of course!” Naruto said.
“If you win, I hope that your opinion still hasn’t changed,” Sirzechs said.
Naruto grinned. He slapped his chest twice, as if he was presenting himself.
“I wouldn’t change my mind about something like that!” Naruto said. “Now go back to your dad’s box. You’re not going to want to miss this show!”
As Naruto headed into the locker room, he could hear Sirzechs voice behind him as Sirzechs talked to himself:
“Does he remember that I’m a satan when he’s ordering me around like that?”
Regardless of what answer Sirzechs ultimately reached, he did head back to the box.
He believed Naruto. This was going to be a great show.