The ORC was closed.
Not officially… but emotionally.
No one wanted to go in. No one wanted to see the couch where Rias had cried. The table where Akeno had left her tea to go cold. The burned remains of the simulator.
Issei Hyoudou walked alone beneath the rain—without an umbrella, without direction, without a voice.
The wind dragged wet leaves across the pavement, the distant sound of cars echoing faintly.
But he only heard one thing:
“Tomorrow, I will go to the Underworld.”
“My engagement must continue.”
Rias had said it in a broken voice.
A voice Issei had never imagined could come from her.
He stopped in front of the darkened building.
He clenched his teeth.
“No…” he whispered. “It can’t end like this.”
He pressed his forehead against the wall. Once. Then again. Until his knuckles bled.
It didn’t matter.
Nothing mattered. Except one thing:
Rias is going to get married if I don’t do something.
He shoved the door open. The inside smelled of damp air and ashes.
Kiba sat in a corner, cleaning his sword without really looking at it.
Koneko slept curled up on a borrowed futon, her eyes swollen.
Asia knelt in front of the altar, crying silently.
Akeno stood with her back to them, staring out the window, unmoving since the storm had begun. Her electrical aura crackled faintly each time lightning lit up the room.
When Issei closed the door behind him…
no one spoke.
Until Issei took a deep breath.
“I…” His voice cracked. “I won’t accept this.”
Kiba lifted his eyes slightly.
Koneko opened one eye.
Asia let out a choked, muffled sound.
Akeno… kept looking at the rain.
Issei continued.
“We lost. Yeah. We got crushed. Yeah. But… I can’t just sit still.”
His hands trembled.
“She… she doesn’t want to get married. She said it. I saw it in her eyes. She was—!”
His voice broke apart.
Kiba closed his sword.
“Issei…”
“NO!” Issei shouted, making everyone flinch. “I— I have to do something. Anything! I can’t let them force her!”
Koneko murmured, soft but firm:
“…Rias asked us to rest.”
“And SO WHAT?!” Issei turned toward her, desperate. “She asked us to rest because she thinks it’s already over! Because she thinks there’s nothing left to do…!”
A massive thunderclap crashed outside at that exact moment.
Akeno spoke for the first time.
“And you think there is something…?”
Issei looked at her.
There was fear in his eyes—but also something new.
“I don’t know how to win,” he admitted, lowering his head. “I don’t fight well. I don’t know tactics. Or magic. Or anything.”
He raised his bloodied fists.
“But I do know one thing: I never want to see that smile broken again.”
Kiba stood up slowly.
“Issei… what you’re saying is noble. But going to the Underworld alone… is madness.”
Issei didn’t step back.
“I’m not going alone.”
Koneko blinked.
“…Huh?”
Issei pulled something from his pocket—the letter Rias had left him after the Rating Game.
A letter where, between the lines, fear, pain… and resignation could be read.
The paper was wrinkled, soaked by rain and Issei’s anguish.
“She…” he whispered. “…she wrote this thinking no one would fight for her.”
He clenched the paper.
“I want to prove her wrong.”
Silence.
The rain kept hammering the roof, as if trying to break inside.
Asia stood up, trembling and tearful.
“Issei-san… I— I want to help…”
“No,” Issei cut her off gently. “You don’t have to fight. You need to stay safe. And take care of everyone when we come back.”
Kiba stepped forward.
“If you go… I go.”
Issei shook his head.
“Kiba… I can’t ask that of you.”
Kiba smiled—for the first time in two days.
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“You’re not asking. I’m telling you.”
Koneko stood up as well, fists clenched.
“…I’m not letting Rias marry some arrogant bird.”
Akeno finally turned around.
Her face was wet.
No one could tell if it was rain… or tears.
“Issei,” she said softly, her voice charged with electricity. “The final decision was always yours.”
“But now… now I want to see that Phenex sent flying too.”
Issei looked at her. Then at the others.
And for the first time since the defeat… he smiled.
“Thank you… really.”
Then his gaze dropped.
“There’s a problem…”
They all looked at him.
“I don’t know… how to get to the Underworld.”
The back door burst open.
A heavy pressure flooded the room.
A blue teleportation circle formed on the floor.
And an authoritative voice filled the air:
“I do.”
It was Sirzechs Lucifer.
Rias’s brother. The Demon King. And the man who had just broken the rules without permission.
He stepped inside, soaked by rain, as if he had crossed half of Japan without blinking.
He looked at the Gremory team.
Then at Issei.
“If you want to stop the wedding,” he said, “you need a portal. And you need an opportunity.”
Issei swallowed.
“An… opportunity?”
Sirzechs smiled—soft and dangerous at the same time.
“One that only someone with a foolish, absurd heart like yours can use.”
He extended his hand toward him.
“Hyoudou Issei. Make the Underworld tremble. Prove that my sister is not a trophy to be handed over.”
Issei took a step forward.
The blue circle expanded.
Kiba, Koneko, Asia, and Akeno lined up behind him—each with the fire in their eyes they had lost after the defeat.
The sleeping dragon finally stirred.
Sirzechs murmured:
“There will be no turning back.”
Issei clenched his fists.
“I don’t need it.”
Magic exploded.
And the Gremory team was hurled toward the Underworld…
…just as, on the other side, in Phenex territory…
Kaelan faced something that was trying to be born through him.
Two battles. Two worlds. Two different wars, connected by a single thread:
Choosing who to save.
And so began the inevitable:
The rebellion of a pawn.
The fall of the Phenex.
And the roar of the Red Dragon.
The Underworld was not silence.
It was excess.
The sky burned in crimson and gold tones, as if the firmament itself were celebrating something no one wanted to celebrate. Floating towers, demonic banners, noble families gathered with porcelain smiles.
The Phenex–Gremory wedding was about to begin.
Rias walked down the marble aisle with slow, controlled steps. The dress was flawless. Her crimson hair perfectly arranged.
Everything about her spoke of royalty.
Nothing spoke of freedom.
High-ranking demons escorted her on both sides.
Not as protection.
As a reminder.
“Breathe,” a servant whispered to her. “It won’t be long now.”
Rias nodded.
But her hands trembled.
She thought of the ORC couch.
Of Akeno’s tea.
Of Issei’s stupid laugh.
She thought of everything that wasn’t there.
Across the hall, Riser Phenex smiled.
Confident. Burning. Certain that the world already belonged to him.
“Today we seal a historic alliance,” a noble announced. “A union worthy of—”
The sentence died.
Because the air split.
It wasn’t an explosion.
It was an interruption.
A blue circle opened in the middle of the hall, shattering protocol, ceremony, and the patience of the high demons in a single instant.
“What…?” someone murmured.
Magic burst outward.
And from that circle came Issei Hyoudou, rolling across the floor like a badly aimed projectile.
“Ow!” he shouted. “SIRZECHS, I SAID SLOWLY!”
Behind him, Kiba landed with forced elegance. Koneko landed on her feet. Asia stumbled but didn’t fall. Akeno descended like contained lightning.
Absolute silence.
Riser frowned.
“Who are these…?”
Rias looked up.
And the world shattered inside her chest.
“Issei…” she whispered.
Issei stood up—soaked, bleeding, without a plan and without permission.
He looked at her.
And smiled.
“Hi, Rias.”
The murmurs exploded.
“A pawn…?”
“A human?”
“In the middle of the ceremony?”
Riser stepped forward, fire vibrating around him.
“This is an insult to the Phenex Clan.”
Issei took a deep breath.
He felt the fear.
He felt the weight of being there.
And still, he spoke.
“I didn’t come to respect you.”
The silence turned dangerous.
“I came to say she doesn’t want this.”
Riser laughed.
“And you think that matters?”
Issei clenched his fists.
“Yes.”
Because he wasn’t alone.
Kiba stepped forward.
“Rias is not a political object.”
Koneko crossed her arms.
“And you’re an idiot with wings.”
Akeno smiled—dangerous.
“If you’re going to burn… at least let it be for something fun.”
Riser’s flames erupted.
“Then burn, all of you!”
The improvised Rating Game began.
Unofficial.
Dirty.
Unfair.
Issei was thrown against a wall in seconds.
Riser was too strong.
Too fast.
Too arrogant.
“Is that all?” he mocked. “Is that the pawn who was going to save you?”
Issei coughed blood.
And stood up anyway.
“I’m… not done yet.”
The red gauntlet glowed.
An ancient voice awakened.
Do you desire power?
Issei screamed.
“YES!”
The Boosted Gear roared.
The battle escalated.
Kiba was completely defeated.
Akeno fell.
Koneko was slammed into the ground.
Riser regenerated.
Always.
“We can’t win!” someone shouted.
Issei looked at Rias.
She was crying.
And that was enough.
The Underworld hall lay in ruins.
Shattered columns. Melted marble. Air saturated with magic and fire.
Riser Phenex breathed heavily, regenerating again and again, his body wrapped in flames that refused to die.
Issei was on his knees.
His chest burned.
His arms wouldn’t respond.
Every breath was a knife.
“Is that all?” Riser mocked, walking toward him. “You’ve gotten up many times… but you’re not eternal.”
Issei clenched his teeth.
He was right.
He couldn’t win like this.
The Boosted Gear roared weakly.
Balance… critical.
Issei lifted his gaze.
Rias was holding Akeno, trembling.
Kiba and Koneko could barely move.
Asia cried silently, clutching something to her chest.
And then Issei understood.
It wasn’t a magical revelation.
It was a human decision.
“Asia…” he murmured.
She looked up, startled.
“Yes, Issei-san…?”
Issei smiled softly. Tired.
“Thank you… for trusting me.”
Asia frowned.
“Eh…?”
Issei took a shaky step toward her. Carefully took the Twilight Healing cross in his hands.
The artifact trembled.
It didn’t react with rejection.
It reacted with sadness.
“Issei…” Asia whispered. “That cross… if you use it like that…”
Issei closed his eyes.
“I know.”
Riser laughed.
“A healing relic? Seriously? That’s your trump card?”
Issei didn’t answer.
He pressed the cross against his own chest.
And broke the bond.
There was no explosion.
No light.
There was pain.
Issei’s body screamed. The magic of the cross—designed to heal—was forcibly inverted, draining everything he had left, consuming his life as pure fuel.
Asia screamed.
“ISSEI, NO!”
Rias felt terror crawl up her spine.
“Issei, stop!”
But it was already too late.
The Boosted Gear responded to the sacrifice.
Not with borrowed power.
With something worse.
Transfer accepted.
The red gauntlet cracked with black fractures. The aura changed. It was no longer just dragon.
It was suicidal determination.
Issei lifted his head.
His eyes no longer glowed.
They burned.
“Riser Phenex…” he said, his voice no longer sounding human. “You regenerate because you don’t know your limit.”
He advanced.
Each step left blood on the floor.
“I don’t regenerate.”
He struck.
Riser’s flames went out—for the first time.
“But I do know when to keep going.”
The second blow shattered the regeneration.
The third pierced his chest.
Riser screamed.
Not in pain.
In fear.
“WHAT ARE YOU?!”
Issei smiled, bleeding.
“An idiot…” he gasped. “…who doesn’t give up.”
The final blow wasn’t elegant.
It was brutal.
Riser’s fire core shattered, collapsing his regeneration completely.
The Phenex fell to his knees.
“I…” he coughed. “…I forfeit.”
Absolute silence.
The cross’s magic faded.
Asia fell to her knees, crying.
Issei collapsed.
Rias caught him before he hit the floor.
“IDIOT!” she screamed, holding him. “IDIOT!”
Issei smiled, barely conscious.
“It worked… right?”
Sirzechs appeared among the ruins, serious.
He looked at the broken cross.
Looked at Issei.
And nodded.
“The engagement is officially canceled.”
The Underworld murmured.
The wedding was over.
Not because of politics.
Because of sacrifice.
Rias pressed Issei against her chest.
“Never… never do something like that again.”
Issei closed his eyes.
“I’m not promising anything…”