Regret.

That was what went through Rias' mind as she and her peerage made their way to the mansion where they'd be training under Red and the other five idiots.

The first regret Rias had was not preparing for the effects of bringing Rage into her peerage. He consumed all eight pawn pieces and each of them mutated. The magic backlash from such a feat was so potent that it left her with a blazing headache that persisted as she walked up the hill.

The second regret was that she tried to wake the weebs up early.

You figure out how braincell killing this was.

But her most immediate regret was not bringing headphones. Cheese and Rage were both drunk on some concoction of crack, LSD, vodka, whisky, honey and carolina reaper chillies and they were both singing (read: screaming belligerently) the lyrics to don't stop me now by Queen. Olya was on Cheese's shoulders for those of you who are interested.

Red kept his usual deadpan expression as the group walked while Smol cackled away at watching the two belligerent fucking retards shatter the sound barrier with their horrifically bad singing.

The bad singing was a result of the drink by the way. They normally had pretty average voices unless Rage wanted to become a fucking demon with how low his growls could get.

Rias and Akeno held the front of the group with Red while Rage, Cheese, Smol and Kiba were in the middle. Koneko, Asia, Pine and Reaper were at the back.

Akeno: "So, Red. What kind of training are you going to put us through?"

Red: "I've got a few ideas. Kiba needs strength training more than speed. I can help him with his swordsmanship but he'll be training with Cheese for the most part... When he sobers up, of course."

Rias: "What about Koneko?"

Red: "Koneko'll be training with Smol. Smol's the fastest out of the six of us and Koneko needs to learn how to keep up with particularly slippery opponents."

Akeno: "I assume Asia and Myself will be training with Pine?"

Red: "Partially. Pine specialises in support magic. However your option for offensive magic is Rage so we'll be limiting the magic training to support."

Rias: "Rage isn't training anyone?"

Red: "The last time he tried to, he killed thirty people with one exercise."

Akeno: "... I'm scared to ask."

Red: "All you need to know is what he called it."

Rias: "Which was?"

Red: "The German solution."

Rias: "Oh... OH!"

Red: "Yep. It was as bad as it sounded. To be fair to him though, he's not nearly as insane as he was back then."

Rias looked back at the red haired buffoon with a worried look.

Rias: "I think I'd want to hear that story some time."

Red: "Rage isn't going to say anything about it. Put it this way, he's gone out of his way to murder anyone that knows anything about his past. The only ones that know anything are Calli and him. Not even I know where he's from or what made him the apex of all insanity.
I only know what I've seen of him."

The peerage and the weebs kept walking up the hill while the two screaming retards only got louder until Red manifested a single part of his rigging and shot the two with the cannons. Olya had moved back to talk to the others by this point, no children were murdered in the making of this chapter (unfortunately.)

Rias: "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?"

Red: "My power. As they've said, I'm a battleship."

Cheese: "Yeah, a battleship that wants to have sex with other battleships!"

Red went completely silent before five other sets of cannons manifested around him. Each of the barrels were a dark red colour with the main casing of the guns being dark silver, almost black. A red decal was imprinted on each one as the barrels were all aimed at Cheese.

Red: "You get a ten second head start, starting nine seconds ago."

Cheese: "... Do I get extra time for the effort?"

Red: "No."

And thus, Cheese was erased from the hill...

For about five seconds.

Red just deadpanned as he turned to walk back up the hill.

Red: "Sometimes I wish she wasn't so fast with the resurrections... Wait a minute, that only took five seconds... Alright, where's the reaper. And I don't mean the tsun."

Reaper: "No proof... Baka."

Smol: [You mean the reaper that's currently taking a nap on her scythe?]

Red looked around and found no such thing anywhere near them until he spotted something silver poking out of Rage's shirt.

Red: "Rage... Turn around for a second."

Rage tilted his head in confusion and turned to the side where it was revealed that Calli's scythe was impaled through his back and the reaper herself was fast asleep on the haft.

Red barely even reacted, his deadpan only grew more intense, to the point where he wouldn't be out of place in a herd of Quagsire.

He just sighed and continued to walk. After roughly twenty minutes everyone had arrived at the mansion where they'd be staying for the next ten days while they trained (read: suffered.)

Rias had her peerage unpack their things and get ready for the first bout of training while the weebs just did their own thing. Rage pulled Calli's scythe out of his back before using it to launch himself through one of the windows.

Once everyone was ready, training began in earnest. Kiba and Red were practising sword skills so the knight wouldn't fall behind while Cheese was testing Koneko's physical strength. Pine was teaching Asia how to measure her aura and how to harness more power than usual. Smol and Reaper were both doing warm ups because they would be helping to train Kiba and Koneko.

Rias and Akeno practised by themselves with Rage occasionally making snarky comments. Rias used her power of destruction to blast a hole in the ground next to where Rage was, this was supposed to shut him up.

It ended up giving him a really dumb idea. He watched Rias' movements closely and after a while he spoke up again.

Rage: "Oi! Rias! Keep moving around like that and your top's gonna burst open!"

Rias groaned in annoyance before flinging another fireball at him. This was what he was waiting for as he held one hand out and caught the fireball. He felt the heat from the destructive flames tingling on his hand as he shut his eyes. The red lines that appeared when he intimidated Riser reappeared causing Rias and Akeno to stop and stare in awe. A few of the others did the same while the weebs smirked.

Rage: "I invoke... Denial of Nothingness..."

In an instant the same red lines spread throughout the fireball that Rias had flung and the wind kicked up around the crazed mongoloid. Rage opened his eyes and his face cracked into a smirk before he crushed the fireball in his hand. He then stood up as the wind faded away.

Rage: "... Catch."

With a thrust of his hand, the eyes of his pendant flashed bright green and a massive wave of the power of destruction was fired at thirty times the intensity of Rias' version.

Rage: "... Oh yeah, it's all comin' together."

Rias: "What!? How did-?"

Red: "Easy, you made him into a devil, thereby you granted him a whole new arsenal of toys to play with."

Rias stood in shock while the other weebs laughed as Rage threw a couple of fireballs at Red to see if he could score a kill.

It didn't go too well because the bastard just wouldn't die at an acceptable rate. Acceptable for Rage being instantly.

The day went on and eventually it came time to watch the weebs themselves train against Red. They had decided that there would be no holds barred as they fought. Though it would be a one on one match and they were training to fully activate their sacred gears.

First up was Reaper. He stood in front of Red and drew his sword while the battleship banging boomer did the same. The two stood still for a few seconds before moving so fast that they vanished from sight momentarily, the clash of swords sent out huge shockwaves and the slashes that missed made slash marks in the trees and ground near them.

Reaper then tried to focus on the bracelet on his arm, he focused as Red kept the attacks coming until eventually the gem flashed and Reaper felt himself moving faster and getting stronger. He smirked before clashing with Red again, however the older weeb hardly budged. His own sacred gear was boosting his power at the same rate as Reaper. The two chuckled before their battle increased in intensity as the two got stronger every ten seconds.

The battle kept going until Red manifested one of his cannons and blasted Reaper off the face of the earth. After a few seconds however, he snapped his bones back into place and put his lung back into place as the hole in his abdomen healed. The others who weren't used to seeing this kind of thing had to look away as Reaper got up.

Red: "Okay, Smol, you're up next."

Smol: [Can't you get Rage or Pine to fight you next?]

Red: "You need to train as well, Smol. Besides, Pine is going to partner up since she uses support magic more often than offensive magic."

Pine: "I do need to learn more attacking spells. Rias, do you have any grimoires or something I can use?"

Rias: "I have a few grimoires that you can borrow, they're in the library."

Red and Smol stood facing each other before the cursed goblin sped towards the ship shagger at the rate of a thousand metres a second. Red managed to block the three shots that Smol shot at him. Smol was the fastest but least physically powerful of the group, relying on his ability to force images into people's minds so he could get the drop on them. However he was skilled with firearms and martial arts despite not being able to disintegrate a tree trunk by flicking it like Cheese could.

Speaking of Cheese, he was busy playing with Olya before it became his turn to fight Red.

But let's get back to the fun stuff. Smol sped around Red trying to look for an obvious opening to attack, unfortunately, Red had a habit of turtling. He was constantly on the defensive until he saw a weakness in his opponent. To be honest though, he found one immediately for Smol, but the bugger was too quick for him to exploit it. Red eventually decided that Smol needed an incentive to use his sacred gear, so he slashed the air in a horizontal fashion. The slash managed to nick Smol's leg and send him sprawling to the ground. The ring then flashed green and Smol moved twice as fast as before, causing Red to smirk. The little goblin then appeared in front of Red out of nowhere, giving the boomer no time to react as he was pushed back by the increasing speed and strength that Smol was exuding. The others watched with interest as Smol dashed around, kicking up dust to mask his movements. However his assault didn't last as Red managed to catch his leg and bash him over the head with the hilt of his sword.

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

Cheese immediately tagged in and went on the offensive, Red had no time to react as Cheese's own sacred gear burst to life and his physical strength was further enhanced. The two were almost evenly matched however as Red had been boosting since his fight against Reaper. Cheese managed to keep the advantage however by not letting up even for a second of breath. Koneko watched as Red recoiled with every attack he blocked. While he was a durable bastard, Cheese was still strong enough to knock him back a bit with his attacks. However Red cut it short with a blast from his cannons, though Cheese managed to catch one of the shells.

Pine followed with Rage, the two were gong to work in tandem due to Pine's support magic and Rage's offensive magecraft. The crazier of the two smirked before his pendant shone with a brilliant green light and Pine's choker did the same. Rage then shot forward, enhanced both by his sacred gear and by Pine's magic. He sent a punch at Red, which was caught, however Red wasn't prepared for the Gandr spell that Rage had ready as well. Rias, Asia and Akeno all watched in amazement as Pine monitored the two's movements and used her support magic to make sure Rage was ahead of the game in every way.

Red knew that this was dangerous though, by being in battle for longer, the risk of Rage's insanity taking over was an ever-present threat.

Red then fired a volley of shots at Pine, which were swiftly intercepted by a mass of red tentacles. Pine's eyes were now shining a bright crimson as the tentacles surged forwards and held Red in place. Rage then jumped back to where Pine was and nodded to her.

Pine used her enhancement magic to boost Rage's attacking power and then Rage began to speak.

Rage: "I am... the bone of my sword. Steel is my body and fire is my blood."

Red: "Oh shit."

Rage: "I have withstood great pain to create many weapons. Unknown to life, nor known to death. I have created over a thousand blades and crushed the soul of rebellion... Yet these hands shall never be clean of blood. So as I pray..."

The reality around the group began to shift as gears descended from the skies and as swords floated in the air around Red as he struggled to get out of the grip of Pine's tentacles.

Rage then smirked cruelly as he thrust his arm forward and the blades all changed into a familiar blade with a silver and red hilt. Crimson lightning cracked the sky as Red braced for the attack.

Rage: "Clarent Blade Works!!"

The swords all crackled with red lightning before multiple blasts of crimson energy were fired at Red.

Red: "Ah... Fun."

Red was then consumed by the crimson beams. When the dust settled, the gears and swords had disappeared, but Red was still standing. He had a smirk on his face as Pine eventually couldn't hold him anymore. Rage obviously wasn't happy that Red wasn't reforming from being killed. But he held himself back from rushing in and using Ea at point blank range.

Rias and the others were in complete shock as Red walked towards the two.

Red: "You're getting more confident in your offensive magic, Pine. Rage, maybe you could teach her some offensive magecraft."

Rage: "I already did. Taught her about Gandr spells, mystic codes, mystic eyes. That kinda shit. She's got it down, just needs to apply it more."

Pine nodded, not being satisfied with her progress with offensive attacks unless they were absolutely perfect.

The weebs then took a break before going back for training with the devils. Once again, Cheese gauged Koneko's ability in terms of strength while Red gauged Kiba's sword skill. Pine continued to help Asia with her magic and even gave some pointers to Rias and Akeno.

Smol helped Kiba increase his speed even further while Rage reluctantly helped to train Asia in barrier magic.

The day ended up passing by quicker than anyone was expecting and soon enough, night had fallen. Asia and Akeno had made dinner for everyone and now they were mostly resting in their rooms.

Pine stayed up to do some extra studying, much to the chagrin of the other weebs. Meanwhile Rias stood out in the gazebo, gazing up at the starlit sky. As she did so, an orange magic circle opened next to her in a burst of flame and a blonde woman stepped out in an intricate red dress.

Rias: "Lady Phenex."

Lady Phenex: "Just call me Rachel, Rias. We've known each other for long enough."

RACHEL "KENTUCKY FRIED MILF" PHENEX

Rias smiled before turning back to the stars.

Rachel: "I know you don't want to marry Riser, Rias. I personally don't want to force you into anything either. However my husband and Riser were adamant about this."

Rias: "Didn't Ruval have anything to say?"

Rachel: "He has his reservations. However he's been bogged down by his work, so he hasn't been able to do much."

Rias sighed in defeat.

Rias: "In nine days I have to fight against Riser and his peerage. It's kind of daunting."

Rachel: "From what I heard you have a hell of a trump card up your sleeve though."

Rias looked towards the roof of the house where a certain buffoon was currently speaking with someone on the phone.

Rias: "Yeah, but even if I have to use him. I don't want to. He's far too much for any of my peerage to handle including myself."

Rachel smiled as she followed Rias' gaze.

Rachel: "Based on what I've heard. He'll listen to those he has an inkling of respect for, even if it's reluctant."

Rias turned to Rachel, who smiled warmly at her. Despite Riser and his father being the epitome of hubris, Rachel, Ravel and Ruval were all fairly reserved. Even if Ravel put on a proud front, she was much softer than that front would suggest.

Rias took a deep breath before looking back up at the roof to find that Rage had vanished.

Rachel smiled and teleported back to the underworld, leaving Rias to her thoughts.

Rias: "I know you're hiding there. Calli, right?"

The reaper stepped out from the shadows with a smile and leaned against the railing of the gazebo.

Calli: "Y'know. There is a way to reign him in. But it's dangerous."

Rias: "It might be good to have if he goes too far."

Calli giggled before whispering something into Rias' ear.

Calli: "Using that will stop him from doing whatever he's doing. However it might piss him off something fierce, so use it with care."

Rias nodded as Calli headed back to the mansion. She was now armed with something that could allow her to stop Rage if he went too far.

The following seven days were much of the same with training. Kiba was much faster and much stronger however and had even challenged Rage to a duel. Now, Kiba was a master with the sword at this point.

But he didn't know how to deal with someone that could master a weapon as soon as his fingers grazed the handle.

Basically he got laid out so badly that he refrained from even rattling a blade in Rage's direction.

However as the eighth day dawned, Rias went to go and find where Cheese and Rage had disappeared to. She found Cheese not too far away. He was just performing maintenance on his guns.

Rias continued to walk until she found a small waterfall. Behind it, something large and golden glimmered though the water. Rias' eyes widened as she saw a pair of red eyes glowing. She blinked and saw that it was gone. She shook her head in disbelief and turned to leave, only to find Rage standing behind her.

Rage: "Sup?"

Rias jumped in fright, causing Rage to chuckle.

Rias: " Don't do that again-... Rage."

Rias shuddered as she had almost said something else instead of Rage. Something he took note of.

Rias felt his hand on her shoulder and she looked up and paled as she saw his eyes almost glazed over with fury.

Rage: "What were you about to say, Rias?"

Rias shuddered as his voice echoed inside her head. A terrifying hollowness in his tone.

Rage: "... She told you. Didn't she?"

Rias stopped herself from looking into those hollow, furious eyes.

Rage: "DIDN'T SHE!?"

Rage's grip on Rias' shoulder tightened until a scythe blade was thrust in front of his throat.

Calli: "Yeah, I told her. Rage, you're fighting for her. It may be out of a selfish desire, but ultimately you're fighting for her, so don't you think she has a right to know? Sona as well."

Rage stayed silent before his grip on Rias' shoulder loosened.

Rage: "... We'll discuss this at length later. For now, go back to the mansion. You've still got to train."

Rias walked away for a while before she broke into a run. When she arrived back at the mansion, she ended up running straight into her room to hide.

The last two days passed in a blur. The peerage was trained to the point where they could easily thrash Riser's peerage. For now, Rias and her peerage were gathered in the clubroom. Grayfia was also present, as were the other five weebs.

Rage was eerily silent before Rias spoke up.

Rias: "Alright guys! This is it, we've been trained to handle this sort of thing, so give them hell!"

Grayfia smiled before Rage pulled Rias aside for a second. He said something quietly to her before walking back out to the others.

Riser was ready to fight the peerage, sure.

However his judgement would be delivered upon wings of golden fury.

End of Chapter.

Next Time: What's in a Name.