Riser sat on his sofa with his usual arrogant smirk. There were less than ten minutes before the game began. He wasn't remotely worried about what might be in store for him and his peerage.

His queen, Yubelluna, approached and took a seat on the arm of the sofa.

Yubelluna: "If I may, Lord Riser. I'd like to address one of the common concerns between myself and the other peerage members."

Riser: "Riser permits you to do so."

Yubelluna: "The pawns did some scouting of the Gremory peerage... They've trained to a point where I and the others doubt we can win against them."

Riser raised an eyebrow before waving his hand in dismissal.

Riser: "There is nothing they can do against us to come out victorious. Riser knows that this win is solidly his."

Yubelluna: "... Very good, my lord. I shall return to the others then."

Riser nodded as Yubelluna exited the room. The queen sighed before looking up at the others who had gathered expectedly.

Yubelluna: "Lord Riser is still solidly of the opinion that we are going to emerge victorious."

Ni: "We can't!"

Li: "Agreed. Those devils took their training to an insane level. Not to mention they have that guy on their side."

Xuelan: "Yeah. Despite how much of a threat he poses, I wanna fight him anyway. Stronger opponents give more lessons than weaker ones anyway."

Siris: "honestly, you have a point. I say we go out and at least try to hold him off for as long as we can!"

Ile/Nel: "YEAH!"

Burent: "If you think we can, then we will."

The peerage nodded as the teleportation circle surrounded them. They were expecting to find themselves in a replica of Kuoh academy. But what awaited them was something very different.

They were instead transported to a very dark place. The walls were angled and the floor seemed to be made of some kind of metal composite.

A familiar voice then rang out across the hall the peerage found themselves in. Rage, for his part, sounded excited about what was about to happen.

Rage: "So. I bet you lot expected to be in Kuoh, eh? Well, have a look out of that breach that's next to you."

Karlamine looked at the breach as a veil of shadow was lifted. Everyone's eyes widened in horror as they saw the rings of Saturn just outside.

Rage: "Welcome to Saturn. Welcome to the dreadnaught."

Riser shuddered as he saw the whole scope of the hall they were standing in.

Yubelluna gazed in awe at the massive size of the dreadnaught before Rage continued.

Rage: "Your objective is simple. Find the throne room where Rias and her peerage are waiting for you. The creatures that once called this dreadnaught home have long since been eliminated. The good news for you is that you don't have to travel too far to get to the throne room. However... For every three minutes you aren't here. I will separate you all and hunt one of you down. You'll be reunited when I've eliminated the one I was hunting. So you'd better hurry~."

The dreadnaught fell silent before the knights nodded to each other and sped off to find the throne room. The others followed swiftly after, Riser's plan had been thrown into disarray. All according to cake.

(Note: Cake means Keikaku. Keikaku means plan.)

Rias' peerage sat in awe of their surroundings. Asia for her part, was stunned by being so close to the planet Saturn. She reached out as some debris flew by the dreadnaught to see if she could grab any of it.

Red and the others watched the feed with mixed reactions. Red deadpanned due to the inevitable paperwork that this was bound to result in. Cheese and Smol were both jealous that Rage got a whole ass alien star-ship to play with. Reaper was mostly impressed with how massive the dreadnaught was. It was situated right in one of the rings of Saturn. There was a large circular gap there due to the superweapon that was built into the hull of the ship.

Pine was busy studying some of the alien runes that occasionally popped up on the walls. Taking note of the green flame that they seemed to be formed of.

Kiba looked at the massive sword that was stabbed into a pool of black liquid in awe of what manner of creature would be able to wield such a huge blade.

Rage: "It's called Willbreaker. The sword of one of the gods of the Hive. The Taken King, Oryx."

Kiba: "You brought this taken king down?"

Rage: "I did. This was long before I met Red and the others. I've mentioned that I like to dimension hop, right?"

Akeno: "Never to any of us."

Rage: "Huh. Remind me to rectify that. For now though, three minutes is up."

Rage smirked as he snapped his fingers and the dreadnaught went dark.

Ravel found herself separated from the rest of the peerage. She was cold and afraid as she found herself on one of the outer decks of the dreadnaught. She gazed in wonder at Saturn and its rings until a pair of golden wings emerged from behind her.

The rest of the peerage were in total darkness until they were relieved of their blindness. Riser looked around in a panic as Ravel had vanished when Grayfia's voice echoed throughout the dreadnaught.

Grayfia: "One of Riser's bishops. Retired."

Riser's heart sunk to unfathomable depths as Grayfia's voice faded away. Ravel had been defeated in an instant.

Ravel herself woke up in an unfamiliar place. She was expecting to be in the underworld, but instead she found herself in a hospital room. Looking out the window, she was able to see the dreadnaught in the middle of Saturn's rings in the distance.

Ravel: "Where... Is this?"

???: "This was something that Rage had set up before the game, Ravel."

Ravel turned and found a familiar blonde man at her bedside.

Ravel: "Brother Ruval!"

Ravel tried to sit up straight, but found that her stomach was in a lot of pain.

Ruval: "Try not to move too much, sister. You took quite a nasty attack."

Ruval explained to his sister that Rage had spoken to him beforehand about having the recovery room placed in one of his prototype star-cruisers. The viewing platform was just a few rooms away from them, but the view of the dreadnaught in the middle of Saturn's rings made Ravel conflicted. On one hand, Rage was merciless and cruel, but at the same time, the view she was getting of Saturn was almost worth the pain of getting bitch slapped into an elimination.

However, time was running short, making the rest of Riser's peerage panicked as they rushed to try and find the throne room. Eventually they found a large area with some kind of gateway in the middle.

Riser: "There. Riser can see an orb in the middle of that gate. It must lead somewhere."

Yubelluna: "Indeed. We must prepare however. Three minutes has run out."

The peerage got into a defensive stance as a mist surrounded them. When they re-emerged from it, they noticed that Yubelluna was gone.

Riser: "Damn!"

Yubelluna found herself far deeper within the dreadnaught, within a completely black room where no light could reach her.

Yubelluna: "You're using the darkness to hide yourself from me? Don't you have any dignity?"

Rage: "Heh, I've got about as much dignity as your master. Difference is I actually know how to put up a fight."

Yubelluna smirked before setting a small explosion off next to her. Her eyes widened when, in the flash of light that it provided, she saw a silhouette of gold illuminated in the blackness.

Rage: "Sorry, bomb queen. But you'd provide an issue for the others, so you've gotta go."

Yubelluna knew there was nothing she could do, so she closed her eyes and accepted her defeat.

Grayfia's voice echoed throughout the mausoleum section of the dreadnaught, where Riser and his peerage were gathered.

Grayfia: "Lord Riser's queen has been retired."

Riser clenched his fist in anger as the other high-class devils watched on from their viewing platform.

Riser's father stood up in outrage.

Lord Phenex: "HOW DARE THIS WHELP PUT MY SON THROUGH SUCH AN ORDEAL! THIS IS A RATING GAME, NOT A GAME OF HIDE AND SEEK!"

Rias' brother, Sirzechs Gremory, stood and tried to quell Lord Phenex' anger through passive means.

SIRZECHS "MAID FETISHIST DEVIL KING" GREMORY

Sirzechs: "Calm yourself, Lord Phenex."

Lord Phenex: "Calm myself? CALM MYSELF!? THIS IS A DISGRACE TO THE RATING GAME SYSTEM!!"

Red sighed before standing up and taking the situation into his own hands.

Red: "If you don't like how Rage handles a game that's ultimately going to end on his terms no matter what anyone does, then just don't watch it. Simple as that."

Lord Phenex: "A human dares speak in such a tone to me!? Know your place, trash!"

Red sighed again before placing one hand on the sword he had on his belt.

Red: "If it's that much of an issue, then duel me after Rage is done humiliating Riser."

Lord Phenex scoffed in his hubris before accepting the challenge. He had no idea what kind of chaos he was stepping into. Red couldn't help but smirk as he sat back down in his chair.

Back on board the dreadnaught, Riser stood in front of the gate and yelled out to whoever might've been listening.

Riser: "Riser demands that this gate be opened!"

In Oryx's throne room, Rage chuckled before turning to the others.

Rage: "When I open that gate. We'll have about five minutes before they get to the door of the throne room. When they arrive, show no mercy."

Rias: "I'm supposed to be the leader here, but it's good having someone who knows what they're doing on board."

Rias smiled up at Rage as he sat atop a pillar of stone. She got no reaction from him.

Rias: "Look, if this is about what Calli told me-"

Rage: "I said we'd discuss it at length later. Concentrate on the game for now, Rias. We can talk about what was said later, probably while doing the wedding planning."

Rias nodded before she realised what was just said, she turned back to Rage with a glowing red blush on her face.

Rias: "W- What!?"

Rage: "I said I called dibs, didn't I? Besides, Calli had a point. I'm fighting for you for now, and if we're ultimately gonna end up engaged after this then you may as well know a bit more about me."

Rias was shocked into silence before Rage's alarm went off.

Rage: "Oh boy! Here I go killing again!"

The fog descended upon the Phenex peerage again as another was taken from their number to be eliminated elsewhere.

When the fog lifted, they saw that the other bishop, Mihae, was gone. Grayfia's voice echoed through the dreadnaught again a few moments later.

Grayfia: "One of Lord Phenex's bishops has been retired. Medical staff, please attend to her at once."

Isabella: "What!?"

Xuelan: "How badly was she hurt!?"

???: "That's kinda my bad. I teleported to an area where pillars in the wall launch people for a fuckin' mile."

The peerage looked up and saw Rage on top of the gate.

Rage: "Ya need this open?"

Riser: "I demand it opened!"

Rage shrugged his shoulders before teleporting away. The ball then vanished and the gate exploded to life. Riser wasted no time and walked straight through it. His peerage followed suit and they found themselves in a hallway.

Mira: "This must lead to the throne room."

Riser: "It had better. Riser is getting rather impatient."

The peerage ran down the hallway and soon came to a massive gap between them and the next platform, where the entrance to the throne room was.

Siris: "What the!?"

Karlamine: "This is why Yubelluna and our bishops were taken out first. There's a way forward, but it's hidden by magic!"

Riser: "He took out our magic specialists so we would struggle here..."

Before the peerage could say anything, a bridge suddenly formed from floating rock platforms. An open invitation to their inevitable defeat.

Riser lead his peerage across the chasm and they walked through the doorway into the blackness. They continued to walk until the light spilled into their vision and they found themselves in the throne room. Rias stood in the middle of the room with her peerage around her. Kiba wielded his sword, ready to fight as many of Riser's servants as needed.

However a bright light shone from behind them, causing everyone to go wide eyed at the sight. Even Riser's father went silent out of fear as Rage stepped forward, his casual appearance replaced by something greater.

Something golden.

And since we're on the dreadnaught...

BRING THE REGICIDE!!

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

Rage: "So. How badly did you fuck up now, Riser?"

Riser was silent as he gazed upon the shining golden armour. Even Rias and her peerage had no words to speak as Rage slowly descended to face Riser. His every step seemingly shattering reality and reforming it around him as he approached. The Phenex heir backed up out of fear as Rage stepped forward, ready to bring as much pain as he saw fit.

Xuelan and Isabella ran forwards to meet him, however they were beaten back by his wings. Rage smacked them to the sides before Xuelan got up and tried again. She was intercepted by a devastating boot to the stomach, which sent a shockwave out across the room. Siris and Karlamine were the next to try and defeat him.

They rushed in as Rage swung the Willbreaker and smashed Siris' greatsword into pieces before he kicked her away. Karlamine could hardly register what had happened as she was smashed with the back of Willbreaker's blade while Rage's cruel laugh echoed around the room.

Rage: "This is a good workout actually. I don't often get to play with Willbreaker."

Riser: "Wh- What is this!?"

Rage: "Oh, you mean the armour? This is one shard of Ddraig, the red dragon emperor. However it's since adapted to me, so it's now what I've dubbed as the angelic dragon of annihilation."

Riser: "T- THIS IS UNFAIR!! RISER DEMANDS A HANDICAP!!"

Rage chuckled while everyone watched in horror as he hid one arm behind his back.

Rage: "Alright then, I'll indulge you. I'll fight all of you with one hand behind my back."

Karlamine took this as an opening and she charged at Rage, knowing that she was on his left, which was the arm he had behind his back.

However Rage had other plans.

He quickly hid his right arm behind his back and bitch slapped Karlamine away with his left hand.

Karlamine: "Th- That's cheating!"

Rage: "I only said I'd keep one arm behind my back while I fight. I said nothing about which one had to be hidden."

Rage's smirk immediately put Riser's peerage on high alert as the pawns rushed forwards to try and fight him. However they had no knowledge of Rage or the true extent of his power.

A fatal mistake.

Rage rag-dolled Mira and slammed her into Shuriya before taking to the air and drop-kicking Ile and Nel. He then blocked an attack from his right before hiding his right arm behind his back again and using his left arm to launch himself towards his next targets, Burent and Maria.

He swiftly dispatched them as the high-class devils watched in awe as he effortlessly and elegantly moved around the throne room, taking out Riser's peerage members one by one.

Eventually they were all eliminated from the game and only Riser stood in Rage's way. This would be where the weeb's cruelty would be displayed in all it's violent glory.

He rushed at Riser before blinking and reappearing behind him, delivering a nasty kick to the spine. Riser recoiled and tried to recover using his powers as a member of the Phenex clan, however he was stopped as Rage casually spilled some holy water on his back.

Riser screamed in agony as his flames were doused by holy water. Rage then kicked him into a stone pillar before using Willbreaker to slap him to one side of the room.

Rias could see the growing madness in his eyes as Rage advanced to torture Riser further. Lord Phenex screamed at the screen for his son to get up and put Rage in his place, however Rage turned to face his audience with an unsettling smirk.

Rage: "Cheese! Smol! What we thinkin'!? Do we yeet him at the sun? Or do we yeet the sun at him?"

Cheese and Smol laughed as Pine opened a telepathic channel for them.

Cheese: "He's a chicken, right? Punch him hard enough to cook him."

Smol: [Throw a sun at him.]

Rage smirked as the channel closed and he turned back to Riser.

Rage: "I'll be but a moment. Gotta get somethin' set up real quick."

For a moment, everyone was blinded by a bright light. When they found their vision again, they found themselves on an open plain in space. There was breathable air so everyone was safe. The bystanders watched in anticipation as the arena grew brighter and brighter.

Riser looked up wearily and saw Rage hovering just above him. Rage then began a chant that would haunt his dreams for centuries to come, if they ever did.

Rage: "The past is here. The present is here. The future is here."

Rias and her peerage watched from a safe distance. Said distance being on the dreadnaught while this even took place further away from Saturn.

Rage: "Come winds. Come lightning. When the morning star shines, let all know the sun's light reaches every corner of the earth!"

Red watched before realising how much power was going to be behind this attack.

Red: "I highly suggest everybody brace themselves. This is gonna send out a bit of a shockwave."

It was then that the danger levels went from a million...

To an amount that could only be quantified as Y E S.

The red gems on Rage's armour began to shine as a voice echoed from them.

???: "BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST!!"

Rage's eyes were set alight by flame and he actually felt the flames burning his body as he descended.

Rage: "PIETRA!!"

Riser watched in horror as Rage got closer by the second.

Rage: "DEL!!"

Red: "Okay, y'know what I said before? Discard it. Brace yourselves for a much bigger shockwave!"

Everyone grabbed onto something as Rachel Phenex took cover next to Red.

Rage: "SOL!!"

For a moment, everything was silent. Lord Phenex stood up and scoffed.

Lord Phenex: "Where is this shockwave you were talking abou-"

He was cut off by the sound of a gargantuan explosion before the viewing platform was rocked by a shockwave of immense proportions. People struggled to hold on as a blinding golden light shone through the window. The chaos continued for a few minutes before it finally calmed down.

When they looked back at the screen, they saw that there was nothing but static.

A teleportation circle then appeared in front of the screen. Riser's broken body was tossed out in a heap as he struggled for breath. Rias and her peerage followed closely behind as Rage limped in not too long after them. His right arm was scorched and was snapped in the wrong direction from the force of the impact.

Rage: "My arm brokey!"

Red: "Well that's your own fault for using an attack that your body physically wasn't ready for."

Cheese: "Holy fuckin' explosion!"

Smol: [Since when was that a thing you could do?]

Rage: "Remember that one planet with all the bugs?"

Everyone: "Ah, right. That happened."

The weebs laughed while medical staff rushed to help Riser.

Lord Phenex stormed over to the group, ready to raise hell if needed. When he was close enough, he found a halberd pointed at his throat.

Red: "If you have something to say to us, then say it at a respectable distance."

Lord Phenex backed up a bit as his glare intensified.

Lord Phenex: "There will be hell to pay for this transgression!"

Red shrugged. He'd duel Lord Phenex when it was appropriate to do so. For now though, it was time for celebrations.

The people that were present all teleported back to the underworld where they came from as the Dreadnaught hung in Saturn's rings. The weebs were brought to the Gremory mansion so they could eat, drink and rest their fatigue away. Rage was immediately taken to his room so he could focus on healing his, very mangled, arm.

Sirzechs walked into Rage's room as he lay in bed with his phone in hand so he could ignore the existence of everything around him.

The devil king cleared his throat and got the attention of the one who had decimated Riser Phenex.

Sirzechs: "How's your arm healing?"

Rage: "Not bad all things considered. So what's up? You clearly didn't come here for small talk."

Sirzechs chuckled and pulled up a seat.

Sirzechs: "I was merely wondering what possessed you to become a devil for the sole purpose of fighting lord Riser? How does a human make that kind of decision on the fly?"

Rage leaned back as an image flashed through his mind.

Rage: "It's an easy decision for me. I may have seemed human, but as of my ninth birthday, I had left my humanity behind. It makes my life so much easier when I don't have to sympathise with my foes."

Sirzechs: "And yet... You still fought to help Rias."

Rage: "Heh. I'll tell ya this since I'm in a good mood."

Sirzechs leaned in with intrigue as Rage relaxed himself.

Rage: "I may be an inhuman monster posing as a person, but even a monster can have a good streak. Rias is entertaining for me. As are Sona and Akeno. I enjoy my shenanigans with them. If Riser was to take that away from me, I'd be left bored."

Sirzechs: "So this whole thing was to entertain you? Defeating Riser Phenex and subsequently becoming Rias' new fiancé... Was all a game for you?"

Rage nodded smugly as Sirzechs chuckled. He had never met such a person in his life. But he knew that Rias was more than safe with the man before him.

A few days passed as Rage recovered rather rapidly. He attempted to commit suicide to speed up the healing process, however Calli informed him that it may "ruin the atmosphere" if he was to so casually off himself. So he resigned himself to his bed. Thankfully the staff in the Gremory mansion were very accommodating and made sure his bandages were changed at appropriate times.

However he was now fully healed up and the weebs had all been gathered within one of the ballrooms of the Gremory mansion for an engagement party. Many other high-class devils were all present to see the person that had defeated Riser Phenex in such an explosive manner.

Red and Sirzechs were both standing near the front of the ballroom discussing how the underworld and Red's fleet could cooperate with one another in the future. Both were adorned with formal suits, though Sirzechs wore a much grander outfit due to his position as a devil king.

Cheese was outfitted with a fucking obnoxiously bright, ass-fuck pink suit with a hat that had two canisters of liquid mozzarella laced with opium and LSD on either side. Both canisters were attached to straws that reached down near to Cheese's mouth.

Now you may be asking: Why?

Because why the fucking fuck not?

Smol was also in a bright-ish suit, opting instead for a white one rather than the "just-got-railed-up-main-street" pink that Cheese had gone for. Reaper also kept it a bit less belligerent, going for a blueish silver suit while Pine went for a dark blue dress that was outfitted with three bells affixed to the side.

As for Rage himself, he wore a simple wine red suit... that just so happened to have cybernetic augmentations for no reason.

Both Rias and Sona were also there with their peerages, all of them in formal attire. Even Riser's peerage had shown up in their formal attire as well.

Red eventually went to get a drink, as he walked among the crowd, he spotted Smol skittering around yoinking anything shiny he could find like the little cursed gremlin he was. Pine was chilling at a table with a few particularly nerdy devils. All of them were discussing boring shit that nobody wants to deal with. Like studying. Fucking creatures.

Cheese stayed around the buffet area with Reaper. The two mostly just kept to themselves, although they weren't opposed to occasionally chatting to some of the younger devils. In particular, one young devil seemed more than eager to have a chat.

???: "This seat taken, guys?"

SAIRAORG "ABSOLUTE FUCKING UNIT: HOMIE EDITION" BAEL

Cheese and Reaper didn't mind and allowed Sairaorg to have a seat.

Sairaorg: "Quite the party so far. Had to keep my wallet safe though, someone's stealing shit."

Cheese: "Sounds like Smol."

Sairaorg: "Ha! Well Smol's clearly a sneaky... I wanna say guy."

Reaper: "You'd be correct in that assumption."

Sairaorg: "Good. Not a fan of falling for traps."

Cheese: "Meh, ya get used to it."

Reaper: "You do because you're into traps."

Cheese: "And tall women with abs that I can call M O T H E R."

Sairaorg laughed good-heartedly as he took a drink of the whisky he had.

Sairaorg: "So tell me. How strong are you guys? I watched that whole match against Phenex and I could hardly believe what I was seeing."

Cheese: "Depends who you're dealin' with. Pine and Smol are the weakest in terms of physical strength."

Reaper: "Pine has immense magic power and knowledge though. And Smol's one of the fastest."

Sairaorg: "I see. What about you two?"

Reaper: "I got more powerful when I stab myself, to put it bluntly."

Cheese: "I'm one of the strongest in terms of physical strength. Probably tied with Rage and Red."

Sairaorg seemed to be interested as he leaned in closer. Cheese and Reaper ended up chatting to him for a while. Mostly talking about the group and how strong they were. Sairaorg then chuckled and stood up.

Sairaorg: "Alright then. I wanna propose a friendly little duel! After talking to these two, I wanna see how much effort it takes to fight one of you. So, who's up for it?"

Rage immediately cracked his knuckles, ready to really start the party. However Cheese stood up.

Cheese: "Nah, I got this. Been a while since I got a fight in."

Red nodded as Cheese and Sairaorg stepped into the middle of the room. Sairaorg removed his jacket, revealing the fact that he was ripped to a fucking unreasonable degree. Sairaorg and Cheese both stood facing each other with smirks on their faces. They were about to get the fight started when the doors to the ballroom were abruptly thrown open.

Lord Phenex walked in with clear purpose while Riser stumbled behind him, clearly drunk and dishevelled after getting his shit rocked in the rating game.

Lord Phenex: "Cease this fallacy! It is an affront to the entire underworld!"

Sirzechs: "Lord Phenex. What is the meaning of this?"

Lord Phenex glared at Red for a moment before turning to Riser.

Lord Phenex: "Riser. Your defeat was a fallacy. Go, claim your bride."

Riser chuckled drunkenly and stumbled to Rias and tried to grab at her. However he found his arm in the vice grip of a very annoyed Rage.

Sirzechs: "Lord Riser! Your defeat was official! You have no claim over Rias. Should you try anything then I will personally deal out your punishment!"

To prove his point, Sirzechs became wreathed in crimson flame as he glared at the two members of the Phenex household.

Red: "I'll deal with the father. Clearly he needs to be taught his place."

Red walked forward and placed his hand on the sword that was at his hip as the space behind him began to distort. Riser went for another grab at Rias, only for Rage to once again block his path.

Rage: "Keep it up and there will be no afterlife for you, jackass."

Lord Phenex scoffed before advancing towards Red as the distortions behind him formed into a fully visible threat.

(Thanks to Pine for making the rigging image)

Lord Phenex faltered as Red faced him, all thirty barrels of his rigging aimed solidly at the devil in front of him. Sairaorg watched with interest as Red drew his sword. Inferno's Ascension.

Red: "I don't normally use this. But since you're being unreasonable, I may as well be serious about this."

The other devils watched as the air around the sword became hazy from the heat of the blade. Phenex scoffed before holding his hand out, his wife Rachel handed him his own sword which he kept for duels such as this.

Riser kept trying to grab at Rias, achieving nothing apart from gradually pissing Rage off more and more by the second.

Sirzechs stormed over and tore Riser away from them and sending a blast of his power of destruction at Riser's feet. His glare was ice cold as he stood between Riser and Rias.

Red and Lord Phenex stared each other down for a few seconds, neither giving any openings for attack. Suddenly, with the rattle of a blade, the two had clashed. Inferno's ascension slowly melting the blade of Lord Phenex' sword.

Lord Phenex: "Tch, I must admit. For a lowly whelp you have some skill."

Red: "And you clearly lack any form of humility."

Phenex scoffed as a smirk emerged on his face.

Lord Phenex: "Very well. Let us make a wager. Upon my victory, that fool of a boy will be executed and Rias shall marry Riser, as was originally planned."

The others had to stop themselves from laughing as Phenex suggested executing one of them. They knew it was impossible for anything less than literal deities to kill them aside from themselves.

Red: "And upon mine?"

Lord Phenex: "A bride for a bride. You may have Rachel should you somehow win."

Rachel sighed in annoyance at her husband's hubris before everyone heard Rage laughing almost maniacally.

Rage: "Welp. Better pack yer shit, Rachel. Looks like yer gonna move in with us!"

Rachel: "You're that confident in him?"

Cheese: "Put it this way. Rage is the only one who's come close to beating Red, and even then Red managed to outlast him."

Lord Phenex now realised his error as Red took stance again. The devil had no time to react as Red was upon him in seconds. The flaming sword cutting into Phenex's blade like a knife through butter. Phenex used his flames to try and put some distance between the two, only to get hit in the stomach by one of Red's secondary cannon barrels. Red kept quiet as Phenex tried to rush in and score a hit, only for the flames he sent at the admiral to be ineffective.

Phenex kept trying as the other devils watched, suffering from second-hand embarrassment from watching Lord Phenex fight. Red kept his defence up as the overly pompous devil tried to land even a scratch on Red's skin. He kept hurling fireballs which were tanked by Red with ease. Phenex then decided to try and land a couple of punches. Red evaded all of them with little to no effort required.

Red just sighed as Phenex kept trying. He then decided that he'd had enough and he backhanded the devil to the ground. Phenex got up again and tried to go for another punch. However as he swung his arm, he found that it was no longer there.

Red: "You're beaten. Give up, Phenex."

Lord Phenex: "I am... Still capable of fighting."

Red: "... You're an arm down."

Lord Phenex: "No I'm not. It's just a flesh wound!"

Sirzechs went dead silent for a few seconds after that was said.

Sirzechs: "... Did he just-?"

Rage: "Get used to it. We make dumb references without meaning to and it's an infection that s p r e a d s."

Sirzechs: "Huh..."

Red: "You've embarrassed yourself enough, Phenex. Go home."

Lord Phenex glared defiantly before turning and limping out of the ballroom.

There was a collective sigh of relief as Phenex left. All that remained was Riser, who was still trying to grab at Rias. Red sighed and went to deal with him until Phenex ran around the people blocking his path and grabbed at Rias' dress, almost tearing the top off.

However he was stopped as a flash of gold entered his vision. The hall went dead silent with fear as Rage stood in his balance breaker armour. The eyes glowing a furious crimson. Rage's hand was around Riser's throat in an instant and he lifted the Phenex heir above him.

Rage: "This is going to hurt... A lot."

With that, Rage held his hand out as a massive golden crucifix formed in his hand. The devils panicked before Rage was shot by one of Red's cannons.

The admiral shook his head silently as Rage glared down at him. The two were quiet until Rage dropped Riser to the ground. Another sigh of relief escaped the lips of everyone present.

Rage: "... I only let you live because I'm feeling generous. I could easily have ended you despite the cannon shot."

Sirzechs turned to Red for confirmation, Red nodded, indicating that Rage wouldn't hesitate if given the chance.

Rage: "Get out of my sight, insect."

Riser fled the ballroom in a panic and the party resumed as normal. Sairaorg settled for an arm-wrestle against Cheese. The two were at a standstill for a while with a group of young devils all cheering them on while Smol and Reaper stood with their drinks watching the spectacle with amused smirks. Pine was chatting with some of the high-class devils and demonstrating some of her magic for them.

Red had retreated to a table so he could enjoy his tea in peace. As he drank however, he was joined by the former head woman of the Phenex house, Rachel.

Rachel: "Admiral. Allow me to first apologise for my now former husband's rudeness."

Red: "Think nothing of it. It was out-with your control."

Rachel smiled before taking a seat.

Rachel: "I suppose I should start moving my things into your home then?"

Red: "I'll have Cheese, Pine and Reaper help you move things. Smol'd probably steal stuff and Rage needs to rest."

Rachel: "Hasn't he done so for the past few days?"

Red: "That's what he wants you to think. Rage is currently on his thirteenth day without sleeping."

Rachel: "I see. I'll talk to him when I get the chance and force him to rest if it comes to it."

Red chuckled as Rachel sipped some of her wine. She was only a few minutes into technically being the five younger weebs' mother, but come hell or high water, she would make sure she did a good job.

Red and Rachel ended up speaking at length for over an hour while other brands of hilarity took place around the ballroom. However Rias and Sona were searching for their fiancé as he had vanished.

They eventually found him outside on one of the balconies. Calli was there with a pendant in her hand. Rias was about to speak up, but Sona stopped her and pointed to the banister. Rage's hand was clenched into a fist tight enough to crush the stone in his grip into a fine powder.

Calli: "It only arrived a few moments ago. I can't sense any pain, which means he went in peace."

Rage was eerily silent before he summoned a katana and slashed a rift open in front of him. Without saying a word, he walked through and closed the rift behind him. Calli sighed as Rias and Sona walked over.

Sona: "What was that all about?"

Calli: "Well, it's a long story. Probably needs its own book."

(Wink wink, bitches.)

Sona: "Can you give us an abridged version?"

Calli: "It's better to ask Rage himself. It's not my place to speak of such matters. But... the soul in this pendant is someone Rage was immensely close with."

Calli gave the pendant to Sona and she closely examined the white gem.

Calli: "White gems like that are souls who had good lives."

Sona nodded and put the pendant in her purse. She and Rias would sit with Rage and talk about it together. However they had to deal with a bunch of drunk devils for now.

The party lasted into the young hours of the morning as the last of the devils headed home for the night. The weebs soon gathered at the front of the Gremory mansion before saying their goodbyes to Sirzechs and Grayfia. Rachel accompanied them as they were teleported to their own mansion.

Red: "You lot go sort yourselves out. I'm going to give Rachel a quick tour of the place."

Rachel: "We may end up poking our heads into your rooms so try not to do anything too indecent."

Reaper: "That's only Cheese and Smol you'll have to worry about with that."

Red: "Wait, where's Rage?"

Calli: "He'll be in his pocket dimension. He just learned of something that kinda stings."

Rachel: "Well, maybe we'll have a talk with him."

Red: "It's best not to. Rias and Sona should be the ones to talk to him about it."

Rachel: "You may be right, but I still want to try."

Red sighed before nodding. He then began to show Rachel around, starting on the ground floor.

Red: "On the north side of the house there's the cinema, dining room, kitchen and the greenhouse entrance. The west side of the building is where my office and the library are located. South side of the building is where the music room and games room is."

Rachel poked her head into the music room and saw that it was very well kept with many instruments lining the walls and shelves. Guitars, Basses, Violins, Cellos, a Sitar for some reason. She walked further in and marvelled at a particularly fancy guitar.

Rachel: "What is this?"

Red: "It's one of Rage's more ridiculously expensive guitars. I believe he said that it's marble-topped, hence why it's rather heavy."

Rachel: "He plays this?"

Red: "Yup. I remember he said it's a Zerberus Gorgonised Nemesis 2017 model."

Rachel was in awe at how well crafted the guitar was, however she wanted to see the rest of the house. Despite the attitude that most of the weebs had, they knew how to keep things rather clean. The games room was another place that Rachel took an interest in. The shelves were loaded with random gaming memorabilia. An energy sword, a triforce and a couple of pokeballs lay on one of the shelves while Artorias' greatsword hung above one of the six tv's in the room. Specifically the one with the PS5 hooked up to it.

Rachel also took immense interest in the Library and attached zen garden where Pine spent a lot of her time. Most of the books on the shelves were magic-related. Grimoires, ancient tomes, a Necronomicon. She continued looking around at the many spellbooks and even found some objects of historical interest. One of which was a clay tablet, another was an Aztec Macuahuitl.

After wandering in the library and poking her head into the other rooms, Rachel decided she was ready to see the rest of the house. As such, Red took her to the basement. He pointed out Cheese and Smol's room; The firing range; The generator room; and the wine cellar.

Rachel took some interest in the firing range and walked in.

Rachel: "So this is where you relieve stress by firing guns?"

Red: "Relieve stress and test new stuff. Cheese is usually the heavy weapons tester. He tests any high-caliber weapons and any kind of heavy machine guns. Let me actually shout him real quick. Cheese! Get in here a minute!"

Cheese walked in with a bowl of pasta in his hands.

Cheese: "Sup?"

Red: "Show Rachel the most recent weapon you tested."

Cheese smirked and walked over to a panel in the wall. He pushed a button and the panel lifted into the wall, revealing an armoury behind it. He picked out a large minigun and aimed it towards the target on the back wall. His smirk widened as the main barrel array of the minigun split into five arrays of barrels, four of which surrounded the central barrel array.

Cheese: "Hehe... Funny button go BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT!!!"

The minigun spun up and the four barrel arrays surrounding the central one began orbiting it as they fired an obscene number of rounds per second.

When Cheese stopped firing, he couldn't help but laugh at how purely ridiculous the gun was. Rachel then walked to the armoury and picked out a strange looking rifle.

Rachel: "I assume this is in development for armed police?"

Red: "Yup. It's Cheese's design hence it's name."

Rachel: "Which is?"

Cheese: "BR-G3R."

Rachel: "You named a rifle... Burger?"

Cheese: "... She knows too much."

Red: "I suggested D-0NT. Since it's a police rifle."

Rachel: "I think you can come up with something better than donut for it."

Cheese: "Exactly. So burger."

Rachel pressed the stock into her shoulder as she wrapped her finger around the top trigger. With a deep breath, she brought the gun up so she could look through the iron sight. She slowly exhaled before squeezing tightly on the trigger. The rifle's barrel lit up as the large round was fired from the chamber. The recoil pushed Rachel back a bit out of surprise. She gently placed the gun down and rubbed her shoulder.

Red: "You okay?"

Rachel: "Yes. Wasn't expecting that much recoil is all."

Rachel laughed as Cheese put the rifle back on its rack. With that done though, Rachel and Red moved on to the first floor where most of the bedrooms were.

Rachel saw that everyone had their own emblems on their doors. Red's door had his fleet's flag on it: A red scorpion within a circle on a black background. Reaper's door was painted pretty plainly, however if one were to look carefully they'd see the words "Fucking tsun" on the corner of the door. Pine's door had a tentacle painted on it and Rage's had the imperial Aquila engraved into it.

Rachel decided to not intrude on Reaper and Pine since they were likely asleep by this point. Red walked over to Rage's door and knocked.

Red: "Rage, you still up?"

Silence.

Red slowly opened the door and found the room to be in a bit of a state. Hundreds upon thousands of sealing runes had activated all over the room.

Rachel: "What happened in here?"

Red: "Pine and Rage had these runes placed around the room in the event that he ever got, well, like this."

Rachel looked around and saw Rage passed out at one of his desks.

Rachel: "Red, would you mind leaving us for a bit. I'll try and talk to him."

Red: "It's probably best to do it now anyway due to the sealing runes. I'll be in the living room."

Rachel nodded before gently shaking Rage awake.

About ten minutes later, Rachel walked into the living room with a downcast expression.

Red: "He okay?"

Rachel: "He's... A bit broken at the moment. He was thankfully willing to cooperate with me."

Red: "He'll need some time to get himself back to normal I'd imagine."

Rachel nodded solemnly before she decided to go get some rest. Red stayed up due to some paperwork that he had to deal with. He then saw a letter from the higher-ups.

It read that apparently a new weapons tester was being deployed to Kuoh. Her specialty lay with explosives and medium caliber rifles and due to the amount of weapons that get made and tested by the weebs, it would prove to be a good experience for her. Red sighed, knowing that she'd be corrupted by the resident idiots into doing some dumb shit like when Rage tricked a new recruit into firing a pistol that was chambered at 100 caliber.

That recruit's arm basically disintegrated and he had to get a replacement.

meanwhile on a training course elsewhere in Japan. Said weapons tester was putting her throwing arm through its paces as she tested some new grenades.

???: "Poi!"

The grenade was hurled through the air and the tester giggled as two training dummies went flying through the window of the grenade training house.

???: "Yup! I think I'm ready for deployment."

She smiled as she walked away to go pack her things.

Back at the mansion however, the rest of the night passed peacefully and when the sun rose, Pine and Cheese helped Rachel to move her things to the mansion. Most of it was clothes and jewellery, however she did have quite a few books as well which were added to the library.

While Rachel got herself settled in, Cheese and Smol sat down in the living room and chatted amongst themselves.

Cheese: "So... Wanna go find a bar or something in town?"

Smol: [There's a few places we could go to.]

???: "I can think of a place I haven't been yet."

The two turned and saw Rage walking over, his complexion was far paler than normal and his eyes were bloodshot.

Cheese: "You good, bro?"

Rage: "Yeah. I just need a distraction is all. Anyway, there's a bar nearby a bank I was planning on robbing if you guys want to join in."

Cheese: "A bank, huh?"

Smol: [How big is this bank?]

Rage stayed silent before his mouth cracked into a smug gremliny smile.

Rage: "Big enough."

The three chuckled before they headed out to where this bar was. They totally weren't gonna rob the bank in broad daylight...

Okay, yeah, we all know that's complete bullshit.

Meanwhile, in the afore mentioned bar, the bartender was currently dealing with a... dispute of sorts.

???: "I own the bar, since I have the deed."

???2: "Yes. And I own the upstairs."

???3: "... This is getting nowhere."

???4: "This may take a while to sort out."

???: "But doesn't owning the deed mean I own the upstairs as well?"

???2: "No, I own the upstairs! I literally own his bedroom!"

There was a heavy sigh from the bartender as the blonde man in front of him kept trying to argue with the far more dominant demonic being that was behind the bar. Meanwhile the blue-skinned individual next to him kept laughing like a little gremlin. There was also a much larger man in the bar who really didn't appreciate the presence of the blonde man, as was evident by his glare.

???3: "I should've tried to move into the human district, but no, the buildings in the demon district are cheaper..."

???4: "Don't lie, you like it here."

The bartender sighed as he poured out another five shots for some of his patrons. this was going to be a long day. Especially with the chaos that was about to ensue in only a few short hours.

End of Chapter.

Next Time: The Heist.