The following is a non-profit, fan-based AU story. [High School DxD] is owned by Ishibumi Ichiei, Miyama-Zero, Fujimi Shobo, TNK and Funimation. Please support the official release, . . . which of course you are already doing if you just happened to stumble upon this flicking up and down the page on.

"_" = Speaking.

( _ ) = Translation/Other Meaning

[ _ ] = Personal Title.

{ _ } = Item/Ability/Sacred Gear.

["_"] = Speaking via Alternate Means.

["_"] = Speaking through Sacred Gears.

[{"_"}] = Sacred Gear Command.

"You're cornered Riser. Surrender now, and let this Rating Game meet its conclusion."

So said the [Crimson Ruin Princess] – Rias Gremory, daughter of Lord Zeoticus, the current Duke of Gremory, and Lady Venelana, of the House of the Great Kings of Bael. For her, this game was a matter of life and death. Not a literal sense, but a poetic one. Her victory or her defeat meant the end of her freedom as an independent high-class devil. And all of this arose from an engagement that she had never agreed to.

While I myself sympathise with her position, it is not my place to say it. Especially when I am fighting against her, as one of the evil pieces of her betrothed, Lord Riser Phenex, the third son of Lord Rivalen, the current Marquis of Phenex, and Lady Rozalva of the Extinct House of the Marquises of Andrealphus. I may be a fellow student of Kuoh Academy as the young heiress and her peerage members are, but my loyalty remains with my lady and King, and to her family by the most gracious of extensions.

And I volunteered willingly. As was my duty and privilege.

Down to the last hours of the Rating Game organised by, the Maou (Satan) Lucifer, Sirzechs Gremory, her older Brother, it was all but won by Riser as both parties stood on opposing sides of the replica of the main school building rooftop, both sides having suffered their own handful of casualties, and the remaining ones standing where inured and their clothes torn in shreds. The exception to this rule of course was Lord Riser himself as well as his little sister, my Lady Ravel, whose clothes and other such injuries were non-existent.

Standing by her side, the naive and timid Bishop, Asia Argento, gifted with the Scared Gear {Twilight Healing}. Her death was one that I had never wished to have happen, such a sweet and innocent soul didn't deserve this fate, especially having come from the side of the Church, it was indeed a cruel fate to have been tossed aside by the Angel Faction, abused and murdered by the Fallen Angels, and the forced into servitude by the Devils. Perhaps, I always wondered, in another lifetime, I could have been the one to save her from this and prevented her getting further involved in any of this.

Alas it is cruel irony that now I must fight her and eliminate her from the game like the rest of her comrades. I just pray to the Maou that she at least retires before the final battle engages. Rias Gremory owes me that much at least.

Surprisingly, also with both girls was a face I was not betting on seeing appear.; the dhamphir and equally timid second Bishop, Gasper Vladi, equally cursed with another Scared Gear; {Forbidden Balor View}. I had little interaction with the half-vampire, if I can call our one and only encounter to be a meaningful conversation, but I later came to know of his extraordinarily strong ability to freeze the perception of time to any he gazes upon at any given moment, but lacked the necessary control to execute it perfectly, and as seen by this battle, he relied little on this ability, and was turned into a surveillance system instead.

For a small kohai (underclassman) and fellow devil such as him, I hope that he doesn't get too banged up in the coming battle.

Also standing for her team in an unexpected twist was the Pawn of Four, Saji Genshirou, whom was fighting for her freedom as part of the agreement between herself and his master, Sona Sitri. Armoured in black from his arms to his feet with the will of the Black Dragon King, Vritra, thanks to his own Sacred Gear; {Absorption Line}. From what talks I have had to him, I find him irritable at his best and obnoxious at his worst if it weren't for having a strict master like Kaichou, and his bragging didn't ever improve my perception of him as a person let alone a servant to a House of the Seventy-Two Pillars.

Her Queen, Himejima Akeno, her Knight, Kiba Yuuto, and her Rook, Toujou Koneko, had all but been eliminated before this confrontation, as well as the other pieces she had received on temporary loan from Sona; the Rook, Yura Tsubasa, and the Pawn of One, Nimura Ruruko. When you considered that both our numbers were equal.

Of the seven pieces he had registered for this game, only three remained; His Queen, Yubelluna, better known in the Underworld as Riser's trump card; the infamous [Bomb Queen]. While I had seen her in action before, her compatibility for explosions far exceeded anything I had expected. Being able to knock out Rias' main pieces in this game was no small feat, and she finished two out of the three in one single hit.

The last of Lord Riser's current pieces also still with him is my true King, Lady Ravel. I think the less I say no, the better you would understand the story as it progresses later on. I owe her everything, life, meaning, health, a future more importantly. Even if heaven itself opens itself and strikes me down, I would stand right back up and then drown them all in purgatory before I would let a feather, black or white, even lightly brush against her cheek.

And finally there is also I, of course.

As of right now, I am still waiting.

Mihae. Karlamine. Siris. Isabella. Xuelan. Lord Riser's Rooks, Knights and Bishop. All had fallen in the line of duty just as what was expected of the evil pieces. Though I myself had never had much interaction with them as I should have, I have watched them fight and shed blood for their King, and I fully respected each of their individual abilities. And to Mira, Shuriya, Burent, Marion, Ile and Nel, and Ni and Li, I am both regretful and thankful that I am here to fight in your steads despite my inexperience.

I promise you all, the House of Phenex will emerge victorious.

After hearing of Lady Rias' attempt to finish the game in her favour, Lord Riser did naught but laugh at her words. I should have been up there to protect my lady, but I had been ordered to remain behind, to lie in wait like a common thief in the night. While I may have known my lady's older brother for more of my life than I have known my own parents, I did express great disdain for his flair for the dramatics that he required in every game he partook in. It was not his overconfidence I was showing concern for, but his arrogance.

When he finally made his reply, I received my conformation to finally reveal to my presence. Not just for Rias Gremory, and not just for her family and all their spectators. This was my first true reveal to the Underworld, and my debut as a servant of the House of Phenex as a whole.

"You have certainly been unpredictable, I will grant you that. But surrender; you forget that this isn't my first Rating Game, Rias. Even if you had all your servants intact and fresh in fighting condition, you couldn't hope to stop me alone. With an immortal body as durable as my own, not even the legendary {Power of Destruction} of the Great King Bael can hope to leave more than a temporary bruise on my person."

I could imagine the squinting look in Lady Rias' eyes after being told that her hereditary ability, the same one used by her maternal ancestors of the Bael Clan, and that which made her elder brother infamous as the [Crimson Satan]. Having spent a year with her in school, her emotions were like an open bottle, ready to leak out at the first knock it receives.

"You're overly cocky Riser, I will give you that. And don't think I forgot about the power of {Regeneration} which the House of Phenex is known for. I didn't spend ten weeks in preparation twiddling my thumbs between my hands; I was preparing for the best possible strategy I could possibly attain against you, Riser."

And on cue, Riser would continue to laugh out against attempts to show him up.

"Ahahaha. And this is your best your peerage could amass against me? The [Priestess of Thunder] who you've made your Queen and the wielder of {Sword Birth} whom is your Knight are both defeated, as well as your pint-size Rook and those powerless pieces you undoubtedly borrowed from Miss Sitri. As far as I can see, you have already wasted the better half of your peerage, while I still have my trump card by my side. Between you, your cowardly bishops standing conveniently behind yourself in need of your protection more than they can protect you yourself. And then, there this second-hand child hoping to make his own master proud while fighting in your company. Tell me Rias, was this all you had to bring to the Game? If so, I am disappointed that this is all my future bride could provide in terms of pre-marital entertainment. Even such a small and mundane display as this is not enough to satisfy myself, who has won many previous games that I can be proud of."

Even while I was running around inside the school buildings, I could see the bright red light that was only increasing as Riser continued taunting her. It was by some diabolic miracle that she hadn't decided to lose her call and burst at this point in time. Not that it would make a difference to the outcome anyways.

"Even by those degrading standards you are measuring my team by, the one crucial fact. I am still able to keep count; I have four pieces including myself against your three. Counting the fact that your Queen had to use up one of your {Phoenix Tears} is pride in itself that your team had to resort to using your most priceless resource against us."

Though it was commendable hearing this level of confidence coming from the inexperienced Rias, I knew that there was no doubt that she was too quickly ending the assault while having turned a blind eye to the rest of the battle. Lord Riser was also aware of this, and the fact that his laughter wasn't present should have been the biggest clue to her that Riser was more than just confident in his own victory, he knew he had already won by the time Rias had finished running her mouth.

"My-oh-my. Yes. Yes, even a pure-blooded devil as high as I can admit that having to use a {Phoenix Tear} as a last resort is a true display of power, especially when used by my prized Queen here. But, your own naivety has made you careless when it comes to planning. I'm afraid that this time, your beautiful self as made the crucial error of underestimating me. I still a piece on my on board I have yet to play, Rias."

"You think you can frighten me with such a veil threat. Don't forget, I saw your entire peerage the day you came to enforce our betrothal. While I still despise your very existence, I'm actually grateful you decided to show me your full strength that day by bringing every single one of your pieces to my clubroom; it gave me everything I needed to know in order to plan a trap for every single pieces. Excluding your Queen, everything went as smoothly as a planned it, even if I had to sacrifice more pieces than necessary."

It seemed that Lady Rias Gremory was more than a pretty face and a powerful arsenal. However, to praise her for her deductions would prove too optimistic after her next attack.

"Oh, and I think it's about time I blew off a bit of steam. I wouldn't wish to disgrace my family by losing my demeanour in the middle of my debut, especially to you, Riser."

All I saw as I started ascended the stairs in the Old School Building was a bright red light across the sky as the top floor came closer to m-

*KABOOM*

Amidst the explosion and dust and the smoke that now erupted from the exposure to sudden fiery heat, I had somehow managed to survive a strong attack as the infamous {Power of Destruction} Lady Rias had no doubt been building up since every word that had emptied from Lord Riser's lips.

"Where will your Pawns promote now, Riser?"

Her declaration was a clear one. It was so full of assurance that all lose ends were tied and that the gold was in sight, metaphorically speaking. But unfortunately, her confidence was misplaced. Another one of Lord Riser's triumphant laughs made sure of that, and all the silence in this small constructed world was shattered like broken glass against the floor.

"Pawns? Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahah-Haahhahahahah-Haha Ha Ha ha! Oh, dearie me; I lost myself to the irony for a while there. *ahem* I'm afraid dear Rias, that you will see none of my Pawns this game, not that I hadn't originally intended."

The gasps that must have been coming from Lady Rias and her peerage must have taken in so much of the air from the rooftop that none of the sound ever left between the two exchanges. "No Pawns? What are you saying?"

"It's as I said" he replied, "None of my eight Pawns are present with us in this game. Sorry for the complete disappoint, my beloved Rias. If I had known you were expecting them, I would have laid them out on either side of the red carpet, just for you."

"I'm afraid he's right, Gremory-senpai" Saji explained. "I counted only two Rooks, two Knights and one Bishop being eliminated over the announcements. With eight pawn pieces in the game, it wouldn't have been this easy to keep them around unnoticed for so long without tripping off one of the traps Himejima-dono and Kiba-san planted at the start of the game."

"It's true Buchou" Gasper further emulated. "I s-searched over the map, but I c-c-couldn't find a single one of his p-pawns anywhere. It's like they were n-ev-never here to begin with."

That was probably the biggest shock to not only the Gremory team, but also a lot of the spectators watching. Since Lord Riser was an avid up and coming player, he usually applied the same strategies in every single Rating Game he fought in. His eight Pawns were always the fodder of his team regardless of strength and were generally used for supporting his main pieces or as sacrifices for greater victories as most Pawns are played.

But not this game; it would seem that Lady Rias had never accounted for this scenario, or a scenario where his Pawns never make an appearance, which I didn't find too surprising. Since Pawns needed to be within the base of operation of the opposing King aka the enemy held territory, in order to promote, I would have to guess while pushing through the collapsed planks and rubble of the Old School Building that this show of power served to destroy her own territory to prevent Riser's Pawns for promoting to Queen pieces of all things for a surprise attack.

. . . If I could make one correction to my guess work: Since only normal Pawns need enemy territory to promote.

"What's your game here, Riser? You have a full set of fifteen pieces and you thought of me so weak you would not bother to bring a single one of your pawns to this game."

He laughed again of course, and why wouldn't he, when he now had his future bride clueless and much less composed than she had been earlier into this confrontation. I could only imagine the looks of fear that Asia and Gasper were pulling now, and maybe the sheer look of confusion and stress naturally rolling off of Saji.

"You insult me, my beloved Rias. Truly, I'm hurt you would think so low of me as to deliberately exclude half of my team just because you were new to this game. No, that is not how Riser Phenex plays. Yubelluna is indeed my trump card in every game I have played. But for you, you deserve the best that House of Phenex has to offer; which is why I've brought the dragon to this field. Just. For. You."

"The what?"

"It was hard to argue with him, since he's almost like family. And when he said he would be the only one to protect my sister Ravel, how could I possibly refuse the chance to bring the [Red Dragon Emperor] to my team."

"No. You can't be . . . you're lying."

At which point, I made my entrance.

"Let's do this . . . Ddraig!"

["You've got it, Partner."]

["{Welsh Dragon: Balance Breaker!}"]

Ddraig's call echoed throughout the stadium, just as prepared. And out of an explosion of energy, I broke into view and into the consciousness of every Underworld spectator to witness;

Draped in full blood red coloured metal from head to toe in shining scale mail, I burst through the roof of the Old School Building, wings spread out in full from the ruins of the Occult Research Room's duplicate and swoop over their heads, leading a torrent of wind as I broke through the still air that was filling the battlefield, until I dropped and landed in the centre between the two parties with my back facing the Gremory team, and kneeling in front of my King and her elder brother.

As I stood up and slowly turned my head, and also decided it was prime time I revealed my identity, since it would be undoubtedly uncovered by now. I started speaking, before I allowed the face guard to scatter itself back inside my Sacred Gear.

"My apologies for the late arrival, but I must obey my King's orders, and he demanded a grand entrance for finale of this fight."

As my true eyes firmly set upon the remaining players of Rias Gremory's team, whom I had slowly come to know over a year and a few short months after first coming home to Kuoh, it was an obvious surprise to them when they realised who the man in the red armour was when my brown hair and amber eyes finally rested on them.

". . . Issei-san?"

"Ise-san?"

"Ise-senpai?"

"Hyoudou-san?"

Clanking around in my metal armour, and remembering the mannerism ingrained into me as a member of the Phenex household, I performed a light bow while still fully armoured

"Allow me to reintroduce myself, Gremory-san; my name is Hyoudou Issei, I am the Pawn of Eight to Lady Ravel of the House of Phenex, but today it is for Lord Riser, her elder brother whom I fight for. Upon my left arm, I wield the Longinus, {Boosted Gear}, and by this gauntlet, I proclaim myself as this generation's [Sekiryuutei] (Red Dragon Emperor)."

As the glowing green eyes of my helm continued to close over my face and then gaze across to my newest opponents, the last words before I started boosting was of Lord Riser's last consecutive taunt before the last battle of this Rating game.

"I'm afraid that you have already lost this fight, Rias. Even if you have already calculated a thousand plans to defeat my Queen, how will you fair against the greatest asset I have in play; a Pawn with the power to slay Gods and Maous alike?"

[{Boost!} {Boost!} {Boost!}]

Since adolescence,

I have known no joy but this.

For which I have pledged

Both my life and soul

In service to my King,

to preserve her dream.

For this, I shall be;

the Vermillion Dragon

of Ravel Phenex

Omake I: Introductions

-[Somewhere between the worlds of fandom and canon, in a blank empty space in time]-

Issei: Gyah! (Lands on his head. Get's up whilst rubbing it). Ow. Hmm, that's totally weird. Hey Ddraig, you know what's going on here? . . . Ddraig? Ddraig! I guess he's asleep or something. Don't tell me this is some kind of freaky Sacred Gear, like [Dimension Lost] again.

?: Issei Hyoudou.

Issei: Gaah! Who said that?

?: I did.

Issei: (looks at towards the computer screen to the guy sitting away on his computer typing away) You?

?: Yes. Me. I am User:Alek_Sands.

Issei: (unimpressed) . . . Weird way to start a conversation. Hey wait! Are you the guy who dragged me out here into the middle of the abyss?

Alek: Ding-ding-ding. Correct. Who else could? This is my fanfiction after all.

Issei: You . . . BASTARD!

Alek: Excuse me?

Issei: You do realise where you kidnapped me from right? I was in the middle of the biggest collection of naked flesh in all of Kuoh. Girls with massive melons. Girls with growing gazongas. And even girls with ity-bity titties. I was swimming in nothing but a Fountain of True Youth. And You Plucked Me From My Greatest Living Fantasy You Jerkass!

Alek: I'm sensing a lot of negative hostility, and I really don't appreciate it. So I will say this in the nicest way possible: shut-up or I will write you so OOC that it will drown you in a flood of negative reviews.

Issei: (nervously worried) Y-you wouldn't.

Alek: (having completed the next set of character speeches) I already started. Just try and make me crank this puppy up to eight and we'll see how much further I can turn it. I shit you not, try and test my patience.

Issei: (miserably defeated) I'm calm. I'm happy. I'm totally cool with this. Woo~oo~hoo~oo.

Alek: Right. Now that's settled. Let's bring in our next guest.

Issei: Guest? Who-

?: (falls on top of Issei) Yeow!

Issei: (crushed) Umph! Ouch-ch-ch. Huh? Ravel-chan?

Ravel: Ise-senpai? (realises that's she's on top and immediately rolls off) Wait, it's not like I wanted to fall on top of you or anything.

Alek: Oi, lovebirds. Cool it will you. Trying to focus here.

Ravel: (flustered) Dd-d-d-don't say things like that. Baka!

Alek: Good, now that that episode is over, let's move on to the reason why I have brought you both here. "The Vermillion Dragon of the Phenex".

Issei: Vermillion Dragon? What kind of dumbass would go for a name so convoluted as that?

Alek: (smirks evily) . . .

Issei: Are you going to say something? . . . Oh Shit, you mean me.

Alek: Ten points to Oppai Dragon. Yes, as the title and the opening prologue already explained, in this fanfiction, Issei Hyoudou is the pawn of Ravel Phenex and not Rias Gremory.

Ravel: Not that I am complaining. (whispers) Not that I wouldn't want to have Issei with me all the time. (fantasising) For all of eternity. (returns to the present) But that makes very little sense as to why Issei would be fighting on our team instead of Rias'.

Alek: I am glad you asked that, and it's was for that precise reason that I chose that situation; having been an avid reader of fanfiction for a good long while, and the author of some very short and terrible works myself, I noticed that there was a constant pattern that always emerged involving Issei fighting Riser and most of the time being that he joins Rias' peerage as a permanent member more OP than before or as a 'free piece' or some bullshit like that to keep him a loner of some kind.

Issei: (agreement) Yeah, I see those a lot. I don't mind becoming all-powerful like Goku or something like that, but then they make my victory over Riser too easy that it's not even a real fight even more. Others have me kill him as well.

Ravel: (cringe) Dark and gritty. They are really becoming a mundane genre since every Gary Stu thinking he is the next Frank Miller. I'm not bashing, but you're writing this for the wrong reason. Not that the guy writing this is any better.

Alek: (realising Ravel's reading through his old works) Y-y-y- . . . Look, I was young and foolish, and really, really inexperienced. I just wanted to test the waters . . . (fake cough) and then never finish another chapter.

Issei: (deadpanned) You have a terrible reputation it seems.

Alek: (closing down his old stories page from sight) I will just skip over that. Back to the topic at hand; now I was realising that this is a constant and seemed to be unavoidable since whatever scenario took place, Issei would always be there and would side with Rias. The only options coming to my head were if Issei wasn't around, but then that would be changing the rules completely rather than altering the scenario. Since that was a ridiculous notion, I threw it from my thoughts, until I realised I had another option; Issei can't side with Rias because he's already a part of the other team.

Issei: Oh, well that makes sense then. If I was fighting for Riser, then there would be no way that I could be of help to Rias. But . . . Riser of that time only wanted a team of girls to make his own internal harem, like I want as well. So, how on earth did you think around that?

Alek: Ravel.

Ravel: (caught off-guard) Me?

Alek: Yes; as Riser's little sister, Issei would have to side with the family if he was in your peerage. Plus, as you would be fighting on Riser's side during the match, Issei would be obligated to at the very least remain neutral in this scenario.

Issei: (puzzled) Then, how am I fighting for Riser if I was to at least be neutral? I don't like the idea of a forced engagement, and neither would I really condone Riser's behaviour if he acted like the jerk playboy he was when he first arrived.

Alek: I already know how, but I won't say anymore as to spoil the rest of the plot. Well, that is all we have time for, but I will hope to speak with you two again when the need arises and other stuff come up. Oh, actually having said that, there is something I should clear up before carrying on to the next chapter; Ravel, you're name. How do you pronounce it?

Ravel: (confused) That's an odd question. It's like its spelled in katakana: "レイヴェル" (Reiberu).

Issei: (also confused) Why would you ask that?

Alek: Well, I know a lot of people who think her name is pronounced "Ravel" like in 'Gravel' rather than 'Reivel' like in Raven, and I thought I should just clear. Alright bye then.

Issei: Hey, wait! What about us? How do we get out of here?

Alek: (devilishly) You don't. Bye-bye!

Thank you for reading, and review at your nearest convenience.

Also, I will be returning to the Omakes in order to explain things related to the story that I can't always bring up in the story, so questions from the reviewers will also be answered in this pocket universe.

I will also add Haikus to the end of every chapter because, why not?

Well, until next time everyone. Bye!