DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or Highschool DxD. Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto and Highschool DxD is the property of Ichiei Ishibumi.

Italics text = character thinking to themselves.

Underline+Italics = character communicating with telepathy

Bold text = shouting

Bold+Italcs = Casting Spell/Ability

Chapter Ten

Zealots, Heroes and Games

Having arrived back at the Beelzebub labs, the Shinobi, Biiju and their new minions / fellow devils were greeted by all Four Mao who had been anxiously awaiting their return.

"Don't tell me." Ajuka sighed at the sight of the several people they had brought with them. "You somehow managed to turn some Damned Sinners into reincarnated devils."

"No, but good try boss." Naruto chuckled. "No, they're not Damned or Sinners at all. But it was a close thing."

"How so?" Sirzechs frowned.

"Remember how it's supposed to be impossible to teleport or open a portal to Tartarus?" Naruto smiled weakly.

"…You must be joking." Ajuka blinked.

"Yeah, they managed it. Unintentionally though. They're not from this world. Or my old one, for that matter." Naruto shrugged.

"Tell us everything." Sirzechs demanded seriously.

Timeskip – two hours later

"So…" Serafall said slowly, once the blond had finished giving them the long version of the story "You killed a god?"

"…That's what you decided to focus on?" Sakura asked nonplused.

"Considering that he used his Devil Arm to do it, it means that we can claim without issue that the Satan-Class Devil Arms are just as powerful as the Longinus-Class Sacred Gears." Falbium pointed out. "And the fact that we have a Godslayer in our midst."

"I suppose there's that." Naruto agreed. "Though I thought you would focus more on the fact that we just turned King Arthur, Herakles, Medusa, Gilgamesh, Cu Chulainn and Medea into devils, plus whoever the other two are."

"Yes, I suppose a second Excalibur is more important right now, especially since this one is intact." Ajuka agreed. "Then again, the fact that it's bound to her and her alone takes some of the excitement out of it."

"Well, you've given us enough information to mull on for now. Why don't you all go get some rest. I doubt you've been able to relax any in Tartarus." Sirzechs suggested.

"Sound good, but before that…" Naruto pulled out five scrolls and unsealed five Devil Arm cores. "I think you should take these into custody."

"Which are which?" Falbium rubbed the sleep from his eyes and leaned forward with interest.

"This one is the one I made out of Angra Mainyu. It's called Touch of Darkness. It has the power of corrupt things the user touches into demonic nature." Naruto pointed at it. "This one I made to contain the original Cerberus that attacked us when we entered Tartarus. It's called Frozen Cerberus. It's a triple nunchaku with ice powers and whose chains can extend for hundreds of meters." He set the two aside.

"Then these are the Satan-Class ones." Ajuka eyed them cautiously.

"This is Falbium's Kazikli Bey containing Dracula. Like you asked, it can create countless cursed stakes." Naruto passed it to its new owner. "I'm pretty sure the Balance Breaker will involve vampirism one way or another, though, given who it's made from, so watch out."

"Right… I'll leave it to Ajuka to examine it for now before I start using it." Falbium decided and placed it back on the table before leaning back to take a nap.

"Good thinking. I'm not saying we made mistakes, but it's better to be safe than sorry." Naruto agreed. "Now, this one is Grayfia's Bindings of Punishment containing Carmilla. It creates iron chains that suppress supernatural powers. Same with Kazikli Bey, it's Balance Breaker will have some vampire themes." He handed it to the silver-haired maid who inspected it for a while before setting it down on the table. "And last but not last, Serafall's Gorgon's Gaze which can temporarily or permanently petrify those within her line of sight. It's possible that you may absorb the life forces of those you kill this way, but I can't say for sure. The Balance Breaker will have snakes, no doubt about it."

"Thank you for your hard work, Naru-kun!" Serafall gave him a hug.

"You're welcome." Naruto grinned. "By the way, you plan on sending us back for Sirzechs and Ajuka's Devil Arms, right?"

"Indeed, though we're giving you a month or two to rest… and so we can narrow down the location of the targets so you won't have to be down there longer than absolutely necessary." Sirzechs agreed.

"Well, Kurama is interested in having Tamamo no Mae in her Devil Arm, so…" Naruto began.

"We'll find her." Ajuka nodded in understanding.

"Also… well, just how many devils were sent down there to die? Shikamaru knows for sure about a Bael and a Belial, but Gyuki said there should be around a dozen more." Naruto pointed out.

"Something along those lines." Sirzechs said slowly. "You… want to turn them into Devil Arms and return them to their families, don't you?"

"At the very least, it will earn us Zekram's support. The Bael is his second son, I think." Naruto pointed out.

"And likely with the other Pillars as well." Sirzechs smirked. "My, hasn't someone become devious lately?"

"Just remembering a few things that I've picked up from when I was younger." Naruto smirked mischievously "My Jiji was not known as the God of Shinobi just for being badass. He kept the peace in the Elemental Nations for decades with words alone."

Timeskip – next day

Given that the other three had new Peerage members they needed to stick around to help them complete their transformation – whom had yet to awaken – Naruto returned to the human world with just Kurama and Hanabi. He had also checked on Sakura Matou's condition and while he body was healed it had yet to finish its transformation. Actually, it was going slower since she was not receiving Naruto's power directly. However, there were significant benefits to this in the form of her mind and soul being soothed and steadily healed by the power of the Hell Path, which he considered more worthwhile then hurrying her transformation into a devil.

Asia, Raynare and the Gremory group had made great progress the day before under the tutelage of the Kage Bunshin, and Naruto had every intention of keeping things going at the same pace, if not better.

For the next few days, with Naruto investing all his time in them their performance skyrocketed, with Rias actually mastering the Rasengan and beginning to use the Bael's Power of Destruction instead of her regular demonic power when forming it. It was somewhat harder for her as the Power of Destruction was significantly more potent, but she could do it given enough time. That being said, she was not foolish enough to believe that Riser would stand still while she formed her attack, so she had to improve the current 15 seconds charging time.

On Akeno's part, things were not working quite as smoothly. Oh, she had gained access to her Light element quite easily, what with three Fallen Angels there to give her pointers. Same with molding the light into different shapes. While it came natural to all Angels, Fallen or otherwise, to shape their Light into spears, the fact remained that it would bring a certain stigma upon her if she was seen using it like that against fellow devils. So, instead of using a few large Light Spears she used a lot of Light Arrows to essential rain upon her target. She had tried to combined her Light element with her lightning and had met some degree of success, possibly due to her father being known for using it as such, but it would take some time for her to learn how to actually merge her Light with her Lightning rather just coat her Lightning in Light.

For Kiba, using Holy Swords felt unnatural. He could do it – and do it well, too – but he insisted that there was something missing. Like he knew he was lacking something he had had before becoming a devil. It was a mystery as Jeanne had no such issue, but then again, she had been using her Blade Blacksmith as a human as well while Kiba had only been using the Sword Birth both before and after becoming a devil. As far as Naruto could tell, Kiba has simply become too in tune with demonic swords and it would take some time for him to build a similar rapport with holy ones.

Koneko had flourished under Kuroka's training. With a teacher who knew exactly what she should be focusing on and where her limits should be, she had improved by leaps and bounds, reaching a level of agility that was almost on par to Kiba's before the Knight had gone through the training. Concerning Senjutsu, it was determined that while applying some of the principles of Naruto's style allowed her better control over herself and her energy, in the end she was unable to use his style properly due to lacking a chakra circulatory system in which to properly mix her own chakra with natural energy into a perfectly blended mixt. That did not change the fact that while inferior in every way, this world's style of Senjutsu still gave her quite a boost especially when applying principles of Naruto's style.

Naruto and Kuroka compared their Senjutsu styles in length and after much debate the Nekoshou was forced to admit defeat. Quite simply there was no real comparison. The boost Naruto's style gave him was at least ten times greater the Kuroka's, be it in speed, strength, endurance and power, and infinitely more stable. Never mind the Six Paths Senjutsu's power boost. In addition – and much to Naruto's satisfaction – the Senjutsu of this world was unable to counter his Gudodama due to the simple fact that the natural energy was just mixed in the user's own rather than blended into Sage Chakra like back in the Elemental Nations.

In truth, Naruto was drawing some rather alarming parallels between the way Senjutsu users here lost control to the world's hatred and how Jugo, one of Sasuke's companions, kept losing control of himself due to his inborn ability to absorb natural energy end use the Sage Transformation in an unstable way.

Finally, the Pawns of the Gremory group had progressed as well quite a bit. While not to the degree their seniors as devils had, they had still learnt how to mold their Light element into chains which would deal significant damage to any devil unlucky enough to be trapped in them.

Asia seemed to be a natural at barriers and after exhausting the material they had available, rather than ask for more advanced types of demonic barrier from the Beelzebub library which Naruto would have been more than willing to provide she instead requested he teach her some chakra barriers. The way she explained it, her Twilight Healing generated a healing energy that was all but identical to that of the Shosen no Jutsu, only it was universal in its effects meaning it adjusted itself to the target rather than require Asia make adjustments in how she was using it. As such, Asia was hoping that a chakra barrier powered by her through the Twilight Healing would allow her to heal everyone inside the barrier or at least in contact with it. It was an innovative idea and Naruto was all too happy to teach her.

Raynare… well, she had managed to infuse her now more dense and compact Light Spears with Katon chakra allowing her to cause serious burn damage even to non-devils, as well as increase the speed she generated her spears at in addition to the number she could properly control at one time… but the most marking portion of her training left her unable to look Naruto in the eye after he had evaluated her seduction skills and found her wanting… before proceeding to turn into female blonde bombshell version of himself and show her how it was done. The time spent with Jiraiya was not wasted, at all.

However, all good things must come to an end and for Naruto it was when he suddenly felt a Hiraishin marker within the Underworld activate, leaving him to instantly create a Kage Bunshin to take over while the real him teleported away.

The sight he arrived at made his heart stop and the blood freeze in his veins.

There was Shikamaru, his friend since their Academy days, laying on the floor in a puddle of his own blood with Sakura and Medea of Colchis standing over him and trying with little success to heal the hole in his chest that went all the way through his back in a pellicular clover shape, incidentally where his heart should be. Had been.

The shock wore off a moment later and he was suddenly besides Sakura, placing a hand on her shoulder and engulfing her in a chakra cloak similar to his own, just like the time when the Konoha 11 had helped him and Sasuke overpower Obito and rip the Tailed Beasts out of him. With it, the potency and effectiveness of all her jutsu increased exponentially… or at least they should.

The hole was not closing, not even slightly.

"What happened?" Naruto demanded, idly noticing that in addition to Sakura and Medea, almost all the Magi and Servants they had saved from Tartarus were present, as was Hinata who appeared to be the one who had thrown the Hiraishin kunai.

"The unknown Servant that we thought might be Assassin woke up and seemed to have taken offense to the fact that Shikamaru here introduced himself as a devil." Sakura said in a tense voice as she continued to work.

"She's an Assassin, alright." Medea, the Caster Class Servant, commented. "I heard the name of the Noble Phantasm she used to cause this wound. It was Zabaniya: Dead Heartbeat Melody. That mean's she's one of the nineteen Hassan-i-Sabbah that can be summoned in the Assassin Class."

"That… should be impossible." Naruto scowled.

"Why so?" Medea gave him an annoyed look, offended that she was being contradicted.

"Because the Noble Phantasm of the Assassin Zouken Matou summoned to replace your Assassin was Zabaniya: Delusional Heartbeat." Naruto said simply.

"That…" Medea blinked. "I suppose it's not impossible for her to have learnt the Zabaniya of one of her predecessors…" she mused "But it's unlikely." She admitted. "Plus, she looks nothing like the other one, not in the way she carried herself."

"…We can figure this out later." Naruto shook his head. "How long do you need to heal Shikamaru." He turned to Sakura.

"I don't think I can." Sakura admitted grimly. "This wound bears some sort of curse. Even then, I can't regenerate his heart from scratch. I'm good, not that good."

"If it's a curse, I can…" Medea began to offer as she reached into her robes.

"I appreciate the offer, but your Rule Breaker may do more harm than good, Medea." Naruto cut her off. "It may damage his Evil Piece, the thing that turned him into a devil in the first place, either killing him or severing his connection to his King, making him a Stray Devil."

"And what does being a Stray Devil imply?" Artoria demanded. "That is what the pink haired healer called Assassin."

"In simple terms, a traitor. Someone who had had betrayed or just abandoned their King, often killing their King in the process." Naruto answered absently as he placed a hand on Shikamaru's chest and channeling his chakra through it to get a feel on the nature of the wound and how to deal with it. "Sometimes it's for power, other times because the King refuses to allow them to indulge in some activities, there are even times when the King is abusive and the servant becomes a Stray by fleeing."

"…I do not understand." Medusa commented. "How is it possible for your wounded friend to be Assassin's King if you do not even know her."

"It's because he reincarnated her into a devil in order to save her life." Naruto replied. "Just like it happened to the rest of you."

"What?!"

"How could you?"

"You dare…?"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Naruto called out decisively insincerely as he raised his eyes to glare at the outraged group. "If we knew that you would have preferred we leave you to die in Tartarus, the lowest level of Hell, where your souls would have been chained and damned to suffer for eternity, we would have just left you be and NOT have to risk our lives to fight a fully revived and empowered Angra Mainyu, the Zoroastrian God of Darkness, in the place he had the highest concentration of evil in this world to call upon to strengthen himself. And I most certainly would not have had a lake-full of materialized curses dropped on my head while saving your ungrateful asses." He ranted to the now silent room.

"… I apologize." Artoria grimaced. "We were too hasty to make accusations without properly understand the circumstances. Perhaps you can explain the situation to us… after you save your friend, of course."

"Be glad to." Naruto gave her a nod before turning his attention to Shikamaru.

"I'm surprised he's still alive." The Gilgamesh in his early teens commented as he looked at the downed Nara. "That kind of attack should have killed him instantly."

"It's probably because of the piece of the Chakra Fruit you fed us a few days ago, Naruto." Sakura remarked absently. "I noticed that it strengthened my life force significantly in addition to the power boost."

"That too." Naruto smirked. "But I think the main reason he's still alive it's because the sneaky bastard used his shadow manipulations to create temporary veins for his blood to continue flowing through, even without his heart to pump it. Isn't that right you lazy ass?"

In response, a shadow extended from under Shikamaru's body and shaped itself into a rough message.

"Troublesome blond." the shadow wrote.

"I take it your lungs are too damaged to risk talking." Naruto remarked while everyone else stared in shock.

"Yes." the shadow wrote.

"Well, I'm going to go ahead and heal you right now, but it will probably knock you out. Anything of note you can tell us about the one who did this to you?" the whiskered blond asked.

"Like Hidan. Zealot." the shadow wrote.

"…Fuck." Naruto swore. "No other choice then. She's a full Stray then, we can't redeem her."

"That mean?" Gilgamesh inquired.

"She need to be put down." Sakura replied.

"No" the shadow wrote.

"What the fuck do you mean no?" Naruto demanded in shock. "Shika, even if we don't do it ourselves someone will have to do it and…."

"Devil Arm." the shadow wrote.

"…Okay, I admit that is a better option." Naruto nodded slowly. "What Piece was she again?"

"Knight." the shadow wrote.

"Right, then I suppose that with her boost to her own impressive speed and her stealth, she's long gone." Naruto remarked.

"Do you need help tracking her down?" Hinata asked doubtfully.

"Nah, I can reach her in an instant. I just want to deal with Shikamaru's wound first." Naruto admitted as power exploded from his body, forming into the dark orange shroud of his Six Paths Sage Mode as he created a Gudodama in his right hand. Then he reshaped it to fit the clover pattern of the hole on Shikamaru's chest before shoving it into the wound, destroying a couple millimeters of additional tissue all around and with it the curse on the wound… before flashing once with golden light, leaving behind a perfectly healthy torso, no wound remaining.

"Well, he's knocked out as you expected but he's completely healed and there is no damage to his soul or Evil Piece." Sakura decreed after a few moments of diagnostics.

"Good. Guess I'll go deal with the Assassin now." Naruto got back to his feet.

"How are you going to do that?" the white-haired Archer raised an eyebrow.

"Just because I was nice enough to have Shikamaru save her life despite having absolutely no idea what to expect from her, that doesn't mean I'm a gullible idiot." Naruto pointed out.

"Could have fooled me." Sakura said under her breath, which the blond ignored.

"I tagged her with a Hiraishin marker on the back of her neck. I can teleport to her at any time." Naruto informed them.

"…Do we also have such a marker on our bodies?" Medusa asked in a perfectly calm but nonetheless threatening manner.

"Nah, I know enough about you guys to know that you're not stupid enough to cause trouble here." Naruto waved her off.

"Oh? Why's that?" Gilgamesh raised an eyebrow.

"Because this place is at the center of the territory of the Mao Ajuka Beelzebub, one of the four rulers of the Underworld and who numbers amongst the Top Ten Strongest Existences of this world." Hinata answered with a tinge of amusement.

"He could take you all on at the same time, and crush you before you can even properly activate your Noble Phantasms." Naruto added. "For all that he acts like a nerd most of the time and focuses on scientific research rather than combat, Ajuka is still a Badass with a capital B."

"And, of course, in the off chance that you by some miracle escape with you lives after betraying out trust, the fact remains that you are in the Underworld which you know nothing about." Hinata continued.

"And in the off chance that you manage to teleport to the human world, the Earth here is not quite like the one you left behind." Naruto smirked. "The Age of the Gods never ended here. There are plenty of people strong enough to defeat any one of you. Yes, even you, King of Heroes."

"Hoh, that's quite the claim." Gilgamesh's eyes glittered dangerously in excitement before calming down. "But right now, I'm not in the mood for trouble, nii-san. So, I can play along."

"Well, be back in a few minutes." Naruto smirked as he formed a Senpo: Jiton Rasengan containing Shukaku's cursed seals in his right hand before teleporting with the Hiraishin, appearing right behind Assassin and plunging the jutsu into her back, sending her flying and at the same time binding her movements and disrupting her energy to prevent her from using any of her Noble Phantasms.

Walking over to her collapsed form, Naruto pulled her hood back to reveal a beautiful black-eyed brunette glaring at him with mad eyes. Unconcerned, he activated his Rinnegan through Kaguya's Gaze and placed his hand on her head to use the Human Path. Sure enough, her memories flowed into his mind and he grimaced. Indeed, she was a Zealot to God and there was no way she would accept serving a devil, never mind being one herself. The only reason she had not turned her dagger to her own throat was her lack of knowledge of her own current condition. Naruto felt a bit bad for what he was about to do, since while mentally unstable and more than a bit obsessed with obeying God's will, she was not exactly evil. Sure, she had done unsavory things as an assassin, but it came with the job. The fact remained, though, that she was as Stray and, even more importantly, she had knowingly nearly killed Shikamaru. That was not going to slide with him.

Releasing his grim on her head, he reached into her chest and extracted he Knight Piece and showed it to her.

"This was used by Shikamaru, the one you put a hole through, to turn you into a devil." Naruto told her calmly, ignoring her wide eyes of terror as he reshaped and reprogramed it into a Devil Arm Core fit her the power he would be extracting from her. "You don't need to worry about how God would react to this, though. He's been dead for centuries now." He added as he finished shaping the crystal sphere before placing it on the scroll he had unfurled on the ground, Assassin following soon after as he pushed her into the right position. "So rest in peace." He finished as he activated the array, ripping apart her life and soul and using it to power the new Devil Arm. "I'll call it, Zabaniya: Phantasmal Pedigree. It's pretty much a portable version of her Noble Phantasm, after all." He muttered as he stored it and the scroll away before teleporting back to Hinata's side just as they were placing Shikamaru on a couch to let him rest more comfortably.

"Done already?" Artoria asked in surprise.

"It was not much of a fight." Naruto shrugged. "Shall we begin the explanations then?"

"Before that, what happened with Sakura? She's the girl that…" the Tohsaka heiress began.

"Sakura Matou is still recovering." Naruto cut her off. "I removed the problematic implants from her body, but the fact remains that the damage Angra Mainyu did to her was mostly mental and spiritual, and that's ignoring the absolute hell the last eleven years have been for her." He narrowed his eyes at her, causing the Tohsaka to look away in shame. "Either way, it will take a while longer for her to recover enough for me to deem safe waking her up. As for a full recovery, I'm doubtful it can even happen." He closed his eyes.

"Let's start by explaining what you mean by use being in a new world, then we can move on to the devil stuff." The young-looking white-haired girl with red eyes proposed.

"Fair enough, but I believe some introductions are in order, for your sake at least. We already know all your names… outside of Archer." Sakura eyed the tanned man curiously. "My name is Sakura Haruno, I am High-Class Devil and hold the position of Mao Beelzebub's Rook. I am a healer by profession."

"I am Hinata Hyuga. I am an Ultimate-Class Devil and Beelzebub-sama's Knight." The white-eyed girl continued.

"The guy that bleed all over the floor is Shikamaru Nara, High-Class Devil and Bishop of Beelzebub." Naruto added. "And I am…"

"Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, son of Minato Namikaze the Yellow Flash and Kushina Uzumaki the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero; Child of the Prophecy, Hero of the Hidden Leaf, Savior of the World and Jinchuriki of the Kyubi?" the white-haired Archer smirked knowingly.

"… Actually, it's former Jinchuriki of the Kyubi." Naruto narrowed his eyes at him. "I'm also an Ultimate-Class Devil and Queen of Beelzebub's Peerage."

"How exactly did you acquire that information, Archer-san?" Hinata asked sweetly and calmly, but nobody was naïve enough to mistake it for a request. It was an order.

"Two ways." Archer said smugly. "First of all, there are several versions of you in the Throne of Heroes. One doesn't go saving the whole world repeatedly over the course of a couple decades without receiving that kind of recognition."

"Several times?" Artoria repeated giving her fellow blonde am impressed and curious look.

"Hm, sealing Kaguya Otsutsuki and ending the Fourth Great Shinobi World War is one." Naruto mused. "And I suppose stopping Toneri Otsutsuki from crashing the Moon into the planet is another. What else?"

"That time when you killed that powerful demon Moryo in the Land of Demons. With priestess Shion, remember?" Sakura pointed out.

"Oh, right." Naruto agreed.

"Did you ever get around to helping her provide the next generation of priestesses?" Archer asked innocently.

"No, I was a bit busy with stopping the Akatsuki, their Uchiha string-pullers and then a freaking goddess to travel across the world to get laid." Naruto said dryly. "Anyway, that's three times, I guess."

"You missed the time when you destroyed the Gelel Vein before it exploded and took the whole continent with it, and the time you destroyed the Reibi demon when the Land of Sky invaded." Archer added.

"Meh, I suppose there's that too." Naruto shrugged. "What's the second reason you know about me?"

"I've been summoned to several versions of the Elemental Nations and unlike the other Heroic Spirits in the Throne of Heroes I'm obligated due to my nature to actually remember all my summonings." Archer shrugged.

"Your nature?" Sakura frowned.

"I'm a Counter Guardian." Archer said simply, earning surprised and unnerved reactions from his fellow Servants.

"What's that?" Hinata blinked.

"He sold his soul to the manifestation of the Will of Humanity and essentially became a slave that gets sent to slaughter people, innocent or guilty, when the survival of humanity as a whole is at risk, eliminating the problem at the source utterly." Naruto said absently as he stared at Archer. "What did you ask for in return? And what's your name?"

"I asked for the resurrection of a hundred people I was too late to save." Archer said bitterly. "As for my name, I abandoned it long ago. Now I'm simply known as EMIYA."

"…So, that's why your arm could be transplanted to a human. In the end, even if he was alive and you were a spirit, you were both Shirou Emiya at some point." Naruto mused out loud.

"You're Emiya-kun?" Rin exclaimed in shock.

"No." Archer denied. "While our lives up to the Fifth Grail War were probably the same, most of what happened during it was different and… well, your Shirou obviously didn't survive."

"Do we know that for sure?" Illya demanded.

"Yes." Naruto cut in. "Kirei Kotomine and Shirou Emiya killed each-other. That was what triggered your little trip across worlds; Sakura Matou witnessed it and lost what little mental stability she had left."

"…Where is Sakura?" Rin blinked.

"Still healing." Naruto shrugged. "Her body is fine, but her mind and soul… it will take some time to get her to at least slightly stable."

"Anyway, we were making introductions. EMIYA had his turn, who's next?" Sakura cut in.

"I am Rin Tohsaka, Heiress of the Tohsaka Family and Archer's Master." The twintailed girl spoke up.

"Former Master." Archer corrected.

"…Right." Rin grunted.

"I'm Cu Chulainn, the Hound of Ulster, formerly of just Lancer Class." The blue-haired man spoke thoughtfully.

"Formerly?" Rin blinked.

"Yeah, seems I got a power boost or something when we crossed over. I received a Dual-Class Skill that also makes me a Caster, Class Skills and all." The Irish hero shrugged.

"I as well have gone through such a change." Artoria spoke up. "I am Artoria Pendragon, the King of Knights, formerly of just Saber clans and now also a Lancer."

"That's not the only change you went through. I know for sure you didn't have those when we fought at the beginning of the War." Lancer leered at Artoria's exposed cleavage.

"I would tell you to stop being such a mongrel, but in your case, it's more than an expression." Gilgamesh commented in amusement. "I am Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes, of Archer Class. As you can see, I am younger than during the War though this is my doing." He smirked arrogantly. "I managed to escape from within that berserk girl by leaving behind my physical body and a portion of my power. I was expecting to be weakened rather than de-aged, but… well, I actually prefer this form. It brings back good memories. Do call me Gil."

"Yeah, I think I know where your extra power went to." EMIYA glanced at the two part-Lancers.

"And his extra body mass." Illya said snidely, glaring at Artoria's boobs.

"Moving on!" Naruto said quickly as Artoria began inching for her sword.

"…I am Medusa, the Gorgon. I am a Rider." The blindfolded beauty said quietly.

"I'm Illyasviel von Einzbern, the Einzbern Family representative in the Grail War and Berserker's former Master." The young-looking girl glanced at the dark-skinned giant next to her.

"I am Herakles, son of Zeus, summoned by young Illya as Berserker." The large man spoke in a surprisingly cultured voice.

"Eh! You can talk?" Lancer yelped.

"My recent transformation seems to have given me control of my Mad Enhancement Skill." The demigod smiled in satisfaction.

"And as Naruto here has said before, I am Medea of Colchis, the Witch of Betrayal, of the Caster Class." The pointy-eared blue-haired woman finished. "Now explain to us this transformation into devils." She demanded.

"Very well." Naruto sighed. "But first, a bit of history so you understand the circumstances." He decided. "Now, after Lucifer and a third of Heaven Fell, they ended up in the uppermost level of Hell. There, they met Satan, the Original Devil. Satan used his dominion over Hell to infuse those Fallen Angels with a large amount of the demonic energy of that level of Hell, turning them into Devils and making that level of Hell a livable area rather than a place of punishment, later being named the Underworld."

"Which we are now in." Rin spoke up.

"Yes." Naruto confirmed. "Now, leading the devils other than Satan and Lucifer were Beelzebub, Leviathan, Asmodeus, Mammon and Belphegor."

"The Seven Deadly Sins. Rage, Pride, Gluttony, Envy, Lust, Greed and Sloth." Illya remarked.

"Indeed. Under them were the 72 Pillars of the Underworld, each commanding legions of devils." Naruto continued. "At some point after that, other Angels Fell from Heaven, but this time on Earth, becoming Fallen Angels rather than Devils like Lucifer's group. Eventually they organized themselves into the Grigori. Then, of course, God started the Great War. Whether it was because he hated the Devils and Fallen or because they were harming humanity, I'm not sure and it really doesn't matter at this point. War happened, lasting millennia. Eventually, six hundred or so years ago, the War ended when the three sides realized the casualties had gone far beyond any acceptable level. And amongst them – and the real reason why the War ended – were the Original Lucifer, Beelzebub, Leviathan and Asmodeus."

"What about Satan, Mammon and Belphegor?" Media inquired.

"They died one by one during the War so the loss did not feel as great. But these for died in the same battle." Sakura explained.

"Why didn't Heaven and the Grigori take advantage of this?" EMIYA frowned.

"The Grigori were the first to pull out since they had from the beginning had the fewest numbers and the war reduced them further even with the Angels the tempted into Falling during the War." Naruto shrugged. "As for Heaven… well, those four, known as the Four Mao, died taking God down with them."

"God… is dead?" Artoria asked in shock.

"Yep. You'll have to keep that to yourselves though. Only a select few are allowed to know this, such as the Peerages of the Mao." Naruto explained. "If word got out, the other Pantheons would try to take advantage of a perceived weakness and declare war."

"Hmph, what's the big deal? Sure, he was pretty important but plenty of gods have been killed before. My teacher made sport out of it." Cu Chulainn pointed out.

"That may be true, but today close to a third of the world's population is some denomination of Christianity." Naruto pointed out. "And gods draw power from their followers. With over two billion believers, the God of the Bible would without doubt be one of the strongest, if not the Strongest God."

"Anyway, Archangel Michael has been running Heaven since then and he's been doing a decent job of it. Nothing amazing, but he's kept Heaven and the Church together." Hinata remarked.

"Now, back to the devils…" Naruto sighed. "After the war ended, the descendants of Lucifer, Beelzebub, Asmodeus and Leviathan took over and for a few decades the devils pretty much licked their wound and tried to put themselves together. Half of the Pillars of the Underworld, which now also consisted of their descendants, had become extinct, either by being killed to the last man, or by interbreeding with other species, no longer being pure devils. Guess what happened next?"

"They tried to restart the War?" EMIYA asked darkly.

"Of course. These descendants did not have the prestige and respect of the devils like their predecessors did, and they wanted to gain glory through war or just take revenge on Heaven and the Grigori." Naruto said in disgust. "Thankfully, he people did not agree with this and over the next few years a Civil War was fought amongst the devils, the Old Mao Faction against the Rebels. The rebels eventually won by a landslide once they proved that if the Devils went to war again they would go extinct. You see, the Mao were more than just their leaders; they were the linchpins of drawing upon the demonic energy from Hell. Without them, the birth-rate dropped like a stone. Once this was out in the open, the four leaders of the Rebels were able to focus entirely on taking down the Old Mao Faction and the few Pillars that remained sided with them. They were Sirzechs Gremory, Ajuka Astaroth, Serafall Sitri and Falbium Glasya-Labolas, and after the Civil War was won they were chosen to be the new Lucifer, Beelzebub, Leviathan and Asmodeus respectively."

"What happened with the Old Mao Faction?" Medusa asked.

"They were driven away to the edges of the populated portions of the Underworld when they refused to accept their defeat, same with their followers. They still caused trouble occasionally, but they lacked the resources for any big moves. That may have changed given the recent rumors, but that can wait." Naruto shrugged. "Anyway, to fix the population issue, Ajuka Beelzebub created the Evil Pieces. They are shaped as chess pieces, but each have the power of turning other species into Devils, even reviving the recently deceased. Of course, they don't work on full gods otherwise we would have had another war."

"There are 8 Pawns, 2 Knights, 2 Bishops, 2 Rooks and one Queen. Before you ask, there was initially planned for a King Piece as well but it did not react well with the other Pieces and was removed from use." Sakura said.

"Knights are worth 3 Pawns and grant the user enhanced speed; Bishops are worth 3 Pawns and grant the user large reserves of demonic power; Rooks are worth 5 Pawns and grant the user enhanced strength and defense; Queens are worth 9 Pawns and grant the user the powers of the Knight, Bishop and Rook; and the Pawn while technically the weakest is also the most versatile, allowing the user to Promote when in enemy territory to Knight, Bishop, Rook or Queen." Hinata explained.

"Once reincarnated, new devils start as Low-Class Devils under the King of the Peerage who is a High-Class Devil or Ultimate-Class." Naruto continued. "Over time, as the members of the Peerage grow in power and prestige, they will be given the change to take Promotion Exams. There, they'll test your knowledge of devil culture to be sure you know what you need for a higher rank, but the most important thing is power. If you give an impressive enough showing, you can even be bumped up more than a rank."

"What are the ranks?" Medea inquired.

"Low, Middle, High and Ultimate Class." Hinata replied.

"There is another level, that of Super Devil, but only three Devils alive are known to be that strong and there was only a fourth in the past." Sakura added.

"Who are they?" Gil leaned forwards.

"The first was Satan, the All-Father of Devils." Naruto began.

"Could have seen that one coming." Rin commented.

"True. Then there is the son of the Original Lucifer, Rizevim Livan Lucifer. He went missing after Sirzechs, another Super-Devil kicked his ass. Finally, there's Ajuka." Naruto finished.

"Well, I guess it's to be expected that the two Super Devils amongst the Rebels became Mao." Illya pointed out.

"Who is the strongest amongst them?" the Hound of Ulster leaned forward with a feral grin.

"Sirzechs. There's a reason he's the Lucifer, after all." Sakura chuckled. "In his true form, he can destroy an entire continent."

"True Form?" Heracles frowned.

"Devils have incredible power, and if left unchecked it affects the surroundings, even warping the fabric of reality." Hinata explained. "To keep that power in check, the amount of power a devil can use it limited by how many pairs of their wings they have out at the time."

"Super Devils have six pairs." Naruto added. "But that's not all. Super Devils are more than extremely powerful Devils. They are irregularities, aberrations, true monsters. When using their full power, their physical body exhibits changes. And Sirzechs… well, he's fucking terrifying."

"How so?" Artoria frowned.

"In his True Form, his body is made of the Power of Destruction, a hereditary ability of the Bael Family that he inherited from his mother who was born a Venelana Bael." Naruto paused. "The Power of Destruction is a type of extremely corrosive demonic energy; even a handful of the most unrefined version of it can blow up a car. In his True Form, his body is made of the most concentrated version possible. Anyone bellow Ultimate-Class would simple disintegrate from being in his presence, never mind when he starts throwing his power around."

"Right… not going to challenge him to a fight." Cu Chulainn said decisively.

"Oh, you could do that if he has time and is in the mood for some work-out. Just don't bug him about his True Form; he's not too fond of it." Naruto assured him.

"So…" Medusa tried to get the discussion back on track "You used those Evil Pieces on us. Who and what Piece?"

"Right." Hinata smiled. "Medusa, I reincarnated you using both my Rooks."

"Both?" the Gorgon seemed surprised.

"When a person's value is higher than a single Piece can turn, one can use multiple Pieces of the same kind." Hinata explained. "You were not quite worth 10 Pawns which is the value of two Rooks, but over time you will grow into it either way."

"I see. Thank you for the faith in my potential." Medusa bowed her head slightly.

"I also reincarnated EMIYA with both my Knight Pieces and Rin-san with 3 of my Mutated Pawns." Hinata added.

"Mutated? Does that mean they're defective?" Rin frowned.

"On the contrary. Mutated Pieces are bugs in the system, you can say. They're Evil Pieces that are worth more than their standard value. Depending on the situation, you could use one Mutated Pawn where you could have needed a Knight or Rook." Sakura explained.

"So, I'm actually worth more than 3 Pawns." Rin nodded in satisfaction.

"Probably closer to seven or eight." Hinata confirmed. "You may not have the power now, but you have the potential to get there."

"Thank you. And the Pawn Piece fits my combat style pretty well." Rin smiled.

"In my case, I reincarnated Artoria with my Queen Piece, Herakles with my Mutated Rook, Cu Chulainn with both my Knights and Illyasviel with my Mutated Bishop." Sakura told them.

"Good match-ups." Herakles praised.

"I'm a healer, so I could tell what your specialties were from your bodies." Sakura explained.

"The rest of you were reincarnated by Shikamaru." Naruto spoke up. "I can tell you what he used, though. He used his Queen Piece on Gil, both Bishops on Medea and a Knight on the Assassin."

"Does that mean that he'll remain a Knight short?" Gil inquired with a frown.

"No, if a Devil becomes a Stray, the King can receive replacement Evil Pieces." Hinata replied. "Same if the King releases a Peerage member from service, though in that case there is a limit at how many Pieces can be replaced in a century."

"Release from service?" Gil asked with interest.

"Don't get too excited; you're decades if not centuries away from that being possible for you." Naruto smiled in amusement. "While part of the Peerage System is so high-ranked pureblooded devils can feel important by lording over their underlings, the main purpose is to stabilize the reincarnated devils. While your transformation into devils has been completed, your power will be in flux for quite a while yet."

"The way people usually see it, a reincarnated Devil would be able to go solo after reaching High-Class. But that is only because most reincarnated devils are humans who had average magical power before being turned. As such, it takes them centuries to reach High-Class if they don't give up along the way or die. Also, the stronger they are when just reincarnated, the longer it will take to completely stabilize." Sakura explained.

"For you lot, I don't see any of you needing less than a couple centuries, maybe just one in Rin's case since she's the weakest amongst you." Naruto shrugged.

"What about Sakura?" Rin demanded. "You didn't tell us what Piece she has."

"Oh, I used my last two Mutated Pawns on her." Naruto replied.

"I don't buy that." Illya frowned. "Sakura being worth one less Mutated Pawn then Rin?"

"Oh, you seem to be misunderstanding something." Naruto chuckled. "You seem to be under the impression that one of my Pawn Pieces is worth as much as Hinata's."

"It's not?" EMIYA frowned.

"No. That standard is true only for Kings of the same power." Sakura shook her head. "For High-Class Devils, it's more or less true due to the fact that they are classified between Middle-Class and Ultimate-Class. A High-Class Devil cannot have less than three pairs of wings and no more than four. For Ultimate-Class, they have four or five. But unless they are monsters like Super Devils, there is a very large variation in power amongst them."

"Naruto is in the highest tier of Ultimate-Class. He's actually stronger then both the Asmodeus and Leviathan." Hinata explained. "He's also known as the Strongest Queen after defeating the Queen of Lucifer in battle."

"Knowledge of Sirzechs' True Form is not public record." Naruto smirked ferally. "The reason I know so much about it is because I didn't give him a choice but to use it when I fought him." "And I used mine, but they don't need to know that yet."

"I see. Then… just how much is worth one of your Mutated Pawns?" Illya asked warily.

"About as much as Hinata's Queen Piece." Naruto admitted.

"Which I have yet to use." Hinata provided.

"Then… why didn't you use it on Rider? That way you could have kept you Rooks." Medea pointed out.

"My eyes can see quite a bit about a person. Medusa-san would make a better Rook." Hinata momentarily activated her Byakugan. "Also, I already have someone in mind for my Queen Piece, though I have yet to attempt convincing it."

"It?" Artoria repeated with a frown.

"It's a dragon." Hinata smile mischievously.

"A-A Dragon?!" Rin yelled.

"We told we, right? As long as they're not a full god, they can be reincarnated into Devils." Sakura pointed out. "It would not be the first Dragon to become a Devil, not even the first Queen."

"Tannin holds that position." Naruto agreed.

"Tannin… as in… the one in the history books?" Rin asked faintly.

"Yep, he was formerly one of the Five Dragon Kings but he chose to become a devil to gain territory in the Underworld. You see, there is a type of fruit weaker dragons in this world need to eat to survive, and it's rather rare. In exchange for a territory where the Dragon Apples grew, he became the Queen of Mephisto Pheles." Sakura explained.

"Dragon Kings?" Artoria asked curiously.

"Yes. Fafnir the Gigantis Dragon; Midgardsormr the Sleeping Dragon; Vritra the Prison Dragon; Prison Dragon the Jade Dragon and Tiamat Chaos Karma Dragon." Naruto enumerated. "Amongst them, Tiamat is the strongest."

"And these are the strongest dragons?" EMIYA mused.

"No, they're only around the power of Ultimate-Class Devil, only Tiamat being on par with the Mao." Hinata shook her head. "Above them are the Heavenly Dragons and at the top of… well, everything…. are the Divine Dragons."

"Oh?" Medea frowned.

"The two Heavenly Dragons are Albion the Vanishing Dragon or White Dragon Emperor and Ddraig the Welsh Dragon or Red Dragon Emperor." Hinata replied.

"And they're strong?" Gil pressed.

"…Let's put it this way." Sakura chuckled nervously "During the Great War, the Three Factions got caught up in one of the fights between the Heavenly Dragons and they to work together to defeat them, and even so it was a near thing. This was when God and the Original Mao still lived."

"They're amongst the Top 10 Strongest Existences along with Sirzechs and Ajuka." Naruto nodded.

"And the Divine Dragons?" Artoria asked.

"They are the Strongest Existences." Naruto snorted. "Ophis, the Ouroboros Dragon and Infinite Dragon God is at the top of the list. Her power is literaly infinite. She could destroy the world with a snap of her fingers."

"That's encouraging." EMIYA snorted.

"Oh, it gets better." Naruto said dryly. "Great Red, the Apocalypse Dragon, True Red Dragon God Emperor, True Dragon, Dragon of Dreams and Dragon of Dragons is the other one. He's not even on the list, since there is really no comparison to him. Unlike the Heavenly Dragons who are evenly matched, Great Red is much stronger the Ophis. He's the dragon recorded in the Apocalypse, in the Bible."

"Now isn't that something." Gil smiled.

"How do we rank?" the Hound of Ulster frowned. "I mean, I know you said newly reincarnated devils start as Low-Class, but that's just status-wise, right? I'm asking in terms of power."

"Why don't we find a training ground and find out, shall we?" Naruto smirked.

Timeskip – Day of the Gremory-Phenex Ratting Game, Audience Hall

"What's this about again?" Medea asked absently as she sat down by her new King.

It had been a few days since they had awoken as reincarnated Devils rather than the Heroic Spirits they had passed out as. Even now, despite their overall acceptance, the opinions on the subject were diverse.

Cu Chulainn was pleased. His reasoning for being summoned in the Fuyuki Holy Grail War was to get some good fights out of worthy opponents. With his available timespan now extended from a couple weeks – which was how long Grail Wars tended to last – to a few centuries, if not millennia, he was pretty much ecstatic. Add the fact that the Age of the Gods had not ended meaning that there were plenty of powerful beings all over the place, many of them itching for a good fight to disperse some of the boredom of their immortal lives, and he would be willing to say he ended up in Heaven rather than Hell.

The King of Heroes, Gilgamesh, or Gil as he wanted to be called in his de-aged form, was of similar mind. Oh, the fact that he was now someone's servant / slave irked him something fierce, but the fact the Shikamaru essentially gave him free reign to do whatever he wanted as long as he didn't get in trouble, cause a war or cause paperwork to be directed to the Nara, mostly mitigated his irritation. Plus, despite the fact that human society was near identical to that of their former world, the supernatural side was much different and diverse which interested him greatly. The fact that he was now a devil, the opposite of the gods he loathed also helped.

EMIYA was pretty much ecstatic by the potential several millennia-long from being Alaya's butcher. Sure, being a devil – essentially an agent of evil – irked what was left of the 'Hero of Justice' part of him, but given the direction devil society was heading, although at a slow rate, was helping. Given the mentality of the Four Mao, he was hopeful for the future.

Medusa was content with her position. Her only desire when she was summoned was to be able to protect Sakura from ending up like the Gorgon did. She had failed, mostly, but with this new chance she was hopeful to make up for it. The fact that Sakura was now in the care of a man who was not only putting a lot of effort in healing Sakura's mind from her past abuses, but commanded the respect of the other three Shinobi Kings also helped quite a bit. As for being a devil, well that was a step up from monster, the way she saw things.

Heracles had been summoned with similar thoughts: protect Illya. With the girl now a devil thus cured of the short lifespan of a homunculus, he was quite content to remain at her side and continue protecting her, this time with his sanity intact. Given that he was part of the same Peerage, he was pretty much guaranteed to be around Illya. As for his new status as a devil, well he was pretty sure it will be less troublesome then being Zeus's bastard son.

Artoria was perhaps the most displeased with the situation. It was understandable, once she had explained her wish for the Grail to be able to change the choice of the Sword of Appointment in the hope of a better King being chose. Of course, the green-eyed blond did not expect the rant that followed from Naruto that covered everything between her being groomed from before she was even born for the position, what with Merlin infusing her with the Aspect of the Red Dragon, to the reason for her failure being that was too perfect as a king, so anyone else the sword may had chosen as more qualified – if it was even possible – would do an even worse job. Plus, if no better choice existed and she did not take the throne, Britain would remain leaderless which in those troubled times was all but certain ruin. The King of Knights had been convinced of the foolishness of wish even before Naruto got to explaining that without King Arthur there would be no Round Table, thus she would be denying the legends of her former subordinates. In comparison to the to the magnitude of the blunder her wish would have caused, becoming a devil under Sakura was trifle… though she was still adjusting to her new voluptuous form.

As for Medea, she was having the time of her life. Her wish was for reincarnation, another chance at life, after all, and becoming a devil with centuries or millennia to live was just bonus. Add the fact that he reputation as the Witch of Betrayal would be seen as a badge of honor in devil society rather than stigma, and she was more than happy with her new circumstances.

"You all wanted to see a Rating Game, remember?" Shikamaru pointed out. "The prime form of entertainment in the Underworld."

"Yes, but what's so special about this particular game?" Gil asked from his other side. "I doubt the Mao attend just any game as spectators." He nodded his head towards the red head of the Lucifer sitting a in the front row of the hall with a screen occupying the front wall, waiting for the match to be projected on it.

"For one, his younger sister is one of the players." Shikamaru replied. "Her father had the bright idea to engage her with one Riser Phenex when she was still a child, and she most certainly did not appreciate it when she found out years later. The fact that Riser is a shameless womanized that parades his women around did not help one bit. This game is to decide whether they actually go through with the marriage."

"So if she loses she'll be forced to marry that fellow?" Medea asked in distaste.

"Officially, anyway." Shikamaru smirked.

"Yes, I doubt the Lucifer will allow his sister to be forced into marriage. If would not be surprised if that Riser Phenex has a sudden change of mind after a chat with the Lucifer." Gil smirked.

"Or has an unfortunate accident?" Medea added with a similar smile.

"If Sirzechs doesn't do anything, Naruto will." Shikamaru added. "Rias Gremory is a friend of his and he won't let her become that guy's plaything."

"Good." Medea nodded. "What's the other reason you chose this Rating Game to bring us to?"

"Naruto personally trained Rias and he Peerage for a month." The Nara provided.

"Not just them. Me and Asia as well, remember?" Raynare spoke up as she walked up to them down the walkway.

"True. Raynare, these are Medea my Bishop and Gilgamesh my Queen. Everyone, this is Raynare, Hinata's Pawn." Shikamaru made the introductions.

"A pleasure to meet you." Raynare bowed her head respectfully. Hinata had already told her who the newly reincarnated devils were and she understood just how out of her league she was.

"Likewise." Medea smiled.

"So, how was training?" Shikamaru prompted.

"Hell." Raynare grimaced. "He essentially broke us, then put us back together with Sakura so he can break us again. Over and over, for three weeks."

"That's how Naruto trains." Shikamaru shrugs. "Always had, since thanks to his healing factor he could afford to. It's troublesome to the extreme, but it turned the dead last in the Academy into the strongest shinobi alive. It works."

"Oh, I'm not denying the results, that's for sure." Raynare smirked. "Thanks to his training, I've earned my second pair of wings and am well on my way to my third."

"I look forward when you can catch up to me, Raynare." Male voice came from behind her.

"Dohnaseek." Raynare frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

In response, the fedora-wearing man spread his wings, all three pairs of them.

"W-What? How?" Raynare demanded in shock.

"I originally started off with three pairs of wings when I was an Angel, but after I Fell I was forced to use Saving Grace twice." Dohnaseek explained. "Becoming a devil seems to have healed the damage."

"Saving Grace?" Gil asked curiously. He had been introduced to the two Pawns of the Nara, but did not know much of the former Fallen's background.

"It's a technique Azazel came up with." Dohnaseek shrugged. "In exchange for sacrificing a pair of wings, a Fallen Angel can regenerate from an otherwise lethal injury. The problem is that once you use it once, you can never increase in power. My growth was stunted. Then I lost even more power when I had to use it again. It basically turned me into a grunt since, but it was worth it."

"Oh?" Medea raised an eyebrow.

"Not many can get away from Uriel when he gets fired up." Dohnaseek said smugly. "That I got away with valuable information made it even sweeter."

"Excuse me." A female spoke up and they turned their eyes to Artoria. "Have you seen Sakura and Asia?"

"They headed to the medical area to help with the injured from the game." Shikamaru provided.

"Already? Hm, I guess I shall speak with them later." Artoria nodded and returned to her seat.

"Still can't get over the fact that King Arthur is a girl." Raynare muttered.

"If that's your reaction, imagine how Guinevere must have felt." Dohnaseek quipped, earning snorts of amusement from them all.

In the front row, Serafall was sitting between Naruto and Sirzechs, the blond having Hinata on his other side followed by Kurama and the rest of his Peerage bar Sakura Matou, while Hinata's Peerage was seated behind them. The Lucifer's Peerage was seated on their King's left bar Grayfia who was acting as the commentator, with Sakura's Peerage behind them besides Hinata's.

"So, how do you think Rias will do?" Sirzechs asked anxiously. "Should I prepare… countermeasures?" he asked in an undertone.

"Relax, Sirzechs-chan." Serafall shot back in amusement. "You should have more faith in Rias-chan. Right, Naru-kun?"

"Yeah, she has this in the bag." Naruto agreed. "The only real question is how many body bags we'll need for Riser's Peerage."

"You're exaggerating… right?" Sirzechs frowned.

"Yuuto has Holy Swords. Akeno has Holy Lightning. Koneko has Senjutsu. Kalawarner and Mittelt have Light Spears. And Rias can compress quite a bit of Power of Destruction in just one hit." Naruto enumerated. "Any one of them my deal more damage than the medics can treat before Riser's Pieces expire."

"If Sakura and Asia were not there to help." Hinata chided. "We've taught them to aim to maim and disable rather than kill. The only one who really has a risk of dying is Riser since due to his Immortality they can't afford to hold back on him."

"What about Ravel? She's a Phenex also." Sirzechs pointed out, a bit more relaxed.

"Riser is the real target. One of them can keep Ravel busy while they take out her brother." Kurama pointed out.

"Look, it's starting!" Naruto pointed out as the bases of the two Peerages were projected onto the screen as Grayfia announced the beginning of the Rating game.

Rating Game Dimension

As soon as Rias and her five Peerage members teleported in what looked like a copy of the Occult Research Club Room, they exchanged glances.

"Is he really this arrogant? Or just stupid?" Mittelt asked nonplused even as Grayfia announced in the background that Riser's base was the Student Council Room.

"He was probably still thinking on what Naruto told him when we last saw him. About how it would reflect on his reputation, pushing the marriage forward by at least five years." Rias shrugged. "Either way, I'm not going to refuse an advantage he gave to us on a silver platter. Besides, given that he's also had a month to potentially become familiar with Kuoh Academy and further train his Peerage, it's not like he gave us much of a handicap in the first place, if you look at it objectively."

"True." Kiba agreed.

"You all know the plan. Anything that you need to point out now that we know the terrain?" Rias inquired only to receive negative answers. "Then go." She announced as soon as Grayfia announced the start of the match and within seconds she was the only one left in the building.

While Kiba, Kalawarner and Mittelt headed into the forest around the building the set up some traps before advancing further and Akeno took to the sky to keep a look out for enemies, Koneko advanced towards the enemy base, heading straight into the Gym where she came face to face with Riser's Rook Xuelan and his Pawns Mira, Ile and Nel.

As Xuelan struck a pose and spoke about how they were going to take her out, Koneko unleashed her feline features and tapped into her inborn agility to move at high speed and appear within her fellow Rook's guard and shatter at least half of her ribs while breaking the rest before moving to do the same with the momentarily stunned Pawns even as Xuelan was retired to the medical room via teleportation.

The fight was over within seconds, the Pawns being no more trouble than the Rook, and she was left alone within the Gym, with Grayfia announcing the defeat of the four Pieces. She quickly pulled out a handful of explosive talismans Akeno had given her and stuck them on the support pillars and walls before heading out the way she came.

Sure enough, she sensed a couple enter the Gym after she had left and once she had gained enough distance, she triggered the explosions to drop the building on them, taking out the Pawns Ni and Li, according to Grayfia's announcement.

Audience Hall

"That's my Shirone-chan!" Kuroka cheered as they watched Koneko walk away from the collapsed and burning building.

"Very impressive speed. If I didn't know better, I would have thought her to be a Knight rather than a Rook." Souji Okita, Sirzechs' Knight, praised.

"Indeed, she's about as fast as I remember young Kiba being." McGregor Mathews, Sirzechs' Bishop added.

"You haven't seen anything yet." Naruto chuckled. "That's what she should have already been capable off before had she not been suppressing her nature. She hasn't pushed herself yet."

"Well, she may have just been given the opportunity." Serafall commented even as they watched Koneko backflip a few times to avoid an explosion.

Rating Game Dimension

"Not bad, little girl. I didn't expect you to dodge that one." Yubelluna, Riser's Bomb Queen, commented as she floated above, smirking tauntingly at Koneko. "But that was just… wait, where you going?!" she demanded in shock and irritation as Koneko turner her back to her and proceeded to walk away.

"You're not my punching bag. Akeno called dibs." The Nekoshou replied calmly as she kept walking.

"Wha…?!" Yubelluna began only to turn as she sensed something approaching.

It was too late as a dive-bombing Akeno socked her in the face and sent her crashing into the ground. Rather than remain in place and brag as Yubelluna had done, Akeno descended to the ground a few feet away from her where she put her hands together to form a handful of chirping white lightning… that moments later spread over Yubelluna and everything within five-meter radius of her, trapping the Bomb Queen in a cage of Holy Lightning where she proceeded to scream in agony.

The lightning was not particularly strong – in fact, it was barely as intense as a beginner's spell – but the Light element in it more than made up for the lack of power with efficiency and potency, slowly cooking Yubelluna over as she could do nothing but endure it, the first touch having rendered her unable to move. And at the source of the torturous spell was Akeno, watching the purple-haired woman scream in agony with a flushed look on her face, licking her lips in delight. It was only a couple minutes later that Yubelluna was blissfully able to pass out and be teleported away leaving behind Akeno who was shuddering in pleasure.

Audience Hall

"Well… now I know why Grayfia-chan gets along so well with Akeno-chan." Serafall commented.

"Birds of feather, flock together." Naruto nodded in agreement.

"From what my investigations had managed to find out, Akeno takes after her mother." Sirzechs twitched.

Rating Game Dimension

While Akeno was having fun torturing Yubelluna, Koneko had reached the track field where Kiba, Kalawarner and Mittelt had engaged the rest of Riser's Peerege: the Pawns Marion and Bürent, the Knights Siris and Karlamine, the Rook Isabela and the Bishop Ravel Phenex, the other Bishop Mihae and the Pawn Shuriya having already been defeated by Kiba and Mittelt respectively.

"You're late." Mittelt called out as she dodged out of the way of the Zweihänder Siris swung at her.

"Got held back by the Bomb Queen. Akeno's playing with her now." Koneko replied as she appeared within the Knight's guard with a show of speed beyond what she had displayed before and shattered her lower ribs before kicking out and breaking one of her legs and punching a shoulder out of its joint for safe measure when the Knight was not deemed injured enough to be removed from the game.

"It seems like we've been slacking off then." Kiba remarked pleasantly as he dismissed his demonic sword and materialized a long holy sword in each hand before he suddenly disappeared.

A couple seconds later, Karlamine, Marion and Bürent collapsed screaming in agony and were teleported away as soon as it was revealed that they had all been bisected at the waist, leaving only Isabela and Ravel on the field.

This Phenex Rook seemed a bit more competent then the other one Koneko had faced given that she had managed to mostly dodge Kiba's attack, leaving her only with a deep cut in her side, but the pain from the holy sword still paralyzed her enough for Kalawarner to close in and finish the job with a light element coated punch to the face.

"And then there was one." Mittelt commented as she advanced on Ravel even as the announcement of Yubelluna's elimination was heard.

"D-Don't look down on me! I may be younger then Riser, but I'm still a Phenex!" Ravel declared slightly nervously even as she spread her flaming wings and flared her power.

"Oh, we know that." Kiba said pleasantly. "We're not even going to bother fighting you." He said as he appeared a meter behind Ravel, causing her to turn sharply.

It was too late, however, as he had already pressed his hand onto the ground causing several massive holy blades to erupt from the ground around the Bishop, trapping her in a pyramid o holy swords.

Then, to top it all off, Kalawarner and Mittelt created several light chains which they wrapped around the cage, making it even more dangerous for the blonde to attempt escape.

"We'd love to stay and chat, but we need to go help our King take out your brother." Yuuto told her in the same pleasant tone that made her warry on principle before all the Gremory devils spread their wings and took to the sky.

As she bitterly watched them fly away, Ravel could only focus on one thing other than her own situation and the impeding threat to her brother: the Gremory Rook and Knight each had two pairs of wings.

Audience Hall

"Well, that's certainly a way to deal with young Ravel." Sirzechs nodded in approval. "For a moment, I thought they would use the same method Akeno did on Yubelluna."

"It was not something they would have shied for if necessary." Naruto remarked.

"But Rias did some research on Ravel and discovered she's a nice girl unlike her pompous brother. So, they decided to go easy on her." Hinata explained.

"I for one am more interested in how things will go down with Riser himself. Looks like he's made his appearance before Rias-chan." Serafall pointed out as the two kings appeared on screen.

Rating Game Dimension

"So, Riser, have you come to surrender?" Rias taunted as she stood across from Riser on the roof of the building.

"I will admit that your servants have improved more than I expected, but don't think it is enough to defeat an immortal Phenex!" Riser called out arrogantly as he unleashed his three pairs of burning wings and flared his power.

"Is that so?" Rias began as she casually held he hand out and began forming a large Rasengan of Power of Destruction in it while she used her other hand to cast an illusion to make her attack look like her regular handfuls of Power of Destruction she used to throw at opponents. "You think you can win alone? By now my Peerage has eliminated all you Pieces and has probable rendered Ravel unable to help you in some way."

"No matter. All I need to do is take you down here." Riser pointed out smugly. "By the time they arrive to aid you, I will have won."

"You think, so, eh?" Rias smirked as she caught something at the edge of her vision and quickly conjured a chunk of Power of Destruction in her empty hand and lobbed it at Riser's face, destroying his head and forcing him to take a step back in surprise but without any permanent damage as he regenerated within moments.

"What…." Riser managed to say before his body and the entire roof caved in when Koneko landed a full-powered double-handed hammer blow on the back of his neck before jumping away from the massive crater.

Not a moment too soon as Riser erupted in flames as his body was rejuvenated… just in time for him to scream in agony as holy blades erupted from under him, impaling his arms and legs and thus trapping him in his doubled over position.

His attempts at burning away the offending weapons were distracted by a rain of small but excruciatingly painful arrows of light followed by chains of light snaking their way around his body to increase his suffering.

As he raised his head to glared defiantly as he forced himself to stop screaming, he paled at the sight of a large sphere, larger than a basketball, made of spinning strands of Power of Destruction held in the hand of Rias Gremory that gave him a satisfied look.

"Checkmate." Rias uttered as she threw the Rasengan on top of Riser's back where it quickly destroyed his chest but remained there spinning and eroding at the regenerating body for the next thirty seconds before Riser almost collapsed into unconsciousness from the pain and the strain of the continuous regeneration when he was teleported to the medical bay, saving his life, at which point Rias let go of her hold on the Rasengan's form, allowing it to explode and take out the majority of the building with it.

"Riser Phenex had been retired. The winner of this Rating Game is Rias Gremory." Grayfia announced and seconds later the remaining players were teleported out of that artificial dimension.

A.N.: …and the last one, for now. Surprising, I know. Consider it an apology for not updating in a while… and an apology in advance for not knowing when the next update may be either.