The group consisting of Rias, Gasper, Sona, and Issei stayed around and talked a little bit just trying to help get Gasper more out of his shell and get a game plan in place. Thankfully for Issei who still needed to sleep was that Gasper was a Dhampir so was able to walk and do stuff during the daytime. Issei suggested Gasper just to get the ball rolling on trying to get him out more and comfortable while also working on a way to get him acquainted with the three peerages members within Kuoh.
"I have a request for you that will help us get started if you're willing to help me." He started getting a shaky nod from the boy.
"I would like you to start by working on being outside of your room during the day even if it's just here in the ORC building and try and get it to where you are ok being outside of it for at least two hours a day. You can keep your box with you and climb in it if you need some time but I want to get you where you don't need it before we get into the training. I'll make sure and stop by when I can and chat for a bit."
Gasper for his part seemed to be on the brink of going back to his room but also wanting to try and learn from Issei. "I-I'll try sempai. But do you think this will help?"
"I think it will if you are willing for it to. I know it won't be an easy process but we'll do this together."
Gasper nodded at his words hoping that Issei would be able to help him get out more as he felt the support he was giving him and he decided to give it his best, as Issei decided to call it a night and start tomorrow.
"If you want to try it tonight, especially since people won't be around once we leave, go ahead but I would personally suggest waiting till tomorrow to start as I'm ready to call it a night." He said getting a nod from everyone as they stood up and said goodnight.
Scene Skip
The next week went by normally for the group as Gasper slowly but surely worked on staying outside his room like Issei asked him.
Issei for his part to help Gasper came by every day during lunch break and after school just to talk to the boy and learn more about him while also bringing the members of the three peerages who hadn't met him by, one by one, so he could get to know them a little bit and get more out of his shell, though it did happen sometimes where he accidentally activated his powers, it wasn't an issue as Issei had made sure to warn the person he had with him what to expect and not get upset at the boy if it did happen and the meetings did help the boy out some more getting out of his shell. He also started working on gathering rubber balls that would help with the next part of his training plan.
After the fourth day of the week, Gasper had finally worked up the courage to stay out of his room like Issei requested but even took it farther and was able to do it for up to five hours without his box. Rias was surprised to see him outside his room and without his box not even a week since they started working with him. He had started to when he got scared or anything that might have required him to go in his box just close his eyes and take a breath and then go on from there. Rias had happened to be nearby one time when he almost had an attack and watched as he was able to calm himself down and not cause his powers to go off by just closing his eyes and breathing slowly. It surprised her so much, she started thinking of having a talk with her father after this whole mess was over about some things.
Once he told Issei, they moved onto the next bit of training. Using the balls he had procured while waiting on Gasper to gain more courage, Issei had him stand right next to a tree while Issei threw the balls at him trying to get him to stop the balls with his powers while also slowly continuing to bring in the groups peerage members just to help him more get used to people which seemed to help some. They used this method until it seemed like they hit the limit of how much they could help Gasper out at controlling his Gear twelve percent of the time, so bumped it up a notch.
The next step of the training had Gasper standing closer to where Issei was throwing the balls to hopefully get him to where he would activate his gear which seemed to work as they were able to get it up to where he could control it sixty percent of the time before it seemed like they had hit his limit with this method. With this having seemed to reached the best they could get with, they got to training with the rest of Rias's group to get ready for the upcoming Game.
While they weren't able to learn what exact type of ground it was going to be on besides being designed around Kuoh Academy and probably a normal match against peerages, Issei did learn of a couple of things; this would be Rias's first Rating Game, even if it technically wasn't an official one there was a chance it would be broadcast, and that there was a recently added addition to the games that were known as Promotion Squares and could allow Pawns to promote without going all the way to the enemies base.
Even though they had no proof of it being in the game, Issei was soon putting plans in place in case it was. The whole of Rias's peerage had learned early on that he was the best strategist out of the group and after hearing of what plans he was able to come up with, they were happy for it. After Issei and Rias had worked out their differences, him and the rest of the ORC had slowly worked on their relationship with him too, and was on well on its way to being good friends.
With a plan in place for the upcoming Rating Game, the group was ready to go when the time came. The day before the Rating Game, Sona traded Issei to Rias which happened right as Riser came by to see if Rias had changed her mind, though was surprised to see them making the trade and even more so when he learned why they were able to, though he did say he would have allowed Issei to fight in the match for Rias without going this route, most of the group that happened to be in the ORC at the time figured that knew anything about Riser figured it might have been due to Tiamat being in the room too in her human form knowing how he was.
Scene Skip
Hoping to keep things from getting too hectic for his son, Sirzechs had been able to talk his parents and the Phenex family into not broadcasting the Game outside of wherever anyone from the two families or the peerages cleared to watch it might be watching from as long as they could record the game and play it at later dates.
The only ones outside of the heads of the families and Sirzechs were Issei's peerage, Tiamat, and Sona with her Queen. Grayfia for her part was the announcer for the game and after getting the game going, moved to sit by her husband to watch her son in action.
Outside of Sirzechs and Sona, no one else knew that Gasper had been released and would be a part of this Game, and most hoped or figured he would use the powers he had as the son of Sirzechs and Grayfia from the beginning. The design for the Game was an exact replica of Kuoh Academy with Rias's base being the ORC while Riser was stationed inside the Student Council Office.
What nobody expected to happen though was for Matsuda and Motohoma to move out first towards the gym. While the two had gotten a lot stronger from all the training they had gone through, most of the adults figured they were just a distraction at best, but they were more surprised when Akeno popped out of the ORC and started sending bolts of lightning off towards Matsuda who then used his Sacred Gear to send the power in through the door to the gym to Motohoma who had left the gym door open when he went inside who then used the power-up from the lightning to be able to fight on par with the Pawns that were sent to secure the gym.
After sending five blasts of lightning towards the two, Matsuda fell back while Akeno moved to fly over the gym to watch for anyone else moving into position at the gym. Right as she got into position Motohoma was able to take down the four Pawns he was facing after five minutes with Grayfia announcing, "[Riser Phenex four Pawns retired.]" Not long after before Kiba rushed out to help make sure his teammate gets back to base safely and after dropping him off at the ORC moved onto the forest as Akeno blew up the gym, taking it away from anyone being able to use it again.
Meanwhile: VIP Room
Watching the game in the VIP room, Sona was slowly beginning to understand what the plan had to be for the game since she was in the room when it was first brought up. She figured that they were trying to push for time for Issei to gain enough boosts and put his plan into motion, something that he hadn't explained to anyone as far as she knew as he wanted to make it a surprise to everyone, though he did make sure to warn there was a chance that Riser would be able to get out of it.
As Kiba moved onto the forest she looked over to the adults and could tell most were wondering what was going on and didn't know what she knew so she decided to see what would happen next as Kiba came across the next batch of enemies.
Back to the Game
As Kiba started fighting the next group of pieces, two Knights, and the rest of the Pawns, Sirzechs started to notice something in the movements of Riser's pieces. It was subtle but he could tell that most of the hits that should have been hitting Kiba weren't so started to realize that Gasper had to be helping him out by slowing down the reaction times of Riser's pieces.
Knowing that Gasper could turn into bats, he started looking around the area they were fighting in and happened to come across a bat just off to the side of the fight but close enough he could use his Gear to help his team out, and Sirzechs had to give his son credit figuring he was the one that came up with the idea.
He could also tell though that Gasper couldn't control his powers all the way as some of the attacks that the Pawns were throwing still did some damage or didn't slow down as much or Kiba's attacks weren't as strong sometimes, though he was able to beat the group after twelve minutes passed. "[Riser Phenex four Pawns, two Knights retired.]"
By this point, Riser was starting to get understandably furious at how little his peerage had been able to do so sent out the rest of his peerage. Right after he gave the order, his sister Ravel requested permission to go and watch the fight, which after a few seconds of consideration he agreed but ordered her not to enter conflict while he ordered his Queen to protect Ravel, with the group reaching Kiba before he could fall back any.
Kiba for his part signaled to Gasper to not help anymore and preserve his strength, both because Kiba was tired and knew he couldn't deal with this group easily, even with help, as well as he wanted to keep Gasper as help for the rest of the time before Issei could move, as he did his best to fend off the two Rooks and Bishop who were attacking him, though right as he was about to go down, Matsuda and Motohoma showed up to give the group some more time as they weren't quite to where Issei could move. "Didn't think we'd let you have all the fun did you?" Matsuda said as he helped push the group back while making Ravel get annoyed at what was happening.
"Hurry up girls or Riser's gonna be pissed at how long this is taking." She said not happy how long things have been taking before getting a 'Yes Ravel!' from the girls who upped the ante but it still took them five minutes to finish off the three.
"[Rias Gremory 2 Pawns 1 Knight retired.]" Grayfia said starting to get a little worried for her sister in law's chances in winning right as Lord Phenex had a comment for Sirzechs that had him smiling to the confusion of the Phenex Head.
"Well, it looks like this fight might be over if your sister and older son don't come out and fight soon. Her peerage has done well so far but I don't think it will be enough."
"Normally I would agree with you, but believe me when I say this fight hasn't truly started." He said getting a confused look from Lord Phenex. "It took me a bit, but I finally figured out what my son is doing. Let's just say that he has a way to gain power over time and the peerage is giving him that to prepare for the final fight."
"Well let's just hope it's an interesting one." Lord Phenex said as he turned back to the battle wondering what Issei had in store for the fight, right as Akeno entered the fray to continue the battle and was able to go toe to toe with Yubelluna, who was Riser's second strongest behind him.
Ravel was stunned at how far Akeno was able to go in the fight as well as even able to dodge Yubelluna's powerful blasts of magic while also whittling down the Rooks and Bishop she was facing and seemingly taunting them before taking those three down. "[Riser Phenex 2 Rooks, 1 Bishop retired.]" Before going after Yubelluna herself always trying to keep her on her toes without taking her out.
It wasn't until Ravel realized that she had just been standing there and was preparing to step in and help with the fight that Akeno paused the fight to ask a question. "Do either of you know how long this game has been going on for?" She asked getting a stunned look from the two. "What? It's an important question."
Ravel could only huff at the lull and idiotic question. "I have to admit your team has put up a valiant effort since it's taken us thirty minutes just to get this far, but it will all end soon." She said before she noticed the smirk coming from Akeno.
"Thirty minutes you say? Then there is no point in finishing this battle. Good job Gasper, your job's done for now." Surprising the other two as they didn't know who she was talking to as Akeno stood down from the fight, knowing that the main fight was about to start.
"Who's Gasper?" Yubelluna said as Gasper flew off right in front of the group headed back to the ORC building, while Akeno smiled as she could feel Issei and Rias finally making their move. Akeno for her part flew off towards the Student Council room to watch the next scene unfold.
When Issei and Rias made it to where Riser's base was they could see him lounging in one of the chairs in the room not even caring that they were near him as Issei nodded to Rias and stepped back as she built up her power of destruction to destroy the building around him which finally made him move. "Well guess it's time to finish this battle." Riser said as he finally moved, pushing the rubble off of him as Issei moved forwards taking Rias's place.
"Your right and I have just the move to do it too." He said as he let his ice magic flow out of him in a wide circle with a magic circle popping up underneath him. Right after the circle popped up, everyone nearby could feel the temperature immediately drop around Issei and Riser, while Riser tried to light his flames to keep himself warm but even he could tell they weren't doing much to help. He couldn't also lose the feeling of wondering how the boy had gotten this strong, strong enough for chills to travel down his spine.
"You should feel honored. I've had this attack in the back of my head for a while but this is the first time it will be used. Absolute Zero: Frozen Wasteland." While his magical powers weren't enough yet to be considered where he could reach absolute zero temperatures, he knew it was a good chance in the future he could with both his ancestry and the powers he got through DDraig.
Sona could only smile as she caught on to his plans for the first time and knew that this was the move he'd been saving. "Issei's about to win this game."
"Surely you are joking. There's no way he could get around Riser's instant regeneration."
"Normally you would be right, though knowing Issei he would figure out a way somehow, but that isn't the only way to force someone to retire. Look around the two. Issei's generating cold enough temperatures in that area for ice to start forming. If he can keep it up long enough he should be able to freeze even Riser." She said, getting stunned looks from everyone in the room as they realized what she was saying.
"Knocking him out by freezing him… if he can do that, I'll have massively underestimated your son Sirzechs, especially since he only recently has gotten his devil's heritage back."
"Your right, but I knew he would find some way to win this match, and I'm sure this was his plan all along. Now just to see if he has enough power built up to freeze Riser altogether or if he'll be able to wiggle out of it." Sirzechs replied, amazed at what his son was doing but happy all the same as the group continued to watch and see what happened.
Thanks for the chapter
Traning for Operation: McDonalds Frozen Meat