I release a deep breath and try to keep my nervousness down.
"Are you nervous, dear?"
"Just a little bit, mother."
"There is nothing wrong with being nervous in a time like this. I am also nervous when I fight in the civil war. I guess I can't compare it with your situation, but you know what I mean."
"I know, mother. Don't worry."
"Good. Also, I know you could do it. You are my son, after all."
I hug my mother as she kisses my forehead.
"Go and beat them, my son. Make the Phenex Clan proud. Make me proud."
"I will."
"Good."
I release my mother and take another deep breath. Today is the day—the day where I will fight four young masters from the 72 pillars. I walk away from my room with my mother and see my peerage member already waiting for me at the end of the corridor.
"Let's do this."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|3rd POV|
Hardius Phenex looks at the area with a frown on his face. Even though he already tested all of Riser's peerages and approved them, he was still nervous about the outcome. There is also another matter.
Hardius looks at the floating orb in the arena. It was a camera. The nobles from Paimon, Beleth, Zepar, and Sallos decide to broadcast this fight to the world.
They decide that it was time to humiliate the Phenex clan after knowing that Riser is the one fighting their young master. They thought he would be an easy target given how young Riser is and how his peerage consists of reincarnated humans.
Just how wrong they are.
Hardius snaps from his thoughts when he hears the announcer say:
"Welcome to the Rating Game! First thing first! Let me introduce myself. My name is Valerie Furfur! And I will be your MC for today's event!"
The viewer began to cheer when Valerie finished her introduction. Valerie is rather popular in the underworld. She is an idol, after all. If the kid watches Miracle☆Levia-tan, then the teenager and late teenager will watch Valerie Furfur's concert.
"Let me introduce you to today's participants!"
The first one coming to the arena is the challenger.
"The challenger is Karnelly Zepar and his peerage member."
Karnelly Zepar looks like a thirty years old man. He has dark hair and red eyes that allure any woman that meets his eyes. He is wearing clothes that look like a uniform being used by the French Revolutionary army. However, his uniform consists of red and black instead of a blue, red, and white color scheme.
The Zepar clan is a Duke house, but their prestige plummeted because half of their members decided to side with the old satan faction. By marrying the sister to the current satan, their prestige will be soaring high.
That is why they offer a marriage contract to the Gremory Clan, but when they hear that the lord of the Gremory clan decides to choose Riser Phenex over them, they decide to move and challenge the six years old Riser.
The other clans have their own reason to challenge Riser, but the Zepar clan wants to get their past prestige.
Valerie then begins to introduce Karnelly's peerage, and when she finishes, she begins to introduce Riser and his peerage.
"And the one accepting the challenge is Riser Phenex and his peerage member!"
Riser walked toward the arena. When he walks to the arena, he is greeted by silence instead of applause like his opponent. However, they did not do it because they hate him. No. They are shocked. They never see a little boy join a Rating Game.
The people that watch using the underworld streaming network also think the same.
"Riser has two bishops and four pawns. His bishops are called Hermione Granger and Caster!"
Hermione and Caster walk toward Riser when their name is called. Hermione wearing her battle gear consisted of leather armor made of Basilisk skin bought from the Gremory territory and holding a long staff with a massive jewel on the end of the staff.
Caster is wearing her usual clothes. Her caster clothes cover up her face from anyone. She has already summoned her staff and is ready to use it.
"Sadly, Riser Phenex did not have Queen, Rooks, and Knights but he had a full member of Pawns. His first pawn is Shirou Emiya, worth one pawn."
Shirou walks inside the arena, and he is wearing tight black leather armor and black-red pants. He is also wearing a white coat around his shoulders that only covers his sleeves. He looks like Senji Muramasa in his second stage from FGO.
"The second one is Sakura Matou, worth two pawns."
Sakura walks inside the arena and stands next to Shirou. She is wearing an outfit that looks like Rider, her servant in the Grail War. However, instead of wearing a short one-piece shirt and legging, Sakura wears a black and purple enchanted shirt and tight pants of the same color. She also holds a staff in her hand.
"The next one is Illyasviel von Einzbern, worth three pawns"
Illya walks inside the arena with a smile on her face. She is wearing her usual clothes. She wears a collared, purple long-sleeved shirt with a light purple scarf to match, a long white skirt, and purple boots.
"Lastly, Rin Tohsaka. She is worth two pawns."
Lastly, it was Rin Tohsaka who walked inside the arena. Like Illya, she is wearing her usual clothes. However, instead of wearing a black skirt, she is wearing tight pants. On her belt is a beautiful dagger made of jewels.
This is the Jeweled Sword of Zelretch, one of the few items she has inside her mansion alongside the Tohsaka Azoth Sword and Zelretch Magical Girl Wand called Ruby.
There is also a small pouch tied on her belt filled with many kinds of jewelry ready to be used.
"With the introduction done, let us begin the fight! For today's game, it was called one last stand! One last stand is a game where both sides send their peerage members from the bottom to the top. From Pawn to the Queen with the king as the last one to participate. The last member that still stands is the winner. The winner of each fight needs to fight again. Don't worry they will get five minutes rest."
Hardius smirks when he hears the game his son will be playing. He has already personally tested all of them, and he can say that all of Riser's peerage members are great one-on-one fighters.
"You look happy, lord Phenex."
Hardius looks to the side and sees one of the Satan sit next to him.
"You could say that. My son is fortunate today to have the Last One Standing game."
"Are you really confident with your son's peerage?"
"Yes. I know they will win this fight."
"Can I ask the reason why you are so confident?"
Hardius smiled a little before saying.
"One of them defeated me in a duel."
"What? Are you serious?"
"Yes."
Ajuka looks at the people in the arena and begins to think. Hardius is not among the ten most powerful beings in the world, but he is a powerful man. This is the man that fought Sariel to a standstill.
He knew that Hardius was holding back, but even then, it was an impressive achievement.
Ajuka looks at all Riser's peerage while calculating which one successfully defeated Hardius in a duel. After a few seconds, he knew the answer.
"Is it Caster?"
"Heh. How do you know it?"
"Her reserve is big. Two times the size of your son, and your son has the reserve of an ultimate class devil. Secondly, she has all kinds of magical trinkets around her body. Her clothes alone have already been modified to reduce a great amount of attack, be it physical or magical. Lastly, she has a magic circle constantly activated around her arms, ready to be used. By the look of it, it was a teleportation spell. That means she is an opponent that is hard to hit. There is also her staff. That thing can boost her attack by much. I don't know how much, but I think it can boost three times the original. How close am I?"
Hardius looks at Ajuka with a surprised expression before chuckling.
"As expected from the one of the strongest Satan. You can see it within a few seconds. Yes, you are right. It was Caster who defeated me. She is tough to pin down as her teleportation is really fast. However, there is a weakness that I can exploit when I fight her, but I cannot tell you about it, sorry."
"Don't worry about it. I understand."
While he said that, Hardius knew that Ajuka would know about that weakness sooner or later. That's just how genius works.
"Ding! Ding! Ding! The planning time is over! Now please walk forward both fighters. Shirou Emiya and Garion Callus!"
