As Basara sat in the classroom devoid of any students while waiting for the start of the fight between him and Rias, Basara thought back to his discussion with Ddraig.

It has now been one week since then but Basara still couldn’t use Balance Break but there was nothing he could do about that.

For normal Sacred gear users, the main problem when trying to reach a Balance break was the limit of the physical body or a simple lack of talent.

For Basara though, the difference was in a totally different zone. In terms of body, he had the strongest body when compared to all previous hosts Ddraig ever had and in terms of talents, he was so high above it was pointless to compare.

The problem though was his mindset.

Basara had made big progress and managed to get over most of his self-loathing. He had determination in spades and was more courageous than anyone.

All he lacked was a spark. Something that could lit up all his preparation and bring a new little light to his heart.

‘What do I need?’ 

[Stop worrying yourself. Aside from BxB, you already reached a new threshold in your understanding of Boosted gear and all it could do. Do not waste your time in pointless self-recriminations.]

Basara twitched a little but nodded. {You are right. Whining isn’t the way.}

Ddraig was many things and in fact a rather good teacher. But there was a limit to what he could do. After all. All the power of Boosted were just the natural abilities he had when Alive.

It was like asking him to explain how to breathe.

Thankfully, while he didn’t reach BxB, he did reach obtain a greater level of mastery and unlocked new skills.

[You are truly a monster. I wouldn’t have thought you could master those powers so fast.]

Basara chuckled, the Boosted Gear in its base form had three main power [1].

Boost. Which allows him to increase massively his demonic energy to the very limit his body could support.

Transfer. Which as the name said allowed him to transfer the energy he increased to other people. 

Penetrate. A rather insidiuous ability that allowed Basara to bypass most if not all defense be it magical or physical and attack directly the body of his oppenent. 

Finally, Flame Blaze. As the name indicated, the ability to wield and use flame.

Ddraig wasn’t surprised about Basara mastering Transfer. After all, alongside Boost, those two were the most basic abilities. 

The last two though, were very different. 

Penetrate should have only be unlockable after Basara mastered the Scale Mail, which was the name of Boosted Gear Balance breaker. It should have been impossible for Basara to acess it but he did.

This proved again that Ddraig was right. Basara had the talent and skills necessary to reach the Balance Breaker but was unable to because of his mindset. Just wishing to become stronger wasn’t enough. It needed to be an all encompassing desire that could burn you if not controlled.

Only such a desire could affect the world and bring out the bug in the system that was Balance Breaker.

As for Flame Blaze. While it seemed to be the most useless out of the four, Ddraig knew that this was the skill necessary to reach another ability he sealed while fighting against his Nemesis when he was still alive.

It was the [Blazing Inferno of Scorching Flames]. His most powerful skill. One that brought forth eternal flame hot enough to burn even gods. Ddraig debated briefly informing Basara about this technique but finally opted not to.

The Blazing inferno was different from all the others skills. If he did not allow it, no one could access it. No matter how talented. Ddraig knew that Basara still had some deep apprehension about Boosted Gear because of the possible synergy with Basara’s Banishing Shift.

How would the boy react if he learned that the Boosted Gear could give birth to a skill nearly as dangerous? 

‘I really got a troublesome partner’

Ddraig scoffed jokingly but liked the title.

Partner.

None of the previous wielders of Boosted were his Partners. They were nothing more than passing people he knew would die sooner or later. Sometimes he didn’t even bother waking up to observe them.

“Basara, sorry to make you wait. Are you ready?”

The one who opened the door of the classroom was none other than Maria with her usual perky smile.

“How are you?”

“Hehe, good I guess? Rias-sama asked me to come and bring you to the battlefield. I guess she wanted a slightly neutral party to act in her stead.”

Maria chuckled, she was still waiting for the moment when Basara would reveal his ancestry. It would be so fun. 

Furthermore, she also wished to see how the fight would proceed. While she was sure of Basara victory, she also hoped that Rias could win. 

After all, at the end of the day she did not know much about Basara and even though she liked laughing with him, the two of them were not that close really.

At least…Not currently. A reality she would do her best to change once this fight ended. 

 

“I see. Well, I am ready. So shall we go?”

“Mhm. So take this.”

Saying so she handed him a coin engraved with the Gremory’s Isignia. 

“Once the time comes, you guys will be teleported to an alternate space specially created for this occasion. Sona-sama and the other member of her peerage will act as judges and arbiters to avoid all manner of cheating. By the way… This fight will also be broadcasted to the Gremory main house directly.”

Basara's fist clenched, “I take it that those of Gremory know my identity?”

“I think so. But even if they don’t, the moment you use Gravity magic I am sure they will.”

Saying so Maria showed a serious expression, “All of this might seems a little silly to you, but you must understand. For devils, Rating games are a way of life. A tradition that must be respected. Any engagement made through Rating game are as binding if not more than a contract written contract. Whatever the outcome, you won’t be able to escape the result.”

Saying so, her usual joking smile came back and she began to walk away, 

“Good luck. Onii-san.”

—-

Meanwhile, on Rias’ side, the tension was at an all-time high. Even though they were fighting but one opponent, they knew that they couldn’t underestimate him. 

“Everyone, even though we are only facing one opponent, we should see this fight as a true rating game a preparation before the fight against Riser. I am sorry that I wasn’t able to bring out the best of your strength until now, but let’s give our best.”

All the people present nodded. In the end, Rias decided to not bring Gasper to this match. She knew about his crippling fear and didn’t want to put him in such a stressful situation. 

Still, she had shared the broadcast of the fight in his room. Whatever the outcome was, Gasper would be affected one way or another and he had the right to see how it would happen.

Akeno patted Rias on the shoulder while Kiba and Koneko nodded.

“Koneko, will you be able to fight him?”

Rias knew that Koneko had become attached to Basara during this week and she didn’t want to put Koneko in a difficult situation.

“I can fight. Basara wouldn’t want me to hold back and I don’t want to hold back.”

Koneko was in fact pretty fired up. 

Even without mentioning her past defeat at his hand, the fact of the matter was that if they won, Basara would join the peerage. 

For Koneko this was one of the best possible outcomes. This would allow them to spend way more time together and she wouldn’t have to worry about Basara dying of old age like a normal human.

The fired-up Koneko brought a warm smile to the face of the other three, thereby dissipating a little of the tension that was building up.

Looking up, Rias saw the clock ticking and being a few seconds away from the promised time.

“Very well. Let’s win this, everyone!”

“Ooohh!!”

Like this, they were teleported away from the Club room.

It was time to fight.

[1]: In DxD, Issei had some abilities. One was Dress Break and the other was Pailingual. Honestly, those two powers are broken. In DxD Issei use DB to undress women and Pailingual to hear the thoughts of women from their breasts. Which is stupid but still broken. Basically, he can read the mind and destroy all armor. Worse is in DxD, Issei can even use DB to ‘break’ spells. 

The problem is that those skills aren’t Boosted Gear's inherent skill but Issei’s own. Those skills were born out of his perversion and desire of Oppai. Like damn, dude even create a skill Called Nyuutron Beam Cannon where he transfers Scale mail to a woman and convert her ‘Breast power’ in demonic energy. 

Anyway, sadly, no Dress break nor Pailingual. Ever way DB is useless when you have Penetrate. Issei used DB just to make women embarrassed and stop them from fighting. As for Pailingual, it might appear but in a different form and with different effects (like not being limited to women only).

As for Dragon shoot. Honestly, it’s just blasting demonic energy without thinking. A kinda Kamehame. Basara can do that himself even without the gear.