When Rias opened her eyes, she found herself in her own bedroom. 

‘What happened?’

She wondered for a while before grabbing her head in pain, the image of the earlier events showing up in her mind.

“Rias! You are awake.”

Looking up she saw Grafyia, her reliable albeit weird sister-in-law but her image didn’t properly register in her mind. 

“We…I… lost.”

She muttered blankly. 

It wasn’t as if she jumped into this fight while being sure that she would win. In fact, after the report of Koneko and Kiba, Rias had been pretty sure that they would lose. 

But…Even in hundred years, she would have never imagined that her defeat would be so clear-cut

They fought four against one and while they might have been separated at the start, this did not change the overwhelming advantage in number they had initially. Even then, they were helplessly crushed.

Not by a senior, nor by someone like Riser who had years of experience ahead of them.

But by Basara who was two years younger than her.

“Hahaha…”

Grayfia had a painful expression as she watched Rias laugh blankly while shedding tears but in the end she said nothing.

Any words she could utter now would be naught but pandering words with no use. 

Basara did not win through trickery but simply by using an overwhelming amount of power to crush their number advantage.

Wiping her face with her hand, Rias shook her head as she tried to focus, “How are the others?”

This question put a smile on Grayfia's heart, though her face stayed stoic. She was happy that, even amid her despair, Rias still thought about the member of her peerage.

“The other three already woke not long ago, you used too much energy for your last spell which is why you stayed down longer.”

The barrier could take care of wounds but not of the energy used during a rating game. 

Rias nodded and looked down at herself, she was currently wearing a thin see-through red pajama so she could see that her body was indeed free from any wounds.

A shudder ran through her when she thought back to the last attack Basara had thrown at them.

She knew very well that if this fight had happened outside, then they would have all died then and there. No question asked.

This made her realize how truly helpless they had been in this fight and how much time she had wasted all her time.

When people were faced with a seemingly insurmountable challenge while being faced with the ugliness of their hearts, they had three solutions.

Refusing to accept the truth and hid their head like ostrich.

Accept the truth but do nothing to change the situation.

And finally, accept the truth and fight back tooth and nail to break the unbreakable and do the impossible.

Rias was many things and she had many faults.

But she wasn’t one to give up without trying to fight back. 

“I need to see the others.”

They needed to discuss how to make it so that such a situation never happens again and they also needed to discuss the result of the fight.

After all…She belonged to Basara now.

“About that, I have something to tell you about Basara.”

Rias tilted her head in wonder at the sudden words but once Grayfia finished her explanation, all she could do was keep her mouth agape.

—-

Rias wasn’t the only Gremory girl that was completely surprised. Her two little sisters, Mio and Maria were much the same.

They already knew that Basara was strong. The way he dispatched those fallen angels was a testament to his strength. But even then, the final result was quite unexpected.

“Mio-sama, what do you think of my proposal?”

Mio hesitated a little. “You are sure the ones you found are really that talented.”

“100 percent. The first one doesn’t have a Sacred gear but for a human, she seems to have quite the sensitivity for magic. She would do a very good Bishop or a Pawn for that matter. As for the second one…Heh, I would put her as a Knight or a Bishop. But it's up to discussion.”

Mio groaned but nodded, she knew that she hadn’t been very proactive in finding new members of her peerage. But the fact of the matter was simply that after seeing the peerage of Sirzech and Rias, Mio did not wish to accept subpar members.

This was even more so now after Basara's display of power. 

Now she understood more than anything that rather than a huge number of useless fighters, one powerful fighter was more than enough.

“Furthermore, he can wield a holy weapon. Hahaha. Riser will have quite the surprise when he appears.”

Mio laughed lightly before shaking her head, “Well then, who is the one you found?”

“Heh. Very well, I shan’t keep you in suspense. The first one is a second-year student her name is Aika Kiryuu. 

“As for the second one, I am honestly surprised we never found her until now. She is a transferred first-year student in another class. Her name is Nanao Tachibana. She is a Damphir.”

Mio was surprised, “Like Gasper?”

“Indeed, like Gya-kun. Though she doesn’t have a Sacred gear. She is still a vampire after all.”

Damphir was the name given to half vampire. While they weren’t necessarily as strong as pure blood, they had many advantages.

Mio's mood was quite uplifted. “So, did they accept to become devils?”

She was impatient to grow her peerage.

—----

In Basara’s case, after he finished the fight, he would have liked to stay but he decided against it. He didn’t think that Rias would appreciate to see the one who beat her as soon as she woke up.

Furthermore, he also felt a little lightheaded. His body was perfectly fit but still, since it was his first transformation, the scale mail tired him a little.

‘Well, nothing a good night of sleep won’t cure.”

When he finally reached his home though, he was surprised to see Asia sitting down with a troubled expression and Lucia frowned, 

“Did something happen?”

Lucia stood up and gave a graceful salute as always. Clearly, no matter what was her current mental state she wouldn’t let go of her role as a maid.

“Firstly, welcome back Basara-sama and congratulation on your victory.”

“Oh, did they inform you already?”

“No, but I had no doubt of your victory from the beginning.”

She smiled a little before wiping that smile away, her face becoming a mask of calm.

“Basara-sama, I believe we have a little problem. Some guests might join us tonight.”

Basara grimaced. One didn’t need to be a genius to guess from her tone that those guests were no good news and not particularly welcome.

‘Sigh. Is too much to ask for some time to rest’

This promised to be troublesome.

[1]: Another interesting thing. In DxD we have a cross-dressing male vampire who wears female clothes. Meanwhile, in Shinmai we have a cross-dressing female vampire who wears male clothes. Furthermore, the two are half-vampires and the two have a very similar chara-design. I guess Shinmai author should be a fan of DxD. 

Anyway gotta make something clear. In Shinmai, the gender of half-vampires is not fixed until their adulthood then they decided if they want to become male or female. In my story, I am still hesitating about keeping this feature since it could be used to explain Gasper androgynous look and he could grow by choosing to keep being a male for a certain vampire girl only those who read the Novel would know. Anyway I will see.