Riser’s peerage members surrounded Touma so as to not let him escape.   

If it were anyone else, they would find themselves in a very difficult situation. However, Touma was different. Having fully assimilated with Percival, Touma gained the strength of the Lancer Servant and Time-magic from Julius, it was all too easy to escape this predicament. 

‘Logically, I should defeat everyone here quickly and go to help the others, but alas, the magic nerd in me asks to see more of the Phenex’s  oh so prided fire.’ Touma chuckled silently as he looked at them. 

Ravel felt a chill running down her spine. ‘Why is he laughing in this situation? Did he go crazy? Or he was already insane?’ The young Phenex shook her head. ‘No! You have to concentrate on battle, Ravel!’ She waved her hand and signaled others to attack. 

The first ones were the twin sisters Ile and Nel, who were both pawns. They dashed at Touma and raised their chainsaws. 

*Vruuum!*  

They jumped simultaneously and swung their weapons at Touma. 

““Take this!”” They shouted in union. 

Touma didn’t waver and simply blocked their attack with his sword. 

‘Laplace.’ He called upon his stand, and a humanoid being appeared behind him. ‘Let’s start by cleaning up the small fries first.’ He put more strength into his block and shoved  the twin sisters away. 

*Keuk!*

When both of them were about to land on the ground, the sisters tripped over their own feet, and ended up with both of them crashing into the dirt. But what they didn’t count on was the chainsaws they were wielding, the force of the collision caused them to hit each sister in their moment of carelessness.

They let out groans of pain before dispersing into molts of light. 

[Two pawns of Riser’s peerage have been disqualified.] 

“...”

‘What just happened?’ All of them wondered as they looked to the place where their pawns once were. It all happened too suddenly for them to intervene.

‘What did he do?’ Ravel thought as she warily glared at Touma. Despite Ile and Nel young appearances and their attitude in battle, they were decades old and have years of Rating Game experience, so for them making such clumsy mistakes was close to impossible! ‘As expected, he has a trump card under his sleeve!’

“Change plans! Formation B!” Ravel commanded. She felt a little guilty for using the twins to test the waters, but it was necessary for her plan. ‘We were just going to rough him up a little, but it doesn’t seem to be that easy anymore.’ 

The peerage nodded and in that moment, there was a shift in the air around them.

‘More like they finally started taking me as a proper opponent. Not that it would change anything though.’ Touma thought and shrugged his shoulders.

“Be honored, Kamiya Touma, for making our Lady take you seriously, but your luck has run out. No matter what trick you used on us, it won’t work again!” A knight declared and unsheathed her sword. “This will be your end!” 

Without much delay, the bishops launched spells at Touma, while the knights, rooks, and pawns, charged after the barrage.

*Booom!*

A cloud of dust rose from the ground, blocking Ravel’s view of the battlefield. 

‘Did we get him?’ Ravel asked in her mind, for some reason, she felt uneasy about this situation. 

(A/N: She just raised a death flag.)

Normally, one person would think that their victory was guaranteed in this situation, but Ravel thinks differently. As the one responsible for strategy, Ravel would only feel secure when she was assured of her victory. 

However, even after waiting for a few seconds, Ravel didn’t hear the announcement yet. Then she conjured a gust of wind to clear the view.

“You’re kidding me…” Ravel muttered as her eyes widened in astonishment and horror. She unconsciously took a step back, as she couldn’t believe in what she was seeing. 

All the members of Riser’s peerage were trapped inside of a blue sphere and completely immobilized in an instant! Not to mention, Touma was unscathed from their frontal assault!

‘Just what kind of monster we stumbled upon? Was he chosen by Lord Lucifer to help his sister?’ Ravel thought as sweat ran down her forehead.

“[Time magic: ChronoStasis].” Touma muttered the name of the spell he used, his voice slightly distorted.

 “–!” 

“My magic allows me to control the flow of time. Currently, time has stopped for all of your friends. In fact, they don’t even have any clue what happened to them.” Touma said and looked straight into Ravel’s eyes. “So what will you do, Lady Phenex? You might free them if you manage to defeat me.”

“...Will you release them if I ask nicely?” Ravel asked with a forced smile as she dropped her arrogant attitude. It took no fool to realize that her defeat was inevitable. 

Ravel didn’t need to hear an answer from Touma, his smile alone told her  everything she needed to know.

“So, any last words, devil?” Touma asked, making Ravel grimace as she felt the jab.   

*Sigh* 

 “There is no helping it.” The Phenex muttered to herself, and clenched her fists. “I might lose, but don’t think I will go down easily!” She shouted as she conjured fireballs around her. “I am Ravel Phenex, a proud member of the Phenex clan!”

‘I hope I can hold this monster until my brother defeats their King.’ 

…

Time passed and Ravel grew more and more exhausted as the ‘fight’ went on. Contrary to some moments prior, her fancy clothes were covered in dirt, grime, and blood.

‘It feels like I am playing a game of tag and I am the slow tagger!’ She bemoaned in frustration. Her demonic energy reserves were nearing empty and she hadn't even landed a hit on the human in front of her! 

Her flames would suddenly disappear as soon as they approached him and when Ravel launched herself at him, he would simply disappear from his spot, or, she found herself being tossed elsewhere. Things escalated and they were no longer on the ground, they opted for the sky as it had more space.  

‘And his smirk just irritates me further!’ Ravel thought and gritted her teeth as she chased him. “Just…STOP MOVING ALREADY!” She howled and sped up in Touma’s direction.

Touma looked at her in the corner of the eye, clearly amused at the current situation.

“Sure.” He said happily and turned around before stopping abruptly, without warning. 

Ravel widened her eyes as she didn’t expect him to really stop, but it was too late, at the speed the Phenex was flying, her momentum wouldn’t allow her to stop or change directions.

“Wait–!” The blond devil closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact, but instead she felt warm arms around her back. “Hnn?” She slowly opened her eyes and saw that she was in his arms. Her cheeks turned red in embarrassment for a moment before she realized their situation. She grinned evilly and returned the hug.

“I GOT YOU!” Ravel shouted and embraced him tightly to not let him escape. However, her excitement would soon die the moment she found out that she couldn’t move nor conjure her flames at all! 

‘Don’t tell me–!’

“I didn’t know you were desperately chasing me for a hug, if you wanted I could’ve given you one, you know?” Touma said in a teasing tone and patted her head. Ravel was extremely embarrassed and if it weren’t for Touma’s spell, she would be all red now.

“Now that I have seen enough, I guess it’s time to end this.” Touma said and raised his hand. “It was nice playing with you, Ravel.”

‘I see…It seems I didn’t manage to buy enough time for my brother. Kamiya Touma, you are certainly the most annoying opponent I have ever met. The next we meet, I…’ Ravel thought and chuckled in her mind. ‘I would like to talk to you properly. ’

*Snap!*

Touma snapped his fingers and every member that was trapped inside his spell turned into molts of light. 

[Six pawns of Riser’s peerage have been disqualified.] 

[Two rooks of Riser’s peerage have been disqualified.] 

[Two bishops of Riser’s peerage have been disqualified.] 

Grayfia’s voice traveled throughout the virtual space, shocking a duo and reassuring others.

Touma turned his gaze in the direction of Kuoh academy’s main building.

“Time to see how they are doing.”