[Main Scene Started!]
[311 Patrons are now watching this scene.]
[All the patrons are watching your actions.]
The moment Serafall Leviathan started the Rating Game, the ground beneath me and the rest of my group shook, and we ascended a tower together.
I looked up at Diadora and his group of pieces. They were experiencing the same thing.
The sky over Ajuka Stadium had completely transformed, with the standard blue replaced by a stunning display of hundreds of galaxies, stars, and planets. It was a shallow projection to illustrate a luminous sky because, at that moment, there was nothing around Ajuka Stadium. Everyone in the stadium was teleported to a pocket dimension.
I smiled when I saw this. Why? Well, this was a demonstration of the Maous' power level. Only they had enough magical power for that. And it was this level of power that I aspired to reach someday.
As the platform beneath my feet transformed into something resembling a castle, I heard some messages in my mind.
[The entity 'Sovereign of the Immortal Flame' continues to stare at Makima.]
[The entity 'The Seer of the Blue Fire' will decide whether or not to support you based on what you do.]
[The entity 'Hermit of the Golden Moon' is extremely eager to see what you'll do with Diadora Astaroth.]
'You can be quite annoying when you express your opinions individually...'
In Rating Games, combatants adapted scenarios to their wills, sometimes merging their desires to ensure a balanced advantage. Although we were devils, honor was taken seriously, and, consequently, so was justice.
So, before the Rating Game began, Sirzechs Lucifer, my father, appeared in the waiting room and asked me about my preferences for the scenario. I just said that I would like it to be a place with a more closed environment and made of stone.
I can't say what preferences Diadora Astaroth asked for, but I was happy that, as the place transformed, the arena was turning into two large duplicate castles, one made in the image and likeness of the other. The ironic part of it all was that when both castles were finished, with bricks, towers, dozens of rooms, and corridors, I looked around and realized that I was in a long hall with pilasters, and behind me was a throne. I had been crowned as the King of my Peerage.
'Considering that from up there, I saw nothing special in the rooms that were being prepared, I can only deduce that the specification of being a castle was something Diadora asked for. And that throne...' I looked at the golden-framed throne with the red cushions. 'It must have been a second specification of his.'
I didn't know Diadora very well, but with the little information I had, I could tell that he was very proud of himself and confident. As I had a throne, he also had one in the room he was in. So it was basically a challenge for both of us to stay on our thrones and let our pieces attack and defend.
'What a son of a bitch…'
"W-what are we going to do? Where are they? Are they going to come and attack us?" Gasper asked, raising his hands in alarm.
Makima had one hand on her waist and was surveying the area. "They didn't see it immediately. It's a chess game, and we need to protect our main piece—the King. They'll try to find somewhere safe to hide their King and then they'll come after us. If we want to get the upper hand, we need to hide our King too."
"That's not a critical analysis, Makima. However, I won't hide," I said, but I had my back to them.
"Milicas-san?" Asia asked a little nervously.
I started walking toward the throne, climbing step after step of the small gray stone staircase. When I arrived in front of the throne, I turned to Asia, Makima, and Gasper, smiled and sat down on the throne.
"I'm going to follow Milicas' game plan. I'll stay here, just waiting for them to come."
[The 'Librarian of Lost Time' appreciates your cunning.]
"WHAT?!" Asia and Gasper exclaimed in unison.
Makima, with her arms crossed, smiled and nodded. "All right, master... Come on, Gasper." She turned towards the enormous iron door at the beginning of the hall.
"W-where are we going?"
Makima looked at him over her shoulder and said, "Behind the opposing King. Of course."
Makima had understood as quickly as the 'Librarian of Lost Time'. And I smiled bitterly as I watched them leave the throne room.
Diadora Astaroth's proposal for this Rating Game was as clear as ice. He wanted to exploit the great numerical advantage he had over me and my companions, so he placed two thrones and made his strategy blatantly obvious. Probably at the same time as I sat on one throne, he sat on the other.
If I had looked at the throne and simply ignored it, with him having chosen to sit on his throne, I would have been seen as a coward by a large proportion of the devils watching this Rating Game.
Diadora knew this, and he knew he would gain an advantage from the start, regardless of my choice. The advantage of having me sit on the throne was numerical and power-related, while the advantage of my choosing not to sit on the throne was moral.
The morals of a noble devil were very important for both the present and the future, so I had no choice but to sit down. And Asia Argento stood to my right on the throne, waiting for someone to happen.
"M-Milicas-san... Are you sure this was the best decision?"
"You're worried about Makima and Gasper, aren't you?"
Asia nodded a few times in succession.
"Don't worry about them. Makima is much more powerful than you think."
No one alive in this universe except me had ever seen Makima in action. It was normal for everyone to underestimate or doubt her. However, I was sure that she was the best character I could have chosen as my Queen.
BOOOOM... SHUDDER...
Thuds echoed from beyond the thick walls that lined the throne room. These noises made Asia's eyes widen for a moment, and she could feel the ground beneath her feet shaking.
THOOM! RUMBLE! CRACK!
The sound of several walls collapsing one after the other was now unmistakable.
'There she is... Meet Makima, the Devil of Control.' I said with a debauched smile, resting my face against one of my fists.
On the broadcast screens scattered throughout the Ajuka Stadium, the images flickered every few seconds to a new camera view before being disrupted by yet another collapsing pillar or wall. These images changed so quickly that they confused some spectators in the audience.
Amidst all the smoke and soot from the wreckage of the walls, a pair of intense, glowing yellow eyes appeared.
"Ow... Is the queen of Milicas doing all this?! She's incredibly strong!"
"What element is her magic power? I've never seen anything like it. She's just walking forward, and everything is collapsing around her."
"Could it be Dark Magic?"
"I can't remember the last time I heard about a Dark Magician! How incredible!"
Of course, the devils were already trying to draw their own conclusions about what Makima's powers were.
However, among so many devils in that crowd of hundreds of thousands of spectators, there were those who had never heard about this strange magic that some devils were mentioning.
"Dark magic?" Hyoudou Issei and Saji Genshirou asked at the same time.
The girl next to Saji, Tsubaki Shinra, adjusted the glasses on her face and explained:
"Dark Magic is extremely rare and difficult to control, with few known users in all of history. Little is understood about this type of magic. One of them is its obvious total opposition to Light Magic, being considered by many to be the only easy way to stop or dissolve attacks of this nature. It's also said that John Dee, the Mad Magician, gained significant insights into the structure of devils' magic circles and mastered Dark Magic. It was said that he could control the shadows, but that he went mad precisely because he heard the shadows whispering among themselves."
When Tsubaki Shinra looked over, Issei and Saji were hugging each other and looking at her with a look of fear.
"And-imagining that there's something with a power like that is our physical education te-teacher..." Issei said with a shaky voice.
Shinra smiled and shrugged. "They're just stories and myths. You don't have to take them seriously."
"She's right," said Rias Gremory, abruptly entering the conversation.
Issei looked to his right and saw Rias accompanied by Akeno and Sona Sitri.
"President!" exclaimed Issei, surprised to suddenly see her. "Did you know Makima-sensei had powers like that?"
Rias, holding her arms out, looked at the nearest transmission screen and denied it with her head.
That was enough to make Issei and Saji gulp nervously.
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