I woke up and met with the sight of Grayfia sitting on my sofa, her posture so perfect it looked like she'd been practicing it her whole life.

  "Kazuya-san" Asia's voice broke through my thoughts, soft and hesitant. I turned to see her standing in the hallway, her hands csped in front of her, a small smile pying on her lips. ". She's been waiting for you for a while."

  I groaned, running a hand through my messy hair. "Yeah, I figured. What does she want this time?"

  Asia replied "She said something about the Rating Game. And… she asked about your cake."

  Of course she did. I shook my head, a wry smile tugging at my lips. "Alright, tell her I'll be down in a minute."

  By the time I stumbled downstairs, still half-asleep and dressed in whatever I'd grabbed from my closet, Grayfia was already seated, her gaze fixed on me as I entered the room. She didn't say a word, just stared at me with that same unreadable expression. It was unnerving, really, how she could make me feel like a bug without even trying.

  "Get ready," she said finally, her voice calm but firm "You have to meet Rias's fiancé at the Occult Research Club. We need to discuss your participation in the Rating Game."

  I blinked at her, trying to process her words through the fog of sleep. "Alright," I muttered, turning to head back upstairs. "Give me a minute. I have to take a shower."

  Before I could take more than two steps, her voice stopped me. "May I use your kitchen to prepare some tea? And perhaps… another slice of that cake you gave us st night?"

  I paused, gncing over my shoulder. There it was—the slightest hint of curiosity in her tone. I couldn't help the smirk that spread across my face. "Sure, help yourself," I said, trying to keep the smugness out of my voice. But honestly, who could bme me? The great Grayfia Lucifuge, reduced to asking for my cake. It was almost too good to be true.

  As I finished my morning routine and returned to the living room, I found Grayfia still seated, her teacup now empty and the pte clean. Asia stood nearby, giggling softly. "Now even she likes your cakes, Kazuya-san" she said, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

  Grayfia's gaze shifted to me, her expression as unreadable as ever. "What are the ingredients?" she asked, her tone calm but with a hint of curiosity.

  I couldn't help the smirk that spread across my face. "That's a secret," I replied, leaning back slightly. Her eye twitched—just barely, but I caught it. No way I am gonna reveal such an important weapon details that tamed an infinite dragon.

  Before I could say anything else, she stood abruptly and summoned a teleportation circle beneath us. Whoosh. In an instant, we were no longer in my living room.

  The next thing I knew, we were standing in the Occult Research Club. The room was alive with activity—Rias and her peerage were there, along with Riser Phenex and his harem of girls. Riser was already running his mouth, his smug grin pstered across his face as he mocked Rias for having a pathetic team and standing no chance against him in the rating game.

  "Even if you add this guy to your team, you don't stand a chance," Riser said, gesturing toward me with a dismissive wave of his hand. Well to be honest, If I was in his shoes even, I would think that Rias is not going to win and since it was her first rating game, it made more sense that he would be so confident to defeat her.

  Why doesn't she have any participation in a rating game while he has so many?

  I ignored him for the most part, my attention drifting to the girls in his peerage. They were all stunning, each one more beautiful than the st. One of them caught me looking and winked, a sly smile pying on her lips. I couldn't help but smile back, though I quickly schooled my expression when I noticed Riser gring at me.

  "Weaklings like him won't make a difference," Riser continued, his tone dripping with arrogance. "You're wasting our time, Rias"

  Yeah, mine too.

  I sighed, already bored. Riser's constant bbbering was getting old fast. He was all talk, but I had a feeling that when the time came, he'd be the one eating his words. Only time would tell who the true weakling is.

  After a few more minutes of Riser's nonsense, he finally teleported away, but not before throwing one st jab at Rias. "Don't bother adding any more members to your team. I won't waste my time coming back here to see weaklings to waste my time"

  As soon as he was gone, Rias walked over to me with a soft expression "Thank you for agreeing to join the Rating Game," she said in a sincere voice.

  I shrugged, trying to py it cool. "Don't think too much about it. Just focus on training," I said, though I couldn't help but wonder why she was so confident in the anime. As far as I could tell, she didn't have a pn to counter Riser's regeneration but still her attitude before the game was as if Riser wasn't a threat to her but in the end, it showed her true level of power.

  My thoughts were interrupted by Grayfia's voice. "Rias, I'll be taking him for training," she said, her tone leaving no room for argument.

  I blinked, caught off guard. "Wait, I'm not training with Rias?" I asked, gncing between the two of them.

  Grayfia shook her head. "Now, Come with me"

  Before I could protest, she teleported both of us, and we were gone. The st thing I saw was Rias and her peerage waving, their voices echoing in my ears. "Good luck!"

  . . .

  Don't tell me, we are training here. The sky above was a deep, blood-red, swirling ominously in ways that made my skin crawl. I blinked, trying to process where I was, but nothing made sense. One moment, I was in the Occult Research Club, talking with Rias and the others, and the next... here I was, standing on a barren, desote ndscape with nothing in sight except for cracked rocks and the eerie crimson sky overhead.

  Beside me stood Grayfia, her expression as calm and composed as ever. She wasn't even fazed by the surreal, twisted scenery. If anything, she looked like she was used to this type of sceneries.

  "Well," I said, raising an eyebrow as I looked around, "Are we going to train for the Rating Game here? This pce is... a little much, don't you think?"

  She gnced at me briefly, her eyes narrowing slightly. "No. We are not here to train for the Rating Game. Not yet, at least."

  I was about to ask what she meant by that, but she continued, her voice steady, unfazed by my confusion. "Before I imbue your Ouroboros neckce with my demonic power, you must first get rid of the draconic energy stored inside it."

  I stared at her, utterly lost. "Draconic energy? What are you talking about? I don't even know how I'm supposed to get rid of it." I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling a bit of a sweat slide down my temple. "I don't even know how to use magic in the first pce"

  She sighed, a soft, almost imperceptible sigh, "Draconic energy is simir to demonic power, but it is not the same. While they differ in nature, the way they are used in magic is quite simir. You only need to focus. Focus your thoughts, and let the energy flow. Imagine what you want to accomplish."

  Her calm, reassuring voice was in stark contrast to the chaos of my thoughts. Focus? It was hard to focus when everything felt so surreal and when I was standing in a pce I couldn't even begin to expin. But I tried, taking a deep breath and extending my arm as she instructed.

  The moment my hand was raised, something inside me stirred—a strange sensation, like a pulse of power deep in my chest. I focused, just like Grayfia told me, and tried to imagine releasing some form of energy from my body. I envisioned it as a beam, something simple at first. I could feel the draconic energy inside me beginning to shift, responding to my intent. There was a flicker, and then—

  "Ka…Me..Ha.. me..Ha!"

  A bst of power erupted from my hand. The force of it was so intense that I barely had time to react. The shockwave from the bst tore through the ground, shattering the ground beneath me and sending rocks flying into the air like they were nothing more than dust. The impact was so massive that the entire ndscape around us seemed to ripple and tremble, as if the world itself was crumbling under the weight of the energy I had just unleashed.

  I watched in shock as the destruction spread. It was as if the very fabric of this desote world was being torn apart. It wasn't just the ground cracking—it was as though a piece of this realm itself had been shattered, leaving behind an empty, barren wastend where there had once been little amount of life.

  I froze, eyes wide in disbelief. What the hell just happened?

  How had my bst caused this much destruction? Was this normal? No... no way it was normal. I was just trying to focus on releasing some energy, and I'd obliterated the nd in front of me as if I had some kind of apocalyptic power. The thought of how Ophis must have felt, knowing how possessive she was, crossed my mind. Was she that confident in my safety—or was it that she trusted I could handle something like this? Either way, I couldn't shake the feeling that I had just gotten a glimpse into something much, much bigger than I could handle.

  "Impressive," Grayfia remarked from my side, her voice steady as usual. She wasn't even flinching from the destruction I had caused, which only made me feel even more self-conscious. "But you are far from done. Now we begin your training for the Rating Game."

  I blinked, barely processing her words. "Wait, what? You mean we're not done? I just—"

  Before I could finish, Grayfia summoned a glowing teleportation circle at our feet, its magic radiating with power.

  She said with her voice like ice, smooth and direct. "Prepare yourself, Kazuya. The Rating Game is not just about strength. It is about strategy, precision, and control. You will need all of those to stand a chance."

  I couldn't help but feel a shiver run down my spine as I stared at the circle. The words echoed in my mind, but before I could ponder any further, Grayfia teleported us once again.

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