They're Calling Me What?!

Notice:

A Demon Lord's Hero isn't mine, it's written by the author Fahad09 and can be found in FF or Ao3. I'm mainly doing this to spread the word that the author Aerle is not the author of Dxd: A New Hero. Do not subscribe to his patreon to read chapters behind a paywall when you can read it for free from the real author on FF net or Ao3.

I'm doing this cuz I thought it looked familiar and realized it was just plagiarism, I went to ff net to see and in one of the comments another use was also stating that Aerle was copying and trying to get people to sub to his P@treon. Looks like it's not his first time doing this too, since that commenter said he also plagiarized a Naruto fic called "With the Eyes of God," by the author cloud9stories

Since in Webnovel Aerle can delete comments and bad reviews, it's quite easy for the dude to scam people and get away with it. 

I'm extremely petty and I liked the original fanfics so Ima just post most of the chapter to fuck this guy over lmao. Also if you see a Patreon link with the title of "Aerle" at the end, it's most likely a scam lol.

========Chapter 2 (Part 1)===============

I gazed down at the courtyard from between the blinds of the window. Three boys, the infamous Perverted Trio, ran screaming from a pack of girls, members of the girl's Kendo team going off their uniforms, who chased after them with shinais and bokkens raised over their heads.

I couldn't help but shake my head at the sight.

"Any reason why those three are still at school? Considering their actions I'm surprised you haven't had them expelled, if not outright arrested." I turned away from the window towards the girl I was addressing.

Like her sister she was a fairly petite girl, though not as full-figured and a few inches taller despite being a few (hundred) years younger than her sister. Violet eyes gazed out of her heart shaped face adorned with purple spectacles and framed with black hair styled in a bob-cut.

She was dressed immaculately in her Kuoh Academy uniform, the female version of the one I'm currently wearing. Despite mine being literally brand new, her uniform seemed to actually be in better condition. She gazed at me with no-nonsense face that wouldn't have been out of place on a stereotypical strict librarian, that if I had been anyone else, would have intimated me enough to guarantee my best behavior.

However, since my resurrection, I have seen Serafall break through her little sister's false exterior too many times to fall for it. Really, after seeing her run away in embarrassed tears while being chased by an apologetic magical girl, it's hard to picture Sona as an intimidating figure.

Though for her pride's sake, if nothing else, I was willing to at least pretend that the strict image has some effect on me.

"Considering your personal stance on rule breakers, I would have thought you would have personally dealt with those three since day one. That you've tolerated them for an entire year is something I wouldn't have believed if I hadn't seen it myself. Well, unless you have a soft spot for perverts that I was unaware of, Sona?"

And it's true, well, not the pervert part, but Sona's belief when it comes to rules. I have never seen a bigger stickler for the rules ever. I have even seen the teachers panic whenever they saw her coming, quickly checking themselves over to make sure that they aren't failing to meet her standard. I swear I once saw a terrified teacher leap into a janitor closet when he noticed Sona approaching and realized that he didn't button his shirt up properly.

I swear if my old friend and the student council president of my old school, Issei Ryuudou, was here, Sona would have ended up with a new admirer for her fan club as he would no doubt end upworshipping the ground Sona walked on from how well she does her job as the student president.

Then again, it may be a good thing he's not here. After all, I don't want to see how he'd react when he finds out he shares his name with someone from the perverted trio.

"Hardly," She scoffs out at the accusation as she adjusts her glasses. "If it was up to me I would have gotten rid of those troublemakers long ago. Unfortunately it's not up to me, at least not entirely. And Shirou, while I do not object to you referring to me by name outside of school grounds, when within it I would appreciate it if you were to refer to me as Kaichou."

"Whatever you say, Kaichou," though try as I might, I couldn't quite stop my humor from leaking out and coloring my tone as I said it. I swear I've been hanging around Serafall for too long, as I could not help but think how adorable little Sona looked when she was trying to act all grown up.

That I'm only a year older than Sona just goes to show how much Serafall has succeeded in corrupting me these last few months.

I ignored how Sona narrowed her eyes as she no doubt caught the humor in my voice but decided not to call me out on it and instead returned the conversation to the original topic.

"What do you mean it's not up to you?" I sat down on one of the foldable chairs that lined the walls of the student council and crossed my legs as I spoke, "Your family runs the entire school. No matter what big shots their parents might be, they shouldn't have anywhere near the power or influence to prevent you from expelling them. Even if they did somehow managed to keep the police from getting involved."

"I wished it were their parents that were the problem." She breathed out a sigh as she adjusted her glasses by its sides again, a habit that I knew she often demonstrated whenever she was irritated or thinking. "And you're mistaken; my family does not own the school. Or at least, they're not the only owners."

That stumped me for a moment, as I vividly remembered being told by Serafall herself that Kuoh Academy was a Devil owned school. She should know after all, she ended up buying it when she found out Sona was planning on attending.

In fact the only reason why she doesn't own the entire school outright was because another Devil ended up getting ahold of the remaining shareholders before she did and ended up buying the rest of the share.

Then the answer hit me like a slap to the face.

"Gremory." I tried to keep my voice neutral as I said that name, I really did, but I must have failed as I noticed a rare small smirk that made its way to Sona's usually stoic face.

"You really don't like the Gremorys, do you." This time it was her voice that was colored with amusement. "They're not as bad as you make them out to be. I would know, I've been friends with Rias for years after all."

"I have never met Rias so I will reserve my judgment until I do. And you're wrong; it's not the Gremorys I dislike. Just one particular Gremory that I'm not entirely fond of." And the less I thought of that prick the better. Only Archer was able to get under my skin as easily as he did.

Judging by the smirk that was still in place, she didn't seem to have entirely bought my reasoning. Fortunately she decided to drop the topic.

Making her way behind a desk, she drew out one of the chairs from under it and sat down. "Rias seems to have taken a bit of interest in those three. It appears that one of them is a Sacred Gear wielder and Rias plans to make him part of her peerage."

I couldn't quite hide my incredulity at that. Really, them? I haven't been here for a full day and even I have heard about them. I mean I literally had both students and staff pull me aside and warn me about them to make sure I won't get mixed up with the wrong crowd.

Apparently the Perverted Trio have plans on becoming the Perverted Quartet. It seems that whenever a new male student, whether a freshmen or a transfer student, comes to Kuoh, they do their best to invite them into their little group.

Well, as long as they weren't too good looking, that is. In the end, the others were right in trying to warn me as they instantly tried to recruit me in their group by inviting me to go peeping with them the moment they set eyes on me.

…Wait a minute. I'm pretty sure I should be offended for some reason.

However, at the clear skepticism on my face Sona's frown became a little more pronounced as she gave me a sharp nod in agreement.

There is no surprise that Sona would disapprove of recruiting any of those three into her peerage. After all, in the underworld a peerage is supposed to be a representative of one's King. Good or bad, everything a peerage does will reflect on their King's reputation. And with a reputation like theirs, well…

Not to mention that if those three are having this much trouble controlling their lust as humans, there is no telling how horrible they'll be once they're turned to devils.

Plus I had my own doubts about the possibility of one of them bearing a Sacred Gear. Sacred Gear owners are not chosen at random, but instead Sacred Gears are matched to souls that best match the Gears nature. That is the reason why so many Sacred Gear users often end up with personalities that resemble their Sacred Gears.

I couldn't completely repress the shudder that ran through me at the thought. It was terrifying to contemplate what kind of Sacred Gear those three must have when considering how they behave.

As I looked up to find Sona looking back at me with half understanding and half revolted eyes, I knew that she must have already contemplated the same thing I did and shared my fear.

She once again adjusted her glasses as she spoke, "I have of course tried to dissuade her from her current course of action but it has proven a fruitless endeavor so far." She released an exasperated sigh. "I'm afraid as long as I have known her Rias has always been a stubborn one, even as a child. Once she decided on a course of action, there is no persuading her."

Sona hesitated for a moment as a faint coating of red, so light that I only caught it because I was staring straight at her, made it's way onto her checks as she blushed before she visibly steeled herself and carried on, "And as I can't think of any way of putting this delicately, I'll just come out and say it. Rias is a nudist."

If I was drinking anything at the moment, Sona would have undoubtedly bore witness to me doing a perfect spit take. Instead I just choked on air for a moment as I gaped in disbelief at her.

Sona's blush only deepened under the force of my incredulous stare despite the rest of her features remaining in her usual neutrally-stern state that she always wore. That's it, if I had any doubts about the legitimacy of her statements, they were gone as soon as I noticed how hard she tried not to blush.

"W-What?" I sputtered.

"She a nudist, in fact they all are. The whole Gremory clan is a bunch of nudists." It was as if once the flood gates has finally opened, she just couldn't stop, the words just came pouring out of her. "If you think that's bad, imagine how it was like for me when I accidently discovered this at a sleep over when I was just twelve. I saw my best friend's brother, the bloody Maou Lucifer himself, walk out of the bathroom stark naked and his only reaction was to ruffle my hair as he walked on by while wishing me good morning. Do you understand how weird that was? Now every time I hear some curse about 'by Lucifer's balls', I literally have a mental image of them pop up because that memory of his actual balls was seared into my adolescent mind."

By the time she had finished, Sona was panting for breath. Her shoulders were raising and falling with each breath from how fast she tried to get through that little rant of hers, while her face was flushed red from a mix of exertion and embarrassment.

After taking a moment to catch her breath, she quickly began to collect herself. Sitting straight up, she give a quick tug to her shirt to straighten out any wrinkles before clearing her throat, "Sorry about that."

"…You've wanted to get that off your chest for a while now, haven't you?

She gave a quick but sharp nod in response, "You have no idea."

An awkward silence hung between as Sona no doubt mentally reprimanded herself over her outburst and while I tried my very best to purge the image of a naked Sirzechs waving his dong in front of a traumatized twelve year old Sona from my mind.

I failed, oh how I failed.

Thankfully the sound of the chair being pushed across the floor as Sona stood up was able to break me out of my morbid thoughts.

"Anyway," She made her way towards a small chess table while she spoke. "That's the reason why Rias isn't bothered by the Perverted Trio's behavior. In her mind it isn't a big deal to be seen naked, she actually finds the lengths they'd go to do so rather amusing." A disapproving frown made its way back to her face. "From her point of view, it's the girls who are overreacting. As I only control half the school I simply do not have the authority to expel them since Rias has the right to veto any of my decisions and vise-versa, at least when it comes to school matters. While I can force the issue if I wished, I'll be forced to owe Rias a favor, which is something I'm unwilling to do over such a minor issue as those three."

Pulling out a rather comfortable looking wooden chair from under the chess table, a clear step up in quality compared to the rest of furniture in the room, Sona took a seat while indicating for me to seat myself on the other one. I quickly complied with her silent request and soon found myself seated across Sona with a chess set between us.

It was at this moment that my mind had finally been rebooted from where it had still been clogged by images of a naked Sirzechs and realized that I had just willingly placed a chess set between Sona and myself.

I was about to get my butt kicked, wasn't I… very badly at that.

Chess, well, let's just say it's not quite one of my strong points and leave it at that. I'm not exactly terrible at it. It's just that I'd never really played it before I became a devil. Being Japanese, Kiritsugu was always more interested in Shogi than chess, and the only person in my age group that was interesting in strategy board games was Issei, and he was a Go player.

Sona on the other hand is said to have been born with a chess piece in hand. Even in the underworld, where the average age of players is measured in centuries, Sona is famed for being one of the greatest living chess players, despite just turning eighteen herself.

She was able to get out of an arranged marriage with a former suitor, who was apparently an avid chess fanatic and an amateur chess champion, by gambling her hand over a game of chess. The suitor jumped at the chance at what he perceived as a riskless method to solidify his marriage arrangement and needless to say she wiped the floor with him.

For someone reason I simply can't comprehend, the entire Devil race seems to be obsessed with chess. I simply could not understand it. I mean, it would have made sense if they enjoyed strategy board games in general, but as far as I can tell, outside of chess, Devils have no interest in them at all.

Serafall told me it's due to how similar chess is to the Rating Games, an incredibly popular sport not just in the underworld, but the supernatural world as a whole, which in my opinion is more bull than one of Kotomine's sermons.

Chess and battlefield have almost nothing in common, anyone who set foot on the battlefield can tell you that much.

But that isn't important right now….right now I need to think of way to avoid getting my ass kicked by a teenage girl that probably weights less than a hundred pounds when soaking wet.

During my short existence as a devil, I have learned one golden rule that seems to be able to get me out of almost anything. When in doubt, ask yourself, what would Serafall do?

…It's at a time like this I realized how messed up my life's become. If someone told me just a year ago that I would one day be willing to try to emulate a Demon Lord that loves to cosplay as a magical girl to get me out of trouble, I would have asked what the hell have they done to piss Zelretch off.

"Enough about that," Sona's voice drew me from my thoughts, "as enjoyable as discussing school politics with you is, that is not the reason why I invited you here."

She waved a hand over the chess set, "I have a few questions that only you'd be able to answer. And while we talk, I hope that you'd be willing to indulge me with a game of chess."

No doubt taking note of the hesitant expression I wore on my face as I eyed the chess pieces, she raised an eyebrow at me. "You do know how to play….don't you?"

"Of course I do." I reassured her as I finally figured out a way out of this mess. "It's just I'm still rather new at it and there is a couple of rules that I'm not quite clear on, I was hoping that you'll clarify them for me."

"Certainly," She nodded, "What do you need me to clarify?"

"Well, just to make sure," I reached out and picked up the knight piece, "The horsey is the one that goes two step forwards and one to the side, right?"

The rest of the student council members, who so far were pretending to be busy with paper work while eavesdropping on our conversation, broke out laughing at my comment.

I could see Sona try and fight to keep her stoic mask in place as she glared at me, but judging by the way the corners of her mouth kept twitching upwards, she couldn't quite pull it off.

I know it was rather mean of me, but I did promise Serafall I'd try to break Sona out of her shell from time to time and make sure she at least has some fun.

Besides, while I hated to admit it, Serafall was right, teasing Sona was so much fun. When she gets like this and stares at me over the rim of her glasses, she resembles nothing more than a little kitten trying to give you a death glare. It just makes her that much cuter.

I wonder if this was how Rin felt like when she teased me. If so, I finally understand why she did it so often, this was hilarious.

She tried to hold her glare on me for a moment longer before she gave up with a sigh and allowed a wry smile to make its way to her face, "I see, my sister has been rubbing off on you."

It was sad, but true. There was no way I could have stuck with Serafall for so long without having some of her habits rub off on me.

I shamelessly nodded my head, "When it comes to Serafall it's either fight her or join her and well, you should know better than anyone well how impossible it is to defy her for long." She gave me an understanding look at that.

"Now," I set down my knight piece back on its proper place on the board. "I believe you have some questions for me."

Obviously noting the shift in my voice, Sona straightened her posture and looked me in the eye as she spoke. "Yes, as a matter of fact I do. Now, don't take this the wrong, Shirou, but why are you even here?"

"What, do I need a reason to go to school?" I deflected. I had nothing to hide, but that didn't mean I was gonna make it easy for her. Besides, I know Sona loves to play these kinds of mind games and would rather put the pieces together herself than just have me outright tell her. "Just because I'm a Devil now doesn't mean I want to be known as a high school dropout. I never did get the chance to graduate before I was reincarnated."

"That's not what I meant and you know it." The light glinted off her glasses as she adjusted it. "What I want to know is what you're doing here, as in the human world, rather than simply entering a Devil high school instead or even just studying at home."

Sona flicked a finger and Tsubaki, Sona's Queen and the student council vice-president, appeared by her side and handed her a sheet of paper.

Without even looking at it Sona held the sheet out towards me, "This, Shirou, is the result of your placement test. Since you didn't have any transfer papers we had to test you to measure your level of education. Do you know what you scored?"

"No, but I have a feeling you're going to tell me." Not even bothering to reach for the paper.

Again she didn't even bother to glance at the paper as she focused her entire attention on me, "You passed."

"Passed?" I cocked my head in confusion. "I thought it was a placement test, how can I pass? Do you mean that I made into senior year?

She watched me carefully, probably assessing my sincerity, before apparently deciding I was being serious, "No," She shook her head. "I meant that you passed, as in you passed high school. According to your results, you can sit your graduation exams right this instant and pass with a solid B. Better if worked on your social studies and modern literature grades."

Really? Now isn't that a pleasant surprise for once. I've always been a pretty diligent student, but it's been a while since I've last been to school. Despite all the last minute cramming I've been doing since I've been told I'd come here, I wasn't quite confident on how well I'd do. Seems like I ended up getting myself all worked up over nothing again after all.

"So let me ask you again. Shirou, why are you here? If education was all that mattered, you would be better off in a university rather than a high school."

"I could ask the same thing of you, Sona. From what I've heard your education level is so much higher than high school level, that you're probably not learning anything from any of your classes, are you? That you're taking several additional online university courses on the side is a proof of that."

Going by the look of astonishment on the faces of the rest of the student council members, it seems none of them were aware of this. Sona on the other hand didn't seem surprised that I knew. Then again, considering that Serafall was my master, it wouldn't have taken a genius to figure out that she was the one who told me.

Serafall has always been a proud older sister after all. Hardly a day goes by without her bragging about her little 'So-tan's' achievements.

"Not that it matters, but the reason why I decided to remain in high school is because I believe there are some things that cannot be taught in a classroom or learned from the pages of a book. Byfulfilling my duties as a Student President and interacting with peers my own age I have learned things that I would have never learned otherwise.

"Now, stop stalling and answer me, Shirou. Why are you here?" Judging by the way she glared at me, it didn't look like she'd allow me to deflect again.

I just gave her a shrug in response. "Why are you asking me a question whose answer you already know?"

She stilled for a moment before asking, "My sister sent you here, didn't she?"

I didn't bother replying, I doubt she expected me to anyway.

Sona didn't seem to surprise by my response, or lack of it, just upset. She removed her frames from her face and pinched the bridge of her nose as she exhaled loudly. Through I kept my eyes on her, I noticed from the edge of my sight how the rest of the Council froze at her reaction.

Sona maintained her pose for a few seconds, before with one final exhale through her nose, she retuned her frames to its proper place, folded her arms before her and looked straight at me.

"When I persuaded our parents to allow me to attend Kuoh Academy, my sister promised me that she wouldn't interfere. As much as I love her, I will never be able to grow if she tries to hold my hand at everything I do, and Kuoh was supposed to be an opportunity for me to experience life on my own. To learn how to take care of myself without my family backing me every step of the way or for my sister to save me the moment something goes wrong." When she first started, she spoke in her usual calm manner, but slowly her control started to slip. She didn't quite shout or even approached anything near that level but considering how even-tempered Sona usually was, for her this was the equivalent of throwing a temper tantrum.

"I am the sole heir of the Sitri clan, one of the few remaining pillars, and one day I'll be expected to lead the entire clan and all its territory. Yet how does she expect me to do that if she won't even trust me to run one little school."

"When I first informed her about coming here, she told me she understood that and, while she didn't like me so far away from her, would respect my decision and would wholeheartedly support me. So far, except for occasionally sending a familiar to check up on me, she has kept that promise."

"Until now.

So tell me, Emiya Shirou, why has my sister decided to back out of her promise!"

"Whoa, wait a second. I think you're misunderstanding something here." I quickly stopped her before this misunderstanding gets any further out of hand than it already does. I knew teenage girls can be a little bit emotionally fickle sometimes, but I always thought Sona was an exception to that rule.

I swear, these two sisters will be the death of me. Though they appeared to be complete opposites, they still had so much in common. The fact that both of their hot button topics were each other just proves it.

"While it's true that your sister sent me here on a mission, I promise you that other than the fact that it's happening in your territory, it doesn't have anything to do with you at all."

"If that's the case then tell me what your mission is."

"I can't tell you—NO, wait, I really can't," I quickly interject as soon as I noticed her face beginning to darken. "It's classified, other than those who are directly participating in it, only the Maou and their Peerage are authorized to know about it." Which was the honest truth, I wasn't supposed to tell anyone what I was doing here unless I had to.

Sona scrutinized me through her glasses, no doubt looking for even the slightest hint of deceit. After what felt like a small eternity, she relented. She seemed to almost deflate before slumping over slightly as she sat back down again. After a moment she looked up at me and, with a slightly embarrassed look on her face, gave me a weary smile.

"Sorry," She mumbled out, "It's just…"

"Don't worry," I said as I waved her apology, "I understand."

And I really did. I could completely understand where she's coming from. After all, to her it must have been a minor miracle for her sister to leave her alone for this long, especially when you consider how incredibly overprotective Serafall can be.

Then to have me, a member of her Peerage, arrive out of nowhere without any warning or reason, it's no surprise that she jumped to conclusions. It was only natural for her to be suspicious of how compliant Serafall has been of her demands so far.

Unfortunately for her, her paranoia is well founded.

At any given time, there are approximately two dozen highly skilled devils who were assigned by both Sirzechs and Serafall to patrol the border of the city and preventing anything too dangerous from wondering in.

Really, that Sona was willing to believe that both she and the Gremory girl would have been left unguarded even for a moment, just goes to show that she can be quite naïve at times despite all of her intelligence.

Even if you were willing to ignore that they were both the heirs to two of the most important families in the underworld, they were still the beloved sisters to the leaders of all Devilkind, the Maou, and they honestly expected themselves to be left unguarded while they remain on earth? That's the equivalent of leaving the President's daughters unprotected in a politically unstable country. It's just not going to happen.

Still, I have no intention of letting her find out about this, not from me at least. No way I'm gonna let myself be dragged into that mess.

"Anyway," I began after of a quick clearing of my throat, "while I can't give out any details, I can at least assure you that I'm not here to babysit you. I was in fact given explicit orders not to interfere in any way unless it was a matter of life or death. Anything short of that and I'm not allowed to get involved."

"I see." Despite the near perfect poker face she was wearing, it was clear that Sona was rather pleased with this news. "Yet that doesn't explain why you're here in particular, as in this school. I doubt whatever assignment you're on required you to pose as a high school student."

I nodded my head at that, "That true, but I wasn't lying when I said I never had the chance to graduate."

That had always irritated me for some reason. While it's true that neither my past ambition of becoming a Hero or my current reality of living as a Devil would benefit from me formally getting my high school diploma, the thought of never graduating, especially after all the years of work I put into it, just irks me. Especially since I only had a few more month of my formal education left.

Plus, there is only so many times I can take Serafall teasing me by calling me a high school drop out before I started to get the hint. You couldn't tell by looking at her, but Serafall takes education quite seriously.

"Part of the reason why I'm actually here is as a cover. Anyone looking will most likely come to the same conclusion as you did when they realize that I was attending the same school as my master's sister and not dig any deeper after that."

"That's a likely assumption." Sona nodded her head in agreement but then paused. She tilted her head in thought and looked at me, "You said 'part', so is there another reason why you're attending Kuoh?"

"Ah, well." I couldn't help but scratch my cheek in embarrassment at that, "Apparently Serafall wanted us to get to know each other better."

Whether at my words or my obvious embarrassment, Sona gave me a faint smile. "I'd like that."

Before the moment could become any more awkward, or embarrassing, I quickly changed the subject.

"Anyway," taking a moment to clear my throat, I subtly tried to scan the room for something to talk about, and found one as my eyes landed on the chess set before me. "I heard that you're almost old enough to qualify for the rating games. Do you plan on participating in this year's Young Devils Gathering?"

The knowing smile on her face told me she knew exactly what I was trying to do, but decided to play along anyway. "As a matter of fact I do. I'm not sure if you've heard, but there is going to be an unusually high number of heirs qualifying for this year's gathering. It will be the perfect chance for me to test myself and prove my worth to the rest of the underworld. Plus Rias definitely plans to enter and there is no way I'm going to allow her to get one up on me."

Despite Sona's surprisingly childish attitude when it comes to her well-known rivalry with the Gremory heir, I couldn't fault the rest of her reasoning. "And what do you think your odds of winning are?"

"Truthfully?" she asked which I nodded. "Zero."

"Oh~?" Despite my questioning tone, I couldn't help but smile in approval at her response. Unlike many of the younger Devils, or even the older ones, Sona has no overly delusions of grandeur when it comes to her combat abilities. "Why would you say that? Don't you have any confidence in your Peerage's abilities?"

"Not at all," There was no hesitation in her replay, "I have the utmost confidence that my Peerage's is more than able to handle anything that they end up facing."

Around us, Sona's Peerage practically preened from her praise, even as they continued to pretend not to listen as they tried to maintain their charade of working.

Masking my smile at their hijinks, I asked, "So, what's the problem then?"

"The 'problem', as you put it, is the competition." She pushed her glasses by the bridge of the frame up her nose as she spoke, causing it to flash as it reflected the light, "I already mentioned that this year's gathering will be unusually large, well, consequently it's also going to be unusually fierce."

Pausing for a moment, she momentarily shut her eyes and gathered her thoughts, before continuing, "Like every gathering, there are several strong devils among this year contenders, but there are two that stand out head and shoulders above the crowd."

Lifting one finger in the air, "First, there is Riser Phenex. Despite being well-known as a playboy and minor troublemaker, Riser is undeniably a genius when it comes to using his family's flames. His regeneration is at the level that would have taken most Phenex's the better part of a century to reach, and he's barely over twenty years old.

"The matches he's participated in this year is proof of this. Despite that the majority of his Peerage consist of members with substandard combat abilities, he has won all eight of the matches he's fought in and emerged without a single wound to show for it. Three out of the eight opponents he's faced simply resigned when they realized that none of their attacks were able to harm him even after he invited them to attack.

"That doesn't even take his sister into the equation. While less talented in her control over the Phoenix flames than her brother, she more than makes up for it with her intelligence. Ravel Phenex is a first class tactician with a gift in small-scale strategy that I can honestly say rivals mine."

I raised an eyebrow at that. Coming from Sona that was quite a high praise indeed.

"While Riser has a more laissez-faire approach to managing his Peerage in battle, which basically consists of him just sitting back and doing nothing, Ravel takes a more hands-on approach.

"Though she doesn't directly fight herself, she often leads a handful of peerages to combat the enemy and coordinates them all, while she stands back and assesses the enemy's battle style for threats and weaknesses. Under her leadership they were able to win two matches without having Raiser get involved at all.

"Together they form a formidable team that covers each other's weak points rather well. While they do have some rather large flaws that can be exploited, the raw power of two high class devils in one team makes it almost impossible for any team in their age group to take advantage of it."

I nodded my head in agreement to her assessment. I knew most of this information already of course, but I had a feeling she was explaining this to her Peerage just as much as she was to me. Plus while I knew why it was unlikely for her to win, I wanted to see if her reasons matched mine, so I made sure not to interrupt her explanation.

"While I have never met them or seen any of their matches, I've heard the Phenex siblings are one of the favorites in this year's match." I added, "Second only to him of course."

Sona nodded solemnly, "Yes, him," she raised up a second finger, "Sairaorg Beal, the strongest of the young Devils.

"He was born with neither skill nor talent, and even failed to inherit the power of his bloodline, the Power of Destruction. By Devil's standards, he was born a cripple. With such handicaps, he should have been a weakling that would be incapable of fighting even low class Devils, let alone high class ones.

"But apparently someone failed to tell Sairaorg that, because over the last three years he crushed every high class devil born in the last century and at least half of the ones born before in one-on-one duels.

"Now he is the closest among the younger generation to becoming the next Satan, a Maou." Sona shook her head in disbelief, "Honestly, the only way for Sairaorg to lose is if he decided to fight the entire tournament alone without his peerage, and even then I'm not entirely sure that he wouldn't win."

The scary thing is that she wasn't even exaggerating, if anything she was understating things. Sairaorg was a monster, pure and simple. Devils usually take centuries of training to reach Ultimate Class level, and that's with the power they inherited from their Clan. This guy did it before he was twenty when he was considered a cripple magic-wise.

After finally finishing her explanation, Sona lowered her hand. "And that's why realistically, I don't believe I have any real chance of winning. With only one of them entering it would still have been difficult, a long shot. Both? My chances have dropped so far below zero, it practically became an imaginary number. Especially when you take into account that they both have completed their Peerages and I'm still in the process of building mine.

"If this year's gathering wasn't so important, I would honestly consider delaying my debut for another year, but unfortunately that would have made me look like a coward and as an heir I can't allow my reputation to be damaged in such a way."

I couldn't help but feel a stirring of pride at her analysis. While it wasn't word for word, Serafall had basically told me the same thing and for mostly the same reasons. Looks like my master's little sister is gonna turn out just fine.

Unfortunately though, while most of what she said is accurate, it's also incomplete.

I had to bite back a grimace. Though I hate playing the bad guy, it's for her own good. Ah, well. Time to clear up some misconceptions.

"Even if you don't expect to win, I hope that doesn't mean you intend to lose."

Sona smirked at me. "Hardly," she replied, "while first place is impossible, it is still possible for me to rank pretty high. I have scouted the other participants and have found that the majority of them are hardly a threat at all. The few that are, I have already prepared a basic strategy to counter them if I ever end up playing against them."

"So you expect to end up doing pretty well then?"

"I do." There was no hesitation.

"How well?"

"I estimate that as long as I don't get unlucky and end up facing either Phenex or Sairaorg in one of the earlier rounds, I would have a fair chance of winning fourth place, maybe higher if I end up getting lucky."

I deliberately let out a quite snort in response.

And naturally Sona caught it.

"You disagree?" She asked while cocking an eyebrow.

"Yes," Well, here comes the tough love part. You owe me for this, Serafall, "you won't make it anywhere near that far."

"Why do you believe that?"

"Because you're too weak."

It was incredible how much more silent the already quite room became as everyone in the council room just froze. Sona went rigid in surprise so fast that it looked like she was electrocuted, hell, even her Queen Tsubaki's jaw dropped in disbelief.

For a human, what I said wouldn't have been too bad. Even for a Devil, a race that prided itself on its strength and power, it would have been only mildly insulting. Well, that would have been true if Pride wasn't this Devil's chosen deadly sin.

Pride, Sona's weakness of the seven. And I, someone who was practically one step away from being her family, just stomped on it, in front of her entire Peerage. A little harsh, I admit, but there were few better ways to gain someone's attention and make them listen, and I mean truly listen than to hurt their pride.

"Why, you bastard, apologi-", the only male in the student council, a blond haired kid, charged straight at me before being stopped by Sona's raised hand.

Never taking her eyes off me, she scrutinized me for the better part of a minute before deciding to speak.

"Explain yourself, Emiya." She growled out at me, glaring murder all the while. Once again her attempt at intimidation made her look nothing more than a murderous little kitty. So freaking cute, I swear I'm never doubting Serafall again.

In response I simply waved my hand over the table between us, "This right here, Sona, is why you're weak."

Judging by the baffled looks I was receiving, they looked like they were listening to me at least. Good, that will make things easier then.

"Chess?" For once it wasn't Sona who asked the question, but her Queen Tsubaki, "You're saying the Kaichou's weakness is chess? But she's amazing in it."

"That's not what I meant," though I replied to Tsubaki's question, I didn't take my eyes off Sona as I spoke. "And it's not just your Kaichou's, but also Devil kind as a whole."

Pointing at the chess set in front of me, "Tell me, Sona, what does Chess and Rating games have in common? And I'm talking about the fighting aspect, not the superficial stuff like names and titles."

If Sona was in any way thrown off by my line of questioning, she didn't show it. She just stared at the board game for a few seconds before looking back up at me, "I'm not exactly sure what you're asking me, Shirou."

"Let me rephrase it for you this way," I crossed my arms before me as I leaned back into my chair. "What exactly do chess and battle have in common?"

This time she didn't bother to glance at the chess board but focused all her attention on me, as she contemplated the question.

"Normally I would answer something like strategy or tactics," she began, "but I have a feeling that isn't the answer you're looking for."

I nodded my head at her answer. A little bit naïve maybe, but no one had ever accused Sona of being stupid, that's for sure.

"The answer is simple, almost nothing at all."

I had already lifted my hand up to stop the retort that Sona would have undeniably replied with before I even finished my sentence. Sure enough, Sona already had her mouth opened before she stopped herself.

"Now, I'm not claiming that Chess isn't useful for developing strategic thinking or planning, which it undoubtedly does, only that it's use in developing battle skill is greatly overvalued in modern Devil society." I continued after making sure I wasn't going to get interrupted. "In fact, outside of basic strategy, it shares almost nothing in common with real life warfare.

"And yet Devils as a whole seem to worship it as the ideal war game simulator. The amount of hype Devils seem to pile up on chess is so ridiculous, that it has actually started to negatively affect the fighting potential of the younger generation of Devils."

"For example," I raised a single finger, "There is a military term known as 'information uncertainty'. It's when you're unsure how accurate the information you have on the enemy, or a situation where you don't even have any information at all. That is a key aspect on any battlefield and something that simply doesn't exist in chess." I added another second finger. "Then there is the amount of forces each side has. In chess, no matter your skill level, your starting pieces are equal in number and strength, which is a completely ridiculous scenario in real life, one that will never occur."

I quickly added a third, fourth and fifth finger to the others. "Then there is a terrain and weather advantage, communication problems, panic and morale among the soldiers." I then formed my hand into a fist. "And perhaps the most important lesson at all, Chess doesn't teach you when to run away. Victory is always possible in Chess, in real life, sometimes all you can do is run. Sometimes it's much better to retreat than stand and fight till you die a meaningless death. This simple lesson, learning when to run, is one that too many young people fail to ever learn until it's too late."

I know, I know. This coming from a guy who willingly fought Gilgamesh and other Servants as a human probably makes it the most hypocritical thing I've ever said, but it doesn't make it any less true.

Finally I lowered my hand.

"Chess, Sona," I continued after I allowed my words a few seconds to sink in, "is a great starting point for developing your skills as a strategist, but if you cling to it for too long it will only end up limiting you. And that is something that is already happening to you."

I spread my arms and indicated the entire room with a wave, "Your choice of Peerage is a perfect example of this."

Anger, genuine barely restrained anger, flooded her face as she all but hissed at me, "Watch your next words, Shirou. Or even your master won't be able to save you."

I was barely able to bite back a smile at her response and even then I only succeeded because I was sure she'd misinterpret it.

Heh, I knew there was a reason why I liked this girl.

She was angrier with me over the slight of her peerage than when I insulted her. This means she has more Pride in them than herself. For all their apparent differences, the more I get to know these two sisters, the more similar they are.

I raised both my hands up in front of me in a placating manner, "Now, now, calm down. That's not what I meant. I didn't intend for you to take what I said as an insult toward your Peerage."

"Then what exactly do you mean, Shirou?" While she didn't quite calm down, at least she doesn't look like she was making plans to rip my head off anymore.

"Your peerage, they're a reflection of how you fight."

That at least was able to throw her off enough to knock the wind out of her sails.

Before she even got the chance to ask, I answered. "They're all like chess pieces. No, to be more precise, they're more like surgical knives."

I glanced around the room at all seven members of her Peerage.

"Even with just a glance I can tell that almost everyone in this room was chosen not for their raw fighting abilities. Instead you picked them for their abilities to counter your enemies' strength or to exploit their weaknesses." I gave them a slow knowing nod when I saw how their eyes widened in surprise at how close I hit the mark. No doubt they were wondering how I was able to figure that out just by looking at them. In truth I knew most of this from the reports Serafall gave me, but they didn't need to know that. "Like a craftsman choosing his tool, you picked every piece in your peerage in preparation to exploit any situation that you find yourself in.

"Now, that is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact I can honestly say that many Peerages can benefit from adopting your approach."

"Then what the heck is the problem?" The blond hair boy yelled out. Well, I at least figured out who the loud mouth of the group is.

"The problem is that you took it too far. Your plan of creating a Peerage that can adapt to every scenario has ended up creating a bunch of potentially fatal weaknesses." I addressed my words to Sona. "The first and the most obvious one is, your entire attack plan requires information on the enemy to work. You can't exploit their weaknesses or nullify their strengths if you don't know what they are. Without detailed and accurate data on your enemy, your entire attack strategy falls apart.

"In a war reliable information is a scarce resource.

"What method have you prepared for scouting information on the battlefield? Other than familiars, which are easily stopped, or your family information network, which is only geared towards Devils, you have no efficient method of getting the information you'll need to win."

"Sure," I waved a hand flippantly in the air, "in a Rating game it might be possible to gather information on your enemy, but it's equally possible for you to miss something. I'm sure more than one Devil will have one or two hidden trump cards in their deck.

"Most importantly," I looked Sona straight in the eye, "never forget that rating games are supposed to be a simulation of a real war. There is no point in learning techniques that can only work in what is basically nothing more than a popular game, but is ineffective in a real fight where actual lives are at stake."

I paused to make sure the last statement sank in. If nothing else, I hope that she will at least take that lesson to heart, it may just end up saving her life one day.

"The second key mistake is the lack of raw fighting strength in your Peerage. It's all well and good to try to exploite your enemy weakness, but there is no point to it when you're too weak to take advantage of said weakness."

Seeing the looks of confusion on some of the Peerage members, I tried to think of a better way to explain it. "Hmm, give me a second to think of an example." I leaned back into my chair as I ransacked my brain for a good method to explain. "Ah, got one!" I exclaimed while punching the palm of my hand. I'm gonna have to change the details of the fight quite a bit, but it will do.

"A few years ago, I had to fight a very powerful witch. For convenience sake let's just call her Caster for now. Anyway, the biggest problem I had was actually hitting her. For all her magical prowess she was rather fragile, so a single solid blow would take her out for the count. Yet she was a fairly fast opponent, almost as fast as a knight, but the real problem appeared when she demonstrated her teleportation ability. She could jump from one place to another in a heartbeat, only needing a couple of seconds at most to cast the spell.

"What made it worse, she was an incredibly powerfully mage. Each of her spells was capable of bring down a small building and she can cast dozens of them simultaneously. At times when she went on an all-out attack, it almost felt like it was raining spells."

That memory brought a grimace to my face. She was probably the most annoying opponent I had to fight in the entire war. I mean, sure, Saber had an A class magic resistance, but I sure as hell didn't!

"So the entire fight she would simply snipe us. She'd teleport to the top of a building a couple of hundred yards away and just bombard us with spells. There was no point finding cover, because her spells would just plow right through it. Whenever we tried to rush her she'd just teleport away and we couldn't sneak up on her because she littered the place with familiars that would inform her whenever someone was sneaking up on her." Saber may have thought of them as low-quality, but those Dragon Tooth Warriors were a pain, they made it impossible to sneak up on her.

"To make matters worse Caster was a prodigy of magic, on a scale I have never seen before, so magical based attacks or abilities were completely worthless against her." I pointedly looked at two of the Council members, Sona's two bishops, a long black haired girl and a brunet with braids. "So that invisibility spell you're so fond of will be less than worthless against her." I turned back towards Sona.

"So what will you do?" I questioned, "You are capable of harming her but not reaching her. Even your fastest peerage member has no chance of reaching her in time before she teleports away. None of your spells or magical tricks that your peerage specializes in will work on her. All the while she's raining spells down on you that will end up taking your peerage out one by one if you don't finish her soon." I gave her time to think it through. "So what will you do?"

As I watched her ponder the problem, a thought hit me. "Ah, just to clarify. This is not a hypothetical scenario, Caster was as real as you or me and I wasn't exaggerating in the slightest when I described her combat abilities. She really was that strong." While it's true that the Casters class always had a bad rep of being weak in the Holy Grail wars, that was only because they were matched up against other heroic spirits. Compared to the standards of ordinary magi or even Devils, they were absolute monsters.

While Sona was still lost in thought, one of her Peerage members, a handsome looking blue haired girl raised her hand. I felt a little too much like a teacher as I indicated for her to speak, "You said you fought this 'Caster' person right?" Seeing my nod, she continued, "Well, seeing as you're here with us alive and well, you obvious must have won right? So how did you win?"