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Top Secret

Watching the video recording after the incident, only a handful of people saw this top secret. This was Diehauser Belial’s rating game. The video of the <<The Champion of 10 Rounds>> was recorded. It happened in the third round. Diehauser Belial’s opponent was the third son of the Phoenix family — Raiser Phoenix. The location of the battle was an ancient ruin deep underground. Some parts of the video were shaky and unclear, so please forgive me. After 30 minutes into the rating game, the peerages had been mostly defeated, thus Raiser Phoenix decided to enter the outskirts of the ruins, a dome shaped cavern. Because ordinary cameras were not able to capture the entire area, this camera was not used for the audience, but was a hidden camera for monitoring. Raiser Phoenix entered the cave with his sister, the bishop Ravel Phoenix. Upon reaching the centre of the cave, and entering the open space, they waited for Champion Diehauser Belial. After encountering Belial, he said

“Diehauser-dono, I sincerely thank you for showing us a good game, the only member of my peerage left is the [Bishop] who my sister is. My defeat is inevitable. Although somewhat presumptuous, I want to have a one on one match against kings here.”

Raiser had a fearless expression.

“Onii-sama, you think the same way as Ise-sama. It looks like he had some influence on you.”

“Shh, be quiet! A battle of kings against each other will make the audience excited! A little bit of fan service!”

“Fine, whatever.”

Ordinary conversation between siblings. But, the Champion smiled deeply.

“An exciting match…eh. Raiser Phoenix-dono, an exciting match…what do you mean?”

Raiser made a surprised expression. The Champion continued

“From start to finish, using clever tactics to overwhelm opponents, or a last-minute comeback victory, or going all out against each other. I…think that in my time of the games, I’ve experienced all of them.”

The Champion shook his head.

“…No, that’s a lie. I, aside from when I’ve been pressured, I’ve won in the way that I intended it to be. If you want to know what a reversal and equal fight is, it’s something that I intentionally allow the game to develop into.”

Raiser was confused.

“Diehauser-dono, what are you actually trying to say?”

“…Raiser-dono, I have not lost since I was born. I’ve done everything. I’ve achieved everything. I have never seen defeat in a rating game.”

“Diehauser-dono, I don’t know what your intention is…. But, please allow me to ask one thing. Why are you telling me this? Do you need to confide your feelings with me in this game?”

“…Unsophisticated, I want to say. No, it really lacks style. For the players to speak of unnecessary things in these sacred games; they should be saying nothing but insults at each other. I’m currently doing this as the Champion; what an awful Champion.”

The Champion shook his head. His entire body released a mass of energy. The Champion’s hand extended in front of him as he was ready to release an enormous amount of demonic energy. Sensing something, Ravel Phoenix stood in front to protect her brother, who was the [King].

“Onii-sama! Get out of here quickly! This person’s attack—”

A spear of demonic energy suddenly appeared from the side and pierced through Ravel Phoenix’s abdomen. The demonic energy in the Champion’s hands looked like it was just a feint. Ravel Phoenix who had received a fatal injury was bleeding from her abdomen. But, the game’s emergency retiring mechanism when someone received a fatal injury did not activate. The Phoenix’s special ability didn’t respond, and his sister was simply lying flat on the ground; Raiser held her up.

“Ravel?”

He called her name but there was no response, and she remained still. The Champion shook his head.

“…Even if she is invulnerable, against my [Worthless] ability, it looks like it’s useless. There is also a special barrier within this cave. Transportation will not occur, and the events which occur in here won’t be transmitted to the outside.”

The Belial family’s special ability is [Worthless], and as its name implies, it will turn the opponent’s special ability into something worthless for a short period of time. In this case, the Phoenix family’s special ability [Immortality] became worthless, so Ravel Phoenix’s regeneration was cancelled. In addition, at this time, just as the Champion said, the cave had a strange barrier. But at the time, no one was aware that the current situation was abnormal.

“……”

Raiser was silent. Anger was causing his body to tremble.

“…Damn it. Damn it, Diehaaauuusserrrrrrrr!!!!!”

The Champion expressionlessly looked at Raiser who was shouting angrily. The Champion said to Raiser

“Raiser Phoenix-dono, don’t you think it’s strange? Why in the [Evil Pieces], [—-] of [————]? Eight pawns, two knights, bishops rooks and also a queen. Originally there should have been [—-], the pieces were given something [——–] instead.”

The Champion took something out of his pocket. Because it was confidential, a part of it was blurred out. The thing that the Champion took out had been edited. That matter is confidential.

“—That is!”

The Champion showed the questioning Raiser the object in his hand as he said

“—[—-] of [—-], [Evil Pieces], the Maou who made them, Ajuka Beelzebub, not me. Yet he created them. The method to produce them was destroyed after they were made. This [—-] rumour is not unheard of. Urban legends, rumours like [—-] of [——–] are rather famous amongst the Devils who like to gossip. Among my cousins, there is one who is very fond of rumours, the gossiping type of girl. By chance, that cousin had her territory in Japan’s [————], she found the reclusive Ajuka Beelzebub-sama in the vicinity by accident. So she—”

The audio here is edited as it is highly confidential. After ‘So she’, the audio had been modified greatly.

“There is only one of [——–]. People who were given it, they could do things like [————] and [————]. So they [————] and [————]. Ajuka Beelzebub-sama is simply too extraordinary.”

“What do you intend to do with that?”

Raiser asked.

“You don’t need to know.”

The Champion released demonic energy towards Raiser. The video here is unclear, and the image could not be recognised for several seconds. When the scene was visible again, Raiser and Ravel Phoenix were both lying on the ground. Both of them were completely motionless. At this time, a change occurred within the cave. Accompanied by a teal coloured glow, a magic circle appeared. An enormous creature emerged from the magic circle. After witnessing this, the Champion exclaimed in admiration

“—I have heard the rumours. When unpredictable events occur in a rating game, or when a game is played maliciously, there will be a corresponding response undertaken secretly.”

<< That’s surprising for you to say. Did you specifically call me out here? >>

The large creature with pale blue scales — the dragon asked the Champion.

“—The Dragon Queen with celestial blue scales, the Chaos Karma Dragon, Tiamat. The referee behind the rating games, and also one of the real administrators…”

Within the rules or special competitions of the rating games, when the worst imaginable situation occurs, certain emergency measures will be activated. For example, if players are forced to retire by transportation, but are unsuccessful, the referees will intervene in the game as a special case to handle the event. Starting from about one hundred and fifty years ago, that role was taken up by one of the five Dragon Kings — the Chaos Karma Dragon Tiamat. However, situations such as these are extremely rare, and it has only occurred twice in the past. The dragon Tiamat entered an offensive stance against the Champion.

<< Don’t blame me. I’m doing this according to my agreement with Ajuka Beelzebub, to correct the abnormalities of the games. >>

“Known as the strongest of the Dragon Kings, that is rather commendable.”

<< Silence, this is only my gratitude towards Ajuka. I don’t serve anyone and I don’t take orders from anyone. >>

“Exactly. She is one of the various people who have an important position in my games, Champion Belial-dono.”

A third person’s voice resounded within the cave as light from a transportation magic circle glowed. The person who came forth from the magic circle was the Maou Ajuka Beelzebub. Tiamat spoke with a tone of surprise towards Ajuka

<< —You also came directly here. It seems that this is a rather serious matter. >>

“Well, this isn’t something that we can let Sirzechs or that old man of Bael see.”

The Champion greeted him

“I’m honoured to be able to meet you. Transcender — Maou Ajuka-sama. I understand your reason for coming here, Ajuka-sama, that is—”

Halfway through Diehauser Belial’s sentence, in the instant that Ajuka Beelzebub opened his mouth, the video suddenly ended. Yes, the video broke off there.

(29/9)

Continues on to Afterword.