The Nekomata's tale, Male Nekomata X DxD

Chapter 13: The Rating Game Vs Riser

FINAL DAY

(KATSU'S POV)

It had been 10 days since we began training for the deciding rating game against that dickhead Riser Phenex and his all female peerage to decide Rias's freedom. All of the given time for us that was used as a handicap was now used up, it was time to fight. To say I was stressed would be the biggest understatement in the history of understatements. My anxiety has never been this high since my childhood, it all came down to this. It was either we win, or Rias becomes simply property to Riser's grizzly hands. We all grew a ton over the past week and a half, all perfecting our team harmony and skills. Kiba got significantly faster with his strikes and swings, he could dash ridiculously fast and hit hard too. However he was sort of a glass cannon on those regards, able to hit hard offensively however being fairly weak on the defence. While his defenses have gone up a threshold, it's nothing to write home about. That's not to doubt his capabilities of course, Kiba will bring the pain when it comes to the rating game. I know of it.

Akeno also improved her powers of this time period, of course in between trying to flirt with me. Her skill with her lightning along with her range has increased. Her S/M Desires are still present in battle but she has the ability to properly restrain them, for the most part at least. On top of that, she really came into her own when it came to being second in command with Rias. She had been growing her leadership skills, if Rias fell she would be the one to guide us in battle. With all of this in mind, she will indeed bring honor to the gremory household.

Even Asia got stronger too. Her healing capabilities have become more pronounced and she is now a lot more level headed in tough situations. While her ability to heal afar has not improved a ton since she first discovered the skill, it was enough to hopefully get the job done. She was also capable of defending herself for a short period of time, due to her utilizing the few offensive spells that she was given. We still worry for her overall safety and wellbeing during combat, we would rather her stay back while we handle the bulk of the enemies. If we lost Asia, our chances of winning fall almost to zero percent. Regardless, Asia will play her part well i'm sure of it.

Koneko got swifter in combat, utilizing her already extreme strength in turn with her newly developed speed to be able to deliver powerful swift blows. She however did not have the courage to use her Nekoshou abilities during the rating game out of fear of being discriminated and targeted. It's a shame really, if she had the courage to tap into those powers she could become even stronger then she is right now. It could possibly tip the scales in our favour. But every shortcoming has a silver lining so we have to take what we can get. Her speed improving is a good start.

Lastly Rias got her head in the game and became a better battle thinker. She is the general while we are the soldiers. She accepted that our moves are reliant on her commands, and how they have to be perfect and without error.  So overall the team as it currently stood, improved exponentially in the 10 days we were given. This would be no cake walk however. Riser has tons of experience underneath his belt, not to mention he had a more experienced and more diversified squad to work with. He is only known to have lost a few rating games in the past, all of them out of respect for the opponents he was challenging. So to say this rating game would be a walk in the park would be a lie.

Me and the others had left the cozy confines of the cabin and made our way back to Kuoh Academy awaiting the battle. I sat on the sofa next to Koneko, clutching the arm of the sofa in anticipation. She also sat in silence, pondering things it seemed. Sona and Tsubaki were also in the room with us, seemingly waiting to see us off. That's what I thought, but as Rias quickly explained.

"In a rating game, it is traditionally ran in a specific way. A fight between 2 families are relayed by a neutral third party. In this case, Sona and Tsubaki will be the neutral party of our rating game" Rias said as she took a final sip from her mug of tea.