Chapter 52: The 1000% Confident Turkey (Patreon)

The scene shifted to the territory of the Phenex family, some distance away from the Gremory household.

Inside a room within the magnificent castle, a young man with golden hair sat alone on a sofa, legs crossed, remaining silent. He leaned slightly to the side, his elbow resting on the armrest, propping up his cheek. Muted sunlight streamed through a stained-glass window set against a nearby wall, casting shadows across his face that etched deep lines, reminiscent of those famously worn by Uchiha Itachi.

"Brother."

Suddenly, a girl's voice broke the silence from outside the door, causing Riser Phenex, lost in thought, to twitch his brow slightly.

He snapped back to reality, turning his head towards the sound. Entering the room was a girl with the same golden hair color as his, styled in high twin-tails.

Seeing the golden-haired girl calling him, Riser's serious expression immediately softened, even revealing a hint of a doting smile.

"Ravel, ah. What is it? Is something the matter?"

"Mm, it's regarding the Gremory family."

The twin-tailed girl named Ravel came to a stop beside the sofa and nodded as she spoke.

"Oh?"

Riser raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Has the Gremory household made another move? Don't tell me they're planning some sort of formal apology visit now?"

Although this guess was somewhat arrogant, it wasn't entirely impossible.

After all, ever since Sirzechs became a Maou, the Gremory family was essentially left with only Rias and her mother, Venelana. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they were quite isolated.

In contrast, the Phenex family had two older brothers above him and his younger sister Ravel below him. Their generation truly had a large number of members. Both their power and influence far surpassed the current Gremory family.

At least, in Riser's view, if the current Devil World wasn't ostensibly focused on recuperation and prohibiting serious internal conflict, the Phenex family's power could easily force the Gremory family's hand.

"No," Ravel shook her head slightly. "News came from the Devil Territory special zone an hour ago. It said the Gremory family's train has already departed from the port. I estimate they should have arrived by now."

"...Is that so."

Riser didn't appear overly surprised by this news.

Devils are, after all, a martial race that respects great strength. The families of the 72 Pillars, representing the upper echelons of the Devil World, each possessed their own trump cards, more or less. Their Phenex family, for instance, was founded upon their near-immortal regenerative abilities and the karmic flames capable of burning everything to ash.

Because of this, battles between devils were exceedingly common. Any issue that couldn't be negotiated could usually be resolved with a fight.

For devils, the option of "fleeing from battle" absolutely did not exist. Fighting bravely but losing was a matter of strength, but directly avoiding a fight would bring lifelong shame.

If the Gremory family chose to flee at this critical juncture, they wouldn't even deserve to call themselves one of the 72 Pillar noble families anymore. They wouldn't be worthy.

"So, brother, how are your preparations? The challenge invitation for tomorrow's battle has already been sent out." Ravel placed her hands behind her back, her cool, pretty face narrowing her eyes slightly.

"Naturally, there are no problems whatsoever."

Riser scoffed at her words, magically producing a stack of printed documents from behind him. The faint watermark of some encyclopedia could be seen in the corner of each page.

"These past few days, I've thoroughly researched that kid. That Hanakain family... I remember they're some kind of Onmyoji clan from the human world, right? Humans, because of their physical fragility, must rely on enhancements from Sacred Gears to reach power comparable to Angels and Devils. And this Hanakain family, from their first generation until now, hasn't produced a single Sacred Gear user. Although they later invented things like talismans or shikigami, at best, they're only capable of dealing with mid-class devils."

"Is that so? Then they really aren't anything impressive."

Hearing this, Ravel lost much of her interest.

She walked around the armrest to the front of the sofa, waving a hand to gesture for her brother to make some space. Only after Riser obligingly shifted over did she smooth her skirt and sit down.

"Does that mean you're very confident about tomorrow's battle, brother?"

"Does that even need asking?"

Riser smiled proudly.

"These past two days, not only did I uncover that kid's background, but I also discovered a fatal weakness of human Onmyoji. Do you know what it is, Ravel?"

"...If you want to say it, just say it. Don't force me to play along."

The golden-haired girl with twin-tails was not giving him any face.

Riser's expression faltered for a moment, but he quickly recovered. "Simply put, because human bodies are frail, without the support of a Sacred Gear, relying solely on the techniques they invented means even casting a simple fireball requires a significant amount of time to prepare."

Ravel shook her head. "Sounds troublesome."

As the fourth child of the Phenex family, she also possessed the blood of the phoenix. For devils with phoenix blood, releasing fire was as natural as speaking or opening their eyes – an instinctive act engraved in their DNA.

Therefore, the idea of needing a long time to prepare for something like releasing a fireball was simply unimaginable to Ravel, like needing to charge up just to say a normal sentence.

Could it be his tongue gave out from too much spicy food? she mused inwardly.

"Well, humans are just fragile creatures, after all."

Riser burst out laughing, then abruptly lowered his voice.

"In tomorrow's battle, I'll ensure that kid is incinerated by my karmic flames before he can even launch a single attack."

"Yeah, yeah~"

Looking at her brother's utterly confident expression, Ravel responded perfunctorily, then gracefully stood up from the sofa, waving her hand.

"Alright, I've delivered the message I needed to. If there's nothing else, I'll be going now."

"Uh, wait a second!"

Seeing his sister about to leave, Riser instantly switched gears, once again pulling out a large booklet of discs from behind him. The cover bore the title "Kamen Rider".

"Ravel, I had them pick this up for you while they were gathering information in the human world. Although I haven't watched it myself, I heard it's a pretty good hero show among humans."

"No, I don't want to watch it."

The golden-haired girl, who had only paused upon hearing his call, turned and walked away without hesitation. Her voice drifted back from outside the door.

"You should watch such childish things yourself, brother. Also, it's almost time for dinner. Stop trying to act profound here."

Riser: "..."

Just why did things turn out like this? he wondered. Ravel used to be such an adorable girl when she was little, fascinated by all sorts of hero legends. Why did she change so much?

Girls really do change drastically as they grow up.

...

Meanwhile, within the Gremory household.

In the dining room, everyone was seated around the table, eating.

"The appointed time for the battle is tomorrow. That means we'll have to leave early tomorrow morning."

"Mm."

"Fubuki, don't you have any thoughts? Er... or maybe psychological pressure, something like that?"

"No."

At this point, the young man put down his knife and fork, pausing his meal. He thought for a moment, then added,

"But since he possesses the bloodline of the phoenix, he should be able to take a couple more punches from me then."