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"Please calm your anger, Lord. I apologize for Riser's disrespect. Please spare his life!"
Grayfia stepped forward, bracing herself, and pleaded.
"Spare him? On what grounds? Because of you? Or that group of turkeys behind him?"
"No one is saving him today. No matter who comes."
Grayfia felt a spike of anxiety and pressed on.
"Lord, I will have the Phoenix Family compensate you. Any demands you wish to make."
Kaito, who had fully intended to kill the turkey, paused at that. Something seemed to cross his mind.
"Any conditions?"
Grayfia allowed herself a quiet breath of relief. As long as there was room to negotiate, it could be managed. Whatever the conditions, the Phoenix Family would pay.
"Yes. Any conditions."
Kaito's aura receded. The crushing pressure in the room lifted instantly.
"Hoo... hoo... hoo..."
Riser gasped for air, drenched in cold sweat, staring at Kaito with undisguised terror. He had just truly felt death breathing on the back of his neck.
"Since you're letting me set conditions, here they are." Kaito held up a finger. "First — annul the engagement between Rias and this turkey."
A second finger. "Second — I've heard Phoenix Tears are quite something. Bring eight or ten tons of it."
A third. "Third — he can keep his life. But not without punishment. Diablo, cripple his limbs."
The moment Kaito finished speaking, a figure in a black butler's suit appeared before everyone as if from nowhere.
"Yes, Kaito-sama!"
Diablo bowed to Kaito and Rimuru, then turned to Riser with a pleasant smile. Riser looked into those cold eyes and felt the fear of death flood back into him all over again.
"You... what are you—"
Tear!
"Ah ah ah ah!!! My arm!"
Everyone watched in shock as Diablo effortlessly tore off Riser's right arm. Not one of them had seen the strike.
"President... his strength is probably on par with your brother, Sirzechs-sama."
Akeno's voice was quiet, her eyes fixed on Diablo as he calmly cleaned the blood from his hands.
"Just who is Kaito-sensei? To have a subordinate like that..."
Rias nodded slowly.
"But Kaito-sensei is helping the President break off the engagement, isn't he?" Koneko looked between them with a puzzled expression. "Isn't that a good thing?"
"That's right, President." Yuuto rested a hand on his sword, smiling. "I don't think we need to be wary of Kaito-sensei."
Rias and Akeno both blinked. Oh. Right. Kaito-sensei was on their side. His subordinates were on their side. So why had they been on guard?
The answer, if they were honest, was simple — Kaito, who had always been so easygoing, had suddenly felt like an entirely different person. Ready to kill without a second thought. It had taken a moment to process.
Grayfia, meanwhile, had reached her own conclusion: she should not have come. She should have stayed in the Underworld.
Annulling the engagement was manageable — if Riser lost his life, the engagement meant nothing anyway.
But Phoenix Tears in tons? If it were bottles, the Phoenix Family might grit their teeth and manage it, for Riser's sake. Tons — even if every member of the Phoenix Family wept themselves hollow, it would take tens of thousands of years to accumulate that much.
The third condition — crippling the limbs — she had no particular objection to. One must pay for one's mistakes. Phoenix Family members were resilient. He'd recover eventually.
This last thought was only because Grayfia didn't know Diablo. Had she known, she likely wouldn't have had it.
Diablo was one of the Seven Primordial Demons — in this world, an ancestor of demonkind itself. What ability hadn't he encountered? A mere immortality wouldn't slow him down.
Tear!
"Ah ah ah ah!"
His left arm this time.
"My, my. For a demon to scream so loudly — truly undignified." Diablo looked down at Riser, who lay bleeding and wailing on the floor, face streaked with tears. A flicker of displeasure crossed his eyes.
He used magic to lift Riser's body and hold it before him. A white silk scarf appeared in his hand.
"There." He tied it carefully over Riser's eyes. "No more tears to see. Now — shall we continue?"
Tear! "Ah ah ah ah! My leg!"
Tear! "Ah ah ah ah!"
Rias and the others watched Riser writhing on the ground, all four limbs gone, and felt a chill settle deep in their bones. They knew Diablo was on their side. They knew Riser was a High-Class Devil with a supposedly immortal body.
It didn't help much.
"That's enough, Diablo. Don't make it so bloody — the younger ones will have nightmares."
Kaito glanced at the barely conscious Riser and waved Diablo off.
"Ah! To have allowed such scum to defile your eyes and Rimuru-sama's eyes — truly a failure on my part. Please, punish me!"
Diablo's expression was unmistakably hopeful. Kaito pressed a hand to his forehead.
"You didn't do anything wrong. Stand down."
A flicker of disappointment passed over Diablo's face. He bowed, hand over chest, and stepped back.
Grayfia watched this exchange and resisted the urge to say something. If he was so worried about the younger ones getting traumatized, he could have stopped things earlier. Now that it was over, he was playing the reasonable one.
"Lord, regarding the first condition — could Rias and Riser settle it through a Rating Game? In Riser's current state, Rias is certain to win. It would also give the various Underworld families a proper explanation."
Kaito didn't answer immediately. He looked at Rias.
Rias understood. He was asking her. She looked at the half-conscious Riser on the floor, steadied herself, and gave Kaito a small nod.
"Alright. I agree."
Grayfia allowed herself another small breath of relief.
"Thank you for your understanding. As for the second condition..."