True High School DxD

Volume 2 Chapter 5.1

Middle Game

I, Kiba Yuuto, immediately launched an attack at the Hyoudou Residence as soon as the game began along with my master Rias-neesan and our team's Knight, Lint Sellzen-san. This early surprise attack was Rias-neesan's idea. She predicted that the enemy team would send out scouts in order to get an idea of the current situation of the field, which was quite obvious. So, she came up with the strategy of launching a surprise attack while being in the Forbidden Invade Balor Princess form with Gasper-kun. She was fully prepared to attack the enemies while they had their guard down. Rias-neesan also knew that Ise-kun's team strategist Ravel-san wouldn't expect this kind of early surprise attack. As a result, we were able to swiftly make two of the enemy's team members retire from the game. Taking Roygun Belphegor-san out during the early stages of the match was a great accomplishment for us, as her experience and knowledge of the Rating Game would certainly make her advice valuable towards the late... no, towards the middle part of the game. ...That being said, we also had someone in our team who had the magical ability to counter Roygun-san's specialty, so we weren't exactly sure how things would turn out... But, our surprise attack plan's objective wasn't about that. That's because our surprise attack was nothing more than a part of our strategy. The reason being that Rias-neesan — no, the whole team, would reach the enemy's HQ.

As soon as the game started, we planned our strategy to have everyone surround the Hyoudou Residence from the very beginning. According to the simple rule, one wouldn't win unless one defeated the enemy's King. Therefore, the enemy's team must be deliberating on how to get past His Eminence Strada and Crom Cruach in order to fight and defeat Rias-neesan. As for them, we believed that Ise-kun, Ddraig and Bina Lessthan-san's powers were going to be the key. Therefore, they'd have to keep Ise-kun alive while drawing our attention at the same time. If that's the case, we would just have to respond by moving together with Rias-neesan along with His Eminence Strada and Crom Cruach.

—Everyone surrounded the Hyoudou Residence and watched the enemy team's movements. Rias-neesan hid herself somewhere nearby and kept an eye over the Hyoudou Residence. ... I also moved to a place where I could watch the Hyoudou Residence and hid there. The place I chose was the top floor of a certain mansion, from where I monitored the Hyoudou Residence. ... Because Elmenhilde-san had spread a countless number of bats over a wide range, even a slight movement would be known by them. We had to be as careful as possible while watching the enemy's movements at the same time. ...They had to be re-strategising in response to Rias-neesan's surprise attack. There was a possibility that Rias-neesan's move just now could have defeated Ise-kun early as he hadn't changed form yet. Prior to our actions, I had asked Rias-neesan.

"Would it be okay to defeat Ise-kun during the surprise attack?"

And she had calmly responded,

"If that's how it ends, then that means this match would be over and we will move on to the next stage."

...Rias-neesan and Ise-kun had sworn to each other that they'd defeat each other. That's why both of them weren't holding back at all. —Suddenly, I saw a strange being. From a distance, the jet-black monster popped its head out from the shadows and peeked at us. From the light pole's shadows and concrete wall's shadows, the beast of darkness popped its head out. It was Gasper-kun's ability. He must have gotten it out to scout the area like Elmenhilde-san. The beast also appeared from the veranda in the room where I was hiding in. I then waved my hand to notify Gasper of my location.

A few minutes passed. —Elmenhilde-san's bats disappeared from the area. It meant that they had finished scouting. ... It's possible that they're going to start moving. After a while, I got a message from Rias-neesan.