Azure Dragon Emperor: High School DxD X Male Reader

Ch. 29: One's Resolve

Dark Throne Room

3rd Person POV

"...That's quite a story." Said the man cast in shadow.

"Indeed." Agreed the silver haired maid.

The man in shadow slouched in his throne as he sighed. "Sounds just like Rias." He claimed.

"Honestly, I don't think she has any chance of winning." Proclaimed Grafiya.

"No...That she does not."

"But you let her go through with the training anyway?" The maid questioned.

"I let her make her own decisions..." Explained the red haired man in shadow. "She's next in line to be head of the House of Gremory, after all. I seriously hope she's capable of at least that." He proclaimed.

"As do I." Agreed Grayfia.

The man tapped his finger on his chin in thought and smiled as he let out a relaxed sigh.

"So, I'm curious. What do you make of Rias' Dragon Emperors?" The man beseeched the maid before him.

"While I can't say anything for the Red Dragon, the Azure Dragon Emperor has proven to be much stronger than we were led to believe. And he is undoubtedly getting stronger. When I restrained him with a binding spell during Lord Riser's visit, I had to double the strength I would normally use to even stand a chance of holding him back." The maid informed.

"In other words, if you didn't use more power..." The red-haired man inquired.

"Then Riser Phenex would most likely be nothing more than a pile of ash at this very moment." Grafiya added.

"Interesting..." The man cast in shadow acknowledged with great interest. "I'm anxious to see what kind of things await in the game. Aren't you?"

"Of course. Can't you tell from the excitement on my face?" Grayfia said with her same emotionless, straight faced facade.

The man chuckled. "But of course. However, I'm afraid time is not within our favor. For now let's just be patient." The man chuckled to himself in amusement, intrigued on how things had progressed thus far.

Summer Home

A total of seven days remained before the Rating Game commenced. At the same time, it had also been 72 hours since (Y/N) went into the woods for his isolated training.

"It's certainly been a while since (Y/N) left on his own. I wonder if he's okay." Rias pondered to her Queen.

"I agree. I'm starting to worry about him. According to Asia, he hasn't even come back to rest once since the day we got here." Akeno explained worriedly.

Rias nodded, slowly looking up to the full moon through the nearby window. "It makes me wonder what exactly he's doing out there. What kind of training would make him want to do this?" The master pondered.

Akeno thought silently for a moment, quickly thinking of a possibility for their fellow devil's absence. "If I may, I think I have a theory." She said, gaining the Princess of Ruin's attention.

"And what's that?"

"Well, I could be wrong, but he may be trying to achieve that form he achieved back in the caverns." Akeno claimed in reference to the dragonic-hybrid form (Y/N) had undergone in order to aide in their escape of the tomb from one month back.

"It's possible..." Rias claimed. "It did resemble a Balance Breaker to a degree. And while I want to believe he could do it, being able to master it, let alone achieve it in this amount of time is unheard of and nearly impossible."