Night had fallen over Kuoh Academy with a strange silence—too heavy, as if even the wind had chosen not to disturb the Gremory heiress.

  Akeno walked down the hallway carrying a tray of tea. Her steps were soft, but her chest was tight. Something in the air screamed that Rias had failed to calm down all day.

  She pushed the clubroom door open with her elbow.

  The room was nearly dark.

  Only a faint lamp illuminated Rias, sitting curled up on the couch, knees hugged to her chest, magical documents floating around her like shattered mirrors of anxiety.

  “Rias…” Akeno whispered.

  No response.

  Akeno set the tray down and knelt in front of her, slowly, as if any sudden movement might break her.

  “Presi…” she said, using the gentlest tone she had. “You need to rest, even a little.”

  Rias’s voice came out rough, as if she hadn’t spoken in hours.

  “I can’t… not tonight.”

  Akeno really looked at her then.

  Red eyes—not from magic, but from crying.

  Shallow, uneven breathing.

  An aura compressed so tightly it could barely breathe.

  It was the first time she’d seen her like this in a long while.

  Not since the fight with her family.

  Not since her rebellion.

  “Rias…” Akeno tried. “The Rating Game isn’t a death sentence.”

  Rias let out a short, bitter laugh.

  “Against Riser Phenex… it is.”

  Akeno swallowed. Because she knew it too.

  Rias looked down at her trembling hands.

  “If I lose… it means—”

  She didn’t finish.

  Akeno completed it in her mind:

  That they marry you. That they hand you over. That they force you into a life you hate.

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  But what she said was:

  “…that he doesn’t deserve you.”

  Rias let out a sound halfway between laughter and a sob.

  “What would I do without you…?”

  “You’d cry more,” Akeno whispered, brushing her cheek.

  Rias lightly tapped her arm—an automatic gesture—but it faded just as quickly. Everything in her was dimming.

  The floating magic around them emitted a weak hum.

  Rias took a shaky breath.

  “Akeno… I’m scared.”

  Akeno closed her eyes for a second.

  It was too honest a confession.

  Too heavy.

  “I know,” she said. “But you’re not alone.”

  Rias looked at her, vulnerable in a way she rarely allowed.

  “I don’t want to lose them. I don’t want to lose my family.”

  “Then let us fight for you,” Akeno said—firm, for the first time that night.

  “Kiba, fall back!”

  “Koneko, right flank!”

  “Issei—not yet!”

  Rias’s voice echoed through the combat simulator, which recreated an artificial volcanic battlefield. The heat was oppressive. The ground trembled with every impact.

  Phenex’s illusory fire regenerated.

  Always.

  Akeno descended from above, a perfect lightning strike tearing through the air.

  Beautiful.

  Precise.

  Useless.

  The flames closed over the damage in seconds.

  Kiba slammed into an invisible barrier and rolled across the ground.

  Koneko shattered a replica—only for it to reform before her eyes.

  “Issei!” Rias shouted when she saw him thrown back. “Get up!”

  Issei tried to stand, but the system had already decided.

  “Gremory Team — Total Defeat.”

  The simulator shut down.

  Silence.

  Rias dropped to her knees.

  Koneko lowered her head.

  Kiba clenched his sword hilt until his knuckles turned white.

  Akeno stared at the floor.

  Issei forced a smile.

  It wasn’t that they were weak.

  There was simply no way to win.

  “I don’t want to lose them…” Rias repeated in the present. “Not like this. Not because of a marriage I never asked for.”

  Akeno took her hands in hers.

  “Then let’s fight anyway,” she said. “Even if we can’t win.”

  Rias slowly shook her head.

  “That’s not enough this time.”

  Akeno tightened her grip.

  “Tomorrow’s Rating Game isn’t designed for you to win,” she said. “It’s designed for you to obey.”

  The words landed heavily.

  Rias tensed.

  Akeno hugged her from behind, resting her forehead against her back.

  “But even so,” she whispered, “we’ll go in knowing we’re yours. That we fight for you. Not for Phenex. Not for his rules.”

  Rias inhaled sharply.

  “Akeno…”

  “No matter what happens,” Akeno continued, “we won’t fall in front of him.”

  In the outer hallway, Kiba leaned against the wall.

  Koneko ate a cookie without enthusiasm.

  Issei held his bandaged ribs.

  “I’m not strong enough…” Issei murmured.

  “Rias didn’t ask for that,” Koneko replied. “She asked you to stay alive.”

  Kiba nodded.

  “Strength doesn’t always come first,” he said. “Sometimes it comes after you decide not to retreat.”

  Issei clenched his fists.

  “I’m going to protect her.”

  Kiba looked at him calmly.

  “You’re going to try. That already puts you ahead of many.”

  When Akeno returned to her room, she closed the door carefully.

  And only then—when no one could see her—

  The tears fell.

  She leaned against the wood, eyes closed, breathing unevenly.

  “Riser…” she whispered. “If you hurt her again…”

  Soft lightning danced across her fingertips.

  “…I won’t forgive you.”

  Somewhere in the sky, thunder answered.