Chapter 35 - 34

Riser was sweating bullets as the fight was about to start. It had taken a lot of convincing, to make Soma not decide on the extermination of an entire noble house of the devil race after what just happened, the complete annihilation and extermination of anyone carrying the Gremory blood so to say.

And it took even MORE effort for Riser to make Soma promise not to seal Issei's soul inside his body and turn said body into a puppet ghoul that would spend the rest of its days being little more than the relief toy of who knows how many demons in a cheap brothel while Issei's trapped in his own mind and would only be able to watch.

In truth, Riser wouldn't mind such a fate befalling the little leecher, Riser was not blind and could see how much his bro cared for that little human girl, and seeing her being stripped of all her clothing for who knows how many devils to see... yeah, Riser personally wouldn't mind seeing the servant suffer for it.

However, if Riser's friend did that to a servant of his wife, it wouldn't set the best of images for alliance between their two houses. Not that Rias in general helped, but Riser didn't want to give her actual ammunition regarding how 'terrible' he is.

Thankfully, Soma was rational enough to accept to 'tone down' the punishment for what happened. But, even still, Riser was quite confident that whatever was about to happen wouldn't be pretty.

Meanwhile, Rias was biting her nail as she saw this fight about to start. Just one more fight and she would be able to challenge Riser for her own future.

'Just one more, just one more, Issei I believe in you.'

Rias was showing clear signs of stress, but thankfully someone was there beside her and put a hand on her shoulder in a reassuring manner.

Turning, Rias saw Koneko who she couldn't be around as much as before thanks to politics. Damn, she hated politics, why couldn't they just let her live a normal life with her friends? Was it so hard to just let her be a girl with her friends for a few more years?

"Buchou, don't worry. Pervert-sempai trained hard. He can win." Koneko said, to which Rias smiled while patting the little girl's head.

"You are right, thank you for that Koneko-chan." Rias said and Koneko gave a slight smile before both turned back to the viewing screen where they could observe the fight.

///---///

"You, why are you helping that yakitori bastard?" Issei asked in anger as he saw the last person he was to face if he was to get Rias' freedom back for her.

Soma's face at this moment might as well be carved from a glacier due to how hard and cold it was, just staring at Issei with unreadable eyes. His finger moved in front of him in a unique pattern that Issei could not understand so he just ignored it.

Issei just glared more towards Soma. The little pervert might not have had any animosity towards Aya, especially after the feast for the eyes she provided, but Soma was another story entirely.

He had seen how sad the rest of the peerage were after every time they met. He had to deal with Akeno's tears after the big meeting a while back, how she collapsed afterward due to what Soma said to her, and how he made her question her own anger, bringing back several painful memories. Issei heard of the Holy Sword Project from Kiba and how Soma apparently was interested in that abomination, how he even had one of the Excaliburs in his home now. Issei also knew Soma was somewhat related to Asia's death and had even taken in one of her killers, even giving said fallen angel the gear that belongs to Asia!

And now here he stood in the way of Rias' happiness, of the girl's chance of happiness and the freedom to choose her path.

So yeah, Issei was filled with anger, and as the sign to start was about to be signaled he spoke.

"I will take you down, you bastard." Issei said as he entered the Balance Breaker form of his Sacred Gear just as the sign to start the fight was sound.

Issei was angry and wanted to dish it out on Soma, however, he was not the only one.

CRUNCH

Before Issei had a chance of dashing forward, Soma was already upon him having used Mana Burst to charge at Issei, and with a punch to the face, crushed the armor plate protecting Issei's guts.

"GAH!" Issei gasped, only to have Soma execute a roundhouse kick to the back of Issei's skull while using Mana Burst, kicking Issei's face directly into the ground.

Issei wanted to react, trying to punch back at Soma, only for Soma to catch his arm, put his foot squarely on the middle of Issei's back, and twist Issei's arm until a sickening crack was heard. Despite the armor, Issei's arm was broken in such a way that bone could be seen.

Rias' face lost all color as she saw this and she wanted to end the match right then and there, but when she tried, it was useless. Soma had used one of the simplest forms of bounded field, Ath nGabla. It was a bounded field that would only work if both parties inside it agreed to fight to the end and would only realise if one of them won or until the one that cast the spell dispelled it.

Its effects are very simple, once inside the involved parties cannot leave the fight no matter what the method used to try and escape or intervene is. From the moment Issei tried to get close and throw a punch this was no longer a honor duel, it was a no barrels fight where no outsider can interfere no matter how strong the person is or the method used.

It was a, true to form, bug in the system, that once used, could not be avoided, and from then until this fight ended, no one would be able to save Issei from the consequences of his actions.

The pervert screamed in pain as his arm was almost ripped out of its socket, only for Soma to use his right arm that was modified to punch at Issei's collarbone.

Protected by armor or not, Soma's arm was much tougher than Issei's in his current state, so Soma cracked the scales protecting that area and blood splashed Soma's face as he all but pulverized the flesh and bone beneath his hand.

Using the broken arm as leverage, Soma got off of Issei's back and proceeded to flatten the ground around himself by smacking Issei repeatedly against it from one side to the other. He smacked and crushed the rocks and everything by using Issei's bleeding form until the armor over Issei's body was all but smashed to pieces.

Issei was about to pass out from the pain, hoping this would get him out of there, when Soma put a hand on Issei's head and concentrated, using 'healing' magecraft to change Issei's brain to be unable to pass out from simple pain, removing that safety mechanism that all living organisms have.

BOOST

Being still awake, Issei tried to get some BOOSTs up to win, but as soon as Soma heard those words he proceeded to throw Issei on the ground and put his two hands over one another, and then stomp on them.

Cracking noise was heard as both of Issei's hands were broken then and there, the gems over them cracking as well. However, Soma was not satisfied with just that, proceeding to stomp again and again with all his strength until both of Issei's hands were little more than a bloody mess.

Tears of pain were streaming down Issei's face beneath the helmet, but they were ignored by Soma who proceeded to put a hand on Issei's good-ish legs, using his own version of the distortion magecraft that Fujino Asagami Mystic Eyes of Distortion could do.

Issei thought that he was already feeling too much pain, but it was far from enough as both his legs were slowly twisted left and right, the sound of bones cracking over and over could be heard as his legs were turned into twisted imitations of badly done pretzels.

Not feeling that this was enough, Soma put his right hand on Issei's head, reinforcing it, the strength of said hand skyrocketed and he clutched tight, breaking the armor protecting Issei's head.

Using this chance he waved his true punishment on Issei, making sure he would suffer for what he had done.

Silence permeated the air as Issei's grunts and screams of pain were abruptly cut as Soma moved ahead, modifying and reprogramming certain aspects of Issei's brain to a more appropriate form. And, as a final touch, he reached into Issei's soul and cut off all but one of the connections between Issei and his Sacred Gear.

With this, even if Issei could still use his gear, he would never again be able to achieve Balance Breaker and his gear would return to its most basic setting and stay like that, being no different from a Twice Critical but still being hunted down by others wanting to take a Longinus.

Honestly speaking Soma wanted to take the gear away, but Riser convinced him that doing so would be seen as stealing a Longinus from the devil race and could cause problems going forward.

Punishing the little pervert in an official match like this was fine, but stealing his gear or killing him was not good at all. Deciding to give his friend some face, Soma pulled his punches so to speak. As Soma released his hold, Issei dropped to the ground as if a puppet without strings. Soma then proceeded to use one of his nails to carve a few messages on Issei's face.

'Sexual predator in training' On the forehead.

'Worthless' on his right cheek.

'Scum of the earth' on his left cheek.

Sure, removing the scars might be possible, but not if one didn't know how to enchant a curse to make any scars impossible to remove, like what Soma had prepared in the said nail he just used, enchanting it before this match started. From this day until the end of his days Issei would be marked to show the world exactly what he was as far as Soma was concerned.

As Issei stood there paralyzed Soma used both hands, smashing them to the sides of Issei's ears and using magecraft to enhance the sound of impact, deafening Issei as he blew his eardrums. He wouldn't be able to hear anyone nor be able to walk on his own two feet, needing to crawl like a worm or be carried around like an overgrown babe until he got the treatment needed to counter what he had done.

Feeling satisfied Soma deactivated the bounded field and turned to where the audience must be and asked.

"Judge, does this count as my win or can I keep going?"

As the words 'keep going' echoed, the devils watching inhaled sharply.

Was this not enough? Did he need to go any further? What can he even do byond what was already done?

Unfortunately, the judges watching the match snapped out of it and quickly declared Soma the winner and sent Issei back to get emergency treatment. Not that it would be effective. While smacking Issei around, Soma used his hair to etch several tiny runes into Issei, they would slow down any magic treatment and Riser promised that Issei would not get a single drop of Phenex Tears for treatment till the wedding is over.

Sure, it would not look good to do that as denying treatment would make Rias more pissed at Riser, but between making Rias slightly more angry, and making his friend less likely to go on a bloody rampage with who knows how many dead by the end of it, Riser chooses the lesser of two evils.

Hopefully, any kids between Riser and Rias would inherit his brains as he was not the stupid one of this match made in hell.

///---///

As the match ended in Soma's clear victory, he sent a message that he would wait for as long as possible before the next match. Many questioned why not fight right away since he clearly was not injured or tired, but Soma just glared at those who tried to get in his way and the devils' elite got the fuck out of the way.

Seeing a human dismantle and cripple a devil Longinus user like that was scary, seeing how easily he did it made the whole thing worse.

Soma went straight to the infirmary, in a corner he could see the distraught appearance of Rias as she looked over Issei's twisted and broken form, his eyes completely vacant.

When Soma entered the room and Rias saw him, her fury over the state of her pawn took over and she let anger control her actions, her hair flaring up as her energy exploded out of her body.

"You!"

Soma ignored her, moving forward as if he did not even register her presence whatsoever.

Seeing that she was being ignored she held onto his arm to stop him and asked.

"Why is my Issei like this?"

"Because he is a lecherous dog that had to be taught about the dangers of being guided by his dick, he went through lesson #1 before and now he is enjoying lesson #2, the final lesson will come later." Soma said with fake calmness as he tried to control his anger over this whole situation.

"You, you, you!" She said as her powers rose again, in her hand a large concentration of power of destruction could be seen, but as she was about to launch it-

"You know," Soma said, Aria in his free arm as its blade came inches from Rias' unprotected neck since she was dumb enough to get so close to someone who was worlds apart from her in strength and skill. "I am getting real tired of your righteous bitchy princess bullshit."

As Soma's sword touched her neck she could feel the pain from it clearly, as the sword's holy energy was far too strong for her to resist.

However, despite what Soma might have wished, he pulled back and continued to walk. Not turning back he gave her one final warning.

"You are lucky to have been born as the younger sister of Lucifer, and even more lucky to be the future wife of my friend, otherwise I would have ended you already, I've killed for less. But, just a reminder, try to touch me or anyone that I care about, and regardless of anything else, you will not live to see the next sunrise, little princess."

As Soma said his piece Rias felt a single strand of Soma's hair pressing against her neck and squeezing just enough to be obvious he could have killed her at any time.

She could only look on as Soma moved away and sat back at Issei's bedside. They had to send someone to get a few tears from the Gremory estate, since apparently, if the heir Gremory continued to act in such a manner then the house Phenex could not be sure if the engagement would really go through so the discounts on trade and the Phenex Tears they would have otherwise provided free of charge for family would not be moving along until the wedding.

It was all going bad, but Rias was still confident she could win as the next to fight was the strongest young devil, Sairaorg.

///---///

Towards the very back of the infirmary, Aya was sitting in the bed prepared for her while hugging herself and trembling slightly. Everything was going so well, but she tried to do something herself and it failed as expected. Not only that, she felt more exposed than ever before, and when all the power she was feeling was taken away just like that, it was just terrible.

By Aya's side Ravel sat to support her friend.

In truth, as soon as Ravel saw what happen and saw the lecherous gazes of many of the devils around, she did not hesitate in using her flames to hide the viewing screen, and when someone tried to tell her to let them see she glared at the noble who said that and spoke, clearly and without any hesitation.

"One more word and I will ruin your life, do not forget who I am and what my family can do."

Normally she wouldn't say that, but she was beyond angry at the state her friend was left in and she had no patience to deal with a lecherous old man who wanted to ogle a 14 years old girl. That said, the noble was only the 18th in the line of succession of a weak family that could not match the Phenex in status or money certainly helped.

After the fight ended Ravel went straight to the infirmary, only stopping to order that no footage of what happened in this fight was to be leaked out of Phenex house. Even if a noble were to ask for the footage, it was not to be given or revealed to public viewing.

Ravel tried to talk with Aya, but the girl completely closed herself off. Ravel only left Aya's side when she heard someone else had arrived in the infirmary and went to take a look, seeing the state the bloody mess once called Issei was right now.

Feeling vindictive Ravel asked the doctors that would start treatment to not bother with giving anesthetics for the boy, even if he was to be healed he would have to feel absolutely everything. Of course, as was to be expected, Ravel made sure that it was to be kept a secret, and speaking about these orders would acquire a quite extensive punishment.

After taking care of things Ravel stayed there with Aya, holding the girl's hand as a friend should.

The curtains opened to reveal Soma standing there, which startled Aya out of her trance as he approached.

"D-Don't look at me." Aya said, taking her hand away from Ravel and curling up even more.

Soma just shook his head and sat beside her on the opposite side of Ravel.

"Aya-chan, look at me." Soma said, making the girl peek at him.

Her eyes were red, clearly, she was one step away from crying and she was barely holding on.

Soma gave her a kind smile before speaking.

"You remember what I told you before? On the day we met, I said that if you ever need anything, then just tell me. So, do you want anything?" Soma said and Aya looked down before closing her eyes tight and suddenly throwing herself at Soma's chest.

Her thin arms snaked around his waist as she put her head in his chest and mumbled.

"Can I stay like this for a bit?"

"Yes, of course." Soma said as he began to pat her back as Aya began to sob on Soma's shirt. Soon she began to vent out her frustrations and her fears, she just talked and talked as she kept hugging Soma.

Her mood improved bit by bit as she let it all out.

When it was time for the next match Soma had to disentangle himself from Aya and turned his eyes to Ravel.

"Can I count on you to watch over her while I am gone?"

"Don't worry, I got this. Just, be careful please. Sairaorg is not your normal devil, he is very strong." Ravel warned and Soma just chuckled.

"It would be better if he is, I need a good fight after the previous fight... no, that is not quite the right word. Scuffle? Not quite. Beat down? Close but still not the right word." Soma joked trying to lighten the mood.

"Crushing punishment?" Ravel suggested and Soma chuckled.

"Good enough." Soma replied as he left.

Ravel's eyes trailed after Soma's figure as he left the room, lingering a bit longer at where he was last before turning back to comforting her friend.

///---///

Meanwhile, in Issei's mind...

"Why can't I get out of here?" Issei asked as he was once again going through the recent events, starting with fighting Aya, making her get naked, defeat her, and then 'fighting' Soma only to be crushed by him.

And when he passed out, he was back at the start promising Rias to do all he could to win.

He just kept on doing the same thing over and over again, and he would always get crushed ruthlessly by Soma at the end and experience all over again the pain that Soma put him through.

Soma had planted in his brain a relatively simple suggestion, making Issei dream about recent events as if they were really repeating in real life. If Issei was to just NOT destroy Aya's clothes then the illusion would soon shatter and he would awaken, but that would mean Issei stopped being led around by his cock.

... Rias and the others would have to wait a while before Issei woke up and be able to open his eyes again. Well, not that it would make much of a difference seeing Soma had severed the nerves connecting Issei's eyes to his brain in a way that no normal operation could fix. And with Issei having his eardrums completely destroyed he would also not be able to hear anything.

Perhaps Issei could be healed if he was given a Phenex Tear, but even that was doubtful since Phenex Tears would be hard pressed to heal the brain damage inflicted on Issei by Soma. Truly, with the damage inflicted to Issei the only person who could heal him within a short time frame was Soma himself who knew precisely what happened and had a way to fix it.

But for Soma to help he would want something in exchange, and the price would not be light. And he would be sure that the bitch king would pay the right price.