In the time since Issei's group had gotten their familiars, not much had changed for the teens. The new additions had both easily fit into the group and found that while the training was harsh at first it did help them gain strength. Tomoe had warmed up to the Kendo girls since they were all swordswoman and even Ruruko had found the rest of the Student Council and Issei's group easy to talk to about anything.

The biggest thing to happen though for the group before summer break was that Rias and Issei finally had their chance to get together and work on fixing their strained friendship as Rias apologized to him profusely and let him know why she did it; she'd had a fear of blood that no one else knows about and something with his condition always kicked her fight or flight into flight mode.

Issei for his part accepted her apology and understood what she was talking about and could see how something like that would cause issues, and while they were at it he worked on helping Sona mend her friendship with Rias and once they were all under better speaking terms, they started having a meeting between the three of them at least once a week just catching up on things going on around town and with their peerages, and that's where he was headed now was to one of those meetings. "Hey Sona, Rias. Sorry I'm late." He said as he opened the door to the ORC only to realize there was someone new he'd never met before in the room.

"Who the hell is this that would talk to you two so casually."

"I'd ask the same thing. Who the hell are you?" Issei asked back not liking this guy's attitude.

"Clearly you haven't heard that you shouldn't speak without permission when around your betters."

"What the hell guys. Arguing like children. You both should be ashamed of yourselves." Sona stepped in trying to calm things down as she could tell Issei was getting pissed off, but she knew that with how both guys were she probly wouldn't be able to do anything in this situation.

"Clearly neither of you know what you're doing if you're letting a peon like this talk to you so casually." Riser said figuring this guy was just some human or low-class devil as he couldn't feel very much power coming off him.

"You want to put your money where your mouth is asshole?"

'Damnit why am I not surprised neither of them is listening to me.' Sona thought as she turned towards Rias, hoping to get this stopped before it got any worse. She only knew one way that should stop this in its tracks. "Rias call Grayfia please and get her here. She should be able to get this situation calmed down." Getting a nod of agreement from her as she moved away to make the call. What didn't surprise the two was that Grayfia's magic circle popped up even before Rias finished explaining what was going on.

Grayfia had been in a meeting when she got the call from Rias and knew instantly what had happened even before the story finished so excused herself to go deal with the situation, and found it exactly like she knew it would be.

While she would normally have been there from the start for something like this since they all knew that Rias was not a fan of the agreement, things changed at the last minute where she couldn't be there and it turned out that it was a bad mistake.

She had to internally smile at her son who was calling out Riser, who Rias was in an arranged marriage with, for his stuck-up attitude but kept her face neutral. "Enough you two." She said not yelling but making sure to have put on her authoritative voice to make sure they stepped down. Issei knew immediately he needed to step back as he didn't want to deal with his mother being pissed off. Riser for his part couldn't fathom why they were protecting this boy but did back down as while he had never officially met Grayfia before, he knew of her power and she did outrank him.

"As you wish, though I don't understand why you three won't let me take care of this arrogant human." Riser said before Grayfia threw a small icicle past his ear making Issei wince as he knew how much those could hurt from training, though also kept quiet. He knew that if his mother had been called, then this was something big but as he hadn't heard anything he didn't know what, though had to guess it likely had something to do with his aunt, both cause of it being Grayfia called, as well as the meeting was in the ORC clubroom.

"You call him arrogant, but I doubt you even know who he is." She replied, getting a confused look from him.

"Please, enlighten me than as it seems like I'm missing something."

"I'm sure you heard about how years ago my oldest son was kidnapped from his crib at our house by a stray devil?"

Riser may be arrogant and not worry about anything but himself, but he did vaguely remember something like that happening and making the news. "I do remember hearing something along those lines, and also that he had been recently found, but you can't tell me this boy is your son?" He couldn't believe that this boy could be the long-lost son of Grayfia. Not only could he not feel any power coming off of him and his arrogance still somewhat upfront.

Smirking internally, Grayfia turned to Issei with him understanding what she was asking him to do. "Issei if you would please." Getting a nod from him as he let free some of his control on his power go and let just a bit of it out, enough to prove that he was his parent's child, and causing Riser to step back in shock as he hadn't been expecting this from the boy since he hadn't felt it on him at all, which meant that he had a lot of control over his powers.

After a couple seconds, Issei sealed his power back up before going and hugging his mother and sitting beside her as she prepared to be a mediator in this situation. "Yes, this is my son so I would be careful on words next time."

"Well then, I'm sorry for my ignorance. To have so much control over your power though is staggering, so you must be very talented."

"Thank you. Now if you don't mind, could you tell me who you are?"

"I am Riser Phenex, the second son of the Phenex Clan. I only came here to the human world to try and convince my fiancée Rias to come back to the Underworld instead of living in the dreary human world."

"I already told you Riser I will not marry you. I don't care that this is an arranged marriage as I want to marry someone of my choosing not like this."

"I don't know why your so against it as this is for the betterment of the devil community since we're both from noble families."

"I. Will. Not. Marry. You."

Issei at this point had one question going through his head as this was the first he had heard anything about this. "This is more for my curiosity than anything but why couldn't you just ask another noble and break off this agreement."

"It's expected of noble males to have children to continue our lines, so I'll likely take multiple wives."

"Then why are you trying so hard. I would go and find someone more willing."

"I won't say you don't have a valid point, but as you two are related you might see things differently but who wouldn't want to marry her. She's beautiful and powerful, and one I want to marry."

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Seeing as this was going nowhere and as she knew of a way that Rias might be able to get out of it due to being in the room when the marriage agreement was made, slight though as it was, Grayfia stepped in getting everyone's attention. "If I may. In the original written agreement, there was a way for Rias to get out of the marriage if she is unhappy with it, and that is to request a Rating Game and win against Riser." Before anyone could say anything in response, Rias stepped in.

"Then that's what I want to do. I'll do anything to get out of this."

"Well then. I think this should be an interesting game at the least since I've got a full peerage as well as experience in Rating Games. With those facts in place, I'll give you a month to prepare and possibly find more peerage members if you only have the ones that you dismissed earlier when I showed up. Until then." Riser said as he teleported out of the room.

Rias for her part just sighed in exasperation. "Why was he the one I had to be engaged to… at least this time it was just him and not his whole peerage."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You heard him talk about how he'll likely take multiple wives… he was being nice I'm sure since Grayfia was here but he was meaning sex slaves. He's a womanizing jerk and spent the last time here groping his queen and just making a scene."

Issei was starting to understand why Rias wouldn't agree to this marriage. "Now I wish that this was my problem so I could deal with the guy myself."

"While I thank you for the thought, it's my problem, not yours," Rias replied, thankful that he felt that way when she noticed that Sona looked like she just had a great plan come to mind. "Sona?"

"You're right it's not his problem right now, but we could make it his." She said, remembering a little-known fact to most of the devil community for the moment and making both Rias and Issei look at her in confusion while Grayfia smiled and excused herself to get back to work as she knew what Sona was going to suggest and planned on making sure that it would be cleared to happen.

"Don't forget I had to use my two Mutated Rooks along with Issei's King piece to revive him, so technically he's a part of my peerage, but we also have a unique situation in that he can deny being my Rook if he so chooses. I honestly don't know how all of it works but from what Ajuka told us is it has something to do with the fact that it took two different pieces from two different peerages." She said, getting a shocked look from the two as they caught onto what she was talking about.

"So if he agrees to it, you could trade him to me and he'd be able to fight for me in the match," Rias said having forgotten about that fact but was starting to be thankful they had made up by this point.

"I don't mind. I'd love to take that guy down a peg." Issei said looking forward to the idea, though he did have to ask a question. "If I join you does that mean my peerage would also have to fight?" Not too fond of the idea if he was being honest.

"No. In situations like this only the person traded is required to fight even if they have their own peerage."

"But that still leaves us with the issue of not enough manpower to take him out of the game, especially when you factor in his Phoenix abilities that allow him to heal from any damage."

Issei for his part had started getting a plan in the back of his mind after hearing her thoughts. "Then we would just need to overwhelm him. Do you think Kiba and Akeno would be able to stall for about half an hour for me?" He asked not sure if his two buddies would have had enough training to help in that part of his plan yet.

"Not by themselves. What's on your mind?"

"Ever since I got back as a devil, my time I could boost up to before I was at my limit got increased by a lot, and after thirty minutes of boosting, my ice magic is the closest DDraig has ever seen from anyone using ice magic to being able to freeze his flames, and I believe I can use that to our advantage."

"Taking Riser out of the game by immobilizing him. I like the idea, but to get that much time, they would definitely need some help. Unless…" Rias said pausing to think right as Sona caught on to what she was thinking.

"Don't tell me your thinking what I think you are." She asked getting a confused look from Issei.

"Yes, yes I am Sona. I think with Issei's help, we can get Gasper's power under control… if I can get my brother to agree to the request."

"Who's Gasper?"

"You already know Akeno and Kiba, but I've got one more you haven't met yet that's one of my Bishops named Gasper. He's a half Vampire and has a Sacred Gear that he has no control over currently and as powerful as it is it was deemed necessary to seal him away to keep him from accidentally hurting someone."

"What's his Gear?"

"It's known as the Forbidden Balor View, and allows him to stop time of anything within his sights from moving, and even though he has no control over it he's able to freeze someone for ten minutes." She replied getting Issei to understand why they would do something like that right as Sona had something to say about it.

"Are you crazy? The only person that's able to get around his power is Sirzechs. Plus there is no telling if your brother will unseal him for us."

"Well, it's worth a try in my opinion. Maybe as his son, I'll be immune too." Issei said not minding the idea as Rias made a call.

Scene Skip

A couple hours later the three of them and Sirzechs were seen walking the halls of the ORC building towards one room in particular that had do not cross signs on it. While Issei had seen this room in his times while visiting the ORC, he'd never thought to ask what was behind the door.

As soon as Issei had agreed to try and train Gasper, Rias immediately called her brother to see about getting the room unsealed since he was the one that had done it originally and he set aside time later in the day to do it for them. "I'm glad to see you three getting along well nowadays, and that you're sticking up for her Issei."

"What can I say, I'll always do anything for family or friends."

"I wish I could say I raised you well, but I guess I can thank Iseki and Emiko for that."

"Don't feel bad papa, it wasn't your fault, nor do I blame you or mama for what happened," Issei said as they finished walking to the door where Rias stepped aside for Sirzechs to undo the seal.

"I just want to say I want to make sure Issei's able to get around the Gear. If he's not I'll be sealing him back up." He warned his sister who nodded in acceptance at his words and he undid the seal.

Looking into the room, Rias saw the box Gasper loved to use and it moving from what she guessed was him inside shaking at the door being opened. "Hey, Gasper. I think I found someone that can finally help you gain control of your powers."

"N-no! New people are scary!" Gasper replied, making everyone but Issei sigh at the usual response from the boy.

"You do realize you'll need to come out at some point right?"

"But I don't want to!" He said once again getting a sigh from Rias, though it soon turned to surprise at Issei's next move.

Sighing at what he was seeing, Issei walked up to the box before picking it up and dumping the boy out onto the floor. "If you're a man, why are you acting like this. We can't afford to be scared of everybody and everything. Besides, you're a part of my Aunt's peerage and how would you feel if something happened to her and it was due to you not being there and could have helped keep the situation from happening. Do you want to be able to help her or let her down?" He told Gasper, who looked up at him in shock.

While Issei might have been surprised by the girl clothes the vampire was wearing, he'd heard more about him while they were waiting on Sirzechs to be free and wasn't surprised.

"B-but people are still scary," Gasper said still afraid of people from growing up and his fear of what might happen if his power activated at the wrong time as he quickly looked up at Issei before looking back down.

"I get it you have a power that scares you, especially as you have no control over it but if you learn to control it you won't have to be scared and I'm willing to help you learn to control it and overcome your fears, but you need to be willing. I'm willing to become your friend and help you make that leap."

Gasper couldn't explain what was going on but something was happening and he was starting to warm up to the idea coming from this boy that had shown up recently and he was meeting for the first time and hoped against hope that his power wouldn't affect him as he looked back up at Issei and hoped against hope that he would be able to do what he offered and be able to get more friends.

Right as it seemed like his words had reached the boy, Issei felt a weird pulse roll over him which he figured had to be Gaspers Gear activating but was happy to determine that he didn't seem to be affected by it as he offered a hand up to Gasper as they formally introduced themselves, with Gasper being surprised to learn that Issei was related to Rias as well as the fact someone else was able to get past his power.

Sirzechs for his part was happy to see that his son was both unaffected by Gasper's power, and was able to bring the boy out of his shell, even if it was just the beginning as he bade farewell to Rias and Sona, deciding to leave the group to their own devices.

Rias for her part was surprised at how easily Issei had gotten Gasper to come out of his shell and hoped that the change would continue to happen and Gasper would be able to hang out more and not be so introverted but knew with his past it wouldn't be a fast change.

Sona for her part was happy for her fiancée that he was able to do this much for the boy but wasn't surprised either having spent so much time with him as the group made their way to the main room of the ORC to talk upcoming plans.