High School DxD Light Novel - Volume 22

[DragonOsman]

Originally Posted by Brawlre

I just thought about something i don't think ise can become a maou because they can't have harems

I already said that a bit ago, but yeah, that's right. A Harem King can't be a Maou. Thanks for pointing it out again so that the people on this page can also see it.

@Darius: Yeah, the types of Rating Games where they don't have to directly fight each other would be good for them, but the higher-ups wouldn't always comply and let them have those types. And Rias would also have to hire other Pawns to substitute for Ise since he'd still technically be her Pawn, worth eight Pawn Pieces (four of them Mutation Pieces which might complicate things for the substitutions), but we also don't know if Ise would still feel some sort of pull from Rias even then.* That and there's also the fact that for the Pawns to use Promotion, they have to be in an area their King designates as "enemy territory". I hope that in the Rating Game, the opposing sides are still seen enemy territories even when, for Ise, opposing King is also his own King.

(*)In the beginning of the series, when Ise had first become Rias' servant Devil, and she looked at him from the top floor of the school building and he was down on the school grounds, he felt as though his heart was being grabbed by her. He felt some sort of pull towards her because she's his Master.

@Ariel_Saeba: Thanks for the quote. I guess I forgot about that part.

And yeah, Ariel, I also agree with you about quirks not being minded for a Maou.

[aw454wtr]

^
That's assuming Ise has 4 mutation pieces,with DXD mode unlocked all 8 pieces could have become mutation

[Darius Drake]

^^ & ^ : The presence of Mutation Pieces does not affect the official "Value" of the Pieces. Instead, it makes it so that you can transform someone stronger with less Evil Pieces. In other words, even though Issei has turned a number of his Pawn Pieces into Mutation Pieces, that does not allow Rias to pick more than 8 "Pawns" to replace him, even if none of those 8 "Pawns" have Mutation Pieces.

Hiring more expensive or powerful "Pawns" to replace Issei is an option that's available, even if Issei himself didn't have any Mutation Pieces, though.

My recommended strategy for what we're talking about, especially since it's unlikely to be included in the story: Temporarily replace Issei with Pawns from her other servants who'll likely train with them. Using Kiba's Pawns in a Ratings Game against Issei is entirely legal and would likely work quite well.

[DragonOsman]

Except that none of Rias' Servants aside from Ise wants to go independent. Kiba has said he'll remain as Rias' Sword. Ise is her Ultimate Pawn and always will be, but he also wants a Peerage of his own so he can participate independently from her; that's something none of Rias' other Servants want, though. If Kiba does still get a Peerage even though he'll never use it, then what you said will work. Otherwise it won't.

But can there really be Pawns more powerful than Ise? Eight Pawns, plus Ophis' and Ddraig's power along with Great Red's flesh - and let's not forget the one gem of Albion that he took from Vali's armor that lets him use Reflect and Divide with the Dividing Wyvern Fairies. Ise's potentially the strongest Pawn ever, which is why Rias' wish to make him the Ultimate Pawn isn't far-fetched.

[Darius Drake]

Sure... being the single best pawn is entirely possible for Issei. That doesn't mean that he can be as useful as 4 to 8 different individually powerful pawns.

But Issei's power wasn't what I was talking about. If they're willing to be hired, regardless of whether or not they have mutation pieces, they can be hired. If you're lucky, you can even hire an entire group of 8 Mutation Piece Pawns. Or you can get 8 normal Pawns spread across numerous people with useful abilities that aren't, necessarily, useful for direct combat. All sorts of things are possible.

[DragonOsman]

Rias wants Ise to be the Ultimate Pawn, which means if she gets her way, he'll really be the most powerful Pawn the Underworld has ever known - or will ever know. You couldn't find a good replacement for that no matter how much you looked. But you could still any 8 Pawns pretty easily. I guess that's that Rias would do if she had to face Ise in a match.

[Darius Drake]

Look, I get what you're saying. My argument is that one "Ultimate" could easily be less useful than Eight "Good" when taking versatile strategy into account. So it is POSSIBLE, not certain, but possible, that her team could, temporarily, be stronger when facing off against Issei than when using Issei against other opponents. Especially since Issei would likely have restrictions on using powers beyond Balance Breaker level, and maybe, eventually, even of Balance Breaker level.

[DragonOsman]

Yeah, I get that too. I just don't want them having to face each other in a Rating Game. I'm actually hoping that Ise's Evil Pieces won't let him have a Rating Game match against his King. It's also true that whenever Rias has a match, Ise would have to participate in it as her Pawn. For the sake of this discussion, let's just say there could be an exception to that for when they're facing off against each other in a Rating Game match. But again, I wouldn't like that.

And Ise himself can also use his powers strategically. His main strength is Power-type attacks, but he also has his Wyverns and he can also use his Dragon Shot as if he had a mind of its own a la Sirzechs' Power of Destruction orbs. And when he's up against female opponents, there's Dress Break and Bilingual. They're banned in the Rating Games, but there can be exceptions in a given match if both sides agree (like during the Gremory vs. Bael match). If Rias wants, she can use any and all of Ise's abilities strategically; although, Sona did already once show us a pretty good strategic way to use him if you recall. It's a pity Rias isn't as smart as her - she can use the Gremory Team much better than its own King can.

[beast 666]

It is clear that at any given time Rias and issei fight in a Rating Game, since it would be exciting to see him, and is very likely to happen since issei is independent of rias, only a matter of time so maybe if a Rating Game among them to happen.

Well, here is the cover of the v22, apparently we see Rias in the doorway with a diploma / certificate and with a graduation outfit of the Academy Kuoh, as ichei said above, although I would have preferred to see a cover of issei or Akeno, since it is the volume will be starring Akeno, so I would like to see it on the cover, However put Rias on the cover was somewhat unnecessary, since the character with higher number of covers is Rias (is the character most used for the covers of DXD), would have been better to see Akeno on the cover and no Rias, for my was a somewhat unexpected cover.

Spoiler for Cover volume 22:

[Ruki0089]

Hohoho~~~
I can't wait for it~~ I hope ise also graduated...

[Variabug]

Issei is only a 2nd years, he will graduate at the end of this year (in universe).

[Ruki0089]

Dude, i mean Graduated from his virginity

[Darius Drake]

Originally Posted by Ruki0089

Dude, i mean Graduated from his virginity

If that's the case, the answer is simple.

No. No he does not.

Ignoring the fact that the story's likely to end before he does so, he's currently got that temporary power-up backlash problem, which is probably just as strong (if not worse) as when it was introduced in volume 21.

Actually, that gives me an idea. Issei's "choosing problem" could be far simpler than we thought. He could be choosing which one to help him recover from that.

[DragonOsman]

It gets fixed in Volume 21, by Ophis presumably. Did you not read the spoilers? She adjusts his DxD mode to Pseudo Dragon Deification, too. So as of Volume 22, he isn't suffering from any drawbacks from DxD mode anymore. So he can already hug, kiss and have sex with Rias and the other girls without having to feel pain.

Anyway, yeah, I like that Rias cover.

And hopefully Ise does manage to graduate from his virginity. If not in this Volume, then hopefully happen sometime before the end of the series.

[B214]

I wish we got a Rias + Akeno cover. ( ._.)

[Ruki0089]

Originally Posted by Darius Drake

If that's the case, the answer is simple.

No. No he does not.

Ignoring the fact that the story's likely to end before he does so, he's currently got that temporary power-up backlash problem, which is probably just as strong (if not worse) as when it was introduced in volume 21.

Actually, that gives me an idea. Issei's "choosing problem" could be far simpler than we thought. He could be choosing which one to help him recover from that.

Dude, He was fixed in Volume 21 by Ophis~
he can fuc-- i mean make love with his harem now...

[Chris38]

Well .. this is speculation based on the cover ... but considering the happy expression that Rias has on tat cover illustration I think that Ise is going to do something that will put her in a really pleasant mood.

And considering the things that could make Rias really happy like for example

- going on a date with Ise (which sounds too simple to me, but it could happen)

- Ise giving some surprising present to her ( which, doesn't sound like something Ise would do ... based on his experience with women )

- Rias taking Ise's virginity ( and losing hers in the process ) effectively becoming Ise's 'first women'

... which one do you think is likely to happen...

[B214]

None of the above. Ise will congratulate her with a kiss only.

[Hakai]

Was hoping for a Rias + Akeno cover. But I knew that wasn't going to happen, Ishi treats everyone other than Rias and Asia as side heroines.

[DragonOsman]

I really hope the third option on Chris' list turns out to be correct. They've already kissed, and the Volume preview promised something good happening to her and Akeno that would bring them happiness and that I don't think was referring to their graduation from Kuou Academy's High School side.