User blog comment:B214/High School DxD DX.4 discussion/@comment-39.51.176.224-20170906050225/@comment-31137559-20170912163623

If he loses it doesn't matter how much praise he gets, he is still going to lose points. Not that much since they were fighting against a god team, but still lose points regardless. Now if he pulled off a major upset. Because to be honest even with his future forms, we're still talking about a god-class being in the Top 10 and two chief gods he's facing against along with three other powerful gods if their team is full. So it's not going to be a cakewalk by any means. But Ishibumi wanted Issei to experience defeat which was against Dulio. Now I believe he wants Issei to pull off a major upset and be the first one to defeat a god team. It just makes the most sense. Ishibumi wouldn't just pull off something like have Issei lose against Team God Alliance. They're too powerful and this is the perfect set-up for Ishibumi to show that Issei's not one to mess around with. The same with Vali. That's the reason why I believe Vali is going to win. You have the original Gremory group(before Issei joined), two Longinus possessors, Vasco Strada, and Crom Cruach. I believe that Ishibumi is just setting it up for Issei and Vali to win. Vali might even have a new form in Volume 24. With his immense talent, I wouldn't be surprised if he suddenly has a new form or goes full dragon and we see an epic battle of dragons between Vali and Crom Cruach. But I call Issei and Vali winning their matches. Just two more months. And in the finals I see Issei vs Rias.