Medusa recalled everything, including from the times she'd rampaged on earth and thirsting for blood. That scene in her head still gives her nightmares, but with the warmth covering her hands, determination formed in her, 'Instead of leaving this timebomb that I don't know if it will ever explode, I should just take a step forward and pull it out of pandora's box and make it mine.'
"Alright. Please take care of me, Master."
Kisuke nodded, "That's what I intended from the start."
Kisuke wanted to elaborate more about the training they were about to go through, however, someone special had entered the premise of their tower, "Hmm?"
With a snap of his fingers, a translucent screen appeared in front of everyone, depicting the wide lobby below from the eyes of the 'doll' receptionist. Immediately zooming into two cloaked figures, Yoruichi became confused, "They are?"
Since those who come in similar attires are aplenty, everyone couldn't tell what's special about them. Not from a simple visual image.
"One is an acquaintance and one is a Deity." answered Kisuke. He could already guess the identity of the Deity and what they'd come here for.
Of course, despite seeing them for the first time, most of them already knew who the Deity is because there's only one who would want to meet Kisuke with such timing, "Is it Astarte?" Artemis asked.
"What? Really?" Hestia became giddy.
"I've never met Astarte-sama before, but the person beside the Deity is the captain of the Astarte Familia. So it's most probably Astarte-sama herself, but what's wrong?"
Artemis sighed and replied, "There's nothing really wrong, but she's the exact opposite of me. She's the Goddess of War and Sexual Love." With a bit of hesitation, Artemis continued with a slight blush on her face, "...And her 'love' goes both ways."
Kuroka already guessed what's going on and asked while pointing to Hestia, "So she's like this because of her overbearing 'love', nyaa?"
Hestia and Artemis could only look away but that was enough of an answer. With a very serious expression, Kisuke instructed, "Yoruichi. Invite them in."
With a similar expression, Yoruichi nodded and stood up, "Roger that."
"Ehem... Well then, I'm tired so I'll be retiring for today. Good luck." Hestia tried to escape, but she felt someone hold her hand tightly when she was about to stand up. When she looked up, she saw Aika giving her a big grin.
Similarly, Koneko held Artemis' hand tightly so she wouldn't go anywhere.
With a huge smile plastered on his face, Kisuke added, "What are you talking about, Hestia-sama? As the representatives of the Hestia and Artemis Familias, both of you have to greet her properly or it'll just be plain rude."
"But Kisuke-kun. You're a fine captain so you don't really need us here." Hestia said while still trying to squirm her way out with a smile.
On the other hand, Artemis had a blank expression and had already given up when she saw Kisuke make a strange smile. Unlike Hestia, she learnt fast, "Hestia, give it up. There's no point in arguing with him." She then pointed around them, "Look. Everyone's on board with his idea."
Hestia looked around and saw that everyone had strategically blocked any way of escape, in addition to Aika not letting her go. Slowly, her smile broke down, and she started shouting, "I DON' WANNAAAA!!!"
Everyone except for Artemis was shocked at her sudden outburst but before they could do anything else, a shadow with red hair dashed through everyone and reached behind Hestia. And as if they were coiling snakes, the unknown person's arms wrapped around Hestia's body.
Alarms started going off in Hestia's head as she felt the familiar touch. Although before she could say anything, she heard a familiar sultry voice whispering in her right ear, "Oh my~! If it isn't Hestia-chan. I didn't expect to see you here. How wonderful~."
Astarte, a Deity that represented War and Sexual Love had a similar build as Hestia, except for her chest. The striking short red hair complimented her blood-red eyes that reflect sensuousness and gracefulness.
"A-Astarte!? When did you come here!?" She looked around but she noticed that Yoruichi and her companion hadn't even arrived here, "How did you find this room!?"
"HA! Of course the love between us brought us together!"
"There's no love between us!"
"Well, to be honest, I got a whiff of your scent the moment I arrived on this floor and followed it."
"See!?"
"But that's not important~!" Astarte then suddenly separated from Hestia and reappeared on top of Artemis, who was trying her best to act like an ornament, and trapped her where she was sitting, "Naturally, I didn't forget about you, Artemis-chan~!" Lifting her chin with her hand, Astarte continued, "I has been a while. Although there's something different about you right now, you're still as beautiful and pure as ever~!"
Artemis immediately covered her lips. Even though she had never been kissed, there are certainly attempts from the Deity in front of her in the past.
However, Astarte didn't even attempt to do so this time and instead, grabbed Artemis' waist before turning back to Hestia, who was already trying to escape, and grabbed her waist too. With a Goddess in each of her arms, Astarte couldn't help but laugh out loud, "FUHAHAHAHA! Now I just need Athena to complete my Maiden Goddess Harem~!"
Hestia and Artemis finally couldn't take it and veins popped on their heads. With combined effort, they both twisted Astarte's arms resulting in her cry of pain. Not caring about the noise, Artemis lifted her left foot while Hestia lifted her right foot and both of them gave Astarte's butt a kick with all of their strength.
"UWAAHHH!!!" Astarte uncontrollably rolled towards the exit of the room and only stopped when she hit someone's legs. Looking up, Astarte saw the furious face of her child and immediately said, "Yo, Carys. I saw some friends and got excited... Tee-hee~?"
Even without witnessing everything, just from the fact that Astarte suddenly ran off while making a perverted expression and with the Goddesses behind the doors fuming, Carys could already guess what had happened.
Dropping on all fours, the Cow Person hurriedly asked for forgiveness, "I'm very sorry for how she acted! You don't have to tell me what happened! I know full well how she acts!"
Astarte also sat up and was also about to apologize. However, she froze when she saw Hestia and Artemis grabbing a man's arm while glaring at her, "W-what...?"
Slowly standing up, she pointed her shaking fingers at them, "I-I can understand Hestia since she's naive and easy to trick."
"Oi." Hestia retorted.
"B-b-b-but Artemis!? The known man-hater!?"
"None of your business." Artemis replied.
They thought that Astarte would become disheartened, but contrary to their expectations, her eyes shone and jumped in front of Kisuke, "Teach me your ways, Master! As a bonus, I shall be yours too!"
Editors:
28th00: "Oi.", truly a perfect response there, Bestia-sama.
Redemperor D
While nursing the lump on her head, Astarte introduced herself, "Hestia-chan and Artemis-chan already knew me, but I'm Astarte! Nice to meet y'all!"
"And I'm the Captain of the Astarte Familia, Carys Cattell. It's my first time meeting most of you and I'm grateful to be your acquaintance. Also, I'm sorry for Astarte-sama's behavior just now." The person who gave her the lump also introduced herself.
Astarte wanted to start conversing about random things since it has really been a while since they've seen each other and she was incredibly curious about how Kisuke had melted Artemis' heart. But before she could do that, Carys immediately interrupted her with a serious expression, "Astarte-sama, we don't have much time, so please leave it for later. I didn't really want to agree for you to climb down here since it's dangerous, so I'd like for us to return to the surface as soon as possible. Besides, if those people realized that you've descended into the Dungeon, they are going to use that fact however they want."
Although she was really curious as to why Kisuke and the others had brought their patron Deities down here, it was none of their business and they didn't have the right to question them.
Astarte's gleeful expression also disappeared and was replaced by a solemn one, "Then I'll go straight to the point. Kisuke Urahara, what do we need to do for us to keep our position regarding the Teleportation Circle?"
Kisuke looked straight at them without any sort of expression, "You still want to keep it despite all the pressure coming from all sides?"
Astarte closed her eyes and crossed her arms while sighing, "We would have relegated it if it's Poseidon or the Alliance who wanted to take it. But there's no way I'll give this up if it's only going to end up with Aruna."
"Heh... I already heard the rumors, but you really don't like the other side, huh."
"There's no way we'll get along with them! Not when they've hardly changed their way!" Carys had a sudden outburst while clenching her fist.
Right away, Astarte turned her eyes to her, "Carys, I know how you're feeling but this isn't the place and they are newcomers that might have never heard their history. Curb your emotions."
"History?" Kisuke asked. The truth is, however, Yoruichi, Kuroka, and he already knew about it, but they'd still pretend that they didn't know. After all, it would be unnerving if they revealed that they searched through their history.
Scratching her head, Artemis answered after sighing, "I'll make it short. The reason my Familia is the way it is now was primarily to oppose that arrogant blockhead Aruna. In the past, they used their women as if they were tools, so I gathered those victims and created my own group."
Astarte understood that love comes in all kinds of shapes and forms. However, she didn't like Aruna's children that instilled fear in everyone and hated Aruna himself for letting them do as they wanted. As an advocate of 'love', she never welcomed 'fear' that instilled terror for the feeling of power and authority. After all, 'love' could never be born from 'fear' and she doubted that anything worthwhile would.
"The generation that started all this hate was already long gone and they're a lot tamer these days. But as Carys said, they haven't really changed their ways and do things in a more secretive way. Although there are some who wanted to change it from the inside, no one had succeeded."
Astarte recalled Carys' parents and they were two of the people who tried to change the Aruna Familia but only ended up becoming victims. Thankfully, Carys herself was saved and avoided suffering the same fate as them.
'Looks like the Aruna Familia are experts in navigating the grey area.', thought Kisuke, since they were still thriving now, 'Well, this is the limit of a society where strength is the most important.'
"And that's the gist of it. If you want to know more, just ask the old folks or some Deity in Pandemonium. It isn't exactly a secret at this point. It's just that only a few individuals still remember the events of the past." Astarte then looked back to Kisuke, "Now that I've answered your question, It's your turn to answer mine."
Kisuke smiled and replied, "I don't like taking back my words so I promised to everyone that if you're willing to stand your ground, then nothing will change from our side. Though if you wanted some assistance to defend yourselves, then I would need some compelling reason to act."
Astarte and Carys' eyes widened in surprise. They didn't think it would be this easy. A few seconds later, Astarte started laughing while shaking her head, "Just your reassurance that nothing will change is plenty enough. I couldn't ask for more."
Now that they got the answer that they wanted, there is no more reason to stay here, especially since they are within the Dungeon. Standing up, Astarte and Carys intended to leave, "Thank you for your time and I apologize that we couldn't offer much. But since you're Hestia-chan and Artemis-chan's children, if you need our help, we won't hesitate to give a hand, no matter the situation we're in."
As her long-time friends, Astarte trusted Hestia and Artemis' judgment when they accepted their children. If there's something they need, Astarte would happily assist them.
"You too, Astarte. If you need some help. Don't hesitate to ask them. It may not look like it, but they're very capable children~!" Hestia immediately answered back with a big smile. She doesn't like how she usually acts, but it never changed the fact that she's one of her good and sincere friends.
Artemis also nodded along with Hestia's words, "That's right. These kids wanted some exercise so if you want to, we'll lend them to you."
"Fufufu, then I'll remember that~.", Though Astarte did say that, she has no intention of involving them any further with their problem. Although Kisuke started all of this, she knew that he was just the trigger of the long-brewing conflict between her and Aruna that could start any time.
Kisuke also stood up intending to escort them, "By the way, Astarte-sama. What do you think is happening for the other two to back the Aruna Familia if they really are such an unsavory bunch?"
Astarte shook her head, "I don't know. But I have a feeling that it's not for a good reason and the other two are just feeling helpless with the situation. That's how it looks like for me, at least."
Editors:
It had been a week since Astarte and Carys came to visit and everyone had already acclimated themselves to the Dizara Region and the new Dungeon. Within just a short week, the Adventurers of Orario already made a name for themselves as Mercenaries of the Hestia and Artemis Familia's.
The Astarte Familia's situation, on the other hand, had worsened from last week. The previously open for everyone Pandemonium became a foreign place for them as they couldn't easily resupply as before. The problem of supply was not unsolvable, however, they would need to dedicate more manpower for acquiring it which would weaken certain sectors of their Familia.
This became possible because of the unchecked smear campaign that the Aruna Familia was doing, swaying the masses' opinion against them for 'monopolizing' the path to the deeper floors. Of course, most people were unaware that it was the Aruna Familia who was spreading negative rumors regarding the Astarte Familia, and pointing at them without concrete evidence would only backfire.
One point the rumor made was the high price to go through the transfer. Although the Astarte Familia lowered the price, another one popped out saying that it was still too high so from then on, they knew that it would only be futile to do anything if their goal was to take the circle.
They also thought of blocking the members of the Aruna Familia from using the circle, but decided against it since it would most likely backfire at them, too.
Another thing that infuriated the Astarte Familia, was the utter disregard for the hunting spots which they previously frequented. Since the population on the deeper floor went up exponentially, competition for good hunting spots would worsen. However, their situation was that they were being harassed to leave somewhere else. And it wasn't just the Aruna Familia who were doing this.
Outnumbered, they had no choice but to hide their activities and avoid dangerous spots in fear of ambushes.
Fortunately, their situation wasn't completely bad as their fortune also grew from all the fees that they could collect. Even though they had to spend more on supplies, their income became a lot higher to offset that and they were still profiting. Thanks to that, everyone from the Astarte Familia received better equipment which made their hunting a lot easier.
Of course, Sona and the rest also received some harassment for being connected with Kisuke. However, although they fought back, they didn't do it too much and pretended to struggle against them. As for why, they did it so that they could lure out the masterminds and clean them up when they get a chance.
Nevertheless, they also enjoyed fighting all sorts of people and 'luckily' trashing them when they got bored and couldn't learn any more from them.
"We're home~!" Aika yelled after entering the living room and immediately noticed Claire fidgeting while watching Kisuke set up some sort of equipment on the table.
Koneko, who came home with Aika, asked curiously, "What's that?"
"The communication device I promised to Claire. I'm setting it up now.", answered Kisuke and looked up, "By the way, where are the others?"
Aika sat down beside Kisuke and looked at the device curiously, "They were all taking Sera-chan's Magic lessons and that included Tenestra. Though I feel bad for the latter one since she couldn't keep up, not just about the concept, but also common sense. Thankfully, Line was there for her."
Koneko exited the room since she heard Medusa preparing some tea and snacks and intended to help her.
"But it sure took some time, huh? Did some unexpected problems crop up?",asked Aika while bringing Tanis to her lap after getting too close.
"There's that, but I also added some nifty features since the equipment on the other side could support it."
Aika hesitated for a moment before asking, "By the way, can I contact my parents through that, too?"
At that moment, Kisuke's hand landed on her head, "Of course. And the first thing I would do is apologize to them."
Aika became silent for a few moments before replying, "So they already knew what happened to me? I'll do it with you then."
Kisuke nodded, "Before I returned, I asked mom to disclose everything to them since there was no point in hiding it and it might actually be dangerous for them."
"How did they react?"
"I don't know. I left it to mom how she'll break it to them and I didn't really have time to go around when I was there."
A few minutes later, Kisuke was finally done setting up the communication device. Aika thought that it would just be a single thing, but she was surprised to see that it consisted of four parts and each of them was placed in the corner of the room, "Yep. It's done."
Kisuke then turned to Claire, "I'll ring them up now, however, I don't know if they're going to be too busy to answer. So don't get dejected when they fail to answer, alright? We can always try again later."
Claire nodded happily, "Understood! Please call them now, Kisuke-niichan!"
"Alright." Kisuke then started operating the console in front of him to establish a connection, 'Let's see... Space stability, check. Magic power output, check. Encryption, check...'
While Kisuke was busy, those in the room, namely Aika, Koneko, Medusa, Claire, Tanis and Ophis, were looking around for any signs of the communicating device running up.
On the floor where the core of the tower was situated, a clear transparent metal alloy cylinder started lighting up as barriers simultaneously appeared around it. A few seconds later, invisible to the naked eye, several nanoscopic holes in the space were created, revealing the void beyond it.
On a similar device in the base that Kisuke created on Mars, after months of inactivity, came alive for the first time and started doing the same thing as the device in the tower, creating nanoscopic holes in space.
'Looks like there's no problem.' Kisuke thought as he started up the second phase. Controlling the equipment that he'd put down prior to leaving, Kisuke was able to start up everything without any problems. All he needed to do is to send a signal using the base on Mars as a physical medium.
A few seconds later, a transparent screen showing a loading screen appeared in the middle of the room. And not long after that, a familiar figure appeared as a hologram, [Ah, it connected.]
Without being able to wait anymore, Claire jumped to the hologram while shouting, "Mama!"
Editors:
28th00: Ah, happy Loli noises. There will be many of those now. Bet we're gonna meet Lilith too.
Alexander: Moshi, moshi?
Cleria knew that the Claire that was running in front of her was just a hologram. Even then, she still tried catching her but with a wry smile on her face since she'd be seeing her daughter's disappointed expression after not seeing her for so long.
However, to her surprise, she was able to catch Claire, 'What!?'
Claire, on the other hand, was not thinking any of this and just savored the familiar warmth of her mother that she hadn't felt for months. Although she noticed that something was missing, she was already incredibly happy at the moment.
Cleria silently turned to Kisuke with her eyes wide open as she tightly clutched Claire and only to see him giving a wink and a thumbs up. With an expression that was about to tear up, she silently whispered in his direction, "Thank you."
A few moments later, Masaomi also appeared within the detection range of the communication device and was shocked that Cleria was hugging the illusion of their daughter, "Wait, you can do that!?"
"Papa!" Claire shouted when she heard his voice but she didn't want to separate from her mother so she just reached out one arm towards him.
"Well, whatever!" Masaomi immediately discarded his questions and joined in on the family hug.
The three of them stayed like that for a few minutes until Kisuke scanned the long couch on their side and transferred a holographic version of it to Cleria and Masaomi's side.
With that, Cleria and Masaomi sat down with Claire on the lap of the former and at that point, Claire finally noticed what had been missing and it was her parents' smell which saddened her a bit.
"What's wrong, baby?"
"...I can't smell Mama.", answered Claire dejectedly.
Cleria then started chuckling while pinching Claire's face, "Silly girl~ Mama's not here so how could you smell me?"
"Ah!" Claire finally realized that this was essentially a video call and turned to Kisuke with bright eyes, "Kisuke-niichan! This is amazing!"
"Fufufu~ As long as I put my mind to it, Kisuke-niichan can do almost anything~!" Kisuke then took out something from his storage and inserted it into the console for the communication device, "But that's not all. We also have this!"
Within a brief moment, a display screen appeared in front of the three showing what seems to be a list of image and video files.
"This is?", asked Masaomi.
"It is what it looks like and you can operate it yourselves."
Hearing that, Masaomi curiously touched one of the image files randomly and it suddenly showed a picture of Claire eating sweets with Ophis and Hestia, "Hoh~ This is amazing and useful."
Seeing the picture then prompted Claire to start talking about it excitedly. From then, Claire continued narrating her adventures while viewing the pictures and videos with Cleria and Masaomi.
A few moments later, a picture depicting Claire, Ophis and Tanis appeared, which reminded the kid, "Ta-chan! Come over! I'll introduce you to mama and papa!", urged Claire to one of her best friends.
However, Tanis started fidgeting as she looked around nervously, not knowing what to do. It was then that it clicked in Kisuke's mind, "Ah! All this time, we've been speaking in Japanese!"
Even Claire didn't notice it as she started speaking Japanese the moment she heard her mother's voice.
"That really slipped out of my mind too...", muttered Koneko, as she found Tanis' lost expression a bit amusing.
Kisuke patted Tanis' head and took out a small candy, "I'm sorry about that. Here, take it."
Tanis curiously looked at the candy on Kisuke hand, but she got a whiff of its sweet and delicious scent. She immediately picked it up and put it in her mouth. 'Looks like she developed quite a bad habit.', thought Kisuke with a wry smile.
Although the candy looked hard, it was incredibly soft and Tanis started chewing on it, relishing its sweetness and a bit of a sour flavor that tingled her mouth in a very pleasant way. After finishing it, she craved for more but didn't ask for it. It was a good development for Tanis who didn't even have a shred of self-control when she came to them.
"Can you understand me now?" Kisuke asked in Japanese.
Tanis stared at Kisuke in amazement because it was a language she had never heard before but clearly understood, "Yais!" She tried answering back with the same language but there was still awkwardness which was normal.
"Ta-chan, Ta-chan! Come over, quick!", urged Claire again.
This time, understanding her words, Tanis happily ran over, "Yais!"
.
.
.
After an hour or so, Claire fell asleep on her mother's lap and Tanis also took the spot next to her, [It felt like I've gained another daughter~], said Claire as she caressed both of their heads gently.
"You look happy about it.", commented Kisuke while chuckling.
[Of course. This is the second time Claire found a friend.] Cleria smiled gently.
Masaomi, meanwhile, looked toward Ophis and said, [You also have our gratitude, Ophis-sama.]
Ophis, who has been silently and endlessly chewing on snacks finally spoke up for the first time, "Your gratitude is unneeded."
Naturally, Ophis didn't say that to be rude but she really couldn't remember doing anything that warranted their gratitude so she has no need for it.
Kisuke's hand landed on her head and said, "He meant to thank you for taking care of Claire."
However, Ophis only looked up to him and tilted her head in confusion as she still couldn't remember doing such a thing.
Kisuke instantly guessed what was going on in Ophis' mind and added, "Taking care of someone means looking out for them and keeping them safe from harm. You've been doing that, haven't you?"
"Oh." Realization finally dawned on Ophis. Since she was only doing what she wanted to do, 'taking care' of someone never really crossed her mind, 'So this is what it means to take care of someone.'
Ophis then turned back to Masaomi with a proud expression, "Your gratitude, I shall accept it."
Cleria and Masaomi looked at each other before chuckling. If it wasn't confirmed that she was the Dragon God, they wouldn't believe that she was the one and only even if someone told them.
Editors:
Before we start, I want to ask. Where are the others?]
Kisuke took out blankets and laid them on top of both Tanis and Claire, "They didn't know I would be completing this communication device today, so they are all out to do their own things."
[Thanks.] Cleria further fixed the blankets' position before asking, [And how much longer could we talk?]
As he sat back down, Kisuke took a look at his console, "I can supply the power on the equipment on my side but I can't do anything on the other side aside from letting it recover on its own. But we still have an hour before the power reaches critical levels and automatically shuts down. After that, three days would be needed to fully charge it back."
[We're sorry for taking such a precious time.], Masaomi immediately apologized, feeling a bit guilty.
"Don't say that, Uncle. Even if you've taken all the time and the next few sessions, we wouldn't mind. After all, I made this, especially for Claire." Kisuke replied in a reprimanding tone, "Anyway, where's Mom and Uncle Diehauser?"
[Sarah fetched someone and should be arriving any moment now, but Diehauser-niisama is...] Cleria became hesitant with her words.
Although they tried hiding it, Kisuke immediately noticed that both of them were extremely tired but didn't ask about it. However, her hesitation made him crease his brows, 'Looks like a few months of us gone was already too long.'
Cleria wanted to continue but Sakura arrived at that moment, [I'm here!]
Before Kisuke could greet her, however, Sakura instantly understood the situation after seeing Claire and an unknown blue-skinned little girl lying on her lap. Sakura didn't wait for Kisuke to respond and like a child, she leaped towards him with all her might and arms wide open while yelling in excitement, "Kisuke~!!!"
But the moment she crashed into him, the sophisticatedly created hologram was crushed into tiny bits, resulting in her making a devastated expression.
On the other hand, on Kisuke's side, Sakura's figure was crushed into tiny bits, but a few seconds later, it was reformed behind him where she was standing, "Mom, calm down. I'm not going anywhere for the time being."
[No can do~!] Sakura figured out that she can't use too much force and turned back to the reformed hologram of Kisuke with a big smile. This time, instead of leaping forward, Sakura calmly approached Kisuke and hugged him tightly, [I missed you...]
Kisuke returned the hug, "I missed you too, mom."
But while they were having their moment, the person that Sakura apparently fetched also appeared within the communication device's detection range, and everyone in the different world was shocked to varying degrees.
Everyone then looked towards Ophis, who already stopped eating and stood up.
The one who arrived was 'Ophis'. But there couldn't be two Ophis so Kisuke instantly guessed that this is the Dragon God's stolen part, Lilith, 'Although this Lilith was only a small part of Ophis, her existence also means Ophis' incompleteness.'
Kisuke already thought of several methods of fusing the separated part back to Ophis but as she watched the two silently approach each other, a bad premonition came to him and immediately reached out to the console.
"Kisuke?" Sakura became confused when Kisuke started panicking but the latter didn't have time to answer her as he immediately initiated an emergency shutdown.
The moment the power was cut off was also the moment Ophis and Lilith locked hands. The microscopic holes in the space didn't close and the channels that should have been keeping the connection on didn't disappear even though there was nothing powering them anymore.
On the contrary, these holes started getting bigger, making way for 'infinity' to complete itself.
"Tsk!" Kisuke couldn't help but click his tongue at the situation and started releasing his own energy, waking up even the sleeping children, who were in close proximity. However, he doesn't have the luxury to worry about them and expended his own energy to forcefully close the holes.
But even after doing that, the communication device wasn't disconnected and Kisuke became worried, 'Is this similar to quantum entanglement?'
If this is a normal situation, Kisuke would have happily observed them. Nevertheless, they aren't in their own world and Kisuke was still unclear if the one watching over them right now and possessing enormous power is hostile.
Thankfully, he already ascertained some time ago that 'Chaos' wasn't directly watching this world but in a state similar to sleeping and waiting for an alarm to go off.
But then again, Kisuke doesn't exactly know when those alarms would go off and he's afraid that he'll take notice of this, 'If he notices this, then some of my important cards would be rendered useless.'
Fortunately, he was able to think of a solution that would reduce the risk of being discovered and sent a telepathic message that was aimed at the lava pool on the 48th floor. [Uhmm. Excuse me, but I may need a helping hand over here.]
Kisuke doesn't know if his request would be heeded so it's a gamble. Still, it's the easiest of his choices right now. Thankfully enough, he got an answer before he could go through his other options that weren't just hard, but also risky.
With his keen senses, Kisuke noticed the sudden change in the Dungeon's Magic Power flow, albeit, only slightly. This change was also noticed by Yoruichi, Serafall, and Sona thanks to their mastery over Magic and immediately ended what they were doing to return. No matter how small the change is, it still happened for the first time and we were worried about what it signified.
Meanwhile, Kisuke formed invisible strings of his own energy and started probing outwards. The moment he touched the Dungeon's wall, his string went through but there was no information that was coming through, 'So the Dungeon became a protective shell.'
And while all of this was happening, Ophis and Lilith ignored everything and silently stared at each other. Initially, Ophis thought of retrieving the rest of his powers at some point, but the moment she saw and felt Lilith's existence, she already lost interest in that and became interested in the existence of the other 'half' of herself.
Similarly, Lilith thought of returning to her original form in the future but also lost her interest in that and became extremely interested in Ophis herself.
The two's meeting changed the Infinite Dragon forever and no one knew if this was for the best.
Editors:
Kisuke carefully observed Ophis and Lilith using his plethora of senses and the others in the room were quiet so as not to disturb him and the Infinite Dragons.
In Kisuke's perspective, Ophis and Lilith, despite clearly unifying under the concept of 'Infinity', were still two different entities. Thanks to that, however, the communication device was still connected using them as a channel. They became connected regardless of the immeasurable distance and treacherous void in between.
Kisuke wanted to observe more but a voice came to his head, [I can't do this forever.], and he could only sigh after that.
Clapping his hands, Kisuke gathered everyone's attention, "I hate to break your reunion but I'll have to request the two of you to separate for now and I didn't mean just taking a distance from each other."
Lilith looked at Ophis, wanting to ask about him. Of course, she didn't have to say it out loud as Ophis understood her confusion. With a rare smile that exudes pride and gloating, Ophis introduced him, "My first friend, Kisuke, The Hat."
"Ohhh..." Lilith turned to Kisuke with interest before saying, "You shall be my friend too."
Kisuke chuckled as he approached them. When they came to his reach, his left hand patted Ophis' head while the right one went to Lilith's head, "I'm grateful to be your friend too, but let's save this for the next time when things are more convenient, alright?"
"...I'll see you again, new friend."
Kisuke nodded to Lilith before turning his head to Sakura, Cleria, and Masaomi, "Looks like the situation on your side was more complicated than I initially thought, but I'll hear it in two days. I have to first take care of the problems on this side."
"I understand. Be careful and I'd like to see everyone later~.", replied Sakura with a big smile while Cleria and Masaomi hurriedly said their goodbyes to Claire. A few seconds later, the communication device finally shut down and the hologram of everyone disappeared. At the same moment, the Dungeon returned to its usual activity.
As everything settled down, Kisuke sighed in relief, 'I doubt I could stop the connection between Ophis and Lilith so I have to find a way to camouflage that and make it look like I'm using a simple and direct method.'
Soon enough, a slightly tensed Serafall arrived first, "Ki-tan! What was that just now!? Are we compromised!?"
"Welcome back~ It was an oversight, but it ended without causing any further incident, so all are still fine." Kisuke then proceeded to narrate what happened when they are gone and asked Medusa to tell Yoruichi and the rest of the events of today since he needed to find a 'fix' to Ophis and Lilith's 'problem' and he would like to start doing it now so he could meet the two days deadline.
.
.
.
Two days later, Kisuke finally came out of his workshop with Ophis with a big smile over his face. After a whole day of testing different methods, he finally found a way to hide the Infinite Dragon's 'completion', "Just in time~" he muttered and stretched his arms.
He then looked towards Ophis and said, "Ophis-chan, please call the others to the living room. We'll open the communication lines again."
Ophis nodded and started walking ahead. But before she could go far, she turned back and asked, "Including Line?"
Kisuke was a bit surprised at her question and thought about it for a few seconds before nodding, "Please ask her to make her way too."
With Ophis' back turned to him, Kisuke couldn't help but smile while reminiscing the days that he first met her and truly understood her as a person, 'She's already come a long way from being oblivious of simple things. She can also finally remember names, but I wonder why she still calls me 'Hat' despite calling others by their names perfectly fine? Should I think of this as special treatment from her?'
Kisuke just shook his head and stopped thinking about it as he made his way to the core of the tower to add the necessary equipment of the modified communication line. Since there are some fragile and delicate parts that needed to be sophisticatedly handled, it took him about an hour to finish the job and it was only then that he decided to return to the living room where everyone was probably already waiting for him.
Upon arrival, everyone was already in the room, talking merrily to each other while having some snacks, "Kisuke-kun! You're finally back! I heard you'd be contacting your hometown today?" Hestia greeted and asked him excitedly.
"Yep. And since this is a good chance, I'll introduce Hestia-sama, Artemis-sama, and Line-chan to everyone on the other side."
"M-me too!?" exclaimed Line since she didn't expect that she'd be included in this closely knitted group even though she was also called to come here.
"Of course. You're my student, after all." Kisuke then approached her and passed candy to her, "But for starters, take this."
"T-thank you..." Line expressed her gratitude shyly but it also made her feel a lot better. Although she's friendly with everyone, she doesn't know if she should really be here since she's from the Loki Familia.
However, she suddenly realized something that heated up her face, 'W-wait... Does that mean I'm one of his women now!?'
While most of them were with Kisuke, she certainly forgot about Hestia, Artemis, and Serafall.
"What's wrong?" Kisuke asked when Line was deep in her thoughts.
Kisuke's bewildered voice woke Line up from her fantasies and hurriedly shook her head while waving her hand, "N-nothing! I'm was thinking of something stupid." In any case, it's really a stupid thought for her as she couldn't even be compared to the other girls around Kisuke, 'Not just in abilities, but also qualification.'
Seeing the candy being offered, Line received it after taking a deep breath and asked, "This is?"
"Just eat it and you'll know its effects later."
After giving her a confusing answer, Kisuke then moved towards Yoruichi and Akeno and gave them a different kind of candy each, "This is for Hestia-sama and Artemis-sama."
Yoruichi wanted to smack Kisuke's head for giving nonsensical explanations but before she could do so, Artemis, who heard his words, asked, "For us?"
"Yep~ You'll know its effect after they eat it and update their Status."
Yoruichi immediately understood what these candies are for but could only let out a short sigh, "Why do you have such extreme sides? It's either you'll explain how it works to no end, or you'll give an answer that doesn't provide any explanation..."
Kisuke thought about it and didn't deny it, "Well, I guess giving explanations to enemies is more fun?"
Editors:
28th00: Phis-chama is a growing dragon! She's learned how to learn! THE MOST TERRIFYING ABILITY OF ALL!
Hestia and Artemis were skeptical about what Kisuke meant, but they did update Yoruichi and Akeno's status. However, the moment they pulled out Yoruichi and Akeno's experiences from their Falnas, foreign knowledge invaded their minds.
The suddenness of the situation caught both Goddesses off guard and immediately stopped updating their status. Nevertheless, the unknown knowledge already branded itself to their minds and made them panic, "W-what's this, Kisuke-kun?"
Kisuke immediately held Hestia's hand and reassured her, "Please don't worry, Hestia-sama. It's the knowledge of our hometown's languages and there shouldn't be any other effect on you."
Kisuke couldn't just craft a candy that'll directly imprint the knowledge in them, since that may be seen as an 'intrusion' to the system. To safely circumvent this, he had to implant the information on the Falna itself so that it could be naturally absorbed by the Deity as they manipulated it.
"On another note, can you understand me now?" Kisuke proceeded to ask in Japanese with a grin.
Hestia calmed down after feeling the warmth of Kisuke's hand and was mildly surprised that she fully understood what she formerly heard as gibberish, "...So this is the language of your hometown?"
"Yep~!"
Off to the side, however, Kisuke heard Artemis' dissatisfied voice in fluent Japanese, "It wouldn't really hurt you if you were to treat me just like Hestia..."
Kisuke and Hestia looked at Artemis with a start, "Artemis, Kisuke is my child so it's normal for him to spoil me!"
Artemis pouted in discontent and retorted, "Aren't we considered as one organization? Shouldn't I receive the same treatment?"
Kisuke and Hestia looked at each other not knowing what to do. Technically speaking, Kisuke's treatment of them should be pretty similar, but he always found himself treating Hestia a bit better than Artemis which now became the source of her dissatisfaction.
In addition to that, Kisuke involuntarily didn't want to close the 'distance' between them after her previous confession that he rejected.
"Er... Give her a pat on the head?" Hestia asked Kisuke.
Kisuke wanted to ask if that much is fine but before he could do so, Artemis interrupted him with shining eyes, "You will!?"
The duo were once again shocked at her reaction and Hestia whispered to Kisuke, "Are we treating her too harshly?"
"I don't think so, but I'm not too confident with a reaction like that." Kisuke whispered back.
Seeing them whisper to each other, Artemis' anticipation diminished and she asked worryingly, "...Is that too much?"
Hestia hurriedly elbowed Kisuke and the latter feigned a cough, "Ehem, of course not, Artemis-sama. We're just surprised that you'd ask for such a thing."
"And?"
Kisuke cackled and reached out for her head. Just as he always does, he gently stroked her head and as additional service, he infused a bit of his Soul's power into his hand to give it a calming effect.
Artemis closed her eyes and enjoyed the unexpectedly pleasant feeling, 'They've been receiving something like this all this time? I've been missing out...' She was only curious when she asked for a pat since everyone except for her was regularly receiving his pats but she didn't expect that it was such a pleasurable feeling that she might get addicted to.
A few seconds later, Kisuke stopped stroking her head and took back his hand while thinking that it was enough. However, he and everyone else witnessed an instance of devastation on her face before returning to her normal stoic expression immediately, albeit with a bit of blush on her face, "Ehem... I'd like to receive it tomorrow too if you don't mind."
Artemis wanted for him to continue but they have something important to do today and she doesn't have the courage to ask for more right now so she could only let him promise that he'll do it again next time.
"Tomorrow is fine, but I can't always do it." promised Kisuke.
As simple as that, Artemis became a happier person.
While everyone accepted it without any fuss, there's someone who couldn't let it pass without receiving the same 'offering'.
Moving in front of him, Ophis stared straight up at Kisuke as if she's threatening and pressuring him with her 'glare'.
Guessing what's on her mind, Kisuke chuckled softly and also patted her head.
Ophis closed her eyes and enjoyed the pleasant feeling, resulting in a small smile blooming on her face. She decided that she should accept this offering at least once a day.
And after seeing Ophis like that, Claire and Tanis also scrambled to get close to receive theirs, "Me too, me too!"
"Okay~ Come here~", but before he noticed it, there's already a train of people behind the children, including Line who meekly went behind last, "Uhmm... What?"
Yoruichi who in front of everyone else replied with a big grin, "It's decided that you'll be doing this every day." And as she spoke out, everyone nodded.
"So I don't have a say in this?"
"You're not agreeing?"
"I'll gladly be of service to everyone~!"
.
.
.
After the pat galore everyone was satisfied and Kisuke finally finished installing every module he needed for the modification. With everything and everyone ready, Kisuke initiated the connection while carefully looking through all the logs that come and go on his console to see if everything is working as intended.
With the connection successfully establishing smoothly and without any problems, Kisuke let out a short sigh of relief and a few seconds later, a familiar loading screen appeared in front of everyone, 'I know that winging it like this is bad, but I just can't stop doing it. Well, this kind of thing helped me respond faster than anyone else in various situations.'
The moment Cleria and Masaomi's figures showed up, Claire, as everyone expected, lunged at them, "Mama! Papa!"
Masaomi caught his precious daughter and started pulling her cheeks while patting her, "It was just two days. You already missed us that much?"
It was just supposed to be a light joke but Claire immediately nodded at his question with an innocent smile and made him stutter a little.
About to tear up, Masaomi tightly hugged his daughter, "I'm very sorry sweety... We're very busy with our work right now so you have to stay with Kisuke-niichan for a bit more. Don't worry, though. Once you're home, we'll go to an amusement park and we won't go home until we can ride everything in it."
Claire's eyes shone, "It's a promise!?"
"It's a promise."
"Can we take Ta-chan and Phis-chan?"
"Of course!"
"Yay~!"
After consoling their child and making her behave on their laps, Cleria greeted everyone and introduced herself to the people she met for the first time today, "Nice to meet you. I'm Yaegaki Cleria, Cleria is my given name. Beside me is Yaegaki Masaomi, my husband and Claire's parents. Thank you for taking care of my daughter."
Editors:
And I'm Urahara Sakura~!" Sakura's hologram suddenly appeared, "I'm Kisuke's mother~!"
At Sakura's introduction, Hestia and Line became nervous. While Hestia knew why she became nervous, Line didn't have any idea why.
"Nice to meet you too. I'm Hestia and I'm their patron Goddess."
Cleria, Masaomi, and Sakura were shocked at her disproportionate but they were even more surprised when she introduced herself, "The Goddess Hestia?" Sakura muttered.
"Yes?" Hestia, including Artemis, became confused at their response.
"Oh, I'm sorry. There's nothing strange.", Sakura immediately apologized for their weird response and proceeded to explain, "It's just that we also know a Goddess Hestia, not personally, but on the records."
Kisuke became interested and asked, "Records? Why do you know of these records? Even stumbling upon them should be hard."
Sakura let out a short sigh and replied, "It's the days we're still looking for ways to deal with Lilith-chan and looked through all kinds of old records about Ophis-chan in hopes of finding something like a weakness. You see, despite being only a part of her, Lilith-chan is powerful enough to be Rizevim's bodyguard, who's a Super Devil."
Kisuke and Medusa only told Yoruichi, Kuroka, and Serafall about Lilith's appearance and no one else took Claire and Tanis when they mentioned that they made a new friend that looked like Ophis since they thought that they just met a look alike. So upon being mentioned, everyone looked towards Ophis who was supposedly sitting quietly in the corner but those who didn't know about Lilith's existence were astounded at the identical little girl that appeared without their notice.
With shining eyes, Aika approached Lilith and started pinching her cheeks, "Why didn't anyone tell us that Ophis-chan has a twin?"
"You'll hear the full explanation later, Aika-chan, but to further explain my point earlier, Hestia of Mount Olympus is one of the many Gods that perished when they tried subjugating Ophis-chan long ago."
" " "EH!?" " " Hestia, Artemis, and Line simultaneously let out a voice of disbelief.
Meanwhile, Ophis is trying to recall such an event but she kept drawing a blank and kept tilting her head from side to side, "...I have no recollection."
" " "EHH!?" " "
Sakura chuckled and said, "I'd be surprised if you do. After all, that happened even before Humans thrived and Angels and Devils started appearing. So it should have been a few tens of thousands of years ago since then."
" " "EHHH!?" " " The three natives of this world couldn't wrap their heads around Ophis's existence after such revelation and this is especially true for Line who didn't know what to think about anymore.
Out of the three, however, Artemis was the fastest one to calm down and cleared her throat, "...I'm Artemis, also one of their patron Goddesses. Nice to meet you."
After their short conversation, several theories emerged on Artemis's head, and by introducing herself, she'll be able to clear her doubts and questions, not just 'Hestia's' existence, but also hers and Ophis's.
"Really?" Sakura's face brightened, "What a coincidence, really! This time, we personally knew a Goddess named Artemis from Mount Olympus. She's one of the forefront fighters when Trihexa escaped its seal."
Kisuke and Yoruichi narrowed their eyes and their expression became serious when Sakura casually dropped a bomb. Serafall, on the other hand, couldn't keep it to herself, "What!? The Beast of the End escaped!? How!? And how is everyone!?"
Yoruichi put her hand on her shoulder to calm her down, "Take it easy. Since mom mentioned it lightly, the situation should have been resolved, at least to some extent."
Serafall listened and took a deep breath.
She knew that if someone of Ophis and Great Red's level started rampaging, a global effort would be needed to deal with it. But as someone who formerly managed the foreign affairs of the Underworld, Serafall knew how fragile and fractured the relationship between Mythologies and different territories that such a global effort would be extremely hard to realize even with the existence of the Alliance, "You're right... I'm sorry."
Thanks to Serafall's sudden outburst, Artemis already lost her chance to ask more about this 'Artemis' that she knew.
And since it's already about time they move to the main topic, Sakura looked towards Line and urged her, "And you, sweety?"
Line panicked for a bit and hurriedly introduced herself as she bowed forward, "I'm Line Arshe from the Loki Familia! I'm also Kisuke-san's student! It's a pleasure to meet you, mother!" Due to anxiety, she failed to notice how weird the last bit of her sentence was.
Kisuke wanted to ask why Line called his mother 'mother' but she was stopped by Sakura through gestures and asked, "He hasn't taught you anything weird, has he?"
Straightening her back, she answered loudly, "The topics he enlightened me were already beyond my common sense so I have no idea which of them are weird! Please forgive me!"
Sakura laughed at her actions and patted her shoulder, "Don't be nervous. I'm just really worried since I know my son has this really weird habit of just teaching others things that would really appear weird to others, regardless of where he is."
However, deep inside, Sakura was feeling complicated, 'Just how many is he going to snag? But I guess having many grandchildren to spoil is also fun in its own way.'
Although there are still many questions that Hestia and Artemis wanted answers to, Kisuke wanted to get the whole picture of what happened on the other side first so he asked, "Shall we move to the main topic?"
"We'll do that but there are still some people who want to join this meeting. And don't worry. They should be arriving soon. It's really hard for them to open their schedule because of the current state of affairs.", answered Cleria.
It only took a few minutes for the said guests to arrive and it was a pleasant surprise for Serafall and Sona, "We're sorry for being late. We didn't expect that those geezers would still be as stubborn as before even though the situation doesn't look good."
Dylan, along with his wife, Cordelia, entered the room, and as soon as they appeared, Serafall jumped on them, "Mother~! Father~! You're here!"
Cordelia chuckled and caught her daughter. Although she's already old, she can't imagine Serafall acting any other way anymore, "It's good to see you, Serafall." She then looked towards Sona who's happily making her way to them, "And you too, Sona. I see that you're doing alright. I'm glad."
As she walked forward, Sona started tearing up and Serafall went out of her way, "M-mother..."
Her reaction was understandable because no matter how strong she likes to act, she's still a young girl that was abruptly separated from her loving family and almost lost her life from it.
"Mother...", hugging her mother firmly, Sona repeated.
Cordelia also tightly hugged her daughter and whispered, "I'm glad... I'm really glad that you're alright."
Soon, Dylan and Serafall joined them and they created a warm atmosphere that no one disturbed.
Editors:
28th00: It's already hit apocalypse'o'clock in DxD? Damn. But yeah, Sona would really miss her parents. The way she left was incredibly brutal and unpleasant after all.
"We apologize for such a display.", Dylan straightened his suit and his regal demeanor returned.
"There's nothing for you to apologize for, Dylan-san. It should be us who should be saying sorry for making your daughter go through all of that." Kisuke removed his hat and sat down while offering a seat to the Sitri family.
Since it'd only make the conversation unnecessarily long, Dylan took the seat and changed the topic, "In any case, this is such sophisticated technology. If possible, I'd like you to sell it to me."
The moment he heard about Kisuke's communication device, he wanted to get this technology in his hands as soon as possible because there are so many things it could be used for, especially within his territory, a forefront runner in medical research.
Not every ailment needed or could be solved by Magic and some needed to go through traditional surgery. If the Sitri Household could get this technology, they could expand their influence through remote surgery where teleportation is restricted or inconvenient.
"I have no further use for this so I could just give it to you, but we'll have to talk about that when I return."
"Hmm... That's fair." Dylan nodded at him before looking towards the new faces, "I'm sorry for my late introduction, but I'm Dylan Sitri, the current head of the Sitri Household and this is my wife, Cordelia. I'm delighted to make your acquaintance."
Hestia, Artemis, and Line also introduced themselves again and the Sitri couple was surprised like Sakura, Cleria, and Masaomi. However, this isn't their main point today and they knew they didn't have much time.
With all the introductions out of the way, Cleria, Sakura, and sometimes, Dylan and Masaomi started talking about the big events on their side.
After Kisuke, Irina, Akeno, and Serafall had left, an exclusive meeting happened between the leaders of the Three Great Factions with Diehauser in the middle of it after he revealed that he has been working as a spy for Rizevim and his organization, Qlippoth.
If this were heard by the Elders, Diehauser would instantly be imprisoned, but since he told it to the leaders who don't have the same strict and old-fashioned views, they choose to listen first and decide later.
When Sirzechs, Falbium, and Ajuka heard that it all started with the prohibited 'King' piece and Zekram's attempt to silence Cleria about it, they could only sigh and put their hands on their faces.
Now that he discovered that his revenge was already pointless and would only put Cleria in even more danger, he decided to come out and confess what he knew and Rizevim's plans. But even then, he's not really fully trusted and only knew a few points and a few of those were the research on the Trihexa's seal using Rossweise's thesis, the planned attack on Heaven, and the attempt to replicate Phoenix's Tears which was already a success to some degree.
Of course, the leaders were alarmed by all of this and immediately ordered appropriate measures.
Soon, the foreseen attack on Heaven indeed happened and they were ready for it. However, thanks to some unforeseen specific details, in addition to Lilith and the revived Evil Dragons, Rizevim and his cohort were able to retreat with Sekiryuutei just giving him a single effective blow.
"Hoho? So Issei-kun is now powerful enough to fight a Super Devil?" Kisuke asked with interest.
Dylan nodded, "At some point, yes. However, Rizevim was only considered a Super Devil because of his Sacred Gear Canceller, which is a unique ability that could nullify nearly all Sacred Gear abilities. Issei Hyodou was only able to inflict damage to him using a unique ability of his own. But compared to other Super Devils like Sirzechs and Ajuka, Rizevim is a lot weaker."
At this point, Sakura interjected, "Nevertheless, Issei-kun right now should be as powerful as a God and could even go to the top levels even for a short amount of time if he were to push himself."
Cordelia let out a short sigh and added, "It's technically a war out there so his extreme adaptability to the situation became his strongest point. Furthermore, Lucifer's true heir won't lose to him as the Hakuryuukou."
'Looks like both of them went beyond my expectations~ I would really like to meet them now.', thought Kisuke. Though he could understand why that came to be and that's because they have been fighting literal Gods or those on the same level. What's more surprising was that they were still alive and Kisuke doesn't know if this is all about their ability, fate, or luck, 'Either way, their environment pressured them while we are here peacefully polishing our basics. We really have to step up soon.'
The girls saw Kisuke grin and shuddered. They knew what he's thinking but they weren't really against it after hearing their story. They know they are being left behind and the other side is only going to get more dangerous. While strength and power aren't their ultimate goal, they wanted enough to protect those important to them and not be relegated to the sideline. Without Kisuke's knowledge, everyone's resolve was strengthened.
Setting those thoughts aside, for now, Kisuke asked, "What are these unforeseen details that you've mentioned?"
"They got help from some group. To be exact, Hades and Apollo's group.", answered Sakura.
"Let me guess.", Kisuke interrupted her, "You're able to track it back to them but since there is no evidence you can't do anything meaningful to them?"
Cleria nodded, "That's correct. And we're only able to trace their influence thanks to Athena and Nyx who helped us from the shadows."
Kisuke shrugged his shoulders, "Well, that's understandable. If the Alliance made a move against them with just suspicions, they'll look really bad and they'll only make enemies. Gosh, I hate politics. Good thing I'm a terrorist. I'm really grateful to them right now."
Cleria, Masaomi, Dylan, Cordelia, and Sakura's mouths twitched at the same time. This is the first time they've seen someone being so happy to be branded as a terrorist and doubted if they'll ever meet a second one.
"Hey, I want to be one too! Make sure to bring me whenever you're gonna shit on their heads."
And their expectations were instantly broken by Yoruichi.
Clearing his throat, Dylan continued their story.
Since Diehauser's information was accurate enough, instead of protecting the Agreas Island where the Trihexa was sealed and making Rizevim extremely wary of them, the leaders decided that it would be better if they could lure Rizevim and his forces there to clean them in one fell swoop.
And this was a good idea since they were able to seal most of the Evil Dragons, separate Lilith from Qlippoth, and defeat Rizevim. However, they underestimated Rizevim's determination to release the Trihexa since he sacrificed his own soul as the trigger to break the seal.
After hearing that, Kisuke could only mutter, "That's one crazy asshole if I've ever seen one."
Editors:
28th00: He truly is a "Salt the earth!" kinda devil, ain't he?
Nunya Business
Of course, the situation was a lot more complex than they described thanks to the turbulent forces surrounding the event, but there was no use describing them in detail as that would only take more time.
"Setting up an ambush is one thing, but there should only be a few people or even none that knew where it was exactly sealed. Much less plan out a coordinated attack.", Kisuke did ask for clarification in some matters.
Dylan nodded, "Indeed you're correct. In actuality, the God of the Bible should be the only being that knew where it was sealed. However, Ajuka acquired a piece of land that contained a very rare ore in abundance which was made into Evil Pieces. This ore was rare even in the Supernatural World standard."
Just with those words, Kisuke already guessed where he's coming from but he didn't interrupt him, "This only came to light recently, but according to Ajuka, he's not only interested in the ores itself but also the reason why they existed there. As you might have guessed already, after extensive research he discovered something terrible was sealed within those lands and he could only infer that it was the Beast of the End after some more reference to ancient history."
"Of course, he still wasn't sure if it's really the Trihexa but he still never revealed its existence to anyone else until he proposed to wait in Agreas Island. In other words, it should be only him who's aware that something is in there."
Kisuke thought about his words and recalled Rizevim's previous activities. Within a few moments, it clicked in his head and his eyes widened, "Sephiroth Graal and the previous attack on Heaven."
"That's right.", Masaomi confirmed his guesses, "It's not just about its power to touch upon the principles of life, it's also one of the Holy Relics closest to the God of the Bible that sealed the Trihexa. Using the Sephiroth Graal, it seems that Rizevim was able to come in contact with the Trihexa even before finding it and it was now known that Qlippoth's attack on Heaven was to steal more Holy Relics that could increase their chances of unsealing the beast."
Upon its release, the Alliance finally got to see what it really looks like. Trihexa has the appearance of a large beast with characteristics coming from different animals like a lion, a leopard, a bear, a dragon, etc. It has seven necks, seven heads, with ten horns each, as well as seven long thick tails of different shapes. It also has four stout arms and two legs that are even thicker than its arms. Its main body is that of a primate leaning forward and is covered in black fur and what appears to be scales all over its body. Its size is well over several hundred meters, making it significantly larger than even the Great Red.
Kisuke, Yoruichi, Kuroka, and Serafall then noticed that a barrier around the building was suddenly erected but with Kisuke's immediate telepathy response, they ignored it for now.
It wasn't just its physical appearance, but also the aura it released was malevolent enough that any normal person that would see it would lose their mind. It became a large problem when most of their weaker forces assigned to logistics and evacuation were unable to even move.
Since they didn't have the force to fight it off, they retreated from Agreas Island. In just a matter of days after its release, it annihilated numerous smaller Mythologies and even managed to arrive in the Human World where all Mythologies are even having a hard time keeping it within the Supernatural World.
What's worse is that it's capable of splitting its body into seven parts in accordance with its heads and each one of them was almost indestructible defense and even if they managed to injure it, it'll just regenerate in a blink of an eye.
With a vitality like that, the many Mythological leaders estimated that it'll take at least a thousand years to kill it even with the cooperation of everyone.
"And that's what they are trying to do, is it?" asked Kisuke in a solemn voice.
Dylan nodded in a dignified manner and everyone on their side had solemn expressions, "That's right. With the collaboration between Rossweisse and Ajuka, they were able to create a seal that would seal the Trihexa again. However, they couldn't afford to wait any longer for a stronger seal so along with the Trihexa, various leaders and their close subordinates sealed themselves with it and will attempt to kill it for good."
"Falbium Asmodeus and his peerage, Sirzechs Lucifer and his peerage except for Grayfia, Serafall Leviathan's peerage, Azazel, Michael, Odin, Zeus, Amaterasu are just to name a few that went in. They knew full well that they might be as well fighting an endless battle but none of them hesitated.", Sakura couldn't help but smile wryly when she recalled the scene of the gathering, "While some of them are nervous, the old Gods had a smile on their face as if they are facing the ending that they wanted."
Hearing that, Serafall visibly tightened her fist but she didn't say anything. She's already regretting the fact that she left on her own.
"A-and the world was saved, right?" Hestia couldn't help but ask, hoping for at least an acceptable ending.
Nevertheless, Cleria immediately shook her head, "It might have become peaceful after that but without the presence of those powerhouses, the turbulence that they've been keeping have started spiraling out of control with some of them wanted a piece of the pie called 'authority' while others wanted to just use their power unhindered."
Yoruichi then went on to say, "Azazel, or at least, some leaders, should have known that this would happen and created a countermeasure."
"They did." Cleria confirmed it, "Before even all of this came to be, there's already talk of a Rating Game between Heaven and Underworld with the inception of the Brave Saints that's based on the same system as the Evil Pieces. Using that idea, Azazel arranged that it would encompass the whole world and every Mythology. A worldwide Rating Game Tournament that every Mythology and faction would participate in with the winner being granted a wish that would be realized by all the participants. This tournament is created to serve as a proxy war among the myths and prevent hostility from brewing among myths which could lead into more wars"
Kisuke, Yoruichi, Serafall, Sona, and Kuroka thought about her words for a bit and realized what a 'tournament' at these times could do, "I see... As most Gods are honest to a fault, once their desires are fulfilled, they won't do anything else.", muttered Kisuke.
"If those who are just seeking to use their powers or prove their strength were to be given a stage, then they won't be assisting or controlled by those seeking authority. In that case, it'll be harder for the latter type of people to do what they want with the Mythologies coming together once again.", added Sona while nodding in understanding.
Editors:
28th00: Hold up, is that actually what happens in the next DxD series? We've gone back to a tournament arc! FULL CIRCLE!
"As of now, the problem with the Mythologies has settled down with the preparation for said tournament. However, the Evil Dragons that managed to escape earlier remain a problem, as they're still leading the remains of Qlippoth. We have no idea what they're planning to do but there are some unconfirmed rumors that they are meeting some Gods." Dylan couldn't help but let out a short sigh and grab his forehead, "Not to mention Hades and Apollo. We can't do anything to them, especially now that our political standpoint has weakened with the absence of our leaders."
Silence overtook the room as a tense atmosphere started building up. Even though they really wanted to speak up and ask a few things, Hestia, Artemis and Line didn't dare interrupt.
A few seconds later, Kisuke stretched his arms and took a deep breath. He'd already thought of a way to make Hades and Apollo's movements predictable, "Please announce that I'll return to Mount Olympus in one month's time."
"Huh!? I'm happy that you're going home, but why would you want to announce your arrival!? And you'll attack Mount Olympus again!?" Sakura inevitably had an outburst when she heard Kisuke's intentions.
Dylan raised his hand to interrupt her and asked, "Are you restricting their movements by letting them set up an ambush against you?"
"That's correct."
"Then you won't really come?" Sakura was glad but also a bit disappointed.
However, Kisuke suddenly grinned and said, "Of course I'll go~! Honesty is one of my virtues and I have no intention of desecrating my good name~!"
Sakura and the others on her side were stunned while those behind Kisuke could only smile wryly.
"...Why would you put yourself in such danger? I know you're strong but if you play on the stage where they've written the script, it'd be very hard even for you to come out of it alive." Dylan asked after a few seconds of contemplation.
But against his expectations, Kisuke just laughed at his words and replied as a glint of light passed through his eyes, "They're preparing a stage for me? That's fair. However, I'm pretty sure that they're still not aware that they've been playing on the stage that I prepared for them long ago."
Dylan's eyes widened and pulled the information about Kisuke's last movements from his head while asking, "...Since when?"
Kisuke then became embarrassed and started scratching the back of his head, "Ehehe, although I bragged about planning ahead of time, it wasn't that long. I only started it when I returned home last time."
Dylan laughed dryly, "Isn't that the only time you could do it since that's the first time you could retaliate after being forcefully evicted? So it all started when you said you'd crack Hades' skull, huh? What makes you sure that they'll give you a warm welcome?"
But instead of answering, Kisuke asked, "Has Apollo appeared in public yet? If so, is there anything worth mentioning about him?"
It was Cleria, who'd been collecting and managing most of the information regarding the movements within Mount Olympus, who answered him after thinking about it for a moment, "After your attack on Mount Olympus, there were very few occasions where Apollo's appeared. And each time, he seemed to be in a bad mood and there's always a strong barrier around him, making others think that he's very wary of assassins."
"S-seriously?" Kisuke couldn't believe what he had heard, "Looks like I'm giving him more credit than he deserved... He's way too incompetent."
Sakura narrowed her eyes and asked, "Why did you suddenly start insulting him? He's a scheming God, you know?"
"No, I mean, what he's doing might be actually not for what you think." Kisuke then took out a ball as large as a golf ball wrapped in paper with inscriptions, "This is the stink bomb that I used to annoy him."
"And?" Sakura really couldn't get used to his fascination with stink bombs and wanted to know where he got that habit.
"I made it so that it would seem easy to remove at first, but it's actually pretty tough to get rid of it once it's invaded and mixed with your own Magic Power, Ki, Soul Power, or Divine Power. He's most likely using that barrier to hide the smell of sewers coming off him."
Yoruichi grabbed the stink bomb and inspected it while curiously saying, "You really put effort into the weirdest things. But it shouldn't be that hard to remove. As long as you can purify your own energy source, you'll be fine and I doubt he didn't know how to do that."
"Oh, it's because I still had Great Red's flesh and blood, so I mixed it in. Since Ophis-chan was also on board with the idea, she also gave it a snake too."
As soon as Kisuke said that, Yoruichi's fist landed on his head. But due to the changes to his body to accommodate his new energy source, he hardly felt any pain and the shockwave was only transmitted back, hurting Yoruichi's fist, "Damn you and your thick skull! Why would you use such important resources for a simple prank!"
But Kisuke just chuckled away and said, "Don't worry about it~ If it was such a simple prank, then he should have dealt with it long ago~!"
Dylan had to consciously hold back his sigh, since he has noticed that he has been doing it a lot ever since this meeting started, "...With his pride tarnished, I can see how much he resents you. Let's then move on to the next thing you said. One month? Why? I'm sorry if this sounds like I'm interrogating you, but we'd like to match our schedule with yours and I'd like to have a better idea of what you're about to do."
"The one month's time isn't actually for me, but for Athena, for her to prepare and gather her forces. Once I arrive, it'll be the start of a civil war on Mount Olympus."
Sakura wanted to say something but Kisuke cut her off, "I know what you want to say, Mom. But this is actually safer than just passively waiting for them to make their move."
Sakura pursed her lips in frustration but she agreed with him. A moment later, Sakura held his hands and said, "Once you get home, make sure to see us first."
Kisuke closed his hands and reassured with a smile, "You'll be the first one I'll meet."
Editors: