816-822
Chapter 816 Dragon King vs Shinigami | Goyya's Four Brain Hemispheres on Patreon
Within the artificial space that was reminiscent of a wide desert, Kisuke and Tiamat stood opposite and a hundred meters from each other.
Tiamat unfurled her Dragon wings and rose to the sky while Kisuke followed suit, matching her height.
Tiamat waited quietly for a few minutes but ended up furrowing her brows and asking Kisuke, "Where is your blade?" She recalled that he has a Sacred Gear in the form of a hidden blade within a cane.
In response, Kisuke smirked and said, "As you've said, I also want to see what you can do. If I were to pull out my blade, I may not be able to gauge your abilities properly."
A vein instantly popped out of her forehead as blue flames began to emerge and circulate around her, releasing an incredible amount of heat, "Ah? Is that so? Then you better watch carefully."
Despite appearing very cold, the strongest of the Five Great Dragon Kings is in fact, very hot-headed when it comes to her treasures and fighting. Opening her mouth, Tiamat gathered the blue flames in front of her mouth and compressed it. A second later, a blinding blue blast of pure flame flew up towards Kisuke.
The blast of flame reached the height of 30 meters and it would've been hard for anyone to dodge such an encompassing and punishing strike that could instantly vaporize anyone on the level of High-Class Devils and below. Contrary to her expectations, however, Tiamat saw no movements from Kisuke and heard just a single mutter, "Danku (Splitting Void)."
A translucent rectangular, 20 meter high, 10 meter wide, barrier instantly appeared in front of Kisuke, stopping the blast of flame that instantly turned the sand around them into pieces of glass.
Tiamat was a bit shocked that her breath was blocked so casually and was about to resume the next wave of attack when she suddenly felt a threat beside her. She hurriedly turned her head to the right but it was already too late as a fist had already made contact with her nose, blasting her away while leaving a trail of blood, 'W-what!? When did he!?'
As she traveled through the air, her eyes landed on Kisuke, who was behind the translucent barrier and saw him suddenly pop like a balloon, 'What the hell?' were her last thoughts before she was buried within the sands, like a heavy object dropping into a body of water, splashing and creating waves of sands behind her.
Kisuke brought back his fist and wiped the blood off his fingers, 'As expected of a Dragon. That punch was enough to blow away someone's head.'
"I knew that he could win, but I didn't think he'd do it this easily." Cleria commented while watching the match.
"Going against Tiamat should be a given, but even when he fought Hades and Ares, he took an unconventional form. This time around, he didn't do any of that. He didn't even pull out his sword.", added Diehauser while analyzing the previous clash. He imagined that if he's on Tiamat's foot, he couldn't have possibly dodged that either.
"He grew stronger, alright...", muttered Sakura, very happy for her son but also very worried and concerned as she knew that he couldn't possibly get this much stronger by just sitting around, 'I'd heard that he's unforgiving when training others, but how exactly does he treat himself?' This point made her realize once again that she doesn't know that much about her son, even if she tried acting like she knew him well enough, 'The secrets that he's hiding... Will I ever be able to make him open up to me?'
Meanwhile, Ajuka ,who was outside of the siblings' observation, had a deep frown on his face. All around the Game Field he created were various measuring tools that could detect anything within the space they were moving. Instead of the ongoing fight, Ajuka was staring at the data that was entering his terminal in real-time, 'It looks like Magic down to its fluctuations, but it isn't Magic nor the power of Souls... At most, I expected his techniques to be of an unknown system but to think I couldn't even analyze the source he's using... Sirzechs severely underestimated the threat he posed.'
Kisuke stared down as the cloud of sand began to disperse.
A few seconds later, a whirlpool of sand started to form on the spot where Tiamat disappeared, but what was surprising was molten glass took up the center and began to climb up. A minute later, it has now become a whirlpool of molten glass.
First were the Dragon wings spanning a hundred meters, before a 50-meter long Blue Western Dragon emerged from the whirlpool and stared back at Kisuke with her bright blue eyes, "I apologize for underestimating you, but from here on, I won't be falling for the same trick."
"With a target as big as you, I won't be needing any tricks to hit you.", replied Kisuke as he took a stance.
"Hit me then," Tiamat answered, while amassing another compressed blue flame, but in a significantly shorter amount of time and blasting it towards Kisuke's direction once again.
Kisuke used Flash Step to dodge and close the distance, but this time, Tiamat was ready and swiped her giant claws at him. Kisuke easily dodged this and maneuvered around her arm to reach her chin, sending out a fist.
With her size right now, the most she could do was mitigate the force by jumping backwards, but she didn't do any of those to Kisuke's shock. While suspicious of her intentions, Kisuke still continued and his fist was connected to her chin.
But before he could send all of the force behind his fist, Kisuke was forced to pull back and used Flash Step to take some distance. When he was sure that Tiamat wouldn't initiate a follow-up attack he took a look at the fist he threw and saw its flesh seared, reaching even the bone, "Those are some deceptive scales. I couldn't feel much heat before touching them."
"They are almost a million-degree Celcius hot as long as I supply them with enough Draconic Aura. And more than keeping your hand, I'm surprised that you didn't even wince in pain. Are you sure you're in the same generation as those brats?"
Kisuke stopped looking at his hand and started contemplating his next moves while answering, "I certainly am. But a million-degrees celsius? That must be taking an enormous amount of Draconic Aura to maintain."
"Your worries are unfounded. I can do this all day. With that said, isn't it about time to pull out your sword?"
"Well, touching you is definitely going to be tough, but it's not impossible." Tiamat's ability made Kisuke recall the late commander of Gotei 13. But unlike this Dragon, Yamamoto's Ryujin Jakka made him nigh impossible to touch once he releases his Bankai. If it wasn't for Yhwach stealing his Bankai and using it against him, Yamamoto wouldn't have died so easily, 'His position as a 'protector' also didn't allow him to use the full scope of his abilities. Oh well, what should I do now? Maybe test that out?'
"Still underestimating me, I see," Tiamat replied angrily and started compressing her blue flames once again, but this time, there were a total of 9 waiting for Kisuke and it was enough to blast the whole space he moved around in.
Not minding this, Kisuke took a deep breath and muttered, "Shunko!"
Editors:
28th00: I wonder what Element he'll use? Lightning, Wind and Fire were the 3 I remember from Bleach.
Chapter 817 Flash War Cry | Goyya's Four Brain Hemispheres on Patreon
"Shunko!"
While the seared flesh on Kisuke's knuckles began to heal, the veins in both of his arms and legs were suddenly ruptured, releasing a substantial amount of blood.
Tiamat was shocked at this gruesome sight, but never did she once think that this is a suicidal move, even if Kisuke started gathering a frightening amount of power. She didn't know what he's planning, but she waited in anticipation. Tiamat had already decided to join his team after his first attack, but she still wanted to see more of what he's capable of.
Instead of falling down, the blood gathered around his arms and legs, ripping apart his sleeves, wooden sandals, and a portion of his pants, 'Err... I forgot about this... I'll have to make clothes that won't be destroyed by this next time. I'm not really a fan of showing off my sexy thighs.'
While thinking such inane thoughts, the blood turned misty and swirled, covering his limbs. Shunko's initial form was completed.
Kisuke looked at his limbs and flexed them, 'The combination of Hakuda and Kidou, Yoruichi and Sui Feng is really great for figuring this out all on their own.'
After hopping in midair for a few seconds in an attempt to gauge the changes in his physique, Kisuke disappeared from his former position and reappeared under Tiamat's belly.
The latter already knew that he would reappear there as the enormous Blood Aura made his movements much more obvious. However, she still trusted her scales and poured her Draconic Aura into her defense. Nevertheless, that wasn't a very good decision.
Kisuke lowered his hips and stabilized his footing with an invisible foothold before rising up and throwing his fist covered in a blood mist once again.
Tiamat expected his hand to be seared again, but against this expectation, the blood mist just compressed itself and impacted her belly, sending a wave of debilitating vibrations that made her whole body rattle, '!?'
Tiamat tried to fly up, but it was already too late as she was sent flying outside of her own volition, 'What's this!?' Along with her confusion was a lump of blood emerging from her mouth. Her organs were damaged enough that she'd started coughing out blood.
But she didn't care any of this for now as she was still in danger and immediately reoriented herself to face Kisuke, only to see him putting both of his hands together and pointing his palms towards her, "Haaah!!!" A blast of crimson bloody energy instantly appeared from Kisuke's palms.
Feeling the threat, Tiamat hurriedly converged her blue flames in front of her to fight it off.
The large deafening sound from the collision of the two opposing forces pushed the sands, creating an enormous crater and a thick sandstorm in the desert. Despite this, the two of them could still feel each other's presence very clearly and moved to once again clash.
From the viewers' point of view, the whole screen was covered by the sandstorm, and Kisuke and Tiamat's figures would only be revealed for a fraction of a second when they clashed and changed that section's sand into molten glass, further adding to the turbulence.
During the last clash of leg and claw, the resulting shockwave pushed out all the remaining sand, revealing the two figures before they separated and stopped moving.
While the two of them seemingly have no visible changes at first glance from afar, Tiamat's scales have some minor cracks on them. In the middle of their clashes, she had to dedicate some of her aura to defending the inside of her body due to Kisuke's strikes having a resonance effect, especially on her blood.
Meanwhile, Kisuke was still the same except for the blood swirling around his limbs already forming into half-done crimson blood gauntlets and boots, 'He's slowly adjusting and evolving mid-fight... What a troublesome fellow, and I clearly underestimated him despite putting my guard up.'
"Still want to continue?" asked Kisuke.
Tiamat's eyes widened at his question, "I'd never thought you'd ask that when you're clearly on the verge of something. Shouldn't you use this opportunity to complete that technique? Any delays may affect its completion."
But Kisuke shook his head and replied, "The pressure you're applying isn't enough anymore. Unless..."
Tiamat received Kisuke's knowing stare and sighed, "This is supposed to be just a mock battle, but fine. I'll play along and stop holding back a bit."
Kisuke smiled, "You have my thanks~." He then calmed the raging energies on his limbs and rearranged them to become more efficient.
Tiamat, on the other hand, had her flames surround and cover her once again. Instead of getting bigger, the sphere became smaller than that of a Human before revealing what's inside. Tiamat had returned to her humanoid form, but this time, her scales acted as her body fit attire and her limbs were that of a Dragon. In addition to that, there were now two long curved horns protruding out of her head, parting her hair and revealing her shining sapphire blue dragon eyes.
Kisuke knew from the start that she'd been holding back because she used her Dragon form instead of the humanoid one when it was very clear to him that she was a master of martial arts due to her movements.
But as soon as she took her humanoid Dragon form, the atmosphere instantly heated up to dangerous levels before falling into freezing levels just as fast. The evaporated moisture instantly turned into icicles, producing impromptu snow in the desert.
However, Kisuke didn't think that she'd suddenly changed the element of her Draconic Aura and correctly guessed the true nature of the frozen world that had become of the Game Field, 'Absorbing thermal energy for her own use, huh. In this regard, when it comes to controlling heat, Captain Yamamoto is a child in front of her.'
Editors:
28th00: Blood. His element was blood. I should've expected that, because of Benihime. Also, Tiamat is Cirno? Who would've thunk it!
Chapter 818 New Teammate | Goyya's Four Brain Hemispheres on Patreon
The last few moments of the battle became a pure mano a mano fistfight.
Compared to Yoruichi's Shunko that was sharp and fast, and to Sui Feng's which was swift and flexible, Kisuke's Shunko that centered on his own blood was sluggish and heavy. But in exchange for that, each blow he could land caused devastating destruction that was capable of bypassing most defenses to a certain extent.
If it was compared to a weapon, Yoruichi was a dagger, Sui Feng was a whip, and Kisuke was a Warhammer.
Meanwhile, Tiamat's blows were just as deadly, as whenever she touched a part of Kisuke's body, it would instantly be burned despite his ridiculous durability. And even if Kisuke tried to block her attacks with his gauntlets and boots, they would be instantly destroyed, though it would only burn his skin a bit. To Tiamat's frustration, however, each time she broke those, they would also instantly regenerate and be even more complete and sturdy.
As it became a slugging contest, the impact of each of their clashes rattled the whole Game Field, which wasn't that big in the first place since there were only the two of them. These waves of destruction caused the surveillance cameras to break whenever they or the combatants got too close. Since it wasn't a typical game where there were large numbers of cameras and Ajuka had filled the field with more sensitive devices, it wasn't long before all of them broke and the viewers couldn't see anything any further.
"There's no point in sending in anymore surveillance since it's about to end.", Ajuka said while standing up from his seat, "I got everything I needed to do so I'll be taking my leave first. Have a good day."
Cleria also stood up and said, "Then we won't impose on you any longer, Ajuka-sama. Have a good day too."
But before Ajuka disappeared within the Teleportation Circle, he turned around once again, "Right. Before I forget, please tell Kisuke Urahara that Sirzechs, Azazel, and apparently Zeus would like to have a word with him."
"What!? But I thought-", nonetheless, before Cleria was able to finish her sentence, Ajuka disappeared, leaving the siblings thinking.
Cleria sat back down and sighed, "Haahh... I really hate how he keeps leaving important things unanswered."
"At least we know that the sealed leaders have a way of communication.", commented Sakura while they were waiting for Kisuke and Tiamat to emerge.
Diehauser nodded at her and added, "I also understand why he wanted to keep this a secret. After all, this Azazel Cup isn't just about reinforcing stability, but also pulling out the rotten roots when they finally reveal themselves. The fact that there's a way to contact them would make these people tread even more carefully, so make sure you don't utter a word about it."
"Understood." The sisters nodded.
At that moment, a Teleportation Circle appeared in the middle of the room, and Kisuke and Tiamat emerged. But as soon as they appeared, the Belial siblings panicked, "Nii-sama! Call the medical unit and bring our stock of Phoenix Tears!" Sakura shouted as she ran towards Kisuke who was suffering fatal burns everywhere on his body except his face. The bones in his right hand were even visible right now.
Tiamat, on the other hand, was covered in her own blood with her veins ruptured and all of her orifices bleeding. While it didn't look as bad as Kisuke, her internal injuries are nothing to scoff at. Just standing up is painful for her.
"There's no need." Kisuke stopped her mother from rushing and took out a bottle of glistening purple potion from his inventory before tossing it towards Tiamat, "Drink it. That should help ease the pain."
Tiamat stared at the unknown concoction for a short moment before popping it open and drinking it. As soon as it touched her throat, she immediately felt the effect and saw her ruptured veins visibly heal and her skin close. The soothing and warm medicine then continued to spread throughout her entire body and slowly healed her damaged organs, "What's this?", she asked while staring at the bottle, "It's as potent as Phoenix Tears... No... Maybe even better since it's slowly regenerating my Draconic Aura too."
"Where did you get this?", but as soon as she turned towards Kisuke, she saw his almost baby-like skin was already without a hint of blemish and already fully restored. With a snap of his fingers, he also restored his clothes, returning to what he was like when he first arrived here.
Tiamat looked towards his family members and saw them having the same reaction as her, confused on how he was able to restore himself within just a minute, 'Did he have a time-reversal healing magic?' Tiamat asked herself. Whether that's the case or not, she now understood his confidence in just focusing on improving his technique in the middle of their fight, "If I had known, I shouldn't have held back blowing off your limbs. Maybe I'd be in less pain." She complained while clicking her tongue.
"K-Kisuke... What was that? Your wounds were suddenly covered in smoke then everything was already healed?" Sakura asked in concern. She, of course, was not bothered on why Kisuke could instantly regenerate his flesh and bones, but more worried that it's just a superficial image he was projecting to avoid her from worrying.
Kisuke didn't misunderstand her concern and smiled to reassure her, "I'm fine, mom. This isn't just something superficial. Despite how my injuries looked, nothing among those were special or cursed, so they were no threat to my life. Though I'm a bit tired after healing all those wounds."
Not satisfied with his answer, Sakura started patting Kisuke's body while sending pulses of her own Demonic Power to examine him to make sure that there was nothing amiss.
Kisuke let her do what she wanted and turned to the still shocked Cleria and Diehauser, "Ajuka-sama left already?"
Cleria reclaimed her expression and nodded, "Ah. He knew that it's about to end so he decided to leave. But before going, he said that Sirzechs-sama, Azazel, and Zeus wanted to talk to you."
"Hmmm... I see. Well I'll have to gather more information before I speak with them.", replied Kisuke as he scrapped his initial plans before coming back, 'If those who came with Zeus are in the same faction as him, then it's not really wise to go against Apollo right now. Not to mention that Hades managed to develop fighters at the Super Devil level. I'd like to acquire his research materials first if possible. Looks like the most viable choice I have right now is to join the Azazel Cup and aim for the trophy. With that wish, I can solve the pressing problem on the other side. And if things go smoothly, we'll have more countermeasures against the unknown Gods that are eyeing this world. I'll even have my chance to return to the Seireitei.'
While Kisuke was contemplating his plans, Diehauser turned to Tiamat and asked, "I assume you've reached a decision?"
Tiamat nodded and said, "Of course. However, the ball isn't in my park anymore. I'd be happy to join his team but I don't know if he's satisfied with me."
Editors:
28th00: Tiamat has learnt a bit of how ridiculous Kisuke is. That answer: Very.
Chapter 819 Tartarus | Goyya's Four Brain Hemispheres on Patreon
Chapter 819 Tartarus
Kisuke heard Tiamat's self-defeating words and stopped his train of thoughts, "I'd be honored to have you on my team, Tiamat-san. Please take care of me~."
"Those are my words. I have you as our captain, and if the other members are also competent enough, we'll have a real chance in winning."
"So should we call the other remaining members?", asked Sakura.
Curious, Tiamat asked, "And they are?"
"You'll know once they arrive.", but instead of leaving it to Sakura, Kisuke contacted them himself by triggering an alarm system in his previous hideout where they were currently staying and letting them know his current coordinates.
After setting up a barrier that reduces the space and energy fluctuations that leak outside over the room, a Teleportation Circle appeared once again and this time, two familiar figures emerged. Athena with her long and shiny blonde hair and Nyx with her long and jet black hair, both of them wearing attire that matched the modern Human world. But what caught Kisuke's attention was Nyx's prosthetics, 'So she still hasn't fixed that? Or is the limb regrowth still in the stage of infancy? After acquiring my research on souls, Azazel should have been able to develop it. It looks like he focused on strengthening the Sacred Gears more seeing that's one of the trump cards against strong enemies.'
Seeing his face, Athena sighed in relief.
"Oh? I've never expected that you'd be glad to see me, considering our history.", Kisuke commented with a chuckle.
Athena found a place to sit and relaxed her body, "I'm just glad that you didn't attack Olympus like what you'd announced more than a month ago."
Nyx, meanwhile, greeted Sakura, Cleria, and Diehauser, "It has been a while."
Sakura grabbed her hand and led her to one of the seats and said, "It really has been a while. Three months, is it? You two completely hid yourselves and we had no idea why you refused any form of contact from us." Sakura knew what she had done when she first met Kisuke, Yoruichi, and Sona, however, she couldn't stop herself from pitying her and she could even see her past self in her. Because of those reasons, the two of them evidently became closer. Nevertheless, she would never ask for Kisuke's forgiveness on her behalf. Even though she was just following Hades' orders, Nyx still had to redeem herself.
"Something came up and we had to investigate something," Nyx answered with an awkward expression. She didn't want to show her fondness of Sakura in front of her son's inspecting gaze, 'I don't want him to misunderstand.'
But before she let Nyx continue speaking, Athena looked towards the person she didn't know personally and quietly observed them, "I don't think we can speak any further than this. We only came because you finally revealed yourself, but we would like to keep hiding."
"Don't worry about her.", replied Kisuke, "And before anything else, why did you say you're glad that I didn't attack Olympus? Change of mind?"
Athena immediately shook her head, "Of course not. More than ever, I want to take down those who took advantage of the war efforts to kick out Gods that were not in the same faction as them. As of now, they have managed to solidify and centralize their forces."
"But that shouldn't be enough for your concern. It's fine to say it. What sort of trap have they prepared for me?"
Athena hesitated for a bit before saying, "They might have managed to get the cooperation of the Titans, including Typhon and Cronus."
"Titans are?" asked Kisuke.
Nyx answered his question, "Ancient Gods that once aimed for world domination through the destruction of other Mythological Factions. But before they could do any significant damage, Zeus raised a coup and won, sealing them within mount Tartarus. After that event, Zeus became the King of the Olympians."
"The reason why we didn't come contact you because my father suspected that Apollo might have been trying to establish a connection to the prisoners of Tartarus.", added Athena, "But thanks to those three months, we were able to indirectly confirm that Apollo or Hades was able to find the entrance to Tartarus."
Kisuke furrowed his brow and rubbed his chin, "If Zeus was the one who sealed those Gods, couldn't you have asked him about the seal's location?"
"Before I answer that, let me make one thing clear. Tartarus isn't just some isolated space, but a living entity. A being of pure energy. My father even told me that it's as strong as Ophis and Great Red. But compared to those two, Tartarus doesn't have a will of its own and is unthinking. Thanks to these properties, my father and his comrades were able to use Tartarus to seal those powerful Ancient Gods."
"Before letting go of Tartarus within the infinite sea of Dimensional Gap, my father also sealed Tartarus itself so that it'd be invisible for most of the time and change its location periodically. Ever since then, it hasn't been found even once, and even if someone was able to, they'd have to kill Tartararus, who's proven to be immortal to release those inside it before it forcefully teleports itself to another part of the Dimensional Gap."
"And how did you indirectly confirm that they were aware of its location?", Kisuke further asked.
Athena put her hands together and said, "It was actually Nyx's idea."
Nodding at her words, Nyx continued by asking Kisuke, "Remember the poison that I used on you last time?"
"Of course. That's a potent one that I tried recreating but failed due to its materials being too exotic."
"It struck me as strange when Hades told me that those poisons he's concocting were for the Gods. It's too potent and hard to administer. Even then, it's still in active development. And if others were to discover that he's poisoning other Gods which is pretty easy to tell, all sorts of unwanted attention would land on him. It's just too stupid as a countermeasure against his overt enemies, diplomatically, at least."
"It was then that I realized that it might not have been for the Gods but for a very hard to kill being . With that line of thinking, Athena and I tracked some of the key ingredients that are being transferred around on secret routes. Though we failed in tracking where it really goes, we found Cyclops on the way. After making sure of what we'd seen, we retreated."
Tiamat who has been quiet all this time suddenly spoke, "Cyclops... I heard they already disappeared long, long ago."
"Yes. Most of them were sealed along with their masters, the Titans, while the rest were hunted to extinction.", added Nyx.
Editors:
28th00: Less of a Being, more of a Place. It's been shown that if they don't do anything, it's eventually possible to concoct a poison that'll somewhat work on the conceptual entities, a little. Mind you, they literally have to let you do it for it to ever work.
peter onwuasoanya
Chapter 820 More Teammates | Goyya's Four Brain Hemispheres on Patreon
"Aren't you just mistaking them for those who had escaped the hunt?", asked Kisuke.
Athena shook her head, "No. They are the ancient variants that shouldn't be existing today and all of them were wearing armors that could only be seen in Olympus' museum and records. They aren't that strong compared to the modern equipment so there are no reasons to wear them aside from them still not being issued new armors due to logistical constraints."
"Assuming that's the case, then we'll have to gather evidence and send some forces to that location. Since they are still keeping it a secret, it means it's not yet ready and only those weaker beings could cross through the seal." Tiamat suggested.
Nyx then replied to her, "That's true. The location of the seal was deep within Hades' domain, however, to gather evidence, we would need a different route since the one we used was already compromised and that's the only route that I know of. They couldn't have possibly figured out our identities, but they should be aware that we were able to snoop around so they might have already relocated the entire thing."
"Knowing them, I'm sure that they've already relocated the whole thing. They wouldn't just do nothing when one of their core plans were compromised.", added Athena.
Kisuke sighed and said, "And I doubt anyone would want to make a move right now while all the largest factions lost a substantial amount of their forces. Instead of attacking, they would rather defend their interests first. As long as there is no evidence that a specific faction was about to be attacked, no one would stir the hornet's nest." He then looked towards Athena and asked, "But considering they're not yet prepared, why are you so glad that I didn't attack Olympus?"
"You couldn't really call it an alliance but Apollo's team consists of both Gods of Olympus, one of the Five Great Dragon Kings, a God of Asgard, and the Valkyries. If you were to attack them, Asgard would be forced to move too and even if you were able to clear the misunderstanding, there would still be a crack in our relations, which wouldn't be ideal for the extremely weakened Olympus."
Kisuke smiled at Athena's answer and said, "Heh~. So you wouldn't mind if a major portion of Gods from your faction were to perish, huh?"
Athena closed her eyes and tightened her expression, "Olympus' residents are my treasure, but if it's the Gods themselves are trying to destroy it then I wouldn't leave a timed bomb like them to exist."
"Destroy it? That's awfully pessimistic of you. You couldn't deny the fact they indeed have the chance to succeed. By then, far from destroying it, it would be Olympus' golden age. Isn't this just about your pride? Just say it, I'll free you from my control and you may join them. I won't leave a hidden bomb in you and you can also take Nyx with you."
Athena's face became serious and looked straight into Kisuke's eyes. Despite his sarcastic tone, she's convinced that he's telling the truth.
Kisuke saw the hesitation within Athena's eyes but didn't say anything, 'Well, this is a normal reaction.'
Athena once again reconsidered her options but before she could reach a conclusion, Nyx suddenly spoke up, "If you decide to side with Apollo, I won't stop you. But if you were to take me with you, I'd refuse your offer."
Athena turned to her and asked, "Is it out of fear despite his promise?"
"I won't deny that. But more than that, I do believe that I'm on the 'right' side.", answered Nyx with conviction, "...If you want my opinion on this matter, I do hope that you stay."
Athena fell silent. Not just Nyx but also the Belial siblings started to get nervous. If Kisuke were to really just let her go, a lot of information on her would be revealed on the other side. They don't even understand why Kisuke would make such an offer so confidently. Little did they know that Kisuke already had contingency plans in case Athena or Nyx successfully betrayed him.
Tiamat, meanwhile, only stayed quiet and watched the situation as she didn't have much context to understand what's going on. She did, however, find this very interesting, not just the situation, but also the growing mystery surrounding Kisuke, 'I initially thought that he's just a youngster that just wanted to keep his secrets. But now I think it's not wrong to say that he's actually an old overlord that only moves in the shadows.'
A few more moments of silence passed before Athena finally spoke up, "If this had been a test, I would have failed it magnificently."
"Which it isn't.", clarified Kisuke.
"I do appreciate the fact that you're giving me a choice but I'd like to keep it as it is."
Athena's answer caused Nyx, Sakura, Cleria, and Diehauser to heave a sigh of relief.
"If you're going to ask me for a reason, I'm sorry but I would have to disappoint you as it only comes down to the vague feeling that this is the correct choice."
Kisuke then suddenly clapped his hand and said, "With that out of the way, let's talk about our team's formation~!"
Athena felt bad when he suddenly changed the topic as if her decision wasn't something important. But she just let out a wry smile after recalling that this is how her captor always has been, "Wait. What team?" she asked as she also realized that she had no idea what Kisuke was on about.
"Azazel Cup."
"...You mean the International Rating Game cooked up by Ajuka Beelzebub and Shiva?"
"What else could it mean?"
Stunned, Athena added, "You do realize that I'm recorded as missing and Nyx is dead, right? You want us to resurface just for some games?"
"Why not?"
Out of all that they've talked about ever since arriving here, this is where Athena couldn't swallow her grievances, 'Then what was all that effort to keep ourselves hidden for!?' she shouted internally. She wanted to ask that question to Kisuke but she had a feeling that she would just be deeply hurt by his answer, and like his previous decision, it was a good call.
Editors:
28th00: Oh, that has to sting, Athena.
peter onwuasoanya
Chapter 821 Mars Branch | Goyya's Four Brain Hemispheres on Patreon
"Tiamat will take the Queen, Athena the 2 Knights, and Nyx the 2 Bishops. Do you have someone else in mind? This is a strong roster, no doubt about that, but you're too few, and winning the games against stronger contenders without a full team would be tough." Cleria asked after filling out the information needed for them to register.
"I have someone in mind that could take a few pawns, but that would only be possible if she could release her seal in time."
Claire rested her chin on her palm and sighed, "Aika-chan, is it? I really don't understand why you'd do something like that."
"She's a Human with many Human connections. Considering a normal human's lifespan, it may look like she's rushing things to us Devils who can live at least a thousand times longer," commented Diehauser.
Even then, Cleria still doesn't understand. If lifespan was the problem, that could be solved in many ways, 'Then again, I didn't have enough Human connections to know for sure. Even Masaomi was just an orphan adopted and trained by the church.'
"I'll add her as a reserve member for now. She's a Sacred Gear user, so she can take 2 Pawns. But once she participates and there's more accurate data on her, the ruling body might decide she's worth up to 4 Pawns if her performance is great."
"Kisuke, are you sure about this?" Athena asked in worry, "I still have reservations about if we should really reveal our existence this early. Aside from that, Nyx isn't really in any state to fight... For obvious reasons."
"It's possible to hide their identity by avoiding the use of their unique techniques and attributes. But don't ever think you'll win many matches while holding back greatly.", added Tiamat.
"I'll make it up with strategies. And even if the goal is to take out the King, that'll be the hardest thing our opponents could do." Since he already knew about the various game types from researching the Rating Games long ago, Kisuke was confident enough that they could win with just their current members and equipment in his possession, "How do we advance to the finals?", he asked as he turned to Tiamat.
"Each team will start with 1500 points and every match, you can gain or lose points. The 16 teams that have the highest points will advance to the main stage. For matching, you just have to inform the committee that you're ready for one and the system would automatically find another team."
Kisuke stood up from his seat and asked his Queen, "Tiamat-san, you wouldn't happen to be an acting spy for anyone, right?"
"I may be working for Ajuka, but I don't have any obligation nor intention to share any information outside of his Rating Game and Evil Pieces System."
"That's great. I do hope you could keep my secrets, at least while we're on the same team."
"You're just going to take my word for it? Aren't you too trusting?"
"Please don't misunderstand it. I've only given my trust to a few people and sadly, you're obviously not part of that list."
Tiamat nodded in understanding, "I see. So you're only going to show me things that you wouldn't mind if it gets leaked."
Kisuke didn't explain any further and turned to Athena and Nyx, "Please follow me. Before our matches, we have to do something to hide your identities and restore Nyx-san's limbs."
Nyx's eyes went wide open, "Y-you have a way to heal me?"
"Not to brag, but even if you were just left with your head, as long as you're alive, I can heal you."
But instead of being impressed, she only became suspicious of his grand claim.
"Stop underestimating what he can do, will you?" Cleria suddenly interrupted, "He saved two lives who were reduced to a pool of acid by Samael's blood by reconstructing new bodies."
Athena, Nyx, and even Tiamat were dumbfounded and speechless, 'I-it doesn't look like she's lying.' thought the Chaos Karma Dragon after seeing Deihauser and Sakura nodding in agreement.
Without further explaining himself, Kisuke laid out a teleportation circle, but unlike a normal one, it just kept flashing its light instead of activating.
"It's not working?" asked Sakura while curiously trying to study and figure out what was wrong with his Magic.
"It's fine. It's just doing some authentication."
"...Authentication?", she repeated before giving him a dirty look, "You dug out another hideout? Unbelievable..."
In response, Kisuke just smiled widely and replied, "I'll show you around it later~"
He, along with his teammates, disappeared with a final flash of light.
As soon as they reappeared on the other side, the group was greeted by a dusty atmosphere of seemingly unending wasteland, a sunset dyed purple and blue, and two moons peeking from the opposite horizon. The group marveled at the unusual view from a towering skyscraper where they appeared on top.
"Welcome to the Urahara Hideout, Mars branch~!"
"This is ridiculous...", Nyx muttered.
"That's true... It should be logistically impossible.", added in Tiamat.
Athena was of the same opinion, 'Although setting up a base on Mars is theoretically possible, no one in their right mind would do something like this because of the lack of Mana in this place. If they could get an unlimited amount of energy from the Dimensional Gap, why would anyone go through the trouble of setting up a liveable place in this location?... Unless he had a way to funnel the energy from the Dimensional Gap to this place without getting caught?'
But the thing that concerned the three the most is if someone hostile were to discover this place, it would be easy to bombard it without any consequences.
Guessing what they are thinking, Kisuke lightly explained, "Of course, I realized that weakness too. Although you can see the outside from here, it's not the same from outside. And even if you tried to leave, you'll never be able to step into Martian lands because while this place exists on Mars, it also doesn't."
Kisuke used a similar technique when Soul Society transferred the whole of Karakura Town and replaced it with a fake one during Aizen's invasion. Through clever manipulation and modification, his hideout on Mars wasn't visible from the outside and even if one had knowledge of it and attacked, they'd only be hitting a 'mirage' that existed in an entirely different dimension that was only physically anchored to Mars.
The only way one could reach this place is through a constructed teleportation magic that requires a correct authentication to tunnel to a correct sequence that changes every hour. If one were to force their way in, they're just going to arrive in the Dimensional Gap and they wouldn't even be able to figure out how.
To make it short, Kisuke created an imaginary world in the form of a hideout.
'I'm getting used to this space-time thingy.' It was the truth, but if any other people were to hear his thoughts, they would be pulling out their hair and shouting at top of their lungs, 'This isn't just about you getting used to Space-Time Magic!!!'
Editors:
28th00: Oh dear, the Mars Branch is where Ophis went on a building spree! Be not afraid! Unless you try to make sense of it, then be very afraid! Reality is like Lego, but she used pieces from so many different sets…
10 Likes
Chapter 822 More New Teammates | Goyya's Four Brain Hemispheres on Patreon
Kisuke led the trio to the medical facility, which was only beside the laboratory. Inside the facility were several large rooms and the group entered one of the deepest. In the center of the room was a glass pod connected to the ceiling with various cables and support beams while it was connected to the floor by a short staircase.
To the side were various terminals with wide screens attached and each one of them had already started running as soon as the lights in the room turned on, "Please take off your clothes and prosthetics.", Kisuke said after turning towards Nyx. But before he heard her answer, he immediately headed to one of the central consoles.
Normally, Nyx would feel repugnant when someone told her to take off her covers. But Kisuke's serious and commanding tone that was devoid of any lust didn't allow her to think about it as she answered, "I can take off my clothes, but my prosthetics were directly connected to my nerves so an operation is needed just to detach them."
"I could immediately ask the one who attached those limbs to remove them, but it'd take a few days.", added Athena.
Kisuke then pointed his finger to a nondescript hanging cabinet on the left side of the room and said while operating the console, "Look for the BFG-909 and drink half of the bottle."
Thanks to the millions of self-replicating and automated drones that he'd left for half a year, Kisuke wasn't just able to build the whole hideout, but was also able to produce various things, including ordinary medicines, "Don't let your Divine Aura automatically expel it from your body."
As the nearest person to the cabinet, Tiamat walked towards it and was able to immediately find the bottle containing an unknown liquid with the label that Kisuke had mentioned, 'He couldn't even name it properly. Or maybe he did this so that no one else could steal information about these medicines. Even in his own hideout that's almost impossible to find, he's still too cautious. I wonder what hurt him?' she thought while tossing the 100mL bottle towards Nyx.
The Goddess of the Night caught the bottle but hesitated. She then looked towards Athena in hopes to clear her confusion.
'Looks like she's so afraid of him that she couldn't even think properly in this situation.', sighing, Athena reassured her, "Don't worry and just do it. As he has said, you have to manually control your defenses so that it won't automatically purge the effects of the concoction."
Nyx understood what Athena was trying to say and felt ashamed. In an attempt to erase this embarrassing feeling, Nyx hurriedly opened the bottle and downed it, of course, while following Kisuke's instructions. It didn't even take a minute for her to immediately feel its effect, or more accurately, she couldn't feel the constant phantom pain that she'd gotten accustomed to any longer, '...This... I'd never thought it would be such a liberating feeling...'
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but please remove your clothes. Unless you want it to be bloody and torn."
Athena and Tiamat didn't know what Kisuke was talking about but Nyx understood what he wanted to happen. She didn't hesitate any longer and directly removed all of her clothing, showing her former immaculate body full of unhealable scars that were left due to Kisuke's Magic mixed with Spiritual Power hitting her.
Without any word of explanation, Kisuke turned towards Nyx and raised his right arm towards her before two Magic Circles appeared in between the flesh and artificial limb. By closing his hand, the Magic Circles shrank rapidly, cutting away the meat and bone that was attached to the prosthetics.
"Hey!" Athena reacted.
Kisuke proceeded to stop the flow of blood by physically blocking it with Magic, "Enter the pod before the painkillers lose their effect."
.
.
.
"Ladies and gentlemen~! Welcome to the preliminary rounds of the Azazel Cup! I can see that there is a large audience in today's stadium, including some prominent ones~!", shouted the blue-haired announcer in the middle of the platform, "Team Red Dragon Emperor of the Blazing Truth, Team White Dragon Emperor of the Morning Star, Team Spear of the Heavenly Emperor, Team Rias Gremory, and arriving just now is the Team Imperial Purpure! Looks like the first match for today is gathering various eyes of interest!"
As he mentioned the names of these teams, the cameras panned out and showed them on the big screen. Since they are the main contenders for this tournament, they were considered 'prominent' names, especially the first two due to their popularity and status as Heroes.
Kisuke looked through the glass pane and couldn't hide his surprise, 'This world is crazy. How the heck are they this strong already!?'
Although he couldn't accurately gauge their strength by just looking, he can see the qualitative and quantitative leap in their aura. From his point of view, he felt like he just saw multiple Kurosaki Ichigo's appearing out of nowhere, not because of their strength, but because of their rate of improvement.
Kisuke couldn't help but compare them to the Captains and Vice-Captains of the Gotei 13, 'Conflict and struggle couldn't be the only reason as Soul Society was never short of it. Even with a long life of strife and battle, most of the Captains were stagnating.'
But then again, he compared this world's recorded history to today's era and can easily see that this is a unique occurrence, 'A strange occurrence that triggered a mass evolution. Is it because the world is in deep shit?'
But thinking about it again made him depressed and smile wryly, 'So does that mean Ywach's ambition didn't put us in deep shit and that was just the world returning to its natural order?'
"Without further ado, allow me to introduce our players for the first match! First off, the team that's managed to lose every single match that they've participated in despite their base power being above their opponents, the Team Shooting Star!"
Opposite of where Kisuke's team was, appeared was a team composed of 10 people, all of which he didn't have any data on. That is natural because his source of information was the Three Faction which didn't really know anything about them prior to the tournament.
"But please don't let their match history fool you as many industry critics and experts predicted they could be one of the contenders on the main stage, mainly because each one of them is improving at a monstrous rate! Led by their team leader, Shooting Star and the wielder of the newly discovered Longinus, Star Buster Star Blaster, this team almost defeated a team composed of Gods! Surely, this time, they'd have a greater chance and catch their first win!"
The group then exited the tunnel they were in and went up to the platform while waving to their fans.
Kisuke turned to Tiamat and asked, "Hey, how ridiculous is this 'monstrous improvement'?"
"I don't know where this 'ridiculous' is placed in your rating, but I can safely say that it's an eye-opener. While each of them is strong, with their leader capable of pulling out at least an Ultimate Class attack, all of them are inexperienced in battle. But as if a dried-up sponge, they are soaking every bit of experience from their matches and are improving and learning at a very impressive rate. If they play it well and a bit of luck, I do believe that they can enter the main stage."
Immediately after the crowd's cheer for the team lightened up, the announcer continued his introduction, "Now to the team that entered halfway and is considered by many as the most controversial, Team Urahara Shouten!"
"Since this is their first appearance, it's an honor to introduce the surprising people that compose this team! First and foremost is their team leader, the former terrorist and one of the people that saved the Underworld with Great Red's help, Kisuke Urahara! Not much was known of him aside from his possessing a Sacred Gear unknown even to Heaven and the fact that Ajuka-sama rated him very highly, making his 'King' position rise up in value! Whether it's just Ajuka-sama's favor or not, we'll know once we see him perform in this match!"
"However, contrary to one's expectations, he's not the one who made this team so controversial but his members! Starting from the Chaos Karma Dragon, Tiamat-sama who was known to be the head referee of the Rating Games, leaving her position and participating in the tournament!"
"Next were the two Gods that are hiding their identities through a thick cloak and white bone mask for each of them! Many Gods are watching this match because of their presence."
"Following was the former member of Sona Sitri's peerage, Saji Genshiro! A reincarnated Devil who possessed all four of Sacred Gears that are related to Vritra, the Prison Dragon! One could even say that he'ds already successfully taken the title Prison Dragon for himself and is regarded as one of the brightest youth in today's era!"
"Finally, and almost the most surprising in my opinion, Seekvaira Agares, the heir of the Agares Clan! Suddenly withdrawing her own team from the competition, she has reappeared, but under someone else!"
Editors:
Peter onwuasoanya
28th00: Saji and Seekvaira? Didn't expect that.
12 Likes