"W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?",Hermes asked for the second time, and this time, he was really angry. After all, their only ticket in defeating Antares was suddenly thrown away. They could retreat, but that also meant that there could be unforeseeable consequences and more suffering for Artemis inside of Antares for the time which they needed to regroup and get the arrow back. For all he knows, this could've been their last chance of killing it.
Either way, they didn't have a choice. They had to go as they couldn't do anything to Antares right now, "Let's retreat!", Hermes shouted again.
But before anyone could make any further movement, Antares moved first. Afraid of what Kisuke had just shown to everyone, Antares directly used Artemis inside its chest to cast the same kind but smaller version of the magic, which threatened to destroy Orario earlier.
"Watch out!!!" Ryuu woke up from her stupor and warned Kisuke.
Kisuke, however, just held out his right hand and used his left hand to hold his hat in place.
A second later, the bow magic released the arrow towards Kisuke and the destructive power behind it could even erase the whole ruin.
"W-what is he doing!?", muttered Asfi in exasperation. She couldn't keep up with what was happening anymore.
"Dodge, you fool! That's a God's magic!", shouted Hermes at him in frustration, 'He's going to get killed!'
But then, he suddenly noticed that Hestia and Yoruichi still had the same calm expression, contrary to the rest of them, '...What?'
Kisuke didn't change his stance and just waited for the arrow. Once it came, he caught it with his right hand and stopped it in its tracks. With the sound of crackling thunder, the ground below him caved in and dust flew everywhere, but Kisuke didn't move an inch. He wasn't even pushed back.
The Antares screeched in an attempt to strengthen the arrow, however, no matter what it did, the arrow didn't move further and could only struggle within Kisuke's hand.
A few seconds later, the arrow started to weaken and Kisuke used his brute force to crush it with his hand. A large shockwave emerged from it and pushed everyone away as the arrow was reduced into motes of light.
"N-no way...", muttered both Asfi and Ryuu.
Kisuke ignored them and faced Yoruichi, "Yoruichi, please bring them back. I'll take care of it."
Yoruichi only nodded with a smile and jumped towards Hestia, "Let's wait for them in the camp."
Hestia nodded and turned away from Antares. But before she started walking away, Hestia said to Kisuke, "I'm not waiting for long!"
Kisuke replied with a chuckle, "Got it~!"
With that response, Yoruichi and Hestia left without further words but with smiles on their faces.
"Hermes-sama.", called Kisuke out to the stunned Deity.
"Y-yes...?"
"I would like to cash in the favor that you owe me now." Kisuke then walked towards Antares whose body took a step back in response.
Hermes had tons of questions but he knew that this wasn't the right moment to ask that now. He calmed himself down and replied, "What is it?"
"For Hestia-sama's sake, please keep everything that's happened here a secret."
"For Hestia... is it?" Hermes then scratched his head as this is what he didn't expect when Kisuke asked for the favor, "Fine... For Hestia's sake... Also for Artemis."
Antares then sent a beam of purple light towards the approaching Kisuke, but he just slapped it away with his right hand. Antares then sent multiple attacks towards him, but Kisuke just did the same. Now the ruin was on the verge of collapse, "Thank you. Also, please leave now and follow Yoruichi and Hestia. I'm fine by myself."
Hermes stayed silent for a moment and watched Kisuke deflect every attack of Antares with his bare hands. Sighing, Hermes commanded, "Asfi, Ryuu. Let's go."
"I-is that fine?" Asfi asked.
"Can you help?"
Asfi could only shake her head at Hermes' question. She and Ryuu then went towards Hermes' side and started following Hestia and Yoruichi's trail. But before they exited the room, both of them looked towards Kisuke with complicated expressions.
"Be careful, Urahara-san." Ryuu gave her farewell remark.
"Thanks~. I will."
Now that he's left alone with Antares, Kisuke grinned, "Yo~. Your attacks are getting weaker~. Tired?"
[Grrrh!!!] Antares took another step back. It's one giant eye glared at Kisuke, threatening him. However, it was very clear that it's actually afraid of Kisuke. With a screech, Antares sent another volley of light beams.
"Bakudo no 44, Sekishou (Barrier)." Instead of his right hand that is covered with strong Hierro (Iron Skin), Kisuke opted to use a barrier because the attacks are already weak, "This is already getting old. Let me show you how it is done."
While his barrier is taking the hits, Kisuke put forward his right hand again and muttered, "Hadou no 88, Hiryuu Gekizoku Shinten Raihou." With a thunderous blast, a blue beam of light blasted not just Antares, but half of the ruin.
[GRAAAHHH!!!!] Antares tried to resist with all its might, but failed.
The leaving Ryuu, Asfi and Hermes just got out of the ruin and saw the bright blue light and heard a thunderous sound from the other side of the ruin along with some explosions, "What now!?" Asfi was already tired. She just wanted to be in a long warm bath and some alcohol to relax.
"...Urahara-san." Ryuu muttered in worry.
"Asfi, fly up and see what's going on," Hermes commanded.
Asfi reluctantly agreed and used her magic boots to fly up. From there, she saw what the blue light and thunderous sound had left, "T-this is impossible..." The scene made her not want to think anymore.
The blue light traveled as far as the eye could see, and what was left along its path was Antares, which is in pieces, a devastated forest, and the half of the ruin gone, "W-what sort of weapon did he use!?" Asfi then saw Kisuke from below, waving at her with a bad smile, "I'm so sorry!!!" She didn't know why, but she was compelled to apologize for no reason and flew back to Hermes and Ryuu who're waiting below.
"Why did you suddenly apologize up there?" Hermes asked in confusion.
With a panicked expression, Asfi explained what she just saw and Ryuu and Hermes could only stay quiet with widened eyes, "When he looked at me with a smile, I got scared and ended up apologizing... It's not weird, right?"
While Asfi was justifying her reaction just now, Kisuke slowly approached the collapsed Antares, more specifically, the cracked blue crystal that was holding Artemis. As he walked, he could see Antares slowly regenerating, but he didn't care about that and just inspected for one last time, the connection between it and Artemis.
'Why would the Dungeon create a monster that can devour a Deity? What is a Deity for the Dungeon? Also, that Black Dragon. It also consumed Aria. Do all strong monsters have a basic ability to 'eat'?' Questions as such kept resurfacing in Kisuke's mind but he couldn't find an answer or a clue no matter how much he thought about them, 'Oh well... If I stay long enough, I'll probably figure it out.'
Kisuke lifted his blade and directly cut the crystal, including Artemis with it. But although the crystal was bisected, Artemis was unharmed. Kisuke hurriedly caught the falling Artemis and pulled her away from Antares. A few seconds later, Antares slowly disappeared, leaving behind its only gigantic eye, 'Hmm... Maybe I could use that for something.'
While thinking such, Artemis, who's in Kisuke's arm, slowly opened her eyes and looked up to him silently.
Noticing her gaze, Kisuke looked back down to the naked Goddess and smiled, "Good morning, Artemis-sama~. I told you, right? I'm going to let you have that dance~."
It was then Artemis started tearing up, "W-w-wait! What's wrong!? Does it hurt anywhere!? I'm going to get scolded by Hestia-sama if she sees you like this!"
Despite not being able to move, Artemis couldn't help but chuckle at Kisuke's out of character reaction, "It's not that... I'm just happy that I could actually survive that." Artemis already steeled herself. For everyone's sake, she prepared to sacrifice herself. But even then, there was still a basic instinct inside her, of wanting to survive and see the next day, especially now that she got a taste of romance. She wanted to experience it more.
Artemis stopped chuckling and did her best to move her arm and reach Kisuke's neck before continuing to cry, "T-thank you... Thank you so much..."
Kisuke only smiled wryly and patted her back, waiting for her patiently.
After sobbing from relief for a few minutes, Artemis managed to calm herself. She then finally noticed that she's still naked.
Blushing slightly, Artemis asked Kisuke, "I'm sorry about my display... And please give me something to cover my body." Although she already knew that Kisuke already saw her body, it all felt like a dream to her as it isn't her real body. Above that, she's currently touching Kisuke with her body.
"Oh, right. Sorry about that." Kisuke then took out a blanket and gently wrapped it around her body. However, Artemis, aside from being embarrassed, she's also feeling complicated after seeing Kisuke's reaction, 'You mean you really didn't notice that I was naked!?' She could only question it internally, as she was afraid of his response. Although she's the Goddess of Purity, she was still very proud of her figure that wouldn't lose to any of the other Deities.
While Artemis is staying quiet, Kisuke gathered the materials that dropped from Antares and got out of the half-destroyed ruin while being welcomed by a beautiful sunrise and greeneries that were slowly returning back to normal.
"It's beautiful..." Artemis muttered as she watched the sunrise, "But my children..."
"Ah, no worries about that. I took them into my private space. You can have a proper funeral once we return to Orario."
Artemis sighed in relief, "I can never thank you enough."
"Thank Hestia-sama. If not for her, I wouldn't have accepted this quest in the first place."
"I see... I guess I'm lucky that you're Hestia's child."
Kisuke didn't say anything else and just carried Artemis in his arms while walking and basking in the warm morning sunlight. As for Artemis, she did the same and just watched everything regain their vitality, which gave comfort to her heart and soul. After this event, there will be no more that will weigh on her as the monster that she tried to kill or seal with the sacrifice of her children since a thousand years ago, is now gone.
Half an hour later, the two of them reached the camp and the first one to jump on them was Hestia, who was already crying her eyes out, "ARTEMIS!!!"
Kisuke had to carefully catch her also and slowly laid the two of them down. After half an hour, Artemis was already capable of standing on her own but she chose not to do so.
Seeing Kisuke return with Artemis, everyone from the Hermes Familia started cheering, "YEAHHH!!!"
Meanwhile, Hermes could only make an inconceivable face, "H-he really did it." Thanks to this turn of events, a few possibilities emerged from his mind, 'Just how will Zeus react if he were to hear this?'
While everyone was celebrating, Kisuke took out the corpses of everyone from Artemis Familia. This is not to dampen everyone's celebratory mood, but to give proper respect to them. It isn't right to keep them longer in his inventory.
In addition to that, Artemis would also want them to join the celebration even if it's a bit too late. Artemis wanted them to be remembered as people who joined the effort to stop an unstoppable monster.
Several of the Hermes Familia went out to gather some wood to make a casket for them and some of them took out their stock of delicious food and wine to prepare for the celebration. They didn't oppose the members of the Artemis Familia being here.
Hermes approached Kisuke and patted his shoulder, "You really did it... Do you know what you've done just now?"
Kisuke turned to him and replied with a smile, "Yep~. I separated Artemis-sama from Antares~."
"As if it's that easy! You may not know this, but some people would want your ability."
Contrary to Hermes' expectation, however, Kisuke answered him with a big grin, "I know. My ability could be used on a combination of a black lizard and a spirit."
Hermes' eyes widened, "H-how did you..."
Kisuke just walked away while saying, "Not important. Not gonna tell you."
"W-wait! How did you know about that!? Where did you hear it!?" Hermes shouted as he chased after him.
And Kisuke stopped walking, but not because of Hermes, but because within his inner world, a certain connection was established, 'Benihime?' Ignoring Hermes, he shouted in urgency, "Yoruichi!"
An urgency from Kisuke that they've never seen before. Even Hermes stopped bothering him as he was also startled. Not just Yoruichi's attention was caught, but also Hestia, Artemis, Ryuu and Asfi, who had all watched him calmly take down Antares' attacks.
Yoruichi hurried to him and asked in a concerned voice, "What is it? Did something happen?"
"Benihime... I can feel Benihime coming out."
Even Yoruichi was surprised at his words, "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going, now. I can't let this chance go." Kisuke hugged Yoruichi as a form of farewell.
"Can't I go too?"
"You can't. The last time we got here, we got Byakko's help. We don't know if he'll be helping the second time. I also don't know how dangerous it is to travel through chaotic space. Besides, I can only trust you to take care of the others and keep them away from unforeseeable dangers. For those reasons, I can't bring you with me."
Yoruichi stayed silent for a moment, before giving him a kiss on his lips, "Be careful... You have to return."
Kisuke hugged her tightly and whispered, "I will. I promise you."
The two of them then separated and Kisuke used Flash Step to directly disappear from the camp.
"Kisuke-kun!?" Hestia, who's running towards them, shouted, "Where's Kisuke-kun!? Where is he going?"
Yoruichi crouched down to her eye level, "To somewhere dangerous... He has to do this."
"Dangerous?" Hestia's heart sank because this is the first time she heard Yoruichi say 'somewhere dangerous', "Is he going to be fine?"
Yoruichi patted Hestia's head and smiled, "Yes... He'll be fine. It's Kisuke we're talking about here. No matter what the situation is, he's always prepared to respond."
"When is he coming back?"
"I don't know... It might be a day, it could be a week, or maybe, it'll take a month. Just one thing is sure. He's coming back so don't worry."
Hestia nodded, "Alright... I'll wait for him. I haven't even thanked him for saving Artemis."
.
.
.
Kisuke warped himself 100 kilometers (62.1 miles) away from the camp before using his spiritual power to scan the surrounding 10 kilometers for any signs of people. After figuring out that there were no signs of anything being disturbed in this large forest and only small animals were in his range of scans, Kisuke immediately took out a black cylindrical pillar and drove it into the ground.
The pillar was 10 meters tall and 1 meter in diameter, with various complicated inscriptions on its side. After putting up the pillar, Kisuke immediately took out the tokens he prepared just for this occasion and spread them around the pillar. The tokens then activated various formations that could defend and conceal the area from any eyes.
After he was done with that, Kisuke touched the pillar and activated it. The inscription beside it all lit up with gentle blue light signifying its activation. This pillar would serve as his anchor point to this world.
He needed this to come back to this world, or in case he got lost in chaotic space in an attempt to travel it. Although the Sacred Gears that he made for the girls could also serve as anchor points, making something bigger and stronger was much safer.
Kisuke checked everything, 'All good. Now then, to the main event.'
He then pulled out his blade. It's his device that allows him to travel between worlds, his Zanpakuto and Sacred Gear.
Taking a deep breath, Kisuke gathered his Reiatsu-Ki and transferred it to his blade to activate the feature he needed. Various inscriptions emerged from the blade and lit up, before Kisuke swung it down, splitting the space in front of him and revealing the dark and cold other side.
"Alright... Let's do this." Kisuke first confirmed the link he has with Benihime, then grabbed it before jumping in.
The moment he went in, the split in space closed up and Kisuke could instantly feel the space tearing him apart.
Kisuke immediately used Hierro to resist it and followed the connection he had. However, as time went on, Kisuke could feel the tearing of the chaotic space worsening exponentially , so much that even with his Hierro fully activated, his body was being torn apart.
Kisuke had to go into his Vasto Lorde mode just so he could resist longer, but even then, various cuts kept appearing on his body and his organs were being seriously messed up. Even in the strongest state of his body, Kisuke was finding it very hard to resist.
He still didn't know how long he had to travel, even though he can feel his connection with Benihime was getting stronger, 'If I still can't reach the other end within 10 minutes, I have to go back and try again later...'
But he knew that his second chance might not come soon enough and wasting the chance now could lead to various consequences, especially to the family he left behind.
Fortunately for him, at the 9:49 mark, with his body almost in pieces, he reached the familiar Dimensional Gap, and the first thing he saw was the delinquent red dragon and some small figures on its back, 'Ophis-chan?'
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Editors:
28th00: Ah, the True Protagonist is finally here! PHIS-CHAMA~! We've come to answer your summons! This is the end of… Volume 10? Or was it 11? I read it, what feels like a decade ago now… I remember it for being part of the emotional rollercoaster thing DxD loved to do when I read it, where it got super serious and dark sometimes. It was also a Phis-chama centric volume, and therefore the best one. Outside of her own SS volumes, which are obviously the best, no questions asked. Phis-chama on an intercom, she's so scathing and blunt in her nicknames, it's savage.
Ja A
Zaid Soboh