Although the problem with the Hero Faction was somewhat solved, the biggest and strongest monster that Shalba had summoned with the Annihilation Maker was still making progress towards the center of the capital.
Despite Grayfia and her comrade's best efforts, they couldn't deal any substantial damage to it as it would immediately regenerate itself from any damage. Due to this, they could only slow down its advance for a few seconds each time they attacked.
However, not everything was bad news. Ajuka was able to devise a magic attack that would be effective towards the other twelve 100-meter tall monsters, whom they named Bandersnatch, that were wreaking havoc in different parts of the Underworld.
Soon after, with the assistance of many allied Factions, each and every Bandersnatch in the Underworld was defeated, and the only remaining threat was the 200-meter tall monster that Sirzechs Lucifer's peerage was dealing with.
"Kisuke, can you do something about that?", asked Sakura. She didn't really want to ask her son, but it was also hard for her to watch innocent people getting caught up in this tragedy.
But instead of answering her, Kisuke asked, "Shouldn't the leaders of the big Factions be able to deal with that thing? From what I saw from above, different factions were assisting the Devils in this crisis so I assumed that the Alliance expanded. Why aren't there any leaders?"
"It is because of Cao Cao and his Holy Spear's existence.", answered Rias, "That spear is a threat to every Faction leader and capable of instantly killing a God. It's a weapon made to kill Gods, after all."
"Many Factions stopped their leaders, who have the power to deal with that monster from going out, due to the risk presented by the Holy Spear. If any of the Faction leaders were to be killed, the balance between the Alliance may crumble and it could start an even bigger problem."
"However, that doesn't mean that none of the leaders made a move. Two of these examples are Yasaka, the leader of the Youkai Faction in Kyoto, and Serafall-sama, who went out all by herself to deal with a Bandersnatch despite the opposition."
"Whew~. Levia-tan is such a gutsy little lady~. I greatly approve~!", commented Kisuke. He then continued, "Then I assume that Sirzechs-sama is on the same 'predicament'?"
Rias shook her head, "Not at all. My broth... Ehem, Devil King Lucifer went to the Realm of the Dead with Azazel-sensei to keep Hades in check. They predicted that he'd make a move in this crisis, so they went there to keep him in place."
"The Realm of the Dead, eh? Do any of you know how to go there?", asked Kisuke.
"Do you want to go there? Why?", asked Sakura in concern.
"I just want to give a visit to the exalted Lord of the Dead and maybe give his skull a few cracks while I'm at it.", answered Kisuke with a big smile.
Sakura understood that something was going on between him and Hades, but she knew that she couldn't ask now, so she went quiet. Instead, Rias reacted to his words, "You're going there!? But Lucifer-sama and Azazel-sensei are already there to deal with the situation!"
Kisuke then corrected her, "I'm not going there because I want to solve the situation. I'm going there because I want to mess with him. And if that may not look good..." With a big grin, Kisuke continued, "Please remember, in the eyes of others, I'm technically a terrorist. Why should I hold back when I want to mess with someone?"
Rias, along with the rest of the Gremory team and Vali, even those who didn't know him personally, shuddered at his incredibly cold grin and thought that the Alliance may have branded the worst person possible to be a terrorist.
"But first, since mom doesn't like that thing, let me find a way to deal with that." Kisuke then turned to Sakura, "Sorry mom, but I have to take her back now."
Sakura instantly understood that he was talking about the giant marionette's arm which was the Sacred Gear that Kisuke gave her, "Go ahead."
After Sakura muttered those words, the blood-red gem on Sakura's necklace shone and separated from the rest of the necklace, before it went straight towards Kisuke's sword, melting into it.
Curious, everyone silently watched what was going on.
Kisuke confirmed that Benihime's spirit was successfully returned to its rightful place and greeted her in his mind, 'Been a while~. Hope you're doing good.'
'Right, it has been a while, and I very much want to cut you up for being late.', answered Benihime with a small laugh, 'But since you did a good job on my 'body', I'll forgive you~.'
'I'm very grateful for the princess's forgiveness~.'
'Nonetheless, I'm very curious about where you have gone. I suddenly lost my connection to you, and in all honesty, I got quite nervous there.'
'I'll tell you all about it later. And I'm also curious about your experience with mom. But for now, let's deal with this thing.'
Kisuke and Benihime then synchronized for the first time in a long time, and neither of them didn't expect what happened next.
The moment they aligned their energies, the dormant Hougyoku suddenly had a huge reaction, '!?'
Within Kisuke's soul body, the purple gem suddenly glowed fiercely, before it started to disintegrate. However, it didn't disappear, but instead, it slowly fused with his soul body, physical body and Zanpakuto.
Immediately after, Kisuke felt the effect of this phenomenon. First of all, the existing 'bridge' that connected his body and soul became more compact, heavy and wide, to the point that it was almost impossible to separate his physical body with his soul body anymore. If he were to try it anyway, there would be a myriad of problems that would pop up for both bodies.
But on the plus side, his body became 'one', and it became a lot stronger. Not stronger in the sense of power, but in the sense of more capacity.
However, the second effect was the more terrifying one, as it suddenly doubled the amount of Reiatsu-Ki he had, putting him almost at the same level as Aizen's raw Reiatsu. But it didn't stop there, as his Reiatsu-Ki kept inflating, even after the initial expansion.
This may have looked good, but for Kisuke, this was very bad. His body may have a larger and better capacity, but he couldn't take the sudden increase and he would also soon reach the limit of his control. So in response, Kisuke immediately sealed any further increase of his Reiatsu-Ki, in fear that he may just explode.
The feeling of bloatedness was still there, but Kisuke felt a lot better after sealing the ever-increasing Reiatsu-Ki.
If the second is the most dangerous one, the third and last effect was the most unexpected, because he felt his 'Human' body had changed. Or maybe not, as the feeling was closer to Kisuke getting something he lost back.
As he tried to keep his Reiatsu-Ki in check, some of his Mana suddenly changed and became Demonic Power. Along with it came the appearance of bat-like wings behind him.
His Devil lineage was returned to him.
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Editors:
28th00: Oh dear, he got Worthless. The most technical and terrifying ability of any devil lineage he could possibly attain… It works directly off understanding of your opponents abilities, and the ability to TURN THEM OFF. Oh dear. Also, YOU ABSOLUTELY PULLED AN AIZEN! GAH! Reminds me of other technical fighters that got a major power upgrade and lost their strongest ability, their control. Phis-chama is gonna get her damn ride, or the Underworld shall know the fear of timeout!
Alexander: It just occurred to me now, while reading about Kisuke's upcoming visit at Hades place, but wasn't there a cute grim reaper in the canon? As far as I remember, she would have joined Sona's peerage, after receiving her devil's whisper, because she was a fan of the Sekiryuutei and hated Hades' and Pluto's (her "shitty father") way of doing things. What if she becomes charmed by the mysterious Mr. Hat this time?
28th00: Bennia Orcus? She's great. I think she doesn't wear panties too.
Alexander: Looking at her behavior, she could become another playmate for Phis-chama and Claire-chan.
28th00: She won't have any relevance since she was basically retconned outta existence, along with the werewolf guy. Sona isn't here to recruit them after all. She's been gone for too long, I think? Wait, she could appear, since Vol 14 is when she's here and it's Vol… 11(?) right now.
Alexander: Forgetting her would be a shame. Besides, she could enlighten Kisuke and Yoruichi about a few things in the realm of the dead. After all, I don't think that they know too much about the grim reaper's life and culture in this universe.
28th00: True, she's also Issei's fan. Would definitely spill all the beans. That's something to think about later though, cause we're not staying here long. Back to Bestia! She's gonna have to take care of Phis-chama.... Can gods get grey hairs?