Truthfully speaking, Kisuke felt relieved when Ares was revived, 'Whew~ That was really close. If he stayed dead, then all those preparations were for naught!'
Athena and Nyx silently led Kisuke towards a certain corner of the city. The three of them then arrived at a very normal stone house. But the moment, Athena opened the door, Kisuke immediately felt the fluctuation in space.
When they entered, the inside of the small stone house was actually a palace, "Whew~ What a neat trick~!" commented Kisuke as he looked around.
"This way, please," Since they didn't have much time, Athena didn't entertain Kisuke and immediately led him to the innermost room and knocked on its door, "Father, I'm back."
A deep manly voice came from inside the room, "Come in."
"Excuse me," Athena opened the door and the three of them came into a wide luxurious room.
Kisuke entered the room last and immediately checked the room for an instant before turning his attention towards the tall man standing by the window, overlooking the divided city. The man turned around and smiled at Kisuke, "Welcome, Kisuke Urahara. I'm Zeus, the former leader of Olympus. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise~ It's nice to meet you," replied Kisuke.
Zeus is an old man with white hair and a beard, but despite that, He's emitting a vigor comparable to playful youngsters, giving him a contradictory aura.
"I want to entertain you and have a good talk but," Glancing towards the 'Kisuke' inside the barrier he continued, "I can see that you can't afford to stay any longer."
Kisuke nodded at him, "It's really such a shame," Kisuke then unsheathed his blade from the cane, "Well then, please let me finish my business here."
"Kisuke?" asked Athena in confusion at his sudden action.
However, Kisuke just ignored her and stepped in front of Zeus. He then lifted his blade and aimed for his heart.
"W-what!? No! Stop!!!" Athena was about to intercept Kisuke but Zeus looked at her and signaled her to stop.
Zeus then looked towards Kisuke and apologized, "I apologize. Although she's very smart, compared to other Gods, she's very inexperienced."
"If she was, I wouldn't be here, nor she," Kisuke plunged his blade through Zeus' heart without any hesitation.
Nyx, especially Athena, jumped in fear as they didn't know what's going on. However, before the latter lost her patience, Kisuke took out his blade, leaving no wound nor scratch on Zeus' body.
"Impressive," muttered Zeus as he touched his chest and recalled the earlier sensation that an itch was directly cut down.
Thanks to his experience with Apollo's poison, Kisuke was able to devise a method that allowed him to cut it down directly using Benihime's help. Not only is this method is a lot faster, but it's also a lot safer as this won't give the poison any time to react to anything that disturbs it. However, as a consequence, only Kisuke is capable of doing this.
Kisuke sheathed back his blade and replied, "Thank you for your compliment."
However, Zeus shook his head, "It's me that should be grateful."
"It's a deal that I and your daughter agreed on. No need to be thankful regarding that."
"I'm not just thankful regarding that. I'm also thankful that you didn't plant another poison to control me as you have to my daughter."
Athena's body shook, awakening her from her stupor due to earlier events, "F-father... How?"
Kisuke couldn't help but smile and said, "I believe Athena-san couldn't have told you that."
Zeus sighed, "As you might have expected, I'm her father. And not just that, she's also the daughter I dote on the most. Considering her state sometime earlier and the current situation, I was able to connect the dots. Though, it was mostly speculation before this."
Kisuke chuckled after hearing his explanation, "As expected of the former leader of an ancient faction~"
Nevertheless, Zeus ignored Kisuke's flattery and looked at him with suspicion, "Hence, we go back to my previous point. Why didn't you plant a poison of your own to control me? If it's enough to control Athena, it should be enough for me too."
"Zeus-sama. What I want is not a slave but an ally. I hope that answers your doubts."
Zeus became silent and closed his eyes as he combed his beard with his right hand. However, that didn't take long as he opened his eyes again after a minute and sighed, "So instead of Athena, your aim was actually me from the start, huh? Really impressive."
This time, it's Kisuke's turn to be surprised.
On the side, both Athena and Nyx were confused with their exchange, "Aiming at you from the start? What do you mean, father?" asked Athena.
"It's only my guess and I only have a general idea," Zeus replied to Athena before looking back to Kisuke, "But if you don't mind, could you enlighten me on your thought process? I'm really curious about it."
"Very well," Kisuke nodded at him, "It all started when I encountered Athena-san for the first time and figured out that there's some power struggle within your faction."
"Huh? But I don't remember ever telling you anything about that at that time." Athena became incredibly confused.
Kisuke looked at her and replied, "You didn't but I got that idea when you briefly talked about your faction."
"Then you're just guessing! And what use would that be?"
"Ever since Hades started snooping around Kuoh Town, I also went through some things to prepare for the future. And I encountered you in Greece, putting you under my control became one of my strings against Hades. More specifically, you became the string for me to create a connection with the leader of Olympus, Zeus-sama," Kisuke then shrugged his shoulders, "However, due to this annoying poison, most of those plans were thrown out of the window."
"S-so you didn't control me so that you can order me around but to connect you with father?" asked Athena with an unbelieving face.
Kisuke nodded, "That's the main idea, or else, did you think Serafall-sama would have trusted you when you made contact with her? I specifically gave her some clues to trust you."
Athena became even more confused. All this time, she thought that Kisuke only 'enslaved' her so that he could order a God around or out of necessity due to the situation they had at that time. Being told that she was controlled so that he could make a simple connection to her father, she just couldn't accept it, not her and her pride, "B-but what if instead of making a connection, you became hostile with my father!? After all, although not exactly, he noticed the situation I'm in!"
Kisuke sighed in response, "Have you forgotten or are you just too worked up? You can't reveal my identity to anyone. And even if you can, it doesn't really change the situation I'm in because it's only a matter of time before Hades discovered me after dealing with his men."
"And please remember that I did that with the power struggle in mind. I placed my bets on the fact that I would give a hostile faction against Hades a signal. Be it a good or bad signal, it didn't really matter that much. The important thing is that there are options that would open up."
Zeus nodded at his words, "He's correct. Since I noticed it, I have two choices and also took a gamble of waiting to see what's going to happen."
"S-so you two, without meeting each other, played a waiting game using Athena?" asked Nyx in disbelief.
Kisuke and Zeus looked at each other before closing their eyes and rubbing their chins, "Hmm... You could say that," both of them replied.
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Editors:
28th00: You gotta remember, Zeus and them have had thousands of years and a revision by the Romans to 'grow up' from their chaotic days in the beginning. They're all very old and experienced now. Mostly. The leaders at least.
Goyya: That's why Kisuke can't just fool them. They have the same amount of experience or even more.
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