Breaking the rules that he'd placed on everyone, Kisuke directly teleported inside the Dungeon. As soon as he materialized inside the tower, the Dungeon shook for a bit but that was not his concern for now, as he saw Hestia and Artemis trying to enter the room where Yoruichi, Irina, and Akeno were supposed to be, but they were being blocked by the silent Ophis, who wouldn't budge no matter what they said.
Hestia and Artemis immediately noticed his arrival and the latter hurriedly said in a panicked voice, "K-Kisuke! My Falna on Irina and Akeno just suddenly stopped responding! That only happens when a child of mine dies! What happened!? Please tell me what happened in there!"
"Kisuke-kun! This isn't the time for us to be barred from the room! Something seriously went wrong in there, but Ophis-kun wouldn't allow us to even take a step in! Why!?" added Hestia straight away.
Kisuke could feel their distress but sadly, he couldn't attend to them right now and only went past Ophis leaving a few words while patting her head, "Please don't worry. I promised I'd take care of them and I'll do everything in my power to do that. Ophis-chan, thank you for stopping them."
Ophis nodded and said, "Their fate is up to them, but they need a little bit of push."
Kisuke didn't turn around but took her words to heart before closing the door and increasing the strength of the seal.
What came to his eyes when he entered was Yoruichi with her hands on both of Irina and Akeno's chests, "What happened?" he asked while inspecting the two unconscious girls that were pale and bleeding from their orifices. With a single glance, he knew that they were dead, their bodies, at least.
"An hour ago, their vitality suddenly started dropping sharply and just now, they died as blood erupted from their bodies." answered Yoruichi as she continued what she's doing.
Kisuke wanted to do something, but he couldn't because of Yoruichi's actions, "Why are you still keeping their souls within those bodies? The backlash should have been immense so their souls must have been considerably weakened. Since they failed, those bodies should be discarded. I already have their former bodies reformed and they're in the medical ward."
Yoruichi was silent for a few seconds, but after letting out a long sigh, she responded, "They're still fighting."
"Huh?"
Yoruichi creased her brows and knew that it would be hard to justify putting them in further danger to Kisuke when she's supposed to be the one who'd stop them from taking such risks, "They're still struggling to take control. I don't want to waste their efforts after coming this far."
"But they've already come to the point of no return. There's no point in struggling when these bodies have already completely rejected their souls. Any further attempts would just be backlash and because it came from Ophis and Great Red's powers, they would be lucky if they are not instantly annihilated." Kisuke was now losing his patience. Any further delay would only increase the chances of their souls following the fate of their bodies. However, he also didn't want to intrude on what Yoruichi was trying to achieve, which stemmed from his promise to trust her.
At that point, Yoruichi had become completely silent. She started this confidently but Kisuke's words put a hole in that. She herself wasn't exactly sure why she's doing this, but her gut was telling her that this was the correct path.
While Yoruichi was struggling on the crossroads of life and death decisions, she suddenly heard Kisuke take a deep breath as he sat beside her, "What should I do? I'll follow along."
Kisuke knew that Yoruichi was just relying on her instincts for this and he really doesn't like doing the same thing without any clear basis. However, he also recalled Ophis' words as he'd entered the room and that's when he decided that he'll ride along on this one.
Yoruichi's eyes widened, then a small smile bloomed on her face. She watched the dead bodies for a few seconds before replying, "Help me connect their souls."
Although he did say that he'd follow along, Kisuke couldn't help but rub the bridge of his nose, "That would double the backlash on both of them."
"I know... But I think they'll have a fighting chance if they were together."
Kisuke let out another sigh and looked straight into her, "Fine... But to reduce the risk they're taking, I'll be using my own soul to block any backlash."
Yoruichi's brows instantly creased, "That's too dangerous, even for you. Since this is my idea, allow me to do that."
Nonetheless she only received a pretty strong finger flick to her forehead, "Ow! This isn't the time to be doing that!"
While proceeding to place his hands on Irina and Akeno's foreheads, Kisuke replied, "And this isn't the time to be joking around. No matter the situation, if I can risk my life instead of yours, I'll always do it. I won't allow anyone, especially you, to change that."
Yoruichi was shocked silent, but after thinking about it for a short while, they now indeed had a different relationship than before. Surprisingly, she got a bit embarrassed over that, but didn't dare show it on her face and immediately said, "...You're quite an overbearing hubby."
"Those are just a few of the things I won't compromise on. And although we aren't married yet, I won't entertain any talks about divorce, so get used to it."
Yoruichi grinned and replied, "No worries. I already accepted the fact that I'll be stuck with it for the longest time. In fact, I won't allow you to get rid of me. Never."
"...You're an overly obsessive wife."
After that small bit of banter, they soon focused on the task at hand.
.
.
.
More than a week ago, before Kisuke left with Sona and Serafall, Kisuke talked to Irina and Akeno and proposed a certain plan that even he had no confidence that it'd succeed, nor a back up plan to reverse the result.