Athena was confused why Kisuke suddenly went quiet but she didn't have time to dwell on it when she was contacted by someone through a Magic Circle. After hearing what they had to say, she immediately cut off the line and turned her attention back to Kisuke, "One of my scouts found the traces of Tartarus. What should we do?"
Kisuke rose from his seat and thought about it for a moment before asking Athena a question instead of answering, "What do you think of those trapped in Tartarus?"
Athena stayed silent for a few seconds, trying to figure out what he intended to do by asking that question. Alas, nothing came to mind, and just sighed, "I don't know what you want to know and when I last met them, I was still very young and didn't know what was happening around me. However, father would always say that none of them were inherently evil and the war between them was due to a difference in ideals."
"Is that so? Send me the coordinates and I'll go alone. I'll also be gone for a week or so."
Athena handed them over without hesitation but asked, "What about the Azazel Cup."
"Just tell Tiamat to postpone it. I have to take care of this first." were Kisuke's last words before he disappeared.
But instead of going directly to the coordinates, he instead teleported back to his base on Mars and went to the deepest level, 'Instead of fighting against them, I should make use of them. If Hades could strike a deal with them, there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to as well.'
Kisuke arrived at large double doors made out of a thick metal alloy that conducted Magic Power and Ki very poorly. Before opening it, however, Kisuke turned around to the empty hall and voiced out loud, "Lilith-chan, since you've followed me here, you don't have to hide."
Space shook for a moment before the figure of the black-haired little girl appeared in front and silently stared at him, waiting for the expected scolding.
Despite being a different person and being even more innocent, Kisuke could still see her resemblance to Ophis' personality, albeit, a bit different. Patting her head, Kisuke reassured her, "I'm not scolding you. But when you want to follow or see me, you don't have to do it secretly."
Lilith had received head pats from various people, but Kisuke's felt different. It gives a different type of warmth and makes her think that 'this is it.' Of course, she also knew that this came from her original half, but she didn't have any intentions of discarding it nor devaluing it, "Mmmm..." She let out a small voice while nodding.
"Well, you came at the right time, since I need your assistance."
Tilting her head, Lilith asked, "...What is it?"
"I want you to connect with Ophis-chan and isolate a part of the void beyond the Dimensional Gap, before connecting it to this place using your 'Infinity'."
Lilith didn't question why he wanted something like that but she has her concerns, "...But we will catch his attention. I am aware that you don't want his eyes on you, nor on me."
"That's not a problem." Kisuke pointed towards the large door before continuing, "You'll be doing that in there. Even though it's his domain, he still doesn't know of every small event that is happening in it, and that room brings down the noise comparable to a small event. And to further reduce the risk of being discovered, I'll be going in and making some distractions."
Lilith stayed silent for a bit to think and voiced out her next concern, "...To maintain that space, we will have to constantly feed it with our power. I don't want to be confined."
Hearing that, Kisuke hurriedly cleared the misunderstanding, "I'd never do that to you. I just need you to create that space and I'll do the maintenance."
"When shall we begin?" Lilith asked immediately.
"Follow me." Kisuke turned around and touched the door before it opened quietly as opposed to its bulky appearance. The room was cylindrical in shape with a diameter of 300 meters and a height of 500 meters, with nothing in it. Kisuke flew up and went towards the center of the room with Lilith in tow.
Once they arrived, Kisuke turned to Lilith once again and said, "Once the space is formed, this room will automatically stabilize it and you have to leave immediately after that."
Lilith nodded and floated to the centermost part of the room and put her hands together before her crest appeared on her arms, "We shall start whenever you are ready."
"You may begin the moment you feel my presence disappear. For now, establish a connection with Ophis-chan."
Lilith nodded and Kisuke left her behind, closing the doors once again. Using his flash step, Kisuke arrived at the place where he'd first appeared when he returned. After taking a deep breath, his hair straightened and grew longer along with the two horns that sprouted on the top of his head. This time, however, his skin wasn't hollowfied and just his eyes turned dark, 'I wonder what would happen when I show this form in the Azazel Cup?'
But far different from the previous iterations of his Hollowfication, his aura had completely disappeared. If someone were to face him right now, they'd be unsettled because they wouldn't be able to feel anything. If not for Lilith and Ophis having a direct connection with him, they would have already started their work.
Of course, this doesn't mean that his aura weakened or the minimal transformation is any different from a full Hollowfication. It's just that his presence became so incredibly natural that he would be suited for any painting of the world.
Kisuke didn't delay his actions any longer and opened a hole that bypassed the Dimensional Gap and entered it. The moment he arrived within the 'void', the unforgiving forces that would instantly tear an Ultimate Class apart immediately began pulling on him. Though with his transformation, he estimated that he was as durable as Aizen during his chrysalis stage, so the space was just doing minimal damage to him and he was instantly recovering from it.
'Just causing a large noise would only look suspicious so I have to do something that looks 'natural'.' Kisuke thought as he looked around, searching for his goal. Feeling a thin presence within the darkness, he immediately moved out and assaulted it. The moment he got closer, Kisuke was finally able to make out of its appearance.
With the size of a train, the jet black creature looked like a monster that would come out of a Lovecraftian world. A giant worm full of gnawing mouths with sharp fangs all over its body.
Kisuke sent out a punch aiming at the center of its body and sent it flying. Despite the absence of air, Kisuke heard a screech that was enough to blast open a High-Class Devil or Angel's head, 'How intriguing. It's technically a spiritual creature since it has a body of pure energy, but it's condensed enough that it looks like an actual physical body.'
Seeing it immediately recover and pounce towards him, Kisuke commented, "It's durable too. Looks like I'll have fun catching these things while also practicing."
"Shunko: Blood Gate.", after muttering those words, blood emerged behind Kisuke and formed the shape of Raijin's drums, similar to Yoruichi's Shunko. But instead of seven drums linked together, Kisuke only had five and the two 'drums' at the bottom weren't linked, "First Gate: Shackles."
The 'drum' located on his lower right stretched and became an eye symbol. Simultaneously, all four of his limbs were covered in blood.
Kisuke had refined his Shunko after his battle with Tiamat and separated it into five stages for easier management.