Kisuke and Aika returned to the Belial Mansion and the first one to make a comment was Sakura, "Hmmm... Did you get it easy this time yet again? Aren't they spoiling you too much?"
"That's not it, Sakura-san." Aika shook her head and wore a wry smile, "I was convinced by his excuse."
"Even if we say that he's right, he was too forceful. You should've complained more." Sakura immediately took notice of the way she called her and thought, 'So her plan didn't go through, huh? What a shame.'
But before Sakura could say something else, Claire came running and grabbed Kisuke's hand, "Kisuke-niisan! You're finally home! Let's play!"
Kisuke gladly accepted Claire's 'help' and let himself be pulled to escape from his mother's nagging, "Alright~ Just for my lovely niece~!"
Sakura and Aika looked at the escaping Kisuke before they looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders, "Let's go in. It's been a while since everyone got together. Well, everyone except for Yoruichi and Serafall-sama." Said the former, before following Claire and Kisuke.
Aika also followed Sakura while saying, "I heard that they'll be calling later."
"Is that so? Great~!"
Kisuke, meanwhile, was thinking that there shouldn't be anything else that'd come up and the tugging forces between the factions should stabilize with the absence of the majority of the strongest players that could easily tip the balance on one side.
'Shiva and Indra are going to be a problem, especially since the latter wants to challenge the former in an all-out war. Not to mention, both of them have strong predicting abilities and mind reading skills that make approaching them quite dangerous.' However, Kisuke thought that Indra's 30-year war preparation should have some changes after the appearance of the Evies and the barrier, 'Even he should've realized the danger of initiating the war now. If Indra still insists on it, he'll find more enemies than he can manage and would be quickly deemed as an 'Evil God' worthy of elimination for the stability of the world.'
'Shiva, meanwhile, is passive... And quite frankly, much more annoying than Indra. And his close contact with Ajuka is limiting my degree of freedom. It's going to be hard to find the real source of the 'future information' with them watching my every move.' Kisuke believed that the Gasper Vladi of the future didn't contact them directly but that a channel was being used. Kisuke wanted to find that channel so that he could formulate plans to use it or defend against it depending on the circumstances.
'Aside from those two, the only other problem is the Takamagahara. No one really knows why they secluded themselves. A joker card like that is also a bit troublesome. More so when there was no apparent reaction from them even with the appearance of Evies. I need to initiate contact with them soon.'
Aside from that, the only problems left are opening a small hole in the barrier to get to Yoruichi and Serafall's side and other projects that were not too urgent.
'Right. It has been a while. I'll use this chance to properly hang out with everyone. Thanks to Great Red, I managed to buy a lot of time.'
.
.
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Three months went by and Kisuke distanced himself from research and projects as much as possible while also putting more effort into family time. Naturally, the problems that arose when he raised the barrier hounded him but he gave no answers to anything, including some recruitments ranging from large factions to dubious organizations.
Within those months, various factions searching the outside of the barrier also spotted a build-up of artificial structures on the surface of the moon and upon further inspections, they were the mechanical lifeforms openly setting up a military outpost knowing that none of the earthlings could leave the planet.
This sight instantly spread out through the whole supernatural world and gave its inhabitants another wake-up call that they shouldn't be complacent.
There's one particular moment where the Evie that killed Great Red made his appearance once again at the edge of the barrier and blasted it with a golden beam of destructive energy that was as wide as a city and could even potentially destroy the planet for one whole minute. The barrier rippled throughout the entire Earth, but that was it. Seeing that there were no changes, the Evie left to who knows where, never revealing himself again.
When Kisuke was watching that, he thought that there might be nothing special about Evie aside from his absurd firepower, 'I have many ways of going around that. Still, I have to make sure.'
If there were holes in the barrier, it would be the path he created to his Mars base at the inception of the barrier to allow Great Red, now Flanna, to reach her new body. Using that path, Kisuke would be able to secretly send out probes to gather more information against their enemies and maybe even find the location of their colonies where he could potentially recruit some rebels.
Returning to his off-planet base after a month to check up on a certain someone, Kisuke could feel Flanna's presence the moment he stepped out of the teleporter and she was running toward him with great speed. A few seconds later, Kisuke could hear her footsteps akin to a giant's, and the moment she reached the door, instead of a normal opening, it was blasted open just using a push, "Boss! Why did you leave me here all alone!?"
Before Kisuke could make a comment, he saw the attire she was wearing and he immediately recalled its reference, 'Dante from the fourth installation of Devil May Cry, huh...'
Flanna was wearing red pants, yet they were almost completely covered sans her crotch and rear by long, black leather motorcycle chaps featuring a brown, cowboy boot design around the ankles. She wore black, loafer-looking boots, and black gloves exposing her knuckles and index finger on each hand, and her pants were wrapped with a black belt featuring a silver emblem decorated with a demonic skull. The coat was given a detailed and stylish look with Western and Italian features, and a deep red, almost crimson color. The coat was short-sleeved, with numerous gold-colored studs decorating the shoulders, collar, and chest, with a single zipper on the front.
Underneath the coat, Flanna wore a black, zipped-up undershirt with three clasps closed together with ornate, golden buckles, and medium-length sleeves that could be seen passing her shoulders. This undershirt was also zipped up just below her neck and featured an upturned collar that complemented the one on her coat.
'And here I thought she'd choose a Yankee outfit considering her personality and attachment to 'delinquents'.' Kisuke pointed at the door behind her and replied to her question, "Because I thought you'd be able to control your strength after that much time, but it looks like I was wrong. Go practice your control some more and I'll take you out of here."
Kisuke immediately turned around, intending to leave but he heard Flanna's crying voice as she hurried over while shouting, "Noooo!!!"
Kisuke turned around and looked at her pitiful face and thought, 'That attire definitely doesn't suit an attitude and face like hers. But it's funny so I'm not gonna point that out.'