In a surprisingly quiet corner of the bustling city, situated a hidden bar that only a few people knew. The bell attached to the door rang, grabbing the attention of a tall and thin old man tending the bar, "Master, I'd like to reserve the place. Is that alright?"
The bar owner saw Bell entering with a group of people and nodded silently before going to the back and informing the cook to prepare lunch.
Bell then led everyone inside the cozy bar to sit down, "Please help yourself. I can guarantee that this is a good place."
Loki didn't take the ceremony and directly sat down on one of the chairs, "It has been a while Bell-kun. I believe it was the last expedition meeting against the 'Corrupted Goddess' or was it the hunt for the 'One-Eyed'? How are Miach and your wives? It's rare to see you all alone."
At the mention of the 'Corrupted Goddess', the members of the Loki Familia flinched, except for Riveria who didn't have any idea what this term is referring to. Kisuke was also the same since he only heard how Yoruichi's group was doing and nothing really about what was going on in the world at large.
Bell, meanwhile, smiled wryly, "It was the former, Loki-sama. And let's call it 'Corrupted Spirit'. After all, the term you used is very... controversial to say the least."
"The people you invited here today are all trusted ones so let's call it for what it actually is, alright?"
Bell could only sigh, "Miach-sama is currently helping Takemikazuchi-sama escape from Astarte-sama, and Lili and Haruhime are doing fine. Thank you for asking."
Loki's eyes widened, "Astarte is still hounding Take? That's devotion right there if I've ever seen some. Just make sure this doesn't devolve into a war, ya hear me?"
"I've already talked to Astarte-sama and we've reached some sort of agreement so that won't happen." Bell nodded, "I know that a war right now between the top Familia's is the last thing we want."
A simple back and forth ensued between Bell and Loki making Kisuke see how much the former has matured not just in appearance but also experience. He didn't interrupt them and just listened. Bell noticed that Kisuke just wanted to hear for now and the awkward atmosphere between him and the Loki Familia, mostly from the latter, and talked to them too to ease the tension.
All this while, the unknown little girl was silently staring at Kisuke. Kisuke knew who this little girl was but chose to ignore her for now and see what she was up to.
Thanks to Loki leading the conversation, the tense atmosphere around the girls of the Loki Familia had already mostly disappeared and at that time, their lunch arrived, helping the air around the table become more pleasant.
Ais urged the little girl to eat too, but the latter was too busy staring at Kisuke and that's when she noticed how weird she was acting right now, "...Lysa? What's wrong?"
However, she received no answer and the intensity of her stare just became stronger.
At that point, even Kisuke was weirded out by her quiet stare and just said, "I wouldn't know what you want if you just kept staring at me like that."
Ais and the rest of the girls were wondering why the usually obedient little girl had suddenly started acting up but their worries and questions fell on deaf ears. Bell also knew her real identity and stopped talking, wanting to figure out what was going on.
After the relatively long silence, the little girl finally spoke up while pointing her tiny finger at Kisuke, "Can I get that?"
Everyone looked at Kisuke with confusion and curiosity. Kisuke himself was surprised for a moment but he noticed that she was pointing at him, what she was referring to isn't exactly him, but something attached to him.
'...Well, she was technically hatched by Ophis, so maybe she can instinctively feel her power?' Kisuke smiled and beckoned the Dragon-transformed little girl, "If you can get it, you're more than welcome to have it."
Lysa's smile beamed befitting her image and escaped from Ais's side before running towards Kisuke, "Lysa!"
Ais was about to follow her out of fear that something bad might happen to her if she approaches the 'bad man' but Loki stopped her by raising her arm to block her way, "It's fine. He'll never hurt the kid without a good reason and feeling annoyed is not a good one. And if there's someone who knows more about Lysa than us, it would be him."
"...More than us?" Lefiya muttered in astonishment. As far as she and everyone knew, no one else had come across a friendly Dragon and one that transformed to look like a Human. It's one of the Loki Familia's greatest secrets and only a few individuals were aware of it outside them and most of that was because Lysa was a bit careless, revealing her identity.
'He has several of those under his fingertips and all of them could potentially destroy the whole world.', Is what Riveria wanted to say with a distant look in her eyes, but she clamped her mouth shut to bury her desire to drop this bomb.
Everyone from Loki Familia watched Lysa come to Kisuke's side with bated breath as she suddenly grabbed his right arm with both of her hands and raised it in front of her after removing his sleeve out of the way.
The next second, the blood from Ais and others' faces drained in an instant when they saw Lysa opening her mouth, revealing her row of sharp teeth before taking a hefty bite out of Kisuke's arm.
"Lysa!" Ais called out in panic while standing up from her seat. She knew how sharp Lysa's teeth could be so she had no doubt that Kisuke would retaliate and would probably hurt Lysa in the process as self-defense.
While Riveria was stopping Ais from interfering, Kisuke ignored them and could feel something intangible draining from him. It wasn't anything from him, but Ophis' and Lilith's lingering aura that stuck with him from years of contact.
Lysa, after finally taking a bite at this strangely mouthwatering aura, felt something like glass breaking inside her head and a flood of memories came rushing in.
Lysa then inadvertently released Kisuke's arms and shouted in shock, "Ophis!"