While Riveria was figuratively breaking everyone's mind in the cafeteria, Kisuke and Yoruichi arrived at the command center where it was just Sona, Medusa, Ravel, and Ingvild issuing commands and relaying information to those who went outside to secure the left-out Deities and mortals.
"How is it going?" Kisuke asked while looking at the display screens showing everyone's current position.
"All the Deities that are tainted with Chaos' power and children have disappeared. However, we found the children of those who joined you late. As you had expected, they sent their children away from Orario and were already planning to switch sides from the start." Sona answered while highlighting certain areas of the map, "I tried bringing as many of the DxD Team with us... But the backlash was way more than I expected so the Human, Youkai, and Angel sides couldn't join us. And it's the same case for Olympus."
The other three were continuing their work but their ears perked up to listen to their conversation.
"And the main perpetrators?" Asked Kisuke.
"A small portion of the Underworld, Shiva, Indra, and Takamagahara."
Kisuke furrowed his brows, "Takamagahara?" He could understand the other three and even expected more people to come forward but he never put Takamagahara on the top of that list, "Was any information floating around on where we are bringing such a massive military force?"
Sona shook her head, "I made sure that no information would come up. I went as far as not informing the members of DxD until just a few hours ago and even then, not much was told."
"And when did they start interfering?"
"Ever since we started gathering a few weeks ago." Sona answered while turning to Kisuke, "I also thought that it was weird for them to suddenly come out like when they secluded themselves most of the time. I tried searching for anything but I can't find any evidence that they are linked to Chaos."
"If they had, Chaos would have done more to prevent you from coming here," Kisuke muttered.
"Or they indeed have a connection but you guys just pulled out an alien tech that they weren't able to take into account," Yoruichi added.
Kisuke sighed, "That indeed has some kind of merit but one thing is for sure. We have to be careful on our return trip too. For now, however, let's focus on setting down a foundation as a springboard to attack Chaos. I don't have any reason to further delay our attack."
"Two days. That should be enough to get the leftover Deities to our side. They'll do a fine job as a distraction." Sona returned to her work.
"May I ask a question?" All of a sudden, Ravel spoke up.
"Please go ahead."
"We agreed to help you because you promised that this world will be able to help us resist the Evie invasion. How?"
Kisuke sat down and explained, "There are a lot of things that you can do in a world where only a limited number of people can reach. You can even move your base of operations here because I also know that you're worried about the potentiality and dangers of sharing space with untrustworthy people."
Ravel nodded and her eyes sharpened, "That's true... We can have an important gathering among the core members here and we could also hide a lot of stuff that we don't want the group's extension to see. Still, that doesn't seem to be that much of a help to the invasion. I can also see that we have this world's inhabitant's help in combat but aside from raising your own authority and influence, I couldn't see any big merit it has to the world."
"I won't deny that, but there's something else." Kisuke chuckled and felt it was nice that Ravel doesn't trust him at all.
"Something else?"
"In our world, the Biblical Factions have a system that regulates the circulation of souls. In this world, there's something similar but has more functions aside from soul regulations, and a more sophisticated system at that. I want to use that system to elevate our world's grassroots and be a backup in case the Etouldes double cross us."
Ravel and Ingvild's eyes widened and the former muttered, "Etouldes?"
Kisuke grinned at her but his eyes didn't smile along with his mouth, "You've been secretly receiving their aid, haven't you?"
Ravel almost jumped out of her seat, "H-how did you...?"
At her reaction, Sona and Medusa stared at her in shock, "Ravel?"
Kisuke, on the other hand, didn't immediately answer, 'I was just guessing but it looks like I'm correct. Well, if the Evies could have someone worship them, it shouldn't be that hard for Etouldes to do the same.'
"It doesn't really matter, does it?" Kisuke replied, "Although I'm not really telling you to stop cooperating with them. I just want you guys to be careful. You can be friends with them individually, but don't ever forget that you're on a negotiating table with them and not their follower."
Ravel gritted her teeth and Ingvild looked at her with a worried expression. A few seconds later, the former heave out a long sigh and said, "It's as you've said. We have been receiving various aids from them. I want to say that I'm opposed to this but it doesn't really mean anything since we've already accepted it. Is it bad to trust them?"
Kisuke shook his head, "I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that you have to be careful because the Etouldes are not a monolithic faction as you all think. They are very large and could also have diverse opinions on many different matters as us. Instead of thinking that all of them are here to back you up, I'd rather you not discard the possibility that someone out there is pushing for a direct invasion like the Evies."
Ravel was quiet for a moment before saying, "...I'll warn the others about it. But I really don't have any idea how big both Evies and Etouldes are. It seems you have a lot of information that we don't have so we'd really appreciate it if you could share some of them."
"I intend to do that after all of this is over."