"Here we are." Rei said right after he teleported Kaguya and himself into a certain mountain range in the Land of Earth, far away from any civilization.
It was a fitting hideout for an apocalypse-desiring alien parasite like Isshiki.
"Hmm... here?" Kaguya looked around with a raised eyebrow, not impressed at all. All she could see were rocks and more rocks but she felt the faint 'scent' of familiar chakra coming from the underground so she didn't doubt Rei. Her question was mostly one of disbelief that her... ex-colleague would willingly stoop so low.
But Isshiki always came off as an arrogant prick to her, always acting as if there was nobody smarter than him so she might be a tad bit biased.
"Do I want to know how you found him in the first place?" Kaguya curiously asked.
Isshiki's chakra was powerful. More powerful than a bijuu. The fact that she could only faintly sense it meant there were some serious concealing seals all around his hiding place.
If even she, an Otsutsuki who ate a Chakra Fruit, had to be right above the place to feel Isshiki, Kaguya really wondered how Rei, a normal human, managed to locate him. It was just one more thing that brought her awe of Rei's resourcefulness.
"Let's just say that having the Moon in my possession is proving very beneficial." Rei evaded the question with a teasing non-reply, making Kaguya snort.
She decided to forego further questioning. She was fully aware that Rei was nowadays tinkering with something he called 'Chakra Technology' and it could do quite amazing things.
Now that he mentioned it, she faintly remembered being shown something called the Chakra Telescope when it was in its infancy...
Where Rei got his insane ideas, Kaguya would never understand.
Instead of trying to strain her brain by thinking about it, "Should I ring the bell and send dear Isshiki a warm welcome?" Kaguya asked with a small giggle and conjured a small ball of magma above her palm.
Rei's eyebrow twitched when he saw it. He knew letting her and Mei in the same room could possibly spell doom but not even in his worst dreams did he foresee Kaguya making such a good impression on Mei that his little firecracker would teach his bunny some of her more... destructive moves.
That little ball of magma? That could potentially wipe out the entirety of the Land of Earth, changing it to nothing more than a land of molten ocean, if it was allowed to grow.
A warm welcome, indeed.
"Rejected." Rei instantly denied it, making Kaguya pout but fortunately, she did cancel the magma ball above her palm. "Don't use your abilities yet. You will alert him of our presence." He gently rubbed her head to appease her little, earning himself a small grudging nod from her alongside a reluctant smile.
Rei knew that Kaguya was a bit nervous at meeting with her ex-'superior' but that was exactly the reason why he wanted her to face off against him.
Rei could have easily gathered the gang and ganged up on the poor, poor Isshiki who would have no idea what hit him.
But Kaguya needed closure. She deserved it.
If Rei mentioned Isshiki was alive and did nothing about it, he knew Kaguya would become jittery because of her past experiences with the man. Now that she had at least some training under her belt and could control her powers to a greater extent, Rei decided this was the moment when he could pit her against the extremely weakened Isshiki and make her beat him to death and gain some much-needed self-confidence when it came to facing off against the other Otsutsuki.
Kaguya might have seemed haughty and arrogant towards those she hadn't acknowledged but underneath that facade, no matter how powerful she was, she was still a person. She still had her own worries and fears.
"Let me first prepare some seal tra-" Rei added, but he was interrupted midway by an unfamiliar voice.
"Did you really think I wouldn't notice my treacherous sacrifice and one bug skulking around my lab?" An emotionless masculine drawl put a stop to the leisure conversation between Kaguya and Rei, making their heads snap in the direction from which it came, only to land on the boredly standing Isshiki who was observing them with a small flicker of interest in his eyes.
Deeming his uninvited guests too speechless by his entrance, Isshiki thought he would not get an answer to his question so he continued speaking, "Nevertheless... Someone on this pathetic planet was able to locate my base. Consider myself impressed. How did you do it, human?"
"Do you really think I would reveal that to you just because you asked nicely?" Rei amusedly asked, chuckling a bit.
Pfft, as if Rei needed to have secrets from Kaguya. The only reason why he didn't outright tell and describe to her the process of locating this ice-cold dude was that they were right above his base, duh.
He would have to be utterly retarded to start explaining his methods here.
No matter what, thinking that his enemy could not possibly eavesdrop on them or that Isshiki wouldn't notice their arrival would have been the height of arrogance.
Rei trusted in his abilities but he liked to trust in the abilities of his enemies too. It saved a lot of trouble in the long run.
Isshiki didn't even twitch at Rei's rudeness. He only nodded in a placid acceptance, "I can always beat the answer from you, worm." He then turned towards Kaguya, "It's a long time to s-"
But Rei couldn't just let Isshiki's previous interruption be, now could he?
"Are you sure you are related? This guy is a total asshole." He turned his head towards Kaguya and nonchalantly asked, cutting Isshiki's sentence off.
Finally, the man showed at least a small flicker of annoyance in his eyes.
Rei took that as his small victory.
Kaguya smiled in amusement at what Rei was doing, deciding to play along, "What can I say? He was from the faulty batch."
She would never admit it out loud with how much she complained during her lessons about taunting the enemy but... it could be quite fun!
"Faulty batch..." Isshiki unamusedly repeated. "Remind me, which one of us was the harvester and which one the worthless sacrifice?"
Kaguya didn't get riled up at the mention of her role in the harvesting of the Chakra Fruit. She knew that Isshiki was hoping to dig deeper than his leisure words would reveal at first glance.
Her role as the sacrifice meant that the Otsutsuki found her worth less than a cattle. She was just something to be killed for their goals.
That would normally instantly enrage someone but Kaguya dealt with the taunt of other Rei women on a constant basis and witnessed epic verbal battles between Mei and Ringo.
Compared to that... being called a cattle was nothing special, really.
Then again, she had a perfect comeback for this, "Remind me, which one of us ended up missing his lower half due to that worthless sacrifice, suffering from the consequences even a thousand years after the event?" She innocently asked, and something in the air between Kaguya and Isshiki instantly changed as it grew tense.
Kaguya could clearly see that Isshiki's current vessel was... pathetically inappropriate.
There was no way he could exert his full power in that state. Not without using the life energy of his vessel, shortening his life, and destroying said vessel in the process.
This just gave into perspective the fact that Rei was able to make Kaguya an appropriate vessel for her power when he freed her. When even an Otsutsuki couldn't replicate that feat despite trying for a thousand years, that was a real testament to Rei's genius.
And another thing to rub in Isshiki's face.
"Then again, in just a few months my genius husband was fully capable of creating a proper and strong body for me when I was freed from my seal. The fact, you couldn't manage to do the same even after millennia of effort gotta mean something, Isshiki." Kaguya giggled, knowing that if there was something that could potentially piss off the usually emotionless and efficient freak, it was to be compared with a human, someone he considered less than an ant, and having been found wanting.
Rei watched from beside Kaguya as her verbal taunting did a damn good job at riling their would-be opponent. He stayed quiet and let her handle it. She knew the dude better so...
The results were definitely worth his inaction too. Isshiki was completely distracted for long enough.
'Ehehe, surprise incoming, motherfucker.' Rei inwardly thought.
Isshiki took a deep breath to slightly calm himself, but his irritation didn't abate. His mood for words ceased and his hands now itched to pull some intestines out. "Enough chit-chat. It's time for you to die." He coldly whispered.