With a complicated expression, Tsubaki asked nervously, "D-did she have the same decision as Koneko Toujou?"
"Relax~ You already knew that Sona wouldn't give up her responsibility on you lot. Although she can't be here right now, she never stopped worrying about you. When I said that I'll be coming back alone due to the dangers of traveling, she requested to take care of all of you."
Everyone visibly sighed in relief after hearing that.
"And it looks like I came in at a good time since I was able to see the current state of your group," Kisuke continued, "It seems like you're falling behind, even with those Sacred Gears in addition."
Saji gritted his teeth and said, "We're doing our best here!"
"True. You might be doing your best, but did you honestly think that would be enough? Despite doing your best, did the gap between you and Gremory-san's group shrink? Saying that they have a Longinus possessor or their group was already strong from the start is not a valid enough reason for why you're being left behind."
"Then what are we supposed to do!?" shouted Saji.
"...Saji," Ruruko, fellow Pawn of Saji, tried to calm him down. Though like everyone else, frustration is obvious on her face.
"Chill. I'm not blaming you. I'm just saying that there has been a minimal opportunity for your growth. Although Azazel-san gave you those Sacred Gears, I doubt you received proper training. You probably received training from Serafall-sama, but someone like her training people? You might just find yourself chanting Magical Girl stuff."
Tsubaki and the rest of the girls shuddered as they recalled Serafall's magic training which for some reason, was always themed after Magical Girls.
"Ah... I guessed it right," muttered Kisuke after seeing their reactions, "Nonetheless, I came here to give you that opportunity. But before that, I have to ask a few questions. First of all, would you like to train under me?"
They already knew his capabilities so they didn't hesitate to come up with an answer, "Yes! We would like to take this opportunity!" Tsubaki answered while the rest nodded along with her.
However, Kisuke's atmosphere suddenly became heavy and his eyes became sharp which made them jump on their toes, "Good... Now my next question is, are you willing to risk your lives to become stronger?"
Everyone hesitated but Tsubaki was the first one to answer while gritting her teeth due to the pressure Kisuke was emitting, "We are already risking our lives fighting these battles with our measly strength. If we don't do it, then we won't have more opportunities as you already told us and we'll just die somewhere in those battles."
Hearing her words, everyone else from the Student Council realized their position and soon after, one by one said yes to Kisuke's second question.
Kisuke released a bit of his pressure and nodded, "Good... Now for the third one. But first, let me tell you that training under me won't guarantee you becoming stronger."
They raised their brows at his statement but didn't interrupt him.
"In fact, the chances of you dying is pretty slim with me around, but the training itself might cause you a mental scar that you may not be able to recover from which will make you inept in the battlefield and forever retire from the frontlines, only hoping that you'll never step on it again."
"Sure, you might be thinking that you could take on everything right now, but I could guarantee you that you won't like my training even after you finish it. If I were to guess, all of you would wish that you never took my training on the first day of your training. Of course, after you've already agreed on it, I won't allow anyone to back out anymore until you finish it."
"You might be wondering why I would push you to that extent. The answer is simple, it's because both you and I don't have much time. You really don't really have time to be training with how volatile the current situation is and I have to go back where the others are in a few days. Knowing that, are you still willing to take on this training?"
Tsubaki swallowed a mouthful of saliva in nervousness and instead of giving her answer to Kisuke, she first turned to her fellow members, "I already decided to go with this despite the risk... However, I won't force you to come with me. This probably won't be the same as all the training we've had, so it's perfectly fine to back out as the risks are too great."
"You're looking down on me, Vice President. Of course, I would accept this! I might regret this later, but this is the push I needed!" declared Saji.
Soon after, after a few minutes of hesitation, everyone said yes to Kisuke's final question.
"Great," Kisuke then stood up and activated a teleportation circle, "Well then. Let's go. If you're doing something, then you have to drop it. We don't have much time."
"W-we're going now?" asked Reya, Sona's Bishop.
Kisuke turned to her with sharp eyes and asked, "Got a problem with that?"
Reya shuddered and immediately shook her head, "N-no! None sir!"
Everyone then realized that the training had already started.
"I'll be contacting Serafall-sama and say that your group will be under my care until the day I leave. She'll also be coming later as I'll ask her to look after you since I can't be with you around the clock. Though don't expect her to help her with anything. I'll explicitly tell her that she can't interrupt."
They then disappeared from the Kuoh Academy and arrived at Kisuke's hideout within the Dimensional Gap.
"So it's this place..." commented Tsubaki as she looked around since this is not her first time here. However, she also noticed two cloaked individuals near them, "They are?"
"Ignore them. They have nothing to do with you," answered Kisuke before turning towards the cloaked individuals, "I'll be with you within half an hour so please wait."
The two of them nodded and stepped away from the group, silently waiting while standing.
"Follow me," Kisuke instructed the Student Council members. Although they were curious about who they are, they didn't dare voice out any questions regarding that.
After traveling for almost five minutes, Kisuke and the rest arrived at the spot where several Hotsprings could be seen.
Kisuke separated from the group for a bit before taking out seven featureless wooden mannequins holding a wooden sword each.
"These are the training dummies that you'll be using," explained Kisuke, "Within these dummies is my skill set that will move it. In other words, you'll be fighting these things for the first part of your training."
"...What are the rules that we need to follow?" asked Tsubaki.
Kisuke couldn't help but smile and approve of her question and answered, "The skill of these dummies will always be set higher than your own. However, that won't be much training and won't be able to achieve my goal for all of you."
"So while fighting these, all of you won't be allowed to use your Sacred Gear or any spells against it. In addition to that, you're not allowed to use any weapons."
"Huh? Then how are we going to fight it?" asked Momo, another one of Sona's Bishop.
"You have hands, arms, legs and feet. Heck, you can even use your teeth or forehead to fight them. Aside from that, you could also use Ki or Magic power circulation to strengthen your body which is different from active spells that do the same."
"The goal of this training is not for you to learn some skill set or improve your Sacred Gear usage but to amass personal battle experience."
"With that said, let me add a few more reminders. There are a few times these dummies would stop attacking you. First is if one is seriously injured. If that were to happen to you, you have to jump in that Hotspring yourself since the other dummies won't stop for the others to help you. It has some recovery features. Though not as much as the Pheonix Tears, it can mend a severed limb over time."
Everyone was again shuddered at his words wondering why they would need to heal a severed limb. But Kisuke didn't allow them to interrupt, "Second is if you're fatally injured. All the dummies will stop so that the rest can help you."
"F-fatal!?" shouted Saji.
However, Kisuke only raised his hand to stop him from further speaking, "I already warned you that you may die so don't ask for an explanation regarding that. If that were to be fatally injured, you have to jump on the other smaller Hotspring to recover, though it'll be painful, you'll recover as long as you're still alive."
"Finally, they'll stop at break times. Every four hours, they'll stop for fifteen minutes so you can take a break. I'll prepare a nourishing drink that you'll take within the duration of your training. It'll be specially designed so that it'll replenish all your bodily needs while also eliminating the need for using the toilets."
"And for your sleep, you could use that cabin over there that has a formation to help you calm your mental state while also recovering your tired bodies. With that, you'll only need an hour of sleep each day."
"I-in other words, we have to fight these dummies at least 21 hours a day?" asked Tsubaki with a twitching expression.
But Kisuke only shrugged his shoulder, "I already said this won't be easy. Well then let's start! Each one of you take one dummy! You can change your clothes later with your sleep time!"
Everyone followed Kisuke's instructions nervously and separated from each other with their dummies. Once Kisuke activated the dummies, they started moving slowly before suddenly brandishing their wooden swords at their Devil opponents.
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Editors:
28th00: Hell training time? Wait, the dummies are at HIS SKILL LEVEL? Oh boy, that's just bullying. It will increase your combat experience insanely fast though!
After only a few minutes, everyone was already bruised all over their bodies while some of them even had fractured bones. However, since they were not yet seriously injured, the dummies kept on attacking and chasing them despite their cries.
After a few more minutes had passed, the first one to make a fatal mistake was Ruruko as she dodged in the wrong spot and got her left eye pierced by the wooden sword, "AAHHHHH!!!"
Her wail of pain attracted everyone's attention and they were horrified when they saw her busted eye as Ruruko tried to cover it with both of her hands, "RURUKO!!!", shouted Saji in desperation as he attempted to go over to her side.
At that point, they had already forgotten that Kisuke's reminder that the dummies would only stop moving for them if they were seriously or fatally injured, as they tried to help their precious comrade.
But even after seeing this, Kisuke didn't remind them again and saw the dummies slash at their wide open backs, leaving them open for even more attacks, "AHHH!!!" "KYAHH!!!" "AHHH!!!!!!" Intermittent cries of pain rang across the group as each one of them fell victim to the dummies' attacks, leaving them with a few broken limbs and fractured ribs. If not for their Devil Physiques, they would have already died.
Kisuke sighed and approached Ruruko who was rolling on the ground in pain. He then carefully picked her up while stopping her movements and slowly dipped her body in the Hotspring, "I'm going to put your head under the water, so don't scream or you'll drown."
Despite the pain, Ruruko heard him properly and did her best to stop her screams and sobbing.
After a few seconds of treatment, the pain in Ruruko's left eye slowly subsided and she was able to straighten out her thinking, "Continue doing this until your eye regenerates. After you've fully recovered, those dummies will detect it and will start attacking you again."
Ruruko shuddered after hearing that but didn't say anything and just silently sobbed to herself.
Kisuke knew that this would be a crucial part for her and left her alone to think, "I already said it before. There are only two results from this training. Either you get stronger or you will never be able to fight again."
Kisuke then faced the rest of Sona's Peerage, "I said that as long as one is only seriously injured, your dummies won't stop. If you don't take this in mind, this will only happen each time one of you gets seriously injured. And down the road, you guys won't be lucky when you're all downed while one of you is fatally injured with no one to help if either Serafall or I am not watching."
"Go in the Hotspring on your own. I still need to attend something. It'll be a few more hours before Serafall arrives, so do your best to survive since you already agreed to take this training while knowing the risks."
"And if you think this is too much, then I agree with you. But this is the only way for you to get stronger fast without relying on external help or tools. And just so you know, Sona, including Koneko and Aika, already went through something similar, so this is not some unfair training."
After setting up the vending machine for their nourishment liquid, Kisuke left them alone with the dummies. Even after walking far away from them, he could still hear their screams.
Soon he met with the two cloaked figures and asked them to follow him. Once they reached and entered the room, Kisuke immediately sat down and said, "Please sit down."
Athena and Nyx removed their hoods and sat down in front of Kisuke, "Thank you," Athena replied, "I'm sorry if I'm meddling, but even Ares' soldiers don't get that kind of brutal training and they are known as one of the best armies in the Supernatural world. If this training were to be integrated into his army, I don't think even a tenth of them would remain, and you're giving such a thing to youngsters. This is technically torturing them."
However, Kisuke only smiled at her, "I wouldn't give them something like this if I knew they couldn't pass it. In fact, I'm around 90% sure that they'll overcome this."
Athena and Nyx's eyes widened in surprise, "What makes them special?" asked Athena curiously.
"It's because they are not soldiers," answered Kisuke.
Visible confusion appeared on Athena and Nyx's faces, however, Kisuke just brushed it off and changed the topic, "Enough of that. You didn't come here to talk about that, right?"
With a big grin, Kisuke directly asked, "So, how are we going to storm Olympus?"
While Nyx shuddered, Athena smiled, "As expected of you. You already knew what I had on my mind."
"Well, it's an obvious conclusion. Considering Zeus' position and the situation within Olympus, sneaking into your father's place would be next to impossible." Kisuke shrugged his shoulders, "Besides, they gave me such a wonderful title~ It would be a shame if I didn't put it to good use~"
Athena couldn't help but smile wryly, "I really am glad that I'm absolutely not your enemy..."
Nyx also nodded nervously on her words.
"Though it doesn't seem like you regret what you did to Medusa."
Despite the fear within her, Athena stood her ground, "Even after our fight, I still believe that what I did was the right thing, so I won't ever apologize." But soon after, she shook her head, "Though I've already taken my hands off her and won't bother her ever again since you already took her under your wing."
Kisuke sighed, "Well, I guess that's a lot better than you apologizing without any sincerity. Besides, I can also understand where you're coming from. It's just that we have differences in ideals. As they say, 'justice' is subjective."
"Thank you for your understanding," Athena then took out two golden orbs from her personal space and handed it over to Kisuke, "Since I won't be antagonizing Medusa anymore, please take these."
Kisuke silently received and inspected the golden orbs before muttering in surprise, "These are remnants of Divine Cores?"
"More specifically, remnants of Stheno and Euryale, Medusa's older sisters' Divine Core. I knew that they'd been helping Medusa survive through the eons and I planned to use them for something. Since I don't need them anymore, I'm giving them to you, their caretaker," explained Athena.
"Thanks~ This will be helpful."
"You're welcome. There are still some things related to Medusa and her sisters in my private quarters. I can give them to you after you've healed my father." Athena's expression then became serious and took out a map, "Now that we're on the topic, here's the map of Olympus."
Pointing towards the northern part of the map, Athena continued, "Over here is my father's abode. The plan is simple. You'll create a big ruckus once you've entered Olympus to gather most of their forces towards you, which will weaken the security around my father. Once you've done enough, you'll use your body double spell to go through this path where it'll be harder for you to be detected to reach me near the place of our goal."
Athena then looked in his eyes and added, "Though you probably don't trust me enough to point you to a certain path, so I'll leave you the decision of where you want to go before meeting up with me."
Athena then proceeded to explain each and every place on the map to Kisuke, reminding him of what to watch out for. Ever since Apollo revealed himself, he hadn't been in Olympus for a long time so there was only a slim chance for Kisuke to meet him.
"Alright," Kisuke nodded, "I'm fine with this since there's a lot of freedom to move around. If there's nothing else, let's move out."
"Please wait. There are a few things I'd like to request first," Athena stopped Kisuke.
"Go on..."
"For my first request, please don't kill anyone."
"Oh, Goddess... That's a tall order."
Athena gritted her teeth, "I know... But most of those inside Olympus are just innocent people! Of course, there are many scums among them, but I can't let those good people suffer any further than they already are! Even if you have a way to detect those poisons, we're not even sure if everyone who doesn't have it is from Apollo's side."
"This is also the reason why I gave you the information regarding Olympus! Just so you know, this information was only available for high-ranking Gods! By giving this to someone like you, I'm essentially giving away Olympus' future in your hands! But for a chance to reform it and save the victims, I'm willing to be the eternal sinner and traitor of our faction!"
Kisuke didn't answer immediately and just stared at her resolute face while thinking, 'Indeed... I can easily tell that this is confidential information and thanks to this, I would be able to improve what I planned on doing there. And although Apollo hasn't been there, I'm pretty sure that he'll come back once he has appropriate control over Olympus. Once that happens, my 'investments' will bloom.'
'I know that she's still hiding a few things, but that's normal. It's already a big risk to give this to me.'
After a few more minutes of silence, Kisuke sighed, "Fine... But I would require your full cooperation in the future as well." Even though Kisuke held her life in his hands, it would still be a lot better if she voluntarily accepted his requests, 'Holding the whole of Olympus hostage instead of just her life should do the trick.'
Athena smiled happily, "As long as you don't treat the citizens of Olympus badly!"
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Editors:
28th00: I still fear what Ophis is building while unsupervised, the last time that happened she built a terrorist super organisation that tried to kill her(even if it was pretty much a joke in the end). Getting your eye exploded is pretty painful, especially considering this is the 'normal girl' Ruruko. Ruruko is the only known reincarnated devil who was a former human who had absolutely no relation to the supernatural world or any knowledge of it or any special abilities of note before being reincarnated as a devil. I wonder if Sona being Awol for so many volumes has made it so she can get Saji instead of giving up on him like in canon?