Starlit went into one of the rooms within the facility they are in and strapped Kisuke into a bed that was just right for his current size before hooking him up to a bunch of wires that seems to be designed for him too, 'It has been prepared', thought Kisuke while pulling his harnesses, "What are you doing!?"
Starlit ignored his protest and turned to her communicator. After pressing a few buttons, she only had to wait for a minute before the old Luxato that Kisuke met when he first came here arrived.
[Did you get his consent?], asked the old man. But seeing what was happening, he didn't need an answer to get what was going on.
Starlit shook her head and replied, [I couldn't do it. There's no way for us to communicate. I tried using illustrations, but it seems that there is too much difference in culture that I couldn't get through.]
'What illustrations?' Kisuke asked inside his head before recalling the scribbles that she has been showing him these past few days, 'Wait... Those are? Aren't you just really bad at it?'
[I already concluded that he'll be able to take the burden, but it's going to hurt a lot. Are you sure about this? He might not trust us going forward.]
[Probably.] Starlit shrugged her shoulders, [But we won't be able to move forward like this, Doctor. Whether he could trust us or not, it's still better to start somewhere and get even the tiniest information about his origin and home world.]
The old man sighed and walked towards the consoles that are on the side of the bed, [Fine... But you'll have to take the responsibility for this.]
The girl nodded with a smile, [That's obvious. Since he was assigned to me, I'll take responsibility for whatever happens to him.]
'That's admirable, but that's not reassuring at all!'
Kisuke prepared to shield his piece of soul and allow any necessary changes this procedure will do, 'If it comes down to it, I'll just self-destruct to avoid any complication. Though I would have to find another avenue for this plan... Which might not present itself like this.'
Kisuke didn't have to struggle long as both Magic Power and Spirit Particles began flowing through the wires and entered his body. At first, they did nothing but avoid Kisuke's own circulation of energies but moments later, they directly went for his head, 'Seriously!?'
Kisuke braced himself as he didn't think that they'd go straight to his brain without much examination from their side. But it wasn't just that. While the Magic Power side went for his physical brain, the Spiritual Particles made their way to his Soul in an attempt to modify the same part. At that point, the pain started to set in as if someone was drilling into his skull.
Still, that wasn't enough for Kisuke to let out a peep so he pretended to be hurt by shouting at top of his lungs while watching closely what was happening.
It was similar to what Kisuke did when he made the candy that could make the girls understand the language of the world, however, it's a lot more unrefined when he did it, 'This... is messy? Is this what they have to do to make it more universal and adjustable for more races? No wonder they need that translation device. This is rough.'
As soon as they imprinted their knowledge, the Magic Power and Spiritual Particles slowly retreated and the pain subsided with them, prompting Kisuke to breathe out slowly.
"Is it done?" Starlit asked the old man.
The old man didn't answer immediately and checked Kisuke's vitals, "There doesn't seem to be any problem as far as I could see, but we'd still need a thorough checkup just in case."
Kisuke didn't listen to them and checked the changes that they made, 'It's functioning as intended, but it's badly done. A shame, but I'll have to erase this. It'll also be safer that way.' He then passed out, restoring and resetting his Gigai.
Kisuke woke up in his original body and exited the pod while stretching his limbs, "Before I can talk to them properly, I have to practice my proper pronunciations first... Or maybe I should start out as a broken speaker first?"
.
.
.
The next morning, Kisuke finally decided to return to Twilight Manor. And when he reached the gates, he caught the two guards that he saw last night just ending their night shift, "Good morning~ Is it alright if you inform Loki-sama or Riveria that I've returned?"
"Ah... It's you. It's fine. We've been informed to let you in once you arrive. Loki-sama said that you should go to her private lobby and you should already know your way in." One of the guards answered. Though he has been wondering how this man would know the way inside the manor he figured he has been a guest in the past.
"Is that so? Then I'll be excusing myself."
Kisuke went straight in and he came across some familiar faces but even more unfamiliar ones, 'It would seem that they've tripled in size.'
Everyone was curious about who he was, especially his relationship with Riveria, but none of them approached him as they were already notified to leave him alone for now.
It didn't take too long for him to reach Loki's private lobby and in there he saw Loki and Riveria were already waiting for him with some drinks prepared.
"It looks like they didn't let you off easy." Kisuke commented after seeing the deep crease in-between Riveria's eyebrows.
Riveria massages her temple to ease the headache from the hangover, "What choice do I have?"
"You won't heal yourself?" asked Kisuke as he sat down beside her.
"I'd like to have a natural experience this time around."
"Want me to massage it for you?"
"That would be helpf-- !?" Riveria realized what she was about to say and where she is so she instantly shook her head, "I'm fine!"
However, that was already too late as Loki started chuckling at their interaction, "I knew you two would be close enough after all those years, but it's still very surprising to see it in person. And Riveria, I think it's fine to let your guard down when it's just me."
"Absolutely not!"
Loki didn't push her any further since she knew that it would only work against her so she instead turned to Kisuke and said, "Now then, to explain why everyone forgot about you once again... Well, the short story is what you've shown everyone is very detrimental to their growth. Before they reached where they are now a few years ago, they were having very unrealistic expectations."
Editors:
28th00: Haha, detrimental? Oh boy, chaos is inbound! Also, really shitty spiritual surgery, oof.
"...Unrealistic expectations?" Kisuke's mouth twitched, "That really impeded them? Just how impatient were they for that to happen?"
"Really, really impatient.", Loki sighed and reclined on her seat, "What do you think you look like?"
"...Err... I'm not really sure how to answer that question. Human, I guess?"
Loki raised her foot on the table, "That's exactly it! Regardless of what you are, you look like a Human around 20-30 years old! Yet you have that kind of power. Thanks to that, these kids thought that it is possible to achieve that within a few years... They became desperate."
"...Seriously?" It was then that Kisuke realized his mistake. It's a massive discrepancy that has always been present that he chooses to ignore because it's something that isn't very important and can be changed with the right approach.
In the two previous incidents he was in, it's always mostly true that once you survive an encounter or a dire predicament, you'd always come out stronger and would even allow one to step into a new stage of their power. However, in this world, he almost forgot that people are mostly improving gradually, tackling challenges that they were capable of and taking those experiences in to use in their next challenge.
In other words, 'power and wisdom come with age' rang truer than 'sudden metamorphosis or enlightenment in the middle of a fight' in this world.
"What the hell? I thought introducing Magic and Ki would solve this 'problem' so I didn't think about it any further.", It was Kisuke's turn to sigh, "That means, they still couldn't let go of the concept of 'Levels'. Pretty pathetic, I would say."
"You just underestimated how much a Deity meant for these children.", Loki immediately refuted, "Well, that's the story and the solution we went through after consulting Yoruichi and Hestia was to erase everyone's memory, not just you, but the entire Hestia and Artemis Familia because it's safer and more secure that way."
Kisuke furrowed his brows, "But with the Magic Power and Ki surrounding them, I don't think it would be possible to hold their memories with just Freya's 'Charm' alone. They should have broken it by themselves at some point."
"I don't know what exact spell they used but it's the combination of Freya's 'Charm', Serafall's Magic, and Yoruichi's Kidou... Though I have no idea what the last one is since I only heard it from them."
'Yoruichi's Kidou? That should have been impossible without her tools. It looks like she's been busy with her own thing too.' Kisuke smiled but didn't expressively reveal the reason behind it.
Loki just ignored Kisuke's reaction and continued, "In any case, everyone has been getting desperate and wanted to match you. And as you've guessed, they don't have the proper mindset for it so it'd only end up destroying them. Without much choice, we had to take this step."
"Around what levels did this happen?" Riveria broke her silence and asked.
"Finn, Gareth, and Ais just reached Level 8. There were also some on Freya's side who reached the same Level."
Riveria thought about Loki's words for a moment, 'This is definitely weird... I can't see anything that would make them desperate enough to warrant Loki and the others to erase their memories.'
Seeing her reaction, Loki couldn't help but grin, "Thankfully, you still know them enough. As you've guessed, Kisuke's existence was just the coffin and the nail to it was something different... Or rather, someone. Although there are already several Level 9s, who do you think reached it second?"
The gears in Kisuke's head began to turn and a certain someone entered his mind, 'I see... So that's the whole story... Still, that's pretty pathetic.' Although he agreed with Loki that he underestimated their beliefs, his opinion didn't change. After all, he gave them all the tools they needed and they only needed to use them.
Riveria, on the other hand, was thinking about Loki's question. Finn, Gareth, Ais, or Ottar would have been the obvious answer, but since she's asking if it would have been someone else, "Ottar should have been the first one, but second? I have no idea."
"Ottar did reach Level 8 first but the second one to follow him is the rising star of the Miach Familia, Bell Cranel."
"...Bell Cranel?" The name rang a bell inside Riveria's head, but she couldn't recall him perfectly.
Kisuke, chuckling, interrupted them, "Let me guess, the first one to reach Level 9 was Bell Cranel."
Riveria's eyes instantly widened in surprise. Loki's eyes, meanwhile, sharpened, "That's correct. And right now, he's undeniably the strongest Adventurer in Orario and the Gods gave him the title 'Heaven Defier' after he defeated the 'King'."
"Wh-!? How did that happen!?"
Loki shrugged her shoulders at Riveria's question, "He's just better at almost everything~. Martial Arts, Magic, and Charisma, he's a bonafide genius of this era. Both our Familia and Freya's are just holding up their rank due to our number and influence. Although that might change in the future with the Guild and a number of Familias fully supporting Miach Familia due to his existence."
At that point, a number of people approached the door to their room and both Kisuke and Riveria instantly noticed them, signaling Loki that they are not alone anymore.
Loki sighed and concluded, "Of course, there's a lot more to the story since it's a whole seven-year gap, but that's the gist of it. What about you, Riveria? How did you fare? When you mentioned that you're still a Level 1 last night, they stopped asking how strong you are after those years out of concern for you."
Riveria cleared her throat. She has always wanted to continue that topic, but after the pity she'd received last night, she couldn't find the right time to brag so this is already her chance.
But just as she opened her mouth, so did Kisuke, "Hear me out, Loki-sama. Although Riveria is just Level 1, she trained to the point of complete exhaustion multiple times and studied Magic to the point of her eyes bleeding. Thanks to that, despite the limitation of her Level, if it comes down to it, she's fully capable of going against a Level 6 or 7! If she really pushes it, she could hold back a Level 8!"
Riveria instantly kicked Kisuke's shin, but it was only her who was hurt since she didn't use any protection. Regardless, she furiously whispered to him, "What are you doing!? That's way lower than what we've agreed!"
"Change of plans. They are a lot stronger than we initially expected despite the problems. Since it'll be more advantageous for us to keep your cards hidden until the right time, you should sit on the sidelines for now."
"...But that's..." Riveria really wanted to show off at least a few of her abilities, but she couldn't find any reasons to disagree with Kisuke.
"I stand beside you, alright?"
Riveria instantly understood what he meant, "I'll take that as a promise. When it comes to this... side. Bring me along."
Editors:
28th00: I do agree, that’s kinda pathetic as fuck. Especially when it comes to worlds where you in fact train to ascend as a god or become godlike. Bell is pining super hard after Medusa, right? Oh man, wonder how that mindwipe attempt worked? Because that’d include her too, the object of his desires for Realis Phrase…