After Kisuke's injuries were healed, Line immediately returned to Loki and the others, but not before receiving a reminder from Kisuke, "Chaos knows of your existence and might try to eliminate you first if he gets a chance. When Hestia-sama makes her appearance, make sure to stay close to her."
"Hestia-sama? Why?" Line asked.
"It'll be the safest place in the whole world. You know the importance of your role so you have to take that spot."
Fear immediately surfaced on Line's face but she shook it off, "U-understood."
Seeing her put up a brave front, Kisuke couldn't help but regret it a bit. If she were not as excellent as she is now at what she does, Chaos would probably ignore her, but now an existence like hers came to light, it would be weird if Chaos would still ignore someone who could potentially change the tide.
Patting her head, Kisuke reassured her, "He's going to us first before he reaches you. And after this, I'll ask Sona to give you an extensive tour on the other side."
Line froze and thought, 'Ah... How many years has it been?' As the hand that saved her from certain death, she couldn't forget the comfort that it brought her. And with just this simple gesture, it actually gave her courage, "...I'll do my best!"
While watching her run off, Yoruichi asked, "If that guy really wanted to take over this world, there's no way he'd let us go, right?"
Kisuke chuckled, "If I was in the same shoes and had the same personality as him, I'd never let go of myself either. I pose too much threat to just turn my head away."
"So? How would you respond?" Serafall curiously asked.
A smile that could only be described as 'bad' emerged from his lips and as he said, "With everything~!"
.
.
.
A few hours had elapsed and just as Kisuke had expected, a black line was drawn in the sky before it split open and revealed the void. From the unsettling darkness, a single figure in a white suit and pants came floating down and stopped just a hundred meters away from the temporary base where all the significant figures were currently staying.
Feeling his presence, the Deities locked in an endless discussion came pouring out of their place. On their way out, they saw all the mortals, including the Xenos blankly staring at the sky with fear-filled expressions and couldn't seem to move their sights away.
They also looked up and saw the gentleman with sleek black hair and crimson eyes slowly and silently floating down and all of them, without any exceptions, lowered their heads. As much as they wanted to help and hide their children away, they couldn't do it because of the absolute authority and power of the gentleman in front of them.
But the man completely ignored them and set his sights on Kisuke's group, who were hiding their presence, "It has been a while."
Although he was facing Kisuke and the others, they knew that he wasn't talking to them.
A second later, Yoruichi kodachi started vibrating.
"As we've agreed. The little girl can go."
'So we're not even worth talking to, huh?' Kisuke thought while waiting.
Yoruichi kodachi vibrated again a few times and it seems that the man understood it, "That's your problem. Only your contractor is included in the stipulations."
Finally, the man looked into Kisuke's eyes, "As for the additions, I'll give them a new set of contracts." But his eyes soon left the group and were transferred to the Deities below.
"Zeus, I see that you're trying to do something amusing."
Zeus groaned. Even though this man, Chaos, was not exerting any effort, the pressure from his eyes was enough to turn his stomach, '...This... Is really dangerous.'
Chaos chuckled at his reaction, "So you don't have any comments." He then turned his eyes to the other Deities, "And what about you lot? Have you forgotten that it's only thanks to me that you're even enjoying your life? And now not a few of you are planning to rebel? How amusing. You actually think you stand a chance?"
A wave of killing intent washed through everyone and made all mortals buckle to their knees while the Deities did their best to keep standing.
Zeus, Odin, and Ouranous, however, fought against this insanity-inducing intent by releasing their own Divinities and releasing a multi-colored light that blanketed everyone and protected their minds, "Enough of this, Chaos! Are you intending to destroy these children's souls!?" Zeus shouted.
The smile on Chaos' face didn't disappear, "Why would I care if a few of these lower life forms disappear? I'm just expressing what I feel right now."
A vein popped on Zeus' forehead, "Lower life forms... you say? They are the foundation of this world! Without their souls, there wouldn't be a Lower or an Upper World!"
In response, Chaos exaggeratedly spread out his arms, "That's because this is a flawed world~!"
Odin raised an eyebrow at that and asked, "And now that you've come down, are you intending to correct that?"
Chaos snapped his fingers and a black throne appeared behind him. As he sat down on it, he snapped his fingers once again and hundreds of black lines were drawn on the sky similar to how he arrived, "Of course. And there's no better time to do it compared to now when Tiamat's dominion has already disappeared."
A second later, various grotesque creatures started peeking from the opened void and looked down on everyone, sending an aura of impending doom.
Zeus, Odin, and Ouranos were gritting their teeth while the other Deities were thinking about what he meant by fixing this 'broken' world and why he was welcoming his minions to this plane.
"Naturally, I don't intend to start a massacre here since that would be too wasteful. As such, I'm giving everyone here a choice. Come under my banner or get annihilated as the creation of the new order."
While all of this was happening, a grin emerged from Kisuke's face, and sent a message to Sona. He didn't care if Chaos noticed him since his goal wasn't to have his message come across safe and clear. In fact, he wanted him to notice this so that someone could secretly send messages locally.
Editors:
28th00: Did you really give him “Absolutely Evil Villain Monologue #4” dude? Damn.
Goyya: I mean, he’s the start of all of this, including Tiamat turning hostile to the world.
Chaos had felt what Kisuke just did but decided to ignore him. Although he could send messages to his original world, only something as small as that could go through his restrictions. If he wanted to call his friends over, he would have to break through his void first, and without his permission, they would never be able to go through it. That's how confident he is and his confidence is warranted since even Great Red wouldn't be able to go through, not because he's much stronger than the Great Red, but because he had been cultivating that void for countless eons and no one really bothered him while doing so.
"...New order, you say? What does that even mean?" Zeus asked while gritting his teeth.
"Nothing too grandiose," Chaos sneered at him, "Just a new world with perfect inhabitants created and blessed by my magnificent self."
"...What?" Not just Zeus but everyone else also didn't understand what he meant, "A new world?"
"Yes. A paradise constructed and carefully designed by me with inhabitants in perpetual happiness and bliss. A world with no hunger, no disease, no rich or poor, no conflict with your neighbors, and more. A utopia that would essentially expand and function forever."
At this point, Kisuke and the other few finally understood what he wanted to happen, 'Ignoring the ridiculous claim of perpetual bullshit, to maintain something like that couldn't come from limited resources provided by this land. He wants to invade the other worlds. He must've been watching what's happening on our side closely. He knew that Great Red had already perished while Ophis was still incomplete and planned to use the route we took to invade directly. However... Why is he still talking? If he wanted to convert everyone here, he should just do it directly... Or maybe he can't do that? Or at least, there's a limit to what he can do?'
'But then, he shouldn't be thinking of invading the other world if his force is that limited...' At this point, a realization dawned on Kisuke, 'I see... He doesn't just want to control this world in Tiamat's absence... He's after the Dungeon. More specifically, it's 'production' ability.'
However, there's still one question left in Kisuke's head that he wanted some answers to. Just what is the Dungeon?
Silence reigned over the region and since Zeus, Odin, and Ouranos are the only ones who had the courage to talk to him, with them thinking, no one spoke a word.
Chaos immediately got tired of waiting so he continued, "Hmmm... Let me add that as long as you come under my banner, you and your children will get the power that you can't ever imagine and you won't be limited in any way you want to use it."
It was silent again for a few moments until one of the war-oriented Goddess, Bast, curiously asked, "Power? Even our children?"
Zeus glared at her but Chaos grinned, "Of course. Want proof?" He then turned his head to the right and started talking to someone who seemed to not be not there, "Are you done on your side? Come over."
A few seconds later, a familiar aura for the Deities manifested and a Magic Circle which looked like the crest of the sun emerged on Chaos' side. Immediately after, a foot stepped out of the Magic Circle and soon a black-haired Goddess wearing a gorgeous and luxurious traditional eastern gown came out.
"A...Amaterasu?" Tsukimakazuchi and the other eastern Gods immediately recognized her but there seems to be something different about her. Aside from the weird and strangely malevolent aura, thin black veins also ran through her pearl-white skin.
Freya, who was silently watching all of this unfold, frowned in disgust while looking at her. And although they couldn't see what Freya could, Kisuke and Yoruichi's expressions twitched and immediately turned into a frown when they felt the disgusting amount of souls infused into her.
Amaterasu ignored them and reported, "I've returned, father. I have managed to convert more than half of the Deities in my area."
Chaos nodded in satisfaction, "I assigned you the area with the most stubborn insects and you still managed to convert more than half. You have my praise."
"Thank you."
Chaos nodded again in acknowledgment, showing that he's a benevolent leader, "And the reason why I called you here is to show these unenlightened what you can do after coming under me."
Amaterasu finally looked down on the Deities and trembling children that were protected by Zeus' light and wondered how Zeus could use his powers without Chaos' blessing.
But her eyes on them didn't last long as she turned to her side and waved her arm. A forest not far from everyone was instantly incinerated by a beam of light. She wanted to show that she was not limited by the System of Heaven in any shape or form.
Of course, that could have been more impressive since Zeus, Odin, and Ouranos also managed to find a way to bring down their Divine Avatars without Chaos' help.
However, the next thing she showed sent shivers to anyone watching. Even though she was floating next to Chaos, a shadow suddenly spread out of her feet and expanded for a few meters. And from that very dark shadow, multiple figures emerged and stood behind Amaterasu.
They were mortals. Nevertheless, something is very off about them but no one could tell, except for a few. They had no souls in their bodies.
"Amaterasu-sama! You finally called us!" One of the mortals, a 2-meter muscular man, spoke jovially.
Amaterasu didn't look at them and just commanded, "Show them."
"Understood!" The tall man and the ten others behind them answered enthusiastically before raising and pointing their arms to the other side where another forest is located. A few seconds later, beams of sunlight descended on the forest and also instantly razed it to the ground.
Every Deity was stunned at their display. It was a lot weaker than Amaterasu's but it was still unmistakably her Divine Power and each of them were still strong enough to contend against the strongest Adventurers and Mercenaries out there.
Kisuke, on the other hand, finally understood what was happening, 'These dead bodies have become an outlet for her power.'
Although they displayed various expressions and emotions, their eyes were dead. They looked alive but they were only machines made out of flesh with memories of their former self. If they wanted to, they could just reset and erase these memories and they'd be the most loyal soldiers or slaves you could own.
As for their missing souls, they were all deep within Amaterasu, fused with her own and giving more power and fuel to her already existing abilities.
Because of this, Kisuke was reminded of the incident seven years ago that the girls had to face Gods who 'descended', 'I see... So that was an experiment and this is the full implementation. Now Chaos can entice the Deities to leave Heaven's system which he can't control now. If he's successful, he'll also be able to weaken the system and replace it with something else.'
Editors:
28th00: Fucking ew. That’s nasty. Incredibly obvious too. Then again, Danmachi Gods are some absolute dumbasses, so I buy it.