After receiving the emergency message from Sona, Serafall knew that she, along with the other girls, wouldn't be able to meet him for some time.
Although she feels bad for the others, she knows she couldn't let go of this chance, 'Hit it while it's still hot as they say!'
Serafall teleported to the one vast and almost empty Soul Society and went straight towards the 12th Division where it's abuzz with people continuously running around. Since this is a huge undertaking that would forever change the Soul Society, more than half of the Gotei 13 personnel were assigned to assist the 12th Division and even some nobles and students from the academy.
The moment she approached the gates, Serafall coincidentally came across Akon who came from his in-person survey, "Sitri-san. Could I assist with anything?"
"Is Ki-tan around?"
"He is... But I don't think you'd be able to meet him now. We're in the middle of setting up defensive barriers around the three worlds and controlling the rate of flow of the Magic Power coming from the Dimensional Gap so I doubt he and the Captain would be able to entertain anyone." Akon answered while checking his phone, "If it's urgent, I can send him a message for you."
Serafall immediately shook his head, "No, it's nothing urgent. I'm just wondering when you'll be done."
Akon thought about it for a moment and replied, "If nothing goes awry, we'll be able to formally open the transport gates within half a day."
Serafall's eyes shine, "Is that so!? Then is it alright for me to wait here?"
Akon nodded, "I'll lead you to the break room. Since we're about to finish, no one is using them. I'll also inform Urahara-san of your arrival."
"Thank you~!"
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More than half a day later, Kisuke came out of Mayuri's lab while yawning, 'It's finally done! The only thing left is to send those guys back along with some envoys.'
Kisuke felt like a monumental amount of burden on his shoulders had disappeared. Ever since he reincarnated in a different world, he always questioned if Soul Society was really doing the right thing, meddling with the flow of souls.
When he realized how the souls are handled in that world, Kisuke thought that it was beautiful. A system devoid of emotion and morals, he thought that only such a thing would be able to handle the sorting of souls. He knew it was not perfect but it was way more reasonable than what Soul Society and the Soul King was employing.
Kisuke, of course, would always repress these thoughts as he knew that this was his arrogance. He realized that he'd be pushing his belief that something is better than another in which no way is 'fair' in an absolute sense. He didn't have the justification.
Even then, he couldn't help but prepare for it with the sole reason 'just in case.'
And when the Evies and Etouldes arrived in that world and threatened it, he finally had a reason to go back. Kisuke initially thought that he'd just be recruiting Aizen and others as a countermeasure to Etouldes who decided to approach his world on the 'good' side since he knew that betrayal never comes from your enemies.
But as he learned more about the world he was previously born in and got a glimpse of Ichibei's plans along with the Soul King's 'approval', the justification came.
Kisuke, as if all fetters were removed, came to a decision to change the world for the 'better' and moved towards it with full force.
He still thinks, even now, that this was extremely arrogant and his own self-control not to become someone like Aizen or Yhwach is working against him. But with the choice of being a monster's food or continued existence, the choice was pretty obvious.
Now that everything is over, Kisuke's ambition, or more accurately, desire, has been fulfilled, and the burden that has been bothering him since long ago has disappeared.
'But resting is still far off. I still have to do something against those robots and fleshy spirits.' Kisuke couldn't help but sigh. If his roots didn't go so deep on the other side, he would certainly just ignore the problem and just escape somewhere.
'The worst thing is that this isn't the same as Chaos or Hyousube. The problem won't be solved even if those on top disappear. In fact, that only will be a precursor to endless hate and war. I don't have time nor motivation for that.'
Kisuke soon reached the door to the break room where he was told that Serafall was waiting, 'The only solution to this would be for both Evies and Etouldes to stop their hostilities and us standing on our own even not on their level. But if one side weakens too much, the larger one would swallow the rest... Damn... This sounds really impossible.'
Before he could open the door, someone else on the other side opened it for him, "What with the long face? Aren't you supposed to be celebrating?" Serafall asked after seeing Kisuke's face.
"If one problem was solved but you realized that a bigger one was just waiting around the corner, how would you react to that?"
"Celebrate the small win~! Be glad that you're done with that one!" Serafall answered without any hesitation.
Kisuke stared at her blankly for a few seconds before suddenly chuckling, "That's true, isn't it." He took a long breath and slowly released it along with the tension he put himself into, "So what's the plan? Don't you mean Sona and the others?"
Serafall then grabbed Kisuke's arm and started dragging him, "I do! But I can meet them later. Let's go on a date!"
'I doubt that there are going to be stores open... Should I prepare something?' Kisuke thought while letting himself be dragged by the relatively short and very bubbly Devil King.
Both of them arrived in the Human World sometime after and Kisuke was surprised that it was actually bustling. Not to the point of the normal hustle and bustle, but there are a lot of people shopping around the newly repaired town, "What's going on?"
"This was when you were busy with the merger." Serafall replied while dragging Kisuke by the hand towards the crepe shop, "The world leaders had a meeting with Gotei 13 and Wing Bind overseeing it. It was decided that with my and Flanna-chan's help, we'll erase everyone's memory of the war."
Kisuke thought about it for a moment before saying, "Wouldn't that cause a lot of problems? Although the casualties are reduced to the minimum, that's still a lot of people. Not to mention various parts of life if you just suddenly reset the time before it all went down. Some people would notice these huge discrepancies."
"That's true, but dealing with those is still preferable." Serafall cast a spell that would jumble their words into something different for those who could listen to them as they approached the line, "I'm of the same opinion that people of this world is still not prepared for the 'supernatural' and included in the plan was the slow introduction of this side of the world."
"How about those whose memories couldn't be erased? Even if Flanna is assisting you, I doubt you could do anything to those with resistance towards it considering what you've done was on a worldwide scale."
"It'll be sort of a litmus test for those with special abilities or those with potential to it. Whenever they appear, they'll be immediately approached by that territory's government and use their help for the slow integration. They are still drafting a treaty that would ensure the said individual's safety and rights but the Gotei 13 and Wing Bind promised that they'll strictly look after this."
'Of course, they should. But even if they did, various underground organizations will probably pop up to take advantage of this.' Kisuke thought to himself while ordering crepes, 'Oh well, not my problem anymore. I'll only create more work for myself if I get involved in this.'
Editors:
28th00: A world EATING apocalypse is a bit extreme and traumatic for an introduction to the supernatural, yeah. Serafall plans on stress testing Kisuke’s regeneration now. Extremely ‘hard’ at that.
Kisuke's eyes opened as the light from the sun peeking through the curtains disturbed him, 'Afternoon...'
He could feel the soft brush of the blanket over his bare skin as he moved slightly and turned his head to the side to see a sleeping beauty sharing his blanket with shiny and soft black hair that draped over her shoulder and was also glistening under the ambient light.
Kisuke was able to sleep for the first time in a while but not before partaking in some extremely strenuous 'exercise' for a few hours. He tried recalling their date yesterday and painted a smile on his face. Although it was just a few hours of fun, he knew that it'd become a precious memory, not just for him, but for his partner as well.
Kisuke already accepted the life that had come to him but there's still a different kind of realization when the deed itself was done. With a wry smile, Kisuke thought that he'd probably lose more of his inhibitions when it comes to crossing the line with the women around him, 'I have to be careful...'
The sleeping beauty also felt his slight movement and snuggled closer while tightening her hold on her man's arm. Her eyelashes fluttered for a moment before her eyelids slowly partly opened and met Kisuke's eyes.
They stared at each other for a short while and she closed her eyes back while inching even closer to Kisuke.
Kisuke lifted his free arm and brushed his hand against her cheek, "Sera-chan, you have to return today, remember?"
Serafall furrowed her brows and pouted her lips a bit, "I demand ten hours more."
Kisuke was a bit nervous because it didn't sound like she was joking. He actually wanted to accommodate her demand and spend more time together, however, as always, time was not on their side, 'The others will return today too. If my timing is off, it'll be hard to go off the radar.'
Thankfully, after a bit more urging from Kisuke, Serafall fully awakened. Nevertheless, she still clung to Kisuke while saying her final compromise, "Then ten more minutes."
Kisuke smiled wryly and turned his body towards her before wrapping his arms around her, "I guess I'll make your ten minutes more worthwhile."
While burying her face on his chest, Serafall asked, "Do you really have to leave?" She wasn't just asking that for herself but also for the other girls that were left behind and was waiting for his return. Although she's really happy that she finally got together with Kisuke, the moment she received the news that Kisuke would need to hide himself, it felt like she was cheated somehow.
"You know Yoruichi. She wouldn't ask me something like this if the situation was not dangerous." Kisuke answered, ignoring the hint of sadness from Serafall's voice, "It would seem that we're still underestimating the other side. Sona probably didn't send this to you since she's worried about your recovery, but Yoruichi returned injured despite carefully researching her opponent and only planned to push a few buttons."
Serafall hurriedly sat up and the blanket covering her slid off, "What!? Is she okay!?"
Kisuke pulled her back down before answering, "She's fine. In fact, you were in a much worse state than her. However, that prompted her to ask me to find the intruders even though she's better than me when it comes to that."
Serafall immediately understood what happened, "She gathered too much attention."
"Right. In addition to that, there probably would be an increased activity from both the Evie and Etoulde side and she wouldn't be able to move properly while acting as bait."
Serafall stayed silent for a while. Even in her time as a rising Devil King, she never experienced this kind of prolonged conflict that felt like hands were choking their throat. There's no time for rest nor there's no time for fantasizing about a beautiful future. All she could see right now was them struggling for survival and did her best to keep the image of death to any people she cared about out of her head, "When will it end?" She muttered to herself.
Kisuke couldn't answer that as much as he wanted to, 'As long as the information from the future is accurate, there's still no way for us to defeat Melvazoa... Not even with Ophis, Lilith, Flanna, Aizen, and Yhwach's help. It's about time I get a solid answer from Seraselbes as to what she wants to happen.'
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Kisuke waved his hand at Serafall as she went through the portal that would take her to Draconic Deus and she was followed by Issei and the others of the younger generation.
Ajuka and Azazel were also scheduled to go with them but they stayed behind for a little bit to have some private talk with Kisuke.
"I heard that you're going somewhere else?" Azazel asked, impressed with his workaholic attitude, "Is finding new worlds your new job nowadays? Is it that easy? And how are you finding these worlds in the first place? Let me funnel some of my personal funds and assets."
"I want to invest in your journey too." Ajuka added, "You have no use for these worlds aside from strengthening your position so let's have a slice of the pie."
Kisuke grinned which made Ajuka and Azazel shudder. They regretted opening their mouths but it's true that they want to take advantage of Kisuke's great track record to gain some benefits too.
"It's true that I'll be going to a new frontier. Normally, I wouldn't even bother to inform anyone of my plans but since you're my good friends, I'll let you have some exclusive info~. Of course, if you're willing to bet."
'It won't cost us our entire wealth, would it?' Ajuka and Azazel both asked themselves. They both looked at each other before nodding. They both thought that it's still worth the risk of shaking Kisuke's hand. In any case, he's the only guy that they could trust right now considering the complex situation and relationships within the Draconic Deus.
They got ready to hear about Kisuke's next outing and thought of things they could offer but they still weren't able to expect the next words he uttered.
"It's not exactly a new world, but I intend to set up an outpost behind the Evie and Etoulde lines."
"!!?"
"My contacts already prepared what I'll need on the planned site, but I could definitely use some more assistance." Kisuke's grin grew wider, "What do you think? Willing to sink in everything you have?"
It was a deal that even made a Devil King sweat in the cold.
Editors:
28th00: Serafall really wants to make that heir! She’d finally beat her little sister at being the first to do something with Ki-tan before her! Kisuke is beginning his guerilla warfare? Oh dear god, they deserve him.