Ex woke up with a start and shouted, "Yuki! Kuro!"
"You're awake, nii-san," Robertina, who's watching him at his side, said in a relieved tone. "I thought you'd stay asleep for the entire day."
Ex frantically looked around and found himself within Kisuke's log house. After judging Robertina's expression, he sighed, "I just had a very terrible dream..." he muttered while holding his head. "How long have I been sleeping?"
"A few hours," Helmwige entered the room and answered his question. "How are you feeling?"
Ex didn't answer immediately and moved his limbs for a bit. "Tired... But overall, I feel great. In fact, I feel liberated."
"That's not the first time you've done something like that, is it?" Helmwige asked, sitting on the opposite side of the bed.
Ex scratched his head in embarrassment. "It's not. But every time we do it, my memories are too hazy to remember anything of substance. That's also the reason why I asked you guys to carefully watch and why he added a provision of secrecy about his involvement."
Helmwige crossed her arms, unintentionally emphasizing her big assets. "There are so many questions I want to ask, like how he's able to force you into Juggernaut Drive when it shouldn't be possible in the first place. But what I want to ask the most is: why do this?"
Ex thought about it for a few moments before answering, "Apparently, I think too much when I fight, and that only ends up limiting me in a big way." He knew he was simplifying too much, but that was the best way he could describe it. Besides, he didn't want to share his private conversation with Kisuke, which aired out his insecurities.
"And his solution is to make you lose control of yourself!?" Robertina exclaimed at the ridiculous leap of logic.
"It sounds drastic, but I can really tell the difference. More importantly, the sealed spirit in here agreed to it..." Ex realized his words too late and wondered if he should have said that, so he quickly continued, changing the topic, "Just before that last round, I was able to pull out my aura much smoother than before, and I can safely say that my output has increased significantly." He then turned to Helmwige and asked, "By the way, Helm nee-san, did you record that last round?"
Helmwige and Robertina noticed Ex's attempt to brush off what he just said, but both of them had a tacit understanding not to dig deeper into it right now. Helmwige took a crystal, which soon released a holographic screen that displayed what she saw at that time.
The three of them watched it in silence, and although it wasn't the first time for the two, it was still hard for them to believe it had actually happened.
Ex, on the other hand, had his mouth wide open until the end. A few seconds after the video ended, he asked, while pointing at it, "...We did that?"
"You really have no idea, huh? I can only imagine the other instances when you did this."
"How is he doing that!?" Ex raised his voice. He knew he was dangerous whenever he underwent Juggernaut Drive, but he never imagined something like this. "And he can deflect Longinus Smasher with that much accuracy!? What if he miscalculated!?"
"Who knows?" Helmwige shrugged her shoulders. "But one thing is certain. While his energy capacity isn't special, his skills may be on par with our masters." She then turned to Robertina and said, "Tina, send this to the others and explain to them in detail what happened. I'll assist Yuki and Kuro in the restoration in the meantime and study the barrier more. I doubt they'll be able to come here since they're all extremely busy these days, but they should at least be informed."
"Leave it to me, nee-san."
. . .
Kisuke left the siblings alone and brought Benihime and Tiamat with him in their Zanpakuto forms to the Underworld.
[Is it alright to just leave them behind like that?] Tiamat asked, concerned about the shop, which she'd already started enjoying looking after.
"It's fine. They're not young kids, and they had a good upbringing. Even if they test the limits of the barrier, they won't be able to touch the shop. The most they could do is blow a hole in the side." On his way toward the Sitri territory, Kisuke was reminded of something and asked Tiamat, "Do you think the Chaos of this dimension has already swallowed you?"
With confidence, Tiamat answered, [I doubt it. You're the reason he was able to move his plan early, but if it goes on normally, it'll take him a few more millennia to achieve that. Why do you ask?]
"If I'm going to negotiate with Sona Sitri, her sister will probably come up, and I might ask you to put Trihexa to sleep again. Since he's connected to the Trihexa, he might notice your existence."
Tiamat went silent for a moment before replying, [Do you perhaps want to improve your 'Chaos' aspect?]
"I'm thinking about it, but it's too risky."
This time, Benihime joined the conversation. [Why does it sound like you can deal with him whenever you want?]
"Because I can. Prima Materia is just that great."
[Then in the process, how about I lure him in? Even if he escapes from you, he won't dare to come back if you scare him sufficiently.]
"Well... it's not really our world, so I guess that's fine."
After finalizing the plan they had in mind, Kisuke soon reached the Sitri Manor, which looked very old with only a few servants moving around.
"They've pulled back from the spotlight, but it looks like they're actively reducing their influence?" Kisuke asked himself after observing the situation in the mansion for a while.
He wanted to observe more but sensed something amiss and hurriedly transformed his attire, wearing his helmet.
A few seconds later, a column of water slowly and silently rose up behind Kisuke. He ignored it and pretended not to notice, and a few seconds later, a person materialized from the water, pointing a blade made of water at his nape. "Start by introducing yourself. If you don't answer within three seconds, you can say goodbye to your head."
It was a familiar voice, but it sounded a lot more haggard than he remembered.
He slowly stood up, raising his hands in surrender. "Err... Good evening. I'm the leader of the Crimson Apocalypse Thieving Group, Death God..."
The person behind him smirked. "Death God? Aren't you embarrassed calling yourself that?"
"That's the point of the one who thought of it." He slowly turned around, making sure he didn't appear threatening. [Why didn't you use your Shadow to hide?] Benihime asked curiously.
"Even a few minutes of that is too tiring. If I were to keep it up for a few hours, I might as well drain myself fighting Regalzeva." It was a very convenient ability that made him virtually impossible to detect. However, since it uses Prima, it was as exhausting as fighting with it. "Besides, I'm not here to hide."
It was dark, but the moonlight peeking through the leaves and branches partially illuminated the bespectacled beauty with long black hair. That beauty, however, was marred by the severe eyebags under her dull and almost lifeless violet eyes. "So, mister wanted man, what's the purpose of your visit?"
"To meet Miss Sona Sitri."