Back up Plan

Serafall needed time to think and discuss the meaning behind Kisuke's words, but that wasn't the urgent problem right now, "Even if that's the case, how can you call this training? Aren't you just tormenting them?" Serafall then pointed towards the rest of the Student Council who are resting with a deadpan expression on the side. Each of them was not thinking straight with their eyes staring into the void.

"So they couldn't take it, huh."

"Of course they won't! In fact, I'm even more surprised that Tsubaki-chan and Saji-chan are still going at it! What are you going to do about this!? You just destroyed their future!" Serafall shouted angrily.

Even for Akeno, this is the first time she ever saw the always bubbly Devil King get truly furious.

"Well, it's not like I don't have any backup plans to speak of. And even though I warned them of the worst possible result, it's not like I couldn't just erase their memories. Though the instinctive fear and muscle memory would take a while to recover from, they can be 'fixed'."

"Then please do that! I don't want to see Sona-chan's servants suffering like this!"

"Will do. But before that, how long did they last?"

Serafall was perplexed by his question but answered it regardless, "All of them almost simultaneously gave up about two hours ago?"

Kisuke rubbed his chin and thought for a moment before muttering, "Then it'll be a shame to give them the last resort."

"Huh? What are you saying?"

"Actually, erasing their memories might have some problems that I might not be able to predict so I'd like to keep them as the last resort. Since they lasted long enough, I thought of giving them a final push to go through this," explained Kisuke.

Serafall furrowed her brows once again and said, "Are you saying that they should continue?"

"I know that you're worried, but nothing really changes if I gave them the final push before erasing their memories, right? Besides, I don't really want them to waste their efforts coming this far."

Hearing that, Serafall became conflicted. She wanted to end their suffering, but she also understood Kisuke's point of preparing them for something that will likely happen in the future. She knew well that, unlike Rias' peerage, Sona's peerage is mostly just composed of ordinary people and they have no way of catching up to their rivals as they are now.

After a few minutes of internal struggle, Serafall gritted her teeth and nodded, "...Fine... But don't take it too far this time."

"I won't," Kisuke answered and started walking towards the five.

However, before he could go far, Serafall suddenly asked, "Did you pull a similar trick with Sona-chan?"

Kisuke stopped his steps and turned his head towards Serafall. He looked straight into her eyes with a serious expression and answered, "I did."

Serafall's eyes widened before the temperature dropped even lower. Nevertheless, she still asked calmly, "Why did you do it? And how did she respond?"

"We wound up in an unknown place and I can't always be there to protect them. Besides, if she was going to follow me, her normal efforts wouldn't be enough. So it was then that I decided to make them realize how dangerous the Supernatural World really is. Although it was dangerous, I was able to instill proper fear and reality in their minds."

Serafall was about to say something when she noticed that Kisuke suddenly smiled wryly but some sort of gentleness suddenly emitted from him, making her and those around her suddenly stop their thoughts, "Well, when I did that, I was already prepared to be hated. Since I cared more about their safety than how they looked at me, I went with the plan, taking all the responsibility."

"But instead of hating me, they only got angry for a short bit, before immediately asking for rewards," Shaking his head, Kisuke continued walking while muttering, "...Sometimes, I do wonder if I truly deserve them."

Serafall, including Irina and Akeno, didn't know what to say after hearing that.

Kisuke, on the other hand, didn't really care about their reactions. What's done is done, whether his actions back then are wrong or too much, it gave him a valuable lesson regarding relationships.

Without saying any more words, Kisuke arrived in front of Momo, Reya, Tomoe, Tsubasa, and Ruruko. But before saying anything towards the 'dead' people, he first glanced towards Saji and Tsubaki, who're still doing their best to fight off the dummies.

Compared to their first time, Kisuke could see substantial improvements within their movements. Although they didn't learn any new moves, nor received any power-ups, the way they used their strength to adapt to the current situation had drastically improved, 'As they say, training to death is the best training method,' Kisuke thought and looked back to the five people in front of him.

"Is that it?" asked Kisuke with a voice infused by both of his magic power and soul power to penetrate the deepest parts of their closed-off minds.

Hearing the voice of the person who dropped them down in this hell, all of them instantly woke and started panicking, with some of them even starting to cry and went on to ask for forgiveness.

Serafall's mind was pulled back from it's wandering when she heard the cries and was about to go to their side to calm them down. However, Kisuke signaled her to stop, 'Please let me take over for now,' he sent telepathically.

Kisuke then crouched down and looked at them with a grave expression, "I already warned you, right? You either go through it or become broken, or worse, dead. This is the result of you asking for power that can't come naturally."

Thanks to the power Kisuke imbued in his voice, even if they didn't want to, they understood his words despite their condition.

"Regardless, if you don't stand up now, this will be the end of you. You'll be better off living a normal life, away from conflict, away from your comrades, away from your master you swore to protect. Forever living in fear that someday, they might fail. The battlefield chases you no matter where you go, not being able to protect yourselves, nor those important to you."

Kisuke's voice had some hypnotic powers that let them see the images that he described. And thanks to their current state, the images became more vivid, as if they were living in that future.

Silent screams of terror took over the group in an instant, before Kisuke released his pressure on them, pulling them out of their dreams, waking them up to another terrifying grinning monster.

"Are you fine with that?"