Enemies that cannot be made

Within a certain room of the Twilight Manor, the executives who were watching the War Game were speechless for a long time and the first one to speak up was Finn, with his chin resting on the back of his hands, "I'll be damned... To think they have such a trump card to reduce their numbers significantly that easily. And it was done in a way that the Apollo Familia won't be able to respond easily either."

"But aren't they being too confident? They could have rushed them when the enemy forces still hadn't consolidated but instead, they chose to wait for them to gather and swarm them like that? Even if they are stronger, they'll be overwhelmed at some point.", commented Tione with a frown on her face.

"Right! They're underestimating their opponents!", added Tiona.

Ais was also confused as to why they would put themselves at such a disadvantage.

They said this because they knew their fighting abilities from when they joined their expedition.

However, Finn, Gareth and Riveria, instantly understood what was going on, "We're wrong on one thing.", uttered Finn.

With question marks painted on their faces, Finn continued, "We've indeed seen them fight monsters in the Dungeon and all of you could tell that although they knew how to fight, they were beginners as Adventurers. It also felt strange at that time, but now I understand what was going on."

"What do you mean?", asked Tiona. Meanwhile, Tione and Ais looked back up to the screen to confirm their guesses.

"It means that although they don't know much about fighting monsters, they're very well versed in fighting against other people. If a comparison were to be made, almost at Finn's level?", answered Riveria the clueless Tiona.

"!?" Tiona was stunned and immediately looked back up like the other two and carefully watched their movements. And indeed, if they were on the same level, they couldn't have done the same thing.

"While my anti-personnel abilities come from experience, theirs is clearly from a systematic training.", added Finn, 'But even then, it's really hard to imagine what sort of training they have gone through. Training to fight against another person is a lot harder than training to fight a monster with a limited set of moves and very limited intelligence. And on top of that, practical experience is much more needed and dangerous than the experience required to effectively fight monsters. Have they been fighting since their childhood? Even then, this level of mastery is too much.'

However, everyone's deep concentration was broken by a knock on the door, "Who is it?" Riveria asked.

"It's me!" Raul's voice resounded from the other side and he opened the door.

"What's wrong?"

"Uhmm... A lot of people are asking for a refund and are starting to get heated up."

Riveria sighed. She already knew that this would happen and said, "Don't entertain them. If they want to get violent, smack them down and kick them out. You're allowed to get rough on those stubborn ones, but never hurt the elderly."

"Understood.", Raul nodded and closed the door again. Now that they have the permission to fight back, it'd be a lot easier for them.

But the moment, Raul closed the door, Gareth suddenly started laughing out loud, "Fuhahaha! I really like this guy's guts!"

Confused, everyone else also focused on the ongoing fight but couldn't find anything funny about it. Seeing their expressions, Gareth then explained, "Not the fight. At certain angles, you'll see him."

'Him?', was what they all asked inwardly until the screen showed a different angle that could see the balcony where Hyakinthos and the other Level 3s were watching. Beside them was the familiar figure of a man wearing a bucket hat with a white fan covering half of his face.

With a twitching mouth, Tione commented, "How can he blend in so well with them? And look at those eyes... It's as if he's carefully appraising the fight below."

Riveria could only put the palm of her hand on her face as she sighed, "He could have ended this by taking out the enemy Familia's Captain and no one would hold it against him."

"It doesn't look like he plans to do that.", replied Ais.

"Maybe he wanted to mess with them more? After all, it's him we're talking about here.". wondered Tiona.

Recalling their prior engagements with him, Riveria, Ais and Tione couldn't think of any words to refute her.

At that time, something clicked within Finn's mind, "Ais, Tiona, Tione. Tell me. When you chased him around the 18th floor, did you hold back?"

The three looked at each other before Tione replied, "Have we not told you about it, Captain? That Ais used everything she's got as if she was after some strong monster."

Finn got a massive headache and clicked his tongue, "What a mistake... Due to his Level, I thought you all held back as a condition to catch him and I didn't confirm it with you as it was the most logical conclusion."

Finn then looked at the girls with a grave expression, "It seems that there's a miscommunication regarding what he can do between us. I'd really appreciate it if you were to inform me of things... Including you, Riveria."

The three girls became a bit scared while Riveria became apologetic, "The fault lies with me. As there were some things that we agreed not to disclose with Loki as an intermediary, I can only reveal a few things. But with how complicated and convoluted things surrounding them are, it's easier not to say anything as long as it won't put our Familia in danger. With that in mind, I asked the others not to say anything as much as possible."

"You know excuses like that won't cut it."

"I know... Give me some time. I'll arrange the information I have on them and tell you everything I know that I'm able to reveal."

Finn nodded and said, "I'll wait for it. But I wonder what sort of secrets are they that you're not allowed to reveal even among fellow Familia members?"

Finn watched their expressions and caught a hint of wariness and fear, 'Enough to make them scared?' However, he didn't wait for them to reply and said, "Don't worry. I won't force you to break your oath. Just be mindful of new things that you can say. That way, we won't easily get off guard."

Finn then returned his attention to the screen, "With that said, I severely underestimated the Hestia Familia. In fact, I think we should consider them as someone who rivals us in terms of strength."

Bete, who had been quietly watching all this time finally spoke up, "What are you saying, Finn?"

"It's in consideration of the things they can't reveal... Right?"

Hearing that, Riveria suddenly raised her hand and spoke up, "Just let me say one thing for now. We may antagonize Hestia Familia if they do something that is against our beliefs and policy, but please, we should never ever make enemies with Kisuke Urahara, Yoruichi Shihouin, Kuroka Toujou, Medusa and Serafall Sitri."

Finn, Gareth and Bete became incredibly confused because of her contradicting words.

The other girls, meanwhile, nodded in agreement.