Strange Phenomenon

Kisuke didn't know what Irina's and Akeno's inner world exactly look like, however, he can be sure that this isn't it, as it was currently overrun by Ophis' and Great Red's Dragonic Aura, 'Even if it's just their flesh and power, to think it'd have this much of an effect on the soul, I clearly underestimated existences like them.'

In any case, Kisuke had to look for both Irina and Akeno within this space. Although he was worried that he would need a different method to navigate, he felt relief and he immediately found the two of them in the opposite directions. Kisuke immediately brought the two curled up and unconscious souls together and checked their current conditions.

Since they didn't have clothes, Kisuke could see black spots on their skins which seemed to be caused by the erosion from their attempt to shape their bodies. The area of the black spots was expanding as he watched and they should have been ejected from their bodies when they started to appear. However, Yoruichi keeping them in here consumed their very soul, 'They are no longer in any state to continue... But I already agreed to let them continue.'

Taking a deep breath, Kisuke prepared a sphere that was just big enough to envelop the three of them and exert his soul's influence. As the intangible sphere made out from Kisuke's own soul expanded, the rate at which the black spots spread also slowed down significantly. However, doing so wasn't without any consequences as the eroding aura hit him heavily, which normally he could resist easily.

Kisuke thought that it's a good thing that Benihime was still busy with her adaptation and sighed in relief, 'She would have to made a mess to force me to stop this.'

Enduring the pain of forcefully taking over their 'punishment', Kisuke placed his hands on their foreheads to act as a bridge to connect their souls as Yoruichi had requested while recalling Ophis' words once again, 'I wonder if this will be enough of a push?'

The moment contact was established, Kisuke started purifying a part of his own soul to a normal Reishi since he didn't know what would happen if he were to supply it to the girls as it is. However, every time he would take a part of himself and purify it, cracks would appear all over his soul before it immediately recovered to its pristine condition, causing him immense pain on top of the erosion he was already taking care of. Nevertheless, he just gritted his teeth and gave the girls the much-needed energy to at the very least, wake up and do something about their own situation.

A few minutes later, Kisuke efforts finally bore fruit as Irina and Akeno slowly opened their eyes. But as he was about to greet and tease them for a bit, he noticed that there was no focus within their eyes. They were awake, but their consciousness was still not present, 'What's this..? They should at least react a bit, but a complete blank? What's going on?'

Normally, he would be happy with these many unknowns within a day, but with their safety at great risk, he couldn't relish the mystery behind their behavior.

While observing them, a sudden movement suddenly came from both of them as they both tried exiting Kisuke's sphere of influence, seemingly trying to return where they came from. But instead of stopping them, Kisuke hurriedly manipulated his soul to split the sphere and move with them.

Since they are moving in different directions, Kisuke didn't follow them. Even so, he still could monitor them through the sphere around them.

As his curiosity peaked, Irina and Akeno finally resumed their 'discarding'. Still, they still managed to break even more of Kisuke's expectations, 'The entire process became autonomous? How are they doing this?... But more importantly, what they're discarding isn't totally lost but being passed to the other one? How? Is this what Yoruichi instinctively felt when she made a suggestion of connecting their souls?'

Questions flowed through Kisuke's mind and his fascination with what's happening only strengthened. He wanted to only watch and study what was really going on, but he had to dedicate most of his attention to their safety. Nevertheless, this is still a great and rare opportunity to know more about the mysteries of the soul.

After a few more minutes of watching closely, Kisuke figured out a small, but important part of what's going on, 'The 'Angelic' aspect is being transferred and concentrated in Akeno-san and the 'Dragonic' side is going to Irina?'

After thinking about it, Kisuke came up with a guess, 'Is it because Akeno-san was naturally an 'Angel' while Irina was just an artificial one? As for why the 'Dragon' was being invested in Irina... Maybe because the tomboy Irina has always been fascinated by anything Dragon-related when we're kids and is manifesting now? In any case, I can see why this is happening.'

Since Akeno was a descendant of one of the oldest Angels, albeit, a Fallen one, she had more affinity with anything 'Angelic', far more than Irina. Irina, on the other hand, was quite a handful when she was a child, but the Church's education repressed most of those childish feelings and it happened at a very early age too. With her unconscious right now and fully autonomous, her desires and inner self was more open than any other time beforehand.

Although the process was going smoothly for the both of them, the burden on Kisuke's sides was only getting heavier as time went on with the 'discarded' aspects directly landing on him who's acting as the 'bridge' between them.

However, in the outside world, Yoruichi was panicking greatly. Although Kisuke looked peaceful, Irina and Akeno's bodies stayed dead, and now their flesh was falling off before turning into black soot with an unbearable stench.

She really wanted to dive into their inner worlds too, but her hands were already full with just sealing the souls within her body, and even now, she still didn't know if her decision was still the correct one, 'I'll never be able to forgive myself if they were to perish because of my selfish actions... Kisuke... Please... Please don't let them fail...'

Outside of the door, everyone except for Kuroka and Koneko had gathered with Artemis and Hestia pacing back and forth, while the latter kept asking how things were going on her Falna that she had given and the former kept giving the answer that they are 'dead'.

Serafall turned to Medusa and instructed, "Medu-chan, please take Claire and Tanis back to their rooms."

But before Medusa could answer, Claire came running over to Serafall and asked with an almost crying tone, "Irina-neechan and Akeno-neechan... Are they going to be alright?"

Hearing that made Artemis and Hestia finally aware of how much they are affecting the children and immediately felt immensely guilty, but they didn't really know what to do in this situation.

Thankfully, Serafall had their back as she knelt down in front of Claire and patted her head, reassuring her with a big smile, "Kisuke-niichan is already there to take care of them so it'll be alright~ You know how amazing Kisuke-niichan is, right? Just rest for now and surely, once you wake up, Irina-neechan and Akeno-neechan will be there to play with you~!"

Serafall's hand was very effective as Claire was able to immediately calm down and nodded, "...I'll be waiting."

Serafall playfully pinched her cheeks before gesturing to Medusa to take them.

As they watched them leave, Sona asked in a lowered voice, "Is it fine to promise them like that? What if they don't come out in time?"

Serafall slowly stood up and answered, "As I've said, Ki-tan is amazing. He can pull this off."

However, this also reminded Serafall of something very important. As she looked at her hands, she thought, 'He's amazing... Way more amazing than me who only knew how to fight and play some mind games. But... despite my few specialties, the burden on me is already immense. How much would it be for someone like him who could virtually do anything? For how long can he keep doing these insane stunts by himself? If there would be a day where he would buckle down, would I or any of us be able to have his back?'

Once again, Serafall realized how powerless she really is.